I am a chopper of wood and carrier of water, a keeper of bees, digger of soil, and washer of dishes, but when people ask me "what do you do" I usually satisfy them with "I'm in information technology." If they really want to know, I'll tell them about the decade as a wilderness guide. Some jobs are vocations, some are avocations, but that one was an evocation. I also wrangle pixels and try to herd them into representations of coherent thoughts, which is a provocation. :-)
It’s hard to love a snake. I know, all creatures great and small and all that, but even though I am a snake supporter, I have to admit that there is something very snaky about a snake. I had a pet King Snake in college. (It was just a phase.) I’ve captured beneficial snakes and … More Watch Where You Put Your Feet
Travel with me back in time to a little house built by hand at the edge of a cornfield on a hill overlooking a valley. The house still stands, empty but for the memories of four generations which somehow keep it from falling down. It’s all but invisible to the infrequent motorist who passes by … More Playing Chicken
We’re going to bid farewell to politics for a while. It’s like that awful television series with bad actors, annoying characters and puerile plots, but we keep watching it because nothing else is on, and to find out what happens next. However, when I read recently that, in addition to all our other troubles there … More I Meant To Do That
Proverbs warns us that “Death and life are in the power of the tongue..” Seneca said, “As was his language, so was his life.” The 19th century author, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, told us that “The pen is mightier than the sword.” The physicist, Amit Goswami, reminds us that “Consciousness is the ground of all being.” The truth has … More Cover The Mirrors
We’re writing today during the Memorial Day weekend that will be a quickly fading memory by the time you read this. Official holidays don’t mean much in our household anymore. It’s not that the events they honor have lost their meaning; far from it. Rather, the events of the last few years have led us … More We’re On Our Own
It’s that time of year again. The summer people are here, and summer is a month away. Tourists are touring on, and if you live here, there are places you just don’t go on the weekend. It was late Sunday afternoon and we were waiting to turn right onto a divided highway. The migration back … More The Oxen Are Slow But The Earth is Patient
Bamboo seems like such a good idea when you first plant it. A bamboo grove is beautiful and mysterious, and an individual cane seems innocent enough. Don’t let that fool you. Bamboo is intent on world domination. It is patient, and cunning. It senses exactly where it can be the greatest nuisance, and then develops … More Pretzel Logic
Hands up, anyone whose opinion has been changed by being slammed, punked, embarrassed, humiliated or publicly shamed on social media. I’ll wait… Right. None of us, with the possible exception of those abject apologies coerced from public figures attempting to rescue their peer-dependent careers. So, what purpose does it serve when we post derogatory things … More The Case for Civility, Midterm Version
“And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean.” Leviticus 13:45 KJV She had a cough that lingered. It wasn’t unlike the “grunge” that often plagues our area during the winter months, … More Unclean! Unclean!
I began beekeeping with my dad at age 15. At that age, indeed at any age, a rebellious or irresponsible nature benefits from any lesson which teaches there are consequences for our actions, and there are immediate consequences from any action with honeybees. If you hurry while working with them, bees protest. If you get … More Bee the Mystery
Outside The Box 