Needed: Early Reviewers for “The Cows of Hobson’s Pond” book!
I need people willing to review (and post honest comments online at Amazon) for my new book, The Cows of Hobson's Pond: Mostly True Stories of Growing Up Kansas. If you are interested, I will send a FREE digital copy; I just need your email address. Email me:...
Whizzin’ on the Christmas Presents
Little country boys enjoy the glorious freedom of taking a leak in the great outdoors anywhere and at anytime. He will not be inconvenienced during his escapades running home to Momma and the bathroom. Whizzin’ outside is a little boy’s divine right, his manifest...
Growing Up Kansas: Win Big at Rick’s Shooting Gallery!
When I was a kid, being bored was an entry-level crime in our house. Idle hands are the devil’s workshop, Mom pontificated. She also kept a pitchfork in the broom closet for those times I either admitted to, or looked like, I was bored. “Here,” she’d hand me the...
Growing Up Kansas: Learning to Write Until I Make Myself Laugh
Somewhere, some cow’s therapist knows everything there is to know about me. When I started writing my soon to be released novel, Voices on the Prairie, I took the advice of E.L. Doctorow who said that writing was like driving at night; you can only see as far as the...
Growing Up Kansas: The One Thing That Kept Me From Running Away From Home
It was not a good sign when my Mom volunteered to pack me a lunch when I threatened to run away from home. I found a hobo stick that was longer than I was tall that would serve as a multipurpose tool of sorts. One on end, I’d wrap up all my worldly possessions in a...
Growing Up Kansas: The Night I Walked on Water
Like Jesus, I once walked on water. His reason was much more noble than mine since it was all about faith. Mine was based on pure, unadulterated terror; it was all about fear. I never understood why monsters only come out at night. I could reach under my bed anytime...
Growing Up Kansas: The Tent That Almost Killed Me
The first tent I owned darn near ruined me for camping. I’m not complaining that it was too big, but it required two elephants and a dozen Amish barn builders to erect. It wasn’t like a pup tent that weighs 3 ounces and pops into shape when you throw it on the ground....
Growing Up Kansas: Meet the Elmer Fudd of Hunters
I didn’t mean to shoot Mom in the leg with my Red Ryder BB gun. But by the time she realized I was the little idiot that raised a pea-sized welt on her leg, I made it into the protective circle of the Cows of Hobson’s Pond. It was the first, and only, time they came...
Growing Up Kansas: Learning to Smoke and Chew
If the Marlboro Man were to be believed, smoking a cigarette would put hair on my twelve-year-old chest and help me ride a horse like a real cowboy. Or I could put a pinch of Skoal between my cheek and gum like Larry Mahan, the Rodeo Champ, and ride bulls with the...
Growing Up Kansas: Getting Our Mouths Washed Out With Soap
I prefer the taste of a bar of Dove soap compared to Zest or Dial. I ought to know, I had my mouth washed out with a variety of brands through the years. There were two reasons the soap bar...