You Can't Make this Stuff Up

10/12/2026

A 10-hour train trip turned into 24 hours. And somehow, I still love Amtrak.
Here’s how a simple trip became another “You Can’t Make This Stuff Up” Story.

https://crazyfamily.blog/2026/10/09/amtrak-24-hours-for-a-10-hour-trip/

10/10/2026

Who the hell plays a banjo? Me-for 70 years.

Mom didn’t like guitars. So naturally, I ended up with an instrument people were already pawning in the 1950’s.
Here’s how it all started. 👇

https://crazyfamily.blog/2026/10/09/who-the-hell-plays-a-banjo/

09/22/2026

Online Dating - She bit my arm

Carol and I folded our respective ex-spouses back into the community years ago. Then, at 68 and 75, we decided to find each other.

But what do you do at our age?

How many potential candidates are sitting at a bar waiting to connect with official Medicare-card-carrying strays?

The library?

There are probably a few possibilities left, but I haven’t read a book in ten years. What would I talk about?

Church?
Sure, there might be candidates, but they didn’t exactly fit my desired profile.

So, like millions of other singles, I went online.

Where Do You Start?

Plenty of Fish. Match. OurTime. SilverSingles. Senior Singles. FarmersOnly. Christian Mingle.

Carol and I folded our respective ex-spouses back into the community years ago. Then, at 68 and 75, we decided to find each other. But what do you do at our age? How many potential candidates are s…

09/16/2026

“Here’s Your Co-Pay. No, Actually, You Pay.”

I’ve spent 50 years in business. I have a BBA and an MBA. I’ve read contracts, financial statements, purchase agreements and enough fine print to permanently damage my eyesight.

Then somebody handed me a health insurance policy.
I didn’t understand a damn thing.

Apparently, the health insurance industry decided healthcare wasn’t complicated enough.

So they invented their own language.

Office Visit

I’ve visited friends.
I’ve visited relatives.
I’ve even visited France.

Doctor Office visit?
Thanks for visiting. That’ll be $175.”

Deductible

The rest of the story…

I’ve spent 50 years in business. I have a BBA and an MBA. I’ve read contracts, financial statements, purchase agreements and enough fine print to permanently damage my eyesight. Then somebody hande…

09/14/2026

The Oddities of Funerals — And Why We Celebrate Life Instead

Over the years, Celebrations of Life have become the norm—and for good reason.

Instead of gloomily hovering around a casket, reading flower cards like scorecards, and hearing “Sorry for your loss” a hundred times, we started doing things differently.

I never liked that phrase anyway.

Loss? That’s what the bank calls it when they review your profit-and-loss statement and deny your loan.
Mom or Dad isn’t a loss.
They’re a person.

The Oddities of Funerals
The funeral business has its own language and traditions that sound downright strange when you stop and think about them.
The Showing

Read the rest…

Over the years, Celebrations of Life have become the norm—and for good reason. Instead of gloomily hovering around a casket, reading flower cards like scorecards, and hearing “Sorry for your loss” …

09/12/2026

When Trump Leaves Office, America Could Face a Mental-Health Crisis!!

I don’t want to alarm anyone, but I think America is completely unprepared for what happens when Donald Trump finally leaves office.

Forget the political transition.

I’m worried about the millions of Americans who will suddenly have absolutely nothing to do.

For more than a decade, Trump has provided Americans with a reason to wake up every morning.

If you love him, you turn on Fox News to see what he did.
If you hate him, you turn on MSNBC or MeidasTouch to see what he did.

See the rest of the story…

PUBLIC HEALTH WARNING: TRUMP WITHDRAWAL SYNDROME — Are You Prepared?” I don’t want to alarm anyone, but I think America is completely unprepared for what happens when Donald Trump finally leaves of…

09/10/2026

If you went to Catholic school in the 1950s or ’60s, you already know where this is going.

Nuns. Uniforms. Rules. Confession. And the constant possibility that something you did was probably a sin.

Somehow, we survived—and looking back, it was pretty damn funny.

Confessions of a Catholic School Survivor.

👇 Read the story below.

Surviving Catholic grade school was no small feat. Strict nuns. Rulers across the knuckles. Monthly confession. Mortal sins. Venial sins. Latin Mass. With more than 150 years of combined Catholic e…