For the past 28 years, I have had the privilege of putting up the Manger scene every November and taking it down every January.  (Sometimes, when it was 5 below zero, or raining or snowing cats and dogs the ‘privilege’ part was a little questionable!)  I took-over from my friend and elder-partner, Bob Weber – Read more

November 13, 1909, Cherry, Illinois (Mendota-area).  259 men and boys die underground in a coal mine fire; the 3rd largest mining disaster in America’s history.  Eight days later, 21 are rescued.  This month marks the 102nd anniversary of that tragedy.  (Google the Cherry Mine disaster for the details, or read Karen Tintori’s Book ‘Trapped The Read more

Job 5:7  ‘Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.’  Job 8:9 ‘for we were born only yesterday and know nothing, and our days on earth are but a shadow.’   Job 14:1  ‘Man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble.’  You gotta hand it to Job, he Read more

When I was a teenager, I was in the Boy Scouts.  My dad was the scoutmaster of our Church-sponsored Troop – Troop 150 in Mishawaka, Indiana.  My appreciation of nature; and accumulated outdoor skills were developed and nurtured during those 8 years as a Scout.  I learned to swim during that time, and – as Read more

Did you ever do target practice before?  Shooting at something with a gun?  My Aunt Sherri (2 years older than me) used to have a b-b gun when we were kids, and we’d target-practice all the time.  As a teenager at Boy Scout Camp, they had a shooting range with 22 caliber rifle targets.  My Read more