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Amen Corner Farm

May 28, 2016

Last week my wife Louise and I packed up the RV, threw our two Standard Poodles, Dudley and Miller, into the back seat of the truck and off we went to ride and jump horses at the Amen Corner Farm, tucked into the corner of southeast Louisiana, just north of Lake Ponchartrain and the Big […]

Imperial Order of Charles V

January 11, 2016

In November, 2015, I was inducted, along with thirty five other new members, and ten ladies, into the Imperial Order of Charles V in the Alcazar fortress/palace in Segovia, Spain. Go the Images page on the left for a few pictures of the event.

When Joining ROTC Was No Big Deal

January 2, 2016

I read the piece in the Dec. 30, 2015 ed. of the WSJ, “At Last, Some Campus Sanity: ROTC Gains,” with some interest since I passed through NROTC many years ago. And I honestly didn’t think much about it. The first time I heard some youngster in the last few years, upon hearing I spent […]

Spain

November 22, 2015

The maid got on the elevator and I asked her if she was going up or down. She pointed up and then said “down.” Ah, for a moment I thought I was back in the Third World, but I was in Segovia, Spain for a little ceremony I’d been invited to participate in. So, “which […]

In Service

November 9, 2015

I always try not to get into the “well, things were a lot better when I was growing up, or in college, or…” and you fill in the blank. This generational gap between my age—ahead of the Baby Boomers—and my youngest child’s cohort, the Millennials—often leads one to conclude that one generation—mine of course—was a […]

Inside a Mission Trip

August 23, 2015

For the past three summers I’ve packed my bags and headed down to Honduras with a mission team sponsored by the Baptist Medical and Dental Missions International. This team is locally recruited and organized by the Valley View Baptist Church and led by one of its members, Stan Gray. But it’s not all business. Much […]

Were the Good Old Days Really That Good?

April 13, 2015

Old people usually think times were better when they were younger. Butter tasted better, sunrises and sunsets were spectacular, love was near perfect, most everyone was well educated, and even the politicians sometimes come off with a shine, rather than exuding a stink like dog poop on your shoe today. It was a time and […]

What I’d Like to Hear From My Next President

February 1, 2015

I do a lot of day dreaming while walking. It takes my mind off the arthritis in my feet. I thought I heard the next President of the U. S. giving a major speech, maybe it was his Inaugural Address, January, 2017. “I will lead this great country with both knowledge and wisdom. “I will […]

The Obligatory Hospital Experience

October 4, 2014

My first encounter with the less than inspiring reputation that DCH Hospital has for staph infections came as the nurse prepared my i.v. drip preparatory to some “happy juice” and then the anesthetic. She didn’t use gloves. And I thought, “I thought everyone used gloves for all procedures?” When in Honduras this past summer with […]

The Wreck

August 27, 2014

One, of course, never expects to wreck. Here we are speaking largely of car wrecks. One expects even less to be in some other wreck, a plane wreck for example, or a wreck at sea. Wrecks, like tornadoes, happen to other people. Some wrecks, like the wreck of the “unsinkable” SS Titanic in 1912, seem […]