In August 1864, Rear Admiral David Farragut was leading a Union flotilla (not quite an armada) into Mobile Bay, intending to shut down the Confederacy’s last open port. The Confederates, anticipating this, had heavily mined the entrance to the Alabama bay, with what at the time were called “torpedoes.” The Union ironclad Tecumseh found one […]

I used to eat a lot of Honeycomb cereal as a kid. It wasn’t my favorite cereal — it was awfully big, each piece, and it just didn’t hold the appeal of, say, Lucky Charms — but it had the best prize in the world: license plates. Yes, for a long time in each box […]

It took longer than it should have to recognize it for what it was. Yesterday I woke up with no enthusiasm for anything. I ate half my breakfast. I watched half my news. I quit reading my online newspaper early. But it wasn’t until I got to work and was sitting there in a stupor […]

I may have succeeded at self-preservation yesterday, but I failed miserably at self-reliance, and I’m a little bummed about that. As you may know, around the turn of the year —  almost resolution-like — I read about a new makers’ space here in Gunnison and rushed out to become a member, since Lynn and I […]

Surely we all recall that magical day, after the Grinch stole Christmas, when all the Whos down in Whoville came out without presents, stockings, trees or even roast beast to gather in their town center and sing. They were celebrating the true meaning of Christmas, and once he realized that, the Grinch’s small heart grew […]

So I called the Internal Revenue Service yesterday. I was saving that as a last resort, mostly in anticipation of a major hassle, but while I am not much further along, it turned out to be a much smoother process than I anticipated. Back in March, Congress made a couple of weird decisions. Hard to […]

We shouldn’t presume that a group of experts somehow knows what’s best. –Rand Paul, proud U.S. senator Many years ago, the woman who taught me history in high school, who then moved on to teach it at the college level, gave a talk at Western’s Headwaters conference in which she decried anti-intellectualism. One of the […]

I have many things on my mind this morning, which is not helping any effort to focus. It may have frozen a few wee hours ago, on July 1. July. You might want to worry about everything you thought would happen only if Hell froze over. It is 2020 after all, the year where things […]

I am voting today, an act that usually cheers me, but feels kind of sad this year. I have a shirt down at work waiting to be adorned with “Voting Matters,” because I believe that with all my being, and I’m still voting, but it’s not with the fanfare that usually accomplishes such an act […]

Yesterday DJ was sort of glad to see me, and sort of not. DJ is one of the owners of my wood shop/makers space, and when I arrived at 2:45, I was the first appearance any member had put in all day. So I think he was glad someone showed up, but my timing was […]