One of the things I love about writing, and being a writer, is the ability and opportunity I have of shaping and solidifying my persona via the written word. Certain fundamental limitations in my personal…
Posts published in “Essays”
Spend 40 years driving by the same interesting-looking place along Highway 20 and saying “…Some year we should check that out…” and finally we got it together and took time to check out Sutter Buttes.…
A career in banking, small-business operations, finance, and marketing gave Larry Judson Butler a view of business by the numbers. He shared his perspective in a modest consulting practice and in his university classroom. An…
“Major Crowley can't get the nose wheel down!” shouted Chief Johns as he jogged by my office. “Something's wrong with the nose gear!” It was the spring of 1970 and I had been robo-signing the…
Winegrowing and winemaking are important to Anderson Valley today. But the industry is a relative newcomer. Prohibition put the local wine industry on ice during the 1920s and 1930s as vineyards fell into neglect or…
In the 1860s the Frost and Coates families of Little Lake engaged in a running feud that culminated in a shootout outside Baechtel's Store on election day, 1867. The gun battle lasted but fifteen seconds.…
The “R” isn’t working. As the letters blink to life one after the other from top to bottom there’s a pause between the “T” lighting up and then, at last, the “O”: CAST O. Even…
Winegrowing and winemaking are such important parts of Anderson Valley today that it seem strange to realize that they are relative newcomers. The Valley is one of the most beautiful and productive areas of California's…