The U.S. Postal Service has been hard at work preparing for the holiday season since January. Rest assured, we’re holiday ready and well prepared to deliver fast and reliable service to every address in Valley Mills and across America.

Rustic Ramblings Ienjoyed Ashley Barner’s story of her grandmother’s doll house in the latest issue of the River Run Magazine. The part about finding old newspapers inside walls or under flooring of old houses sparked a memory.

Comparative Religions As a matter of fact, yes. The confusion begins with whether it is a religion at all.

In the 5th century B.C., a Nepalese prince named Siddharth Gautama, who was raised Hindu, was driven to find a way to escape the endless cycle of suffering humans endure in the circular existence of reincarnation. He left his royal comforts to begin the “noble quest” for a solution.

You know those mundane, repetitive tasks we all do to make our lives manageable? Or the exercise routines--- even just walking--- that are so good for us yet can seem like such a waste of precious time? Some people listen to music to make chores or exercise more enjoyable. I never remember to do that. For a lifetime, I’ve used that time to think my deep thoughts--- or not so deep. I believe I used to spend some of that time going over things in my head, solving the problems of the world, ya know. It’s not that I mind being alone with my thoughts as I go about daily chores, but I can’t say I enjoy things like housework, weedwhacking, spreading mulch or folding laundry. I sometimes mull over how many more hours I’d have in the day to do things I’d actually enjoy--- if there were hot and cold running household and landscaping help around here--- other than Zack-- to do all the grunt work and free up my time. I’d do more art work, and I’d read more.

Early voting in the Nov. 8 general election begins Oct.

The late Dr. Albert Einstein said, “Science without religion is lame.

I’ve recently written about procrastination. I even scratched off some things from my “to-do” list and am feeling pretty good about it. If you knew how many items remain, you’d wonder why I’m pleased with myself. Every day, new things pop up. Balancing incoming with timely outgoing is my problem. I told my daughter I still needed to digitally RSVP for a cousin’s wedding. She offered to do it for me, and who’d say no to that? Guessing this doesn’t count as a “woohoo, done-it check mark” on my tally-since I didn’t actually do it. It took Becca less than a minute. I would have done it. But locating the invitation, visiting the website and leaving my RSVP hadn’t happened since I received it a month ago. Is it just me? Also on the plus side, we finally bathed the dogs, and I cut their nails--- which’ll need doing again before I turn around. The recurring, mundane tasks slay me.

Last week’s column launched with procrastination and morphed into airport security. Some columns take on lives of their own. I don’t usually procrastinate on purpose. It just seems it’s more difficult now to accomplish several major things each day-as I did before. There’s superfluous stuff that doesn’t count, like all the mundane chores of everyday life that we do--- like shopping for food, cooking, eating, cleaning, washing dishes and clothing, paying bills, and gassing up vehicles. I don’t enjoy most of those after years of the same, boring, repetitive tasks, but I do them, usually in a timely manner. Some things won’t wait.

We began this column last week by asking some fundamental questions about the religious beliefs of the world’s eight billion people today. Here are some answers to those questions. Of the world’s major religions …