We’ve got a cooling trend going on here in the White Mountains of Arizona, and Terry and I have been taking advantage of it to get a lot of yard work done. Terry has been weeding along the fence line where she wants to plant some more wildflowers, pruning plants in the greenhouse, and making […]
Even though it’s still in the 80s during the daytime here in Arizona’s White Mountains, the wildlife have their own internal calendar. Saturday night, I heard elk bugling. If you’ve never heard the eerie sound of a bull elk challenging other bulls for dominance and summoning cows for mating, it’s a haunting experience. You wouldn’t […]
In Friday’s blog I mentioned that it was warming up here in Arizona’s White Mountains. That was brought home to me yesterday when I went out to water the clover I had planted. Fool that I am, I had forgotten to drain the black water hose after turning the water off the night before. When […]
Miss Terry has very fragile skin that is easily bruised or torn. I always say she has so many bruises on her arms that when she goes to the doctor, they must think I abuse her. And now, with her new look, I’m sure they’re just going to call the cops the minute we walk […]
It’s bear season here in Arizona’s White Mountains. No, I don’t mean hunting season, although I think you can hunt them with a bow and arrow at this time of year. The state also has rifle hunting seasons both in the fall and the spring. But I don’t hunt anymore, so that’s not what I’m […]
We enjoyed spending time with Terry’s mom and dad in the Apache Junction area in spite of the triple digit temperatures. But I won’t lie to you and say we weren’t happy to head back home to the high country, where the air is cleaner, traffic is less hectic, and it is much cooler. After […]
As I said in yesterday’s blog, Terry’s mother has been having some health issues and we didn’t want to leave Arizona until we knew what the status was on them. We got a call after her doctor’s appointment yesterday morning letting us know things look good for now, so we prepared to get on the […]
You know that filter we’re all supposed to have that keeps us from saying what we’re really thinking sometimes? Yeah, well, I don’t have one of those. Not having that filter comes in handy when you’re a small-town newspaper publisher and you aren’t afraid of stepping on toes. Of course, it makes you some enemies […]
If you were to believe popular fiction or current events, there is a lot of animosity between police and the press. Sometimes that animosity is well-earned on both sides, but at least in fiction, much of it is overblown. With my own background of having been around law enforcement, I always enjoyed a very good […]
Before we had the internet, if you were single and looking for Miss or Mr. Right, you didn’t have many choices if you didn’t feel like going to bars or churches, two popular meeting places for prospective partners. Back then, a lot of newspapers in both big cities and small towns had personal ads for […]
Well, I missed my goal of finishing Pucker Factor, my next John Lee Quarrels book, by the end of July. There was just too much going on. But I’m happy to say that I finished it late yesterday afternoon. Today I will make corrections to the final chapters I wrote yesterday and print them out […]
We stayed at a lot of campgrounds in our 18+ years of fulltime RV travel, some really nice places, and some not so nice. There are campgrounds that we returned to on a regular basis and others where one stop was more than enough. RVers would often ask us what our personal favorite campgrounds were. […]
You know that filter we’re all supposed to have that keeps us from saying what we’re really thinking sometimes? Yeah, well, I don’t have one of those. Not having that filter comes in handy when you’re a small-town newspaper publisher and you aren’t afraid of stepping on toes. Of course, it makes you some enemies […]
If you were to believe popular fiction or current events, there is a lot of animosity between police and the press. Sometimes that animosity is well-earned on both sides, but at least in fiction, much of it is overblown. With my own background of having been around law enforcement, I always enjoyed a very good […]
No, not my age. I hit that number a long time ago, and then doubled it! I’m talking about my 31st book, Big Lake Fugitive, which I uploaded to Amazon last night. Depending on how quickly (or not so quickly) they work, it should be ready sometime today. I have had books go live in […]
Today is an important day, because today my son Travis turns 41. How in the world could I possibly have a child that old? I’m barely out of puberty myself! I thought the calculator was messed up, so I did the math three or four times. No way can I have a kid that old! […]
We were up early again yesterday, since we are trying to readjust our sleeping patterns and get to bed earlier and get up earlier than normal. We have company visiting from out of state in a couple of weeks and we kind of thought it might be polite to not sleep the day away while they […]
I was back at it again yesterday, working hard to get the new issue of the Gypsy Journal done. I thought I was doing pretty good when I noticed that I was at page 28 already of the 44 page paper. But then I had one of those rut-roh moments, followed quickly by frustration. Usually […]
It’s very often true that you get what you pay for. Sometimes when you make a purchase, it’s better to spend a little money up front for value that will last you a long time. A good example is Tilley hats. The first time I saw one I thought that they were a waste of […]
Before I came into her life and carried her away, kicking and screaming, to spend our days wandering America’s highways and byways, Terry lived in a cozy little cabin in Arizona’s White Mountains that was filled with antiques. She had everything from curved glass-fronted Hoosier cabinets to an impressive collection of oil lamps. But these […]