Is this the opposite of an intervention? If an intervention is designed to get folks off the sauce, then my friends and family apparently did just the opposite. Somehow – I have no idea how – those closest to me see me as a boozer. This is a selection of the liquid gifts that I received for my 70th birthday. Personally, I think these beverages have anti-aging effects. I am certain that they will boost my longevity. Or just preserve me better. Read more… »

Just arriving at the half-way point on January 20th. Looking forward to the NEXT seven decades being even better than the first. I am who I want to be, I do what I want to do, and I have what I want to have. Read more… »

My loving sweetheart got me another really cool gift this Christmas. She must be psychic. I have always wanted one of these babies. Now I have one! Read more… »

Just thinking about and appreciating all the veterans in my family today: grandfather, father, daughter, uncle, nephew. And classmates from the 1960s. And friends. And fellow Rotarians. And fellow Toastmasters. And former colleagues. The list is extensive. Today is a great day for celebrating them and their contributions to society. Read more… »

Okay, spurge still isn’t as annoying as puncture vine. It is getting there, though. I find it nearly everywhere I go. It’s in the gravel. It is in the lawn. It is all over central Arizona. I noticed it in lawns in St. Louis on a recent trip there. Read more… »

HUGE WARNING!!! Unless you are a BIG fan of horror, DO NOT read anything about how the Federal Reserve System works. EVER! (They did give me a great idea for how to solve the national debt, though. Read on.) Read more… »

Damianita daisy (Chysactinia mexicana) is all over my new neighborhood. It hadn’t yet made it into my old neighborhood, just 7 miles away in Tempe, AZ, so it was new to me. Once I saw it, I had to find out its name. First off, it is obviously a DYC (aka, Damn Yellow Composite – fellow botanists, you know what I mean). Thousands of these kinds of species dot the landscape, making it a bit of a challenge to nail down the correct identification. Now that I know what it is, C. mexicana turns out to be a pretty cool plant, especially if you are a sad little mouse. Read more… »

In this age of high-tech drivers that are big enough to double as flotation devices, how can you NOT hit as far as you used to? After all, every issue of Golf Digest tells you how to boom your drives like Dustin Johnson. Or some other guy (or gal!) who is younger, stronger, and more flexible than you are. Read more… »

Flat-pack furniture is cheap. DIY assembly requires more than I thought, though. Such as pain and blood. Read more… »

If I’d paid more attention in my first zoology course at Shasta Junior College, this wouldn’t have come as such a shocker to me. Ever since I was kid, I called certain cute little bugs ‘roly-polies’ – since they roll up when threatened.

Today it finally hit me that my trip to the Children’s Science Center in St. Louis last year scarred my psyche beyond repair (unless the marijuana initiative passes in Arizona today – you know what I mean) based on the actual truth about pill bugs.

I just buried it in denial until now. Read more… »