The tendrils of Prince Albert smoke gently curling up from my father’s pipe were an apt metaphor for his driving style. Contemplative and smooth with gently acceleration up on the downslope and feathering the throttle on the upslope to keep the old Pontiac Bonneville station wagon from downshifting. In contrast…

It wasn’t that non-Harleys weren’t allowed at the 7th Annual Hawg Flatts Motorcycle Rally in northern Alberta but of the 800 bikers there, mine was the only German bike to be seen. There was a lonely MotoGuzzi and about seven Japanese bikes looking piteously out of place. Everything else simply…

The self-deprecating humor of a 90-year-old’s post-depression tendencies. An elderly man, confined to bed with a terminal diagnosis, thought that he was hallucinating. Yet, the delicious smell of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies permeated his bedroom like a dream of Heaven. Figuring “What the hell do I have to lose?”…

A column of 75 British soldiers marching in cadence started a resonant wave that caused the bridge they were crossing in Manchester, England to collapse. Hereafter, marching troops got issued the command “Route Step!” that means break timing. Learning of this early catastrophe, our 8-person Boy Scout Platoon chose route…

My humbling at the hooves of a small African mammal In the back of everyone’s mind were the elegant spiral horns and succulent tenderloins of a desert Greater Kudu (Tragolaphus strepiceros). The Kalahari is not the best Kudu habitat but they are sprinkled throughout. Kudu are Africa’s poster child over…

My face felt funny, Drawn or pinched, either would have been understandable as I looked through the ceremonial smoke and across the misted shortgrass prairie of Eastern Montana. I had come to this ceremony cynically expecting a lot of native victimhood on display but once there, found it challengingly meaningful…

We are emotionally shaken daily by the recent Turkey earthquake death toll. Earthquakes are one of those things that leap up into our existence un-announced and wreak havoc with entire regions. Science tells us we have a hand in hurricanes, tornadoes, and flooding but we don’t rule the crustal movements…

Some say us Southern-talkers have honey dripping from our mouths when we speak. I like that, however, I prefer honey to travel the opposite direction down my goozle, a body part that reminds me, there are vocabulary differences between people north and south of Arkansas. Truly, people skirting the Appalachians…

Sometimes Mother Nature rolls over on her back and asks you to scratch her belly, or maybe just gawk at the scene before you. The thrill of small visual gifts is highlighted if you hold low expectations of anything happening. Maybe if I watched more TV and Youtube features of…