If you’ve ever worked a job for any period of time, every now and then you run into a person of the opposite sex who becomes a friend. mentor, confidante, and colleague – all at the same time. In “the biz”, these folks have a name. The work wife. Now, ladies, before you start making signs and marching outside of my house, understand that this goes both ways. There are work husbands, too, but for the sake of argument (and…
Early June means a lot of different things here in the four-state area. The kids are getting out of school for summer vacation, farmers are busy planting their corn crops, seasonal farmer’s market sales moving into high gear, and one other annual tradition gets kicked-off for the summer months. The local carnival. Every summer, each small town or municipality features a week where the carnival comes to town. It’s a cavalcade of food, arcade games, questionable rides, and musical entertainment…
On a hot summer night, sometimes the last thing anyone wants to do is turn on the grill or oven and prepare dinner for the family. These days, there’s another option that is quick, easy, and can also be creative and fun. Charcuterie. Whoa, slow down there, Maurice. I’m not eating any weird pig’s stomach or cast-off chicken parts. Not to worry. While “charcuterie” is a French word (which actually deals with the art and science of preserving meats), the…
While spending these longer evenings on the front porch, my wife and I routinely bounce business or invention ideas back and forth off of each other, trying to come up with that “million dollar” business idea. Sometimes we’re serious, sometimes it’s all in good fun (one of her great ideas was a cat food that was just canned broth, named “Auntie Leigh’s Happy Lappin’ Cat Gravy” – just the name alone was worth seeking a copyright, in my opinion). I…
As a kid, I always thought that one day, when I grew up, I’d have a job where intelligent adults collaborated on interesting projects and treated each other with respect and dignity. HA-HA-HA! I almost got it out without laughing. WHOOOOO! Stop it, my side hurts. In all seriousness, I’m sure you’re busy at your job and place of work. I know I am. You know what one of my pet peeves is? Having to stop what I’m doing to…
If you’ve got kids just coming out of college or starting out in their adult life, how many times have you had this conversation? Kid: I think I want to buy a new TV, but I don’t have any cash. Parent: You should save up for that. Kid: That’s OK, I have a credit card. Parent: What’s the interest rate on that card? Kid: Huh? Parent: The interest rate. What is…
Ahhh, climate change. You are really messing with my “four seasons” mojo. Not only have you pretty much eliminated any significant snowfall from my winter wonderland (we’ve barely even seen a trace the last few years), but now your summer heat is encroaching on my mild spring months. I’ve just gotten the screen door installed on the front porch and was starting to open the windows at night, savoring the cool breeze and fresh air to sleep in – and…
Yes, you read that right. After many years of absence, Hagerstown has finally rejoined the ranks of cities with a professional baseball team, which kicked off its inaugural season play on April 25th. A warm, Western Maryland welcome to the Hagerstown Flying Boxcars! The Boxcars play in the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball (ALPB), and independent league covering the Mid-Atlantic and Southern regions of the United States. The league has been around since 1998, and its play is considered on-par…
The changing spring weather means a lot of things each year. It’s time to get the garden going (my own is well on its way, with peas, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, onions, radishes, beets, lettuce, spinach and carrots all in and doing well), getting that first lawn mowing in the books, and setting up one of my favorite “rooms” of the house. The front porch. For those of you who may not know what I’m talking about, I cannot express the…
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few weeks, you’ll more than likely know that a unique celestial event is occurring today. A solar eclipse will be occurring across most of the United States during the daylight hours, visible throughout all 48 contiguous states. In our area, while we won’t experience a “total eclipse”, we should still experience a partial one. The big show will occur locally between 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM EDT on Monday, April…