Checking the Calendar
The calendar wasn't going fast enough from August to September — so I took the initiative to take it down myself! The other week, I was passing through Mike’s office when I noted his calendar was still on the August page. I know bird hunting seasons open in September,...
MISADVENTURES OF MOLLYGRUBS MESSER
The first installment in Jim Casada's new series: THE MISADVENTURES OF MOLLYGRUBS MESSER The parents of the newborn lad who would in time be known to one and all as Mollygrubs Messer most assuredly did not dub their offspring “Mollygrubs,” a quaint word widely used in...
The Longest Minute
I stood up and grabbed the holster but was unable to remove the revolver regardless of how hard I tugged. When I looked up, the grizzly was charging toward me...The next minute seemed to last an eternity. Most of us are familiar with the movies, The Longest Day, The...
Loyal to the Last
All that day the old man's thoughts were on Malachi, the grizzly and himself. He knew what he must do, but dreaded it. Jasper Pratt came awake, suddenly pulled by the instincts of his breed as he heard the far-off cries of a wolf pack running down an animal, perhaps a...
Clayton Flowers
Never said nothin' to nobody,' folks said of Clayton Flowers. But he'd talk to me, about livin' and even about dyin'. I'll tell this the way Clayton Flowers told it once to me. Clayton was an old man himself then, the deeper side of his 70s. Never talked to nobody...
A Country Store
What a store was doing out in the middle of nowhere I didn't know, but there it was. I should never have had that second green chili burrito. The gas in my stomach told me I had made a big mistake and it was getting worse by the minute. I had finished my sales calls...
Grizzly Singlehanded
The guide put me ashore on the island. Just me and the grizzlies...an interesting feeling...isolated. My thoughts: I can't walk out. Just one person knows how to find me. I'd read many stories about grizzly bear hunting and attacks by the big, hump-backed predators....
Attacked in My Front Yard!
Those diving birds are dangerous! The other day I was casually strolling across the front yard when it happened: a bird flew out a tree and dive bombed me. Yikes! Attacked in my own front yard. Well, I did not call the law, but I did run and jump back on the porch to...
The Cripple
Deep down, he knew this duck, this day, no matter how good it had been, could not have made up for the things they had already lost. As they turned off the main highway onto a rutted two-track, Tom glanced over at his son and wondered what Casey would be thinking....
Wings Over Sonora
I know a sure cure for February cabin fever. It's just as well that February is the shortest month of the year. My grandfather used to maintain that it was so brief because it offered as large a dose of foul-weather misery as anyone could endure, and in many senses he...