Featured Stories  How much wood would a stubborn mule need?   At
first I almost took it as a compliment. When someone said,
“You’re as stubborn as a mule,” I assumed they meant that I was
a person true to my beliefs and convictions, and not easily
swayed from either.  I took some pride in that until I realized
that it wasn’t compliment.  My father had a pet mule for 20-plus
years. When that mule decided he wasn’t going to do something,
no amount of pushing, pulling, poking, prodding or other forms
of persuasion would make that mule change its mind. When they
also used the word ass, I didn’t think they meant mule or even a
donkey.  As I wondered if maybe the bad side of that trait could
pertain to me, it made me remember a story my late aunt used to
tell me. The church she went to as a small child had only a wood
stove as its heating source, so the church had a woodshed.
There was a woman who rode her mule to church every Sunday. She
would tie up the mule where all of the other horses, wagons and
buggies were