http://www.record-eagle.com en-us Copyright CNHI All Rights Reserved. 5 Sun, 08 Nov 2009 08:27:00 +0000 http://www.record-eagle.com/columns/local_story_312081839.html http://www.record-eagle.com/columns/local_story_312081839.html My mother-in-law is in her late 70s and sharp as a tack. Like millions of her compatriots, sitting down and reading 148 pages of mind-numbing details about her Medicare prescription plan is the last thing she wants to do. But between November 15th and December 31st, that's exactly what's expected of millions of Medicare participants. Sun, 08 Nov 2009 08:15:57 +0000 http://www.record-eagle.com/columns/local_story_312081936.html http://www.record-eagle.com/columns/local_story_312081936.html Voting last week for governor in Virginia and New Jersey, and for special elections for Congress in New York and the Legislature in Michigan, provide 2010 omens for both parties in Michigan, where hot races loom in all three categories. (Plus more from the Michigan political scene including another Levin in the wings.) Sun, 08 Nov 2009 08:15:57 +0000 http://www.record-eagle.com/columns/local_story_312081638.html http://www.record-eagle.com/columns/local_story_312081638.html The phone rings. You recognize the voice as your nephew's. He's calling from Canada, where he says he's been on a fishing trip with some buddies. They've unwittingly caught fish on tribal land and have been arrested by authorities there. Then wants to know if you can help by wiring him money. Sun, 08 Nov 2009 08:15:56 +0000 http://www.record-eagle.com/columns/local_story_312081944.html http://www.record-eagle.com/columns/local_story_312081944.html Throughout this year's budget battles in Lansing, lawmakers disagreed sharply over how to balance the books. But they seemed to strongly agree on this: Michigan voters would never approve any kind of open, across-the-board tax increase. Yet last week's election returns may indicate that the politicians are dead wrong. Sun, 08 Nov 2009 08:15:56 +0000 http://www.record-eagle.com/columns/local_story_312081652.html http://www.record-eagle.com/columns/local_story_312081652.html Sigh ... Friday morning, true to form, smack in the middle of Manhattan, I managed an absolutely splendiferous faux pas, a feat I seem to repeat with depressing frequency. Jen took us, via the underground trains, to visit Roberto at his Fifth Avenue architectural firm. We'd been promised a tour, and, as architecture and I have enjoyed a lifelong romance, this expedition was eagerly anticipated. Sat, 07 Nov 2009 06:55:58 +0000 http://www.record-eagle.com/columns/local_story_311065713.html http://www.record-eagle.com/columns/local_story_311065713.html For me, once I was able to open my mind to other ways of seeing and experiencing God, it seems I really began to know God. Once I realized that faith was something that you live, not something you define, it started to become my own. Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:15:58 +0000 http://www.record-eagle.com/columns/local_story_306071528.html http://www.record-eagle.com/columns/local_story_306071528.html November is met with differing degrees of enthusiasm by the man of the house than it is by his wife. From the minute the first trees start to show a splash of color, the Michigan men start counting days until deer season. As wives look ahead they see Thanksgiving, Christmas, shopping, cleaning, cooking and company looming with considerably less excitement. But really now, wouldn't you rather do what we do, than get up before daylight and go to the woods and sit on a frozen stump all day? So pass the sticky notes and let's get at it. Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:15:55 +0000 http://www.record-eagle.com/columns/local_story_306071548.html http://www.record-eagle.com/columns/local_story_306071548.html Editor's Note: Five in the Eicher home have fevers, including Lovina. She was unable to complete a column for this week. We are wishing her a quick recovery for next week. This week I am sharing two of my favorite recipes that Lovina wrote for inclusion in "The Amish Cook's Baking Book," available in stores now. Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:10:58 +0000 http://www.record-eagle.com/columns/local_story_306071016.html http://www.record-eagle.com/columns/local_story_306071016.html You're riding south to a reunion when a warm flush begins to spread through your body. Your chest grows uncomfortably tight, making it hard to breathe and your heart begins to race. Before you can react, a tingling sensation creeps up your arm, you get dizzy and begin to sweat. Your unease turns to terror as you realize you're having a heart attack. Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:10:57 +0000 http://www.record-eagle.com/columns/local_story_306071027.html http://www.record-eagle.com/columns/local_story_306071027.html Annabelle Stachnik is a third-grader at the Grand Traverse Academy and her friend, Anna Jackson, is a second-grader. The two share the same homeroom. When Annabelle received an invitation to Anna's seventh birthday party, Annabelle's mom, Alaina Stachnik, was so impressed that Anna asked her guests to consider making a donation to a local food pantry instead of giving her gifts. (Plus more good news from around the region.) Sat, 31 Oct 2009 21:00:59 +0000 http://www.record-eagle.com/columns/local_story_304210015.html http://www.record-eagle.com/columns/local_story_304210015.html The Dow Jones Industrial Average has grown about 60 percent since bottoming out in March of this year. As it recently crossed the 10,000 mark, I was starting to sing a rousing rendition of "Happy Days Are Here Again" when I began to wonder what we're all so happy about. What has given the stock market such confidence that it climbed over that psychological 10,000 barrier? Sat, 31 Oct 2009 21:00:57 +0000 http://www.record-eagle.com/columns/local_story_304210046.html http://www.record-eagle.com/columns/local_story_304210046.html The Thistledown Shoppe, the wee shoppe with a big heart in Suttons Bay, is sponsoring a community project to help children fight the winter chill. Sat, 31 Oct 2009 21:00:57 +0000 http://www.record-eagle.com/columns/local_story_304210225.html http://www.record-eagle.com/columns/local_story_304210225.html One or two northern Michigan races could be pivotal in the uphill quest of Democrats next year to seize control of the state Senate, now the only bastion of GOP power in the three branches of government in Lansing. Sat, 31 Oct 2009 21:00:56 +0000 http://www.record-eagle.com/columns/local_story_304210121.html http://www.record-eagle.com/columns/local_story_304210121.html A bilious billboard reappeared again and again as I was ferried, via bike basket-nest all over New York. Huh. Piles of desperate people were seeking out their clinics, eliminating that worry. I bent double, speechless, convulsed with laughter, for what seemed like hours. Sat, 31 Oct 2009 21:00:56 +0000 http://www.record-eagle.com/columns/local_story_304210233.html http://www.record-eagle.com/columns/local_story_304210233.html You might also have thought that state legislators would have their plates full trying to cope with the ongoing state budget crisis. But no. There is a small band of lawmakers in both the State House and Senate dedicated to either rolling back the will of the people " or throwing enough restrictions in the way that stem-cell research would be practically impossible.