1997 hurricane names were nothing to be alarmed about

Image courtesy of the National Hurricane Center.

The list of hurricane names for 1997 is out, and what a sorry list of names it is. The A storm will be called Ana. I have a friend whose name is Anna, so I will not say anything bad… READ MORE

Florida could be home to the national Mustang museum

Image courtesy of Flickr user Joe Ross. https://www.flickr.com/photos/joeross/

Have you visited a Ford lately? Did you know Florida has two cities in the running to become the permanent home of the Mustang Museum? We’re talking cars, not horses or airplanes. I spoke to Chris Hoverman, chairman of the… READ MORE

Del and Mladen review ‘Space Truckers’

“Space Truckers” Starring Dennis Hopper, Debi Mazar, Stephen Dorff, Charles Dance, George Wendt and others. Directed by Stuart Gordon. 1 hour, 35 minutes. Rated PG-13. Amazon Prime. Del’s take “Space Truckers” is Mladen’s revenge for “A Recipe for Seduction.” He’s… READ MORE

Take a walk on the wild side at Bear Lake in Northwest Florida

Pitcher plants grow along the grassy shoreline of a slough along the hiking trail that surrounds Bear Lake northwest of Baker, Florida. Image by Del Stone Jr

Unpaved paradise: Just an hour north of here, along State Road 4 between Baker and Munson, lies Bear Lake. It’s smack in the middle of the Blackwater River State Park. You gotta see this place. We took the hiking tour… READ MORE

Few foods surpass the simple virtues of the apple

Image courtesy of Wallpaper Flare. — One a day: Few foods surpass the simple virtues of the apple. For instance, the shape is sculpted to fit the human hand. It is not round but oval, with a top that is… READ MORE

Lately I’ve been thinking about heaven

Image by Mathias Krumbholz by way of a Creative Commons license. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Leviathan1983

Lately I have been thinking about heaven. In heaven, I am 10 years old again. I live in a small town, surrounded by farms and forests. It is summer. I burst from my house at sunup. I cut across Mrs…. READ MORE

A penny here, a penny there and soon you’re talking about real money

Image courtesy of flickr user Cweyant by way of a Creative Commons license. https://www.flickr.com/people/80267980@N00

The power of pennies: Squirreled away inside Aunt Wendy’s recent gift of chocolate chip cookies was a container of pennies. I think everyone must have a container of pennies sitting around the house. Mine is in the kitchen, next to… READ MORE

Oh joy, oh rapture. More growth

Image courtesy of Flickr user Gloria Manna by way of a Creative Commons license. https://www.flickr.com/photos/gloriamanna/

It’s a question of quality: The Hap-Hap-Happy News at the top of Friday’s Daily News left me with a lump in my throat. “Economist: Emerald Coast to grow for next 15 years.” I managed not to throw up as I… READ MORE

History lived within that World War II-era bomber

Props spin on the "Nine-O-Nine," a World War II-era bomber operated by the Collings Foundation, during a stopover at the Crestview, Florida airport. Image by Del Stone Jr.

12 O’Clock High: There she sat, the “Nine-O-Nine,” perched on the apron at the Crestview Airport, looking like a thousand B-17 Flying Fortresses I’d seen in a thousand movies about Eighth Air Force raids into Hitler’s Germany. Except this was… READ MORE

In the “olden” days, commercials were catchy

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons user Kroelleboelle.

We were talking about memorable commercials when I began quoting all the jingles I could remember. Problem was, they were all from the ’60s and ’70s. In 1965, for instance, when the Ford Mustang first appeared, there was a radio… READ MORE