The Times Dispatch Blogs

2008 has been declared the year of the frog by environmentalist groups across the planet. For several years scientists have noticed that the frog population has been dying. The loss of habitat and environmental pollutants were first thought to be the cause, but even in seemingly pristine habitats frogs were dying.

The culprit has turned out to be a parasitic fungus called chytrid. The fungus is currently unstoppable and can kill up to 80 percent of the population once a habitat has become infected. It is deadly to hundreds of species of amphibians.

The Amphibian Ark was formed to try to save the worlds amphibian population. The AArk is a joint effort of three principal partners: the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA), the IUCN/SSCConservation Breeding Specialist Group (CBSG), and the IUCN/SSC Amphibian Specialist Group (ASG).

The group believes that without immediate action the world could see the largest mass extinction since the dinosaur. In a press release AArk said without intervention up to half of the amphibians could be extinct after 360 million years of existence.

The only solution thus far has been is to isolate the amphibians from the wild. Holding environments have been created to protect and preserve a variety of frogs, salamanders and other amphibians from infection.

For more information on the amphibian crisis visit the AArk website at www.amphibianark.org.

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I have always felt blessed to be a pretty much sickeningly healthy person. I am grateful that I rarely catch the bugs that are going around and I have had no major health problems, having only been in the hospital to be born and to give birth twice.

In recent months, my gratitude for my health has increased even more. One co-worker, Howard Golden, lost his wife, Darlene, earlier this week after a battle with cancer. Another, Amber Adams, was recently diagnosed with Addison’s Disease, an auto immune disorder, which has left her sick more often than not over the past year.

It is easy to feel sympathy for people when you hear about their health problems and struggles, but when close friends or family members are dealing with problems, you begin to feel empathy. While I cannot say I know what either of my co-workers are going through, I can feel their pain and look forward to times when I can share their joy.

I know there are no guarantees in life, and I could be facing health issues myself some day. Knowing that makes each day even more precious, and I hope I can make the best out of each one I am given.

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What makes children the way they are? I am just baffled at the differences in our girls. Shelby, six, has always been pretty well mannered, never causes much reason for discipline – usually a talking to and an explanation was all it would take for her.

Now Alison, three, she is an entirely different story and has always been. We can talk until we are blue in the face, put her in time out and wear ourselves out going back and forth putting her back each and every time she would get up before her time is up. Putting her in her room does not work well unless you physically hold the door shut until she stops throwing her fit (which I personally hate). And there is spanking. I will admit I believe in spanking when it is necessary, but if you can discipline without it then that is better.

Seems whatever we do is a fight with Alison. We are not able to get through a meal without some kind of outburst from her. It can be anything from sissy sitting close, to Shelby got the plate she wanted, something was put on her plate that she does not like to her drink was put in the wrong cup.

She is always doing something to hurt Shelby like scratching her face, hitting her with a toy or pushing her out of a chair and now she has started pinching. This is something I have a hard time spanking for because it seems as if you are saying that is okay to hit.

I have wondered if what some have said about things you go through while you are pregnant affecting a child in this way are true. While I was pregnant with Alison I had to keep a child with ADHD a lot, and my dad was diagnosed with cancer and had to live with us for his last six months. In addition one of my older brothers stayed with us through my dad’s illness, and then a younger brother the last two to three weeks. Plus we had visitors every weekend for the last two to three months of dad’s life. Alison was four months old when dad died.

If anyone has any ideas or words of support they would like to share with me, they would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

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The Arkansas Razorbacks looked terrible in the Cotton Bowl, and I’m not just talking about their dismal on-field performance. For the first time in school history, the team wore all red uniforms, or more specifically, red pants to go along with their red jerseys and helmets. They’ve worn red pants before in the past, but always with their road white jerseys, and even then only rarely. Before Tuesday, they had never worn the red pants with their home red jerseys.

Personally, I thought they looked like a bunch of hot dogs. When I say “hot dogs,” I don’t mean showboaters or trash talkers. I mean actual hot dogs. Big red weenies.

Interim head coach Reggie Herring said they wore the all red unis because they wanted to do something special to honor Frank Broyles. Broyles is one of the most successful coaches/administrators in the history of college athletics. If the team wanted to honor Coach Broyles, why didn’t they play with a sense of pride and passion? They should have played like they cared if they won or lost. Instead they went out and played like, well, like a bunch of weenies.
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An estimated time of departure has been announced for the local National Guard unit. When they leave this time, they will not return before departing for their second deployment to Iraq.

Hopefully those of us who are able can line the streets and let these soldiers know they will be in our thoughts and prayers while they are gone.

