As I wrote in a post last year, I decided to learn spey casting, which uses a two-handed fly rod with water anchors (and no backcast) to cast a fly. There were a number of reasons for wanting to learn…

Every year in remembrance of Memorial Day the McBride High Alumni Association sends an email with the list of the graduates who lost their lives in military service or as police officers. By my count, that numbers stands at 101…

So as not to bury the lede – Project Hail Mary is one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. I was aware of it before it was released; had read mentions of Andy Weir’s novel the movie is based…

Trump often gives the game away, likely because he’s a malignant narcissist and psychopath – a game embraced and played by the majority in D.C.

I have been thinking a good deal about the sinking of the Iranian warship by a US submarine. First, I served in the submarine force, and I have some sense of what those sailors must have experienced as they carried…

While going through old photos to select one for my post on Oliver, I came across this photo from February, 2019. (From left to right: Hannah,  Oliver, Teddy, and Rainier) It brings back bittersweet memories of our days having these…

(St. Ambrose School) I have long subscribed to Dignity Memorial emails from Calcaterra Funeral Home in St. Louis; they are funeral announcements and provide a connection to the neighborhood of my childhood. Calcaterra’s is located on The Hill, where I…

This never gets easier – and is made worse by having lost Hannah less than a year ago. We said goodbye to Oliver yesterday. He had been in declining health for some time, and even more so over the last…

Back to a fly-fishing post… Read any fly-fishing forum, and it’s likely a topic of debate will be the increasing prices of the higher-end fly-fishing rods. It is true that high-end fly rods appear to be expensive – current prices…

I started watching “CBS Sunday Morning” in January 1979, when I was living in Tampa, Florida. With the avuncular Charles Kuralt as host, bringing the same sensibilities he had demonstrated through his many years of the “On the Road” reports,…