Category: Stories
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On Canoeing & Camping
It was the summer of 1985 and I cashed in on a great idea. I learned that there was a popular canoe/camping destination that you could sign up for that only cost $95 a week per person if you were part of a youth organization at your church. My wife and I had some friends…
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Our First Thanksgiving in Mexico
Last year was our first Thanksgiving in Ajijic, in the state of Jalisco, Mexico. I hoped to feel that holiday spirit of family-around-the-table like in a Norman Rockwell-ish way and to cherish this holiday and set it alongside my memories with parents and grandparents, carving turkey and drenching stuffing with gravy. I knew I was…
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Crows Are Smart
A crow is a bird of the genus “Corvus”. The American Crow lives from seven to eight years. Fun facts about crows include that they are super smart, mate for life, can remember faces, hold funerals for the deceased, have huge brains, can make tools & hide their food. A group of crows is called a Murder.…
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The Solitaire Commuter
Just in time for Halloween, I published this scary fictional story this week. I actually discovered it in my files in an archived box. I wrote it way back on October 30, 1994. Caution! It’s super-scary!
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The Day I Learned to Hate Pâté
Warning: this story contains smoking, strong language and sophomoric potty humor. I snuffed my half-smoked cigarette out in the ashtray and released my seatbelt. I was at work. It was a Saturday so that meant my weekend job. You see I was going to college and working full time, so it only made sense to…
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Learning to Water Ski & Other Lessons Learned Through Failure
It was 1995 when my wife, Carrie and I bought a house on the Fox River. We didn’t know the first thing about boating so we signed up for Coast Guard Safety Training at the local community college. Thirteen Friday evenings later, we were certified and knew enough about boating to know it is damn…
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“Thou Art My Savior” and Other Fine Quotes From Starving Cats
My wife, Carrie and I nuzzled into a cozy small one bedroom apartment on the third floor of a courtyard-building on the upper northside of Chicago, known as East Rogers Park. We lived there for a couple of years back in the early 1990’s. I worked in the city and my train stop was on…
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Elton John on a Full Bladder
If you are like me, you like a story with a happy ending. This isn’t one of those. It was the summer of 1989 (August 26 to be exact) and Elton John was touring the country. He made a stop in Hoffman Estates, Illinois at the Popular Creek venue which was a grand outdoor theater…
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Two Weeks Does Not a Marriage Make
I am lucky. I’m lucky for many reasons. One, I met my wife, Carrie, at a young age and have been enjoying a lifetime of wonderful memories. Another reason I am lucky is because I won a Caribbean cruise on a Chicago radio station. On February 14 (St. Valentine’s Day), 1983 I picked up the…
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Taking a Dog Down the River
If you have been following my posts, you know that I have written a few stories about our life on the river. Well, here’s another one. We lived on the Chain-O-Lakes on the Fox River just north of the McHenry dam in northern Illinois. Our street was separate from most of the river-front homes in…
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Never Take a Shotgun into a Bathroom
One of the most contentious topics these days center on guns. I’m not here to discuss the good or bad of guns. But I will share a little story with you if you are willing to indulge me for a few minutes. For my fourteenth Christmas I received a 12 gauge shotgun. I didn’t ask…
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The Haunted Ladder
I always look forward to writing stories about my dad. He led such an interesting life. He was one of the most hardworking men I’ve ever met in my life. I remember growing up, he always had two to three jobs, just to make money to put food on the table. One Saturday morning when…