The BoomerGuy Chronicles

During my youth, television  news came of age during the November weekend in  1963 when JFK was assassinated in Dallas. I recall becoming riveted to our console on Lawndale street as Walter Cronkite and Chet Huntley and David Brinkley told us repeatedly of the details surrounding the snuffing out of Camelot, the swearing-in of LBJ on the tarmac at Love Field in Dallas,  the stone face of Jackie, and the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald on Saturday morning before our eyes by Jack Ruby. We stayed riveted to the TV for the rest of the '60s through more assassinations, marches, urban insurrections in Detroit and Los Angeles, and the killings of students at Jackson State and Kent State in the spring of my senior year at St. Louis University. I can't recall when it started, but every night on the TV news there was a chronicling of the death toll and casualty toll in Vietnam. The President or General Westmoreland or Defense Secretary Mc Namara would present the latest plan for vic...

Late Saturday morning during the seventh week of lockdown, I joined my son Rory on a "fishing trip" with his sons, Sam and James. Our first stop was Hudson Mills Park along the Huron River north of Dexter.  Amid Canadian geese and their newly hatched goslings, the guys "fished" along the bank with worms and lures .  Time was spent with snacks and seat belts and other rigamarole in preparation for the 20 minute drive to the river. James was mostly interested in the worms and why fake worms were better than live worms .( A video named 'WildKratts' was the research basis for this opinion) We spent 45 minutes with the geese and worms before deciding to seek new venues for or quest for the elusive bass. We the jumped in the van and trekked to Pickerel Lake in the Pickney Recreation Area further north and west. While Rory fished from the shore, Sam and James and I decided to " take a hike".  Not 50 yards down the trail, the guys discovered a cadre of u...