Category Archives: 2010
Table of Contents Intact
As we said our goodbyes two weeks ago, after a very nice visit with our brand-new granddaughter, I had a heavy heart. Actually, the pain was a bit lower. I had a really sore belly. The drive from Kansas City … Continue reading
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New Year of Courage
How would you react? That’s the question I ask myself when I read or hear about acts of heroism by regular people. I don’t think of myself as being particularly brave, but many people who display tremendous courage say, after … Continue reading
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Twenty Years Ago
Twenty years and two weeks ago, December 15th, my father died. No matter how many times I look at that sentence, it still doesn’t seem possible. I wouldn’t say it seems like just yesterday, but it’s hard to believe it … Continue reading
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Christmas Shorts
No, this isn’t about boxers with elves and reindeer on them. Sorry. Instead, I’d like to share a few stories and thoughts related to this season. What do we call it? After years of businesses telling their employees to wish … Continue reading
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They’re Back!
I believe it was the movie “The Poltergeist,” where a little kid looked at the TV set and announced to her family, “They’re back!” She is referencing some ghosts who have taken over the family home. I’ve never seen the … Continue reading
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Our Boy Brent
Remember two years ago when some young entrepreneurs started selling t-shirts that said, “We’ll miss you, Brent.” They were, of course, referring sarcastically to the then just-departed (from the Green Bay Packers, not the planet) Brett Favre. Since then, Brett … Continue reading
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Litter Bugs Me
Sometimes I feel like a significant portion of my life is spent buying and preparing food to go into our three cats, and then dealing with the results of having fed them, if you know what I mean. All three … Continue reading
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110 Percent
I love to hear coaches and athletes talking about how they have given “110%.” I understand what they’re trying to say. Rather than give a normal amount of effort, which would be 100 per cent, they claim that they have … Continue reading
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Aptly Named State Park
I’m sure there was a gentle breeze floating amongst the falling and fallen leaves, making a wonderfully wistful sound, but unfortunately, I was only able to hear my labored breathing and pounding heart. The steps… they just kept coming. Step … Continue reading
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Garden Post-mortum
I have a piece of paper on the wall near my desk at work on which I printed photographs showing four views of our flower garden from last year. (See a portion of one of them above.) The pictures were … Continue reading
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Politics as Unusual
I voted last week. My schedule takes me away from home on election day, so I went down to the town office and cast an absentee ballot right on the spot. I know it’s hard to imagine, but the political … Continue reading
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Upon Further Review
Now that the football season is here, we’re once again hearing referees in striped shirts say, “Upon further review, the ruling on the field stands,” or “is overruled.” The advent of super slow motion instant replay has brought these reviews … Continue reading
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Judging Covers of Books
I know we’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover, and yet, publishers pay thousands of dollars to designers to come up with a cover that we can’t resist. Go figure. As someone who is in the process … Continue reading
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Electric Light Out
“LONDON (Reuters) – A giant bale of hay has killed a founding member of the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) band after it tumbled down a hill and crashed into his van. Cellist Mike Edwards, 62, died after the 600 kg … Continue reading
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A Close Shave
I had a close shave related to an airplane trip last week. It wasn’t a “near miss” as some people call it when two planes are dangerously close together. If you think about it, the term should be “near hit,” … Continue reading
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The Garden of Weedin’
One of my favorite sayings is, “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.” According to Wikipedia, a sometimes reliable source, the saying is attributed to ”Saint Bernard of Clairvaux who wrote, “L’enfer est plein de bonnes volontés et … Continue reading
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One Day in the News
I usually start my day at work by looking at a few news sources online. Some days it strikes me that the world is a wonderful place, and other days I want to crawl under my desk and assume the … Continue reading
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It’s Complicated
Those using Facebook to network with friends are asked to provide some information about themselves, if they want to. One category is “relationship status.” Along with “single,” “married,” and “in a relationship,” there is a choice called, “It’s complicated.” Every … Continue reading
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Down a Quart
Summer is a wonderful time of year to be outside. It’s warm, breezy, and the days are long. Of course, there is one little tiny thing. Actually, lots of little tiny things. Mosquitoes. Thanks to the oversupply of rain this … Continue reading
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Non-trivial Pursuit
I know a little about a lot of things. That’s not bragging, but it’s the truth. The reason it isn’t bragging is that I don’t know a lot about most things. For example, I know that there is a quadratic … Continue reading
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No Idea
Sometimes when I sit down to write this column I’m excited by an idea that I can’t wait to put into words. Other times I have a shred of an idea that I hope to be able to expand to … Continue reading
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Door County Fun
Last weekend we spent a couple of days in Door County, Wisconsin. It should have been named “Thumb County,” due to its position on the mitten that is Wisconsin, but nobody asked me my thoughts on the matter, and it’s … Continue reading
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Ordinary Small People
Everybody who heard Carl-Henric Svanberg, chairman of BP, refer to some of those impacted by the oil spill as “small people” must have rolled their eyes. I know I did. They’re just now back in place, after getting stuck in … Continue reading
