Being only about five years old at the time, I don't have alot of memories of the times before TVs came into my life, although I find myself more and more in the minority in that I can remember the preTV days at all. I forget myself sometimes and don't feel my age, but the young bloods jolt me back to reality with comments such as "What was it like before you had shows to entertain you like the gold digger shows or Pawn Stars?" Quips like this make me realize we weren't really missing all that much.Or could it be I was only five at the time and just ...continued...

I love the bumper sticker that reads “Put something exciting between your legs.” In 1961 I bought a 1942 Harley for fifty dollars. I had to do it in secret because my father said I could only have a motorcycle over his dead body. One morning my father was having coffee at the local drug store with Mr. Wood, who had a son, Billy, who was a classmate of mine. “Frank,” he says, “my son wants to buy a motorcycle. I told him that no father in his right mind would ever let his son get something as dangerous as a motorcycle. Then he tells me, your son has one, so it must ...continued...

Chapter One Dana Gerard’s pulse quickened as she scanned the horizon. The sky glowed the murky greenish-gray color of a bruise, and a menacing wall of clouds rolled in the distance. She knew a possibility of rain had been forecast, and she’d been hoping for a good, steady shower – the kind that sank in deeply, nourishing farmers’ crops, one that would wash away the dirty browns of winter and give life to the budding tulips and iris that had just begun to dot her neighborhood. But that scenario seemed unlikely now. These clouds carried an ominous threat. Pulling he ...continued...

My First Ozark Mountains Camping Trip by ROLLAND LOVE http://ozarkstories.com I was eight years old the first time I camped in the Ozark Mountains. Dad and I pitched our tent on a gravel bar on the Jacks Fork River. For dinner that evening, we ate fried squirrel and corn on the cob from Mom’s garden. I sat by the firelight and dreamed about the big fish I would catch the next day as red and yellow flames cast shadows that danced like ghosts at the edge of darkness. The full moon and so many stars made the sky look like a silve ...continued...

I was born in London in 1952 to Irish born parents. They both came from Monkstown, a pretty village on Cork harbour about eight miles from Cork city. It was here that I spent my first twenty summers. This wonderful experience caused me to view Ireland through rose-tinted glasses for ever more. Before the opening of Cork airport, in 1961, our annual pilgrimage started on a train from Paddington Station, in London. It took us to Fishguard, a port on the Welsh coast. Then we boarded the Innisfallen ferry, which passed Monkstown on its way up the river Lee to the docks in Cork city. The first p ...continued...

One of my chief delights in the warm months is watching the hummingbirds that flock to our feeder. They cluster around the feeder, competing for the nectar it provides, swapping out places at the feeding stations. They're always pretty competitive, even if there are only two at the feeder at the time. I wonder that they don't get hurt as they dive down at each other. The competitiveness rivals that of ten year old boys on the playground, only the hummers are in a fight for life-sustaining resources instead of the top of the climbing bars. Sometimes I count as many as ten or fifte ...continued...

Our only source of water yesterday was saturated with salt crystals so we had to drink salty water all day. Had four dog team leaders fired today by Maher. Sadly, he is running out of qualified candidates unless, of course, me and Mike qualify. Mike and I tried the good cop bad cop method with the dogs. I would treat Ersus with kindness and respect (one of the fired leaders), Mike would speak sternly at him. After 2 seconds of Mike's technique, Ersus cowered away and peed on the spot. My favorite of the dogs is Stephy. A huge dog with a good temperament. Stephy traveled with me on th ...continued...

Once again it's “Deja vu all over again.” Never ending white entitlement, delusional history and the usual threats of violence are now playing out at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Eastern Oregon, one of the more important bird and wildlife sanctuaries in the country and located in an isolated corner of Oregon. Malheur is being occupied by a handful of white (Christian?) terrorists with the apparent and enthusiastic support of ISIS no less. The Refuge, however, happens to belong to all the people of the United States. But like a shopworn moral ...continued...

PROLOGUE Claire shook the spray of liquid from her hand, laughing. “Jeez, take it easy. I didn’t realize you’d already been drinking.” She checked the glass for signs of damage before lifting it to her lips. Mary’s toast carried liberal enthusiasm. “In your honor, babe.” Mary leaned forward. “Seriously, Claire. This is fabulous. You nailed it.” Claire grinned. “About time, too.” After months of wishy-washy deliberation, the Whitfield Library Board had finally agreed to launch a capital campaign to raise mon ...continued...

I found this week's module very interesting. I am personally apart of both the disabled and LGBTQA community. I have always experienced the client's perspective and not the providers perspective so it was eye-opening to me. I think it is important to put people before their disability, especially since everywhere else you go, it seems you are defined by your disability. Cultural competence is being, not "tolerant", but understanding and sympathisizng for every cultural difference. Being tolerant sounds too negative. Since I work in IT, I need to work with all different people ...continued...

It must have been the wet rainy day that drove me to my cleaning frenzy. “Time to clean out the closets”, I thought to myself. After all, the holidays are quickly approaching and the house will be full of out of town guests! Little did I know that my cluttered closets would open the doors to so many memories tucked away. Amidst the boxes of papers and old framed pictures was a box of various trinkets, cards and perfumes from my mother. Sighing, I remembered this would be the ninth winter without her. I picked up the nearly dried ...continued...

I had a best friend while we were living in Gold Hill. Her name was Gail Stevens. We were really close. She's part Native American. She told she was part Cherokee. One day while we were at recess, we decided to sneak off and go across the road over to the cemetary. To this day I'm stillnot sure why we did it, I guess we were just curios. Well we were walking around and came up to a shed. All of a sudden we heard a noise, it sounded like a ghost, being only 6 years old you would think that we were scared, well we weren't. Next thing we know the grounds keeper jumped out ...continued...

Breaking Wild Horses By Cindy Gray Sometimes my dreams, even the ones I don’t really remember, leave me with a strange feeling of exhilaration. It&rsqu ...continued...

One of the national lawn care companies states in its sales brochure that it’s got chemicals for early spring to deal with “winter stresses” In the early summer it has chemicals to help you “prepare” for the nasty summer. In the early fall the candy man has the elixir to help your sensitive mono-turf recover from the “stresses of summer.” And of course they promise winter protection for your lawn’s “winter survival.” How did nature survive before humans developed all these chemicals and tools to create and protect our precious, artifi ...continued...

This is my first chaptor about me. William Sawyers or Known to others as Mr.Bill I'm a school custodian of 27 years and a children author for about 9 years now. I'll be posting more info on this site soon. Meanwhile feel free to explore my web sites, and pass along to others. http://www.freewebs.com/william2233/ http://mrwilliamsawyers.weebly.com/ There are many interesting page's and short stories as well as poetry for the age's of five on up. All my published books are helping out a local school in my area with a dollar a book, and my ...continued...