Winifred Maker

At the beginning of the 20th Century, Americans truly believed in the goodness of our government. William Tyler Page, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, expressed this when he wrote “The American’s Creed” in 1917. It was accepted ...

‘Drought, Drought, Drought” We kept hearing this dire prediction for the future through the mild. sunny days of November, December and spring-like New Year. I remember years in the past when we heard the same moans and groans that became ...

Son Jim and I were talking this past week about newspaper deliveries, which recalled the various paper routes he had while a student in Enterprise during the 1960s. It was an upsetting time for us. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation ...

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is ...

In most homes, that phrase is heard regularly by people everywhere who have depended on the U.S. Postal Service for the past 250 years. The U.S. Postal Service was formed to keep lines of communication open between friends and relatives; ...

They call George Washington the “Father of Our Country” for good reason. As a general, he led the American Colonist Army to victory over Great Britain in the Revolutionary War (1775–1783). He then set a precedent by saying he would ...

“’Tis education forms the common mind, Just as the twig is bent, the tree’s inclined.” So wrote Alexander Pope in his 1734 letter titled “Epistle to Cobham.” This familiar quote, although several centuries old, describes what harmful or beneficial things ...

You don't have to be rich to feast on Thanksgiving day

What a wonderful world this would be if all of mankind would just follow the laws — both the laws of God and the laws of mankind. God’s laws first, of course, because man is subject to making errors that ...

We hear and see news in all the media that makes us wonder what has gotten into people. There is hardly ever a news report that has no reports of violence. Beatings, knifings, shootings, rapes, robberies, kidnapping, arson and much ...

It has gotten quiet around the house here now that I’m not raising Toy Fox Terriers any more.

Winnie's way

Very often, when someone gets stung they say, “A bee stung me.” More often than not it wasn’t a bee that stung them, but a different insect with a stinger.

I am disgusted beyond measure with the so called justice handed out by Shasta County District Attorney Steve Carlton regarding the plea bargain offered to former Anderson Police Officer Bryan Benson.

If there is one branch of our government that has served we, the American people, with integrity and faithfuless over the years, it has to be the postal service.

When my husband and I first moved to Redding 70 years ago, I really liked the town. It was large enough to find almost anything we needed, but small enough so people retained the pioneer spirit of helping their neighbors. ...

Years ago, I developed a very deep dislike and distrust of labor unions when my late husband, George, was hunting for work. He worked for many non-union jobs because unions turned him down over and over. He worked wherever he ...

Gum, love it or leave it. As children we loved it, but left it because pennies to buy it were as rare as hen’s teeth.

I must be on umpteen sucker’s lists. I keep getting all sorts of offers certain to win magnificent amounts of money or wonderful buys for expensive high-market items at low, low prices.

Civilization assumes that human beings live in a society that acts toward all people in a way that is helpful and, beneficial to mankind. Yet, all our lives, we have heard about and observed behaviors that are mean, hostile, and ...

This past week I listened to an interview with an expert talking about the safe use or lack of safety of chemicals, hormones, antibiotics and other things the Food and Drug Administration is allowing manufacturers to put in our food, ...

We wonder where our freedoms went. We sure do. We senior citizens, who look back to the freedoms we had prior to government seizure of people’s rights.

Are you lucky? When you enter a contest, a drawing, or a sweepstake, do you ever win? Have you ever won? I did, once upon a time — half a century ago. I won a small Dutch doll from Aruba, ...

It’s been a hummingbird year. We’ve had more hummingbirds feeding at our feeders this year than we’ve seen since we moved here 16 years ago. In Oregon we had belligerent Rufus, but these are the smaller, shyer Black Chinned hummingbirds, ...

The wonderful use of language our forefathers used when they produced our United States Constitution has always impressed me with its specificity. It says exactly what it means, leaving no room for misinterpretation — and yet that is exactly what ...

“Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?” It grows very well, thank you, until the “CONTRARIES” move in. Carrots and beets were formed, beans hung heavy on the vines, corn was tasseled, tomatoes were turning red, blossom balls ...

