Ponderosa State Park just outside of McCall remains a favorite camping spot for many. Although crowded, the park's wooded campground sits right on Payette Lake with access to hiking paths and beaches.

Last week I spent two nights in one of the park's newest additions: four small cabins right on the lake — a short walk to one of the lake's best beaches.

The cabins are not cheap...read more

So maybe it is the worst blog post headline of all time. But I can't help feeling a bit blue as summer starts winding down.

Sunday was the last day of summer, or at least their meaning of it, for thousands of Boise school kids, including my daughter. When a school counselor called her on the phone a couple of days ago and asked her how she felt about school starting, she said she had "mixed...read more

It's NFL 'preseason.' And you know what that means. A bunch of sports fan asking why in the world anybody would watch these exhibition contests involving guys who will have to look for work outside of professional sports by September.

The answer is as simple as a quarterback sneak: Because there aren't any regular season games on.

In Dallas, Cowboy preseason games got larger TV audiences...read more

For some people, the drive from the Boise area to McCall on State Highway 55 is a commute. I guess I can see why they want to finish it in as little time as possible.

But it seems to me that a large percent of people who drive between Boise and McCall are so intent on getting to their destination 15 minutes faster than the next guy they are willing to risk their lives to do it. And I'm not sure...read more

It's finally here. After months of anticipation, I can now toss all varieties of my recyclables in the same container.

That may not seem like a big deal. But sorting recycled trash into four or five different categories and putting those items in separate grocery bags every week for eight years has been a giant pain.

So it is with a great deal of glee that I now toss everything — cardboard...read more

Either you exercise regularly or you don't. There doesn't seem to be much middle ground in this matter.

There are people who do some kind of aerobic exercise on a regular basis and couldn't give it up if they tried. Others start exercising a hundred different times in their life and end up giving it up after a few days or weeks.

To me, exercise is essential. It can make you feel better...read more

I've lived for more than half a century. So I've seen just about every kind of firework there is. I've watched them, lit them and did things with them when I was a kid no sane person should attempt.

I've blown up plastic model tanks with Black Cat firecrackers and gotten caught up in bottle rocket "wars." I've been to a dozen or so commercial or public fireworks displays...read more

As a baby boomer I've heard plenty from my parents and other older relatives about the Great Depression of the 1930s. If you are a boomer or older, you know what I'm talking about.

Most of what I remember about Depression talk are not so much particular stories, but just how hard it was and how it changed the way people thought about work and money.

My late father's aunt, uncle and their...read more

"What is so rare as a day in June?" the poet asked. (Just a second, let me Google it to find which one.) Ah, James Russell Lowell (1819-1891), according to a Web site about birds. (Why birds? Maybe June is their favorite month, too.)

The next line of the poem? "Then, if ever, come perfect days."

Days in June in my native state, Texas, were not so much rare or perfect as pretty...read more

A ride down the water slide at The Natatorium.

No panic attacks from my daughter over school assignments.

A hot Saturday afternoon and me asleep on the couch with a baseball game on TV.

Coming to work without a coat.

Hammocks.

A swim in Payette Lake.

The sound of fireworks from Memorial Stadium after a Hawks game.

The Fourth of July and Labor Day.

7 a.m. walks without a jacket or a flashlight...read more

I have to take issue with my colleague Sharon Strauss.

In her recent blog entry, she writes "you can never and should never trust a neat person. They have something to hide."

I know Sharon was only half-serious with this comment. But it's a perspective I've heard before in office settings. It usually goes something like this: "What's wrong with these people whose desks...read more

You hear a lot of people complaining about the behavior of children in public places these days. Some of it's legitimate. Parents need to keep their kids under a reasonable amount of control in grocery stores and restaurants and the like.

But the next time some toddler throws a tantrum at WinCo or a baby cries in an airplane, don't forget that you were a kid once, too. And you did the same...read more

Remember the radio commercial from a year or two ago that advertised buying a company's product as "the biggest no-brainer in the history of earth"?

Well the biggest misnomer in the history of earth — OK, maybe in just the past year or so — is "flat screen" TV. What people almost always mean when they say this — and believe me, if you keep your ears open...read more

Lots of sports fans consider fall the best time of year. That's when football, probably the nation's most popular sport, kicks in. The World Series takes place. And basketball gets going later in the season.

But its hard to beat this time of the spring for watching sports on television or following games on the Internet. You've got the NBA playoffs in full gallop, the NHL playoffs (so...read more

Call me a throwback, but I like reading a printed newspaper more than the online version.

Stories are easier for me to find. I don't have to click through three links to get to what I want. And I'm never sure that I've actually seen the entire paper when I read the online versions.

I know the present and the future for newspapers is all about the Web. But I'm having a hard time making...read more

Sure, they smell like Grandma's closet and have enough funky knickknacks to fill a dump truck. But thrift stores are an attractive way to go these days.

Think decent stuff is hard to find at thrift stores? You're right. But it can be just as hard tracking down a shirt that fits your frame and style at a department store.

Get creeped out about the idea of wearing something used? Look at...read more

Two important actions on the gay marriage front today. D.C.'s Council (city council?) voted to recognize same-sex marriages from other states. Vermont's Legislature overturned its governor's veto of a law allowing gay marriage. The state's lawmakers voted an overwhelming 100-49 in favor of the veto override.

