We had the pleasure of sitting with Pastor Alan Tripp and his wife at the celebration of Emme Stoddard’s alleged 80th birthday last weekend. I don’t believe that age for a minute, but it made for a nice party!

The Tripps reported that they had recently returned from a mission trip to Nicaragua and discovered a remarkable thing at the Minneapolis airport.

All the different parking lots are color coded with signs in an extraordinary way.

Believe it or not, the closest and best lot is signified on a green and gold colored sign. The smallest and furthest one is identified with a red and green sign.

As Pastor Tripp pointed out, it’s obvious why the best was color keyed with green and gold, but he was amazed that the worst was coded with red and blue that, when mixed, becomes purple.

You’ve got to be a pro football fan to really appreciate the guy who chose those colors!

***

I took Socks the Wonder Dog out for a short walk while taking a break from my Hello Hillsboro column machine Tuesday afternoon and thought I had somehow been transported to the Land of Oz.

Hillsboro had magically been transported from the Antarctic to Hawaii in a matter of a few minutes. Well, maybe not Hawaii, but at least Arizona. My window thermometer had traded in about 30 degrees of bone chilling cold for a steamy 41-degree reading!

I wish I could learn to do that on a regular basis.

If I could, I would also banish all weather forecasters to wherever the movie “Frozen” was filmed. Especially the one who developed the term “wind chill,” which deserves to be treated like a four-letter word!

Is there any way we can blame that goofy groundhog for this month?           

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Hillsboro is wearing its heart at half staff due to the sudden passing of Emil Picha, patriarch and founder of the Picha Funeral Home.

He had a wonderful life, making new friends just about every day, while helping  folks both professionally and neighborly, serving on both the School Board and the City Council.

In addition, he served in the Navy during World War II, and the Army during the Korean War.

Most of all, though, he will be remembered by local folks as always being quick with a joke or a helping hand, whichever was most needed at the time.

Other than his large, loving family, Emil’s favorite thing in life was fishing, mostly in Canada, and especially with his grandchildren.

He will be missed by his family and all the friends who enjoyed his good nature and warm sense of humor.