If you enjoy seeing hummingbirds, put up a hummingbird feeder and get ready for a lot of action: The fall feeding frenzy has begun. more

I took care of my baby brother Stephen when he was a baby. I never wondered what he would grow up to be, and I never had the chance to see. more

Howdy, everyone; I am so glad to be back again for more ramblings this week. I am beginning to feel Fall in the air, and I have already seen bunches of deer moving around everywhere this week. To all my rambling friends and neighbors, please become deer-cautious as you drive around the country. This past week, I almost hit a deer as it was crossing in front of me. I have seen some hunters practicing bow shooting-honing their skills for the opening day of bow more

Kids are back in school and yellow buses run up and down country roads night and morning. more

I have been reading and hearing news of digital platforms such as streaming services removing content and books being banned, and this thought came to me. more

Many Ozarkers would be surprised to find out what the most-harvested gamebird in the U.S. is. more

I saw one of those motivational signs the other day. Some of these signs, I admit, I find annoying. But this one made me think. It read, “The world needs who you were made to be.” I later realized it was just the title of some kids’ book, and yet, it still captivated me. Can we be who we weren’t made to be? And, how, really, do we know who we are made to be, in each and every respect? The complete subjectiveness, of this line of thought, is what I find mesmerizing. There are no guidelines in this area. No one can tell us. No one has authority over what we have to decide, for ourselves, who we were made to be. We must figure this all out ourselves, listening to inner guidance only. more

Perhaps no arachnid symbolizes what’s wrong with many human’s perception of spiders better than the garden spider. more

It’s often said money makes the world go ‘round, but that’s not entirely true. What keeps it spinning is the selfless leadership and service of legions of folks who never get paid a dime — volunteers. more

Hi everyone! I am so very glad to be back for more history, fun, adventure, and excitement. more

The emerald ash borer is a small insect that’s causing big problems for Missouri’s ash trees. more

I flirted last year with returning to college to complete my master’s degree. It wouldn’t have advanced my career. That’s mostly over with. more

In April, I mentioned seeing train cars with graffiti on them. I was sad when they went away shortly after I wrote my piece. more

Is it just me, or is everyone furious? Recently, everyone has had to argue about something. People are digging trenches or standing firm in their stance in politics, religion, music, or any form of entertainment. more

Sometimes seemingly random events of life intertwine, showing their interconnectedness, and the lines which join the individual parts into a whole appear, forming a new constellation of the soul. Then, pure wonder and delight ensues. more

As another crop of freshmen begin their high school journey, I can only hope and pray they will start more wisely than I did at Fair Grove in the fall of 1961. more

Hi everyone! I am so very glad to be back for another exciting rambling! At this time I want to share a little of my past when I was still running Frontier Theater. We started school field trips in 1994 doing: Ozarks Missouri history featuring: native american skills, early settler adventures, and civil war reenactments, plus: much more! It was common to have 700 to 900 kids per week coming to the park for a field trip that was fun and educational. My job was the hayride in which I would load up about 50 kids and parents five or six times each day. After being loaded, I would announce to everyone: this is the famous Frontier Theater hayride, and we are going into the Land of Yesterday for an adventure experience that you will never forget! I would have different storylines for different age groups. I would take them to a special old-fashioned barn and line them up and begin our 1800s historical adventure. To all of my friends and readers of the rambling, how about our own adventure experience into the Land of Yesterday? OK, here we go. Let’s pause for a moment, close your eyes for a couple of seconds, and let’s all together learn about Felix Von Maxengruber, born hundreds of years ago in Germany. Felix and his family were farmers who lived a very isolated life working the land and, once every six months, took a four-day journey to the nearest village to trade their farm produce for items they needed. Now Felix was not the normal farmer. He was a devout believer in Jesus and studied the Bible closely every day! By the way, my rambling friends, our Felix, according to urban legend, was alive 400 hundred years ago during the 1600s. On his own, he asked the question: why did creation by God happen? Felix had a legendary I. Q. estimate of 390 by today’s standards. {perhaps the smartest person to live in modern history} His ability to comprehend and figure things out was off the charts for his time and even today! From Genesis 1:1- “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” From this statement alone, he concluded that from the original Hebrew that the word beginning meant reveal, and God almighty simply wanted to reveal himself to create man, heaven, and the universe. The next big question our Felix wrestled with for years was 2 Peter 3:10. Elements? What were the elements? What were these elements? How did more

Fundamentalism can creep its way into any space. I’m using the word fundamentalism here to say: non-negotiably following any subject’s basic rules. At first, these rules seem a nice set of concepts to cling onto. They set boundaries. “I stand for THIS! Not THAT,” fundamentalism proudly and boldly proclaims. It is illuminating to learn something’s rules, at first. They help guide us in the right direction. But, at some point, the “rules” might just start holding us back. At some point, the world may ask us, need us, to use our own brains, our own discretion. As Thomas Moore teaches in his book “Care of the Soul,” the intellect may crave strict and steadfast rules to hold onto, but the soul wants the nuance, the insight, the multi-layered levels of meaning and possibilities. Concrete ideas do work sometimes, but other times, the reflection and thoughtfulness of the abstract world needs to stake its place in our lives, too. more

I was on Facebook one day when it reminded me of a post I had made last year. For context, some of my friends and former co-workers were getting laid off from their jobs or were feeling the toxicity of their careers. Some expressed joy or a level of sarcasm. In contrast, others voiced grief as they put so much time, effort, tolerance, and even their life into a company and felt hurt or betrayed. If you are going through something like this, that feeling of loss and not sure what the next step you should take is, well, consider my thoughts for this week. more

Once upon a time many of our public meetings opened with prayer. more

Hi friends and neighbors of the mail. Last week the rambling left you all hanging with the question about the days when ‘pigs could fly’. I also promised this week to share about those days. So, this is it! more

On June 30th of this year, I had a life altering experience in Seymour. more

Hi everyone, back again. Last week we finished an 1800s story that lasted since the first of January. I want to thank everyone for joining Roger’s Ramblings each week as we galloped back together into the past and relived the life of a couple before, during, and after the civil war. more

I took a break recently and caught up on some games I had picked up. One of those games got me excited about fighting. more

For better or worse, I’m back. more