Posted April 30, 2025in Joe's Neighborhood
“Well, that was something,” she said out of the blue on a Tuesday. A phrase she was fond of saying for nearly any event from the grand to the not-so-grand. Two days later, she died. My mom was nearly 98 years old. You wouldn’t have known her, of course. My
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Posted April 02, 2025in Joe's Neighborhood
The letter began well enough: “Dear friend.” Who doesn’t want to be a friend? But then it quickly went south: “Back Country will be closing its doors for good in the next few month.” Oof! Aging is a little like playing that game where you take away blocks all stacked
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Posted March 05, 2025in Joe's Neighborhood
“I think I’m going to die.” “Well, yes you are, sweetie. The question, of course, is it today or in some mythical future full of butterflies and freshly popped popcorn.” “It’s today! Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh.” “Here, wipe your nose. Let’s put the humidifier on. Now close your eyes and try to rest.”
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Posted February 05, 2025in Joe's Neighborhood
“You know what’s going to happen if you do that?” I say this in my sternest grandfather voice with a glower of hard eyes, a very pursed mouth, and a disapproving shake of my head. Trust me, I am the scary thing under a small child’s bed. Don’t tread on
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Posted January 01, 2025in Joe's Neighborhood
I tired of New Year’s resolutions long before I became an old man. But, before I did, my resolutions were the typical nutty variety that I always circumvented by the end of January. Let’s just take a gander at a few. “20 Days to Better Spelling,” a book with not
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Posted December 04, 2024in Joe's Neighborhood
The metal detector is where it first goes south. Metal in my knees and metal in my neck trigger all the bells and whistles. At this point, the security guards only look at me with mild interest. Sure, I don’t look like a gun-toting madman, but really, who does? And
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Posted November 06, 2024in Joe's Neighborhood
Knock, knock. Hello, my name is Joe Weeg, and I’m here to encourage you to vote in the upcoming school board election. Listen, I HATE door-knocking for candidates. Always have. I even hated it when my job was on the line with the many elections of Tom Miller for Attorney
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Posted October 02, 2024in Joe's Neighborhood
It’s 3 a.m. I’ve tossed and turned since going to bed four hours earlier. The sheets are twisted around my feet and tying me to the bed in some obscure knot I failed to learn for my Webelos badge in Cub Scouts 60 years ago. And now I don’t know
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Posted September 04, 2024in Joe's Neighborhood
Well, here I am in a big box store, and it’s happened again. The start is simple enough. My wife goes one direction to get granddaughter clothes, and I go to the men’s department to buy my own clothes. And, yes, this is a relatively new experience for me —
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Posted July 31, 2024in Joe's Neighborhood
“I’m not gonna do that,” the Des Moines police officer says from the middle of the classroom. I fix him with a cold smile. “Listen, that’s the law for a police stop of a car.” I say this more defensively than I’d like because, of course, in this room full
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