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2 months ago | 
ivpressonline.com | Richard Ryan
Last week began with three distinct events. Each on Monday. First was Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, a national holiday. We put out the flag though I saw few on our street. Yet, people sure enjoy the official holiday off from work.
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Jan 21, 2025 | 
ivpressonline.com | Richard Ryan
A few days ago I received an email, as many others did, from our Congressman Raul Ruiz. It announced President Biden’s designation of the Chuckwalla National Monument. The Monument protects more than 624,000 acres of public lands. It is situated from Coachella Valley in the west to the Colorado River in the east and south of Joshua Tree National Park. From Imperial Valley, the Monument is north of Brawley.
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Jan 14, 2025 | 
ivpressonline.com | Richard Ryan
Yes. And there very well might be one soon so look closely before taking a spoonful. Menudo is not exempted as there are now drones everywhere. Lots of people want to use drones for a variety of reasons. Hundreds of police departments nationwide are using patrol drones as is the U.S. Customs and Border Inspection. Drones don’t unionize nor are paid sick leave though they do require maintenance, and the pilots who navigate the big ones are salaried. Farmers are checking their crops with drones.
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Jan 7, 2025 | 
ivpressonline.com | Richard Ryan
But I shook hands with Miss Lillian, his mother, on a dusty square in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The ink had not dried on my dissertation approvals at USC, when Meg, my former wife, and I boarded a plane for Ouagadougou, Upper Volta. The country is now named Burkina Faso, the land of upright people. I signed up with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in 1978. After a brief training period, we headed for West Africa.
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Dec 10, 2024 | 
ivpressonline.com | Richard Ryan
It didn’t seem like Thanksgiving even though everyone was wishing each other, “Happy Thanksgiving.” We were heading west, northwest at a heading of 283 degrees. I check to make sure the Dutch captain has us cruising in the correct direction. It must be the Boy Scout in me. The Koningsdam was moving along smartly at 17 knots. We were due in San Diego early Saturday morning. But here we were in a beautiful, formal dining room, all six of us seated for a Thanksgiving dinner with all of the trimmings.
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Nov 26, 2024 | 
ivpressonline.com | Richard Ryan
Searching for a natural Tom Turkey, straight-laced, regular guy? No additives? Good luck. As the name implies, it’s a large male turkey. A good ole Butterball young turkey lightly processed might contain the following, “up to 8% of a solution of water, containing 2% or less of salt, natural flavors, modified food starch, and sodium phosphates added to enhance tenderness and juiciness.” These are self-basting turkeys where the juices/additives perform part of the work: the basting duties.
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Nov 19, 2024 | 
ivpressonline.com | Richard Ryan
Be thankful that we are not putting up storm windows or bringing the snow shovels up from the basement. Instead, we’re starting seeds in empty plant six-packs and small discarded milk cartons and covering them with compost. Then soaking. If you plant seeds or small plants, be sure to keep them moist so they will germinate and root. There are seedlings already showing in these containers, and even a handful of plants, bib lettuce, and mizuna, are growing in an above-ground planter.
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Nov 12, 2024 | 
ivpressonline.com | Richard Ryan
James Carville, the Ragin’ Cajun, was a key Bill Clinton advisor during Clinton’s successful presidential runs in 1992 and 1996. I enjoy Carville’s frank assessments of politics. However, I’m not enamored of his participation in the Democrats’ post-election, circular firing squad. His current assessment is that Kamala lost the election when she failed to answer the question on “The View.” Harris was asked, how would you be different from Biden? Carville says Harris froze.
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Nov 5, 2024 | 
ivpressonline.com | Richard Ryan
Oh, no! I had forgotten to set my clock back last Saturday night/Sunday morning. If you also forgot, you were (choose appropriate item): late for church, late to your mother’s for dinner, missed the dentist on Monday (yay), missed jury duty, didn’t make your flight out of Imperial airport, or your Greyhound, aka the Dog, out of Calexico, and worst of all, the job interview. The list likely goes on. What disruption and craziness.
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Oct 29, 2024 | 
ivpressonline.com | Richard Ryan
Welcome to modern times. Halloween is now big business. It has changed from homemade costumes and once homemade baked goods and candies to $3 billion spent on packaged candy alone. Never mind the Spiderman costumes. The big money figure is what is spent on individually packaged candy. This comes as a result of tampered candy scares of decades ago. Nowadays, Moms and Dads don’t have to spend as much time screening their kid’s candy haul.
