Yellow Dog’s Ears

Pretty Wife and I were helping clean out a storage unit for beloved stepdad Paul when two sheets, one “NLQ” pin-printed in faded ink and the other handwritten, fluttered out of a box full of things to throw away. The ball point page is in my readily identifiable hand printing; the dot matrix page has … [more]

Whiteout

It’s held its color well, probably because it was an early shot in the fully artificial fabric wars. Ring-spun, so it’s breathable and doesn’t stick to me on a hot day like the seat cover from a 1960s sedan, the chest of it is proudly bespangled with the logo of a school I went to … [more]

Cheers, kid!

Dear Cougster: I don’t know what to tell young adults about their 21st birthdays, other than “don’t expect too much.” Like New Year’s Eve or bachelor parties, it’s often an occasion more gleefully anticipated than fondly remembered. Basically, if you get through it without hurting yourself too badly, scrawl it loopily into the “win” column … [more]

Borrowed Valor

It’s a joke and a cliché and the truest thing you’ll ever hear from us: “You weren’t there, man.”

Thinning

Those old giant forests, masters of wind and makers of weather, base populations for ecosystems beyond our ken, are gone now. Their final stands are reserved for the wealthy few, but adaptable humans have persuaded ourselves of the beauty found in rotted remnants.

Grow up or shut up

Blurted this out of my own key-actuated bullhorn sometime during the Obama administration, and never posted it AFAICR. Why would I have? It’s kind of mean-spirited. Now, as I find myself angrily clamoring my way through the Age of Trumpidity and a plague that much of my country would like to wish away, I realize … [more]

Dial 9/11: A Humble Christian Homily

Please open your Bibles to Matthew 13 as we read together aloud, verses nine through 16: 9 “Whoever has ears, let them hear.”  10 The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”  11 He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, … [more]

Afterburner

The age of social distancing is no country for dirty old men. He looked like someone had smacked him with a board.