I often think, “What a wonderful world this would be if all of mankind would just follow laws—both God’s and mankind’s.” God’s first, of course, because man is subject to making errors. Man’s laws must agree with God’s laws. God’s ...

With warm weather coming around again it is time to be wary whenever we are outdoors. In the fields, woods, or yards—anywhere a snake can crawl—we need to be vigilant. Rattlesnakes have emerged from their winter dens and will bite ...

With the sun out from behind the clouds, temperatures rising, birds returning from the south, fields turned green, trees leafing out and buds bursting, nesting time is with us.

After a couple of winter months with little rain or snow in the mountains, I keep hearing the usual moans and groans about the horrible drought we’ll face this next summer because of water released from Shasta Dam. My answer ...

The calendar says that it is spring, but the clouds, rain, mud, cold and winds roar. “Not yet, April is still two days away and I’m not through blowing yet!” the wind howls. What did you expect? It’s March.

Arbor Day — a day for planting trees — started April 10, 1872, in Nebraska as a way to teach children about nature and to point out to people the importance of planting trees. Since then, Arbor Day has inspired ...

It’s a rare day when the mail carrier goes by my mail box without stuffing it with junk mail, catalogs, circulars, sales notices, envelopes full of junk, unsolicited gifts from multiple sources, letters seeking donations for various causes. It never ...

When we sold our Oregon ranch and moved back home to California we planned not to bring even our favorite Jersey milk cow, Crystal, with us.

If you’d asked my husband George what it was he did, without a doubt he’d have answered, “I’m a Catskinner.” He was that and more.

“Be My Valentine” has been fun for kids and for lovers for generations. As I was remembering back over the years, I recalled my first Valentine.

Butchering is one of the chores facing subsistence farmers, but on the fur farm butchering became a family project with block and tackle,

In 1927 my father became very ill with an ailment doctors were unable to diagnose. He and Mother felt it must be related to his job as a chemist for an oil company. So Daddy felt he must resign and ...

The news was not good, so many people needed Rickey Michael Miller, the Denturist, who was facing four misdemeanor counts which includes “practicing dentistry without a license,” “installing dentures without proper credentials.”

They are almost gone – those beautiful orange orbs, so filled with sweet, luscious juice that it is almost impossible to eat them without sticky hands, an orange colored chin, and maybe a shirt front dribbled with bright colored drips.

News reports lately have wondered aloud about the plight of baby boomers. i.e the tremendous number of babies born after the soldiers came home from World War II.

Real winter has arrived with lower temperatures than we have seen for a while.Johnny-Come-Latelys talk about the record cold temperatures, but they have little way of knowing of the cold in years past when there have been really frosty times.

On Tuesday, I took the bird out of the refrigerator along with packages of cranberries, celery, and other fixings.It's Thanksgiving week and time to start cooking.

We have a new puppy at our house. We've had him four months during which he has grown to 53 pounds, seven or eight times the size of my Toy Fox Terriers. They flee from him when he bounces gleefully, ...

Witches and ghosts. Ghouls and goblins.Halloween is a favorite holiday for many. Young and old remember they fun they had on Halloween and enjoy the excited expressions of the children who look forward to the coming holiday with its costumes, ...

Once upon a time, I loved raccoons with their black bandit masks. We'd enjoyed the antics of pet raccoons. That was, however, before we became victims of their frequent raids of garden, orchard and poultry yard.

I was challenged recently to reveal what I thought of America’s future. I was sorry to say that I don’t like the looks of what I have seen over the past decades.

Fire — it can be a wonderful, useful friend or it can become the devil incarnate with the hell of roaring, destroying flames. This has been particularly true in the past few decades. Fires have burned into communities, destroying and ...

There are fishermen and then there are true fishermen. George was one of the latter. When he went fishing with family or friends, he’d come home with his creel loaded while the others had few or none. It bugged them, ...

The world and I have watched demonstrations this week against the abuse of human rights by China, the Chinese invasion of Tibet, and the abuse of the Tibetan people by Chinese forces. I find it appalling. Yet, even as they ...