My thinking now of helping feral cats is a turn-around from what I had been told by local animal control officers, “Don’t feed stray cats. If you do, they are yours.” My new thinking made way for some fun experiences with feral cats as I took care of them, three or so at a time for several years before the last two stopped coming to eat recently.

One cat sitting on flagstone in my back yard during the winter of 2005 helped change my thinking. It looked like it would either freeze or starve to death within the hour one snowy and bitter cold Sunday night. I couldn’t watch. I had to help.

My husband and I built a shelter from a cardboard box covered with a plastic garbage bag and put in some old towels. Because of the extreme cold, we also put in an electric heating pad under the towels. As for food since we had no cat food, we thought of the salmon fillets in the freezer.

The food for the cat was terrific, the box much better than under our shed. When the cold turned to warmth, the cat no longer needed our shelter but came back for the food. Then, we failed to see the cat for several weeks to months in the spring and early summer. When we finally did see it, it had gained weight and looked really good.

It’s a difficult situation to feed feral cats and not feed raccoons, coyotes, squirrels and wild birds. If you see feral cats in your neighborhood, establish a feeding schedule, call to them before you put out food and a little while before you bring it in. Put out water, too, and replace the ice with fresh water at feeding times. To show further care, catch the cats in traps, get them fixed and return them to the neighborhood with a commitment to feed and shelter them. These cats can be lots of fun as they develop a relationship with you.

The caller identified himself as Jack and said he was calling from Microsoft. He repeated his “help” request. I asked: “How do you know I have a computer?” Odds are I do, so that wasn’t that bright of a question. He guessed on the brand and got lucky. Still, I knew I had not solicited this so-called help call and had no contract with Microsoft for virus assistance.

“I’m going to have to call you back,” I said. “What’s your number?” Then, “Jack” gave me a fake number. He said he would call me back and he did, three or four times within the minute. I didn’t bother answering but saw on caller ID the calls came from the same number.

What did “Jack” think would happen? Americans on the receiving end would simply be his hands to rip us off?

Americans, think. Be smart. People like “Jack” are out to steal whatever is on your computer. Block his number with your phone provider if necessary, but don’t do what he says and never give out personal information over the phone.

Castle Rock Police Chief Tony Lane said a woman called police about 7:45 a.m. today saying she was going to commit suicide. When asked whether there were children in the home, the caller said “they had gone to Heaven.”

When police arrived at the home in 200 block of Cherry Street in the Founders Village subdivision, they found Kelli Murphy, 41, there with injuries to her wrists and two children, ages 7 and 9, dead in their bedrooms. Murphy was taken to a local hospital to treat her injuries and is in police custody.

It’s mind-boggling why a mother would kill her children. Obviously, there were signs that the father had picked up on. He called police for a welfare check of the children the day before. Officers did come to the home but left without the children.

The good news is the father is not a suspect. The extremely bad news is his call for a welfare check did not save his children. This raises some serious questions. What signs did the father see but the police did not? Are welfare checks extensive enough? Did the police ultimately think the father was attempting to use them as a tool to inflict harm on his wife?

We’ll never know how child custody would have gone had the parents’ divorce been finalized. But, there lingers a deeper question of bias against fathers. Would the court have granted the mother custody simply because she was the mother and, therefore, deemed the better parent? Unfortunately, some judges and states have that reputation.

The visiting authority, Elder Richard K. Melchin of the Seventy, presided while President Michael Williams conducted the 10 a.m. general session. The Boulder Stake Women’s Choir and congregation sang the opening hymn “Come, Come, Ye Saints,” one of the best-known hymns of the Church.

President Williams’ talk focused on the conference theme taken from John 15:5: “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” He asked the congregation to examine their lives, to study and to develop Christ-like attributes. He said no matter what anyone’s faith is, we need to “help one another thrive.”

The choir sang, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” before President Williams’ talk and “Beautiful Savior” as the closing hymn. In addition to singing the opening hymn together, the choir and congregation sang “I Am a Child of God” after the first hour of the meeting.

