I’ve used GPS since the early days when they degraded the signals to keep non-military uses from being as accurate. I’ve had several automobile units and my present unit is a Garmin Nuvi. What I’d like to do in this article is provide non-users with a good idea of what this technology provides, and to give some useful tips to others based on my practical experience. …
Anyone who loves war and hates anti-war movies should avoid Joyeux Noel. Although it is not anti-war overtly, but it undermines the “us good people against them bad people” premise of wars. It tells the story of events that occurred in 1914 as German and Allied troups faced each other across their trenches on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. These are sometimes called “The Christmas Truce of 1914.” …
We feed the birds, squirrels, chipmunks, and other visiting animals such as foxes and possums and raccoons on occasion. We try to provide special nourishment during snows and blizzards, such as we have been having lately. Our usual birds are the doves, blue jays, various woodpeckers, cardinals, sparrows, finches, grackles, and others. But for the last few days we have had gangs of crows, sometimes numbering in the dozens. They sit in the distant trees and swoop in when the coast is clear. They are beautifully black against the white snow. When Dylan Thomas described night time in his mythical town of Milkwood as “crow-black,” he was using an apt image. …
This is not a cry for help, but we are having a lot of winter this winter in the Washington D.C. and Mid-Atlantic region. Up to 250,000 homes have been without power, including my home and neighborhood. A man who works with me has been out of power for nearly a week. We are breaking the all-time snowfall record of 54 inches for one winter. The air is white with it just now and blizzard-force winds are blowing it sideways. We have the heat turned up and the candles and flashlights laid out and ready. There have been discussions about portable generators and other preparations. …
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I went out running through the neighborhood on a Saturday afternoon. I heard the sound of helicopters overhead and discovered they were spraying. I had heard about the spraying on the radio. It was to kill something they wanted to kill. …
Lance Armstrong bristled. He bristled when someone implied that it’s easy for him climb steep mountains on a bicycle. And not just climbing, but climbing fast. Did they believe him when he told about his legs burning and his lungs bursting? He said what about it? It doesn’t get any easier, it just gets faster. …
Gerry and I were married for 22 years. The following is from her Memorial Service in our hometown of Maryville, Tennessee. …
I was five years old at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack. I was the youngest of three brothers, one of whom would later enlist in the army and be killed fighting in France. …
Down under Gregory’s Bald at the west end of the park is Big Shuckstack. A lookout tower is there. Forest rangers used to climb up and sit and watch for signs of smoke. Lower still is Little Shuckstack. It is steep between the two and your knees will let you know, don’t worry, as they did us ten or so Scouts the day we climbed down. …
After a total hip replacement, rehabilitation must become a top priority and probably an obsession.
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