Three guides I’ve sometimes tried to live by: 1. Think ahead — be ahead. 2. You’ll never have if you don’t save. 3. If it’s inevitable, do it now — whether it’s taking out the trash or going into bankruptcy. Proof of Number 2, in my case. For a while the Navy withheld half my […]
It’s the 184th edition of the Old Fanner’s Almanac, which is now Blum’s Farmer’s and Planter’s Almanac. It reads, ‘Surprise!? 2012 is a presidential election year. These elections are always held on the Tuesday between November 2 and November 8. This year’s is November 6. If you are superstitious about a Friday the 13th being […]
A couple Oakland County commissioners have told me about the financial wizard in this county’s government. They credit him with keeping Oakland County in black figures, something not that familiar to other counties, though a balanced budget is required by law. So, when Commissioner Brad Jacobsen gave me a flier inviting me to Rochester to […]
It is probably a good thing we don’t use logic in picking our friends. Were that the case, Jim Fitzgerald and I never would have become good friends. He was Catholic, I Methodist. He was a liberal Democrat, I a conservative Republican. He was from the city of Port Huron, I’m a boy from Vernon. […]
It is so much easier on a person when they do something they want to do versus being told they have to. Attitudes are more refreshing, smiles come quicker, life itself is more pleasant and complaints fewer. I don’t recall a time when I fought going to work. When I worked for someone else or […]
Our Leader headline: World ending this season That was the prediction of Professor Pay Astrologer and seer from France as reported in The Oxford Leader in 1928. ‘A tremendous noise will be heard, huge numbers will die all over the globe, North and South America will suffer most, the Pope will be assassinated, few people […]
I think ma? dog Shayna lied to me I couldn’t eat all the Fettuccini Alfredo with chicken I was served at 24th St. Tavern in downtown Oxford, so I took the balance home to ma’dog Shayna. Other than adding a color variation, I have no idea why anyone would put pieces of broccoli in anything, […]
Justice Clarence Thomas spoke at Hillsdale College recently. What he said about freedom isn’t being said on anyone’s campaign trail. He was raised by his grandfather and grandmother starting at age nine. He said, ‘They made me what I am today. I always take offense when I hear it said that Yale or some other […]
(Here’s a Re-run of this Jim’s Jottings which first appeared in print on June 14, 1973.) I sometimes feel like I was cheated out of being 18-and 19-years-old. This feeling is especially prevalent now that our son is nearing 19. It’s not that I want to be 18 or 19 again, someone might start another […]
If you believe what you read, especially here, retirement communities are making plans to change their ways. A Time magazine article by Joel Stein opines, such senior living places have two choices: separate spaces, or build surroundings for retiring boomers or super-olds. Stein wrote, ‘Boomers who started turning 65 last year, are moving into retirement […]