Charlie here; the first physical copy of the book is due in my paws for final proofing this coming Wednesday, and dad and I are NOT calm and collected. This has been a dream since the beginning, three years in the making, a conglomeration of new and old, with a further explanation of my inauspicious beginnings, and to actually see it in physical form is enough to make me need to go outside and eat…

Dad here; I once had a couple of friends, brothers actually, who had an exceptionally hard-headed beagle named Reggie. He was supposed to be some sort of super focused hunting dog from a long line of champions, hence the pompous pedigreed full name of Reginald MacDuff, followed by some important looking Roman numerals. Much to the dismay of my friend's father, who happened to be the hunting and fishing editor of the Catholic newspaper, the…

It has been a while since a true "Sunday post" here at the Casa del Whackos; life has been coming so hard and fast that it has been difficult to back up and process the insanity. We had some visitors from up north yesterday who did us the inestimable honor of sacrificing their vacation to come meet Charlie; of course, the Charles found nothing odd about this in the least, as everyone that shows up…

If a video or a post brings you even a microsecond of relief from the drama of every day life, do NOT dare sneak a peek at the attached comments. It would seem that people are so happy to wallow in their own misery that they cannot resist dragging everyone else into the quagmire of their own self loathing. There is a classic line in the movie Last of the Mohicans; "Magua's heart is twisted;…

My dad has began his final withdrawal, this time inside himself. In the beginning of the process some years ago, it was a bit hard not to be resentful; after all, how could he NOT remember who I am? I, who for years was the most important thing in his universe? And how is it fair, just when I think that that we have finished raising our own children, somewhere along the way we have…

They say you can't go back, and if you do, it will never be the same; most of the time that's true, but on those rare occasions... There is a large rocky out-cropping west of town that shows on some maps as "West Pinnacle", but we locals always called it Rattlesnake Ridge. Back in the day, it was a wild and desolate place, a narrow spine of rock rising high above the surrounding hills, snaking…