For many years it seemed as if nothing changed in Norway. You could leave the country for three months travel the world through coups d'etat assassinations famines massacres and tsunamis and come home to find that the only new thing in the newspapers was the crossword puzzle.

As we celebrate Recovery Month it is time for Congress to knock down the barriers to treatment and recovery for 26 million Americans suffering the ravages of alcohol and drug addiction.

Employee of the month is a good example of how somebody can be both a winner and a loser at the same time.

Be of service. Whether you make yourself available to a friend or co-worker or you make time every month to do volunteer work there is nothing that harvests more of a feeling of empowerment than being of service to someone in need.

Time has no divisions to mark its passage there is never a thunder-storm or blare of trumpets to announce the beginning of a new month or year. Even when a new century begins it is only we mortals who ring bells and fire off pistols.

I think and think for months and years. Ninety-nine times the conclusion is false. The hundredth time I am right.

Additionally Smart Irrigation Month serves to recognize advances in irrigation technology and practices that produce not only more but also higher quality plants with less water.

I went to school at this log school house. A white woman was my teacher I do not remember her name. My father had to pay her one dollar a month for me. Us kids that went to school did not have desks we used slates and set on the hued down logs for seats.

I'd never been a teacher before and here I was starting my first day with these eager students. There was a shortage of teachers and they had been without a math teacher for six months. They were so excited to learn math.

We spend the first twelve months of our children's lives teaching them to walk and talk and the next twelve telling them to sit down and shut up.