He left me a message, so I called him back.

It’s funny how, even if you haven’t talked to a childhood friend in a long time, the conversation picks up as if you had just spoken earlier in the day.

“Remember that location you always said you’d like to buy one day?” he asked me.

He was referring to a store in our hometown of Ashdown, Arkansas. For some reason, I felt I had a calling to be the proprietor of my own ...

They were called, “Victory Gardens.” And they were one of the weapons US citizens used to help win World War II.

With the bad guys throwing everything at us that they could, in return, we were throwing everything at them that we could.

What we were throwing was in the shape of bullets, bombs, aircraft, and tanks, all of which cost a lot of money.

With the military needing all of the commercially grown food for the troops, the president asked Americans to ...

Pee Wee Herman died.

He was a character, not a real guy. But, to many of us he seemed real. And that’s what made him so unique.

The actor Paul Reubens created Pee Wee Herman as part of his stage act in the late 1970s with a group of improvisational actors called The Groundlings. Reubens said he had around 15 or so characters, but none of them received the feedback and appreciation that Pee Wee did.

As a result, he said he began ...

When our parents would take my sister and me from Ashdown, Arkansas to Texarkana, often they’d succumb to our begging and stop for ice cream.

The only destination considered was Baskin-Robbins 31 Flavors.

Sure, there were other options, including Dairy Queen, Tastee-Freez, and A&W Drive In, but with Baskin-Robbins sitting right on the Texas side of Stateline Avenue between Interstate 30 and downtown, there was never any question where we’d go.

Also, my mother liked pralines and cream, which was only available from ...

A granddaddy long legs climbed onto my face while I was out brush hogging on the tractor.

I’d like to apologize to the neighbor for his fence, chicken house, doghouse, clothesline, and for leaving the scene of an accident.

I’d also like to apologize to my wife for laughing at her fear of spiders.

Generally, I have no fear of members of the arachnid family (certain politicians excluded), but that hot morning sitting atop 37 horses of diesel engine, I did.

I’m not afraid ...

Ever have one of those moments where something in your head says you need to do something, but you’re not sure why? Recently, a memory I have of my grandfather cooking on a charcoal grill sparked that little voice to give me a direct order.

The instructions were to find that same make and model of charcoal grill my grandfather used to have and buy one. I had no idea what I was looking for, I just remembered that the grill ...

The door of a 1971 Buick Electra 225 Limited is longer than its name, and likely heavier than the entire car you’re driving now.

That last statement is a bit of an exaggeration, but not by much.

A friend of mine recently bought a new Ford. The body is made of aluminum. The soda cans I buy are made of aluminum, but the cars I have are still made of at least some steel.

When I first started driving in Ashdown, Arkansas, all ...

I’m always pleasantly surprised by the amount of messages I receive and from where they come.

Often, they’re related to a previous column and the person writing shares a memory or story that was stirred by what they read.

It’s one of the main reasons I write. To stir memories. Especially the good ones.

Recently, I was contacted by two readers who not only lived near each other, they also lived near me. That’s unusual. It’s not uncommon to receive an email from ...

As a kid growing up in Ashdown, Arkansas, there were places I was supposed to be found and a couple of places I wasn’t.

One of the places I was never supposed to be found was in the pool hall.

I still have no idea what the name of the town’s pool hall was (maybe it didn’t have one on purpose), but one thing it did have was interesting people.

Guys. Interesting guys, to be exact. I never saw a woman in the ...

I remember my parents’ first remote control.

It was me.

You hear a lot about child labor laws and how working kids is against the rules. It’s cruel. It’s unusual. It’s punishment.

When I was a kid, we worked like pack mules, and we acted like we liked it. To act any other way would’ve been met with such caring phrases as: “Because I said so.” “I don’t care what Billy does, I’m not his parent.” And, “Stop crying or I’ll give you ...