Some cooks go nuts if you try to add salt and pepper or any kind of seasoning to the dishes they have prepared. These cooks think of themselves as artists and don’t believe we earthlings are qualified to mess with the dishes they have prepared. My mom had a more common-sense approach to this problem. She said to us and any newcomers to the table, “I have prepared a well-balanced meal that will maintain your good health. If you think that modifying the seasoning will give you greater pleasure, then that’s what you should do. The only thing of importance is that you eat the food.” She always had salt, pepper, butter, garlic powder, chili powder, relish, mayo, horse radish, Worcestershire sauce, and catsup available for those who wanted it.

I’ve noticed that some people are real snobs when it comes to catsup. Mom always had a bottle of catsup on the table and encouraged us to use it. We certainly did. For those of you not lucky enough to be raised in a catsup-household, I’ll list a few items that can benefit from that wonderful red stuff. If you start the day with bacon and eggs and hash browns, give those potatoes a big dollop, and if some slops over onto the eggs, it will jazz them up as well. Hamburgers, French fries, hot dogs, hash, roast beef, beef Stroganoff, chicken and noodles, navy beans, vegetable soup, chili, potato cakes and liver all taste better with catsup. My mom loved liver and insisted that we eat it to prevent anemia. Just looking at the stuff made me gag, but I learned that smothering it in catsup made it bearable.

Be creative and enjoy every meal.

Dave Thomas

11/6/2025

My Forty Years of Playing Defense

I spent forty years commuting on San Diego freeways. Most of the time, it was a humdrum existence. My time on the road was just spent driving and listening to the news or country music. Once in a while, though, things got tough, and I had to get serious real quick. The problems came from folks who really should have been classified as “opponents.” Most were just drivers who weren’t paying attention. The others were usually construction guys or people who were moving.

The movers were people who were moving to a new home or those who had just purchased furniture with no truck and so they had to use their car to transport their new item. I frequently saw chairs, dressers, and rugs on the freeway. Once in a while, there would be a family that had just purchased a new mattress and tried lashing it to the roof of the car. That didn’t ordinarily go too well. I once had to dodge a washing machine that had escaped from its source of transportation.

The construction guys were the worst. I have dodged ladders, buckets, sawhorses, bags of cement, hoses, and a lot of other stuff. It’s quite exciting when a white cloud appears in front of you, indicating that someone has just struck a bag of cement. My worst moment was when a Bobcat came off the back of a truck. A Bobcat is a small tractor used in construction work. Fortunately, the Bobcat broke off into the right lane, and I was able to dart into the left lane.

As you can see, commuting can be very exciting, and, fortunately, I never peed my pants.

Dave Thomas

10/30/2025

Streisand

We watched Barbra Streisand on PBS the other night. She is still the best and the most interesting singer we have ever had. When she goes after a note, you don’t know where she’s heading, but when she gets there, it is right and pure.

Dave Thomas

10/23/2025

I just finished listening to a fascinating book on CD. The book, Flags of Our Fathers, was written by James Bradley and Ron Powers. After his dad died in 1995, Bradley wanted to know what his dad had done in the battle of Iwo Jima. The Battle of Iwo Jima cost the lives of 6,821 Americans and 21,900 Japanese. The book tells of the battle and the photograph of the raising of the flag on Mount Suribachi. The profile of the senior Bradley is the only recognizable face in the picture of the flag raising. The surprise is that the famous picture is actually of the second flag raising on the extinct volcano.

In the past, I had read about Ira Hayes, the Pima Indian in the picture, and of Joe Rosenthal, the photographer. It was interesting to learn about the other men.

If you are a young person and weren’t around in 1945 for the Battle of Iwo Jima, there are a couple of names that will help you get connected with the battle story. Lee Marvin, the actor, was a 17-year-old Marine who was wounded at Iwo Jima. He ended up with (no pun intended) shrapnel in his butt. Another participating Marine was Bob Keeshan, later known as “Captain Kangaroo.”  Lee Marvin was quoted as saying “Bob Keeshan was the bravest man I ever met.”

Iwo Jima is in the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Guam and Japan. In 1959, VP-48, my seaplane squadron, was deployed to Japan. Our pilot and navigator filed a flight plan that flew us over Iwo Jima. It was exciting to finally get to see it, but if not for its strategic value, it’s nothing to shout about. It’s 8 square miles of island with an ugly extinct volcano on it.

