Regular Life

Our trip is going well so far. Shannon and I have had plenty of time to go out after I finish my work each day.
Wednesday night, we went to Fayetteville (Arkansas) and enjoyed a park that we couldn’t believe we’d never visited in the five years we lived in that area. Sadly, it [...]

At the DFW airport Sunday afternoon, a TSA lady greets me as I walk through the security scanner. She looks at my shirt and says, “Arkansas Raisinbacks?”
I let it go. “You bet!” I say.
She smiles. “Okay, den, go Raisinbacks.”
I laugh as I pull my x-ray-blasted belongings from four gray plastic bins. [...]

My first (and still only) car that I got brand new was my 1989 Dodge Shadow.
In August 1992, Shannon and I got married and drove my most prized possession from Little Rock, Arkansas to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. It carried us to Gatlinburg and many surrounding sites in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Condoms, [...]

The real question is, “What did we not do during Easter weekend?”
As I mentioned already, the boys hit it off early at my parents’ house. This allowed us to shed a layer of worry and enjoy unfettered access to our extended family.
And Sugarloaf Mountain.
As if the name “Sugarloaf” weren’t derivative enough, the area boasts [...]

Boys do eventually grow out of some of their annoying tendencies. I’m sure girls do, too, but I’ve never brought one up — heck, never even had a niece — and so I claim no expertise in the female arena.
Yeah, so what’s new, right?
On Easter weekend, Benjamin and his cousin, LC, got along great [...]

(Readers of “Bernie” will find Part Five, a shorter section ready to take you into the weekend.)

Okay, so it’s only the bridge, but I heard the train a few times while I was inside working with the customers. I shot these pics last week on my way back from the 3rd Street Deli, a [...]

You cannot go against nature
Because when you do
Go against nature
It’s part of nature too
- Love and Rockets, “No New Tale to Tell”
I’ve never been much of a specialist. I dabble in lots of different things, and although I try not to do anything half way, I wouldn’t throw the word “expert” out there [...]

Road, field, and sky through windshield at 4 p.m. CT Tuesday.
Note: That IS NOT a hillside back there behind the tree line.  That’s black sky.
(click any image to enlarge)
It didn’t seem to matter that the western hemisphere’s tallest cross sits just a few miles from here.
Frozen hell blew into town late Tuesday afternoon and [...]

The Little Christmas
We arrived home well after dark on Christmas Eve and were not looking forward to baking cookies to leave for Santa, even though they were just the cut-off kind. What to our wondering eyes did appear? Why, a Rubbermaid TakeAlong container full of homemade goodies from our new neighbors. Score!
Despite that delightful find, [...]

Road trip.
What was the first thing that popped into your head when you read those two words up there? Excited anticipation? Abject fear? Convenience store restrooms to rival the loo in Trainspotting?
What if you are driving eight hours to see a rock band comprised (mostly) of 50-something men attempting to recapture something they last shared [...]