The Wisdom of Parents There are a lot of things we never thank our parents for. I’m not talking about the money it took to raise us, or the time we took from their lives, or even the love they gave, or the sacrifices they made. I’m talking about the wisdom they imparted. In particular, […]
Stereotypical Characters I was reading a book the other night and the author—in order to elicit sympathy for the hero—painted the mother-in-law as an extremely annoying…bitch. No other way to say it. It got me thinking about mother-in-laws and how they always seem to draw the short straw. You can’t argue it. Mothers-in-law get a […]
What My Animals Teach Me About Writing. There are thousands of books for sale that offer advice on writing, but I don’t buy any of them. I have all the advice I need right here on the animal sanctuary. There is nothing like several dozen animals to teach you about…well…damn near anything. It seems like […]
What Color Are You? It’s amazing in these enlightened times that I have to ask this question, but I do. I don’t mean are you white, or black, or brown, or any shade in between? We all know that doesn’t matter. Right? …Right? So let’s get to the real issue. What color are you—on the […]
What is Thanksgiving? We celebrate a lot on Thanksgiving. I thought about all I had to be thankful for and decided that every now and then I’d dedicate my blog to someone special on my list of those who need to be thanked. My wife is always at the top of the list, and my […]
Mixing Concrete is Like Writing a Great Book I started out my “work life” mixing concrete. Concrete is extremely strong. It’s used for roads, for foundations that hold up skyscrapers and bridges, in dams that hold back rivers and lakes. There isn’t anything that can take the place of concrete. And the most amazing thing […]
My Best Buddy I have been swamped, getting my new book out this week, among a million other things, so I didn’t have time to do a proper blog post. As I was thinking of what to write about I got an email from a reader who asked if Dennis, my wild boar, really goes […]
Inspiration I’m Dennis. Ya’ll know me by now. Giacomo saved me when I was just a baby, but now I can take care of myself. It was touch and go for a while; the vet even told Giacomo to, “put him down.” Imagine that! It had me worried, but I had some good advice from […]
Today is my wife’s 60th birthday, and it’s quite possible she’ll kill me just for spreading that news. But since it is such a momentous occasion, I thought I’d dedicate today’s blog to her. Why I Hate My Wife I realize this sounds like a horrible title for a blog post, especially when I have […]
A Kiss is Just a Kiss Or so states the line from As Time Goes By the song made immortal when Dooley Wilson sang it for Ingrid Bergman in the movie Casablanca. While a kiss might be just a kiss most of the time, there are special kisses. I bet you remember your first kiss, […]
