Porch curtains in windy Kansas

Well every week I try to do several things around the house to make it more to my liking. Our upstairs sunroom is yellow and had some heavy cotton green-striped curtains in it. Not a look I am partial to. But, I realized the green in the curtains would look nice against the house green, so I followed an idea I had found online and hung the curtains around the front porch. I realize the picture I saw, however, was probably not from a house in always-windy Kansas, so we'll see how these hold up. We even added a flag for Memorial Day!

Let's create a national "Write-a-Letter Day."

I recently posted a petition on whitehouse.gov encouraging the administration to establish a national "Write-a-Letter Day."

I hope you'll consider signing it and passing this on.

I am shocked that so many young people no longer know how to create and mail a handwritten correspondence. I believe the Post Office is a great institution that should be preserved. "Write-a-Letter Day" is meant to promote personal connections through handwritten correspondence and help the P.O. by increasing the number of first-class mailings.

You can view and sign the petition here: http://wh.gov/JPAD

Here's some more information about this petition: Create "Write a Letter Day." Teach youngsters to write and address a letter. Promote stamps and save the Post Office. The Post Office, one of our national treasures, is losing money due to declining first-class letter mailings. Many young people today have never written a letter by hand and do not know how to properly address an envelope. Our Post Office designs and prints many beautiful and meaningful stamps each year. Postal employees often offer amazing customer service. For these reasons, we should declare a national "Write-a-Letter Day." It should be sometime during the school year so teachers could incorporate it into their curriculum when appropriate. The tradition of handwritten cards and letters is quickly fading. This day would support the P.O. and this great tradition. It would encourage people to buy stamps and visit their local P.O. And it would promote connections with friends or relatives.

Concealed Carry in Kansas and US Gun Laws - Disturbing

I'm a recent Kansas transplant and admit to a bit of culture shock.

Yesterday I went to one of Topeka's prominent greenhouses. The place was overflowing with beautiful perennials, annuals, and veggies. Too many to choose from really. Out front you can get a bale of straw or a whimsical garden ornament made out of old tools and scrap metals. I browsed the plants for a long time and found some beautiful specimens. I then found the lush racks of seeds and picked out several packets. I was enjoying my experience but when I stepped up to the counter to pay I was confronted. Behind the counter they displayed several large metal yard ornaments. One was about 5 feet in length, with pistols jauntily adorning each end. The letters connecting these emblems spelled a chilling message: "We don't call 911."

I had reason today to visit the Shawnee County Sheriff's website. I noticed a pdf download of a no-gun sign. (It's an image of pistol with the familiar circular red strike-through placed over it.) Instinctively, I printed it out. I thought, I'll make one for my car, post it on my front door, and maybe even get a t-shirt made. Then, I thought, "Wait, this is Kansas. That might not be a good idea."

Kelly Ayotte, seemingly mild-mannered Republican senator from New Hampshire, recently held a town hall. A daughter of one of the teachers massacred at Sandy Hook Elementary School confronted her about her recent vote against the bill that would create universal background checks for gun purchases. Ayotte had a stumbling response. The daughter defiantly walked out and deliberately turned her back on the senator.

Ayotte should have just said: "I need NRA support to win reelection. I would be primaried by Tea Party candidates if I voted against this bill. I had no choice. Surely you understand."

No, Senator Ayotte and all you other weak-kneed senators. We do not understand. Strengthen your spines. Stand up straight for what is right.

Not only do we need universal background checks, and you know it, we also need to confiscate all military-style weapons and high-capacity magazines. These instruments of massacre have no place in civil society and are not needed for self defense. Police officers don't even carry them.

Elected officials need to grow up and stand up for what is right. If the NRA abandons you the American people will be there to prop you up.
Video of the Ayotte town hall: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/04/kelly-ayotte-gun-vote-90784.html