{"id":1296106,"date":"2026-05-10T16:53:59","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T22:53:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.reporterherald.com\/?p=1296106"},"modified":"2026-05-06T17:04:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T23:04:25","slug":"val-mccullough-how-can-we-shelter-the-vulnerable-from-lifes-storms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reporterherald.com\/2026\/05\/10\/val-mccullough-how-can-we-shelter-the-vulnerable-from-lifes-storms\/","title":{"rendered":"Val McCullough: How\u00a0can we shelter the vulnerable from life’s storms?"},"content":{"rendered":"

It seemed like a good idea at the time.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, I’d said to myself, “This will be the year I’ll plant a garden to attract butterflies and bees.”<\/p>\n

It’s more than a stretch for me to say, “I’ll plant a garden.”<\/p>\n

It’s an outright lie.<\/p>\n

Planting a garden means I’m going to ask someone else to do the work for me.<\/p>\n

Let’s face it. At 90 years, I’m too unsteady on my feet to do the job myself. Besides, I’m a gardening novice.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, Jason, the gentleman who mows my lawn, agreed to transplant 37 fledgling flowers in my yard.<\/p>\n

“This’ll be easy,” I said to Jason. “I’ve ordered a pre-planned garden. Just follow the diagram that arrived along with the plants.”<\/p>\n

“What could go wrong?” I asked myself, as I envisioned a Van Gogh blaze of colors in my yard.<\/p>\n

But nothing prepared me for the hornet’s nest I’d stirred up for Jason. (When you don\u2019t know what you\u2019re doing, you think you know everything.)<\/p>\n

The plants arrived by UPS at the end of April. After I unpacked and watered them, Jason and I agreed on a time for him to get them in the ground.<\/p>\n

With five bags of fertilizer on hand, Jason began preparing the soil, which had been untouched for years.<\/p>\n

I was surprised to find that over the decades, the soil had turned into cement. Why didn’t I see that coming?<\/p>\n

Jared rented a hand tiller to cultivate the soil, only to find a deep layer of small rocks about 6 inches beneath the surface.<\/p>\n

I’d forgotten that Bill and I had poured rocks in that area about 30 years ago.<\/p>\n

All the rocks had to be shoveled out. This turned out to be a back-breaking task for Jason. Was I like a general leading his troops to slaughter?<\/p>\n

The next surprise was a couple of buried landscape spotlights Bill and I had installed decades ago.<\/p>\n

I wondered what the next “find” would be? Jimmy Hoffa’s body?<\/p>\n

After Jason’s grueling work, my tiny drought-resistant flowers were finally mulched, \u00a0fertilized and planted.<\/p>\n

I watered the plants faithfully, and \u2014 while delicate \u2014 they looked healthy.<\/p>\n

In my week-long tenure as caretaker for these young sprouts, I couldn’t help noticing both their vulnerability and their striving toward growth.<\/p>\n

Just like people.<\/p>\n

Then came last week’s winter storm.<\/p>\n

An hour before the storm, a slice of sunshine warmed the plants. Then \u2014 within minutes \u2014 rain fell.<\/p>\n

I quickly grabbed a few cardboard boxes from the garage, hoping to shelter at least a few plants. I tried not to slip on the wet soil.<\/p>\n

I wasn’t a pretty sight \u2014 but I got the work done.<\/p>\n

Now, I am writing this in the morning after the storm. Trees are still heavy with snow. It looks like the sun will come out.<\/p>\n

My plants are still covered with cardboard boxes topped with snow.<\/p>\n

The storm left us with much-needed moisture. And it left me with something more.<\/p>\n

I’m reminded that people \u2014 men, women and children \u2014 often have only cardboard to shelter them from storms.<\/p>\n

