Here’s a spooky story my Uncle Ed told me one night around the campfire. He totally got me. My skin horripilated causing me to jump out of it. It’s a silly story, but I liked it so much I told it separately to each of my four nieces as soon as they were old enough […]
A Different Drummer: A Halloween Christmas thanks giving
I had a grand unexpected experience last week, something wonderful and unforeseen. It began when wifey and I accepted an invitation to join our kids, their kids, and a dozen friends and relatives in an RV Halloween Weekend at the 49er Village RV Resort in Plymouth, Calif. We’ve been there before so we knew what […]
A Different Drummer: The terrible tale of the toppling table
Don’t you hate when you’re old and you do something stupid or clumsy and people say, “Well, you’ve learned a valuable lesson”? You’re thinking, “Hey, stuff it. I learned this lesson when I was 12. The situation still got the better of me.” My massive walnut coffee table that I’ve been describing for three weeks […]
A Different Drummer: Tabling the table until I’m able
I won’t be able to finish my crazy coffee table story this week. I’m still in a drying phase between coats of epoxy resin. I can pause to say that it this stuff is cool. You should play with it. It’s pour-on glass that you can drape over a lot of materials. It embeds, […]
A Different Drummer: On making crazy furniture
I am making a walnut coffee table. Two years ago in Decorah, Iowa, at a Seed Savers benefit concert, my old friend Gino pulled up in his pickup and said, “I bought you a gift in Illinois a few months ago, and brought it to Iowa all the way from Philadelphia.” He flipped back […]
A Different Drummer: One dark and stormy night
Bill Johnson’s horse came back alone. Marjory Johnson was sitting on the back porch, under a fleece lap blanket, watching the evening storm clouds stumble across the prairie sky and wondering when her grumbling husband would get back from town. Jinny, Bill’s quarter horse, trotted right past Marjory and into the open barn, full saddle. […]
A Different Drummer: A rundown of my habitual adventures
Am I a creature of habit or a man of adventure? Sometimes I wonder. I write a lot of stories of travel and exploration, but there’s often an underlying sameness to the events. Take eating for example. When I moved from rural PA to metropolitan CA and landed a phone company job in downtown Oakland […]
A Different Drummer: Reflections from the porch
I’m sitting on the back deck of our little Tahoe cabin with my laptop sitting on my lap where it belongs. In front of me, beyond the scraggly natural-terrain yard and fence, is the Eldorado National Forest. On my left the bike trail disappears into the trees as it winds its way to Pope Beach […]
A Different Drummer: Ode to insomnia
I have had chronic insomnia since I was a little boy. The severity has not increased nor decreased in my 62 years, so I’ve got used to it. Nothing seems to help for long. I can hike 10 miles or dig ditches all day and still have insomnia. I can change diets, read, listen to […]
A Different Drummer: Had a grand time for under a grand
Susan and I took yet another el cheapo vacation to Reno. Spent a week, but didn’t spend much. After endless visits over several decades, we’ve discovered most of the best deals, the best food, and the most fun. We both have long histories with the little city. I began going regularly while living in Berkeley […]