March 30, 2024 - The phone call was received around dusk that summer afternoon in 1963. The caller was a neighbor who explained to my wife, Clara, that she was looking at a man on the roof of our house. I was watching television when my wife ran into the living room and announced that there was a man on top of our house. “What?”, I questioned, “someone on our roof?” All kinds of questions popped into my mind. This was our newly purchased house and why would someone want to get on my roof?

March 15, 2024 - About 10% of the population is left-handed. Our daughter is left-handed even though both of her parents are right-handed. So, what happened? Is being born with the dominant hand being the left one blamed on genetics?

Lefties have had a tough time over the centuries overcoming their “handicap.” Beginning at the time of the Industrial Revolution, workers needed to operate complex machines that were almost certainly designed with right-handers in mind. This would make the leftie appear less capable and clumsier.

December 12, 2023 - Many secular Christmas songs have been written over the years, some successful, but most never made it to the big time. The second most popular song behind Bing Crosby’s "White Christmas" almost didn’t get recorded. Had it not been for Gene Autry’s wife, Ina, the little song may have languished for lack of attention and faded away into the trash can of history.

July 10, 2023 - So, what is the difference between this musical instrument of four strings called either a violin or a fiddle?  They appear to be identical in physical appearance, and they sound the same regardless of whether being played by a male or female, professional musician, or an amateur.  There is a musician’s joke that appears to give us a clue to the question.

Question:  “What’s the difference between a fiddle and a violin?”
Answer: “You don’t spill beer on a violin.”

June 12, 2023 - One can only imagine what the Union soldiers must have thought at the sight of a giant wearing a confederate uniform running toward them in the heat of battle. Henry Clay Thruston was beyond a doubt the tallest man in the Confederate army.