Undermining

For the second day in a row, I have slept through my prime blogging hour — and it made me really late to work yesterday (good thing I have an “in” with the boss, who let me make it up by staying late). Today I am meeting with my accountant right at 10 to begin […]

In Concert

It’s a good thing I don’t have kids, because this would be the sort of post that would mortify them. Scar them for life, probably. On their non-existent behalf, it may embarrass all of you for them. I have a co-worker named Gilly. We are of the same vintage, and it’s very nice to have […]

Animals — And Why? We Love Them

Perhaps you will recall that one week ago today Lynn and I braved the wilds of big-box shopping in Montrose and came away with our first official new-home purchase, an area rug that was the only one in the entire stack we liked. For half of the week, we had it rolled up and leaning […]

Why I Live at the P.O.

As titles go, “Why I Live at the P.O.” is up there among the best. It’s a short story by Eudora Welty, and I don’t know if she’s still standing the test of time, but when I was in college, this story was de rigueur for every anthology ever published. (“I Stand Here Ironing ” […]

Three Angry Men

I went to a very unpleasant meeting last night. “But wait,” I can hear some of you saying, “all meetings are unpleasant.” There was a time when I would have agreed with you. When I was 22-ish and just starting at the newspaper, I opted for the sports coverage, because meetings struck me as boring. […]

Other People’s Stories: Veronica’s Father

Writers are thieves. Or, if you care to ascribe to the Mr. Krabs World View (it’s a SpongeBob thing), they are borrowers. The best writers succeed off the backs of stories they learn from others — they just take it and make it their own. I’ve always enjoyed other people’s stories. I’ve heard some good […]

O Cousin My Cousin

On my way here, with a completely different plan in mind, I swung by my e-mail — and that has changed everything. I have a cousin who became my cousin when we were both in college at the University of Colorado, and he has been battling a rare form of blood cancer which has taken […]

Travels With TL: 60 Miles (Away From Home)

Yesterday Lynn and I went to Montrose. I could say we went with a song in our heart, or at least on the radio, but we didn’t. We went in her Jeep, with half a bag of Bugles to sustain us and, in the back, a pile of metal and the world’s most neurotic dog. […]

Baby It’s Cold: The Sequel

Sometimes it’s the little things that stick with you. Since we decided to build a house — more correctly, have a house built for us — Lynn and I have been shamelessly inviting ourselves into other people’s homes. We’ve been in at least five houses built by our contractor. Happily, everyone seemed pleased with their […]

A Miserly View of the Movies

I fell asleep last night trying to watch my favorite holiday show, The Year Without a Santa Claus. I’d already missed out on the first half-hour when I discovered it on AMC, a channel I normally won’t watch because it’s two minutes of show tucked inside eight-minute segments of commercials. But for the Snow Miser, […]