An Arkies Musings

My An Arkie's Faith column from the November 23, 2022, issue of The Polk County Pulse. Thanksgiving is fast approaching, and I am getting excited. We will be heading to Ashland, Missouri, on Thursday morning to celebrate Thanksgiving with my sister and her family. Thanksgiving is such a fantastic holiday. To me, Thanksgiving is a holiday that focuses on family even more than Christmas. I am very thankful for my family. How we celebrate Thanksgiving in America has its roots in British harvest festivals and U.S. history. In 1620, a group of more than 100 Puritans fleeing religious persecution settled in a town called Plymouth in what is now Massachusetts. The Pilgrims' first winter was so harsh that fewer than 50 survived the season. The following spring, Native Americans taught them how to get sap from the maple trees and plant corn and other crops. The harvest was successful, and the Pilgrims had enough food for the winter. Plymouth Colony's Governor, William Bradford, deci...

My An Arkie's Faith column from the November 16, 2022, issue of The Polk County Pulse. Ehrich Weiss was a remarkable man. By the time he died, he was famous around the world. But until recently, I had never heard of him. He was born to Hungarian-Jewish parents in Budapest, Austria, in 1874. In 1878 his family came to America, settling in Appleton, Wisconsin. Ehrich's father was a Rabbi and served the Zion Reform Jewish Congregation in Appleton. When he was 13, Ehrich moved with his father to New York City. There, he became interested in the trapeze, calling himself "Ehrich, the prince of the air." Ehrich also tried his hand as a professional magician and renamed himself, Harry Houdini. I am sure you are familiar with the name Houdini. He was not successful as a magician, but he soon drew attention for his feats of escape using handcuffs. In 1893, he married fellow performer Wilhelmina Beatrice Rahner, who would serve as his lifelong stage assistant, Bess Houdini. Ehri...

My An Arkie's Faith column from the November 9, 2022, issue of The Polk County Pulse. The black road seemed to soak up the light from the headlights as the Hyundai wound its way down the crooked northwest Arkansas road. Heavy rain pelted the car as the windshield wipers struggled to keep up with the deluge of water hitting the windshield. I tightened my grip on the steering wheel as I tried to see ahead into the darkness.  Bright lights shone in my rearview mirror, making me nervous. "Why is that car tailgating me when the conditions are so treacherous," I thought. Occasionally the black of the stormy night was illuminated with streaks of bold light as lightning lit the road for a few seconds. For a moment, I could see just how narrow the road was. There were no shoulders, and trees lined the edge of the road. As I guided the car around yet another curve, suddenly, I saw a large tree branch across the road. I veered hard to the left and squeezed between the branch and a l...

My An Arkie's Faith column from the November 2, 2022, issue of The Polk County Pulse. My mini golden doodle, Tucker, was frantic. He didn't know what was happening, but he knew he didn't like it. Loud banging and scraping sounds were coming from the roof over the bedroom. Tucker was jumping and whining. No matter what we did, he would not settle down. He was sure that the sky was falling.  The noise came from workers on the roof who were scraping off the old shingles directly above the bedroom. On another part of the roof, other workers were nailing new shingles. Even though the activity on the roof distressed Tucker, it made me happy. Finally, after a five-year ordeal, we were getting a new roof on our house. During an intense thunderstorm five years ago, hail damaged our roof. The next time it rained, we noticed several leaks in the house. I called our insurance company, and they sent an adjuster to inspect the damage. The adjuster decided that the damage was minimal and ...