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‘Wrap rage’ keeps Burt from helping struggling reader

Faithful reader Ron Reid cried out for help. He probably meant to send his urgent plea to someone else. Generally, I’m the last person someone in trouble hollers to for rescue. “Help! Save me!” a person dangling from a limb mysteriously growing out of the side of a cliff would yell. ...

Frogs inspire hoppy thoughts

We tiptoed to the ditch, then counted the number of frogs leaping from the grassy bank into the water. We always stopped to study the frog ditch on our summer walks. “That was the life,” I sighed. “Sunning myself in the grass, snapping flies out of mid-air, and snoozing ...

The check’s not lost … just give it time to materialize

Dear County Property Tax People, My check might be a little bit late. See, I put it in a safe place so I wouldn’t lose it and, well... I’m having a bit of trouble finding it. It’ll turn up. Possibly when I’m digging through the refrigerator to find the ketchup or when I’m pawing ...

Oh look, a horse and a truck — here comes an idea

“How do you come up with an idea for your column every week?” she asked as we walked to our cars. I tried to blush. “You’re amazed by all my great ideas?” She shook her head. “If you have great ideas, how come you don’t use those instead?” “Yes, well...” I cleared my ...

Call of wild hard to hear inside RV

As winter wears on, we’ve been pining for another camping trip. Only this time, Terry and I want to rough it in a 45-foot RV with air conditioning, full kitchen, shower and large-screen TV. We’re still adventurous in our 60s. But the ground’s grown a lot harder over the last half ...

Beguiling button jar holds childhood memories

I started life as a boy. So did my brothers. We’re still boys at heart — only in our 50s and 60s, we do a lot less climbing, crawling, jumping, falling and fighting. Our shirt buttons are safe. But as active hooligans growing up on a farm a half-century ago, buttons forever flew. We’d ...