My dear mother was deathly afraid of flying, and sedated herself with wine and cigarettes, before, during (back in the day when you could smoke on flights) and after flying.  I myself was never afraid of flying, but I do have an aversion to crashing.  Flying is statistically much safer than driving your car to … Continue reading Fear of (Not) Flying

Don’t worry, this isn’t a tell all blog about all of my errors in judgment over the past 42 years, I try to keep my blogs PG rated and less than 10 pages in length, neither of which would be possible if I wrote a tell all blog. But it really has been 42 years … Continue reading Bless Me Father, For I Have Sinned, It’s Been 42 Long Years Since My Last Confession

I am starting a war on flipflops, don’t hate me if you wear them. I know what you are thinking, how can you have a war on a type of shoe?  But it’s no different than a war on drugs (a thing) or a war on terrorism (a violent political act), and it has about … Continue reading War on Flipflops (and “isms”)

It had a strange pungent smell when you entered which I can still remember vividly today even though I haven’t been there in nearly forty years. I could never quite figure out exactly the origin of the odd smell, but it was part stale beer, part greasy spoon, and part blue collar sweat, since the … Continue reading Trader Places

It’s been a long while since I’ve written a blog and not without good cause, I spent most of the summer and fall preparing to sell my house and buying another, both arduous tasks. One required a lot of painstaking labor, the other a lot of patience. This blog is about the one that required … Continue reading Home Voyeur

On a recent visit to McDonalds to feed a Big Mac craving (don’t counsel me on my food choices, my wife already did), I was surprised to see that they served “artisan” buns.  I never expected to see the words McDonalds and artisan together, it’s an oxymoron, like military intelligence, or Trump eloquence. As I … Continue reading Inconceivable

Even though my blog is named Bourbon Tales, I have never written a blog about bourbon, until now.  I have in recent years become a bourbon aficionado, or as some might say a bourbon snob. After a long military career where I lived in the north, south, east and west I settled down at Wright-Patterson … Continue reading It’s Brown

When I was in the active duty military it was not uncommon for people to say to me when I was in uniform “Thank you for your service.” I always politely responded, “You’re welcome.” I believed they were sincere and I appreciated the sentiment. Upon reflection I also thought that it’s easy to thank someone … Continue reading Thank You For Your Service

I bet that title got your attention, it got my attention too some 9 years ago when it was uttered by Major General Mark Hertling, Multi National Division-North (MND-N) Commander, at the ribbon cutting ceremony for an Iraqi operated asphalt plant on Joint Base Balad. He was referring to the counterinsurgency in Iraq and after … Continue reading It’s All About the Sex

One passes many milestones as you travel through life and raise your children to be responsible adults.  One of the most significant rites of passage is getting your driver’s license and then much later teaching your children to drive. Both can be terror-filled and exhilarating experiences…often at the same time. For myself it was a … Continue reading This is a Car Not a Canoe