spreadeagleranch.com

Charles Turrentine

 

These writings began as written correspondence from my father years and years ago when I was in a deep depression and life just didn't seem worth much. I would sometimes receive half a dozen letters in a day, because he would think of something else to write after he had sealed a previous envelope. Over time he began sending copies of these letters to a growing number of friends and family members. Eventually the whole thing went online, and my father has a regular daily audience for his thoughts now via email and on message boards. What is presented here is a small sample of what those of us on his list read almost every day.

 
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3 Navajo items

A Few Animal Thoughts by Others

A few Chinese comments on the world

A Few Words About My Aunt Teenie

A horrible state of affairs

A man of few words

A Question of Guilt

A soldier's pay

A test for your dog

A vast international conspiracy

A walk in the woods

Abdul Abulbul Amir

Academia

Adam's Task

Admonition to a piper

Afghans

Airports

Alexander Hamilton

Allah's children

American history

An Arab

An open door for fears to slip in

Ancient wisdom

Anguished English

Another shot of O'Crohan's Island Crosstalk

Apt sentences

Archer City & Larry McMurtry's Bookstores

Beware the festive dog

Blue

Blue

Books

Books of 2000

Books read in 2001

Books read in 2002

By the slimmest of chances

Canis mordit homo

Child protective services

Child's Play

Chile peppers, or chili peppers, if you prefer

Coincidence

Commander Scott Waddle

Cottonelle

Dallas area doin's

Darwin and the Barber Bug

Deck the halls

Dido

Differences

Dog emotions

Dog Stories

Dog thoughts

Don't forget Saudi Arabia

Druids

El Jornado del Muerto

Electricity

Elizabeth Forster Nietzsche

Fate is the hunter

Favorite US Hotels

Fifteen points on immigration

Forrester quote

Fort Richardson

Gemichster pickles

Geneology

Genetics

George Will

Gleanings from Yesterday's Readings

Grapes - A new line of thought

Gravy

Haiku

Headlines of 1943

Historians

How old is man's relationship with the dog

How the Leopard Got Its Name

How To Get Acquainted with a Mean Dog

How to speak dog

Hunter

Huntington's Disease

I am misunderstood

I bring the news

Idle thoughts

In amazement and despair (a diatribe)

In Love With Norma Loquendi

Irish tidbits

Islam

Island crosstalk

It's all in the frijoles

John L Lewis speech (partial)

Judge Dee

Kumquats, Longnans, Lychees and Loquats

Lazy Oxen

Lederer

Lederer and the English language

lil fuckin thought for the day

Lovable US

Mad King George

Mahmoud, the Merciful

Maps

Mencken

Messages from American universities

Michigan

Misc info from "Who Gave Pinto To The Santa Maria?

Misc items

Miscellaneous Indianry

Modoc

Monthly thought for Mugtoe

More dog stuff

More elephant lore

More Mencken, mostly one-liners

More misc items

More Negotiating Stories

More notes I made while reading

More Rules for Fiction Writers

Munner

My Condition

My Energy Plan

My father

My Friend, el Paisano

My Friend, the Cacomistle

My Friend, the Peccary

My Roommate, JK

Names from famous people

Navajo bits and pieces

Navajo courtesy and consideration

Neat words

Negotiating Stories

No more Cioran

Notable quotes

Numbers

O.O.O. and Anglo-Saxon

On being alone

On the news

On the ocean floor

Open range

Orts from my literary table

Orts from my literary table this week

Pastiche or Parody?

Paul Harvey

Peggy Noonan

Pepys' diaries

Places of abode

Poetic Snippets

Political Correctedness

Poor Abe

Ramblin' On

Ramblin' On 2

Ramblin' On 3

Ramblin' On 4

Ramblin' On 5

Re: 1902

Realpolitik

red-headed Navajo

Rules for Fiction Writers

Run and Play

Ruth

Samuel Rosenberg

San Diego

Sayings of the Druid Taliesen

Scattershot

Sea Stories

Secular intellectuals

Sestina 1

Skiing

Slothful

Soccer moms

Social engineering

Solitude

Some Arab Aspects

Some chapter headings

Some goodie quotations

Some other things my father used to say

Some scathing criticism by famous critics

Some Widely Scattered and Divers Quotes

St Elizabeth of Hungary

State of the world 5 August 2001

Straight from the horse's mouth

Strange People From My Past

Student pilots

T. S. Painter

Talking to your car

Texas weather

The 10 worst places in the world to drive

The 100

The Arab Problem

The Art & Science of Pole-Climbing

The batman

The Big Bang

The coming IRS bit

The Constitution of the United States of America

The critic's tongue

The education of a soldier

The Fitzgerald Contraction

The Great Cat Conundrum

The Great Snake Hunt

The Great Snipe Hunt

The Hour of Our Death by Phillipe Aries

The Issues That Divide Us

The medical conundrum

The names of the winds

The Names of Things

The Navajo language

The power of education

The Queen Mother's Funeral

The Razor Blade Conspiracy

The retirement of nuns

The Soul of Battle

The Tarahumara

The Value of a National Character

The way I really is

The weekend

They went that-a-way

They went that-a-way 2

Things found in an envelope in Munner's room

Things I've heard my father say

Things I've heard my father say

Thoughts of import

Tidbits from the soul of battle

Travels on my elephant

Two stories from old-time Oklahoma

V.S. Naipaul

Vanished from my world

Visas

Wait upon me, Courage

Was Columbus first?

Wellington's generals

Whacha gonna do when they come for you?

What book shall I read?

What Did You Say?

What is history?

Whatever happened to...?

When We Were Thirty-Nine

Where Do You Live?

Where is Usama?

Where I've been

While wondering what the plural of faux pas is.

Why the Peninsular War?

Women

Women in combat

Wondering and wandering

Writing and rejection

Ye Olde Optics Shoppe

yesterday

   
   
   
   
   
   
 
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