Serve by Design

Our family room is decorated with Texas symbols. It is a tribute to the fifteen years that we resided in the Lone Star State. Prominently on display is a beautiful Texas Afghan throw comforter, that is draped over our largest couch and showcased by two Texas pillows at each end! The comforter pictures, in decorative stitching, some of the most notable symbols of the Great State: the Alamo, the Mockingbird, the Armadillo, a Bucking Bronco, a Pecan Tree, and numerous Bluebonnets outlining the perimeter! It is a continual reminder of what we love about Texas! A Tribute to Mac! I regularly read these monthly periodicals: Texas Monthly , Parks and Wildlife , and Texas Highways . They help me to keep up with Texas news, events, and happenings! I never miss reading the last page of Texas Monthly that features a delightfully funny and sarcastic short article with a “Question and Answer” format. It is written by Davis Courtney, The Texanist , who, by his own description, offers “Fine Advice an...

When I was a boy, I went out summer evenings into the bottom ground of the Kaskaskia River hunting for raccoons with my dad and our next-door neighbor, Jim. Dad and Jim loved this sport and exercised their dogs in and out of season. The challenge for the dogs was to pick up and follow the coon scent all the way to the tree. Occasionally, and much to the displeasure of their owners, these highly trained canines would fall prey to other scents and be drawn away! "I smell something!" For years, I have known how hunting dogs have this heightened sense of smell, but I was surprised to recently learn that the African giant pouched rat also has the same ability! This species of large rodents is being used in some seventy-eight countries throughout the world where individuals have been victimized by landmines. Statistics show these dangerous unexploded ordnances kill or maim fifteen to twenty-thousand civilians each year! Research engineers, who work to study and train these specia...