Elder Melchin began his talk saying he loved “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” and the speakers’ talks before him. He voice softened as he said he loved the Primary song, “Tell Me the Stories of Jesus.” Then, he told stories of Jesus for about 30 minutes without notes. Among the stories he told were of Jesus teaching “as one having authority,” turning water into wine, and fasting in the wilderness for 40 days. He told of many of Jesus’ miracles, including bringing back to life a widow’s only son, a young girl, and Lazarus. Elder Melchin told of Jesus calming the Sea of Galilee and restoring sight to a man blind from birth. He told of Jesus giving the “new commandment” to love one another. And, he told of Jesus’ crucifixion.

Before he ended his talk at the end of the conference, Elder Melchin bore his testimony of the nature of God and the Godhead and that Thomas S. Monson, the Church’s president, is a true prophet of God.

Music links:

1. “Come, Come Ye Saints”
(Mormon Tabernacle Choir with Mormon pioneer enactment as the song was sung by Mormon pioneers as they crossed the plains)

2. “I Am a Child of God”
(Mormon Tabernacle Choir)

3. “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”
(Mormon Tabernacle Choir)

4. “Beautiful Savior”
(Sally DeFord arrangement)

5. “Tell Me the Stories of Jesus”
(Mormon Tabernacle Choir)

The Town of Superior uses its sign to welcome home Michele O'Donnell.

The town posted on its sign, “Welcome Home Michele O’Donnell Sat 1pm Alma Lane.” I don’t believe I’ve ever seen such support by a city or a town for only one of its residents. That’s amazing and touching at the same time.

“Miracle Michele,” so named on the blog John O’Donnell set up to tell his wife’s recovery story, left home a year ago. Since then, she’s undergone multiple surgeries, overcome numerous infections, been in and out of drug-induced comas, and engaged in intense physical therapy sessions.

Michele fell on Jan. 27, 2010, while on vacation in Cancun, Mexico, and sustained a serious brain injury, an acute subdural hematoma. She was rushed into emergency surgery and spent the next month in intensive care in Mexico. The next leg of her trip home took her to Miami where she endured another hematoma, several surgeries and infections. After she was stable enough to make the trip to Colorado, she underwent yet another surgery that replaced part of her skull that was removed and discarded in Miami. Two weeks in intensive care was followed by 5 months in an acute care hospital and 2 months in a skilled nursing facility. Now, she’s heading home after completing over 50 days of intense physical, occupational and speech therapy at a center that specializes in rehabilitation for patients with brain injuries.

The blog tells in a personal way of near-death experiences, the struggles and the triumphs. The family obviously has faith in God and hope for Michele’s recovery. I think they are amazing how much they support Michele.

One story I’d like to underscore here, too, is the financial need. The family’s home has been foreclosed on though they are living there for now and even renovated it to meet the new needs. However, that’s a tough place to be.

Donations to the O’Donnell Family Fund can be delivered or brought in to: 1stBank, 500 S. McCaslin Blvd., Louisville, CO 80027, to Account No. 868-290-1625. Donations can also be made via PayPal on the blog, miraclemichelle.blogspot.com.

Read more:

Daily Camera story about “Miracle Michele”
“Miracle Michele” blog

Still then, no one needed to remove their shoes and you could carry liquids over 2-3 ounces on the plane along with nail scissors or whatever else you wanted to carry. In 1971, I brought a gun on a plane wrapped in a Christmas package. It was a gun for a brother to go shooting. I declared to the flight crew what I had. (No scanners.) And, the gun in its package was stowed away in the cabin and returned to me as I departed the plane.

How times have changed.

Despite the terrorist threats I know to be real, I am seriously considering driving unstead of flying whenever possible. John Tyner refused the full-body scan that shows the entire body naked to face a full-palm, full-body, up the groin pat-down. He warned the TSA guard not to “touch my junk,” or he would have them arrested. While flights are much shorter than drives, I’m with Tyner. I also say, “Don’t touch my junk.”

Charles Krauthammer’s Washington Post commentary, “Don’t touch my junk,” on Nov. 19, sheds excellent perspective on the subject. Click here to read it.

This baby boy was born 5 weeks early. Amendment 62 would protect babies like him before birth. Now, he's completely healthy, physically active, bright and very verbal.

The baby experienced respiratory distress requiring oxygen but came home 15 days after birth. Though he needed oxygen for a couple of months, he is now healthy, physically active, bright and very verbal.