The current plan is for the soldiers to leave Robert Armory at 10 a.m. on Monday morning. They will travel south through Hoxie on their way to Mississippi.

Get out your flags, your patriotic shirts and your yellow ribbons and let’s send our soldiers off right!

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Well, I haven’t exactly been setting the world on fire with my first batch of bowl game predictions. At the moment, I’ve only picked two of the first eight correctly. I would have done better if I’d based my picks on which team had the coolest looking helmets.

Armed Forces Bowl – California vs. Air Force. Air Force has the cooler helmet, but I’ll go ahead and pick California.

Humanitarian Bowl – Georgia Tech vs. Fresno State. This game will be played on Boise State’s blue turf. Fresno is in the same conference as Boise, so they’ve played on the “smurf turf” before. That’s why I’m taking the Bulldogs.

Sun Bowl – South Florida vs. Oregon. Oregon lost their final three games of the regular season after quarterback Dennis Dixon went down with a knee injury. They won’t beat South Florida, either.

Music City Bowl – Kentucky vs. Florida State. This should have been one of the better games of the bowl season. That was before the academic cheating scandal rocked FSU, resulting in the suspension of over two dozen players, including some starters. Kentucky looks like the easy choice now.

Insight Bowl – Indiana vs. Oklahoma State. How can anyone pick against Indiana? The Hoosiers suffered a tragic blow in June, when coach Terry Hoeppner died from complications of a brain tumor. The team responded by going out and earning their first bowl berth in 14 years to become the year’s biggest “feel good” story in all of sports. I’m not picking against them.

Chick-fil-A Bowl – Clemson vs. Auburn. Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville and Clemson coach Tommy Bowden both reportedly turned down the Arkansas job earlier this month. That could make for one interesting post-game handshake. Auburn will win the game.

Outback Bowl – Wisconsin vs. Tennessee. Tennessee’s speed will be too much for the Badgers.

Cotton Bowl – Missouri vs. Arkansas. Arkansas’ Darren McFadden (the best player in college football) versus Missouri’s Chase Daniel (the best quarterback in college football). Picking with my heart and not my head, I’m taking Arkansas. Also, I love that helmet.

Gator Bowl – Texas Tech vs. Virginia. The Red Raiders will go over, through and around Virginia.

Capitol One Bowl – Michigan vs. Florida. I have to pick Florida to win the game, but I’ll be rooting for Michigan to stomp the Gators and the Heisman Thief.

Rose Bowl – Illinois vs. USC. Illinois is the most undeserving of all the BCS teams and Southern Cal will show why.

Sugar Bowl – Hawaii vs. Georgia. A very interesting match-up. Hawaii went undefeated against a very soft schedule. Now they get a chance to show what they’ve got against one of the big boys. Georgia may have been the best team in the SEC at the end of the season. I’ll pick Georgia, but I think it could be real close.

Fiesta Bowl – Oklahoma vs. West Virginia. The Sooners were embarrassed in last year’s Fiesta Bowl, losing to Boise State. They’ll get their revenge against West Virginia.

Orange Bowl – Virginia Tech vs. Kansas. Like Hawaii, Kansas put up a lot of wins against a soft schedule. They won’t be able to handle the Hokies.

International Bowl – Rutgers vs. Ball State. Ball State couldn’t even beat Nebraska. I’m taking Rutgers.

GMAC Bowl – Bowling Green vs. Tulsa. Bowling Green won’t stop Gus Malzahn’s high-flyin’ Tulsa offense.

BCS National Championship Game – LSU vs. Ohio State. Once again, the SEC will reign superior over the college football world.

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If there is one thing I have learned about children it is that one should always expect the unexpected. Nevertheless, my boys still managed to surprise me this Christmas.

Conley is four and has a pretty clear concept of what happens when Christmas rolls around. Colter, on the other hand, at four months, is a complete beginner.

As we prepared for the holidays, I found myself purchasing more presents for Conley than for Colter. Mainly because Colter’s wants and desires are pretty much limited to a bottle, a jar of baby food, a clean diaper and a warm blanket. I was looking forward to Conley’s excitement on Christmas morning, but did not expect Colter to really even be interested in the presents.

Boy, did they pull a switcheroo on me. Conley opened his stocking and then was ready to go to his room and play. The other gifts and the pop-up tent under the tree seemed to have no attraction at all. I had to call him back into the room to open the rest of his gifts.

Colter on the other hand, loved opening the presents. At first I thought he just loved the paper, which he’d grab and tear off the gifts. I realized, though, that he really enjoyed seeing what was inside the packaging too. Each time we would hold up the opened toy or book, his face would light up.

