Robert Burns penned the line the best-laid schemes of mice and men can go awry more than years ago in his poem To A Mouse The phrase seems appropriate for the constant changes to the best of plans John Steinbeck turned the term for his classic Of Mice and Men and the phrase in various forms permanently resides in our cultural lexicon This is the phrase that came to mind over the last few days On Friday Sept th Gracie was scheduled for another serious back operation hours in Denver As we prepared to leave for the airport in Montana [... more]

In as Hitler rsquo s reign was expanding across Europe novelist John Steinbeck was asked to help with the war effort He wasn rsquo t asked to fight or visit troops on the frontline but to instead write a story The result was The Moon Is Down a novel about a peaceful land that gets invaded by an evil regime Printed on underground presses and secretly distributed throughout occupied countries the novel sent a message the Allies were coming and by imitating the novel rsquo s characters readers could help secure their freedom Through The Moon Is Down Steinbeck brought [... more]