My Portfolio

    Acer rubrum To Zyzyphus jujuba Essays, Stories, Adventures, Dreams Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   Environmental Disasters For much of the last 30 years, the issue of the environment has become a political football, with political parties lining up on opposite sides of that football.  That...

Acer rubrum To Zyzyphus jujuba Essays, Stories, Adventures, Dreams Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek    Rain Shadows and Rainforests   On the one hand, you have those who believe in global warming; and on the other side of the divide are those who are currently labeled as climate...

Foreword: I have no idea how or what to write this as or what to put in or leave out. Maybe trying for a goulash of facts, insights, a dash of bad humor and puns where I can, ramblings, perspectives, or some good old-fashioned "get this off my chest". Trying my...

Essays, Stories, Adventures, Dreams Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   Are You Bragging Or Complaining?    This chronicle is for you, Red Lee.  You are in the center of that mental photograph that flashes in my mind, since that day in early autumn of 1955 when you responded...

Essays, Stories, Adventures, Dreams Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek     A Few Anecdotes About Fruits We don’t give much thought to a comment by someone about having sliced banana in their morning cereal or crushed pineapple on last night’s baked ham.  Or the fresh papaya that we...

Essays, Stories, Adventures, Dreams Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   Mantras That Endure Of the many would-be chronicles that have struggled toward a birth on paper, this one about spiritual attachment to mantras, has kicked and squirmed its way, finally, to a nascent birth. The personal mantras of...

Essays, Stories, Adventures, Dreams Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek     Single Tree Selection Becomes High-Grading   With all the talk about deforestation and the evils of cutting down trees, people everywhere should remember that humans have been cutting down trees ever since they invented the tools to...

Essays, Stories, Adventures, Dreams Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek    Holiday at Cam Ranh Bay   It wasn’t often that the Footloose Forester chose to pick up his suitcase and walk from the air terminal to his destination, especially when he was in Viet Nam during the height...

Essays, Stories, Adventures, Dreams Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   The Cheetah at the Waterhole   As time passes, so also do some of the details of even favorite adventures.  The great fun trip to the Laikipia Plateau of Kenya in 1991 was one of them, and last...

Very few people of my age express themselves about such things and I will not purport to speak for them, but only for myself. Old age from day to day, sometimes hour by hour, is a kaleidoscope of feelings. These sentiments may be common to us, or they may be uniquely...

Essays, Stories, Adventures, Dreams Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   On Fear An innocent Internet meme about fear was the first disturbance that summoned the specter of fear to return, to creep closer.  The second incident was a horrific movie about World War II, the very same day...

Essays, Stories, Adventures, Dreams Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek     A Closer Look at a Picture Worth a Thousand Words Flamengos Tree Nursery, Cape Verde Some people are proud of their humble beginnings.  Others are impatient to move on and forget about the past. It was many...

On the road...again!!! Essays, Stories, Adventures, Dreams Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek     Barra Ghoust , Choti Ghoust بار غروب بار غروببار غروب (بڑے گوشت) چھوٹے گوشت (big meat, little meat)   When people look back on the old days, they are still amazed to realize how...

Essays, Stories, Adventures, Dreams Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek Rainforests or Not?   Discussing rainforests is not the same as explaining rainforests and reporting from a rainforest is not the same as reporting about rainforests. Likewise, discussing rainforests does not and should not imply that the reporter or...

Essays, Stories, Adventures, Dreams Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek     A Day in the Cholistan Desert We met in a sparsely furnished office building whose windows rattled when the wind blew.  Two young and eager Pakistani soil scientists had been assigned to escort us to one of...

My Grandpa Nick was born on March 6, 1955, to Clemma Alice Adams (Nee Carroll) and William Thomas Adams in the town of Beaver Creek, Ohio. He had 8 siblings, Donald, Jerry, Brenda, Jean, Tom, Tim, Carol Ann, And Rick. He attended Wright State University, he graduated with a degree in...

On the road…again!!! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek     The Concept of Rainforests   When a respondent to the Quora.com website explained why rainforests are so hot and so wet, the Footloose Forester was jolted into composing a rejoinder.  The contributor, an airline pilot...

On the road…again!!! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   The Durian Express   On the road again…!!!  is an appropriate place to be when the mission is all about the Durian Express.  You see, the durian fruit grown in SE Asia and marketed in some...

Grandpa Sam was quiet but when he spoke he always had something wise to say.  And he could be really funny too!  He had twelve children my mom being the oldest, so he had some skills in the leadership department.   He had a quiet strength and confidence that I liked....