Spring is perking right along and even though some recent pics of places like Yellowstone show a plethora of snow still on the ground, it won't be long now until the buffalo there will be head butting nosey, picture taking tourists once again.

It is that time of year again when Spring comes rushing into the Southern United States with a passion and leaves a person never knowing if you will need the furnace or the air conditioning on any given day. And having been down in those parts some ten or more years in a row, Ol’ Dutch knows that hot summer weather will find us faster than crap through the proverbial goose.

It has been my honor to serve the San Luis Valley as a Director on the SLV Rural Electric Co-op Board for the past four years. Now it is time for the District 7 Director-at-Large election. Note that ballots will be mailed out to members on May 11.

When I decided to become a counselor, I did not think I wanted to counsel children. I had previously worked at Tu Casa, Inc., with the Children’s Advocacy Center of the San Luis Valley (CAC) under its umbrella. Even though I did not work directly with the children at the CAC, I did occasionally work with the family in one way or another.

The Bunny came and went here without so much as a dyed egg as that tradition seems to have passed the way of all things messy for moms. Nowadays of course we have multicolored plastic eggs that can be filled with all sorts of things like candy and toys and even coins.

Spring has sprung down here in Texas where Ol’ Dutch and Miss Trixie spend our winters. In fact, it may have just sprung right past Spring and headed into an early summer as temperatures today are going to be North of 90 degrees. One thing you will find wherever you are on the Great Plains is that if you do not like the weather, you can wait 24 hours and it will usually change. And that can mean using the heater one day and air conditioning the next, which is what has occurred here where we are.

I am writing to you with a heavy heart. It has now been over a week since our community experienced a very tragic event. It was reported that the police took down and killed a “man” who charged at them with knives during a wellness check. An awful picture was published from the officer’s body cam portraying this individual as a monster.

We do not prevent child abuse by accepting it. We do not prevent it by being shy, embarrassed, or quiet about it. We prevent it by speaking out, asking questions, finding answers, and advocating for those who need us most, our kids. April is Child Abuse Prevention Month, and we need to talk about it. We need to talk about what is happening to kids in our communities and beyond. We need to talk about why some parents mistreat the ones they love the most. We need to talk about why we, as a community, must remain vigilant in protecting all our children.

I am not sure whoever conjured up the term “babysitting” when referring to the act of watching over someone else’s little rugrat but anyone that has done much of it can tell you there is not much of any “sitting” that goes on during that job. Those little rascals sensing some long sought after freedom from mommy soon turn into little hellions bent on the destruction of property and nerves alike in a lot of cases.

Child Abuse Prevention Month (CAPM) is a time to highlight the importance of individuals and communities working together to prevent child abuse. Our goal is to increase awareness about child abuse and neglect and to decrease it from occurring. In 2022, in the San Luis Valley, there were 1,035 child abuse reports made to the Colorado Department of Human Services.

Getting old is not for the faint of heart that is for certain. As we age things just naturally tend to wear out or just wear down from years of use and abuse. It seems like I get one thing on the mend and another injury or illness comes charging into my offensive line like the Packers into the Dallas Cowboys football team setting me back ten yards or so.

Last month I mentioned Zodiacal Light, but I never saw it even though I looked at Venus every night. March is predicted to be the best month to look for it, so this is the month I will tell you about it. Since the last quarter moon is on the 15th and the new moon is on the 21st, this is the perfect time to look for it and observe the entire sky.

Spring has sprung in Texas, which means my sojourn in the Lone Star State is fast ending. Ol’ Dutch and Miss Trixie, the Yellow Rose of Texas herself, have been spending our winters down in the big hat country for some time now and at least miss the white goodness in Colorado. Ol’ Dutch worked up quite the aversion for cold and snow after 30 years of fighting it while working and so it is a nice relief from the shoveling and sitting around looking out that snow brings me normally.

Over the years I have written about the Sun, moon, Pluto and five other planets. Now, it is time to write about Uranus. It is an interesting planet with an interesting name. How many of us pronounce it the crazy way instead of the proper way?

I recently read a column in the opinion section from "News Literacy Project." After doing some research on the organization I found its overall mission well-intentioned but perhaps a bit misleading in today's media environment. Two examples for instance are that both the NY Times and Washington Post both endorse and donate to the NLP which is fine.

This past week still saw Miss Trixie stuck in scenic Amarillo, Texas helping her father who suffered some real physical issues. Which means Ol’ Dutch has had to pull out some of the old Bachelor tricks to survive with her gone. What with shopping and cooking and cleaning and laundry already having to be done by yours truly, Miss Trixie is walking on thin ice as far as being needed around the homeplace. It's not that I do not miss her as I truly do but I found out if you stay away too long pretty soon you are not seen as needed near as much.

News literacy is ​the ability to recognize the standards of fact-based news in order to trust, share, and act on accurate information. In a Digital Age where information spreads like wildfire, it is becoming more challenging than ever to separate fact from fiction. Anyone has the ability to create and share information, whether true or false. News literacy teaches about the importance of a free press in our democracy while also demonstrating how to decipher credible information to determine what is trustworthy.

Miss Trixie and I had a little adventure this past week as we had to go to Amarillo, Texas, due to a family illness. Her father, who goes by the name Shot, had to have open heart surgery while passing through the Texas panhandle and made a detour into no man's land to get it.

Every week it seems that Ol’ Dutch and Miss Trixie get into some kind of shenanigans of one type or another. I am not sure if it's due to the fact that we go out of our way to maybe find such hijinks or others come looking for us and involve us in their schemes.

Everyone knows Congress is broken. For decades, the swamp in Washington D.C. has embraced corrupt and incestuous policymaking at the expense of hard-working Americans. From passing $1.8 trillion, 4,155-page long spending bills just before Christmas — to secret backroom deals negotiated by lobbyists and special interests — to passing $500 billion suspension bills without a single Member even having to cast a vote — these broken processes are not what our Founding Fathers envisioned when they established our Constitutional Republic.