Minister Of Mocha

I got up early this morning to go “on a boat” with my granddaughter. My daughter bought some one-man kayaks recently and wanted to take us out on the lake when we visited their house. The three of us went out and had a great time. After cruising around and seeing some pelicans on the…

I have some friends that are fantastic. I mean really fantastic. We’ve know each other for years and our families are just family. I am up in Portland visiting them for their daughter’s high school graduation. My friend is dealing with a lot of health issues which mean that he can’t do the things that…

Here I am in late May living in the Mojave Desert; it should be hot. However, not all things go as planned. This past week we had a strange storm blow through bringing wind and rather chilly weather. I actually had to bust out my jeans to work in the hot dog truck twice! Today,…

I made a project for my wife for Mother’s Day. It was fun. It kind of brought back memories of being a kid and making something for Mom. This project wasn’t macaroni glued to a piece of paper and spray painted. It wasn’t a craft made from yarn. It wasn’t a picture created by my…

Yes, I’m a day early, but that’s ok, I’m sure some folks won’t read this on Monday anyhow! For a Star Wars nerd and child of the 70’s such as myself, it’s just too much fun to pass on. It’s even better since my middle daughter was born on such an auspicious date. Here’s the…

It’s been said that confidence is something that goes up by stairs and comes down in an elevator. Working my steps proves this theory out. Day after day I work to put one foot in front of the next. Slowly, ever so slowly, I make and even see some progress. Then comes a trip up…

Video Assistant Referee: it’s the bane of many soccer matches on any given day. Look, I get that many, if not most (all?) of you don’t really care about soccer, but trust me, I’m going somewhere here. My team in the English Premier League is Arsenal (for now, but that’s a whole different kettle of…

Today is my first Monday back after 5 beautiful weeks in Hawaii. That’s not to say that Ridgecrest isn’t beautiful, it’s just not Hawaii beautiful. Today in Ridgecrest just happened to be gorgeous. Most spring days are. My plan today was to take my friend over to a house and bust out a concrete slab…

Tomorrow is gonna be a tough one. We leave Hawaii after five weeks on the island. Five weeks with our kids. Five weeks with our grandsons (albeit only three with Camden since he’s just 19 days old today!). It’s not going to be easy to board the plane and fly home. Yet that’s what has…

A friend said something to me the other day that was pretty thought provoking. They said that we are the average of our 5 closest friends. That really got me to thinking about who those friends are. I also thought a lot about who they have been. That group has changed tremendously over time, yet…