Charles Frenzel

I wanted to step up to a subject which is on nearly every one’s mind. There will be no depressing political harangues, no complicated arguments, just descriptions of pure pleasure–losing weight and enjoying the process. “Ha!” you say. “Fact or fantasy?” In our case, fact. I’ve lost 27 pounds, my wife reached her ideal weight […]

I was munching my way through a hamburger, eating lunch in a little off-campus dive in the college town where I live and thinking about who we are handing the future of our world over to. Not that it matters, really. Generational transformation is never dignified. New Ages will come and I won’t be around […]

For most of my life I haven’t noticed my memory because it was something that was just there. I never had trouble remembering my wife’s birthday or our anniversary date. I’ve always known what kind of chocolate she likes and what colors are her favorites. I get up this morning before daylight because I remembered […]

At the risk of repeating myself, I’m going to incur the wrath of certain cooks by trying to destroy one of those myths that plagues people who would like to eat fresh bread but have no local or decent bakery. Sorry, dedicated bread makers, but this business about complicated bread making is pure crap. You […]

All of us eventually realize that one way we change is by taking sides in arguments. But should we? While arguing over either religion or politics is unlikely to change any opinions, if forced into the situation, I insist on arguing only about religion and never politics. For one thing, there are no new candidates likely […]

As you get older you might want to follow the lunar calendar instead of the one that Hallmark or the IRS sends you each year around Christmas. For one thing, you get to divide the year up into about 13 pieces instead of 12. This finer grained resolution makes time seemed to pass slower and […]

While this post may seem strange to the younger set, my older readers will probably recognize the truth in what I say. With this caveat in mind…. As all us older versions of homo sapiens know, we shrink as we get older. Unfortunately, this is usually in height rather than in girth. I was once nearly […]

I know that there are good things to eat along the Texas Gulf coast. Certainly the old city of Corpus Christi has long been a place where one might find  good food and drink. However, after last nights debacle at Snoopy’s my faith was severely shaken. Normally I don’t like to give a negative review. […]

A couple of  years ago we acquired a garden plot next to the hundred-year-old house that momentary insanity prompted us to purchase. We discovered, under the thick mats of weeds, old stone walks, bases of fountains, lush growths of wonderful garlic, and something that we believe is a cow’s skull although it looks suspiciously like […]

Typical. Vexing. Perverse. As so often happens, astronomical events like meteor showers with top billing turn out to be total busts for me. Clouds move in during the night, daylight brings clear skies and unbelievable heat. I should be studying sun spots and solar flares. Unless, of course, an important solar event should crop up. […]

I’ve been interested in astronomy all my life. Once I might have even been considered professional. After all, I took photographic plates of interesting objects and even got paid for it. I believe that qualifies? But I also was a pretty hip programmer, the language and style suggesting how long ago this probably was. Nevertheless, […]

Time was when I used cedar planks to repair my Great Aunt’s fence which was in a constant state of being ravaged by dogs trying to get in to her garden, rabbits trying to keep from being eaten by the dogs, and newsboys trying to retrieve papers that missed the porch. My Aunt refused to […]

An unexpected hazard has appeared in my tomato garden. The ubiquitous assasin bug which has heretofore concentrated on sucking the life out of unwanted insects, is now becoming agressive enough to attack me whenever I decide to pluck a ripe cherry tomato. Some of them are over an inch long and look mean enough to […]

As I trod back and forth across my front yard this morning, trailing behind my “personal pacer” lawnmower, I paused to pull the bottle of water out of my pocket and took a deep swig. While I was at it, I eyed the grass catcher that was bulging like a spider’s sack filled with babies. […]

If someone out there remembers how the summer weather in San Marcos use to be, I’d appreciate them letting me know. I remember really hot days followed by clear, cool nights back in the forties and fifties. If I said I remember the sixties, some people would call me a liar. When I moved here, […]