The dog wouldn’t fetch. So, I pulled the Sunday newspaper from our rural mailbox. I lugged it to my father, who read the comics to me. The funny pages were a wonderland of color and wit. My father added voices that brought “Dennis the Menace,” “Marmaduke,” “Peanuts,” “Beetle Bailey,” “Mark Trail” and “Dick Tracy” to life. I enjoyed “Pogo” and “Li’l Abner,” but I didn’t … [Read more...]

“There were no flies on Frank that morning.” A popular nonsensical poem titled “No Flies on Frank” starts that way in John Lennon’s book, “In His Own Write.” Frank didn’t have a good day, even without flies. I heard a store clerk, ringing up a purchase, ask a customer, “How’s it going?” “I’m having a little problem with my ears.” “Good to hear,” said the clerk. The clerk, … [Read more...]

Finders, keepers. Losers, weepers. I don’t believe that idiom. I’ve found lost wallets, purses, a laptop computer, a tablet, cellphones, a camera, a spotting scope, car keys, dogs, used bubble gum and a class ring. I turned them all over to the proper authorities and trust they were reunited with their owners. I was telling stories in Illinois when I found a thick wallet … [Read more...]

When one door closes, another door opens. I had a Chevy pickup like that. Other than that minor failing, it was a trusty steed. Of course, it went nowhere without jumper cables, and the pickup was equipped with an engine block heater to fool the motor into thinking it was parked in Miami on a below-zero day here. By that time in my life, I’d owned two kinds of automobiles: … [Read more...]

We’ve all had brushes with fame. Maybe you’ve met a teacher or a nurse, or shook hands with a firefighter or a police officer. I sang with Tom Petty once.  It’s a golden memory I’ve pressed into my little black book of golden memories. It was just the one song—”Runnin’ Down a Dream.” That was enough.  Tom Petty was on the radio, and I was backing my car out of … [Read more...]

January is the month of Mondays when puffer jackets proliferate. This is the year I’m going to change. I change every year, but this time, it’ll be for the better. That’s why I was in the binder organization aisle of an office supply store. I’d planned on picking up a few binders and becoming more organized than Marie Kondo was in her prime. Kondo was an expert in the … [Read more...]

After I was here, I was there. I’ve been to St. Joseph, Mo., a few times. Each time, I’ve stopped at the Jesse James Home. The notorious outlaw Jesse James was shot and killed in the house on April 3, 1882, by Bob Ford, a member of the James gang, who wished to collect a $10,000 reward, of which he received little. Jesse died at the age of 34 after a career as an outlaw, bank … [Read more...]

What child doesn’t love a tube of lip balm for Christmas? That’s because no child wants to miss a single minute of school because of chapped lips. Lip balm is better than bunny slippers. I received a pair as a gift one year and learned that they’re fiercely territorial. Some kids, after weeks of dedicated research, discover that if they really want something, they should … [Read more...]

The wind blew another partridge out of a pear tree. Winter has trouble doing the right thing. It’s not the snow that gets you when you live in a snow globe. It’s the shaking like a chilly Chihuahua that happens before the snow falls. My wife and I gathered around the light bulb for warmth and read about global warming on a night as cold as a cast iron commode with wind gusts … [Read more...]

You have enough things to worry about. You should stop worrying about achy-breaky earworms, fake funeral processions, treehouse fires and pop machine avalanches. “You never know,” my elders often said to me. Yours probably said the same thing. “It’s always something” was frequently added as a non-explanatory explanation. I’d just spent a week in an aging hotel meant … [Read more...]