For Sally Schierer, baking is no different than sewing a purse, by hand, from scrap material, growing a lemon tree from seed or stroking paint on a canvas. "I'm a creative person. I like to take something and make something else out of it," she says. "I do it all through the house, the garden and the yard."

After Eric Knowlton's promotion, he started thinking about his shoes. At 300-plus pounds, tying his shoes in the morning was a challenge.

Weekly food rail, with tips on soaking dry beans, an easy recipe for Dorito casserole, the latest from The Beer Nut, and more.

Most of us take speaking skills for granted. For some, learning to communicate is hard-earned. In his nine years, Cole Bennett hasn’t been able to verbalize his thoughts. But he is learning now, thanks to a speech-generating device. He is learning to communicate with Tobii Assistive Technology.

Tori Michaels' work in life is often misunderstood, feared even. "There were people who actually grabbed their children and ran away. They said I was working with the devil," said Michaels, a feng shui consultant who moved to the Peoria, Ill., area from St. Louis a couple years ago.

In Port-au-Prince, the common Haitian practice of constantly singing and praying out loud sounded so strange to the two nurses from Massachusetts. It was stranger still to discover, amid terrible destruction, that Haitians sang songs of thanks.

Weekly health rail, with items on Diabetes Alert Day, the most obese metropolitan areas, tips for storing vitamins, and more.

What you didn't know... in a quick minute!

What you didn't know... in a quick minute!

According to a NASA scientist, the Chilean earthquake has moved the Earth’s axis and shortened our day.

Spring weight road restrictions on Brown county roads will go into effect on the morning of Monday, March 8, 2010 at 12:01 a.m. to coincide with weight restrictions imposed by Mn/DOT in the South Zone. All county roadways are restricted to five, seven, nine or ten tons per axle as indicated by posted signs. For gravel roads, the weight restriction is five tons per axle. Any Brown County paved road not marked by signs is restricted to 10 tons. These limits are imposed to minimize road damage during the spring thaw.
A weight restriction map for Brown County roads can be found on the Brown county website: www.co.brown.mn.us, click on Departments, Highway, Maps, Weight restrictions.

On one side, a collection of health-conscious renegades say aspartame is bad and should be banned. They blame it for causing leukemias, lymphomas and other cancers. They claim it exacerbates problems with lupus, multiple sclerosis and diabetes and may even be responsible for the epidemic of diabetes. That's just the beginning. Web sites with names like sweetpoison.com and aspartamekills.com leave no doubt about their position.

Dog Lady offers advice on picky pooches, and why a man's late dog doesn't show up in his dreams.

What you didn't know... in a quick minute!

Southern sun and dousing rains, a diet of alcohol, drugs, cigarettes and a lot of life ahead, often with no clue as to where they’re headed, bear down on Justin Taylor’s characters, giving them time to brood, act out, connect some of the dots.