Over the years, I’ve taken my dogs to the veterinarian dozens of times for wellness dog checks, accidental poisonings, and other less fun things. When doggoes reach a certain age, they’re considered senior citizens. As we all know, the older someone gets, the more their body gloms onto health issues like a remora on a shark’s back.

Lover attained the ripe youthful age of thirteen. He achieved his level-up, so I brought him in to the vet for his reward of shots and getting felt up. He’s not particularly fond of what people do to him at the vet, but…

Minding my personal business is a life strategy of avoiding things I shouldn’t worry or care about. I function in life by addressing issues as they come up so I can move on anxiety-free. I seldom go wrong with this approach.

Last year, when we sold our home, I faced extraneous paperwork to extricate us from our previous address. I contacted multiple utilities and updated them about our new address and who the next owner would be. My focused diligence played a part in being completely done with our house by September 2020.

Or so I thought.

In December of…

*crickets*

Traveling down the road in my new-to-me-dually diesel Ford F350 truck requires adventurousness and ballsiness. I’m used to a manual transmission, compact cars with Roadrunner horns. (Meep, meep!) The two do not compare for maneuverability, power, or gas mileage. I’ve named my truck “The Beast” because he eats up space on the road like a monster.

The Beast and I are on a road trip together, alone. He prefers long drives on flat areas, the entire expanse of a lane, and filling up every four hours or so on the Interstate. I like getting from point A to point…

Remember the good old days where the Verizon guy wandered through commercials and locations asking, “Can you hear me now?” Cell phone towers have evolved to the point that dead spots are nearly a thing of the past.

Nearly.

Call me cheap, but I haven’t had a regular cell phone carrier since T-Mobile wanted to charge me to send away and fix a phone that had a free software update. I’ve gone through different side-squirrel cell phone providers through the years to keep my costs down. Paying more than twenty bucks for any phone service irritates me.

Good, bad, and…

Traveling across the country has been an amusing and confounding during the pandemic. Despite the many towns that my friend and I drove through, we only planned to stay in five different accommodations on the way down.

Generally, you get what you pay for when it comes to hotels. In Albuquerque, it was no different. We chose a place off the freeway. Studio 6 beckoned us with a fridge, microwave, and cheap rooms.

As we drove up to our motel, though, we could tell this place was special — the kind of special where a crime could occur. The general…

Essay Contest

I’ve never faced a moment where I couldn’t afford to eat, pay my rent, or worried while my kids suffered from lack. But I’ve hurt as friends of mine struggle in poverty. I’ve seen what happens when people don’t have places to live. I’ve watched the aftermath of cops kicking the homeless out from one of the few places they could find to rest.

Statistics say that kids in poverty are less likely than ever to pull themselves out of it. Math problems don’t cover the visceral fear of failing to feed and house your family, though. …

And may the odds be ever in your favor — Effie Trinket, (Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins)

Since March 2020, a good majority of the world’s population has been antsy for Covid protection. We watched as people became willing guinea pigs. We gasped when vaccines and life-saving treatments failed to pan out. Mostly, we all twiddled our thumbs. We dreamed of the days when we could sit in large, enclosed, open areas without wondering if we were all passing around mankind’s worst gift like an STI you cannot get rid of.

Frankly, it has been a long haul to be…