A Parable One morning, not long ago, Miss Johnson posed a question to her first grade class. “Class, why are we not having as much fun at recess as we used to have?” Sally raised her hand. “It’s because we have bullies, and kids that don’t share, and meanies in our playground.” “We don’t allow…

Introduction I thought I had all of my pet peeves on paper with my first rant. Nope, the things that piss me off keep mounting up. Here is some more stuff I want to bitch about: Chomping and Spitting I’ve learned that scratching and adjusting are as integral to major league baseball as mitts and…

Introduction Like most of us, I grumble about the inconveniences, injustices, and especially the absurdities we encounter as we fumble through our hum-drum lives. Now that I’m retired and a member of the geezer generation, I don’t have a job or a business to bitch about. Geezers are big-time complainers. Geezers can piss-and-moan about every-day…

One year ago my wife and I moved into what was promoted as, and what seemed to be an active adult community. Sadly, we were to learn that the only activity in this otherwise lovely community is pissing-and-moaning with our elected Home Owners Association (HOA) officials. Somehow our HOA got off on the wrong foot…

A Parable A friend and neighbor came to me with what she believes is an important proposal for the Country Club Estates Home Owners Association. She passionately argues that our clubhouse needs a new crock-pot. They’re only $29.95 at Wal Mart, we really need one, we can afford one, and our collective lives will all…

It is important in our society for everyone to know who they are. This identifies them as a member of a larger group; and this grouping enables society to put them into commonly understood categories so everyone can say with certainty, “Oh, they’re one of those.” My wife, Linda, has never been sure of what…

Assignment: In one paragraph describe what your life might be like if you were a coin. Wow, its dark in here. Nobody is moving. Nobody is doing anything. We’re all scattered around in a muddled heap. I can’t see anybody but I can feel a couple of overgrown quarters and one maybe two shoddy nickels…

I was a passionate conservative republican voting in my first national election in the fall of 1964. I was a Marine corporal in my fifth year of active duty by day and a community college sophomore at night. From this somewhat biased vantage point, I couldn’t imagine any intelligent American being anything other than a…

I recently played a small part in a community theatre production of a well known play. After ten weeks of rehearsals and endlessly pacing through my living room reciting my lines I finally figured out what’s wrong with real life. The play came out perfect; my real life hasn’t. Why? First, there’s no script in…

Introduction I didn’t realize that I had so many old Marine Corps stories to tell until I started putting them on paper. Anyway, here are a couple more tales from my years in the Corps. Semper Fi The Coke Machine I was temporarily stationed at the U.S. Naval Air Station, Millington, Tennessee being prepped for…