Category: Janet Miller

Since the days of lockdowns, we experience Independence Day, July Fourth, with a renewed fervor. When mandates curtailed our taken-for-granted freedoms, many citizens took an interest in the powers of government. As we celebrate...

My job depends on ag. Whoops, all our lives depend on agriculture. Everyone’s existence depends on the food and other goods provided by agriculture. This is doubly true on the greater Westside, where many people’s jobs...

A National Moment of Remembrance is officially held at 3 p.m. on Memorial Day, which is May 26. The “Moment” became public law in December 2000. All Americans are asked to stop whatever they are doing at 3 p.m. local time and...

Local car enthusiasts have two opportunities during the upcoming weeks to enjoy vintage autos. See the Eagle Field Runways Drags Reunion in Mendota and the Hot Summer Nights Car Show in Dos Palos. Remember that the Eagle Field...

On Mother’s Day it is lovely to greet moms and other women we love with “Happy Mother’s Day.” Most mothers do enjoy the recognition. A card is great too, but a simple gift chosen with love can show special caring. There are many...

It’s fair time! The Merced County Spring Fair in Los Banos is from April 30 through May 4. While there are many amazing exhibits and activities, youth animal projects are a main component of the fair. Animal sales provide an...

If Easter seems later this year, it is. According to ancient tradition, Easter cannot be celebrated until we have the first full moon after the vernal equinox. Christians around the world celebrate the resurrection of Jesus...

Most of us are aware of the Chicken Little fairytale. This time-told story has many similar versions. The basics and moral teachings remain the same.          Chicken Little gets hit...

As I sit down for this week’s column, I cannot get out of my head the well-known line from T.S. Eliot’s poem “The Waste Land.” He penned, “April is the cruelest month.” In the Midwest where Eliot was raised, April was a muddy...

It was not until I experienced a near disaster that I feared the possible danger of rechargeable batteries. Last summer I was given a personal rechargeable fan and soon appreciated why we hear many battery warnings. I plugged in...

“These are the times that try men’s souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman,.”...