I attended a Court of Honor recently for a young man who became an Eagle Scout at 16 — an impressive achievement. Eagle is the highest rank in Boy Scouts. Only 7 percent of Scouts make it to that level. It takes grit, hard work and the ability to finish tasks. To make Eagle Scout in just five years is even more rare, since one must be 11 before joining a troop.
The young man thanked his parents, fellow Scouts, all those who helped him arrive at this milestone in his life. And then he thanked his grandfather, who sat beside him at the head table. His grandfather became an Eagle Scout nearly...
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When not working at endeavors that help pay the bills, I burn daylight repainting our house’s exterior. The heat has abated to a manageable level, so I hope to finish before it gets too cold for paint to stick. This is a big project — a two-story dwelling with a couple balconies, several levels of eaves, and faded gutters. There’s a lot of surface area to cover. A commercial painting company likely would charge at least $10,000 to paint the exterior. I hope to get out for about $400 worth of paint. I’m using the same color, which makes one coat sufficient.
I have been painting houses,...
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Thirty-three years ago last July I started writing a weekly column, a habit I have been unable to shake. I had just been hired as managing editor of The Rambler, a weekly newspaper in San Augustine in Deep East Texas. The only person I had to manage was myself, since I was the sole newsroom employee. At 26, that was plenty.
This was my first editor’s job (I would become editor and publisher six months later, with a staff of three — including me), so in order to stay on top of matters I bought a Rolodex with my own money at an office supply store in Nacogdoches. I quickly began filling the blank...
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We recently spent several glorious days in Boston, with day trips up to Portsmouth, N.H. and Gloucester (pronounced Glostah by the natives), the fishing village made famous by Erik Larsen’s book, “The Perfect Storm.” It was a lovely respite, precious time with my Beautiful Mystery Companion and daughter Abbie in a place we all love. Maybe not in January. We have not tried that yet. My idyllic memories of growing up in New Hampshire are childlike and not to be relied upon.
All vacations must end. The evening before we headed to Logan Airport, I received an email from the airline on which...
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I took a break from working on a magazine story a few afternoons ago to peruse a packet just received from the American Association of Retired Persons. Yup, I relented and joined AARP. For $16 a year, I figure the discounts will more than pay the price.
The cost to my ego is something else, however. I am not actually retired. I must stay busy writing, taking photographs and poking a few other irons in the fire. The rocking chair remains unoccupied. There are bills to pay.
I have steadily resisted the slow slide into geezerhood. The first time the ticket taker at the movie theater automatically...
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BOSTON — I woke even earlier than usual each morning during this sojourn to our favorite city in the summer. The time difference likely was the culprit. My body thought it was 6 a.m., my usual time to rise. So I was usually out the door of the Beacon Hill apartment we rented by 5:30. My Beautiful Mystery Companion and daughter Abbie never stirred. They slept under portable fans to drown out the street noise. It felt like sleeping in a wind tunnel but worked. Our heads were at curb-level in this basement abode in a five-story brownstone, secured on AirBnb. It was strange to look out the windows...
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FENWAY PARK — There are magical times when one gets to witness a small piece of history being made. They are rare but stick with you. At this shrine, built in 1912 and one of my favorite places in the world, I watched the Red Sox clinch a tie for the pennant in 1967, beating the Minnesota Twins. They won the next game as well to make it to the World Series for the first time since 1946, which they lost to the Cardinals in seven games. In 1967, they again lost in seven games to the Cardinals. It was another heartbreaker to Red Sox fans, which was reprised in the 1975 and 1986 World Series. Losers...
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For the past 13 months I have commuted from Longview to Mount Pleasant to publish the Daily Tribune. This small newspaper was on the verge of shutting down before the company I went to work for purchased it. I enjoyed the challenge, which was considerable: turning around the paper financially and editorially, hiring a entire staff, moving the office downtown. I get weary just thinking about all we accomplished in a short period of time.
Now the time has come to find a new challenge, probably here in Longview so that I can enjoy our daughter’s senior year in high school. I enjoyed my time in Mount...
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It started as a vague notion of my Beautiful Mystery Companion’s. “I want an old beat-up farm truck,” she said wistfully on more than one occasion. So I began keeping an eye out for something that would fit the bill.
She had very specific requirements. Nothing completely restored and shiny. A four-on-the-floor stick shift. I commenced to looking last summer. Once I did a u-turn on Hwy. 31 to snap a cell phone photo of a 1968 Ford partially restored and nearly flawless, but it was deemed too expensive. And shiny.
Then I found a 1961 International Harvester on a side street in Longview....
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Let us pause to ponder the supersize mentality that has led to the proliferation of monster convenience stores, where gas pumps stretch far as the eye can see. The merchandise includes deer feeders, barbecue smokers, an extensive clothing line, an overwhelming array of road snacks, 80 soda dispensers — and America’s cleanest bathrooms.
That would be Buc-ees, a 60,000-square-foot emporium that just opened its 23rd Texas store in Terrell. We stopped there last Sunday on the way back from Frisco — along with what appeared to be several thousand other curious customers — to get gas and use those...
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