The first time I saw the red Formica dinette table, I wanted it. It reminded me of the aqua colored one that resided in my childhood home. I tried to buy it from my neighbor. Twice.
But my neighbor wasn’t interested in selling it. Over the period of a few years, he and his wife would have garage sales. They always had nice items they were offering, but that red Formica dinette table and its matching four chairs weren’t something they ...
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At first, it looked like an onion sitting on the counter. As I got closer, the end still looked just looked like an onion, but it was actually the first yellow squash from our spring garden.
The onions won’t be far behind.
There is a sense of independence and pride that comes with being able to walk out your back door and harvest most, if not all, of your evening meal.
I can’t take much credit for our garden, because my wife does ...
Continue Reading →As I write this, the tornadoes of April 29 are just hours behind us.
My wife and I were fortunate. Where we live was spared. Our fellow East Texans in Canton and other towns were not.
Canton was hit by four twisters, and Grand Saline by one.
There was loss of life and loss of homes and property.
As I look out of the bay window of our home, the sun is shining and the air is calm and crisp. A stark contrast from ...
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Since my wife retired, she does what many retirees do. Whatever she wants.
Like many families, our children and other family members are scattered across the country like dice across a table. Consequently, some of her time is spent flying or driving for visits in Texas, Oklahoma, Virginia, and other destinations.
But, being gone from home requires the one thing that most wives dread. Leaving their husbands unattended. For whatever reason, women think that men are completely incapable of handling a few ...
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A number of years ago, I stumbled across a television program on what was then a new cable offering called the RFD-TV channel. A man named Cee Dub was on the screen cooking an entire meal using only Dutch ovens. I was fascinated.
I vaguely remembered these cast iron pots with three legs from my days in the Scouts. I made it through Cub Scouts and Webelos, but only a year or so of Boy Scouts. By about age 12, I ...
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My friend’s mother had passed away and my friend had the unenviable task of sorting through her mom’s things. She had decided what she was going to keep, but now she had to price the remaining items, advertise the sale, and then watch as strangers came through her mom’s home and took them away.
I’ve gone to estate sales, yard sales, and garage sales (there are many names for them) all of my life. Some of the best things I’ve come ...
Continue Reading →I had no idea how much one man had impacted my life until Chuck Berry died recently at age 90.
When I was 8 years old, I knew that I wanted to play Rock and Roll music. What I didn’t know was that Chuck almost single handedly gave Rock and Roll the roots of its sound and paved the road to success for all rock acts who would follow, including The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.
I remember walking into Mike Hubrel’s ...
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I sat near the front of the auditorium. I was the fourth to speak, so I wanted to be as near the podium as possible. But, I sat in the section to the left. The center area was for the Veterans.
There were only two.
It was the 74th memorial service for the Camp Fannin Association, and it was held at UT Health Northeast, which now occupies the site of one of the largest military training facilities of the Second World War. ...
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I read something recently that was a bit disconcerting. Someone was offering a class to teach children how to tell time.
Think about that.
We’ve simplified the most basic things to the point where children, the very group of people that we will all rely on to run the country and our nursing homes when we reach old age, can’t read a watch or a clock.
Sure, kids, or anyone else for that matter, can look at a cellphone or a digital device ...
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Some men do things they aren’t supposed to when their wife leaves town. I’m no exception.
I kissed her goodbye and told her that I loved her, I would miss her, and to tell her mother hello. The first chance I got after her departure, I did a rapid, cursory inspection of the refrigerator.
Just as I suspected. It was full of healthy food.
I toppled the stacks of fat-free yogurt as I parted them like the Red Sea, looking for something that ...
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