They are also delicate and vulnerable.<\/p>\n

How\u00a0can we shelter them from life’s storms?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It seemed like a good idea at the time. Earlier this month, I’d said to myself, “This will be the year I’ll plant a garden to attract butterflies and bees.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":384171,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[3067,46,48],"tags":[3221],"feature":[],"location":[124,125,249,255],"type-of-work":[],"coauthors":[3017],"class_list":["post-1296106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-headlines","category-opinion","category-opinion-columnists","tag-valerie-mccullough","location-colorado","location-front-range","location-larimer-county","location-loveland"],"post_status":"","edit_last":0,"edit_lock":0,"highlights":"","original_byline":"","original_canonical":"","original_category":"","original_email":"","original_id":0,"original_pubdate":"","original_source":"","primary_section":"48","primary_tag":3221,"print_workflow_body":{"deck_headline":"In My Own Words","print_title":"How\u00a0can we shelter the vulnerable from life's storms?","print_subheadline":"","print_planned_ready":"","print_pub_date":"1778392800","print_slug":"RHC-L-COL-VAL-0511","print_budget_line":"","print_excerpt":"It seemed like a good idea at the time. Earlier this month, I'd said to myself, \"This will be the year I'll plant a garden to attract butterflies and bees.\"","print_notes":"","photo_limits":"Photo limits are: 1 featured image, 5 featured gallery images, 5 embedded gallery images and 5 in-article embedded images. Articles that exceed these limits will not export. Please adjust images to reflect these limits.","print_featured_gallery_richtext":"","print_inline_galleries_richtext":"","print_inline_images_richtext":"","print_content":"

It seemed like a good idea at the time.<\/p>

Earlier this month, I'd said to myself, \"This will be the year I'll plant a garden to attract butterflies and bees.\"<\/p>

It's more than a stretch for me to say, \"I'll plant a garden.\"<\/p>

It's an outright lie.<\/p>

Planting a garden means I'm going to ask someone else to do the work for me.<\/p>

Let's face it. At 90 years, I'm too unsteady on my feet to do the job myself. Besides, I'm a gardening novice.<\/p>

Fortunately, Jason, the gentleman who mows my lawn, agreed to transplant 37 fledgling flowers in my yard.<\/p>

\"This'll be easy,\" I said to Jason. \"I've ordered a pre-planned garden. Just follow the diagram that arrived along with the plants.\"<\/p>

\"What could go wrong?\" I asked myself, as I envisioned a Van Gogh blaze of colors in my yard.<\/p>

But nothing prepared me for the hornet's nest I'd stirred up for Jason. (When you don\u2019t know what you\u2019re doing, you think you know everything.)<\/p>

The plants arrived by UPS at the end of April. After I unpacked and watered them, Jason and I agreed on a time for him to get them in the ground.<\/p>

With five bags of fertilizer on hand, Jason began preparing the soil, which had been untouched for years.<\/p>

I was surprised to find that over the decades, the soil had turned into cement. Why didn't I see that coming?<\/p>

Jared rented a hand tiller to cultivate the soil, only to find a deep layer of small rocks about 6 inches beneath the surface.<\/p>

I'd forgotten that Bill and I had poured rocks in that area about 30 years ago.<\/p>

All the rocks had to be shoveled out. This turned out to be a back-breaking task for Jason. Was I like a general leading his troops to slaughter?<\/p>

The next surprise was a couple of buried landscape spotlights Bill and I had installed decades ago.<\/p>

I wondered what the next \"find\" would be? Jimmy Hoffa's body?<\/p>

After Jason's grueling work, my tiny drought-resistant flowers were finally mulched, \u00a0fertilized and planted.<\/p>

I watered the plants faithfully, and \u2014 while delicate \u2014 they looked healthy.<\/p>

In my week-long tenure as caretaker for these young sprouts, I couldn't help noticing both their vulnerability and their striving toward growth.<\/p>

Just like people.<\/p>

Then came last week's winter storm.<\/p>

An hour before the storm, a slice of sunshine warmed the plants. Then \u2014 within minutes \u2014 rain fell.<\/p>

I quickly grabbed a few cardboard boxes from the garage, hoping to shelter at least a few plants. I tried not to slip on the wet soil.<\/p>

I wasn't a pretty sight \u2014 but I got the work done.<\/p>

Now, I am writing this in the morning after the storm. Trees are still heavy with snow. It looks like the sun will come out.<\/p>

My plants are still covered with cardboard boxes topped with snow.<\/p>

The storm left us with much-needed moisture. And it left me with something more.<\/p>

I'm reminded that people \u2014 men, women and children \u2014 often have only cardboard to shelter them from storms.<\/p>

