My dad and grandfathers taught me that if there’s a way to help someone, and you have a skill set that allows you to assist them, you should use it.

There’s an Internet app that’s become quite popular called, “Nextdoor.” It is a way for those who live in a specified, smaller neighborhood area to connect and communicate about everything from where to find toilet paper to sharing information about a military veteran who is struggling.

Recently, a good friend and I ...

There are two, true tests for how solid your marriage is – Covid-19 and hanging wallpaper together.

As I awoke from 9 ½ hours of sleep, all rested and ready for another day of hand sanitizer and staring out the window, I thought about how many scenarios there could possibly be that would force two people into close quarters for days on end.

After eliminating the age range of 18 through 29, I was able to narrow it down to two things: ...

Linus had his blanket. I had a rabbit. His name was Harvey.

Most children have a favorite stuffed animal. Recently, my mother came across two that belonged to me when I was quite young. One was a clown I don’t remember much about, but it was obviously one with which I snuggled so tightly that his plastic face disintegrated.

My grandmother sewed a new cloth face on the clown to keep me going.

From the clown, I graduated to a monkey. I’d seriously ...

Why?

That one-word question that’s always asked when life’s apple cart is upended.

People do not like change. When fear is added to change, it creates behavior and attitudes that manifest in folks who otherwise are levelheaded.

Throughout history, change and fear have joined forces many times.

The Plague, smallpox, polio, Ebola, and other diseases threatened and took lives.

Wars throughout history affected and changed families forever. Just in my lifetime, I saw those who served in Vietnam come home suffering the effects of Agent ...

Photo courtesy of John Moore: Columnist John Moore’s grandmother, Leona Pickett, with three of her six children, circa 1949.

When I still lived at home with my parents, I went to see my grandparents often. After I moved away from my hometown, I made it a point to call my grandparents at least weekly.

This was when long distance phone calls could cost as much as a few dollars a minute.

I never thought much about it until one day one of my ...

Photo credit: DanielJHalePhotography.com.

Columnist John Moore’s friend Daniel’s dog Kirby, in a photo taken in August 2014 on Pacific Beach. San Diego, California.

The price you pay when you lose a beloved animal is so steep that every time I lose one, I always say, “Never again.”

I’ve written about this topic before, but after following the adventures of a friend of mine’s dog on Facebook for a number of years, the news of the pup’s passing brought a tear and the need for an ...

Photo: John Moore was given the original on-air light during a remodel of a country radio station where he worked as a DJ in the 1980s and 90s – the last era of real country music, according to Moore.

The old joke when I worked as a country music DJ was that our station played both kinds of music – Country and Western.

But today, I don’t even recognize what’s called, “Country Music.”

Every “country” song I hear now has virtually the same ...

Photo credit: Ronda Fleming Pounds

Columnist John Moore went home 40 years after high school graduation to do a book signing. He was worried no one would attend. He was wrong. Even Spiderman showed up.

Of all the buildings on my high school campus, there was only one in which I’d never entered. That was home economics.

In the 1970s, guys didn’t take home ec. We took football, track, and other manly electives. Home economics was for girls.

But on this day, nearly 40 ...

The Old Farmer’s Almanac said it was time for me to plant my potatoes and corn. But the weather forecast called for a gullywasher. That’s a fancy weather term for a lot of rain.

So I waited. And waited. And waited.

When the rain finally stopped, I was two weeks past when I should’ve had my potatoes and corn in the ground.

Now, I’m not the best at deciphering all that’s in the Farmer’s Almanac, but if I’m reading this correctly, I’m now ...

We’re losing the art of conversation and small talk.

No one else was better at both than my parents’ and grandparents’ generations.

Before cable TV, and certainly before iPads and iPhones, there was a phenomenon that is now becoming extinct – face-to-face conversations. Visiting someone for the sole purpose of talking.

Those who grew up during the depression and the Baby Boomers who followed, learned how to make conversation. My family had little money to divert ourselves to fancy activities, so conversation and ...