According to the Associated Press, 29 states still have constitutional...read more

I just love it when I walk through my front yard and have to check every step I take to make sure I don't step in a pile of dog poop.

In New York City they call it "curbing your dog," and one of its meanings is to pick up after your dog, a message that is lost on many dog owners.

A guy down the street from me once had a small, fake headstone on his front lawn that read, "Here...read more

I went to Austin, Texas, last week to help take care of my 88-year-old father. He's been in a skilled-nursing facility for about three weeks now, and it's not pretty. He can't stand up from a seated position or use the bathroom without assistance. He can still wisecrack with the best of them, sing all the words to 60-year-old hit songs, recite off-color limericks and remember details about...read more

This is what I don't like about daylight savings time.

I'm an early riser. And I like to walk for exercise and recreation before I head off to work. I have more energy then, and I can get that part of my routine out of the way when I do it early. I've found the longer I wait to exercise, the more things come up that get in the way of doing it.

So just when it's starting to get light...read more

As John Miller of the Associated Press reported Monday, with Micron's latest round of layoffs, Wal-Mart and St. Luke's Regional Medical Center become Idaho's largest private employers.

Ouch! I hope people like working at Wal-Mart as much as they like shopping there. From Micron to Wal-Mart could be a major step down for someone's personal finances. But Treasure Valley people looking...read more

Many social and political commentators ripped a political cartoon published in the New York Post Feb. 18.

The Post apologized to some for the cartoon.

Is something like this racist even if there is no racist intent?

For some the drawing brought up centuries-long slurs comparing black people to monkeys, a comparison which obviously dehumanizes them. Others said the cartoonist did not mean...read more

Idaho ranks third in the nation in three statistical categories that measure economic woes.

The rankings include January foreclosures rates, unemployment growth and food stamp use.

The statistics are on the the Kaiser Family Foundation Web site. The foundation is a non-profit, private operating foundation that focuses on the major health care issues facing the U.S.

While Idaho's state government...read more

Did you know Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin were born on the same day?

The 200th birth anniversaries of the two giants of history and science falls on Feb. 12.

While Lincoln is considered perhaps the greatest president in U.S. history, Darwin remains a controversial figure. He's a hero to some and a menace to others.

From a Feb. 8 Associated Press story out of London: "It's...read more

I've reported on 50 or so city council meetings in both Caldwell and

Nampa. Every one of them has begun with prayers that refer to Jesus Christ.

No one that I know of has questioned these prayers to start government

functions in Nampa or Caldwell. But the practice has stirred controversy

in several other communities in the United States.

The U.S. Supreme Court just last month denied to hear...read more

At the Nampa State of the City Address last month a woman who had experienced a recent financial crisis spoke about how she coped with it. One of the things she did while she got back on her feet was volunteer. "Volunteering is the most selfish thing you can do," she said.

How true that statement is.

I know this from mentoring a Nampa public school student for the past four years. For...read more

Last night's meeting to discuss the Midland Boulevard and Lake Lowell Avenue roundabout had some testy moments. Several residents from the Augusta Subdivision near the intersection where the roundabout is planned had plenty of doubts about whether it was the best solution for the busy four-way stop. Here's my story that ran in today's IPT.

Two consultants and Nampa Public Works Director...read more

Mensch is Yiddish for a good person, and that's what I found author John Updike to be when I interviewed him on the phone a few years ago. Updike died today at the age of 76.

I read a memoir he wrote in which he talked a lot about how he stuttered when he was a kid. At one point during my interview with him he lapsed into that stutter for only a word. I'll never forget the humanness of...read more

Nampa resident, former IPT and Statesman reporter and former Rep. Bill Sali spokesman Wayne Hoffman will serve as executive director for the new Idaho Freedom Foundation. Here's our story about the new organization.

It will be interesting to see what the new nonprofit, nonpartisan group does. Hoffman said it will be unique in Idaho.

"There's no organization in Idaho that is dedicated...read more

Just in case you haven't had your fill of Obamamania, a Boise man has directed a short documentary about the Democratic caucus in Boise earlier this year.

"State of Change" (watch it here) focuses on Super Tuesday, when Idaho voters gave Barack Obama the largest percentage margin of victory for any state during the 2008 nomination process - nearly 80 percent of the vote, according...read more

Co-workers huddled around the television set in the IPT newsroom this afternoon for President Obama's inaugural address. Several listened to the entire 20-minute speech. (Here's a link to the speech on Politico.com.)

I was busy catching up on e-mails and couldn't watch. But the event reminds me that I have seen plenty of presidential inaugurations. The first was in my first-grade classroom...read more

MIDDLETON - Last night's District 11 precinct chairs vote to name three people for Gov. Butch Otter to consider appointing to replace former Emmett Sen. Brad Little had an interesting twist. (Here's my story on the outcome.)

The precinct chairs decided to vote using elimination rounds to name their candidates. A straight up vote by 21 chairwomen and chairmen was cast for eight candidates...read more

With Idaho's 60th Legislature beginning this week, here are some tips on how to keep up with what's going on.

Check out the Press-Tribune's Democratic Legislators' blog and Republican Legislators' blog.

You can call the legislative information center at the Statehouse annex and talk to a real person who will help you with just about anything. You can also leave messages...read more