Be careful out there

Area firefighters have been busy battling wildfires. Incredibly dry conditions turn vegetation to fuel for wildland fires. Add low humidity and a brisk Oklahoma breeze and catastrophe is just a spark away.
There are things we can do to prevent fires. Keep cigarettes and ashes inside the car. Maintain vehicles to prevent sparks and backfiring. Don't park in tall grass and weeds. Hot engines and exhaust systems can ignite dry grass. Adhere to the ban on outdoor burning. Avoid anything that causes sparks outside.
Firefighters also can offer tips on how to protect our homes and property from a wildfire that could encroach. Clear dead branches, weeds and grass away from houses and outbuildings. Is this winter's firewood stacked beside the barn or by the back door? Move it. Check with your area firefighters for more tips. They will be happy to advise - if they can keep off their fire trucks long enough.
And they are always there when we need them. Ever notice that? In the interest of full disclosure, I will say here that my husband is a retired firefighter and public education officer. He spent decades battling fires under all conditions and also teaching people, mostly kids, how to prevent fires and fire-related injuries.
Firefighters are there whenever we need them, putting their lives on the line every day. Let's keep in mind the threat to the people who fight fires. Maybe that will help us remember to take extra steps to prevent fires. Be safe.

Breast cancer threatens more than humans

The past two Octobers, the NewsPress has honored breast cancer victims and survivors with a daily series sharing their stories, their struggles, their obstacles and their triumphs.
Several months ago I learned that breast cancer does not prey only on humans.
My Welsh Corgi Scampi was diagnosed with breast cancer last fall. After surgery she was cancer free for the rest of 2010. But with 2011 came more cancer.
On June 25, the cancer won. Scampi went outside and scurried beneath the porch my husband built to ease her outdoor adventuring when the existing doorstep proved too much of a challenge. And there, she drew her last breath.
As much as I have mourned the passing of my loving Corgi, I also have resolved to spread the message. Spay your puppies. Our veterinarian says early spaying drastically reduces the chances of female dogs developing breast cancer.
I didn’t know.
And now she is gone at an age she should be curled up beside my chair.
We urge people to have their pets spayed and neutered to reduce the number of animals that suffer from neglect, abuse and homelessness.
And now I know spaying puppies can also reduce the number of premature deaths to breast cancer.
Do your friend a favor.

Goodbye, Betty Ford

America is saying goodbye to one of the strongest women - no, one of the strongest people - ever to occupy the White House.
Betty Ford was a first lady who shared her strength, her family, her weaknesses and her humor with her country.
Women too young to remember Betty Ford need only look around at the strong women influencing today's world and see her legacy.
Betty Ford was a feminist, a women's rights advocate and a symbol of strength. And she was willing to share with the world when challenges tested that strength.
She faced substance addiction and the Betty Ford clinic became a well-known center that served those whose
own addictions previously had been kept hidden.
When Betty Ford developed breast cancer, she let the world know. And she survived, empowering women everywhere.
Our world is a little less right now, it seems, with Betty Ford's death.
But our world is so much more because she was in it.

Earth Day - why not every day?

We need to take this earth thing seriously.
Recycling isn’t a fad. It’s a necessity. There will never be any more land than we have on this earth at this moment. And we are filling it up with trash. We have alternatives we can do every day in painless ways. Sort the plastic and the glass and the paper and the cans and see how they add up. When you heft them to the collection center look at their bulk and realize you saved that much space in a landfill.
A filter on a faucet eliminates mountains of plastic water bottles and provides the same clean water we find in a bottle. Filter your faucet water, fill up your favorite reusable container and go.
If your cabinet or broom closet is overflowing with plastic supermarket bags – hate to throw them away - there is an alternative. A favorite canvas tote bag or a reusable shopping bag marketed at any of dozens of stores gives you a handle on strong-arming those groceries without adding to the waste pile. Keep it in the car.
Our attention needs to go further than material things – in life and in protecting our Earth.
An appliance that is unplugged when not in use, a shower shortened by a minute, a thermostat 2 degrees up or down, a phone charger disconnected from the outlet when the phone is not on it – these reflect little earth-friendly things we can do and stay in our comfort zone.
When it comes to saving our planet, it’s great to go big. But until we are ready to go big, we can at least go small.
Let’s make every day Earth Day.

Martha Stewart knows her meatballs

How do you get your meatballs to blip the radar of Martha Stewart?
She told a recent studio audience that she sent her staff members out and about in New York to taste a basket of meatballs all over the city and report back.
But you don't get meatballs on the Martha Stewart Show solely on the vote of a Stewart staffer.
Ms. Stewart - may I call you Martha? - says she sampled the finalists to select several chefs to prepare their signature meatballs on a show in January.
Good day for me to be in the audience during a recent trip to Manhattan.
We tasted chicken meatballs spiced to present a forkable alternative to the finger licking that accompanies the traditional buffalo wing.
We tasted a family recipe that was nearly as big as a baseball and we tasted a ball with scrumptious cheese injected. OMG. There were no losers.
Sitting in the studio audience of the Martha Stewart Show was a guilty pleasure. I have not an ounce of craftiness in my body. I don't sew. I have no eye for color and design. I can prepare a couple of dinner dishes with limited confidence.
In short, I'm not Martha Stewart.
But darn it, I like her. I like that she is strong and talented and determined and independent and she takes charge and she accepts responsibility.
So, I signed up for a ticket. Easy enough to get. Go to her website - where you also will find information on her new ReMarthable giveaway.
And fill out not just a request but a section about yourself. It's the place the Martha faithful can list their special Martha-esque talents and interests. Despite my lack of any Marthaisms to recount, my ticket request was accepted.
Then a few days later came an e-mail with just a few little instructions. Wear bright colors. Martha likes bright colors, the Audience e-mail confides. OK. Jewel tones. OK. And be on time - which is nearly two hours before showtime. OK. And no photos during filming. OK. And don't haul in your luggage. Ah, those pesky tourists.
What did I learn about Martha Stewart during my few hours in her New York studio? No secrets. No revelations. Just the no-nonsense, all-business Martha Stewart we all see every day.
And that's what I came for. That and the meatballs.
And a cookbook. And a can of olive oil I wasn't sure I could get home in my checked travel bag. But I did.
Nothing short of ReMarthable.

Expecting a super Super Bowl?

Ah, the Super Bowl.
College football has been on hiatus a month. Wrestling is under way. Basketballs are pounding the hardwood. Major League Baseball players are thinking about packing for camp.
It must be Super Bowl time.
Green Bay? Pittsburgh? We'll know Sunday night.
Millions of people will tune in - most for the game, some for the commercials.
While you are watching football with all those millions of people, think of this. More people read newspapers than will be watching the Super Bowl Sunday night.

Cold enough for you?

Did Congress repeal global warming, too?
When we start speculating that winter is going to be mild this year, a blizzard barrels in.
Just in case the first eight inches of snow wasn't enough, Mother Nature added two more Friday.
Notice how nice the storm made those around us? Strangers pulling cars out of snow drifts. The city offering to pick up extra trash bags.
Gives us all a warm fuzzy feeling. Be careful out there.