My buddy Leon, a fellow refugee from the newspaper publisher business, sent me a news release the other day, announcing that Sam Malone is serving as master of ceremonies at a Houston charity event. His subject line: “Is Sam Making a Comeback?” The text announced the Keels and Wheels Concours d’Elegance, with Sam Malone as emcee, would feature Mickey Gilley of Urban Cowboy fame at the charity fundraiser. Keels and Wheels is a classic car organization. I don’t think my 1965 Ford F100 qualifies.
What got our attention is the Sam Malone that Leon and I knew well passed on 16 years ago....
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My Beautiful Mystery Companion and I took advantage of a glorious Saturday in February, in this non-existent winter, to go hiking in Tyler State Park. I needed to pick up a laptop from the Mac store, so we left early to go tramp in nature for a couple hours. This was our first visit to the park in years, at least a decade for me and longer for my BMC. Admission is just $6, and the money goes for a great cause — our state and national parks. They allow millions of people to enjoy the outdoors at a reasonable price, to see great beauty.
Tyler State Park is not breathtakingly beautiful, especially...
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The Onion, a satirical magazine and website, frequently contains “stories” that are simply hilarious. The day after the New Hampshire primary, it published a Photoshopped image of a dejected Jeb Bush sitting on the ground, his back against a mud-spattered concrete block wall. The headline: “Demoralized Jeb Bush Succumbs to New Hampshire Heroin Epidemic.”
The headline cracked me up before I even got to the story. The lede (that’s how we newspaper folks spell it): Plunging into a downward spiral of despair and self-doubt after a poor showing in the Iowa caucuses, a demoralized Jeb Bush...
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Our house is 35 years old. Most of the fixtures are original. Plumbing issues pop up often, especially lately. A thread of consistency links each of these breakdowns. They always occur at night or on weekends. Always. Twice I have been forced to call a plumber on Saturday to clear roots out of a clogged sewer line. That is an unwelcome byproduct of having lots of trees in the yard. It was call a plumber on Saturday morning or stay in a hotel over the weekend. Actually, that might have been cheaper. Two fellows came out and used a giant metal snake to clear out the line. Drop rock salt in the toilet...
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