One thing aging does for a man is help him understand life’s deeper issues a little better. Take funerals, for instance. As a younger man I thought funerals were just an expensive tradition — overdone sentimentalism. Now a septuagenarian, I more deeply appreciate our society’s funeral ...
Republicans in the Iowa House hate government freebies. Unless it’s their corporate friends who get them. The latest evidence of this hypocrisy is the effort to kill a central Iowa program and prevent others like it that are aimed at helping poor people. UpLift is a test program in ...
I’ll be the first to admit I sometimes have issues with too many choices. I love living in this country, though it can be tough selecting the “right” toothpaste or deodorant. When my wife and I moved to Webster City, I thought everything would just naturally fall into place. Smaller ...
As I was growing up I often heard my mother say, “Soap is cheap.” Cleanliness truly was next to godliness in our home so it’s no wonder Mom’s old Maytag wringer-type washing machine remains a vivid part of my memories. My earliest recollections of laundry day include a vision of a ...
Ask any of my kids what they remember most of their Gramma when they were growing up and they’ll tell you that she ALWAYS had a stick of gum or piece of candy for them. It’s one of those memories that you’ll have with you forever. When I heard of “the gum man,” I knew it was a name ...
When I was much younger I noticed that old guys liked to talk about their medical procedures. So let me tell you about my recent surgeries. In recent years my vision wasn’t as sharp as it was when I was younger. Driving at night became more difficult, particularly when it was raining. For ...