Columns & Editorials
Luke grills some chicken halves over a wood fire using an old school BBQ sauce.
OUTDOORS
BBQ THE OLD SCHOOL WAY
The Scoop On Seniors
The Layden Senior Citizens Center of Forney is located at 101 Main Street in City Hall, open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Wild animals know how to survive summer’s heat. Luke photographed this moose in knee keep water during midday in northern Saskatchewan near the Northwest Territories. The temperature was 85 degrees. Staying cool is even more important during our hot Texas summers.
OUTDOORS
STAY SAFE IN THE HEAT!
Ask Aunt
B Dear Aunt B, How do I reach out to people that I have lost contact with? There have been people in my past that I have lost touch with, and I miss them. Do you have any good advice?
In a Van, Down by the River
I am not a smart person. I can’t seem to grasp technology. I don’t understand Wi-Fi at all, leading me into all sorts of predicaments where I must edit my columns on my phone where autocorrect often changes words into other words, like 2 weeks ago. Did you catch that? Tint became tent. I blame it on self-diagnosed ADHD. I am easily distracted, especially by cats. I’m horrible at math. I’ve been told that my orating skills are lacking sorely. My stories are long and laborious, twisting into pretzel-like dead end journeys that never seem to find the cheese in the maze. But, if you need someone who files away incredibly detailed info snippets into their brain that leads to random shout outs of the most random facts, spontaneously, I’m your girl. I make a heck of a Trivial Pursuit partner. I’m also decent at music trivia, especially if we’re concentrating on 70s-80s tunes. I often yell at my husband, “Quick! Your life is at stake! Your survival depends on your ability to tell me who sings this song. Go!” My husband is very smart. He understands boring things like debt-to-income ratios and the dollar and other nonsense that makes me yawn. He seriously doubts the zombie apocalypse will ever occur, or that music trivia will save the day in the event it does happen. Also, he just doesn’t know who sang the song. But, we do tend to balance each other well. I hope so, at least. By the time you read this column, we will have already returned from a much-needed vacation to celebrate our 20th anniversary. You may think we headed straight to an all-inclusive resort in a tropical locale. Nope. Perhaps we are Flora-Bama aficionados, beaching it down south for a week? Wrong. Surely we are international travelers with sensible walking shoes, snapping our digital lives away in Italy or Spain? No again. We leave in 48 hours, headed once again, to Idaho.
Seven Tips to Stay Safe During the Summer Heat
The dog days of summer have certainly arrived, and with the soaring temperatures Texas State Parks is sharing seven tips to help Texans enjoy time outdoors safely. Last year, 47 state parks reported 141 heatrelated illnesses in humans and pets. Since January 1, 77 heat-related incidents have already been reported, compared to 64 reported by this time last year.