Will Success spoil Erin Bolster?

Let's hope not. Any 19 25-year-old beauty who will aim her horse at a charging grizzly to save a little boy is a woman you young guys should be fighting to court. You just have to trust  Providence that she's looking at her Letterman gig as a lark rather than a ticket to celebrity hood.

Any mention of this Montana story also requires a nod to Tonk, an 18-hander that, around here, would be referred to a a BFH.

Smartening up the kids. Yeah, right.

Governor Branstad is within hours of a high-level dog and pony show to flash his new education reform plan -- my state's seventh such attack on ignorance in the past few years.

Okay, Governor, I'll be watching for you to tackle this one, a true story from a buddy who operates an eleven-employee business requiring workers who have at least rudimentary literacy and an atom or two of technical competence.

She hired a fresh hand, provided a little training, and sent her off to do some simple work. The newbie -- a product of previous education reform -- came back to ask "How do I find three-quarters of an inch on the tape measure?" 

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My reform plan: Consult Charles Darwin.

Gruesome is in the eye of the beholder

I popped in on a couple of friends and found them cutting up one-half of one cow. Stop calling me  a bullshipper. This sort of thing happens in my circles,  and New Dog Libby, for one,  finds it  wholly acceptable. Fancy city pooches rarely get a chance to plow into the juicy remains of an entire cow leg.

Indianapolis blog meet

I was fun to be there with a select group of mostly Indianapolis writers. RobertaX has the complete report. 

Bobbi is utterly charming. You already knew that from her writing, but face-to-face confirmation is always a bonus.

Tam was AWOL, playing with her guns, never mind that I slaved over a hot cruise-control for 700 miles in hopes she'd be one of the good folks I'd meet.

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It was part of a much longer trip, and I have a note or two to pass on about motoring in America, but I promise to spare you a report on what I did on my vacation.