A Word With You

Let's take a look at Nemoria arizonaria. I'm sure you were just talking about him at lunch, right? It's a caterpillar! That's what a lot of us know him as. Now, some caterpillars are born in the spring and some are born in the summer. The spring bunch I understand, eat oak catkins. That's the dangling flowers on an oak tree. And within days, guess what? They look as fuzzy as their meal was that th...

November 7, 2025 Full disclosure here. I'm not the guy you want to call when you need a guy to do a job with a hammer. But look, I do know the...

November 6, 2025 You know, handmade gifts are always the most special. Well, there are better crafted doll houses than the one my daughter got when...

November 5, 2025 Three feet of snow! That was a weather record I didn't really want to participate in. But, sure enough, we woke up that cold New...

November 4, 2025 If you're a teenager, it's got to be one of the ugliest sentences in the English language. You ready? "You're grounded!" Or if...

November 3, 2025 Seven years of junior high band concerts. Yep, that was the special joy Karen and I had since all three of the Hutchcraft kids were...

October 31, 2025 So this friend of mine pulled out his wallet and said, "Ron, can I show you my pride and joy?" And he did. There was a picture of a...

October 30, 2025 I have to confess, I didn't exactly go storming into the Computer Age. I was sort of carried into it. Yeah, you know, back in the...

October 29, 2025 When you live around New York City like I did for 30 years, you take people on lots of tours. We've had friends visit us from all...

October 28, 2025 Our family has gone into New York City at times when we lived in that area with some blankets and food and gifts for homeless...

Our second child was in college; we had just one left at home. And honestly, I hadn't totally figured out the adjusted grocery needs at our house. I always made sure we had plenty of quick breakfast food around. We needed that because of our crazy lifestyle. And because I hadn't figured out the new math for our new family configuration, I bought way too many donuts or muffins or bagels or whatever...

October 24, 2025 It was supposed to be a one-hour fishing trip off the coast of South Carolina. For 17-year-old Josh and his 15-year-old friend Troy,...

October 23, 2025 My wife was one of the most generous people I've ever known. We never had a whole lot to spend on gifts, but somehow she usually...

October 22, 2025 Look, whether you're a Yankee or a Confederate at heart, you don't take much joy in what happened at what is called the "High Water...

October 21, 2025 It's a nice deal when your auto mechanic is also your good friend. And I've had that opportunity. What I've really appreciated about...

October 20, 2025 Our friends John and Marie have a lovely family area in their home that they call the Great Room. And it really is a great room -...

October 17, 2025 Did you ever notice this little law of life? Just about the time you get comfortable in a place, the scenery changes. You're all...

October 16, 2025 There are some things that are just tough to advertise - like things people need but don't want to think about. Like insurance to...

October 15, 2025 Because we lived along the East Coast for so many years, we had the opportunity to see many of America's old lighthouses. I mean, we...

October 14, 2025 Years ago, I was at a youth conference where we needed to raise some money for a camp scholarship fund. So we challenged the kids to...

October 13, 2025 When you play high school football, you learn to play another game too. It's called Impress the Coaches. Of course, the coaches...

October 10, 2025 It happened over 100 years ago, but we still seem to be fascinated with it - the Titanic. I mean, the Titanic has sailed into the...

October 9, 2025 I was once held hostage by a dragonfly. This is very embarrassing, but it is true. I was just a little guy and my cousin and I were...

October 8, 2025 Ah yes, World History class. I'm sure you remember everything you heard there very vividly, right? No. If you remember anything, you...

October 7, 2025 I think I've lost the same five pounds 200 times - uh-huh. That's enough to make about six of me! Actually, I used to weigh 55 pounds...