Attending (Uncomfortably) My 50th Class Reunion

As soon as I finished my shift at the library last Friday, I dashed home, put on my tractor clothes, and started bushhogging, after first dropping a bale of alfalfa in Pancho the Donkey’s shed. There is no grass in the pasture since the ryegrass died and the rains stopped. Alfalfa is not cheap at $38 a bale. I hope Pancho is grateful. I mowed down the goatweed before moving over to the side pasture. A variety of coreopsis, popular know as tickseed, surrounds the pond and the drainage ditch leading to the creek -- large, bright yellow flowers that should last until the first freeze. I left...

Serving as Both Teacher and Student

For the first time, I am both a teacher and a student. I guess I have always been a student in some fashion, since learning new things is one way to keep my mind sharp. This is the first time I have been enrolled in one class while teaching another. As mentioned earlier, I am pursuing a certificate in archival management from the University of North Texas. That requires a total of 15 graduate hours, all taken online, of course. This semester I am enrolled in INFO 5375 — Archival Appraisal. I will take one more course in the spring to finish. Here is the course description: Appraisal theory...

Recalling My Years at SFA, As It Turns 100

One of my college alma maters recently celebrated its 100th anniversary. A highlight of the celebration was the unveiling of a giant class ring that is bound to become an Instagram must-do moment for anyone connected to Stephen F. Austin State University. I have not had the opportunity to view it firsthand but am planning a trip soon to Nacogdoches, where I lived a total of 18 years in two different stints. After graduating from high school in May of 1973, I spent a year attending night school at Kilgore College while working at the Made-Rite Bottling company during the day. The intent was to transfer...

It’s Graduation Day for the Great Gatsby

It’s official. Gatsby, our great rescue cavapoo, is now an American Kennel Club-certified Canine Good Citizen. This does not give him the right to vote or drive a vehicle, but our beloved pup — now 18 months old — can enter a therapy-dog program, starting in mid-October. He has completed 18 hours’ worth of lessons under Jamie, who has been instrumental in his transformation. When Gatsby began his weekly lessons in January, he cowered under my stool, refused to walk on a leash, and was afraid of everything. His early months as a puppy-mill dog, largely imprisoned in a crate, meant he did not even...

An Ear-Splitting Concert on a Weekday Night

SHREVEPORT – We stayed up way past our bedtime Thursday night. Months ago, I bought tickets to see Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit at Shreveport Municipal Auditorium, a venerable venue just off downtown. I nearly forgot about purchasing the tickets until I heard a promo on Red River Radio a few weeks back and reminded my Beautiful Mystery Companion of our rare weeknight date. We headed east for an early dinner before the concert. Isbell, 44, is a four-time Grammy award winner whose evocative lyrics and impeccable musicianship have drawn a legion of fans, including me. I jumped at the chance...

Paying Homage to the Pascagoula Pirate

Yes, I am a pirate, two hundred years too late The cannons don't thunder, there's nothing to plunder I'm an over-forty victim of fate -- A Pirate Looks at Forty by Jimmy Buffett   I last saw Jimmy Buffett in concert in the mid 1990s, when I was about 40, though far from being a pirate. We both had a lot more hair back then. Buffett performed at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in the Woodlands, a vast planned community between Conroe and Houston. The Mitchell Pavilion is a lovely outdoor venue when it isn’t 100 degrees. It was a lovely autumn evening when we saw Buffett, a soft...

Summertime, and the Reading Was Easy

Like most folks who could afford or are able to do so, I have spent most of this summer inside, much of it reading books. Recovering from shoulder surgery provided an excellent — and legitimate — excuse to curl up with a book while listening to music through my hearing aids, which are Bluetooth enabled. This slightly annoyed my Beautiful Mystery Companion, who would be talking to me without receiving a reply, because I could not hear her. She has a hard time comprehending how I can read, or write, with music blaring in my ears. I chalk it up to my decades spent knocking out stories, columns,...

Blowing Out Candles and Butterflies

It’s been a long hot summer, not a drop of rain. -- Robert Earl Keen |———| I marked another birthday a couple of days ago. To do so, I took off from working at the library, woke up early, accepted birthday greetings from my Beautiful Mystery Companion and hopped on the zero-turn mower before the sun was high in the sky to mow the front pasture, which consists of about 3 acres. Mowing while listening to NPR through noise-canceling earbuds — wearing a long-sleeved shirt and pants bucked into my Red Wing boots, topped by a wide-brimmed hat — seemed like a good way to reflect on how I have...

‘Oppenheimer’ spurs childhood memories of ducking under a desk

My Beautiful Mystery Companion and I stole away on a weekday afternoon before the semester begins and headed to the Robinson Film Center in downtown Shreveport to see Oppenheimer, the box-office hit starring Cillian Murphy of Peaky Blinders fame, Robert Downey, Jr., and Matt Damon, among others. The Robinson is a non-profit boutique theater celebrating its 15th year. Like many folks in this age of streaming, we rarely go to movies anymore. The Robinson is a comfortable venue that shows both new releases and classics. It makes for a pleasant date, especially when paired with a meal at either...

The dog days have arrived. While we endured record-breaking heat in July, at least in the early part of the month a couple of thunderstorms broke up the heat. During these dog days, clouds wander in to tease us before dissipating under a relentless sun. I am generally out the door for my three-mile walk by 7:15. An hour later, I am soaked with sweat and filled with concern for the fellows I pass at two houses being built on this one-street subdivision, across the county road from Three Geese Farm. They likely have been at it since 6 a.m., cutting and laying brick — hot, dusty work in the best...