Several people died in the Battle of Iwo Jima. It’s quite a story. Give it a shot!

Dave Thomas

9/11/2025

I’ve been sitting here while listening to Ronnie Milsap and Charlie Rich. I miss the country-western singers from the 1960’s through the 1990’s. There were a lot of them, and they were good. Besides the music, there were some colorful characters, too. It was fun. We just lost Kris, and that only leaves people like Dolly and Willie.

Dave Thomas

9/11/2025

It’s hard to believe! All three of our kids are now retired, and it’s left us in a quandary. I guess we should refer to them as “Senior Citizens” rather than “curtain climbers” or “rug rats.”

Dave Thomas

9/4/2025

Negative Stuff

-We are using up our trees and other natural resources and turning them into trash so fast that we may have to consider using the Grand Canyon as our next landfill.

-The Fourth of July holiday was created to celebrate the founding of America, our Constitution, and our democracy. If we are converting to an authoritarian regime, there is no longer a need for the 4^th of July holiday.

-They said they are following the Rule of Law, but, most likely, they are following the rule of the outlaws.

Dave Thomas

8/21/2025

I’ve been thinking about all of the superhero-stuff we are experiencing today. According to the news, superhero movies are bringing in millions of dollars. This is quite a contrast to what I saw when I was growing up. At that time, the superheroes, Batman, Superman, Captain Marval, and Plastic Man were available for 10 cents in their monthly comic books. What has changed? Are we looking at heroes and superheroes differently now? Are our fellow citizens just looking at the superheroes as a 2-hour escape into fantasyland for entertainment or is it something deeper than that? Is something missing? Why are our people looking so desperately for a hero? Let’s take a look at this hero-thing.

Going back to 1954, the year I graduated from high school, things were much different. My hometown, Augusta, Kansas, a city of 5,000, was like most of the country. If I walked the sidewalks of our 3 ½ block business district, I would be surrounded by heroes. On the military side, there were veterans of WWI, WWII, Korea, and maybe even the Spanish-American War. The adult civilians would be people who survived the dust bowl and the depression. Heroes, all, in my book. They were all people of grit who had gritted their teeth and made it through.

The next big event was the Vietnam War. The attitude toward heroes was changing. Americans should be ashamed for the way young people who served were treated after giving their lives and limbs for their country.

Next came the Middle-East wars. Does anyone think seriously about them? It’s like we were sending those young people off to summer camp. Was anyone getting excited or worried about what was happening to the lives of those kids?

Attitudes toward leadership and heroes have changed. What about the single mom or single dad who are working 2 or 3 jobs to provide for their kids and still are taking the time to instill in them the qualities that make for a good citizen? This paper requires more smarts than I can come up with. I hope it provokes some consideration from you.

Dave Thomas

8/21/2025

A Real Homing Pigeon

Ordinarily, either three crows or five crows would show up for breakfast.  However, these last few days only two had come in. We were lucky in that it was Lame Foot and Clucker who were easy to recognize. Pat put out some food for them and then went back into the house. Suddenly, one of the crows started cawing, and Pat looked out and saw that it was Lame Foot.  He was giving a set of 3 caws over and over again.  The sounds were raspy and seemed to come from deeper in the throat than usual. After a couple of minutes of thism crows started landing on the driveway and they kept coming, one after another, until there were sixteen of them. They were both hungry and thirsty, and they really went after the food and water. Lame Foot and Clucker flew up and perched on the edge of the garage roof and watched or supervised the feast. Apparently, the crows hadn’t found a food source that morning and really needed some help. Pat had to replenish the food to get them filled up.

I understand that crows are just crows. However, they become quite interesting when you learn of their intelligence and some of the human-like traits they sometimes display. In today’s story, Lame Foot showed examples of his leadership ability   and his feelings of empathy and compassion for members of his feathered community.

Crows seem to know something about training, too. Lame Foot was one of the group of five crows that were being fed by Pat every day. Boss Crow was the leader of the group,                      and he strode around aggressively and jabbered incessantly. He would come right up to within two feet of Pat and would say what was on his mind. Meanwhile, Lame Foot just sat back and watched and listened as a good trainee should and never said a word.

When Boss Crow left, Lame Foot stepped up and took the leadership position. There was no question of who was in charge. Lame Foot handled the job easily. He continues to show up every day, and the other crows recognize that he is still the boss.

Dave Thomas

8/7/2025