One of the first investments I made when I retired from teaching was to buy a metal detector. I have not used it as much as I’ve wanted to however. It seems golfing, writing blogs, gardening, lawn work, Facebook, Hallmark movies and marketing books have tended to dominate my waking hours. This weekend I decided it was time to get the twenty year old metal detector out of the closet, replace the batteries and go exploring. Again I faced the…..
I had a sizeable amount of cash stored in an online bank. Well, okay to me it was sizeable, to many of my readers it might just be considered a pittance. Since it was part of my ‘rainy day’ savings I did not frequent the account. I just assumed it would be safe and available should the time arise when it would be needed. Then I got a call from my income tax lady who was in the process of…..
Perhaps I’m using the word ‘friendship’ a little loosely as I begin this blog. It was a very short friendship as I look back on the experience. It began in the early summer of 1961 and it lasted about two minutes and thirty seconds. Okay, okay I realize this needs a little clarification. I had just completed my junior year in Clinton High School. My two brothers and I had just begun our summer jobs working for a farmer throwing…..
As I mentioned in my last blog a six year writing stint for Minnesota Out Of Doors became my big break in getting my material published. That experience led to the production of the three volumes of Children In The Outdoors and an opportunity to travel the four state area putting on teacher workshops. But nothing lasts forever. In 1991 the magazine had financial problems and after a discussion with the editor I decided to retire the column. I did…..
I remember the day I decided to become an author. I was in the sixth grade and several classmates and I were gathered around a bulletin board viewing bird reports. Our teacher Mrs. Sager had placed several especially well written ones on display and mine was one of them. What happened next demonstrates the power each of us has with our words. One of my classmates, I don’t even remember which one of my female classmates it was but she…..
We have forgotten how to laugh in our society and I mean that good old belly laugh with tears running down our cheeks leaving us gasping for air. I’m going to use an old joke from the pre-political correctness era as an example of why I just can’t fit in with this political correctness agenda. Are you ready to be mortified? You might be so mortified that you’ll spring into action and text the political correctness police. You see there…..
Happy Groundhog’s Day! 🙂 I’m not so sure what there is to be happy about as Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow earlier today. In spite of the fact that the east coast was suffering a good old fashioned blizzard so I question how any shadow of the woodchuck could have actually been viewed. Living in Minnesota the prediction of six more weeks of winter is not alarming. In fact most of us Minnesotans would smile if we were guaranteed only…..
We live in tumultuous times. Facebook, twitter and all the other technological ways of communicating have increased our awareness of that fact. Because of this new found ease of communicating two groups have immerged to do battle, liberals vs conservatives. During most of my teaching career being liberal or conservative was not a big concern among fellow faculty members. During our often raucous noon lunches in the staff room politics were rarely discussed. Instead we told stories and shared funny…..
It was fifty-two years ago that I met Kathie. In fact I could swear I heard music playing as she came into view for the first time. Was this a sign of what was to come? Then I came to my senses and remembered I was in the church choir loft with the church choir with whom I had become a newly inducted member. We were about to start a Wednesday evening practice. The music was the result of the…..
It was forty years ago that I became determined to begin writing children’s literature. It had been a dream of mine since I was a sixth grader. But the question was how does one get started? I was constantly on the look out for a possible site that would publish my work. In fact my hometown paper the Clinton Northern Star was kind enough to let me do several nature columns that I called “Through Nature’s Window”. It was my…..
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