Animal Kingdom

Last week Oz and I went to his overdue annual check-up, and yesterday Marrakesh and I went to his overdue every-other-year check-up. (Na Ki’o, who goes to a different clinic, went to his check-up, on-time, earlier this year.) We received endless notices about Oz’s need for a check-up, but it wasn’t until I asked after […]

Boxed in by Books

I don’t know what I was thinking, but when it was my turn to select a book for my history book group, I picked a book that was two inches thick. Generally people measure their books by page count, and it’s just as daunting there: 657, plus notes. We were supposed to discuss this book […]

America’s Last Stand, Part II

In the late spring of 1876, several portents of doom struck the women of the Seventh Cavalry, most of them attached by marriage to the soldiers and scouts based at Fort Lincoln in the Dakotas. One of the most striking portents was witnessed by George Armstrong Custer’s wife Libbie, who watched her husband’s column depart […]

Long Road Home

When I worked at the newspaper, I was often the last to arrive for work (kind of like now in the screen printing biz), but I was also usually the last to leave (kind of like now). On the one day it mattered, though, I went home early, so when Valli Funk called to tell […]

America’s Last Stand, Part I

Today was a busy day to get ready for an even busier day tomorrow. This may have to tide you over for a couple of days. On July 4, 1876, citizens of the United States of America celebrated their nation’s centennial, all of them oblivious to a huge military defeat to their west. Not until […]

The Waiting Game

Where is our house update? I’m sure you have been wondering. Well, that’s what Lynn and I have been wondering too, and I don’t know that I have much to tell you except we’re waiting. And waiting. Every day Lynn and Oz go out to the house, and every day she brings back a similar […]

Cat Exchange

I let two cats out the back door and sat down with the computer in my lap (hence, laptop). Since then, I have let two cats back in, one at a time, of course, and removed a stinging insect (I always thought they were wasps, but once I looked them up on the internet and […]

It Pays to Play

Despite living in what is defined as “rural America,” I lead a completely urban existence. This was pointed out multiple times this weekend, as Mosquito Season has officially begun out at Riverwalk. I saw my Some Day neighbor and HOA president the day after he had the county spray our area for the little blood-suckers. […]