Shattered

A few years back my book group read a best-seller, Unbroken, about one man’s incredible ordeal in World War II where his situation went from bad to worse to dire as his plane crashed in the middle of the Pacific; he made it to a small life raft and then drifted, eventually pushed by the […]

Crazy World

Once long ago, Julie Andrews starred in the movie Victor Victoria as an out-of-work chanteuse in 1930s Paris who is plucked from the street by a very flamboyant Robert Preston (who was so convincing that he selected a western for his next project, and said of his character in that, “Gay, he ain’t!”). He convinces […]

To Your Health

With our newly-minted medical degrees, Kara and I yesterday diagnosed co-worker James with a sinus infection and suggested he go through the convoluted steps of making an appointment with a doctor who might have, somehow, better credentials. And prescribing power. His response: “I don’t have health insurance.” I try. I try and try and try. […]

Paradigm, Spare a Dime

I failed you yesterday: not only did I dangle a participle in front of you, very first thing, but I somehow managed to forget to report the biggest story one could find on April 1 (no foolin’): there was a semi-truck that toppled over and caught fire on a highway near Dallas. Its cargo? Toilet […]

No Foolin’

Never much of a fan of practical jokes, and rarely someone who can remember jokes, April 1 is not my idea of a great holiday. This year I imagine most of us are having trouble seeing the humor in the world’s most colossal prank of our lifetimes. There is one joke I sort of remember. […]

Hitting a Wal

So far, my at-home time has not been productive. That was one of the points, to try to get my life sorted out and organized, a task that ought not to take any more than 20 years — 25, tops. But I did, late yesterday afternoon, open up the smallest box I could find, the […]

Disconnects

This may surprise you, but I am having trouble with math. There I was, idly lying around, barely paying attention to the Denver news when I learned that Gunnison appears to be the epicenter of Colorado’s covid-19 outbreak. I found all the charts on the state’s virus page, which shows that yes indeed, if you […]

Adventures in Grocery Shopping

I am completely traumatized, recently returned from my first official foray into a grocery store since Lockdown began. I had been as far as the City Market pharmacy and one nearby aisle, but that’s it. I believe Lynn has gone shopping twice. We are trying to stay away, but the county has asked that the […]

I Can’t Explain It

Warning: politics ahead, and they’re not polite. There are still one or two things I don’t understand in this world. I don’t, for instance, understand a single thing Marrakesh wants (although I don’t think he does either). Moving up the scale, I don’t understand the governor’s trifecta of alcohol, pot and guns as “essential” to […]

The Face of Covid-19

Many years ago, a Crested Butte teenager was badly injured in a ski accident. From her daughter’s bedside at St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Junction, the girl’s mother wrote one of the most eloquent and beautiful letters to the Crested Butte newspaper that I have ever read. I can’t quote it from memory all these […]