My Backyard

I believe in “the luck of the Irish.”  Even though I have never found a four leaf clover, I do know that it is sometimes better to be lucky than smart. I always tell people that I have the occasion to help, that I can teach them to be smart, but I cannot teach them [...]

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At the end of the paper road in the one small woodlot left in our neighborhood, the turkeys are back. I last saw them about six months ago and a mile away over off Highland Avenue strutting through the woods in Sue’s backyard. I saw them again today when walking the puppy. They are the [...]

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I half expected there would be dozens of weather people out looking for jobs this morning. They were all so sure we were going to get snow belted again. They were right. It is all about the timing. No one went to school. Few of us went to the post office. There were no lines [...]

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Around four thirty most afternoons, I clear my desk and head to the kitchen and start preparing supper. I flip on the kitchen television and watch the news while peeling and seasoning. The progression is national cable channels, the regional channel, the local channel and then the national broadcast channel. Watch is too strong a [...]

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Saturday morning early a more than half full moon rode high in the southern sky. The puppy and I were walking in the woods. Were the trees turned the way they are turned leaning toward the sun or leaning toward the moon? We all know the formula for collecting maple syrup: warm sunny days and [...]

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Many of us will be going to graduations in the next few months. Many of us and our children are watching the mailbox awaiting the acceptance letter from the college of our choice. For this year’s graduating class and next year’s freshman class these are exciting times. They are also trying times. We will be [...]

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Shortly after dawn this morning that groundhog in Pennsylvania will prognosticate on what remains of winter. I hope he decides it is over. I am ready for dry ground. Let us have no more snow, no iced roadways, walks and side walks and no more black ice. I am up for fog and rain and [...]

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With the opening of spring training for baseball coming along, it will soon be the season for town meetings and neighbors exploring the opportunity to run for local political office. I think every incumbent in the area will have an opponent come Election Day. Some incumbents will be beaten in preliminary elections. Some incumbents will [...]

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I do not know if birds sing louder on clear, cold, winter mornings. It may be that there are fewer birds about and I note their call. I assume they are calling to their kith and kin. Perhaps, they are calling in hopes of a return call to assure them they are not alone. I [...]

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I spend hours of my time each day of the week at my computer. I am a glass half full person, but Comcast and I assume other cable companies have me worrying about the glass being half empty. I count on my cable connections being constant and available twenty-four hours a day and seven days [...]

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