There’s something about receiving a letter in the mailbox.
     I might be old school, but I like getting mail.
    I don’t care for the bills and the junk mail, but the personal letters are nice even if they are few and far between.
    It’s nice when someone thinks enough to sit down and pen a letter, place a stamp on the envelope and send it my way. It is much more personal than social media.
      Receiving Christmas cards with letters are fun, too. I enjoy reading about people’s life adventures. And it is nice to receive a birthday card and to be thought off to receive a personal invite to attend a wedding, graduation or anniversary party.
   I’m not knocking social media. I use it daily. I do interviews via email and reach out to folks through Facebook, Messenger or by texting. I don’t care too much for Twitter or Instagram. I have both accounts, but never use them.
     I received a nice note late last month from the daughter of Brooklyn’s own Harold “Pie” Keller, one of the six Marines who raised the American Flag at Iwo Jima during World War II.
     She wrote to thank me for the article I did in this publication in October on her father regarding plans to build a memorial in his honor at the Brooklyn Flag Display.
     I just mailed her a copy of the newspaper and a nice letter in return. I’m sure she will be happy to receive them.
     I can remember many moons ago receiving a college course catalog in the mail from Rogers State College in Claremore, Okla. It was the summer of 1987. I looked through the catalog and there were photography darkroom classes offered. I called the college to ask about the photography program and ended up talking with the instructor.
      He suggested I enroll in a black and white photo darkroom course. I soon enrolled in my first photography course in late August that year. It was a great experience and adventure that changed the direction of my life.
   That one step and my experience at RSC, thanks to that course catalog, led me to the University of Missouri-Columbia where I went on to earn my BS degree in Agricultural Journalism at the age of 38, 19 years after graduating high school.
    And of course from there, I came to Iowa, met my wife, Debbie, and continue to enjoy writing, photography and community journalism to this day.
    I once wrote the chancellor of the University of Missouri-Columbia a letter to thank him and let him know that I appreciated the opportunity to attend school there and that I was going to earn my degree at MU.
    Three weeks later, I received a hand-signed letter from the chancellor thanking me for my kinds words. He then went on to invite me to his office as he wanted to help me.
    News of my letter soon made the rounds of the higher ups at the MU School of Agriculture. I received a call from my academic advisor asking me about the letter.
   “Do you know that the vice provost of Missouri Extension can’t get a meeting with the chancellor?,” my advisor asked.
    It was would six weeks before I would meet with the chancellor and the meeting lasted 5 minutes. I showed up at his office in Jesse Hall on the campus wearing jeans, a nice shirt and carrying my backpack.
     He thanked me for the letter, offered me a cup of coffee and asked how he could help me. I told him I needed a job and he said to send my resume and he would help me.
     So here I am, a 33-year-old non-traditional college student from Tulsa, Okla. working my way through college and soon would be attending one of the top journalism programs in the world and I’m sitting in the chancellor’s office and the man wants to help me.
       I sent him my resume and later that year I received a phone call from the hiring office. I was in Tulsa at the time and had gone fishing with my dad when they called and left a message. This was before cell phones.
       I landed a job as a custodian and went on to sweep and clean toilets while taking classes and attending journalism school.
         What a great experience and it was thanks to a letter!
         Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.

   After months of struggling with an old-fashioned hand-held can opener, Debbie got me a new electronic version. It was a late Christmas gift.
    I’ve owned various types of can openers through the years from a plain Jane to those fancy overpriced ones sold through home party outfits. They’re all nice, but my new one is top of the line.
   To get the hand-held can opener to work, I sometimes had to wet the cutting blade, or clamp it on the can and turn it in or turn it out for extra pressure. 
   Now, I just set my new can opener on the can, push a button and it spins around the edge, right before my eyes. No more metal shards on the can edge and no more struggling to open a can of beans for supper.
    My new can opener reminds me of the many luxuries life has afforded me.
    Take for instance - indoor plumbing.
   I remember the stories my mom told me of waking up in the middle of the night and having to go. She would have to crawl from under the covers on a cold winter night, bundle up, put on her clothes and trudge through a half a foot of snow to take care of business in a wooden box with a hole in it.
    I’m not a fan of outhouses. I remember some years ago visiting an aunt that lived in Westville, Okla., a small town that borders Arkansas.
    I was around age 10 and my family had stopped to visit one summer afternoon. My aunt and uncle were building a new house and while it was under construction, they lived in a converted chicken shed. They had running water in the makeshift kitchen, but no toilet. It was out back by the barn.
     I had to go, so I trudged up to the outhouse and there was a big lizard resting in the outhouse. No way, not me, not now, not ever!
    I will not go into further detail, but to this day I have no desire to use an outhouse or porta potty. This is not Boy Scouts. Give me a toilet with a flusher. God bless the person who invented the indoor toilet.
Moving on
   Life was tough back in the day.
