“Under certain circumstances, urgent circumstances, desperate circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer.”
— Mark Twain
One summer day when I was about 5, I was playing in the backyard of our home at 27 Valley St. in Allenstown. N.H. With a toy hammer, I was pounding plastic pegs into a wooden case that had rectangles, circles, triangles, and squares cut into the surface. Unsurprisingly, given how I turned out, I was either trying to hammer a square-cut peg into a round hole or a round peg too large to fit into the square hole.
I...
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I bought a new tractor a couple of weeks ago, trading in Little Red for a shiny orange model that is sturdier and simpler to use. Like its predecessor, it is considered mid-sized, doesn’t have a cab, and is small enough to slip under the many trees here at Three Geese Farm in order to mow. The first time I used Orange Crush, as I have named her, I mowed about half the side pasture. I was pleased with the result and eager to return the following day to finish the job, on a Saturday morning.
Three Geese Farm comprises 57 acres, approximately half of which is bottomland. It has been a mighty...
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This tragic Fourth of July weekend will long linger in our collective memories. The Hill Country flooding was a horrific — and ongoing — nightmare. We grieve and pray for the families and friends of the victims.
Tragedy struck much closer to our Northeast Texas home on Sunday afternoon. Ignacio “Nacho” Aguillon, 53, and his son, Israel, who was 11, died in a head-on collision in Upshur County. An SUV driven by a 16-year-old crossed the center line on Farm-to-Market Road 852 near Lake Gilmer and struck Nacho’s 1997 Nissan pickup, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. I learned...
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The ink is faded but still legible on an 8x10, black-and-white photograph hanging in the bedroom. The inscription reads “Kemo Sabay,” Clayton Moore, The Lone Ranger. The masked avenger crouches in a desert setting, a saguaro cactus in the background. Besides the requisite black mask, the Lone Ranger wears a bandana around his neck, a long-sleeved snap pearl western shirt, a fancy belt with silver studs, and a revolver strapped to his right hip. He looks ready for action. He also appears to be sweating profusely.
When I was a kid, Clayton Moore, the Lone Ranger, came to Pleasure Island, a short-lived...
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