Many Grandparents knew the word, even great grand parents often knew the word. The word was “Omar”, little do most people know that it wasn’t just country slang or a colloquial but it is the shortened version of Omarolluk. If your great grandparents were midwestern farmers they spent many days cleaning and picking fieldstone out …

I’m in Covid 19 lock down and I wander around my home. The good news is I am not yet infected and I have enough space to continue to wander, both inside and out. This time in our lives has given me time to slow down and squint at what I’ve gathered over the decades….maybe …

It just happened without me thinking about it. I traveled 584 million miles and now people are wishing me good cheer and birthday greetings. It all has to do with the SUN. THE SUN WE HARVEST BY IT. THE SUN WE BASK IN IT THE SUN WE WAIT FOR IT THE SUN WE AVOID IT …

THE DAY THAT DECENCY DIED I remember my parents discussing the “concern” at the “handicapped school”. My uncle was a pioneer in child development and he was explaining to the special education teachers that the child in question was fully capable of understanding everything they said and did. This child in question had cerebral palsy …

After seven weeks on the road we get a respite, R & R babysitting grand kids in the Sandwich Islands. It is over in a blink and we have to recover our financial goals of fiscal responsibility while on the road. We cross five time zones, we travel through three additional airports, we get frisked …

Materials and Architecture. During Medieval times the woods of Europe were filled with European Oak Trees. The wild forests were expansive and unbeknownst to many people…..they were tended by many people. When an oak reached a certain diameter it would often be “copiced”. This means cutting it off around ten feet above the ground. What …

Week Seven on the Road We blink and we realize that we spend a great deal of time on the road. We survive desert dust storms, we dodge blown out tires on the interstate, we negotiate towing fees when something goes bad. An epic 3,200 mile stretch has found us headed to Scottsdale to the …

I think best when I mow the yard, I mow, therefore, I am. Streaming consciousness while appreciating the whirl of a blade and a combustion engine. (Below, My random thoughts while mowing are they yours too?) I’m Irish and German, my DNA results say the same, I’m Northern European through and through with perhaps a …

I was raised in farming country, I was raised with corn, hogs and soybeans nearly 200 miles in every direction. I have watched the evolution of the Productive American Farmer. My farming friends and I have witnessed the family farm become agribusiness. Once they were broad and diverse operations, some cows, some sheep, some hogs, …

A Mexican or Portuguese cowboy /Paniolo was purported to have brought the guitar to the Sandwich Islands in the early 1800’s. He came to these islands as a hired hand to work the cattle that were being brought on to the islands. The cattle were to feed the growing work force of sugar cane workers …