Time for a session of ‘What’s bothering me?

Throughout most of my adult life, and that’s over 50 years, I’ve had good thoughts about Michigan’s utility companies. They’ve been good at what they do – supply communications, fuel and electricity. Consumers Energy, Detroit Edison and AT&T. They’ve been almost like family, there when we need them. I’ve never met a utility worker, those […]

Wandering through a day, wondering at night

? Does the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) have as many American speaking news readers and commentators as ABC, Fox, CBS and NBC has Britishers? England’s Christiana Amanpor is being promoted here lately. ? Do couples really have ‘Cialis? moments? You’ve seen the commercials. ? Seriously reader, don’t you wonder sometimes how much money organizations like […]

Bob: Hear that buzzing?

Bob: Hear that buzzing? Me: There is no buzzing! The Sunday before Labor Day I played in an all day golf. Knowing this, daughter Luan and her husband Bob Offer decided to use my home as a campground, picnic area and all-around place to raise cain (leaving their own home tidy and clean). They used […]

Think short, write short, hold on to your readers

Think short, write short, hold on to your readers During my decades of owning a half dozen weekly newspapers, I urged writing ‘short.? I’d tell new reporters, ‘get in, get out and go to the obituaries.? They didn’t do it. Journalism professors, and all other breeds of academes, think thesis. Make it long to prove […]

Of woolly bears, property, wood and clothes

With the temperatures dropping and the snow birds flying south, I thought I’d review Mother Nature’s prognosticators . . . the woolly bear caterpillar, the beaver, the goose and the muskrat. Don’t scoff! The people on the tube, airways and print can’t be totally trusted either. Maybe you should just read on and make notes. […]

Taking you back to bring you ahead

Please bare with me as I go back to those thrilling days of yesteryear to set up this modern day Jottings. Okay, here we go . . . The Detroit Tigers won the American League pennant in 1935. And, in the 1930s The Detroit Free Press had a faceless columnist, Iffy The Dopester. Iffy’s booklet […]

Ad breaks on tv lengthen breaks from tv

For all my television viewing life, over half a century, I’ve known, and believed advertising has had restricted time slots. I had no proof, no solid information, but it is what I believed. So, being a computer illiterate, I asked Don Rush to confirm my beliefs. On the internet, he found that in the 1960s, […]

Pie a la asphalt; Help for plumber’s crevasse

It was a nice, foggy morning. Time to take Shayna for a drive. She loves to ride in our van. Now, for those few who have told me ‘No more stories about your dog,? this is not about a dog, unless it’s me. Ah, there’s Achatz, makers of pies and soups. Soups don’t have much […]

The 56 Declaration signers gave lives for us

Just before the Fourth of July, friend Mickey gave me a note meant for that day. I put it aside ‘until I had more time.? You know how that works. Re-reading it recently I concluded it’s apropos for every day, not just Independence Day. It has two lead-ins: 1. What kind of men were they? […]

Twins turn 5, she unties gifts, he’s a tearer

Haley and Trevor, along with their parents, Susan and Tim Speed and sister Savannah, live within a mile of me, and whereas I see the twins quite often, the three of us don’t spend a lot of time together. As an adult, as their grandfather, it is my fault. I feel very inadequate talking to […]

1 58 59 60 61 62 64