Blog posts by Peter DeHaan, many of which are in his book Woodpecker Wars.
A while back, my bride was awarded a “five-year plaque” at work—and she was miffed. Public recognition for five years of work is supposed to be a good thing. Causing angst wasn’t the intention. The goal of the award was to make her feel appreciated, to give her a reason to feel good about her job […]
It seems that my bride starts preparing for Christmas around the middle of August, looking for specific items on sale and making gifts for others. Even so, “we” are usually among the last to put up the Christmas decorations. While many stores have been decorated since Halloween (or earlier) and neighbors had their lights strung before […]
It was just this week that we had our first snowstorm of the season. In fact, it was just last week that we had our first snow. It is unusually late that these events occurred in December. Our first snow is invariably before Thanksgiving and sometimes even before Halloween. I do remember one year, taking our kids […]
This is my first post in December. You may be wondering what has happened to me—well, at least some people have. The short answer is that I have been really busy. It all started Thanksgiving weekend. Feeling that I needed an extended break from work, I determined to take a four-day weekend. When I returned […]
Leaves Be Gone
This year, I’ve noticed a lot of squirrels in my yard—or at least one squirrel many times over. This is a bit strange, as squirrels like oak trees, walnut trees, hickory trees—seemingly any tree with nuts—and I don’t have nutty trees in my yard. I do have Maples and I’ve never seen a squirrel build […]
After dissing my Maple trees on Monday for turning yellow instead of the anticipated shades of orange or red, I realized that yellow is also pretty, even if not what I expected or was used to. So, I snapped a picture yesterday of one with all its glorious yellow hues. It’s a good thing I did, as even […]
Fall is a colorful time in Michigan. Even so, the colors in our area of the state do not seem to be as vibrant this fall as most. In my yard, for example, is a “burning bush,” which typically turns a deep fire-engine red in the fall. This year the shade is muted, more akin to ruby […]
You may think that I was AWOL last week, having not posted anything since October 3. Actually, I have been extremely busy. At the beginning of last week, I was at the ATA (American Teleservices Association) convention in New Orleans. It was a great convention, but the preparation for the trip, the travel, and the […]
When I went to my bank last week, there was a commotion at the car wash next door. A number of trucks were parked haphazardly around the building and a couple of fire trucks were along side. The folks at the bank confirmed there had been a fire. Apparently, someone had carelessly flung a cigarette. […]