My wife reads my articles.  Sometimes, she says, “That's dumb.” I always feel a rush of accomplishment at such a remark.  I do write some dumb stuff, just for fun.  There is an abundance of serious stuff in the world. At times, I want to look at things from a different perspective.  I guess I need an excuse to laugh.      For example, I was doing some genealogical research.  I found a cemetery in Vermont that had its tombstones available for viewing.  Someone had captured a p

I just moved my extension ladder to Salina.  It has a warning label on it that reads: "Warning!  Weight capacity 180 pounds."  That label is a problem for me.  It is real hard to paint a house, ten feet off the ground, balanced on one leg. My rowboat has a label that reads:  "Warning!  Capacity 3 adults or 350 pounds."   Tom Thumb, Tinkerbelle, and Gary Coleman couldn't go fishing together in that boat!  I have a choice to make.   I can take my lunch, my tackle box, or my thi

When the seasons change it causes me to remember things from boyhood.  I like to remember good things, and I am sure that I romanticize some events in my mind.  At the same time, I worry a little bit that my children and grandchildren are missing out on some of the experiences that I enjoyed.    I was fortunate to spend many weekends and summer days on my grandparents ten acre farm.  Springtime helps me to remember the joy of running down a dusty country lane barefoot. But I

I was in the fourth grade. We were making Valentine’s Day card boxes out of old shoe and oatmeal boxes. It was a yearly grade school event, and we all enjoyed it. While we were working, Mrs. Lavender asked us if we like to know the origin of the holiday. She was going to tell us anyway, so we all nodded, “Yes.” I remember her lesson like it was yesterday, though many years have passed. “Three hundred years after Jesus ascended into heaven,” she began, there was a devout Chris