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A morning cup of joe

Ahh ... that tastes good. It’s my first sip of coffee this morning. After breakfast, a hot “cup of joe” is the first order of business for me each day. My parents drank coffee regularly but I didn’t care for it until I was about 16 and a girl cousin I was visiting drank a cup. Not to be outdone, I choked down a few swallows and discovered it wasn’t so bad after all. I also realized you could get free coffee refills at restaurants; something not offered to cola drinkers back then. I was soon addicted. My first boss taught me how to make coffee at work — strong. In those ...

Every good and perfect gift comes from God

This week across the United States, Thanksgiving is being celebrated. Many of us remember making a construction paper hat or headband in elementary school. My first-grade teacher let us choose if we wanted to identify as a Pilgrim or as a Native American for our classroom “feast,” which was probably candy corn and marshmallows. We learned the story of that first feast in 1621 as we colored mimeographed turkeys and cornucopias. Other countries also have Harvest Festivals. It’s a time to show gratitude and honor to those who cultivate our crops. Before supermarkets and delivery ...

A clean car drives better

Driving through rural Iowa some time ago we encountered a swarm of insects. Soon the windshield was plastered with dozens of bug innards. If I practiced entomophagy, the practice of eating insects, it would have been a picnic. Instead, several attempts with the vehicle’s windshield washer removed most of the bug parts but the next day I drove to the local car wash to completely clean the windshield and the rest of the vehicle. As the car was mechanically pulled through the lengthy car wash and big whirling brushes whipped the car clean I thought about how lazy I have become. ...

An intense and persistent fear

What scares you? Spiders? Snakes? Heights? Public speaking? Death? Congress? I am fascinated with phobias which, my dictionary says, are “an intense and persistent fear of certain situations, activities, things, animals, or people.” What makes the fear a phobia is the “excessive and unreasonable desire” to avoid the things which scare you so intensely. That would include an intense and persistent desire to avoid spiders, snakes, heights, public speaking and death. And Congress. We all have a phobia or two. I have a fear of small, confined spaces. It’s called ...

What’s missing from houses these days?

Take an afternoon drive around an urban or suburban area anywhere in the Midwest. Look at the houses. What is missing from these homes that would likely have been there 50 years ago? Give up? How about a television antenna? Fifty years ago you would have found a television antenna on most residential rooftops. The advent of cable television initiated the disappearance of the rooftop antenna. Then satellite receivers took even more. When commercial broadcast TV went digital in 2009 the new technology eliminated the need for some rooftop antennas. Nowadays internet streaming makes ...

Knowledge talks, wisdom listens

When I learned to read I quickly became a little nerd, reading anything I could get my hands on. It’s amazing what a kid can learn by reading, especially when he finds stuff he shouldn’t be reading. While I have learned a great deal from reading, I’ve learned even more from listening — to parents, mentors, friends, bosses and peers. The earliest bit of wisdom I recall was from my mother. “Don’t tell lies!” she warned as we walked to school on the first day of kindergarten. Her words are well-remembered because I was a bit of a prevaricator at the time. I learned it’s ...