Where In The World Is Jimmy Stegall?

In the fall of 1970, the Oakshire Raiders football team went undefeated. Coached by Coach Doug Daniels (full time postman and part time coach), the Raiders won the Whitehaven Elementary Athletic Association Football Championship. Oakshire Elementary is still located on Holmes Rd, near where it crosses I-55. In the late 60s and early 70s, Oakshire… Read more »

The Day The Music Died

In the early 1960s, just as the The Beatles brought a new sound to America, he brought rock and roll to Birdland. He taught every kid in Birdland to sing Herman Hermit songs with a “proper English accent”. Ponder that for a minute. He saw doing what he did as something of a public service…. Read more »

The ‘Cup’

Photo Credit Jeff Presley

Cajun Greenbeans

My son recently asked for my recipe for cajun green beans. He and his girlfriend Laura are spending Thanksgiving at Laura’s parent’s home. Ratboy is a pretty good cook. He understands that he has to bring something really good, and this is it. This isn’t a completely original recipe. I got the bones of it… Read more »

A True Story

In the July of 1976, I had just got my truck out of the shop after I hit a deer with it. A deer will do significant damage to a 1975 Toyota Hi-Lux pickup truck. I must say, Dad was not amused. The truck was in the shop for about two weeks while it was… Read more »

Aunt Lottie

Sometimes in quite moments, just out of the clear blue sky, a random thought brings a memory back to life. I just thought of my Aunt Lottie. Aunt Lottie was a tiny woman with a big laugh. She had an exasperated way of saying “Randy!” She broke it into three syllables: “RAY-AN-DEE!” She was right… Read more »

The Witches of Shrewsbury – the Wives of Richard and Thomas Garner

In 1636, a woman in Shrewsbury, England was accused of witchcraft and sorcery. In a trial by water, her death established her innocence. She died by drowning in the dunking stool in the pool at the Square in Shrewsbury. Her name was Katharn, wife of Richard and mother of John, and she is buried in the Old Churchyard at St. Chad’s Church in Shrewsbury, England. From this family, my branch of the Garner family was born.

Remembering Rocket

When I was a child, the 4th of July was always a special time to me. It wasn’t special because that’s the day the Declaration of Independence was signed in Philadelphia, or because it is the day Vicksburg fell in the Civil War. No, as a small child, I didn’t know about any of that…. Read more »

At Least I Can Sing

Fifty-some-odd years ago, a friend of mine, Jimmy Bolin, decided he wanted to open a guitar store. It didn’t matter that he was in high school or that he didn’t have any money to work with. He loved playing guitar and he wanted to open a guitar store. He taught private guitar lessons until he… Read more »

These Boots Weren’t Made For Walking

At lunch yesterday, I received a call that was a survey checking attitudes about smokeless pouches and vaping. Landi and I were at lunch with friends, so I stepped away from the table to take the survey. It was long and extensive. In our exchanges, I learned a lot about legislation and the positions various… Read more »

◀ ▶
Latest

  • A Dog and His Boy

    Both will race you to a fallen grape, but only one will let you get it back.Bacon is a different matter. Both are equally generous with their loveto dogs, to people, to lizards and to frogs. Unfortunately, frogs and lizards occasionally get swallowed by at least one of them. Both look so truly innocent, and… Read more »

  • Mrs. Dorthy Rauth

    A few years ago, shortly after I bought my Ford Expedition, my wife needed to go get something out of the car. Rather than giving her my keys, I gave her my “code” to unlock the doors. I rattled it off like it was a phone number. “It’s very easy to remember,” I added. Landi… Read more »

  • Meeting The Family

    Catfish has met a girl. He met a really nice girl, a girl he likes a lot. I know he likes her a lot just because he told us about her. At first, I somewhat doubted whether or not the girl actually existed anywhere but in his imagination. However, we saw photos of the two… Read more »

  • Random Christmas Memories

    Yesterday, while at the lab waiting to have blood drawn, I reflected a little bit on Christmas through the years. Random thoughts came to mind, in no particular order. I guess I actually started down this rabbit hole on the drive to the lab. While driving in standard early Monday traffic, I remembered Christmas from… Read more »

  • Indian Mall

    The Indian Mall was, for half a century, the crown jewel of North East Arkansas shopping. Paragould, Batesville, Blytheville, nor West Memphis had anything even remotely like it. It was cool, air conditioned indoor shopping on hot summer days and warm dry shopping on cold, rainy winter nights.

  • Kill Ball

    As an underclassman, I remember fear the first time we all walked onto the basketball court in Junior High to play kill ball. I had never played before. Most of the ninth graders were nine feet tall. Eighth graders werent that tall. They were only eight feet tall. Seventh graders, we were tiny. We were… Read more »

  • Interacting With The Spirit World

    In Fall of 1991, I moved from Memphis, Tennessee to Allentown, Pennsylvania. After living in an Embassy Suites hotel for a few months, I finally committed to an apartment of sorts. It was actually the upper floor of a place called the Mauch Chunk Hotel. It was 200 years old and was located on Mauch… Read more »

  • The Best Thing About Waking Up

    I have an ax to grind with the weasel who first conceived the idea of putting images and messages on coffee mugs. You know, coffee mugs that have pictures or phrases on them commemorating places you’ve been or offering some funny observation. Those are the ones. I have about fifty of them, and I can’t… Read more »

  • Friday Night in Pensacola

    Have you ever been to a bar or restaurant that was so good or so much fun that you almost didn’t want to tell anyone about it so that it didn’t get overrun? I knew a place like that in Memphis and now I’ve found one in Pensacola. Upstairs above The District Steakhouse, there is… Read more »

  • The Importance of Reading Instructions

    Recently, my wonderful wife and I have been reminiscing about the joy of trying to teach teenagers to read the instructions that accompany new things. Some things are complicated to operate, and kids tend to ignore the instructions and just begin messing with the ‘thing’ until they either break it, or it works. With Ipads… Read more »