"No matter how cynical I get, I can’t keep up.” — Lily Tomlin
Arizona’s monsoon is here at last and we have rain, rain, rain. Sections of the main east/west rail line between Tucson and Phoenix washed out Thursday – you could see tracks and ties suspended in the air where floodwater had literally shoved away the roadbed underneath – but just one day later crews had repaired […]
When I post entries here, I categorize them: culture, current events, politics, motorcycling, flying, war, etc. Usually it’s a no-brainer. But sometimes I drift into areas that are more difficult to pin down. Example: suppose I write about the terrorist bombings in Mumbai and the frightening events in Israel, Gaza, and Lebanon. How do I […]
Oh dear God . . . from Lawrence Kaplan at The National Review: Even by the degraded standards of everyday life in Baghdad, this report from CNN’s Nic Robertson comes as a shock: One international official told me of reports among his staff that a 15-year-old girl had been beheaded and a dog’s head sewn […]
A month ago, we started riding bicycles with a small group of friends. Each Saturday it’s up at 5:00am to brush, dress, fill water jugs, pump tires, load bikes, and drive to the starting point. We’re off by 6:00am, first for 8 miles, then 10, then 12, and this morning, 18. And we ain’t talkin’ […]
Sometimes I wonder just how independent I am: at 6:00am sharp Donna cracks the whip and I leap out of bed to start charcoal for the smoker, add water to the pool, sweep the patio, put up the umbrella, and empty our big green utility wagon so we can decorate it for the neighborhood parade. […]
I started an informational web site for Hash House Harriers in 1995 and worked on it furiously for six years – it may as well have been a second full-time job. In 2001 a couple of friends offered to help with some of the load, and in 2003 several additional friends joined in. Not only […]
My dad was 16 when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. He – like every other young man in South Sioux City, Nebraska – wanted to join up and fight, but without his parents’ permission the recruiters wouldn’t take him. As men aged 18 and older began to be drafted, local employers scrambled to hire 16- […]
This is our miniature dachshund Schatzi. The guy in the photo is me, and we’re on the street in front of our house. The mountains are the Santa Catalinas, north of Tucson, Arizona. Donna and I recently discovered that our neighborhood park has two fenced off-leash dog runs, one for large dogs and one for […]