I guess it just goes to show that one can never be prepared for life with children. I look forward to more of the “unexpected” in the new year.

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Well, we survived Christmas again this year. I know that sounds so dreadful and I really shouldn’t use that phrase because we actually had a wonderful Christmas ~ just different.

I always wait till the last minute to do my shopping. I finished earlier than usual this year, but still had to rush around.

Briar and Brad are also at the ages where the “magic” of Christmas starts to go away. I can’t use “You better be good, Santa is watching” anymore. They don’t believe me. No more leaving cookies for Santa, no visiting Santa… They don’t even want to watch the Christmas movies we normally enjoy. They don’t want anything with Santa at all.

I told them Santa would be disappointed when he stopped by our house, and they would be lucky if he left them any presents.

Of course the excitement of receiving presents never goes away. I was pleased that they enjoyed spending time with our family and friends as well as remembering Jesus’ birth. After all, that is what it is all about.

So, even though Christmas was different for us, the boys have deemed it the best Christmas ever.

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The bowl season starts tonight, so without further ado, here is part one of my fearless predictions.

Poinsettia Bowl – Utah vs. Navy. Navy will sink Utah.

New Orleans Bowl – Memphis vs. Florida Atlantic. Memphis ended the season on a roll, winning six of their last eight games. They’ll keep it going against FAU.

Papajohns.com Bowl – Southern Miss. vs. Cincinnati. Cincinnati was one of the surprise teams this season. Southern Miss fired their coach. Take Cincy.

New Mexico Bowl – Nevada vs. New Mexico. Is it a bad sign that the name of your bowl opponent is also the name of the bowl? Not for Nevada. The Wolfpack will win.

Las Vegas Bowl – UCLA vs. BYU. The Bruins fired coach Karl Dorrell after the regular season, and they still haven’t named a replacement. Even Arkansas found a coach quicker than this. BYU wins in a rout.

Hawaii Bowl – Boise State vs. East Carolina. I was going to try and make a potato joke, but all I could think of was ‘Boise will peel the Pirates’ so instead I’ll just say that Boise State will win.

Motor City Bowl – Purdue vs. Central Michigan. I’ll take Central Michigan.

Holiday Bowl – Arizona State vs. Texas. Arizona State.

Champs Sports Bowl – Boston College vs. Michigan State. Boston College.

Texas Bowl – TCU vs. Houston. It’s a good thing these teams are playing in the Texas Bowl, because no one outside of the state would care. TCU will win.

Emerald Bowl – Maryland vs. Oregon State. Oregon State and their “sports bra” jerseys will win.

Meineke Car Care Bowl – Connecticut vs. Wake Forest. Razorback fans everywhere should send WF coach Jim Grobe a Christmas card for turning down the head coaching job at the U of A. I’ll thank him by picking the Demon Deacons to beat UConn.

Liberty Bowl – Central Florida vs. Mississippi State. This could be one of the better “non-major” bowl games. UCF will slip past MSU.

Alamo Bowl – Penn State vs. Texas A&M. I’m glad these two mediocre-at-best teams are playing each other. That keeps one of them from stinking up another bowl. I’ll take Penn State, but it’s highly unlikely that I could care less.

Independence Bowl – Alabama vs. Colorado. Otherwise known as The Battle For a Winning Record. Alabama lost their last four games of the regular season, which included a loss to Louisiana-Monroe. That’s enough for me to pick Colorado.

I’ll pick the rest of the bowls next week in part two.

Here’s wishing everyone a very happy and safe Christmas and a thank you to everyone who’s bothered to read this stuff the past few months.

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I’ve been watching The Next Great American Band on FOX on Friday nights. I was a first time viewer of American Idol this year and thought this show would be entertaining as well. I haven’t been disappointed. This week will be the finale and there are three bands left. Two of them stand out to me and have from the beginning. I just can’t pick one above the other. One group’s performance even moved one of the judges to tears.

Saturday morning my husband’s company invited employees to enjoy a movie at the Paragould Cinema 8. We were able to choose between Fred Clause and Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. We chose Fred Clause. It was a very entertaining movie — I laughed from beginning to end.

I received a phone call from my sister-in-law Saturday evening. She wanted me to keep Jarah and Kylie while she and Blake “went to talk with Santa.”

I love spending time with my nieces, so I jumped at the chance. After painting fingernails and toenails, putting on makeup and new hair-dos, Jarah played on the computer while Kylie and Tim argued back and forth. Most kids are scared of Tim, but Kylie gets in his face and tells him like it is. It’s fun to watch them go at it.

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