Columns

Food on the Hill: Frozen Pina Colada Pie

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This week’s Recipe:

Frozen Pina Colada Pie

Photo by Sue York/ladailypost.com

Ingredients:

2 large gram cracker crusts
½ cup sugar
12 oz cream cheese (softened)
2 teaspoons of rum flavoring extract
3 cups of sweetened coconut
2 cans of crushed pineapple in syrup (drain ONE of the cans)
8 oz French vanilla flavored cool-whip (or regular if you can’t find the French vanilla)

Directions:

Photo by Sue York/ladailypost.com

Spread the coconut out on a baking sheet and place under broiler to toast. Watch this very carefully, mix as needed. Set aside to cool.

Photo by Sue York/ladailypost.com Read More

Yang: Some Week!

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Some Week!
By ELENA YANG

This has been a “horrible, terrible, no good, very bad” week for the country … again. 

Ever since the Sandy Hook shooting last December, it’s been on my mind … mental health. Most of us have willingly and accidentally played frustrated psychoanalysts at one point or another. 

Even the casual phrases, “she’s a nut case,” or “he’s deranged,” however jokingly uttered, indicate that we judge others’ mental health status at times. Casual remarks side, though, can we really comfortably assess another’s mental state, especially a situation where we might consider Read More

How The Hen House Turns: Happy Birthday DeeDee and Scooter – A Cautionary Tale

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How The Hen House Turns: Happy Birthday DeeDee and Scooter – A Cautionary Tale

By Carolyn A. (Cary) Neeper, Ph. D.

DeeDee and Scooter are 13 years old this month. It’s hard to believe how fast those years have gone—years in which my granddaughters became fine young women, and the dogs grew creaky with arthritis.

Canine genes are so wonderfully creative, you’d think they would program dogs to live longer.

They produce all sizes, all kinds of faces, and many color combinations of various types of fur.

The dogs’ tameness gene package, inherited from wolves, has been found in foxes to be just as

Read More

Money IQ: Charitable Giving Opportunities

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Money IQ
By ERIC LOUCKS

Charitable Giving Opportunities

When choosing the most advantageous charitable giving strategy, individuals must evaluate a number of factors, such as their need for current income, their desire to control and preserve assets during life and after death, their specific charitable intent, as well as important tax management issues.

Charitable estate planning techniques can help achieve many of these objectives. Donor-advised funds, family foundations, and charitable remainder trusts (CRT), charitable lead trusts (CLT) are available to individuals and their Read More

Letter to the Editor: Last Hour Tax Deal Violates the Spirit of Open Government

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Last Hour Tax Deal Violates the Spirit of Open Government

 

By Meredith R. Machen and Dick Mason, Leadership Team
League of Women Voters of New Mexico leaders@lwvnm.org

The League of Women Voters of New Mexico is concerned about the last-minute tax bill slammed through the New Mexico Legislature and the broken process. 

HB641, like any comprehensive tax legislation, has many components which will have long-term effects on New Mexico’s economy.

Experts are still debating the overall cost and benefit projections, the challenges for municipalities, the difficulties Read More

Solo Traveler: Slow-Go Travel

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Solo Traveler
Column by SHERRY HARDAGE
 
Slow-Go Travel

As a retired solo traveler, cost is my main concern when I want to go anywhere.

A hotel room costs almost as much for one as for two, making traveling alone rather expensive. Hostels and pensiónes can also be a bit pricey even when the bathroom is shared.

From my perspective, the best way to extend travel funds is to travel slowly. Find an area of the world that sounds intriguing, rent a small furnished apartment and stay a while.

Food everywhere is cheaper when purchased in the markets and cooked at “home.” If the utilities are included, monthly Read More

YANG: Opposites Attract? Or, We Prefer To Hang Out With Like-Minded? Handling Differences/Conflicts – Part II

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Opposites Attract? Or, We Prefer To Hang Out With Like-Minded? Handling Differences/Conflicts – part II
Column by ELENA YANG

Just as differences do not automatically lead to conflicts, they don’t inevitably cause mistakes either. 

However, pushing ideas into feasible plans and on to development involves risks; that’s where potential mistakes occur. 

If most people already feel uncomfortable with voicing different opinions, proposals, or ideas, the discomfort increases with the higher risks that come with realizing such ideas or plans.

Consider this colossal mistake: Read More

Letter to the Editor: Use Slant Drilling in WR Parks?

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By JOHN BARTLIT
Los Alamos
 
A current public issue is whether County water wells should be drilled in County park lands on the edge of White Rock Canyon.
 
The public discussion has dealt little, if any, with alternative drilling technology, namely, directional drilling, also called slant drilling.
 
Directional drilling goes back 50 years, but major advances came as computers became commonplace.
 
Directional drilling is the technique of drilling wells at a slant, instead of always boring straight down. Not only can holes be drilled at an angle, their paths can curve
Read More

Thoughts From the Big Chair: Jonathan Winters, Roger Ebert and A Little Late Night Talk

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Thoughts From the Big Chair
Comments on Television and Associated Media From a Lifelong Addict
Column by RALPH E. CHAPMAN
 

Jonathan Winters, Roger Ebert and A Little Late Night Talk

Hey gang. Sorry to be absent for a few weeks but work and massive amounts of pollen really gave me a bit of a time crunch and brain freeze.

This week I’m going to cover some shorter topics and next week I will have a longer essay on “The Problems and Perils of “Good TV” and Participatory Television;” my thoughts on the general changes I’ve seen in the TV landscape – both good and bad.

On to this week’s topics…

Jonathan Winters Read More

How The Hen House Turns: Rattlesnake Behavior And A Few Brief Reviews

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How The Hen House Turns
By Carolyn A. (Cary) Neeper, Ph. D.
 
Rattlesnake Behavior And A Few Brief Reviews
 

At the end of Streak’s story last week, I promised a rattlesnake story.

Then I received a comment from Joy Drake for my blog at caryneeper.com, and I decided the theme today would digress to include a note about recent research that addresses the issue she mentioned – “ascribing human emotions” to animals.

Are we imagining things when a dog smiles? Or wags its tail, or jumps around excitedly when we get out the leashes? Or when Lucy goose says “Speuw” Read More