There is a skiff of snow on the ground this morning. It’s an expression used by my grandparents that originated long ago in Scotland. The skiff, sometimes spelled “skift,” refers to a light dusting of snow that barely covers the ground, and on this cold and windy morning, my budding peach trees are beginning to … More Mental Floss
You’ve seen the message, a text or an email announcing that your package is “Out for Delivery.” I recently saw that notice four times for a package that never arrived. When I called customer service, Steve in Hyderabad (I suspect that Steve is not his real name) told me those messages are generated when a … More Your Free Shipping Is Out For Delivery
If you looked out your window early on a Saturday morning and the half ton of topsoil waiting to be worked into the raised beds in the garden made you feel good, or if you derived the same sense of well-being from a pile of wood chips or gravel, I think we could have a … More Common Interest
“You people are living in another world! This is the 20th century, don’t you realize that? The whole world is living in a desperate space age! Men are orbiting the earth. International television has been developed. And here – a whole town is standing still because two old women’s feet fall asleep!” -“Man in a … More Another Man In A Hurry
It was a week of rebellion. My smartphone was banished to the shop, forgotten in the car, deprived of its charging station, and left unattended. The revolt began when I noticed the weight of a certain cardboard box on a shelf, the one which contains several pounds of old cell phones. Tinkerers will understand the … More Digital DNA
One of my earliest memories is a visit to my grandparents’ house east of Hiawassee in winter. The potbellied stove warmed the house with a heat that no other technology would ever match, and the world outside the frosty window was a wilderness of bobcats and bears and stories that have slipped into the dreamtime … More Narrenbeschwörung
“The order of love is that by which the right measure of affection is expressed in what is loved.” -St. Augustine When Vice President J.D. Vance invoked the medieval Catholic phrase in response to criticism of the current Administration’s immigration policy, I confess that I had to look it up to resurrect memories of a … More Ordo Amoris
By the time you read this, it’s just possible that the massive block of ice created by shoveling snow from our walkway will have melted. I’m not taking any bets. Our personal glacier has been here for two weeks so far. The rain didn’t melt it. It remained defiant during those two hours when the … More Fun With Frozen Things
It is a balmy 24 degrees here as Peaches settles in to warm my toes, and hers as well. There is still plenty of snow on the ground, if you can call it “snow.” It looks like snow, but it’s as hard as rock, deceptively beautiful and treacherous, like that girl I dated in college. … More Enjoy The Weather
It was 9.5 degrees this morning, and even our meticulous canine researchers made a quick study of their morning business. The birds were not shy, urging me loudly to hurry up and restock the suet feeder, and like any guy who got clothes instead of toys for Christmas, I might have grumbled then, but I’m … More After the Decimal Point
Outside The Box 