Retailers cringe when the topic of “Retail Theft” is discussed.  Annually U.S. retailers lose over $33 billion dollars from theft, enough to make entire chains and small businesses close for good.  It isn’t just retailers that need to be concerned about retail theft; their loss is passed down to all of us. The 2006 National Retail Security Survey conducted by the University of Florida stated that an average home will pay more than $440 this year in higher prices because of “inventory-theft.”

I have a fascinating article within an article for you today, but before we go there, let’s stop for a moment and give thanks for our many blessings especially at this time of the year. Carrying that thought a step further; we have wonderful opportunities to help give others a bit of our time to help make their lives a little better.

In the Napa Valley, we’re used to wine-obsessed tourists. But it was a small army of ukulele players who descended on Napa the other night.

A recent trend in the professional world is the concept of risk management. It certainly applies to living with trees.

A sobering report released by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation this week revealed higher loan losses and declines in non-interest income during the third quarter of this year.

 With the price of new homes being adjusted to the current buyers market, it may soon be the right time for buying a newly constructed home at well below the long-term value.

There are special days in our lives, days unlike all others, but as one grows older we seem to look at those days in a different light.

The official Hot Stove League season got off to a rousing start this year when Napa’s senior resident Big Leaguer, Dario Lodigiani, and this scribe met at Marie Callender’s on a quiet Monday early afternoon.

On Nov. 8, a container ship crashed into one of the towers of the San Francisco Bay Bridge, spilling thousands of gallons of oil into the bay.

If wine goes bad, don’t pour it down the drain. Pour it over the kitchen counter instead.

Planning to bake and take? Would you dare buy and lie?

So, you’ve just decided due to massive hunger pains and dizziness that you desperately need to eat something now.

As fall turns to winter, it is a fitting time to break from labor in our Napa Valley gardens and pick up some garden writing. Books and periodicals allow us to contemplate the pleasures of gardening without the limitations of time, soil and climate.

Gazing out my kitchen window, I can visualize the beautiful arbor that will someday shade a portion of my back patio. However, my construction crew consists of my husband and son-in-law. They keep telling me they are busy with other projects.

Dear Len & Rosie,  My 81-year-old widowed mother-in-law has become interested in a lifelong friend who also lost his spouse.

Jessel Gallery will have a holiday show and sale preview party Friday from 5-8 p.m., and a weekend celebration Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Taxes are going up again. This tax raise won’t affect too many American’s but those it does affect will be hit hard-again.