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image from bearbox.org
Mom claimed I had been conceived in the Sierras, so I came by my love for them honestly. And in several decades of hiking and camping and fishing and driving through them, I never had any issues with bears. Until I did. Guys from our church camped in Gray’s Meadow outside Independence in 1990, and after chasing trout on other streams we came back to a campsite in chaos with missing items. The campground host came over, explaining that a bear had strolled in and…
Read MoreSometimes, some people (OK, this is mostly about me), overlook somethings we’ve done that qualify as small mistakes. OK, I knew these were mistakes when I made them, and thought they were minor. They were, and they weren’t. If you don’t see yourself there, then you might want to move on. But most who follow “Unconventional” or me on Facebook know…
Read MoreAlmost 140 years after the infamous shoot out at the OK Corral, Tombstone AZ continues to cause damage. Yep, I got wounded in Tombstone just this fall. Sheila and I spent a week at a Tempe timeshare, and I’d recently discovered Luke Short, a part owner of the Oriental Saloon there and fellow gambler with Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson, was my great uncle. So I headed southeast for some family research, leaving Sheila to relax at the pool and…
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Pulling out of Temecula onto I-15 at 4 AM 2 years ago, I had one primary goal. To test myself, to push my limits, to see if at 70 I could repeat the feat done at 28: riding over 1,000 miles on 2 wheels in under 24 hours. Oh yeah, I had other goals, to meet Jerry in Butte as we hit 3 of the states I had not ridden in, and then to meet Mick and Brad and head to Banff. Dawn had not yet…Then serendipity struck…
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The debris and tools from removing pathetic plants
When we moved to Newbury Park back in 2009, we bought a fixer upper. Maybe the last two words should be in bold and all caps. After a year remodeling the interior, we then crafted a backyard sanctuary. A water feature became the focal point in a corner, with a stream and waterfall and small pond. Some greenery flanked it to soften the look: a purple lilac vine on the left and a jasmine on the right grew abundantly. So when we returned to Temecula in 2015, we wanted to duplicate our Shangri La. A slightly different water feature, and the same plants. But…
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Two years back, our Gray Hogs group crossed the Canadian border to snag Mick’s goal of seeing why Banff is such a big deal. We took a circuitous route to Radium Hot Springs just because a biker at a MT hotel told us off a rustic but inexpensive motel there,.The next morning’s ride to Banff thrilled us despite the cold, and the city was nice. A bit overdeveloped, and we struggled to find a breakfast place, but with marvelous views in all directions. That satisfied Mick, and we headed north to Lake Louise. Quite pretty but overcrowded, so…
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Facebook teaches theology, something I never expected. I’ve discovered it delves deep into what it means to follow Jesus. Lest you misinterpret this, please read it as sarcasm. Here’s one theology post, “You can not be a Christian and support Biden because he...” About the time I began to incorporate this into my theology, I came across another, “A Christian can not support Trump because he...” My mind began to…
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image by depositphotos.com
Take a look at the cross above, and which first comes to mind? The truth that Jesus’ death on the cross paid the debt for our sin and we can know him? The truth that we each must take up OUR cross daily, even at the risk of our life? Let me suggest that as we tell people about Jesus, we need to cover both. I learned that the hard way.
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