Two Gents' Worth
October 4, 2026
They threw a party for old-timers in Madera this past Saturday, and thousands of people of all ages showed up. The event was the annual Old Timers Day parade and celebration. It’s been going on for most of the past 95 years, and locals fondly refer to it as “OTD.” When it began in 1931,…
Read More about OTD, Again
What kind of summer has it been here in the great San Joaquin Valley of California? Hot, baby. Really hot and nasty. Fresno has had about 45 days of 100 degrees-or-above temperatures so far. A few of those days have been ridiculous, with highs of 107 or 108. Now, as scorching as this is —…
Read More about Autumn, Puh-LEEZ
We’re not quite at the midway point of summer — that’s still a few more days away — but Whining Time has definitely arrived here in our Valley. Whining Time is that point of summer — generally about this time — when a tremendous heatwave envelops us. When that happens — as it is happening…
Read More about A Dry Heat, Indeed
I really wasn’t going to write another blog on this site about the Fourth of July. After all, if you look through our archives, you’ll see I’ve written numerous times about this grand and glorious holiday of ours. But this past Monday morning — as I was driving Jessi the Dog to daycare — I…
Read More about Ah, yes. Another Fourth
When I was a kid growing up in Fresno in the heart of California’s San Joaquin Valley, the arrival of Memorial Day meant two things. Freedom, and the Indy 500 auto race. Don’t get me wrong. I knew that Memorial Day commemorated the brave soldiers who had died to secure and keep freedom for these…
Read More about Memorial Day Memories
ABC30 ran a story last week — in fact, it led at least one of the station’s newscasts — about a young bear that had somehow made its way into a posh neighborhood in northwest Fresno. That’s the kind of story that gets people talking and watching. And after all, that is the purpose of…
Read More about Yes, the Zoo
ABC30 in Fresno threw a party for itself at the station this past Thursday, and it was quite a bash, indeed. The station turns 70 years old this coming Sunday. To celebrate, station employees — and a few of us “old-timers” — were invited to an afternoon of champagne, birthday cake, other sweet treats —…
Read More about Birthday Bash at ABC30
This past Saturday morning, Sharon was talking long-distance to Amy (who lives in Copenhagen) and mentioned that the two of us would be going to Fresno High’s annual alumni association car show and dinner fundraising event that evening. Amy responded, I am told, by saying: “There will be a blog.” Amy, you are right. There…
Read More about Fresno High, Again
You’d have to be a real fan of Major League Baseball to do what Sharon and I did this past Thursday. But we are, so we did it. These days, being what you might call “old,” we satisfy ourselves by watching plenty of MLB games on TV. But on Thursday we got up really, really…
Read More about Baseball By the Bay
They came from California and nine other states. They were family members and friends and neighbors and former colleagues — all coming to the St. Paul Catholic Newman Center in Fresno this past Monday to memorialize the life of Rodney Elliott Stambaugh — who was better known to hundreds of thousands of Valley TV viewers…
Read More about Remembering Mr. Stambaugh