Author Archives: Jerry Johnson

Unknown's avatar

About Jerry Johnson

Retired journalist and college public relations director. Former teacher, coach, mentor. Novelist and short story writer.

To understand a man…

Posted on November 14, 2022 by Jerry Johnson

“To understand a man you have to know what was happening in the world when he was twenty.” That saying is attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), the most famous military and political leader in the history of France. In point … Continue reading →

Posted in 1960s | Tagged | 2 Comments

Rooster pheasant’s death attributed to leucism

Posted on November 5, 2022 by Jerry Johnson

A white-headed rooster pheasant! That was the thought that flashed through my brain when the bird took wing ahead of the “point-track-and-creep, point-track-and-creep” stalking work of my French spaniel Abbey through thick native grasses and marsh grass groundcover of a … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Wild, wild (opening) weekend

Posted on October 31, 2022 by Jerry Johnson

Opening weekend of pheasant season was wild in northwest Iowa. Of the hundred-some ringnecks we put to wing Saturday and Sunday, all but two were wild, wild flushers. The two that held to Abbey’s points were, of course, hens. We … Continue reading →

Posted in pheasant hunting, Uncategorized | Tagged | Leave a comment

The whole ball game

Posted on October 17, 2022 by Jerry Johnson

Nine of us hang onto the memories. In that fleeting span of years of our youth, it was the whole ballgame. Quite literally, it was the whole ballgame. Growing up in a small Ohio town in the 1950s and ’60s, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments

Autumn woodlands

Posted on October 9, 2022 by Jerry Johnson

If the purpose of religion is renewal of the spirit and healing of the soul, then my place of worship is an autumn woodland the morning after October’s first hard frost. And nobody can hear me sing. That’s another plus.

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Portent of rural Midwest’s future?

Posted on October 4, 2022 by Jerry Johnson

______________________________________________________________________

Posted in Turkey vultures | Tagged | Leave a comment

Protected: Death Song

Posted on September 27, 2022 by Jerry Johnson

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

Posted in Death Song | Tagged | Enter your password to view comments.

Prairie grouse extinction

Posted on September 25, 2022 by Jerry Johnson

First the bison, now the sharptail grouse and prairie chickens. Animal species that have disappeared from the Nebraska Sandhills are legion. I hoped that remnant populations of prairie grouse, pronghorn antelope, mule deer, prairie dogs, badgers, jackrabbits, western meadowlarks, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Prairie Grouse Hunting | Tagged | 3 Comments

Biking with Cumberra

Posted on September 10, 2022 by Jerry Johnson

Maintain speed. That is the most important lesson I have learned in my first few days experience riding a recumbent bicycle. To slow down is to wobble, then weave, then wreck. Fortunately, the wrecks are much less dangerous for body … Continue reading →

Posted in Recumbent Bicycles | Tagged | 2 Comments

The river as weaver

Posted on August 20, 2022 by Jerry Johnson

Sweltering winds are gusting on this cloudy day in late August, trying their best to dissuade me from my walk around the perimeter of our hay field with my French spaniel Abbey. Humid and heavy, the mid-morning air wraps me … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 2 Comments