Stories from the Slow Lane
Victor & Joe Stanzel: Farm Boys Turned Model Airplane Pioneers
The story of model airplane pioneers Victor and Joe Stanzel is a heartwarming saga about two reserved rural Texas bachelor brothers. Against all odds, they built a 20th-century business that flourished for 70 years on nothing but ambition, creativity and hard work....
A Story for the Birds
“Pretty postage stamps? Oh yes, this sheet of ‘Birds of Prey’ is especially nice,” the helpful postal office worker told me. “No birds,” I murmured. Glancing up, she did not comment, but I think she was wondering, “Who doesn’t like birds?” That Would Be Me Before I...
Wanted: Another Extraordinary Dog
I’m embarrassed to admit I visited the animal shelter so often that I know some of the dogs awaiting adoption recognized me. Yet, Emil and I hadn't felt a connection, that inexplicable spark convincing us a certain dog had been waiting just for us. In the last 25...
Historic Home Goes From Jaded to Jewel
When the fierce February winter storm of 2021 named Uri spread a pristine coat of snow across San Antonio, Texas, a grand Victorian home on Guenther Street never looked more striking. Three years before, however, the house didn’t glow in the sunshine. Back then, the...
Bitten By the Auction Bug
When I was a child, Daddy would occasionally load up and haul a few weaner pigs or several skim milk calves to MacLean’s Auction Mart on a Saturday morning. I was always thrilled when he invited me to tag along as he transacted business at that time-honored...
All Fired Up: No School Bus
I was in the second grade that long-ago February morning in the Alberta foothills when Old Man Winter had such a fierce grip on our farm. To walk the quarter-mile uphill from our farmhouse to the main road where we’d catch the school bus, Mom had wrapped me in...
We’ll Take Our COVID Shots To-Go
Since COVID-19 began disrupting our everyday routines last year, we’ve taken advantage of various drive-throughs, curbside pickups and to-go offers. Correspondingly, when Emil and I received our first Moderna vaccine shots on Inauguration Day, we never had to leave...
A Tale of Two Tomcats
My sister Shirley and I love cats and always have. Years before she married Harvey, he and his mother gave Shirley a tabby kitten. Furious at being trapped and relocated, the little guy earned the name of Yowler. He’d been born and lived quite comfortably in Harvey’s...
Miles of 2020 Smiles
For as long as I can remember, Mom insisted that tacking up a new calendar before the first day of the New Year was bad luck. Since we don’t need any of that, Emil and I waited until today to take down our dog-eared record of 2020. Flipping through the months, we...
Other Stories I've Saved
