In case your notice went awry, the February Backwoods Home Magazine newsletter is now online.

In this issue, along with some interesting announcements and a special prayer request, we have tips about what to do in February and March in the garden, an even dozen recipes that take advantage of storage food, and a few chuckles.

If you don’t get our free newsletter but would like to, click here:
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The website is getting a bit overwhelmed with email asking us questions. The only writers we have to answer questions are Jackie Clay at her blog and Jeff Yago on his Get Powered Up energy section on the Home Page. These two can only handle so many questions in their fields of expertise because they too have their own lives and jobs. If you’ve asked a question about a particular subject or have asked for more info about a topic contained in a past article, and you haven’t gotten an answer, it’s probably because we don’t have anyone available to answer it.

Sometimes I’ve responded to individual emails and explained that the author of a particular article is not here to answer his or her question. But I’ve fallen behind on this, and it seemed kind of pointless anyway. We are a small magazine with lots of work to do to get each issue out. We don’t have the time to elaborate on what has been written in the past, and we don’t have the time to locate, then contact the writers of the articles, most of whom want to be paid for their services anyway. We paid them to write the articles, so they would expect to be paid to do any more work. This website is free, and we have no money to pay people to answer questions.

So I guess readers will just have to use the articles published on the website as a starting point, then do some research on our site or other sites if they want additional information.

I also have several email queries from writers about previous submissions. We’ll get back to you pretty soon. I’ve been kind of sidetracked with the upcoming special issue, which requires a lot more work than a regular issue.

I’m also deleting both blog posts of Feb. 26, as they refer to a post that has already been deleted so it seems pointless to keep these. I think the subject of these posts will be pleased with these final deletions.

Ever read the Odyssey by Homer? Marvelous epic poem (but a bit long at about 500 pages) of the travels and travails of Odysseus as he sails home to Greece after being victorious in the Trojan War. My son, Jake, a junior at Gold Beach High School, is reading it as part of an Honors English class.

It is one of the great adventure stories of all time. The last two nights, my wife, who still reads to the kids almost every night even though they are aged 16, 14, and 12, read them Edith Hamilton’s 26-page summary of the Odyssey from her 1942 book, Mythology. I listened too because it has been so many years since I read it.

Few kids nowadays read great ancient literature like this. Of course, as with Shakespeare, it helps to have a teacher to help you understand it. GBHS happens to have an enlightened teacher, Alan Lee, who understands the importance of exposing his students to the great literary works of the past.

I assume someone has made a movie of the Odyssey, just as they did of Homer’s other great work, the Iliad (the Trojan War), but I don’t know since I’m not much of a movie goer. But it is much more important to read the book itself, for only then can you get a feel for the complexity of an ancient society. The real world and the world of gods were seamless in those days, just as they were in most ancient cultures. People passed from one into the other, then back again, on a regular basis. There are so many gods named in the Odyssey you can barely keep track of them. But once you are finished reading the book, you have an appreciation of a great civilization (the foundation of Western civilization) with its heroes and villains. It gives you an understanding into who we are today with our distant modern culture. Great literature essentially allows you to time travel into our past.

The Odyssey is only one of many books Mr. Lee has required Jake to read. He keeps me rushing to my own bookshelf looking for old copies of Rand and Steinbeck and Fitzgerald. I try and expound on the history and philosophical principles behind the books. Until Mr. Lee, Jake, like so many kids today, has concentrated his reading on fantasy, such as Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and the Redwall series of novels (Jake has read 19 of them) by Brian Jacques. I’m not sure how valuable that is. It’s entertaining for sure. But what about history and ideas? Isn’t that how we learn to proceed into the future?

I have a fondness for Greek and Roman mythology. Lenie will begin reading Edith Hamilton’s entire Mythology book to the boys tonight. Hamilton had the ability to condense the ancient stories down, adding her own explanations, so the stories are easier for we moderns to understand. Hamilton herself has been dead for 45 years, her book is 65 years old, but her book’s treatment of ancient Greek and Roman myths is probably still the best ever written. I highly recommend you read it to your own children. There are copies of the book all over the internet for as little as a few cents.

Here’s my take on the Presidential race so far. It’s nonpartisan; I don’t like any of the frontrunners.

If Obama is the Democratic candidate, the Democrats will win big. Conservatives will stay home. They don’t like McCain, and eight years of their man, Bush, overspending has disheartened them.

If Hillary is the Democratic candidate, the Democrats will still win, but only by a little. Many conservatives will come out just to vote against her, but it won’t be enough. Bush has really succeeded in crushing their spirit, plus Libertarians, who have totally given up on the Republican Party, will vote for a third-party candidate.

Here’s the only combination of factors that could defeat the Democrats: Hillary is the candidate and

1) She has stolen the nomination from Obama through superdelegates, or by getting state delegates that have already been discounted by the DNC to be counted in her favor, or by any other means perceived underhanded by voters. Blacks and independents will feel cheated, and they will rebel against it by voting for McCain, who is not that far to the right of Hillary.

2) The New York Times and other major media outlets continue to attack McCain with political hit pieces. That will cause conservatives to rally around McCain in a big way because they hate the NY Times and left wing media far more than they are dissatisfied with McCain.

3) Hillary continues to turn off male voters. This is a dynamic that no one will talk much about, but it’s obvious most men don’t like her. Let’s call it the Bitch Factor, but Hillary has a smug look that reminds a lot of men of someone they’d rather forget.

4) The Dems talk about gun control too soon, as in before the election. This will set off alarms in the heads of one-issue voters who regard the Second Amendment as the most important amendment, and they will go to the polls to vote against gun control.

The Democrats can avoid a lot of headaches by just nominating Obama. They’ll win the Presidency and Congress in a landslide. Blame yourself, Republican Party. You forsook conservative and libertarian principles for too long, and now you will pay the price.