Horse Manure Park

A chilly April morning. Overcast skies. Snowing just north of us. Yesterday it was 70ºF. Go figure. This is a good time to sit inside with a cup of coffee and catch up a bit. We took advantage of a beautiful sunny day yesterday to get outside and accomplish a few overdue tasks. Most significantly (for me), I bought a new grill. I believe this is the third one I've owned since buying our house 16 years ago. I use and abuse my grills until they literally fall apart.  That's true for most things in my life. The first grill I bought, years ago, was a colossus: a four burner with BTUs the equivalent of a small sun. It also had one of those sidecar thingamajigs for boiling a pot of water or frying a pan of bacon.  It was a nice feature and a great selling point which I used exactly once .  Yes, I paid way too much for it. I was caught up in the excitement of being a new home owner... I could grill when and where I wanted on the premises of my very ...

Sinatra once sang, "Regrets, I've had a few. But then again, too few to mention." I'm happy to say that  line applies to my life for the most part, although if I could hop in a time machine there is one thing I would change. You see, my children never met my parents. Even though the circumstances were far beyond my control, I have always felt guilty about that. I know this is irrational thinking. When I graduated from high school there is no way I could have known I would lose my mother in less than two years. Indeed, no one can see into the future (and that might be the greatest gift God has ever given us). But the guilt remains: Deep inside my psyche I fear I've cheated my kids. Because of this, I talk about my parents frequently with my girl and boy. I tell them stories all the time; things my dad would do or something my mom would say. At least once every summer we make sure to camp at "the farm," as we call it; this is where my parents liv...