Hard-headed, but soft-hearted is a tough combo. I insisted to my 20-something daughter that I needed more than two of those thimble-sized ketchup cups at A&W restaurant. She challenged me to think outside the box, or in this case, the ketchup cup. Then she carefully expanded the pleated sides of…

We have been doing AI for a long time even though many of us are losing control and are running around with our hair on fire about, well, about losing control! For a moment let’s deliberately make the mistake of thinking AI is Artificial Insemination instead of Artificial Intelligence. The…

Sometimes an easy life can seem a little shallow; too protected, no sharp edges and just a little too insulated from the real world. I have worked and saved a long time to add security and an illusion of padding against hardship, yet, too good an exterior can create a…

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…