Some question whether the baby was a person prior to birth. Of course he was. He was always an individual human. He needed protecting and deserved birth unless a natural miscarriage removed him from the nurturing environment inside his mother’s body or if there was serious risk to the mother’s life or the mother couldn’t carry the baby because the conception was the result of rape or incest. In these cases, however, the pregnancy should have been terminated within weeks of conception.

It makes sense to put that protection in the Constitution of the State of Colorado. Though Amendment 62 goes a bit too far, I’d rather see the debate start at this point than where it is today. Amendment 62 says “the term ‘person’ shall apply to every human being from the beginning of that biological development of that human being.”

Some raise fear tactics saying mothers who miscarry could be prosecuted. A miscarriage is an act of nature just like accidents. No one is at fault. I don’t buy the fear.

I miscarried a baby at 8 weeks quite a few years ago. I lost a lot of blood in this terrible ordeal as body parts were caught on their way out. I needed help. While I was being attended to at the hospital, a nurse told me the baby was a little boy. I so wanted that little boy. Though I was grieving I did hear some comforting rationale for the miscarriage. There was enough wrong with this pregnancy that my body miscarried.

These little people yet to be born deserve our protection. Amendment 62 is a step in the right direction to give them that. Vote Yes on 62.

(Updated 1/6/11 to better reflect my views.)

Volunteers for the Fourmile Fire victims, Kevin Rinnert and Amanda Pagel, both of Westminster, Colo., play a duet on donated violins at the Boulder County’s donation center 3111 28th Street, Boulder, on Sept. 14, 2010. The center closes today and volunteers and victims are directed to the distribution center at 5395 Pearl Street, Boulder.

It was a light moment. when Rinnert opened the case of the donated violin. Donations were to be checked, so he took it out. After a bit of joking around, Pagel joined him on another donated violin for a duet.

Barbara Stogsdill of Erie and Linda Eberhard of Broomfield sorted shoes, socks and clothes together on Fri., Sept. 10, for Fourmile Fire victims at Boulder County’s official donation center operated by the Boulder Office of Emergency Management.

Barbara Stogsdill, of Erie, and Linda Eberhard, of Broomfield, sorted shoes, socks and clothes together on Friday for Fourmile Fire victims at Boulder County’s official donation center operated by the Boulder Office of Emergency Management.

The women were among the 230 Mormon Helping Hands volunteers wearing their yellow vests who served a total of approximately 1,000 hours Sept. 10 and 11.

Late Thursday evening, the OEM asked the Boulder Colorado Stake, a local geographical subdivision of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for help on Friday morning in setting up and organizing its donation collection center at 3111 28th Street. With less than 24 hours to prepare, Michael Williams, the stake’s president, aimed for approximately 90 volunteers in addition to the volunteers coming from the Longmont Stake. By 9 a.m. on Friday, 90 volunteers had signed in at the donation center.

The Mormon Helping Hands volunteers had fun serving with volunteers of others faiths, those associated with businesses and individuals. Together they set up tables, posted signs to aid in sorting, received bags of donations and formed a “bucket brigade” as they unloaded trucks. They sorted school supplies and hygiene products. They sorted clothes by age and gender into boxes and tossed away those dirty or worn.

On Sunday, volunteering continued without yellow vests and will continue in the coming weeks with help from Westminster and Arvada stakes added to the effort of Boulder and Longmont.

Shigehiro Oishi, of the University of Virginia and the study’s lead author, said, “We know that children who move frequently are more likely to perform poorly in school and have more behavioral problems. However, the long-term effects of moving on well-being in adulthood have been overlooked by researchers.”

In the study reported in the June 2010 issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, researchers show frequent moves in childhood result in poorer well-being in adulthood, especially in introverted or neurotic individuals. The study that followed 7,108 Americans for 10 years also found that the more children are moved around, the more likely they were to report in the survey less satisfaction in life and fewer quality social relationships as adults.

With the economy and the need to move where the jobs are, sometimes parents have no choice. In other cases, however, parents should seriously consider their reasons for moving the child from one apartment or house to another, from one school to another or from the location of daily care to another. There is more than meets the eye to settling down and planting roots.