Unemployment and hunger go hand-in-hand. In our rural California county, the numbers for both the unemployed and the hungry continue to rise.

Do you want to look older and die sooner? Here are a few things you can do to increase your odds.

Despite women's advances in education and experience, we still earn less than men. 

Just as we begin to settle into spring's warmth and beauty, another winter storm hits our area.

Here in rural California, we're surrounded by hungry critters, and often their relentless appetites disturb our lives.

Poetry can give us a fresh, new look at things.... just like spring. For years, I carried the partial memory of a poem that had delighted me. Through the Internet, I found the poem and found that it is as joyful as I'd remembered. Let me share it with you.

April is national poetry month. To prove that poets can be both relevant and artistically excellent, I'm sharing part of a Robert Frost poem that describes the fickle winter weather chilling what should be warm, Spring days.

Although California certainly needs all the rainfall it can gt, I'm more than weary of this endless winter weather.

A descendant of five generations of Texans, Liz Carpenter brought energy, humor and intelligence to every endeavor, from covering the White House of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, to raising teenagers when she, herself, was in her 70s.