David Laird Memorial
Dave Laird has passed away. Today marks the end of a wonderful and marvelous life of a giant gentleman. David always started and ended his conversations with "It's another day in Paradise."
Community Comment
SATURDAY, APRIL 30, 2016
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 1, 2014
Blessings for the New Year
Happy New Year! First day of the year!!! A clean slate. An actual "Do-Over". A day when my resolutions will be 100% successful! This year, though, I simplified my resolution(s) to simply count my blessings all day long. Also, to be joyful; to be kind;…
SATURDAY, NOV. 23, 2013
Community Comment; It Takes a Village
This is a prayer request for Dave Laird. I count Dave as one of my best friends. If you are lucky enough to have him as a friend, you will always be respected, loved, and valued. He is gregarious, eccentric, boisterous, and he beats to…
WEDNESDAY, AUG. 28, 2013
Dave's Journey
Good Evening, Netizens and all the populace of Dave Laird's Virtual Ballroom. Dave has had a really rough 12 months - the final piece of this roller coaster ride is culminating in a procedure to fuse a vertebrae that he somehow broke a couple months…
THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2013
Is it ok to kill my neighbor for my car?
First, we have issues in Spokane with overuse of power; then the mayor says that police are not going to respond to personal property crimes; then we have to protect ourselves; then nutso people run rampage with guns and kill several children; then we start…
FRIDAY, FEB. 8, 2013
To Be, Or Not. . .
Yesterday, my seatmate at dialysis talked to his doctor about planning on NOT coming back to dialysis because the site in his arm is so pitiful and they spend about an hour trying to get it to work and the blood flow to be adequate…
FRIDAY, JAN. 11, 2013
Oscar the Oven Mitt
I love names. I give names to everything – my car, my cat, my kids, spiders, clothes, and oven mitts. Actually, it’s my Mom’s doing. She started it. When we were growing up, Mom acquired an oven mitt in the shape of an alligator (or…
FRIDAY, JAN. 4, 2013
To Vaccinate or Not
Recently, Yahoo reported on nurses being fired at an Indiana hospital for refusing to get vaccinated. (http://news.yahoo.com/nurses-fired-refusing-flu-shot-224637902--abc-news-health.html) I am in a position where I depend on my care givers to get vaccinated for the flu. I think that all care givers in hospitals and doctors'…
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 2, 2013
No Resolution Necessary
The New Year has arrived!!! Hallelujah! I can honestly say, for 2012, Thank God That’s Over. And I mean, I pray thanks to God that this year is over. Not that I’ve had a bad year, mind you, but I believe I have walked through…
MONDAY, DEC. 24, 2012
The Simple Season
I remember making bells for the Christmas tree out of egg cartons and foil; this and chain links made out of different strips of colored construction paper and Elmer's glue (or even homemade flour glue). All our decorations were home made. Most of our gifts…
SATURDAY, DEC. 15, 2012
What Can I Pray?
It is the end of a terrible day, with 20 children dead along with 7 adults. It is beyond my comprehension how this can happen. What can I pray? I ask for peace and comfort, as much as it can be felt by broken-hearted families.…
FRIDAY, DEC. 14, 2012
Bad Santa
My one regret as a parent (Oh, ok, I have a gazillion regrets, but this one particular one wasn’t my fault!), and that is that my two sons never got their picture taken with Santa. We tried but failed miserably. It happened that my first…
TUESDAY, NOV. 27, 2012
My Grace
I was reading an interview with writer Anne Lamott in the November 24, 2012 Spokesman-Review, regarding her book, Help. Thanks. Wow. (http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2012/nov/24/divine-connections/) I haven’t even read her book, however, I immediately realized that Help, Thanks, Wow is the way I got through this past summer.…
SATURDAY, NOV. 24, 2012
Never On A Sunday
I really hate what the holidays have become - so materialistic. Everybody's on a shopping frenzy for Christmas presents today (Black Friday) for items that are almost guaranteed to be put in a yard sale next summer, or high up in a closet, or deep…
SUNDAY, MAY 13, 2012
It's Mother's Day!
It’s Mother’s Day – MY day – when I am supposed to be the Queen for the Day, waited on hand and foot, breakfast in bed with burnt toast and undone eggs and relishing every single little bite. Only, not today – both my sons…
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21, 2012
Insanity Wild Card
Let's talk about something that really riles me in a big way - the proposed bill to invasive ultrasound testing required for women who are considering abortion. First - I am for all life. I love babies. I loved being pregnant. But I was fortunate…
THURSDAY, FEB. 23, 2012
I Want the Same Rights as Spokane Police
So, the latest and oh so similar story (same ol' same ol') has come to Spokane AGAIN. Thanks to Chelsea Bannach's article http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2012/feb/23/fired-officers-settlement-unleashes-outcry-review/ - once again I am amazed and angered that the City of Spokane has no spine! Brad Thoma gets rewarded for acting…
THURSDAY, FEB. 2, 2012
What is Average Anyway??
I thought that I was the quintessential average woman. No way! Not anymore! It's Ellen DeGeneres! So says J.C. Penney. http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/j-c-penney-wont-fire-ellen-anti-gay-000900801.html I'm on a roll for our Blog theme today, which is, what is the standard for average in 2012? One Million Moms are unable…
Same-Sex Marriage Approved by Senate
Good morning Netizens, Hopefully I can rouse your interest and comments while Blogmeister David Laird is traveling this week. The latest and greatest piece of news recently is that the Washington State Senate has approved of Same-Sex Marriage. See http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2012/feb/02/senate-approves-same-sex-marriage/. I think this is a…
SATURDAY, DEC. 3, 2011
Herman Cain is Getting Out of the Bed
Well, it has begun - all the sniping, gutter-swiping, yellow journalism, affairs, un-affairs, and innuendoes have finally sent Herman Cain out of the bed he was lying in. He has "exited the political campaign" according to news sources (CNN for one). I hate politics, don't…
TUESDAY, NOV. 22, 2011
Bake a Cake, Win a Turkey, or Starve!
Thanksgiving was just around the corner, years ago, when my sons were 8 and 9. I worried about Thanksgiving, coming and going, without a turkey. It was going to be a pretty grim Thanksgiving; I was eyeballing chickens and wondering how fooled the boys would…
SATURDAY, JUNE 18, 2011
Happy Father's Day
I wrote this for my Dad, Don Rice, who passed away December 19, 2003, former features editor for the Spokane Daily Chronicle. I will be forever grateful that I sent this letter to my Dad the summer before he died. That is a blessing all…
SATURDAY, APRIL 30, 2011
Virtual Bliss
In a phone conversation today, Dave and I discussed the Virtual Ballroom, which hasn’t been seen for several months now. I’m sure you have missed it. Some have made comments about its whereabouts. You know these virtual ballrooms – they have a mind of their…
SATURDAY, JAN. 29, 2011
Strike One-Half
Hallelujah! No taser or gun was fired! I am pleasantly surprised that, in a struggle with a combatant citizen, the Spokane police officers were able to subdue him without firing their guns or using their tasers - and in this case, it would probably have…
SUNDAY, JAN. 16, 2011
We Need to Dream Again
Tomorrow marks the anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birth (January 15, 1929). Mr. King was a remarkable figure in our history - for all cultures, for all faiths, for all beliefs, for all people. As we seem to be muddled in the middle of…
Spokesman-Review readers blog about news and issues in Spokane written by Dave Laird.