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I changed the look of it recently but haven’t quite figured out all the bells and whistles yet, so bear with me.

about The Author

Living & work(ed) in Madison, Wisconsin (2005-2025)

After retiring from military service, I began living the civilian life in the Madison area. “Retirement” is a bit of a misnomer here; after becoming civilianized, I had to get a job because a military pension isn’t quite enough to pay the bills. I worked at a bank that folded after the financial crisis, then for state government before I finally called it quits.

US Air Force (1984 – 2005)

I spent half my professional life in the military at far-flung bases all around the world, the point at the tip of the spear defending the freedom of Americans (so they told me).

Posts

  • wild goose chase

    wild goose chase

    I set out on a hike this morning and I got one, but not the hike I thought I would get. My plan was to hike a ten-mile stretch of the Milwaukee River Segment of the Ice Age Trail near Kewaskum. To walk that far, I planned to drop my bike off at the southern…

  • Blue Hills trail building 5/13/26 – 5/17/26

    I spent five days last week in the Blue Hills of northern Wisconsin, helping a gaggle of about 90 volunteers build new trail for the Ice Age Trail Alliance so they can re-route the IAT through a more scenic part of the county. It’s a beautiful part of the state that I don’t visit often…

  • TBR 05-07-2026

    TBR 05-07-2026

    “Platform Decay” is the latest installment of a series of books from Martha Wells nicknamed “The Murderbot Diaries.” I read it in two days and enjoyed it, but then I enjoyed all the books in the series, although I enjoyed the earlier books more than the later ones, if I’m honest. The books chronicle Murderbot’s…

  • new ride, who dis?

    new ride, who dis?

    I finally bought a recumbent bicycle. I’ve wanted one for years but the price always scared me away. Used recumbents cost more than a thousand dollars; new recumbents cost more than two thousand. It was hard enough to make myself spend more than three hundred on a nice Trek bicycle back in 1998. But Monday…

  • frustration

    frustration

    Comedian Tom Popa said something like, “The best day I can possibly have is one where I don’t have to recover my password for anything.” I couldn’t agree more. I did not have a best day today. I got a subscription to Apple TV over a year ago to watch the Tom Hanks movie “Greyhound”…

  • TBR 4/9/2026

    TBR 4/9/2026

    Last week, my pile of books to be read (TBR) was down to just two. Today, it’s up to seven. At the top of my pile: Right now I’m powering my way through “Solaris” by Stanislaw Lem. I read this science fiction classic when I was in high school, didn’t understand it at all. The…

  • ides of March

    Four days ago, I was taking photos of flowers popping up from the leaf litter in neighborhood yards. I didn’t believe it was too good to be true, because there it was, right in front of me, but I was keenly aware we would in all likelihood have to suffer through at least one more…

  • peek-a-boo

    peek-a-boo

    I go on walks daily through our neighborhood, usually in a wide circle around our house, or down to the road that runs along the lake shore. Toward the end of winter, I keep an eye peeled for the first sign of spring, the sign that gives me the greatest hope that winter is finally…

  • no plan

    no plan

    I was working in an open-plan office: Lots of people milling around lots of desks in a big open room. My boss called me into his office. He said I was going to be reassigned to another department. Didn’t say which department or what I’d be doing, but said my new boss would talk to…

  • walking on sunshine

    walking on sunshine

    There were signs early Monday morning that the weather was going to be extraordinary, but I had no idea until I got out into it how glorious it would turn out to be. Sunny, calm, so pleasantly warm it could have been any day in the middle of summer. I just loafed along the trail…

photo of the author and the author's best friend