THE SKAGIT BRIDGE WAS DECLARED FUNCTIONALLY OBSOLETE IN 2000….AND IN 2010…along with 1/4 of the rest of the 7,000+ bridges in Washington state.  And it collapsed.  This is part of the I-5 at Mt. Vernon. I am absolutely amazed that our infrastructure is crumbling, when we have a surplus of labor at hand.  Why are we paying for people to be on...

NOTHING SAYS SUMMER LIKE AL FRESCO DINING, and it can start with savory, roasted Cornish game hens.  I go with one game hen per person, because I like leftovers, but if you have a lot of side dishes, you can easily do 2 per hen. While the hens are roasting in the oven,  throw a table cloth on the picnic table in the back yard or pack the picnic hamper.  Game hens...

QUESTION: What are you doing about climate change? If the question sends you screaming into the other room with your hands over your ears, you’re not alone.  It seems too scary and overwhelming for most of us to deal with.  It’s just too big.  We feel that our little recycling efforts, or buying more vegetables than meat are just futile.  It’s...

YOU KNOW YOU SHOULD EAT BETTER, but you really like hamburgers, pizza and bacon.  What’s a food lover to do? Saturday Salon Question:  Can you eat healthy and enjoy your food? I also adore delicious food!  There aren’t magical shortcuts to being fit, but this is one area that you can tackle successfully.  Like most of life, it’s all about...

THIS HOUSE MAY BE TORNADO PROOF, but what about earthquakes, hurricanes or bombs?  Can we build anything that will keep us safe from everything?  No.  And while I’m all for doing whatever we can do to keep ourselves safe, at some point, we need to accept things over which we have no control.  We need to do everything within our power to address climate...

YOU ARE CARRYING AROUND A BOWLING BALL.  Really.  And I’m only exaggerating slightly.  Up to 9 pounds of our body weight is bacteria, most of which resides in our guts.  Bacteria outnumber human cells 10 to 1.  That’s a LOT of little microbes crawling in, around, on, and through our cells.  Luckily for us, most of them (~85%) wear white hats. Only...

SPACE TRAVEL? Why not?  CURE CANCER? Sooner than we think. FEED THE WORLD? Absolutely. All of the things that seemed so distant and impossible even 100 years ago have already come to pass, so I don’t see any reason why these seemingly impossible things can’t come to pass, too.  To me, it’s not a matter of if, or when, but which ones we want to...