And I Am Not The Alpha Male
His name would be Scout. This dog just looked like he should have that name. I think the notion came from some old 50s cowboys and Indians TV show stored deep in childhood memory. Forget Coco–a name he must have…
Category Home and Hearth
Finding Old Yeller
Read Part One: Outside of A Dog… Gandy, a week before she died on Valentines Day last year, was able to jump into the back of my truck while we unloaded wood. She always helped by selecting her own piece…
Outside of a Dog
This could get complicated, seeing as how I have not spoken in public places about “the dog situation” in some months. I was forbidden to, so fraught with potential guilt in giving the dog-in-question back to Angels of Assisi should…
New Book: Fifth Risk
We are lurching forward into an unknown and unchartable future where there are no rules or precedents in the halls of government. Where might we end up when uninformed democracy breaks down and unconstrained capitalism drives us to the brink?…
The Future We Want
The future we want begins when we find and pursue the greater good for each other, other living things, and future generations in place, in the small pockets of belonging, in the rural and urban places of America. My place…
Field To Fork: Food Choices and the Future
Near Coles Knob in eastern Floyd County, many acres of former mature forest are being cut (down to what’s left of the topsoil) to create pasture to grow beef cattle. (Wood chips likely now on a freighter ship to Europe.)…
Leaf-Peepers Are Readers
Every autumn, I tend to get a little bump in book sales. This autumn, I’m pleased to let visiting leaf-peepers know that my books can be found in an additional location: the new Maggie Gallery at the corner of Route 8…
What is Your Barbeque Footprint?
Labor Day for many marks (or used to mark) the end of summer and the return of the kids to school. By that time, Floyd County students will have been in sweltering classrooms for almost a month. But that is…
E(mesis) Pluribus Unum
Or…Whatever you want to do you have to do something else first. One from the many–interruptions, distractions, diversions and alteration of so-called plans. Source: various. But largely and lately, Scout the dog. Moral: do not take on a year old…
Snows of Narnia
If every snowflake is different, then every snowfall must be too. This one was unique. It was the last snow to fall before my personal odometer turns to a new zero. And so I am trying to pay attention to…
SomeWhere
And SomeWhen. Finding the pot of gold means a bit of good luck. And keeping your eyes open. And having a camera in your pocket 24 And stopping in the rain to step out of your car in the middle…
Progressive Life in the Slow Lane
Or maybe not so slow after all? This might not matter much to many, but those who use the Internet for work or study or research, the difference between waiting five minutes to download a 45 minute documentary on a topic…
Keepers: The Missing Intro
A few years back, I was asked to write the introduction as the final work came together for the author and artist who crafted “Keepers of the Tradition.” The intro was granted 1400 words initially, and lives below; the final…
Now Who Gets My Last Corn Flake?
There goes the daily squirrel, passing under the window beyond my desk. He was always at such risk, and knew it: tentative, uncertain, hesitant. Gandy was always watching. But this morning, as if he knew he no longer had to…