Dribbling Ink

(My wife and brother-in-law carved this. I don't touch the inside of pumpkins.) (I'm not big on Halloween, but I enjoy autumn. We planted four  mums to celebrate.) (I made a homemade chocolate chip pizza. Too bad I can't serve this to trick-or-treaters.)

(This post is going to be short. I’m at my fourth house in five days to write and upload my blog. My friends and family are probably ready for me to go back to Little Rock.) I’ve never been much of a hunter. Most of the qualities hunting seemingly entails, like being aggressive or sneaky (maybe I just imagine that you need these), go against the nature of my personality. I like to be at peace with my surroundings. I know, I know: I don’t need a lecture about the pros or cons of hunting. I’ve heard it all before; the majority of my extended family consists of avid hunters and I have nothing against it. Moreover, I always enjoy when deer season rolls around because it means I get to spend time with my dad. Growing up it wasn’t always that way. I looked forward to autumn for a different reason: it meant basketball season was near. While my dad spent his Saturday mornings in the deer woods, I was always practicing basketball, whether in the driveway or at school. Looking back I re...

(My font, spacing, format, and thoughts are sporadic because I typed the previous blog on my phone and this blog on someone else's computer. I'm a perfectionist, which isn't always obvious in these haphazard blogs, but I despise when things lack consistency. Anyway, forgive me for what I write this week--I will be roaming around Northeast Arkansas.) Remember the badger? The one that roams around my front yard every day and likes to hide under the car. Yeah, it's not a badger after all, according to sources who know more about wild animals than I do. Can't give gambling advice. Can't identify wild animals. Before you know it, someone will say I can't write. Psh. Apparently it's a groundhog. What does this mean? Is this important? I never understood that entire thing about the groundhog and winter and weather. Is there something I should specifically watch my groundhog for? Does he hide under the car because he thinks it's his shadow? I just do...

As I briefly mentioned in yesterday’s blog, my wife and I moved to Little Rock recently so that she could attend medical school at UAMS. When we were looking for a place to live, the most important thing we considered was location. The area we were going to live in had to meet three requirements: be close to UAMS (for my wife’s sanity), be in a safe neighborhood, and be mostly residential. Luckily we found a place at the end of a quiet street. To this point, our experience living in Little Rock has been even better than either of us imagined. However—there’s always a however with me, as you’ll learn—as with any house, this place has some shady history. Some based in truth, some purely speculative (if you read the link  I posted in yesterday’s blog, you know I like to speculate). Tom Haynes, who is my cousin and a fellow Little Rockian (?), being the inquisitive person that he is as a lawyer, found a story about a former resident of our house. It seems Mr. Former Resident (no ...