Posts by Hank

Little did I know that Carol’s 69+ birthday present to me was to send me driving to St. Louis in a midwestern snowstorm!  I felt like I was on one of those legendary plains cattle drives!  (Not that I’ve been on one, but I’ve seen the movie and read the book.) It’s crazy!  Sunday in Indianapolis…

All good so far.  Got to LGA nice and early, just the way I like it.  My whole family made lots of fun of me for leaving WePo at 6:30PM for a 9:53 flight, but I don’t care.  Who needs an ulcer? Early highlight:  I succeeded in ordering my dinner using the iPad at the airport bar!  First time I was…

***COUNTDOWN:  5 DAYS TO LA/XC-6*** Yay!  Finally!  After 16 years of dog ownership — 11 with Ricky the Beagle and 5 with Kemba — I’ve won my first battle of wills!!!  (Obviously, if this was ever going to happen, you knew it would have to be with my eager-to-please, up-for-anything red duck dog…

Okay, yes, yes — the real Aesop’s fable is” The Ant and the Grasshopper.”  I know that.  And my fable, I have to confess, turns on a rather major misconception:   I actually thought it was illegal to kill a praying mantis. Just a little background for my story.  Many of you know how my wife feels…

* * *COUNTDOWN: 77 DAYS TO LA/XC-6 * * * You thought my days of cross-country-road-tripping-with-dog were finished, right? Me too. The fifth and final journey — or so I assumed at the time — was LA/XC-5, back in the fall of 2016.  I figured it was a wrap after that one, for a bunch of reasons.  1…

Big dogs and little dogs. Black and white dogs. Don’t get too wet, black-and-white dog! Four dogs down in the water. One dog up on a paddle board. Dogs at work. Work, dogs, work! Dogs at play.   Play, dogs, play! There they go. Look at those dogs go! What are they going to do? Where are those do…

For whatever masochistic reason, I find myself from time to time thinking morbid thoughts about how I’ll feel when Kemba, you know . . . reaches his time.  That is, if I’m still around.  (At my age, not a slam-dunk.)  I further torture myself by going back to when our beloved Ricky the Beagle died…

Packing light?  Nah.  I scrapped that as a goal long ago. When I’m getting ready for a get-away, I want everything with me that I could conceivably need, or want.  Might have time to go for a run?  Running shoes.  Maybe a nice, long, scenic bike ride?  Dri-fit shorts and T-shirts.  Body-surfing?  …