Shelton-Mason County Journal - Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886

After a lifetime of not doing so, I started making our bed two months ago. The spur was mostly a desire to improve order in the courtroom, which it has, but we’ve also discovered the satisfaction...

Annoying words and phrases infect our speech with frequency and tenacity, and I can’t stop it. I try, but I’m only one bro, one bruh, one dude, one dawg, one homeboy. But if I was king, I could se...

“To the earth you are scattered You’re going home, so what does it matter? To an atomic mind Scattered here while you travel time.” — The Kinks, “Scattered” My 64th orbit of the sun will...

I’ve made a promise to myself. If I ever see a homeless person sporting a sign that reads “Need $ for cellphone bill,” I’ll surrender $20 right there. There was a short period when I carried...

Compassion is its own reward. Dave Pierik, the office administrator and the longest-serving employee at the Shelton-Mason County Journal, has been joining us lately in the newsroom, making...

Oliver Svenningson is 8 years old. He’s the son of friends of ours, friends who used to be neighbor-friends, but they lost neighbor status when mother, father and Oliver moved to Germany in summer...

We eventually become what we’ve left behind. I was at a bookstore in downtown Olympia two weeks ago to buy a book for Mrs. Ericson, and I found a paperback copy from one of her favorite authors,...

Becoming aware of the love around you is the only price you must pay to feel joy. A recent headline on the cover of a health magazine: "One woman's 8-year journey with nasal polyps." I didn't read...

We had a trampoline in the backyard for our kids when those two kids were kids, and for 10 years I had to put up with safety Nellies telling me how dangerous trampolines are, especially ones not...

This is a column that ran in the Shelton-Mason County Journal on March 4, 2021. Of the 308 columns the Journal has published of mine, this one is among my five favorites. I’ll return with original...

Remember in spring 2020 when we started hearing the phrase “a novel coronavirus?” We don’t hear that phrase much now. This particular coronavirus has lost all its novelty. COVID-19 infection...

A woman in our neighborhood many years ago was getting treatment for lung cancer. I saw her walking along the sidewalk in front of the house one day – she was getting chemotherapy or radiation, I...

I have a friend who grew up rich, but through hard work, grit and some lucky breaks, she overcame it. When people were losing their senses of taste and smell during the worst of COVID, did their sense...

A one-scene play It’s late afternoon in a principal’s office at an expensive private middle school. In attendance are the principal, an 11-year-old boy, and the boy’s mother and father. The boy...

I’ve wasted enough time watching sports to know how they could be improved. Here, for your consideration, are some ways sporting events could become more entertaining … and violent. BASEBALL:...

"We don't have to get fat, We don't have to get old. We don't have information that we have to withhold." -The Pretenders, "Let the Sun Come In" Mrs. Ericson and I are doing fine money-wise, but we...

We got a letter from the IRS last month. I nervously opened it, but it only sought our participation in a survey on what the IRS calls “taxpayer burden” – the amount of money and time taxpayers...

I've bought 10 cars in life, starting at age 17. All were used, save one, and only two had any dollar value when I finished with them. All, however, have story value. No. 1, 1977: A 1972 Volkswagen...

WE’RE NO. 51! In 2022, the number of (police) officers decreased by 70 to around 10,600 officers in Washington. The 4.4% drop brought the staffing rate to 1.35 officers per 1,000 people, putting Was...

Hecidora Temisqueño was washing dishes in the early afternoon of July 4 when she saw a boiling column of smoke out the window. It was rolling toward her home. “It seemed like just seconds later, fi...

I hate know-it-alls, but I really hate mass murderers. We need to get to the point in our nation where we can dislike people solely for the content of their character, not the color of their skin. My...

Four Fingered Jacks: The best name I’ve seen for a fireworks stand. One Fourth when all four kids were under one roof, our father announced we would have a safe Fourth of July. He got some of us...

“Everybody says how easy it is to cook, but it isn’t any easier than not cooking.” — Maria Bamford “Did you ever hear about the Norwegian who loved his wife so much he almost told her?...

File this one under “Beware of trucks bought from Canadian mines.” Mrs. Ericson and I were nearing her car in a parking lot a couple of weeks ago. She was several steps ahead of me when she depres...

Count on this: We'll soon have people who claim they developed PTSD from fighting in this nation's culture wars. One experience I miss about having babies around: Not being able to say "zero" when...