Apples are the canines of the fruits-and-veggies world. Bear with me while I sort this out. For the sake of argument, I am assuming that wolves were the first canines, and the domestication thing started when one of these wolves crept in from the cold, tacitly agreeing to help out in exchange for room and […]
Author: Evelyn J. Willburn
In which I meet Bob, and keep a weather eye out for Mrs. Bob
Recently I was getting ready for a trip from the sleek, modern metropolis of Craig, Alaska, to the wilds of central Virginia. My sister Laura always stops by my little cottage before I come to make sure no possums have moved in, and this time she said casually, “Oh, by the way, there is a […]
Water, water, everwhere
I have lived in many Southeast Alaska communities, each one smaller than all the others, and the availability and quality of the water has been a mixed bag. We lived in Coffman Cove for four years in the early nineties, and the “better not drink the water” notice was up more often that it was […]
Attack of the herbivores
There are many, many things about the film Jurassic Park that I can get irritated about, and even more in the sequels, but one that stands head and shoulders above the rest is the bit about the veggie-saurus. Here they are, stranded in a tree, and this five-million-ton critter is blowing snot all over them, […]
Let’s talk about the flowers that bloom in the spring
One of my mother’s lifelong missions was to keep the general level of family conversation out of the gutter. When one of us began to stray into the earthier realms, she would invariably say, “let’s talk about the flowers that bloom in the spring.” That was our cue to shape up, and we rarely failed […]
Red, the retired quarter horse
Red came to live with us when I was sixteen. He was a quarter horse, trained to run the western barrel race event, but he had gone lame in his old age. There was plenty of physical evidence that he had been mistreated by an early owner, and I was told I could ride him […]
How do you spell woodna?
That’s the question the second grader asked me. I paused, scratched my metaphorical head, and asked her to use it in a sentence. “You know,” she said. “Like, I woodna done that if youda said not to.” I of course seized the teachable moment and explained that woodna was really two words if you didn’t […]
Follow the bouncing cat names
My husband and I are new parents again, after all these years. Here’s a closeup of the new kid: Truth be told, I could eat him with a spoon. It’s been about 35 years since I have had a kitten in the house, and the first couple days were stressful. We had to plug up […]
Adventures in the grocery store
On a recent trip to the store, I demonstrated personal growth by going back to get a cart. Our grocery store is a two-minute drive (or a ten-minute walk) from my house, so I go there frequently to just get a few things. Maybe it’s because I go there so often, combined my natural tendency […]
Of fireweed and Albus Dumbledore
During my recent dental visit, the hygienist expressed concern about one of my teeth but indicated that it did not pose an urgent problem. “My guess is it will last you another forty years,” she said with a smile. Without much conscious thought on the subject, I replied, “I don’t imagine I’ll be needing it […]