No, I am not thinking about the Wykon or the Hodag. If you are wondering, the first is the school mascot for the West Iron County (Michigan) school district and the latter is a tourist attraction who roams the forests somewhere in the northern counties of Wisconsin. No, what I have in mind are the […]
When I was a wee lad of maybe four, we visited my cousin Wally and his wife somewhere in Wisconsin or Minnesota. Being on the young side and a few years ahead of developing my fixation on maps and geography, the details are a bit fuzzy. The one thing that comes to mind with […]
In Part 1 of Cha Cha Changes (again, my apologies to David Bowie for borrowing his song title), we began running down what Ontonagon was like in 1975 when I first arrived as the new Junior High Geography/Earth Science teacher in the Ontonagon Area Schools. This article was begun as a presentation made at […]
When recently asked to present ‘something about how things have changed around here’ for the Ontonagon County Historical Society, I said, “Let me think about it before I say ‘yes’ or ‘no’.” There are already many volumes available about the history of the area (see: Knox Jamison, Earl Doyle, and Bruce Johanson for starters), […]
Can an 82 year-old take on 23 concert dates consisting of two and three night stands with a couple of days off in between? After witnessing Ringo’s All Starr Band hit the stage in Eugene, Oregon on Friday June 2, 2023, I am going to guess the answer is, “Oh yeah!” Ringo doesn’t do […]
When an article about Jim ‘Kimo’ West appeared in Guitar World magazine’s April 2023 issue, parts of his story sounded real familiar. It occurred to me that I just might have talked about him some in a previous From the Vaults, so I started backtracking through my index of titles. I was just beginning […]
Sing the following to the tune of My Way (with apologies to Old Blue Eyes): Flat Tires, I’ve had a few, everywhere from Melstrand to Timbuktu . . . Okay, I have had more than a few and I have never been to Timbuktu, but I have had a flat in Melstrand. The last […]
“Okay,” my father said, “Push in the clutch, pull out the choke, turn the key, and step on the starter pedal.” When the engine came to life, he had me adjust the choke until the engine was idling smoothly and then continued: “Now put the shift down into first like I showed you. Give […]
The late Tom Hartzell and I were having a discussion about the Pacific Northwest in the lunchroom one day. Tom mentioned he and his wife would be vacationing there in the near future, so I took the opportunity to ask him a little favor. I said, “Well, if you happen to find an ashtray […]
You probably recognize the last name in the title and are thinking, “Hey bud, you got the wrong first name. Don’t you mean ‘Micky Dolenz’?” You are half right – I am talking about the former lead singer and drummer of The Monkees, but we will get to the ‘Michael’ part in a bit. […]