Not a Federal Holiday

We weren’t watching the news when they dropped him. We were out getting our hands dirty. We had a pipe to fix in the backyard. Should have taken care of it years ago, but there are all those pesky tactical considerations. Like geopolitics, remodeling is a complicated form of continual crisis management. Agenda items rise … [more]

Humbly submitted…

So there’s this book, and we’ve been tinkering with it, trying to get it all just so. Is it perfect? Of course not. Not by a long, arcing shot. There are typographical errors in the text. There are flaws in the formatting. The only thing that keeps either me or Pretty Publisher from spiking the … [more]

Carol (out of season)

  “Spirit!  Do not leave me!” —Ebenezer Scrooge (Chas. Dickens), “A Christmas Carol”   What happened on Christmas Eve was odd enough that its strangeness persists still in reminding me of the unpredictable salvageability of human nature, and the omnipresence of . . . something. Whatever spirit it was, it moved them. It moved us. … [more]

Rain Dog

Someone told me I should go take a walk. It was as good a suggestion as any, and the dog always appreciates it. The ides of March competed with my oversized puppy for Pissing All Over the Alley honors. Hunching along, mumbling at the grey rain, I wished I’d had the forethought to bring along … [more]

Bangstick

I like my rifle. It’s a fine piece of gear. When I was a private long ago, the army issued me a tattered old M16A1, late Vietnam era issue, stamped with the maker’s mark of General Motors Hydramatic Division. It was so loose and wabbly in its action that it wouldn’t cycle more than three … [more]

Mortar Sunsets

E-mailed SEP 04, FOB Freedom, Mosul Mortar sunsets are like harvest moons: gold, orange and red competing in radiant firepower. On any day, there is dust. Mortars just add that last touch of kaleidoscopic finery. A few minutes ago, someone—”Ali Baba,” or bad guy—dropped a mortar round square onto FOB Freedom’s washing facility. Wounded In … [more]