Well, this is a chance to tell you a little about myself. I'm just a regular guy who likes to write  stories more than he likes to work. Most of the time that isn't much of a problem. There are a few people who wish I would work more and write less. This page is dedicated to those folks.

I was born in 1953, which seems like a long time ago. I lived in Norfolk, Nebraska with my family in a big old house on Nebraska Avenue. There were lots of great hiding places in that old house and lots of things to discover everyday.

Even as a kid, I always told stories. My older sister, Janet, used to laugh at my stories as I typed them. I would make up stuff to tell my younger sister, Kathy, about the creatures that lived in the attic. As far as I know, there weren't any up there but who knows? Doug, my younger brother, always had time for a story -- especially at midnight when I would come into his bedroom and set his clocks ahead to 8 a.m. and then wake him up and say, "Doug! You're late for school, man!"

I went to school at the University of Arizona in Tucson and then lived there for about 17 years. After that I moved to Yellowstone National Park and lived and worked around there for about eight years.

I've been working at Gwynn Valley, a summer camp for younger boys and girls in Brevard, North Carolina, since 1980. That's when I really got to know Duke the Mouse. If you'd like to know about that, check out Duke's Biography. While at the camp I earned the name "RB" since there was another guy named "Rick" working there and I didn't want to confuse anyone.
 
 

Another person who has been very important to Duke the Mouse is my son, Sam. He loves to hear stories about that mouse and will ask me about him at the oddest moments (like while riding the Metro in downtown Washington D.C.). All of these stories are dedicated to him, of course. That's Sam right there!.

Playing Frisbee with Dad by Sam LaClair Here is a picture that Sam, my son, drew of us throwing the frisbee around on a warm spring day. I'm the one with the big ears.

 

And that's pretty much the whole story, except for some details that are better left out. Like I said, I'm just a regular guy who likes to write stories. And collect feathers. And make mobiles. And make up stories about a pesky rodent named Duke.

Oh, just in case you might be wondering what I've been doing with my life, here's a list of some of the jobs I've held so that Duke the Mouse may live the lifestyle he's become accustom to: