Casper Star-Tribune from Casper, Wyoming • 6

Opinion -t Jo ry bij 3t 3C7 Zi'j C023. Send v's to ed at fetV: tnb com. -1 i Jvi It. ,11 iiiaii thoughts -i T7i 1 Jto pmMvtntvs raw i'4 ii '-rw c. Another morning-commute adventure tucked my wallet under my arm, held my son Cooper's hand and locked the front door behind us.

ry Eilliter conditioner unit, andthenl'dbe tall enough to reach the window. I'd push my palm against it and it'dpop right open." air conditioner is in the backyard, and the gate is locked." I nodded. "But I can hold you and then we'll be able to reach the front window." I hoisted my son into the air, and he pushed on the front window, but like the front door lock, it wouldn't budge. "They just don't make homes like they used to," I mumbled, fmallyconceding that I'd have to call the high school. I think the attendance office knows my ring tone.

Each week, it seems like I'm phoning them for something. When I explained why I needed one of my sons to come home with their house keys, the attendance clerk started to laugh. "Well, at least you're not in your pajamas," she said. Mary Billiter, of Casper, is a weekly Star-Tribune columnist and author of "Not My XYZ Affair." Her latest work of fiction, "A Man For All Seasons," a holiday novella, was published by Crimson Romance in December. Write to her at marybilliterymail.com.

Follow her on Twitter: fMaryBilliter. My hair unraveled like a fast -growing Chia Pet, but Cooper seemed to have an idea, and if it meant getting us inside the house, then it was worth it. I watched my 8 -year-old put my hairpin into the front door lock and jiggle it. "Should I even ask where you learned to do this?" Cooper grinned. "It's from a spy show that Kyle and I watch." I tentatively nodded yet watched with rapt interest.

Maybe it'd work. Blind faith in the impossible prompted my son to fumble with the lock, confident his small-screen spy-craft would save the day. Try as he might, the lock wouldn't budge. Two of our neighbors have a key to our house, but one had just left for work and another works the night shift. I glanced at the front of our house, which is lined with windows.

"That 'sit!" I looked at my son. "My mom, your grandma, locked herself out of the house all the time. We'll just push on one of the windows and, voila, we'll be inside in no time." Cooper's expressive brown eyes questioned me. "And how do we do that?" "Well, Grandma used to hold me up and I'd climb onto the air "Uh-oh." Cooper looked up at me and shielded his eyes as snow fell between us. "What's wrong?" "I forgot the car keys." And as if on cue, a strong Wyoming wind kicked up and cut right through my pajamas.

While I had recently written about my adventures driving my daughter, Ciara, to school in my pajamas only to have a tire blow out, I figured a disaster like that surely wouldn't strike-twice. So after a week of getting up early to shower and throw on jeans before I drove her to school, I opted for 30 more minutes of sleep in my soft, comfy flannel PJs. When I return from driving Ciara to school, my twin boys, Austin and Kyle, are ready to depart, and then it's time for me to drive Cooper to school. There's really no time in between to shower. I wait until my four children are safely at school, and then 1 have the bathroom to myself and," better yet, a quiet house.

It's a routine that's worked, and I haven't wanted to change it, but I'm beginning to think the The Wyoming Business Alliance isn't exactly known as a liberal group. So it's telling that the group is backing the idea of banning discrimination against gays and lesbians in the workplace. As we've said ourselves, Wyoming should reduce any barrier to attracting good employees and employers who might otherwise decide they'd prefer other states with stronger anti-disalmination laws. Lodging opportunities We like the idea of cool places to stay in Wyoming's beautiful outdoors. That's why we love the U.S.

Forest Service's plan to keep open for rent their old snow survey huts and a fire tower, and new yurts for year- round overnight stays at two state parks. We'll always have tents and RVs. But we think there's a place for offbeat stays that define our state's recreational opportuni-Lies plentiful and unique. A resl "guy thing" It was a "guy thing" to steal 688 pounds of U.S. Forest Service explosives, said Budd James Nesius of Wheatland.

No, Budd, it's a stupid tiling. The 33 -year-old man admitted last week to stealing the explosives from a bunker near Red Lodge, Montana, a case that made national news for good reason: You can do a lot of damage with 700 pounds of explosives. We'd suggest to Nesius that a real "guy thing" might be to exercise better judgment than to break the law, panic area residents and store explosives under unsuspecting family members. Farewell, puzzle master Hello, welcome and goodbye to The New York Times puzzle master, Will Shortz. Shortz is on a quest to play table tennis in all 50 states, and he recently made a Casper stop to knock out his 48th state.

His visit to Casper was his 833rd straight day playing table tennis. He's hoping to log 1,000 straight days. Who is clearly a pingpong aficionado? Spell it out Breakfast prodigy Good for Brad Eveatt. The Green River 13 -year-old created a recipe for a school breakfast, one he proposed to his local school board recently. There's no word yet whether board trustees will consider adding the breakfast (fruit, yogurt and flatbread) to Lincoln Middle School's menu.

But we think Eveatt deserves a lot of credit for making a pitch for a healthy breakfast he and other students might want to eat. StarUTribune (-2013. Caifm SIM Tubune 170 Lane PQ Bo 80, WY 82004; NMrona tubune. Cst in 1891; The Tnbune: Fst Oct 9.1lblJE.H,nvMy: The Om SU l-H in 1949, Nathan Bekka, puUnhet Jeremy Fuglvtwnj, opinion Mw David Maybatry, uiiitwnt director Mxndy Burton, news pi oduf tion moingw Sally km Shurmur, ctrnmunity news editor Perspective universe does. Istcodonthefrontsteptomy house in what my kids call my "Blue's Clues" pajamas blue pants with black paw prints.

I'm a real looker in the morning. Cooper squeezed my hand. "We'd better call Ron," he said. My husband, Ron, works in Cheyenne during the week. And while I'd love to see him midweek, it's a bit of a drive to unlock the house for his harried wife.

I knelt down beside Cooper. "Oh, buddy, Ron's too far away." My son nodded. "Do you have a hairpin?" "I do!" If my tire blowout had taught me one thing, it was to at least pin up my shrublike hair before leaving the house. I reached into my curl -bomb and handed my son my hairpin. This session is vital for a better Wyoming sm Republican Legislative Leadership Perspective savings and investments in a way that ensures stability and economic vitality for the years to come while making focused investments in Wyoming's infrastructure that create jobs and maintain a high quality of life throughout our communities.

Wyoming is consistently ranked the best-run state in -the country because of our ability to control government growth, understand the importance of saving to operate within our current and projected revenue. This session is crucial to planning a better, brighter future for Wyoming. We will continue to strengthen our economy, improve our infrastructure, carefully develop our natural resources, keep state decisions in state hands, maintain a controlled budget and invest our human and financial resources wisely We will be measured in how we accomplish a positive change, and we need the courage to plan, make changes and ensure that the coming years are ones of growth and prosperity one day at a time. Wyoming Legislature Republican leadership: Senate President Phil Nicholas, Laramie: Speaker of the House Kermit Brown, Laramie: Senate Majority Floor Leader Eli Bebout, Riverton; House Majority Floor Leader Rosie Berger, Big Horn; Senate Vice President Drew Perkins, Casper; Speaker Pro Tern Tim Stubson, Casper; Majority Whip Hans Hunt, Newcastle. "The best thing about the future is that it comes me day at a time." -Abraham Lincoln the Republican ft A leadership of the 63rd Fl Wyoming State Leg-L tAislature, we know that these next 40 days are vital to building a better and brighter future for Wyoming.

The decisions we make have the chance to influence the next 10 years and beyond. We enter this session with a handful of priorities and a clear vision of what we want to accomplish; thoughtful of how we can best represent the citizens of Wyoming and what kind of legacy we want to leave for future generations. As we travel to Cheyenne and engage in the legislative process, we are reminded that we are part of a remarkable nation, a nation that stands as a great example of strength and freedom. Much of the strength of our country is owed to our founding fathers, who recognized the importance of state sovereignty, giving them the ability to solve problems in a way that uniquely meets their local needs. Too often we have a federal government that forgets the importance of that system and seeks to impose solutions that make sense from afar but are simply unworkable when put into practice.

Tills session, we will have the opportunity and the obligation to education by Education Weeks Quality Counts. When it comes to making significant investments in our education system and prompting economic development, we have been putting our money where our mouth is. This session will be no ferent. We are committed to having tough conversations and debates and to keep moving Wyoming forward. We will continue to create opportunities for meaningful careers and good -paying, stable jobs right here in Wyoming.

Jobs that will keep Wyoming students in Wyoming. We will maintain our business-friendly environment, encotiraging the entrepreneurial spirit of our citizens and welcoming new businesses into our state. Wyoming is and will continue to be open for business. With the release of the Consensus Revenue Estimating Group report last week, we learned tliat the revenue projections are estimated to decrease by $217 million. Being a state with a robust energy sector, we have seen this cycle of decreased energy prices before.

We know this means that we will need to find ways to do more with less. Wewillthouglitfullybalance fight for the right to solve Wyoming problems with Wyoming solutions. Growing our state and local economies while creating meaningful employment opportunities for Wyoming citizens is a top priority this legislative session. And it comes as no surprise to many that education and economic development go hand in hand, and right now we have the opportunity to advance both. Providing for our local communities is one of the best investments the state of Wyoming can make.

We have worked hard to provide high-quality highways and transportation channels, to build out our communications infrastructure and to diversify our economic climate. Historically, Wyoming spends $9 billion a blennium in advancing these initiatives, and we must continue to invest in a way that grows the state of Wyoming's economy. We have recognized for years the importance of having a world-class education system and have strived to make our schools, from preschool through college, the best in the country. As a result of this commitment, Wyomingwasrecentryratedin the top 10 for earry-chfldhood.