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 Chance Encounter at a Karaoke Bar

    I have to admit that, in the beginning, I was some what skeptical of this. Jordan, one of my daughters, had met a boy she liked and wanted him to come on spring break with us. Oh yippee, I thought. Even though Jordan was in Massachusetts pursuing her Masters, she somehow had a boyfriend who… Read more »

  • Heifer High

    I have struggled for nearly a month to put words to a shared high school experience I enjoyed in the mid-1970s. In 1973 at the conclusion of our Freshman year, our last year of Junior High School, a tornado tore through Jonesboro, Arkansas (my hometown), and destroyed not only a lot of homes and businesses,… Read more »

  • Birdland

    It’s a small collection of streets that make up the neighborhood: Robin, Cardinal, Thrush, Lark, and Starling. Dove was added after all the history was made. In the early 1960s when we first moved into Birdland, there were an abundance of lots available. There were several undeveloped lots on the east side of Robin near… Read more »

  • Bottling Bourbon in Texas

    In late May of 1975, my friend Danny returned from college in Dallas. On the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, we drove to Hardy, Arkansas to participate in the Spring River Canoe Race. The race was held every Memorial Day. Danny had a very cool red jeep complete with a kick ass Craig stereo, over… Read more »

  • Roy’s First Chance/Last Chance

    Back in the day, Roy’s First Chance/Last Chance was where a lot of folks from Arkansas State had their first beer. Roy’s still exists, and is still little more than a shack that used to be held up by beer. Today I suspect it stands only because the termites are holding hands. It’s a small… Read more »

  • A Night at the Landmark

    In Paragould, Arkansas there is a bar called the Landmark Lounge. It’s a little out of the way place. A dingy, dimly lite dive where cold beer and lousy food is proudly served and where crappy local bands play really, really loud. When you are young, this seems like a good place to be. Cold… Read more »

  • Kids and Puppy Dogs

    Today I was working in the yard. I was pulling weeds from the gardens and putting mulch down. It’s not like I enjoy working in the yard. Some people enjoy it. Some people enjoy colonoscopies, too. I don’t enjoy either. I would almost rather have a tooth pulled than to have to work in the… Read more »

  • What is a TSR good for?

    Over dinner a few nights ago, we visited with new friends and had a great time telling old stories from our lives. Our new friends are an interesting couple who share a lot of interests with Landi and me. The husband works in Information Tech. This of course, led to shop talk. Shop talk leads… Read more »

  • One Hell of a Starry Night

    On a warm and starry night in the spring of 1954, a dashing young doctor met a beautiful young nurse on the Skyway at the Peabody Hotel and they danced. On November Sixth in 1954, they eloped and embarked on a wonderful fairy tale of a life. Through house fires, tornadoes, three children, and a… Read more »

  • Ashley’s Wedding

    Some years ago my niece, Ashley, held her wedding on a sweltering evening in mid-August. Everyone thinks they know hot. Everyone thinks they know humid. If you haven’t spent an August in Jonesboro, Arkansas you know neither hot nor humid. In August, if the air moves at all, you feel more like a dog panting… Read more »