Two Gents' Worth
April 26, 2025
As just about everyone around this part of the Midwest will tell you, the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines is a one-of-its-kind event. It’s been held for nearly 145 years, and these days, about one million Iowans attend each year. If that figure isn’t impressive enough, consider this: The state of Iowa’s population is…
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Summertime, summertime, here in the Midwest. Hot. Humid. The weather bureau issued all kinds of excessive-heat warnings. Don’t stay in the sun long. Drink plenty of water. And don’t forget your pets — especially the poor critters some dumb folks like to lock inside cars that are parked in the sun. This heatwave has gone…
Read More about Those Lazy, Hazy…
Here we are again on another Fourth of July in Ames, Iowa — the heart of the Great American Heartland. You have to trust me on this — there’s nothing quite like celebrating a Fourth in a Midwestern small town. For starters, small-town Fourths around these parts somehow seem more authentic — more personal —…
Read More about The Fourth, Midwest-StyleWe have returned, one more time, to this great Heart of the American Heartland — Ames, Iowa. This time, our trek took five days, during which we traveled 2032 miles in mostly good spirits through eight states, had lunch with a former boss who happens to be the best one I ever worked for, ate…
Read More about The Midwest, AgainChevrolet summers, Dairy Queen nights. I can’t think of a better way to describe those glorious days and nights when I was growing up in the Valley – days and nights I’d give anything to be able to re-live. My guess is that you’re like me – that we look back on those “salad days”…
Read More about Summertime MemoriesI don’t know about you, but as I get older and older, I find that more and more things are making me grumpy. My long-suffering wife tells me that I am, in fact, officially becoming a Grumpy Old Man – an assertion I am resisting mightily because, as everyone around these parts surely knows, I…
Read More about Grumpy — Who, Me?
We moved out of Fresno more than a year ago, but find occasion to return every now and then — mostly for doctors’ appointments. Yes, it’s difficult to grow older, and the need for doctors’ visits seemingly takes up more and more of “retirement” time. But we make that effort and take that time so…
Read More about Fresno, RevisitedEven though we moved away from Fresno a year ago, we still go back every month or so for a variety of reasons. And so it was that I found myself having Starbucks coffee at Fig Garden Village this past Thursday with my buddy Bud Elliott, who not only is the co-proprietor of this blogsite…
Read More about Skills? Yeah, Right
When our Year of Grace 2018 was born at midnight last Dec. 31, people all across this great globe of ours stayed up late to mark the grand occasion. They cheered a lot, and maybe they sang a lot, and perhaps they drank a lot, and they did this in Tokyo and Beijing and Moscow…
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“‘Twas Christmas broached the mightiest ale; ‘Twas Christmas told the merriest tale; A Christmas gambol oft could cheer The poor man’s heart for half the year.” ** Frosty nights around our Central Coast retirement neighborhood now. If we had a fireplace, three logs would be burning until bedtime. Shiny Christmas bulbs on shrubs and trees…
Read More about Christmas, Again