In the summer of 2007, I was asked by Mr. Johnny Gunn, my friend of more
than
forty years, if I would write a twice-monthly article for his online news
journal,
The Nevada Observer. Now, I worked with John at numerous radio news
operations in our years in the broadcast business and, because I know that
anything he is connected with is high class, I readily agreed.
I asked what he wanted me to write about, and he said, "Anything you wish.
Only thing," he said, "is you have to let me name it." I says,
"Okay." And he
says, "Well, you're old, and I consider you to have sage-like wisdom so,
I'm callin' it "A Brush with an Old Sage." John never could pass up a decent
pun, so that's what my tales are called.
Now, as a practicing western poet, and a somewhat frustrated novelist... and
as someone who loves the part of the West in which we live, I came up with
something with which John and I both are comfortable.
I get to take my readers on a visit with some of my favorite folks, real and
imagined, and tell of their adventures. Sometimes, the stories make even
me shed tears, they're just so doggoned sweet and touching. Other times, I
laugh right out loud while I'm writing the things, because they're just so
doggoned humorous. What gives me special pride, though, is when my wife,
Carol, reads what I've written, and says she likes it.
Shorty's Place, which you get to visit now and then in my stories, actually
existed... in the mid to late 1800s, in Drytown, Utah Territory. Mr. Carl
Shelly, a founder of the Sparks Heritage Museum, showed me a hectographed
newspaper from Drytown, in which was a hand-drawn, hand-lettered ad for
Shorty's Lunchroom. It now is "Shorty's Place," and Drytown now is the
city of Wadsworth, Nevada--some thirty miles east of where I live, in
Sparks, Nevada.
Now, yes... Shorty's Place has a bar. However, his bar serves only two drinks:
sasparilla, and buttermilk--both are beverages which, as everybody knows,
all red-blooded men of the West prefer any time over grain alcohol or the
juice of the grape.
Now, I don't understand all I know about the Internet, but John says my
articles are regularly among the top one-hundred items readers "hit" each
month. John says a "hit" is what a visit to an item is called. Well, be that as
it may, The Nevada Observer is a hit with me, and I hope it will be with you,
too, should you choose to check it out.
It is posted fresh on the 1st and 15th of each month. However, John is always
on the alert for breaking news, which he posts as updates are indicated.
I look forward to your visit, I hope you enjoy it.
Hal