In some cultures, people wash the feet of guests who arrive at their home. At my parents’ house, I didn’t wash the feet of guests, but I did offer to shine their shoes.

And a surprising number of guests accepted.

When I was in Cub Scouts, we were able to select projects that, when completed, went toward credit for badges. Badges are how you advance in Scouts.

At some point, my dad found an old shoeshine kit, bought it, and gave it to ...

Online shopping has turned us into couch potatoes who buy more than we ever used to. Adding items to an imaginary cart and clicking, “Buy Now,” has sent us further into debt and taken the fun out of the shopping experience.

Before Amazon, there was Wal Mart, and before that there was Sears and lots of other chain stores. Many of which started as a catalog.

Catalogs used to be the way we shopped. It still is if you think about it. ...

Folks aren’t counting on each other like we were 50 years ago. Technology is the wedge that’s come between us.

Our parents didn’t worry about us much when we left the house. Everyone felt that if their kid got into a bind, someone would lend a hand.

And for the most part, that was true. I can remember deciding to go visit my aunt and uncle in the Dallas area. I told my mom my plans, threw a map in the glove ...

The difference in a collector and a pack rat is whether you’re rich or poor.

Those with money are considered refined and having taste. Poor people are pack rats.

I’m a pack rat. A proud one. But to clarify, I’m a neat and orderly pack rat. Just don’t ask my wife if she agrees with that statement.

There are family members who keep heirlooms and those who don’t. Most don’t. That’s why whenever someone says, “Whatever happened to dad’s (insert your family heirloom ...

For those of us who once made our living working on the radio, one of the main competitors we had for advertising dollars was the phone book. Specifically, the Yellow Pages.

If you aren’t familiar with phone books, they were issued annually to folks who had a landline phone and included almost everyone’s name, address, and phone number. The Yellow Pages were in the back and were (as the name implies) yellow. If you wanted your business to appear there, you ...

Bruce Willis ad libbed a line in Die Hard that struck a chord with me.

No, not the “Yipee Ki-Yay,” line. I think that was actually in the script.

It was the, “Come out to the coast. We’ll get together. Have some laughs,” quote. Willis made that line up. It seems to be the personification of me trying to take vacations.

Traveling has always been one big calamity for me. Even when I was a kid.

For six months prior to when my parents ...

Pink flamingos. Chalk and concrete figures. Cast iron pots with flowers. Old school bells. Cars on blocks.

The yard art of yesterday.

I’ve always felt that Southerners were so proud to have a yard with grass in it that we set things out to keep the grass from being stolen.

Many of us grew up in very rural surroundings, such that the yards weren’t cut by lawn mowers, they were cut by billy goats.

Also, Southern women do not possess the ability to have ...

Christmas 1973 had a focus. All I wanted was the new Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle set.

The short sidewalk in front of our little red brick house on Beech Street was the perfect length to launch and then watch my hero ride off the end of the concrete and into the soft grass.

I’d seen Evel’s unsuccessful jumps and had determined that if he’d had softer places to slide into after descending the ramp, he wouldn’t have broken all of those bones.

That ...

Rainy days in the 1960s started with both of the captains. Captain Kangaroo and Cap’n Crunch.

A bowl of Cap’n Crunch, placed strategically on the corner of my parents’ Formica dinette table allowed me to shovel those tasty, compact cubes of processed grains and sugar into myself. All while watching Mr. Moose drop ping pong balls onto the captain’s head.

Every weekday in the little red brick house on Beech Street in Ashdown, Arkansas, started with the Cap’n and Captain, but the ...