Two Gents' Worth
June 13, 2026
As I was out walking Jessie the Dog this past Sunday evening in our neighborhood, I saw something I had not seen in many years — kids playing wiffle ball in the street. There were four of them, and they looked as if they were in late junior high or early high school. School was…
Read More about Summer’s Last HurrahAs you may recall, I wrote a piece in this space a few weeks ago about some of the experiences I had at TV stations where I worked during my 40-year career in broadcasting. A long-time friend read it and reminded me that I had left out a few funny and even crazy stories that…
Read More about Goofy Tales From My StationsThe coming of Memorial Day always excited me when I was growing up. It wasn’t because the Indy 500 auto race took place then — though that race was quite an important event, indeed. No, Memorial Day grabbed my attention because it meant that another summer was — at long last! — just around the…
Read More about My Favorite Summers
The other day, I was having lunch with several friends at the Buckhorn up in North Fork when, for some reason, I mentioned that when I was a young guy, I had owned a Ford Pinto. All of them started laughing. Immediately. After a second or two, I started chuckling, as well — and then…
Read More about Yep. I Owned a Ford PintoMy brother Ken passed away a few days ago. He was 83. Over the past 10 years, he had suffered from several serious, but manageable, diseases. But his last few weeks saw him battling horrible and impossible-to-overcome ailments, and it became clear that his time had come. And it did. Ken and I were never…
Read More about Memories of My BrotherIn my last posting, I riffed about going back to my alma mater — Fresno State — for the first time in decades. I was doing research in the campus library last Friday, and being there — on campus, that is — generated a whole lot of memories. Well, I went back again today for…
Read More about More memories? Oh, yes
You might wonder — in fact, I hope you’re wondering — what attending a golf tournament, comedian Bill Murray, and my heart thingy — more properly known as a pacemaker — have in common. Well, sit back, rest a spell, and I’ll tell you the story. I promise it won’t take long. The whole tale…
Read More about Golf, Bill Murray & My Heart Thingy
Yes, the time has finally come to leave this Heart of the Great American Heartland and motor our way back West. We’ve had a great, extended summer here in Ames. Five months that included plenty of walks through Old Town, with its lovely old Victorians fronted by giant trees that canopy streets; numerous visits to…
Read More about So Long, Ames
We interrupted our summer-long stay in Ames to take a whirlwind trip to Washington, DC, this week. We wanted to see Brad and Nicole after nearly two years of coronavirus-mandated distancing. We wanted to re-visit some of our favorite Smithsonians. And we wanted to see the Nats play baseball. We did all that, and we…
Read More about Our Side Trip to the Capital
We’ve been here in Ames — aka, the Heart of the Great American Heartland — for a couple of weeks now, and I’m delighted to say everything is back to normal. I could not say that last summer — when, as you’ll recall, the coronavirus had disrupted everything near and dear to all of us….
Read More about That Heartland Normalcy