The boom and bust nature of Wyoming’s economy is again on display as the state continues to struggle with budget issues.

It’s 2012, and I haven’t had any arguments with anybody about the election.

This is abnormal for me for two reasons: 1) I’m an Obama voter in a very red community and 2) I enjoy a good argument.

About a month ago, I used this space to talk about the truthfulness, or lack thereof, of the candidates in this year’s presidential election. Since the Republicans had just finished their convention at the time, I used examples from the speeches rendered at that event.

I’ve made way more than my share of visits to medical facilities this year.

If I added up all the hours I’ve spent in doctors’ offices, labs, operating rooms, recovery rooms, therapy sessions and waiting rooms since January, it would be far more than the total time I spent in such facilities in the 67.755 years of my life preceding my episode last February, even if I count all the time I’ve spent in line for the Health Fair blood draw and the delivery time of our two kids.

There’s nothing like a reunion to make you think about the past.

Oddly enough, such a gathering is also inducive to thinking about the present as well.

Once, on the old “Happy Days”  show, the ever-cool Arthur Fonzarelli lost that cool over a girl who walked into Arnold’s, the local teen hangout.

I thought I’d write two columns in one this week, just for a change of pace.

The “this” part is a reflection on last week’s primary election, which I didn’t have much to do with, being a registered Democrat. (Actually, I became a Republican for the day, so I did participate, but don’t spread it around.)

It’s Olympics time, if you haven’t already noticed.

I noticed, although not having television makes it a little harder to do that. This year, though, NBC has offered a handy little App (which is lazy talk for application) for that trendy gadget, the iPad, and since I purchased one of those magic little devices a few months ago, I am able to look in on the Olympics.

Since I started writing this column for the Basin Republican Rustler nearly 13 years ago, I more than once have found myself writing about an act of senseless violence.

Ironically, the latest episode, in Aurora, Colo., took place less than 20 miles from the Columbine High School atrocity, the event that prompted my first column on the subject. That event hit close to home, because, at the time, I was a high school teacher. It was easy to relate to the stories and images of terrified kids and teachers trying to cope with an unimaginable horror and trying to imagine how I would have reacted had such a thing happened in my school.

The death of actor/comedian Andy Griffith recently brought the little town of Mayberry back to the minds of everybody.

Well, maybe not everybody, but it did for those of us who were watching TV back in the ‘60s, and those who spent time watching reruns since then.