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The San Martin 4-H club celebrated a birthday last Saturday night. Peg and I were invited to their party to mark 65 years of youth activities. Most everyone knows about 4-H, but I’ll bet a lot of you don’t know about all the activities this organization has for its members. There’s a lot more than just working with farm animals at the County Fair.

There’s a few interesting news items worth mentioning this week. First comes word from China that Chinese pet owners have started importing pet food and treats made in the United States because of concerns about contamination in their own domestic products. Seems they won’t buy their own stuff ever since reports surfaced about salmonella contamination and other problems. Perhaps now they’ll see better quality control from these companies. I still say we should all avoid pet products imported from China.

Back in early March, I was invited to be one of the featured speakers of a local “farmer to you” direct sales marking group called Country Crossroads. The topic of my presentation was called “Creating Branded Recipes.” I presented a list of steps, ideas and inspiration to help guide the members of the group towards creating their own recipes with their name as part of the title. One of the presentation bullet points led to the inspiration of this week's column.

We are all in danger from natural disasters right now:

Not long ago, I visited the downtown districts in Hollister and

For many of a specific age and older, we vividly picture the scene of two individuals: one eating a chocolate bar and one eating peanut butter from a jar. Upon colliding, one exclaims, “You got your peanut butter in my chocolate,” while the other instantly replies, “No, you got your chocolate in my peanut butter.” Advertisers would lead us to believe that this happy accident is what inspired the creation of the peanut butter cup. It would come as no surprise that many years later, another two equally favorite, but unconventionally paired items would come together: Chocolate and bacon!

The casual observer would think we have plenty of churches

My first snorkeling experience was in a cove in Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii. Awed by the absolute beauty of the brilliantly colored fish and coral and enthralled by a huge turtle swimming ahead of me, I lost all common sense and swam farther and farther out to sea following the turtle and searching for new and more colorful marine life.

Wouldn’t a visit to spa-like oasis every morning be a wonderful way to start your day? Since most of us can’t do that every day, updating your bathroom is a great way to give you that spa-like feeling at home. Whether you’re planning a complete bathroom remodel or just a cosmetic update, there are a few main areas to consider for the most impact. Updating your bathroom doesn’t have to be a huge, expensive and complete redo. Making some less expensive changes can make a big impact.

The world premiere of