My heroine is Laura Ingalls Wilder. She's not the woman I thought she was. Still a great woman, but a much different one than I thought.

As I work through the drafts of my book on the literary collaboration between Laura and her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, I realize that I am coming to know the real woman anew. The Laura I and millions of fans have loved is the free-spirited prairie girl. Laura the writer is also a stern mother, arguing and acting passive-aggressive with her editor daughter. She's an intelligent but spottily educated farmer's wife who understood theme...

The courage to change should begin from the top—with the boss: Turn off the lights. Shut down the computer monitors. Print on both sides of the paper. Stop buying bottled water. Just acting different could cut energy use in offices by 4 to 75 percent, Shui Bin writes in a new report for the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, released today.

Many months ago the U.S. House of Representatives launched its program to "Green the Capitol" with a motivational web how-to called "My Green Office."...

On Mount Washington, New Hampshire:

October 2011

Average monthly snowfall (1971-2000): 14 inches

Actual snowfall in October: 20.7

November 2011

Average monthly snowfall: 40.4

Actual snowfall: 18.6

December 2011:

Average monthly snowfall: 50 inches.

Total snowfall in December: 38 inches.