I am somewhat remiss for having left out this portion of Killer’s tale, please forgive my remissiveness. 
We mustn’t dismiss this tragic tale of woe without regaling and beguiling you with one more of our misadventures with my faithful ‘coon hound, “Killer” otherwise, A.K.A. “Ol’ Pisser.”
Oh yes, I feel somewhat obligated to honor a fellow, or is it that, [...]

As dogs go Lucky was unique.
One of his traits was his gentle, laid back character, sort of a cross between a manic crocodile and a T-Rex on uppers.
Lucky would challenge all comers and fight at the drop of a hat but his sweet disposition, though endearing was not his most attractive characteristic.
What really set Lucky [...]

I stood and stared in awe.
I was just a little boy when my father took me to the cathedral that very first time and I stood there and looked up in great wonderment.
Over my head massive timbers reached out from the apex in all directions. The central pillar, a grand and ancient monolithic support to [...]

Have you ever heard the lonely far off wail of a steam locomotive’s whistle? You might expect that a train’s whistle would sound the same, night or day, summer or winter but what you expect is not necessarily what you get.
Night, due to the cooler air has as much the ability to change sound as [...]

It was one of those special, other worldly, northern winter nights when nothing can surprise you and you just know that anything might happen.
A full moon made the snow shrouded woodland glow in a mysterious, almost magical iridescence.
It was one of those nights when all of nature held its breath, waiting, just waiting. One of [...]

If we don’t care for the land, if we don’t care…?
Great blue herons are such magnificent creatures.
There are three herons feeding in the shallow waters at the lakes edge while another stands elegantly on a fallen log dozing. Or perhaps it is meditating.
Whatever it is doing it stirs and lifts one wing and grooms itself [...]

When I was knee high to a short toad I was always playing with sharp and pointy sticks. mama was always saying, “And don’t you play with any sharp and pointy sticks, if you do you are going to poke out both of your eyes and you will be blind for the rest of your [...]

MAD MAUDE AND HER TOADSTOOL CASSAROLE
by
Charles Towne
“Hey you folks, I’m up here, on the roof!” We looked up and sure enough, there was Maude.
Maude was one of the most unique people I have ever met and that day when she called to us from the roof was one example of her rare spirit.
There she was, [...]

I was born and raised on an island located on the Fox River that flows near Oswego, Illinois.
The Fox is a most beautiful river and somewhat unpredictable, very much like a beautiful woman.
She, the river, could go for years without showing her ugly side, without overflowing her banks; but when she did, surprise! Flood was [...]