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Use leaf blower on 'dry' snow

I have two tips that might help you with this winter weather. First, I blew all the snow off both my porches using my leaf blower. It works with this powdery snow. Second, I saved those large, plastic sleeves from the Sunday newspaper and put them on my feet before putting my boots on. After an hour, my feet were still warm.

Where was MoDOT?

I just want to comment about Jan. 12, when we had that inch or less snowfall. I'm a truck driver. I start at 2 o'clock in the morning, and when I went to work it wasn't snowing at all, but about 3 o'clock it started coming down. I would just like to know: Where was MoDOT? There were no salted streets anywhere. I would like to compliment two municipalities I was in: Ladue and Maryland Heights, that actually cleaned their streets very, very well. Kudos to you.

Why the milk cartons?

This is for AT&T. I was wondering why they keep our plastic milk cartons on their truck. For example, a week or so ago, I saw one of their trouble trucks eastbound on Olive and Interstate 270. It had a plastic milk carton keeping supplies in it, and it read, "Oberweis Dairy: Do not take." So I guess AT&T is above the law because they can take these milk cartons. But it clearly started on the carton: "Oberweis Dairy." Come on, AT&T. If you're going to take equipment from Oberweis, give us a break on our phone bill.

Government reducing our choices

I think it's outrageous that Congress passed a law that every American has to switch their light bulbs to these new ones whether you want to or not. And they put American light bulb manufacturers out of business. Consequently, every American has to buy their light bulbs from China. What's the matter with the government? Why can't we produce light bulbs here in this country? It's for us. These jobs belong here in America — not give China a financial bonanza that every American has to support China.

Nothing funny about sunken ship

Here we are seven to eight minutes after the talk starts, and they make reference to the ship sinking in Italy, which involves fatalities. And most of the time they've been talking about it, they're all finding things to laugh about, like calling the captain a wimp. Yeah, the captain had to do something wrong; we know that. But it's not a joking matter. Is it me or what's the deal? I just don't feel like laughing and cutting up. There are still 20 to 30 people missing on that ship, including that couple from Minnesota.

Deer control should be non-lethal

The Missouri Department of Conservation should serve all the people of Missouri by adopting non-lethal methods of deer population control that are suitable for urban areas. The unnecessary and cruel insistence on killing the deer disrupts the peace and order of our communities, of families, pits neighbor against neighbor and threatens the stability of our civic governments — not to mention that it sanctions the unbearable anguish and suffering borne by our deer community.

Legislators not protecting dogs

I just saw a news story about 44 dogs taken from a trailer, living in horrible conditions. As long as Jay Nixon and our Missouri legislators thought it was OK to overturn our vote to limit the number of dogs allowed in puppy mills, we will see more and more abuses like this. These legislators need to see what's happening to the unfortunate God-given creatures, all in the name of protecting businesses.

Safflower seeds deter squirrels

This is about safe squirrel solutions. No guns, traps or poisons required. Squirrels always raid bird feeders, and I switched from large black oil sunflower seeds for years. Any hardware store sells small white KT safflower seeds, which discourages squirrels and attracts my red cardinals. I haven't seen a squirrel in a month or more. Try it; it works.

Keep van der Sloot behind bars

(Joran) van der Sloot is going to get sentenced shortly in Peru for killing that girl (Stephany Flores) and he's no doubt responsible for the death of (Natalee) Holloway. This person should never be let back into society. He's a predator. He has no way of supporting himself other than to parasite off of women. He has nothing to offer society.

Let's make our own foods here

I found out that our Hershey's Pot of Gold is made in Mexico and not in the United States — just like the orange juice is made in Brazil. No wonder we've got so much going on in our food and stuff made out of the country. I think we should start making stuff back in the country.

Make crossword puzzle bigger

I just have a comment about the Journal. I love it. But could you possibly make the crossword puzzle a little larger? It's very difficult for my old eyes. Thank you.

Email shoeman.org

This is in response to the person who has size 11 shoes. She can donate them to an organization called shoeman.org. It helps create wells in Africa. They want donated shoes. There's a drop-off on that website, and I know there's one in Crestwood.

Help your elderly parents

I'm talking to the adult sons and daughters who have mothers and dads who are in their late senior years. They get lonely; they can't do all the things they used to. What we don't understand is why our children don't call us more often. There are 1,440 minutes in a day. Do you mean to tell me they can't take one minute to dial the phone and at least say, "How are you feeling. Is there anything I can do for you? I was thinking about you and was wondering how you were. I wish you lots of happiness and love, and I'll be over to see you soon," and then mean it? I have a friend, and she has two brothers and a sister, and she stays with her father and their mother, trying to help them as much as she can, because they are both disabled. Neither one of those brothers even call on the phone once a week, much less come by the house and see if they can do something to help out. It's up to the one daughter to do it all. Share it with your sisters and brothers and take the time to call your parents if you can't visit them. It's lonely being a senior.