The Wheel in the Sky

The rock band Journey released their song Wheel in the Sky in March of 1978. The song claims, "Wheel in the sky keeps on turnin'".  The metaphor isn't lost on me.  However, there's an older bit of wisdom, first written down by an unknown author sometime around 400 B.C. - 250 B.C.. It can be found in the Bible, in the book of Ecclesiastes. According to the version authorized by King James of England, and first published in 1611, Ecclesiastes 1:9 states: “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.” The idiom isn't lost on me.  And here on this first day of May, 2022, we find ourselves on the tail-end of the COVID pandemic and dealing...  Read More

Corona II

Four months ago I never would have thought that we would still be dealing with this pandemic to the extent that we are currently dealing with it. But, I've never been accused of visionary insight into such things, so I shouldn't be surprised! I hope and pray that you, dear reader, find clarity, health, and peace in your life during these trying times.  Read More

Corona

The few Corona beers I have tried always put me off. Apparently a lot of folks like it, because it's still selling, but Corona is not for me. Nor is the Coronavirus and the attendant hysteria that seems to have gripped many people. Fighting over toilet paper? Price gouging hand sanitizer? James Lane Allen was a 19th century American novelist from Kentucky. He spent his years in Lexington during the antebellum period, the civil war, and the reconstruction. A quote of his seems entirely appropriate for our current circumstance: "Adversity does not build character, it reveals it." And we're sure seeing some characters!  Read More

Firearms and You

            Firearms and you…maybe not! There are folks who don’t even like to say the word “firearm”, or “gun”, or any of a myriad of euphemisms that get used in their place. That relationship is one of staying away from firearms and such discussion. And that is a correct and proper course of action for those folks.              There are others who see firearms as tools designed for specific jobs. We recently sold a rifle to a person who is going to use it to clear a pack of coyotes that are killing his goats. There was a problem, they found a tool designed to fix it, and soon it will be fixed. Police officers use firearms as tools to perform their duties. Some may argue the how and the why, but the fact is they do. Our military servi...  Read More

What is a Nebo Hill?

    Nebo Hill is the tallest summit in Clay County, Missouri. A tourist attraction nonpareil, folks from all walks of life and all countries around the world travel there just to say they’ve stood atop Nebo Hill.  I’m being facetious, of course.  The reality is that most folks have never heard of the place, even people who have been brought up in the general vicinity. It looks much like any other hill you’d encounter in that part of Clay County, but it is the tallest!     There is a small cemetery on top of Nebo Hill, and I have a couple of ancestors safely ensconced in their respective holes in the ground. The first was placed there in 1864, the most recent in 1895. The history of Nebo Hill extends well beyond those (relatively) recent...  Read More