Kelly Learns
A compilation of my columns from the Sunday issues of the Daily Courier, Prescott, Arizona.
I’ve been writing an every-other Sunday column for the Daily Courier in Prescott, AZ since late 2020, thanks to the kind encouragement of long-time columnist Ron Barnes, who spent over 30 years contributing his wisdom not only to the newspaper but to many other people and organizations in the Prescott area. He put in some good words to the publisher and editor for me when he decided to retire from column writing. It’s one of those gifts you never knew you wanted and then realize how grateful you are to have it.
The Daily Courier has exclusive rights to my column for 60 days after publication, which is why you might be reading a Christmas column in February. I love writing but seem to need a project and deadline to do it. Hopefully this blog will inspire me to write more. Thanks for stopping by to check out my site!
Dog days of summer
I was researching summer trivia for an event I was leading when I discovered this fun factoid: Americans eat 150 million hot dogs on the Fourth of July. I started thinking about that number and looked up the U.S. population in 2024. It’s 342 million, which means on Independence Day, almost every other person you know probably ate a hot dog, if this statistic is correct. Frankly, I know plenty of people who hate hot dogs. If we toss in vegetarians, babies, people watching their sodium intake, folks who don’t eat pork for religious reasons or, someone like me, who ate a hot dog the day before the holiday and figured I shouldn’t push my luck with two in one week, it’s hard to imagine 150 million getting devoured in one day. I decided to do more digging on the dogs, and according to the...
A lifetime of helping others
If you are lucky enough to make it to the age of 103, it’s likely a lot of people will have special memories about you. When I heard the news that Alton “Al” Cheney had died, some of those moments popped into my head. If you ever met Al, you’d remember him. He’s that...
Sand and snow
We packed up the dogs and headed to the beach a few weeks ago. It may seem odd to visit the ocean in January, but the cheap, off-season prices and the lure of humidity and warmer weather — even if it’s only 60 degrees — sounded good to us. We got off to a later start...
Five wishes
He was supposed to be a puppy. At least that’s what I’d been looking for when I drove into the Humane Society parking lot. We’d been without a dog since our Canada move two years earlier and somehow the cats were winning 3-0 at home. That’s what happens when a dog gal...
No place like home
There’s a line Dorothy says in “The Wizard of Oz” movie: “If I ever go looking for my heart’s desire again, I won’t look any further than my own backyard.” Those words felt especially true this week as we entertained our good friends, Glen and Carol, who were escaping...
A new leash on life
I have a soft spot in my heart for old dogs. We’ve lived here long enough that the young pups who used to jump and pull hard on their leashes when we walked by with our dogs have now mellowed into gray-faced dignitaries who sit quietly while their humans talk for a...
Pipe dreams
I was sure I smelled a gas leak one recent Sunday morning as I was walking down our driveway, but after checking out the obvious culprits, the smell was gone. I convinced Mike to come outside and sniff around with me, just in case. We wandered around the yard, noses...
You can’t hug a sticky note
Each January, when I resolve to be more organized, I look at my desk and think about how nice it would feel to see papers sorted and filed, a clean pad of paper on top of the desk, and my computer monitors freed from all the sticky notes encouraging me to do something...
Be mine, Valentine
I still remember the agony of a certain fourth-grade assignment years ago. Scraps of pink, red and white paper littered the floor as our classroom full of 10-year-olds cut out hearts with blunt-end scissors. We tried to make lacy doilies by folding our hearts and...
A leap of faith
One of the best parts of my job is talking to people and hearing snippets of their life stories. A few weeks ago, I was talking with a Navy veteran who served during the Vietnam era. Part of his job was packing parachutes. “How do you fold up the fabric and stuff it...
Finders keepers
Each year, January is the month I resolve to become more organized. Like many resolutions, I start strong. I put out cardboard boxes in the spare bedroom, with post-it notes marked “donate,” “keep,” or “toss” on them. I pack up random mugs and unused kitchen tools....
A shot of hope
“Guess what?” a friend who works in health care asked as we talked on the phone. “You’re running away to a tropical island for a month?” I guessed, picking what sounded best to me right now. “No. I got the COVID vaccine!” she said, her voice dropping to an excited...