   I’ve heard about having to take a bath in a No. 2 washtub along with the rest of one’s siblings on a Saturday night.
   And how about drinking water? That’s something else that it is easy to take for granted. Back in the day, folks had to go outside and draw water out of a well and fill a bucket several times a day to do laundry, wash the dishes or get a drink. All I have to do is turn a knob and I have hot and cold water in seconds.
   You used to have to chop firewood to cook supper or to warm the house. To do the laundry or wash the dishes, the water had to be heated on the woodburning stove.
   Nowadays, I push a button and I have heat in the wintertime and A/C in the summertime. I have a dishwasher to clean my dishes and a washer and dryer to clean and dry my clothes. I turn a knob and I can cook supper on the stove or put my food in the microwave and hit a button and presto, supper is ready.
    I flip a switch and I have lights to see what I am doing. No need to light a kerosene lamp. I have a computer and cell phone to keep in touch. I watch television or listen to music on-line or on my stereo.
   And having a car to get places is also a benefit of our modern times. Mine is old, rusty and rattles, but it runs.
   I remember my mom telling me a story of when she was sick in the late 40s. Her parents didn’t have an automobile or money, so my grandpa made a bed on the back of the plow and carried my mom to the doctor with his tractor.
    I’m so blessed! My parents had little when they met, but they had a dream and they worked hard and made it happen! And they taught me about the Good Book and I’m thankful for that as well.
    What a rich and rewarding life I enjoy!
    What are you thankful for?
    Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.

   One of my favorite pastimes as a kid was collecting postage stamps. I also had an extensive collection of Matchbox cars. I took great pride in both my collections.
   On a hot summer day, I could be found playing with my Matchbox cars under the oak tree between my boyhood home and the neighbors to the north, the Belknaps.
   I always built a fort using twigs between the large roots protruding from the earth. I would push my Matchbox cars around in the dirt and let my imagination run wild.
    I also enjoyed my stamp collection and often picked up old stamps from neighbors or family members. I remember one of the many occasions when my family would stop to visit with my dad’s aunt in Coweta, Okla., a small town about 40 miles southeast of Tulsa.
   Her name has slipped my memory, but I could take you to her home just off Highway 51, which runs through the heart of Coweta. I remember the old general store there and I often entered through the backdoor to get a cold Pepsi in the bottle and a candy bar or bag of chips.
   We often stopped to visit my dad’s aunt and I remember once when she sent me to the back bedroom and there in a glass dish on the dresser was a stack of old 5 cent postage stamps.
    I also bought stamps from a postage stamp dealer a few blocks from my home. His store was located in an upstairs office at 13th and Harvard. I would ride my Schwinn bicycle there and always returned home with some loot.
   I don’t have the Matchbox cars any longer, but I still have my stamp collection. I have often thought of trading it or selling the collection, but have done neither.
    January is National Hobby Month. It’s the perfect time of the year to pick up a new hobby, or rekindle an old one.
     You’re never too old to have a hobby. For Debbie and I, we enjoy going antiquing. We have several antique stores we like to visit in both Iowa and Missouri and have amassed a few things along the way.
     I deal mostly in smalls. I enjoy collecting cigar boxes, pop bottle openers, Pepsi memorabilia, some toys such as Auburn tractors, Old Threshers pinback buttons and seed corn booklets handed out by seed corn dealers to their customers. I have one seed corn book that the original owner used to write his family tree. I also enjoy collecting postcards. I probably have 1,200 or more postcards all neatly organized by state, type or category. I have a nice collection of Montezuma, Iowa, outhouse, comic World War II military, Washington, D.C., Tulsa, oil wells, Will Rogers, Route 66, Mark Twain and Hannibal, Lake of the Ozarks, University of Missouri-Columbia and much more. My oldest card is dated in the early 1910s.
      With eBay and other on-line outlets, collecting and selling is much easier these days. I purchase many of my postcards on eBay.
      My dad collected old saws, old tools, single and double trees, which were used to hitch a horse or team of horses to a plow or wagon and other items that reminded him of his boyhood days. I have garnered much of his collection and have added to it through the years.
    A couple years before Dad passed away, he gave me the set of harnesses his dad used during the WPA (Works Progress Administration) days in the mid-1930s to build roads in Oklahoma. I would like to know the stories behind the set of harnesses.
      Collecting is just one of many hobbies that people can do. People have such varied interests from building puzzles to buying and remodeling homes. 
       When finding a hobby, enthusiasts offer the following advice:
            Sit down and think about what you really love to do.
            What are you passionate about in life?
            What sparks your interest the most?
            What are you curious about? 
            What are your goals? 
      Finding a good hobby and giving yourself time to take part in it on a daily or weekly basis is sure to make you happier, and maybe even healthier. Keeping your mind active is a good way to handle the pressures of work and life and keep your mind fresh.
     My goal for 2021 is to enjoy the moment. With all the craziness going on in the world, it is good to give your mind and heart a break.
       Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.