They are also delicate and vulnerable.<\/p>

How\u00a0can we shelter them from life's storms?<\/p>"},"print_workflow_exported_ts":"1778254004","print_workflow_exported_username":"Jackie Hutchins","print_workflow_shapes":"","print_workflow_side":{"print_section":"3061","print_status":"3047","add_export_buttons":"","print_endpoint":"pmp","print_publication":"","print_add_to_budget":""},"really_short_title":"","short_title":"","syndication_source":"","market_neutral_title":"","social_title":"","dfm_hub_post_id":0,"paywall_level":"premium","wp_post_sync_subscribers":["contenthub"],"last_syndication_payload_sent_via_nats_to":[],"last_syndication_payload_sent_via_nats_at":0,"last_syndication_payload_received_via_nats":false,"last_syndication_payload_received_via_nats_at":0,"featured_media_content":{"content_type":"image","content":{"id":384171,"title":"ValerieMcCullough","filename":"ValerieMcCullough.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.reporterherald.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/ValerieMcCullough.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.reporterherald.com\/2022\/05\/21\/val-mccullough-music-can-introduce-us-to-whats-best-in-ourselves\/valeriemccullough-2\/","alt":"","author":"73","description":"","caption":"","name":"valeriemccullough-2","status":"inherit","uploadedTo":384165,"date":1652979657000,"modified":1652979657000,"menuOrder":0,"mime":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.reporterherald.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.svg","dateFormatted":"May 19, 2022","nonces":{"update":false,"delete":false,"edit":false},"editLink":false,"meta":false,"authorName":"Jackie Hutchins","authorLink":"","filesizeInBytes":575617,"filesizeHumanReadable":"562 KB","context":"","height":131,"width":132,"orientation":"landscape","sizes":{"thumbnail":{"height":131,"width":132,"url":"https:\/\/www.reporterherald.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/ValerieMcCullough.jpg?w=132&h=131&crop=1","orientation":"landscape"},"medium":{"height":131,"width":132,"url":"https:\/\/www.reporterherald.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/ValerieMcCullough.jpg?w=132","orientation":"landscape"},"large":{"height":131,"width":132,"url":"https:\/\/www.reporterherald.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/ValerieMcCullough.jpg?w=132","orientation":"landscape"},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/www.reporterherald.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/ValerieMcCullough.jpg","height":131,"width":132,"orientation":"landscape"}},"custom_caption":""},"data":[{"id":384171,"title":"ValerieMcCullough","filename":"ValerieMcCullough.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.reporterherald.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/ValerieMcCullough.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.reporterherald.com\/2022\/05\/21\/val-mccullough-music-can-introduce-us-to-whats-best-in-ourselves\/valeriemccullough-2\/","alt":"","author":"73","description":"","caption":"","name":"valeriemccullough-2","status":"inherit","uploadedTo":384165,"date":1652979657000,"modified":1652979657000,"menuOrder":0,"mime":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.reporterherald.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.svg","dateFormatted":"May 19, 2022","nonces":{"update":false,"delete":false,"edit":false},"editLink":false,"meta":false,"authorName":"Jackie Hutchins","authorLink":"","filesizeInBytes":575617,"filesizeHumanReadable":"562 KB","context":"","height":131,"width":132,"orientation":"landscape","sizes":{"thumbnail":{"height":131,"width":132,"url":"https:\/\/www.reporterherald.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/ValerieMcCullough.jpg?w=132&h=131&crop=1","orientation":"landscape"},"medium":{"height":131,"width":132,"url":"https:\/\/www.reporterherald.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/ValerieMcCullough.jpg?w=132","orientation":"landscape"},"large":{"height":131,"width":132,"url":"https:\/\/www.reporterherald.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/ValerieMcCullough.jpg?w=132","orientation":"landscape"},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/www.reporterherald.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/ValerieMcCullough.jpg","height":131,"width":132,"orientation":"landscape"}},"custom_caption":""}],"rendered_content":"\"\""},"attachments":[],"authors":[{"ID":2794,"display_name":"Val McCullough","description":"Retired psychologist Valerie McCullough and her husband Bill came to Loveland in 1964 and raised four daughters here. 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