My old editor, F.G. "Doc" Kirby called columns like this "thissa and thatta." They are observations from passing along the road we call life.

While other parts of the nation are experiencing terrible weather, we seem to be doing pretty well in our Valley.

I wrote a story recently about the litigation between Texas and New Mexico over water in the Rio Grande and had to resist adding my opinion that the water isn't theirs, anyway.

One source mentioned a treaty signed in the 1930s that gave some water to Mexico and bemoaned the fact that it hasn't been honored. Welcome to reality.

I received my water-sewer-trash bill from the city last week and noted that the sewer portion was the biggest. Is that Alamosa's way of telling me I'm full of it?

With that in mind, I wonder what Congress' sewer tab looks like.

Along the streets and roads, I see houses that are vacant and apparently have been so for years and I wonder why the homeless aren't allowed to live there in exchange for doing some fix-up work.
It may not be feasible, but it's a thought.

Recently, an odd report found its way onto my Facebook account. Apparently, someone has been putting mirrors in the windows of the president's house at Adams State.

People are upset. Why?

It seems some folks are looking for something to get stirred up over.

When I was in college, "enlightened" students would have put mirrors in their windows and the guru from the downtown hippie mart would have made deeply philosophical comments on the front steps of Richardson Hall.

Now, with social media, he isn't required to leave his cave.

Public protests take place and they are generally ignored, just as they were in the 1970s.
Our Valley, our hometowns, are a great place to be, but some change is needed.

I was talking with one of the "movers and shakers" recently about what is wrong and the topic turned to heroin and methamphetamines.

Thinking back to when my sons were teens, the biggest lessons came from what happened to other people their age.

If it didn't "hit home," it didn't seem to matter.

Today's news steers clear of saying someone died of a heroin overdose so it really never hits anywhere outside the rumor mill, which can be inaccurate and downright vicious.

It always amazes me that people can gossip and talk trash about other people when there's doggie do on their own front steps.

From time to time, I am contacted by someone who is deeply concerned about the proliferation of abortion. Usually it's a man or a menopausal matron like myself who really has no stake in the battle.
Only a very tiny portion of the work done by Planned Parenthood deals with abortion. Most of the services deal with preventing pregnancy and helping women stay healthy, Federal funds haven't paid for abortions in years, yet congress persons want to kill all the other programs involved.

This comes on the heels of expressed concerns over who marries who and whether the kid down the street is male or female. I just pray that people will learn to stay out of the personal lives of others. Rather than working to cut the size of government, they want new rules to keep track of this.

Personally, I leave it alone if I'm not directly affected.

Back in the day, children and parents had "the talk" and enforcement took place at the kitchen table.
There were flaws, of course. Showing a young teenager how to put a condom on a banana won't ensure he will put one where it matters.

My best friend calls the end result "love children." Maybe. Usually, it's the mother who bears the burden.

I think I have watched too much daytime television.

From time to time, children get cited into court for smoking in the lot across from the high school and I wonder if the schools ever truly try to prevent bad choices with honest counseling.

The fact that a metro school district is making rules to prevent expulsion of young students and the local schools do it without a second thought tells me someone has dropped the ball.
We don't need new laws, we need to deal with the matters at hand.