Old Firefighters Never Die: They Just Smolder
So, I’m retiring. Not from my full time job of dispatching to become a Gentleman Author, as I wanted. (It’s like a Gentleman Farmer, a rich person who just farms as a hobby. No real […]
Tag: Albion
A Celebratory Snooze
It’s a big day today, a day worthy of celebration. I decided that on this particular Monday, I’ll do whatever the heck I want. I want sleep. This says less about me than about the […]
Can I Ax You a Question?
I got to break things with an ax at a structure fire Wednesday afternoon. (A small outbuilding.) But then I broke the ax. Good thing they don’t take that out of a volunteer firefighter’s pay. […]
Maybe I should have gone with Spider-Man
I’m looking for new publicity methods, so this is what I came up with for my book signing a week from tomorrow: If I sell 250 books at the signing, from 2-5 July 11th […]
Pining Away Over Smoke
It’s not workable to wear air packs at wildland fires, but you can usually stay out of the worst of the smoke if you’re careful. I wasn’t. Sunday we responded to a fire that burned […]
How I Ruined Winter … For Almost Everyone
SLIGHTLY OFF THE MARK I love January! Said no one, ever. Okay, some people actually do love winter, which just goes to show you: Northern Indiana needs better mental health screening. I used […]
Fire, History, and the Black Building
It will probably come as a surprise to no one that I’ve been thinking a lot about history lately. There’s a certain irony in the fact that I started out writing science fiction, mostly set […]
Me, a Primer, or: How Did I Get In The Mall
I recently took my writing career in a new direction, which is another way of saying I got “downsized” out of my job. Now I’m making a monthly appearance in a local shopping guide that’s […]
A Farewell To Mark
With mixed feelings I say goodbye to my first writing home, in the same week my column appears for the first time in Kendallville Mall. I’m going from a weekly to a monthly, but otherwise […]
Bleeding Fire Engine Red
The editor of the newspapers I work for asked me for a fire service related article for our Fire Prevention Week insert last week, and this is what I came up with: It’s […]