I found my excuse, and I intend to hang onto it like a tick on a hound. You see, I’ve spent the better part of my adult life listening to people offer judgmental little remarks about my fondness for a sip or two of the good stuff. “Whiskey again, Tom?” they’d say, as if I’d…

Now, if you’ve never seen a dog get the zoomies, you’re missing out on one of life’s finest entertainments. My dog Buddy, bless his wiry little heart, gets the zoomies about once every three days like clockwork. It usually starts with a sparkle in his eye and a twitch in his hindquarters, followed by an…

I saw her car pull up to the mailboxes this morning—an older model with a front grill like a steam locomotive’s cattle catcher. Not the kind of thing you forget. She’s a neighbor, though I don’t know her name. Seen her around the neighborhood a few times, always alone. She keeps to herself mostly. Today,…

It was one of those rare Nevada mornings when the air felt gentle, like it hadn’t already gotten roughed up by politics or wind or wildfire smoke. Buddy was at my feet, watching the world. He’s a dog of simple convictions: bacon good, vacuum cleaner evil, and naps in sunbeams non-negotiable. I envy that clarity…

I was out by Vista Boulevard yesterday morning, just putting miles on the truck and thoughts in my head, when I noticed the billboard. You can’t miss it—it sits right off I-80 hanging in the air like a tombstone. “They went to a music festival and didn’t come home.” I’d passed it before, maybe a…

Buddy and I were enjoying a quiet summer evening on the front porch yesterday, the kind where the heat finally backs off and the sky turns that dusty pink color that makes you think maybe the world isn’t so bad after all. He was sprawled out like a rug, twitching every so often in a…

Driving home this morning, with the windows down, I found myself sulking. There was nothing in particular wrong. The sky was blue, and the breeze warm. But somewhere between the stoplight and the curve past the second roundabout, I felt that familiar end-of-summer melancholy tugging at me. And it hit me—I am not looking forward…

It ain’t always sunshine and green pastures out here, though I wish it were. Sometimes, it’s just the wind rustling through an empty stall, and a quiet that settles heavily on your shoulders. Yesterday was one of those days. I’d been keeping a watchful eye on the two pregnant momma cows. We’d all been waiting—me,…

I married my best friend. That’s not just a poetic turn of phrase or something I’d slap on a wooden sign in the living room next to a candle that smells like “Farmhouse Memories.” It’s the plain truth. She’s the calm when the world’s storming outside. The safe place I run to when the day’s…

The water near the vile hole was thick and stale, with sulfurous salts. You didn’t drink it so much as you endured it, and if it touched raw skin too long, you’d find yourself blistered and burning by evening. A man could die slower from that water than from a bullet, but just as sure.…