Monday Morning Boost: The Labor of Rescuing

Monday Morning Boost: The Labor of Rescuing

Comments 0 Comment

The primary mission of the National Guard is to provide aid at home “in time of domestic emergencies or need.” It’s easy to overlook this mission with all the combat deployments over since 2001. Blackhawk helicopter rescue crews from the Utah Army National Guard are already in Texas helping out. More Utah soldiers will most likely be called up to help as well. When National Guard or Reserve Component military personnel are called to duty, they often have very little…

Read More Read More

Siren’s Fatal Song

Siren’s Fatal Song

Comments 2 comments

SIREN’S FATAL SONG Societal walls Like prison feel Shackled tight Against my will. Mountain tops Prairies wild Explore I must My inner child. Bolting forth Wings now free Nothing bars What I can be. Rivers carry I need not oars My soul is light Freedom soars. Faster, stronger To the ledge My body flies Past the edge. I leap to escape My freedom to find Universal laws Will not bind. Soaring high Flying free Nothing stopping What I shall be….

Read More Read More

Monday Morning Boost: Nourishing Grandma’s Tree

Monday Morning Boost: Nourishing Grandma’s Tree

Comments 2 comments

My mother came to mind over the weekend as I remembered a tree we planted the year she passed away. We called it Grandma’s Tree. It was a little tree, barely as tall as my six feet, and not that thick. Unfortunately, it only survived a couple of years before a windstorm sheared it in half. The half-size shard of a tree remained in our yard for a season before we were able to totally remove it. The empty spot always seemed more…

Read More Read More

Gaining the Red Edge of the Eclipse

Gaining the Red Edge of the Eclipse

Comments 0 Comment

I love the many great photos of the Monday’s solar eclipse. But after awhile they all tend to blur together. Even the really, really good ones! I appreciate the skill, talent and time of those who find a way to present this incredible event in a creative and fresh light. Or, in this case, a creative and fresh darkness! Greg Westbrook’s presentation does this. He shows all the phases of the eclipse in one shot, as many have done. But…

Read More Read More

Monday Morning Boost: Mission First ~ People Always

Monday Morning Boost: Mission First ~ People Always

Comments 0 Comment

I lowered my American flag to half-mast the morning after Utah National Guard Soldier Staff Sergeant Aaron Butler was killed in Afghanistan. Butler was killed leading a 12 man team clearing a building when it exploded. The booby trap also wounded the other 11 team members, each one also a soldier with the Utah National Guard. I spent nearly 24 years with the Utah Army National Guard. Serving my country in uniform will always be one of the greatest honors…

Read More Read More

Monday Morning Boost: Maybe “we’re all guilty”

Monday Morning Boost: Maybe “we’re all guilty”

Comments 2 comments

In June of 1964, three civil rights workers were murdered by the KKK in Neshoba County, Mississippi, during the Civil Rights Movement. The three young men, Andrew Goodman and Michael “Mickey” Schwerner from New York City, and James Chaney from Meridian, Mississippi, had been working with the “Freedom Summer Campaign” attempting to register African Americans in Mississippi to vote. Forty-one years later, in 2005, Edgar Ray Killen was charged and eventually convicted for his part in the crimes. “MISSISSIPPI BURNING”…

Read More Read More

Monday Morning Boost: Excuses for Running Late

Monday Morning Boost: Excuses for Running Late

Comments 0 Comment

HYPOTHESIS Recovering from a botched introduction is very difficult to do. This week I put that theory to test. RUNNING LATE The first Tuesday morning of each month is BizLink, the monthly networking group of the Cache Chamber of Commerce. I helped to start this group several years ago, along with Cam McCullough. I was the second chairman, and now I am the designated trainer. Last Tuesday morning I slept through my alarm. I woke up at 7:30 a.m., the exact…

Read More Read More

Monday Morning Boost: Is mowing the lawn an Outdoor Sport???

Monday Morning Boost: Is mowing the lawn an Outdoor Sport???

Comments 0 Comment

A friend of mine challenged my labeling mowing my lawn as an “outdoor sport.” “Mowing the lawn is a chore,” they said. Continuing to validate their case, they said outdoor sports were things like mountain biking, canoeing, snowboarding, fishing, and hunting. “It’s all about perspective,” I countered. Mowing my lawn is never a chore. It’s a time to let my mind relax by doing something I totally love and connecting with nature in a very small way. It’s an incredible…

Read More Read More

Monday Morning Boost: Counting the Homeless

Monday Morning Boost: Counting the Homeless

Comments 3 comments

I sat in the dirt asking a mother detailed personal questions why she was homeless. Her answers touched me deeply. While not uncommon nor unique for those living in the throes of homelessness, they were raw, real, and very personal. It’s one of the most humbling things I’ve ever done. POINT-IN-TIME COUNT The humbling occasion happened on a recent Saturday when I participated in the annual Point-in-Time Count with the Cache Valley Veterans Association. This is a survey to literally count the number of…

Read More Read More