A real Top Gun talks about the Top Gun movie and more

I may be one of the few people on the planet that have not seen “Top Gun Maverick.” As of this writing, the film, starring Tom Cruise and a sequel to the 1986 hit, “Top Gun,” has grossed over $1 billion at the box office and shows no signs of landing anytime soon.

The death spiral of customer service

I am a good and loyal customer. If I receive a good product or service, at a fair price, from a retailer, vendor, or contractor, I keep coming back for more.

A drinkin’ life

Once, many years ago when I was young with a face kissed by dewiness and innocence, I knew a kind-hearted, gentle giant of a man who was loved by all. His soft blue eyes twinkled with joy and even when his hair and beard had turned silver, he was handsome.

Donald Trump and the ghost of elections past

Zzzzzzzzzzz! Snort! Snort! Smack! Zzzzzzzzzzz! “Donald. Donald. Please wake up, Donald! I need to talk to you!” “Snort! Umpff! What? Hey, who are you and how did you get into Mar-a-Largo? As a matter of fact, how did you get in my bedroom, you pervert? I’m calling Secret Service.

There are no chickens in Kyiv

As we celebrate this 246th anniversary of the birth of our nation, a bunch of plucky colonists breaking away from at the time the world’s largest and strongest military empire, it is easy to draw parallels with the struggle underway in Ukraine with its neighbor and older sibling, Mother Russia.

Getting up hay

Every person in America ought to spend one day, getting up hay. Just one day. On a blustery, dusty day when the sun burns the ground to 100 degrees and the air is almost too thick to breath. In an old truck without air conditioning or radio.

Still learning to Say goodbye

Though I communicate for a living, I find at times it is the simplest of sayings and messages which trouble me most. As a young kindergarten student, my brothers, sisters, and I were blessed to attend a private kindergarten in a large, converted former residence.

Talking politics with the Ryo Morning Coffee Club

You can tell from the way the telephone rings who is on the other end of line. It is Skeeter Skates. When Skeeter calls, the phone doesn’t just ring. It jumps off the hook. He has that kind of effect on phones and people, too.

Simple Sunday mornings

It is a small country church in which we assemble most Sundays for worship. From the midst of those who gather there, a simple faith cloaked in humility rises up. Mountain people are ‘umble’, as the Appalachian folks saith, because none of us ever had enough to be haughty about it.

Is our democracy in danger of eroding away?

We all know the story of how to boil a frog to death (Frog lovers: I’m not suggesting you do so, I’m just trying to make a point here.) The premise is that if you suddenly plopped a frog into boiling water, it would jump out.