Well, this past week I was looking down into the holler toward Webb’s Creek thinking about how we could end the gas crisis. It hit me like that little bell that goes off when my Jeep is running on fumes. Before I lay out my modest proposal an important word or two about “oxygen.” The percentage of oxygen in the air we breathe always stays constant at about 21%, but   Read More ...

Well, this past week I was looking down into the holler toward Webb’s Creek thinking about that age old question; “Which came first… the rocking chair or the front porch?” If you hike a few hundred yards on Fighting Creek Nature Trail behind Sugarlands Visitor center in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park you will come across a humongous odd-shaped sycamore tree on the left. It is located just a   Read More ...

Well, this past week I was looking down into the holler toward Webb’s Creek thinking about a young man from Bulgaria who shifts into neutral whenever he drives downhill. I struck up a conversation with Victor when I stopped by a campground store near Rocky Flats on the other side of the hill. His accent was more challenging than a fourth generation Cocke County moonshiner. Victor was a skinny 18   Read More ...

Well, this past week I was looking down into the holler toward Webb’s Creek wondering what kinds of questions the Three Wise Men might ask if they could spend Christmas at my cabin. No offense intended to my standard gaggle of visiting relatives, but the Three Wise Men would be awesome guests. We’d have to board their camels at the kennel, but the travelers from afar could stay in the   Read More ...

Well, this past week I was looking down into the holler toward Webb’s Creek wondering why some people’s feet smell really really bad. In the interest of good taste I’ll spare you the gory details that prompted my extreme curiosity because I’m guessing that you, too, may have personally stumbled across the life changing aroma. The journey for the answer to our question begins at one of the most amazing   Read More ...

Well, this past week I was looking down into the holler toward Webb’s Creek thinking about the seven years when I lived just a few miles south of Nazareth… in Bethlehem. Bethlehem, Pennsylvania is nestled in the foothills of the Pocono Mountains about an hour north of Philadelphia. It was established on a cold wintry Christmas Eve in 1741 by Moravian settlers. Many streets are still made of cobblestones and   Read More ...

Well, this past week I was looking down into the holler toward Webb’s Creek thinking about how challenging times like these call for us to go back to the source of our inner strength, character and core values; board games. Yahtzee comes to mind. Something special happens when a family gathers around the kitchen table with a cupful of dice and a cupful of hot chocolate. The struggle of achieving   Read More ...