“I christen thee ‘The High Chaparral’—the greatest cattle ranch in the whole territory…the whole world!”

In the House of Yesteryear, we adhere to a standard (and arguably, fairly predictable) schedule when it comes to mealtimes—primarily because my father is diabetic and if he doesn’t eat regularly Mom goes into her ZaSu Pitts-number (“Oh, dear...”).  She arranges for us to have supper around 6pm, and we enjoy this repast in front…

Encore! Encore!

If you’re a regular visitor to this ‘umble scrap of the blogosphere you’re probably aware that I’d had issues with the DISH people from time to time.  Since the current Rancho Yesteryear the ‘rents and I occupy is located just outside the town limits of Winterville (a.k.a. City of Marigolds) in neighboring Oglethorpe County, we…

The passings parade

Each week here at Thrilling Days of Yesteryear, I like to eat up just a little bit of blogosphere bandwidth to observe selected celebrity notables who’ve left this world for a better one—and I think the news of the death of character great Gervase Duan (G.D.) Spradlin this week hit me the hardest, because he was truly one…

The passings parade

Facebook was abuzz yesterday with the news of the death of singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse at the age of 27…and at the risk of being thought a terrible person, I’m not entirely sure I understand why this came as a surprise to so many people.  Winehouse was certainly a major musical talent (though I will admit I wasn’t…

The (‘rents) is too damn high #2

You’re no doubt all familiar with the adage, “the child becomes the parent”—and to be perfectly honest, I always thought that was a huge pile of road apples.  But ever since the ‘rents and I decided to become “roomies” this year I’m starting to believe that my initial assessment of that maxim was a tad…

The passings parade

Last week, I wasn’t able to include (as longtime TDOY chum Brent McKee mentioned in the comments) an obituary for musician Clarence “The Big Man” Clemmons because the renowned tenor saxophonist with Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band played his last solo shortly after I posted the news of the week’s passings from the areas of music, TV, movies and…

The (‘rents) is too damn high #1

This will be the first in what will probably be a series of humorous articles (knock wood) on how life at Rancho Yesteryear has taken a wacky turn now that my mother, father and I have banded together and started lighthouse keeping light housekeeping at our new digs in Athens, Georgia… It’s been a little over a month since…

The passings parade

I’m not going to mince words here—I am waaaaaaay behind on chronicling the passings of certain celebrities in the fields of film, TV, music and what have you.  But when I saw on Facebook yesterday that actor James Arness—a boob tube legend best-known for his starring role as Marshal Matt Dillon on the series Gunsmoke—has ridden…

The passings parade

It was my father who phoned me Friday to let me know that country music legend Ferlin Husky died on St. Patrick’s Day from heart failure at the age of 85—which is sort of unusual in that I’m usually the one who lets him know if a notable has gone to their greater reward…after I try…

Hi, cartooners!

Because I had some irons in the fire on both Tuesday and Wednesday evenings this past week I didn’t get around to seeing the newest Pioneers of Television episode until Sunday afternoon.  The subject of PBS’ critically-acclaimed history of the boob tube was “Local Kids’ TV”—a celebration of programming aimed at the lollypop set featuring grown adults…