Family. Food. Football. To the typical American, those three words define the Thanksgiving holiday. But to me, at least in 2025, Thanksgiving weekend was defined by another F-Word, and that word was ‘Forty’. At 5:52am on Thursday November 27, 2025,…
Tag: The Wizard of Oz
332: OVER THE RAINBOW AND INTO THE EMERALD CITY
Like clockwork, Tom’s alarm rang at 6:00am on Sunday July 13, 2025 – and I was still standing on the dining room table in our VRBO rental in Bellevue, Washington. I was excited to hit the road, albeit not a…
257: ‘WAVE ON’ FOR BUDDY’S BIRTHDAY AT A LAKE MICHIGAN LIGHTHOUSE
Buddy Holly likely would’ve turned 87 years old on Thursday September 7, 2023 had he not been a passenger on the Beechcraft Bonanza airplane that crashed outside of Clear Lake, Iowa in 1959. And I couldn’t think of a better…
216: SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW WITH ME AND BABY GUMM
When Tom’s alarm rang at 6:00am on Tuesday August 2, 2022, I couldn’t wait to be positioned upright again. For the second night in a row, I spent the entire time upside down while my surgically repaired arm had a…
209: ACCOSTED BY OHIO’S “BIGGEST @$$HOLE” AT McKINLEY’S FARM
When Tom’s alarm rang at 5:50am on Friday May 20, 2022, the final day of our 12-day trip was underway. Suddenly out of nowhere, I had an issue with my head – it fell off and rolled harmlessly onto the…
206: HEADLESS AFTER SPRING BREAK IN WASHINGTON
Our last full day in our nation’s capital began when Tom’s alarm rang at 6:00am on Wednesday May 18, 2022. Even though we had been in Washington for five days up to that point, I knew my photographer had saved…
102: ENTOMBED, YET ALIVE, IN OUR NATION’S CAPITAL
When the alarm clock went off at exactly 6:00am on Thursday May 16, 2019, my first thought of the new day was I was happy to be alive. Although my head was still kinked slightly to the right and both…