September.  In some parts of the country, one can already feel the first hint of autumn in the northerly breeze.  Weekends mean football, and time spent with family and friends cheering the hometown team.  What better way to enjoy the afternoon game than to sit in/… Read full post »

It had happened back in the furthest reaches of his memory, 75 years or more before.  He was a little boy of 3 or 4 at the time, now he was nearing his 80^th birthday.  The memory of what he saw lacked certain detail, but one image remained clear, like a/… Read full post »

It is early September, 1683.  A large army led by the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Turks, Kara Mustafa, has broken through Austrian defenses along the border with Ottoman-occupied Hungary.  With the Austrian army scattering in retreat, Ottoman forces have marched to the walls of Vien… Read full post »

“Dad, there’s a dead cicada on the sidewalk!”

Thus began a small lesson in entomology for my 8 year old son.

“No, he’s not dead,” I replied.  “See how dull his color is?  He is about to molt.”  I explained that the bug had out/… Read full post »

He was born on August 18, 1774, on a plantation in Albemarle County, Virginia.  President Thomas Jefferson personally picked Meriwether Lewis to lead the expedition to explore the vast lands west of the Mississippi, and to seek an overland route to the Pacific Coast.  He was just 29 years o/… Read full post »

Last night I watched the Milos Forman film “Goya’s Ghosts”.  The movie was made in 2006, but never received widespread distribution in the United States.  This despite the fact Milos Forman is a highly regarded, Academy Award winning director (“One Flew Over the Cuck/… Read full post »

I'm reading David Broder's latest column, which discusses how in the past week each campaign is supposedly accusing the other of playing the race card.  This is a topic that has been way over analyzed, and little more needs to be said about it.  One item in Broder's column sticks out,… Read full post »

As everyone knows, President Bush has used the prerogatives of Executive Privilege to prevent former aids from testifying before Congress about potentially illegal activities involving the Executive Branch.  The President has employed Executive Privilege to an unprecedented… Read full post »

It was 994 years ago, July 29, 1014, that the Byzantine forces of Emperor Basil II surrounded and destroyed the Bulgarian army of King Samuel.  The battle took place in a mountainous Macedonian valley near the Struma River.  A Hunnic people from the Central Asian steppes, the Bulgars began/… Read full post »

In his book The World Lit Only By Fire, historian William Manchester describes Europe at the dawn of the Renaissance, as it emerged from the oppressive monotony of the Medieval world.  For hundreds of years there had been so little advancement in technology, education, and culture that one would/… Read full post »

A few weeks ago my blog featured a post called “Pivotal Events”, which are events that change irrevocably the course of history.  I listed ten such occasions, and several others in the OS community offered a/… Read full post »

The man and the boy had been anticipating this day for weeks.  It would be the boy’s first time to go river canoeing.  The man, who considers himself reasonably adept, has been down th/… Read full post »

I am not a member of either the Democratic or Republican Party.  I am one of those Independent voters that both parties need in order to win an election.  I have voted in every Presidential and Congressional election since 1976, and have split my vote between both parties.

Like… Read full post »

For Major Dale R. Buis, July 8 started out like any other summer day.  As usual, he missed his family, and he wondered what his small son Kurt would be doing today.  He thought about the Nebraska prairie, and how different that was from where he lived now, a/… Read full post »

It was Saturday when Uncle Earl came to visit.  I was playing with my GI Joe’s in the den.  The Germans were searching for the American and British paratroopers, who were hiding by the fireplace, behind the ash shovel and fire poker.  When the doorbell rang, I assumed it/… Read full post »

Last night I wanted to see what Fox News was up to, so I spent a few minutes watching "The O’Reilly Factor”.  &… Read full post »

 The dunes of White Sands, New Mexico, migrate 15 feet per year, relentlessly covering everything in their path, including this yucca.  It must have been buried months ago, and still it has managed to flower magnificently.  Will this persistent plant live to see an… Read full post »

We left before the torrential rains flooded the Midwest.  By the time of our return, thousands had been forced to flee from their homes in neighboring Iowa and Wisconsin.  A season’s worth of hard labor and dreams of a record crop were destroyed.  I in my car, enjoying the/… Read full post »

I was warned by Greg, my old college roommate, that this was not the best time of the year to pay him a visit.  He moved to the Texas Panhandle about 5 years ago, and I’m taking the family to visit him for the first time.  

This… Read full post »

I grew up in Fort Worth during the 1960’s, and every summer my parents packed up the station wagon and drove me and my brother and sister hundreds of miles for the annual family vacation.  Most of the time we went to visit relatives in other states.  Some summers/… Read full post »