Dinner in the Field and other stories
I find you can discover your strengths at any age. For example, I find I’m a better writer than I am an editor. I have a full-length draft of a memoir that I’ve devoted countless hours to, and it’s finally finished. I’m anxious to move on to new material. But finishing the book is not the same as completing the project. Doing it right, I’m told, entails a less than...
Road Trip-Getting Started
I didn’t need the road atlas when I headed south out my driveway onto Caton Road in Ottawa. It was 5:57 a.m., still dark, and the glowing green light from the odometer told me the Buick had 118,213 miles on it. It was Tuesday the 27th of February and I was leaving home with a full tank of gas. Like most, I travel the same streets and roads over and...
Prelude to a Road Trip
In the winter of 1974, between jobs, I hung out for days at the public library. I took first to a globe of the earth, planning my next trip, which I intended to start in spring. I was in Aberdeen Scotland, with India as my ultimate destination. With direction determined, it was simply a matter of route, the only real variable after that. Direction is predetermined by geography and is...
Running for Office
My church helped the local food pantry in their primary food drive and fund raising activity “Freezin for a Reason” held in early December. It’s always a cold day it seems. We were lucky enough to be tasked with work inside, making some sense of the huge flow of food in cans, boxes, and jars streaming into their small facility. Boxes of food were collected, put in big cardboard containers,...
Real Mexico
My Pez were determined a security risk at O’Hare airport. At 6:30 a.m. I watched as my backpack rolled along a conveyor belt only to stop, shift mechanically behind a Plexiglass divider, and stay there until a real human being brought it to a table where I, putting my belt on, stuffing things in my pockets, was told to stand. I tried to be nice. “You have a number of...
February Sucks
Good thing February is short. It’s my least favorite month. There is the brief respite of Valentine’s Day, if you have a valentine. If you don’t, February is even worse. Winter, which can be a welcome break even here in the Midwest, has been experienced. Christmas and New Year’s are over. Snow has come and gone. We’ve put up lights and trees and taken them down. The parties are over. ...
The Elevator Speech
I need to do some serious work on my elevator speech for Dave in the Shack, namely writing one. The realization that I have no coherent description of what I’m doing here came about this way. I was at a fundraiser for a local candidate and was introduced to one of the women that urged the candidate to run. My friend introduced me as “a writer. Dave writes a blog. ...
Eggs and Orange Juice
I cooked breakfast at the homeless shelter again this morning. I’m happy to report there were a lot of eggs in the fridge. 33 people woke up in the shelter, but as you might guess, not everyone wakes up hungry. Most all want coffee, but some aren’t ready for food. Some just want to be left alone. I arrived at 6:30, got organized, and by 6:45 was ready to start...
Thoughts on Fuel and this blog
Soon after I began heating my shack with a small stove my view of wood, and in turn fuel, changed. Experience alters how we think. We all know wood is fuel, contains BTU’s, and can get you through a cold winter day. But it rarely does. We burn wood in campfires, bonfires, occasionally fireplaces. We feel its heat from time to time but it’s a novelty, a show. Wood...
Ted's Last Christmas
If you’ve been reading Dave in the Shack for a while you’ve read this story before. I haven’t hauled it out in a couple years. It’s had several titles. The story comes from the days I worked at a nursing home and a man I met there. Every Christmas Eve I think of Ted. I hope you’re with family or friends and have good memories of this evening too. Enjoy. I was the only male...
Santa is Such a Ham
I ran into Santa one Sunday afternoon at church. He was in the choir room waiting to make an entrance at the community Christmas Song Sing Along. His instructions were to pop up on the altar when the crowd was singing “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.” Such a ham he is, Santa. I know him. He was itching to put on a big show. Hit ‘em with the big...