PULLMAN — The other day, the forecast near my home included winds up to 50 mph.

PULLMAN — My 84-year old mother bent over the cookbook one day recently and read aloud to me as I wolfed down a chicken sandwich I’d made at lunchtime.

PULLMAN — Dogs pant with their tongues hanging out, young men sweat by the bucket, and aging geologists just fall over on our faces in the shade on a hot summer’s day.

PULLMAN — Nothing is sweeter than a powerfully sunny Saturday in autumn.

PULLMAN -- I don’t think about the world from the point of view of plants very often.

PULLMAN — This year is the 400th birthday of science and engineering.

PULLMAN — I was surprised by how terribly hot the engine smelled.

PULLMAN — Twice a week I slog through some reps at the gym to keep my core muscles and arms strong enough so I can do basic outdoor tasks.

PULLMAN — I’m old enough to remember early reruns of the very first Star Trek programs.

PULLMAN — At sunset on Sept. 22, I’ll be in my backyard with a couple of stakes and twine, and I invite you to do something similar.

PULLMAN — One December’s afternoon a few years ago, I crawled through a barbed wire fence buried in the snow.

PULLMAN — About a decade ago I was cruising up a 130-mile long reservoir behind America’s largest dam — Grand Coulee — built across the mighty Columbia River.

PULLMAN — Although Kevin R. Vixie is a mathematician who works just two doors down the hallway from me, his work is a world away from mine.

PULLMAN — My Labrador-mix from the dog-pound is quite a mutt, but even so he shows Lab enthusiasm for retrieving sticks I throw into the river. (Just for the record, he’s a specialist and won’t retrieve sticks thrown on land.)

PULLMAN — My employment history includes three years working as a reporter for a daily newspaper.

PULLMAN — Those of us limping down the road in late-80s or early-90s cars, vans and pickups can be forgiven if we think the deal sounds too good to be true.

PULLMAN — Last summer, it took well north of $100 to fill the tank of my beloved 1987 pickup. You may remember, too, having to adjust your household budget in light of sky-high gas prices.

Editor's note: Five drug companies are furiously making H1N1 (swine flu) vaccine for American consumption this fall. Here's the story of the last killer flu year (1918) and how that may relate to H1N1. But, as the column makes clear, plain vanilla influenza (the kind we have each winter) killed oodles more Americans last winter than did H1N1 in the spring.

PULLMAN -- I was throwing sticks for my dog into the Snake River on Sunday evening, watching a fully loaded ocean-going barge on the slack-water of the river.

PULLMAN -- I hope you played with your food when you were young.

PULLMAN -- More than a thousand years ago, my Norse ancestors were busy pillaging Europe.

PULLMAN -- These are the longest days of the year, with the sun higher in the sky than at any other time.

PULLMAN -- Science is full of unexpected discoveries, some coming at decidedly awkward times.

PULLMAN -- When I came into the world in the 1960s, some visionaries still hoped that electricity would become “too cheap to meter.”

PULLMAN -- Thomas Jefferson had so many serious interests and accomplishments, it’s difficult to name even half of them.

PULLMAN — More than a couple of times in the long history of personally changing the oil in my 1987 pickup, I’ve misjudged how vigorously the dirty fluid will flow out of the oil pan.

PULLMAN In recent years we’ve all seen many true advances in medical science, energy technologies and more — the kind of win-win work we need now more than ever to find new ways to build our future and propel us out of this global recession.

PULLMAN One of the better phases of childhood, it has always seemed to me, is playing with codes and secret messages.

PULLMAN We Scandinavians have several strange customs, including our hallmark fish dish, which is cod that’s been processed for days in caustic lye.

PULLMAN It’s 18 miles from the front door of my house to the Snake River.

PULLMAN Geologists often travel to remote locations.

I like experiments that have dramatic results — preferably explosions or at least a good fire.

PULLMAN Twenty nine years ago, on a beautiful spring Sunday after church, I watched the darkest clouds I had ever seen sweep toward my hometown in eastern Washington State.

PULLMAN A younger friend of mine bought a house nearby that was built in the 1880s.

PULLMAN Remember gasoline prices last Fourth of July?

PULLMAN — I take a personal interest in pickup trucks that can shut down half their cylinders to get better gas mileage when conditions permit.

Part of the federal stimulus package that you may not have heard much about contains good news for one of our deepest national strengths.

PULLMAN On a windless night recently I arose before the sun.

PULLMAN — Earlier this month, authorities in California warned residents that a 23-foot long python was on the loose.

PULLMAN -- On Saturdays, when the snow isn’t too deep in my backyard, I split a bit of wood for my woodstove.

PULLMAN You might think you don’t know much about the history of Earth’s climate. But dramatic climate change is reflected in your genes.

Crude oil is a mix of stinky chemicals. But smell as they may, the liquids in petroleum are vital to us.

PULLMAN -- The goal of growing more fuel to meet our energy needs looks increasingly realistic.

PULLMAN -- President-elect Obama’s pick for Secretary of Energy is a physicist with a Nobel Prize.

PULLMAN -- The gene for death has been isolated -- and reversed -- by scientists. Not a bad day’s work, you might say, and a bright ray of light in this dark winter of gloomy news reports.

PULLMAN -- Budgeting for fuel costs was never more challenging than in 2008.

PULLMAN -- You can be forgiven if the price of gold escaped your notice in 2008.

We all make a thousand choices about the energy we use each day, and we pay for each decision we make.

As schoolchildren know, dinosaurs lived in a much warmer world. Back in the era of T Rex and Stegosaurus, dinos flourished all over the globe beside truly balmy seas.

PULLMAN -- If you cut me off from food for three days, I’d be fine. My body would burn the natural insulation I carry, but not much would change except that I’d be a bit grumpier.