Nine in the morning and the manager twists the knob on the door, officially opening the bank for that day’s business. James Atherton stands patiently waiting and is the first through the door once it’s unlocked. “Hi,” the pregnant teller smiles as he approaches the counter, “How can I help you?” “I need the services of…

The Great War, better known today as World War I, came to an end 100-years-ago today at the eleventh hour, of the eleventh day, of the 11th month. The latest figures, which are still being debated show that 116,708 U.S. soldiers died with another 205,690 having been wounded. My Grandpa Bill Shaw, having enlisted while…

My friend, Stella Bailey, who writes free verse poetry at ‘Simply Stella,’ wrote “Masterpiece of Emotion.” It really spoke to me and I envisioned this response: When sleep comes not easily, Scotch poured and at Baldwin, My fingers lightly on the keys, Playing a concert for none. Perhaps… Another one listens at this hour, too.…

Some how I became turned around; not lost, but extremely confused. I sat down in the shade of a rock overhang and sipped from my canteen, waiting for the feeling to leave, but it refused. Above me, circled a murder of crows, crying and calling to each other, also in confusion. Suddenly, they went silent…

Can you say, “Jus’ like Jim Acosta?” I knew you could! It’s a rather common occurrence for me — getting placed in ‘FB jail’ from time to time. That’s where I am after opining that CNN’s Jim Acosta physically battered the woman trying to take the White House Press Corps’ microphone away from him upon…

Here’s a compilation of all my thoughts as posted on Facebook throughout the night of the 2018 mid-term elections: “We need less democracy and more Republic.” “This nation has slipped so far from the Constitution that it shows on election night.” “That supposed ‘Red Wave’ has left Nevada drowning in a sea of ‘Blue.’” “Bread…

My wife is fond of saying, “When you get around to it” or “When I get around to it,” so I made her a ‘Round To-It’ stone. She placed it in her curio cabinet, which I find both cute and precious at the same time as it’s so out of place amid the cut crystal,…

A few years back, I took a good friend of mine to the local mall, south of town. She told me that she had to return a pair of jeans because she found them torn and faded. After she showed me, I tried explaining, “They’re distressed jeans, they’re meant to be like that. Didn’t you look at…

When I was 10-years-old, Grandpa Bill took me to my first cattle auction in Ferndale at the Humboldt County Fair Grounds. Shortly afterwards, I gathered a passel of kids from around my grandparent’s neighborhood and held an auction of my own. “So, who’ll give me fifty cents – fifty-pennies, ten-dimes or two-quarters for Adam?” I…

While still employed at the radio station I had a serious problem with our computers in the newsroom. For some reason, they’d all frozen and no amount of ‘rebooting’ worked to solved the situation. At 1:36 in the morning, I called our corporate ‘IT Specialist.’ It was obvious he was not happy about having to…