It’s about four weeks since my May 3 double operation—two knee replacements at Kaiser in Roseville. After three days in the hospital, I had a miserable six days in Sierra Hills CC (and that does not stand for Country Club). It’s a care center dedicated to recuperation, but they also house ailing seniors on limited time. It was a depressing

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On April 15, Tax Day, a 108-page booklet arrived from Norma’s travel agent. They don’t want us to miss a thing. They tease us with descriptive Madison Avenue copy on several packaged itineraries for each and every port of call. I had to give up reading my Paul Theroux Pillars of Hercules for one night to study the options.

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Gretchen and I are healthy, all things considered. I await knee replacement but prefer to play with pain as long as I can. Gretchen, the smoker, walks the dog every monrning before work. In my eyes she still looks good.

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Kramer on vacation at Galliano Island in British Columbia. 2005.

The most recent canine in the household of Tom and Gretcen McClelland, Kramer, went through a few months of tough times before dying in November. He had a good life where he was spoiled rotten by his masters. He was well traveled and loved greatly. He was 19 actual years old…and those are human years.

At the end he was deaf, listless, and did his doodies wherever he was situated. He has gone to a better place.

He is survived by fellow mutt Elaine, a sister of sorts. Both dogs were named for characters in the Seinfeld TV series.

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Collecting anything to the extreme is a mild form of insanity. I ran that statement by a psychiatrist (who happened to be a beer stein collector), and he didn’t disagree. So, if collecting antique drinking vessels is a crazy behavior,

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Not since college days has the enthusiasm of an election whelmed me as did the recent U. S. primaries. Some of my Kiwanis pals and I worked at a polling place.

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Here are a few shot’s from our December vacation to Wickenburg, Arizona and a dude ranch which turned into a chilly vacation filled with food, golf and horseback riding.

We made the most of our trip to Arizona. Disappointing was the initial …

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We spent the Thanksgiving holiday at Dad and Gretchen’s place in Roseville, and I had much for which to be thankful. I was thankful that I got to play 9 holes of golf with the boys for about 3 hours even though Lisa threatens that next year she and the girls will

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This little stein should be recognized as the stein that started the world’s most unique beer-stein collecting society—Stein Collectors International. Here’s an excerpt from the story Tom was asked to write for the club.

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