TIS THE SEASON- After a very windy night I was informed at my morning rise that our Chistmas Snowman in the front yard had toppled. I looked out the front window, and Old Frosty was face down in wet turf. Oooooooohhh! I didn’t want the neighborhood speculating that I
PAPAYA! Weird heading? Well, yeah, but let me explain. The other night Debbie and I were watching the 1% Club game show on TV, which, if you haven’t seen it, is addictive to watch, mostly just to show you that you are not as smart as you think you
SORRY FOR YOUR LOSS It’s been quite a few years since this happened. One of Debbie’s coworkers had a death in the family. Debbie wanted to go to the funeral and I went with her. We had an address in Citrus Heights and we got there a few
POPULAR SPOT Some things are out of place by accident. A fish jumps out of water and lands in a fisherman’s rowboat. Someone on their way to a costume party walks into a Chinese restaurant by mistake dressed as the Incredible Hulk. It happens, and it draws your immediate
SO, WHAT’S THE NEW JOB LIKE? 1978- Wheatland P.D.- An enthusiastic 22-year-old kid fresh out of college walks into the police department. Yeah, it’s my first day. I talk to the Chief, who introduces me to an officer named Dave. We talk for a few minutes,
THE LONG RUN A while back we were clearing some stuff out of the garage and I came across a big poster board that I recognized as being from Erin’s room. Growing up she had put years of memorable items on it, which included a plastic pin, which, triggered
THE RETURN I had just gotten out of bed and was making my morning espresso. I was sitting at the kitchen counter and out of the corner of my eye I saw movement outside. As I walked over to the sliding glass door I saw it was a deer, some
A Victory to Savor When I graduated from UOP, they had a football team. The old fashioned bowl stadium that was built on the south end of the campus had been around since 1950. I went to a bunch of games at the stadium, and my freshman year there, we
DUDLEY DO-RIGHTS 1961- Tony Curtis made a movie called The Great Imposter. It was a mildly humorous film about a guy who from a very young age learns how to impersonate people so effectively that he manages to travel globally, assuming fake identities and job titles, which he convinces a
IT’S SHOWTIME 1974- My home town of Nicolaus had the Bridge House bar which was the sight of a Hollywood movie setting starring Dale Robertson. The Bridge House itself was an old wooden two story that looked like it was built around 1900. A lot of folks turned out
WHAT WERE YOU THINKING Back when I was a freshman in High School, I was talking to a guy at the start of class who told me he had to leave because he had to go to court. This was a conversation starter I had never had before, so naturally,
CLOTHING OPTIONAL Back in high school, a friend of mine told me how someone had given him some unusual advice on how to avoid getting into a fight. The advice? If someone wants to fight you, start taking your clothes off and growling and howling like an animal. Nobody wants
PEEPS There was a battle for territory on our front porch a few weeks ago. The bird that has endeared itself to Debbie, has been perching on our front door ring camera post, at night only, for more than a year now. It made no mess, came in each night
SMALL VICTORIES It all started a few years back. There is a concrete box on my front lawn that is clearly marked as being the property of Pacific telephone. I saw that it had a crack in the outside rim. Eventually the crack in the rim became 2 cracks a
BIRDS OF A FEATHER Growing up in Sutter County, Yuba City was the county seat. “Home of the Honkers” was colorfully depicted in large letters on the side of the high school. Ever since moving to our current home , the lot we sit on has become something of a bird
IS THAT SEAT TAKEN? You know the feeling you get when you are watching a Giants game at the ballpark and somebody comes in with a Dodgers hat and sits down next to you in the stadium? It is the symbolic meeting of Fans, the iconic opposites, who are neighbors
THE WHATCHAMACALLIT There is an old episode of Hogan’s Heroes where the plot revolves around a gonkulator. Nobody knows what one is, because it was made up, but they all pretend that they do. It’s hilarious. In the late 1980’s a guy I worked with kept using
IS THAT YOUR LIZARD? When I worked in the IRS office in Sacramento, there were some signs at the doors that pets weren’t allowed, but some folks persisted. It led to some interesting moments, as people insisted they couldn’t go anywhere without little Fido, or Fifi, and claimed
IN OTHER WORDS There was a time, many a time, when my job at the police department involved contact with people that were crazy, sometimes with a capital C and an exclamation point at the end. We were counseled to not use the word crazy, because it was labeling. So
SANTA AFTER HOURS When my kids were small, my brother-in-law ,Mark, offered to arrange for a Santa visit for my kids, at home. He had a friend who volunteered as Santa at the schools and city functions in Lincoln, and the guy said, sure. My kids were about 6 (Kari)
A BIG SPLASH WHEATLAND- 1979. I was at work with two other cops, Dave and Mike. We are arresting a guy on parole, who has been involved in a gun theft. Talk about starting out with some excitement! They told me, that this particular guy was on parole for, get
BUCKY IS THAT YOU? The other day a deer walked by the back yard fence. This was a large male with at least 4 points of antler, the biggest I have ever seen over the fence, and he strode proudly, head high, not an ounce of fear or intimidation in
EUROPEAN? Ok, so here I am in Lyon, France, enjoying the tail end of our southern France river cruise. We are docked at the pier, having a drink in the lounge, the wife and I. It is a cool, cloudy, day in Lyon, and we are watching the foot traffic
THE FARMERS MARKET Back when my wife and I were first engaged, we made plans to minimize our possessions before moving into our new house, to avoid duplication and clutter. It was simple, everything that we had two of, or just no use for in the new house, would be