Everyone needs a quiet place to relax
May 23, 2012
Everyone has his own favorite spot on Lewis Creek, I guess. Some of us favor the swimming hole below Miller’s old place, with its rope swing and the kids who frolic there on hot summer days.
For Doc and Dud, it’s the big race below the rocks where the huge lunker trout lives. All our efforts to catch him have so far gone unrewarded, and he keeps getting bigger each year. Read more
Home Country
January 18, 2012
Slim Randles Columnist
Dud Campbell had been quiet for almost an hour, which brought concern to his wife, Anita. Dud isn’t the strong, silent type. He’s more like a quick, noisy type. After an hour had gone by in silence, he picked up a sheet of paper and began taking notes.
“Dinner’s pretty soon, Hon,” Anita said.
“Can’t eat now. Uh, can I have something later, maybe?”
“Sure. Hey, you OK?”
He nodded, then went for the coffee pot. He gave Anita a hug on his way back to the table.
Home Country
December 28, 2011
Fence and envy grow together in this town
Slim Randles Columnist
We watched the fence growing, growing even as the snow fell, and there was bile and envy oozing from several pores in town.
This was the rich guy’s fence. The rich guy and his wife moved to our quiet little town to spend weekends. Their real home is two hours away in the city. He owns a factory or store or something down there.
Home Country
December 21, 2011
A chance to look back at the past year
Slim Randles Columnist
When it’s cold, build a fire in the fireplace, or the woodburning heater, or maybe just light a candle and look in the flames, look deep in the flames for the answers.
I’ve always believed they are there, and this time of year is a time for questions. It is a time to weigh the events of the past year and toss them around and ask why.
It has been a good year for each of us in some respects, and a bad year in others. Just like every year.
A few of our young people died this year. Others were born. Some precious old-timers left us, too, but at least they’d had the chance to hang and rattle and turn gray. It was the young ones that make us ask the tough questions.
Home Country
November 30, 2011
Slim Randles Columnist
When Pop Walker sneaked out the kitchen door the other day, it affected all of us. He’s been a resident of the Rest of Your Life retirement home for several years now.
He still remembers who said what during combat in Europe, but has a hard time remembering if he’s had breakfast.
The call went out down at the sheriff’s office around 10 p.m. that Pop had slipped through the enemy lines, meaning the kitchen staff, and was on the loose. One of the deputies called Doc, who was a friend of his since forever, and Doc alerted the rest of us.
Home Country
October 5, 2011
Take one woman with you when you shop
Slim Randles Columnist
We knew. We looked at Dewey and we knew tragedy had struck. Naturally we assumed his carefully planned courtship of Emily Stickles had died a stillborn dream, but that wasn’t it.
He still hadn’t met her, turns out. When he came to the Mule Barn’s philosophy counter, he sorta collapsed into a chair, moaned and flipped his mug to the upright position.
“Who’s going to ask him?” Doc finally said.
Home Country
September 28, 2011
Slim Randles Columnist
It wasn’t long at all before just about everyone in the valley knew about Dewey’s dream girl, Emily Stickles, she of the county office in charge of keeping an eye on things.
It wasn’t long at all because Dewey told everyone about it. Somewhere, deep inside him, was this urge to court this young lady successfully. So strong was this urge that Dewey set out to glean every scrap of advice from almost everyone he knew. It was as though he thought if he could just come up with an amalgam of methods, Emily would almost have to be his.
Columnists
August 30, 2011
Home Country
Of love, fly fishing and other things
Dewey Decker silently shoveled cow manure into the back of his pickup, but for the first time, his heart wasn’t in it.
Slim Randles Columnist
He knew he had it to do, so he did it. Scoop, toss. Scoop toss. Then, when the bed was full, he somberly drove to town and unloaded it onto the many compost piles behind his house.
Then he drew compost from the bottom and put that in the truck. Scoop, toss. Scoop toss.
Columnists
August 17, 2011
Home Country
Youth is sometimes wasted on the young
When the world dilemma think tank gathered this morning at the philosophy counter, the main topic of conversation was Marvin Pincus’ problem with the county.
The county wanted him to stop counseling people on love and tying flies to go along with it. Well, they didn’t mind the fly tying so much, but the counseling was to stop unless he had a college degree and a business license. There was general outrage and frustration there in the truck stop.
There were solutions to Marvin’s problem suggested, of course. They varied from 1. finding something else Marvin could do to enjoy his retirement (from Doc), to 5. declaring war on the county up to and including seceding (from Jasper Blankenship). Nos. 2, 3 and 4 weren’t really workable and referred generally to impossible anatomical feats to be performed by certain county employees.
Progress can be a wonderful thing
January 19, 2011
You’d think winter would give Sarah McKinley a bumper crop of readers down at the Read Me Now bookstore. You’d think.
But for some reason, she finds the need each winter to have some crazy promotion to peddle books. Last year, it was celebrating President James Monroe’s wedding anniversary (120 years now, and they said it wouldn’t last!) We’ve come to speculate (our No. 1 indoor sport around here) on what her promotion would be this winter. Right after that cold snap, we found out.
On a big banner taped up in the front window, we saw: “Help Celebrate Orf Day! Come in and see the specials.”