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A Week in the News
A few weeks ago there were a number of interesting news items that were worthy of note. Senator Robert Byrd expired that week. At 92, he had served in the Senate longer than anybody. He brought billions of tax dollars … Continue reading
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Voting With Our Wallets
It’s getting hard to know where to buy our gas. The BP company, by all accounts, was running a sub-standard operation in the gulf. The other oil company executives who testified in front of Congress were quick to say that … Continue reading
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Let It (Them) Be
Psychologists like to use word association exercises to break through our defenses and learn things about us that we wouldn’t otherwise divulge. The idea is that by making us respond quickly to key words, our brains will respond without the … Continue reading
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Party Time
There was quite a party at our place one night last week. We weren’t invited, but judging from the clean-up the next day, the guests had a wonderful time. In fact, they partied until after dawn. The guests who enjoyed … Continue reading
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The Tipping Point
When I was a kid I was very involved in sports. Rarely a summer day went by without a baseball game (or at least games of catch), tennis, or basketball. The football season lasted into January, which obviously meant playing … Continue reading
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A New Kind of Rude
When I was a kid, we had some rules at our house about the telephone. If a friend called during dinner, we were to politely tell them that we’d call back later. If we made or received a long distance … Continue reading
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Great Expectations
A few weeks ago, a young woman in California went missing (a British phrase, which has apparently caught on here in the Colonies). She went out for her morning run, and never came back. Her family, and all of us, … Continue reading
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Business As Usual
If you were charged with the task of emptying a bathtub full of water with a teaspoon, you’d probably say that it is impossible, even though your intellect would tell you it can be done. It would take a long … Continue reading
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For the Bird(s)
In our yard we have a large vegetable garden and a not as large flower garden. The flower garden has walkways covered in wood chips from tree branches that were taken down a few years ago and chipped for just … Continue reading
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Glamorous Travel
I’m writing this at 2:56 Eastern time on Monday. I’m sitting at a table in a famous restaurant. You may have heard of it. It’s called “McDonald’s.” This particular McDonald’s is in the Newark, New Jersey train station. I started … Continue reading
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Social Mediocrity
Ten years ago, a twitter was, as Dictionary.com says, “a succession of tremulous sounds.” Now Twitter is a social media tool used by millions to communicate things that, somehow, we all lived without hearing up until now. Ten years ago … Continue reading
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Garden Party
The unusually warm weather we’ve had recently has been a real treat. Farmers who couldn’t do the field work they wanted to do last fall because of the rain that turned too quickly into snow were able to play catch-up, … Continue reading
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Coming to Your Census
These days we’re in the midst of the once-per-decade count of human beings in our country, as prescribed by the constitution. The founders wanted to know how many of us there are, so we can fairly distribute the 435 congressional … Continue reading
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White Fronted
There is a large cornfield behind our house – except for the years it is a soybean field. Every spring the middle of that cornfield becomes a lake. As soon as the level of the creek that runs nearby drops, … Continue reading
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The Baa Baa Shop
Last Saturday was the one Saturday of the year when we could put a barber’s pole outside our little sheep barn. It was shearing day, and our 17 sheep got a haircut, or more precisely, a wool cut. A few … Continue reading
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The Biggest Surviving American Idol Millionaire Bachelor Loser
Now that the Olympics are over, we Americans can turn our attention away from winning misshapen medals to following our favorite reality shows. Never mind that our economy is in a shambles and our foreign enemies are poised to attack … Continue reading
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Fair is Fair
Everybody needs a helping hand from time to time. I know I have, and when those times came, I was happy to have the help. So, I feel a little petty about what I’m writing about this week. But, it … Continue reading
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Dumb Things We Do
Saturday morning I got out of bed before I was ready to be done sleeping. I got dressed and started working on some household chores. Later, I went to the McDonald’s in Newville to treat myself to breakfast and do … Continue reading
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Above The Fold
But, when I think of a world without daily newspapers, I shudder. I don’t see how the Internet can possibly replace local newspapers in their ability to report local and regional news with reasonably competent reporters whose writing is at least minimally edited. Any yahoo (no pun intended) can put up a web site and make things up. The democratization of communication is all well and good, but having an actual newspaper behind news reporting gives me more confidence in what’s written than what somebody writes in a blog post.
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A Quick Bite
We can look forward to vampire comedies like, “My Uncle Bites,” or “Two Men and a Man Who is Half Man and Half Vampire.” Reality shows would also feature vampires, I suppose. “American Incisor,” “Trading Blood Types,” and “Survivor – Transylvania” are probably pilot shows under consideration, along with “Extreme Neck Makeover.” Continue reading
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A Panel of Experts
I’m sure there was a time when people didn’t need experts, or at least not as much as we do these days. In rural economies in a less technological age people learned what they needed to know from their parents, and then taught it to their children. How to hitch up a team of horses, how to sharpen a plow blade, and when to cut the hay were all things people knew. There was no Google to consult, and until 100 years ago or so, no university extension agents to talk to.
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