Dog On A Root

Liquor Lollipops - jim Young With or without a lollipop stick, in an abstract form or with moulded shape these are delightful little candies to enjoy. With Hallowe’en fast approaching, here’s a great little treat for some of your older trick or treaters. And by older, I mean adult. As in age 19 or over. These are definitely NOT for your regular trick or treaters, but they would be a nice novelty to hand out at an adult Hallowe’en Party.   You might also offer them to some of the parents that accompany their children door to door on Hallowe’en night. Maybe it will help keep them warm as they follow their children about the neighbourhood. But be sure you let the parents you give them to know there is alcohol content in the event they are driving or to be sure they don’t accidentally get slipped into one of the children’s treat bags.    Liquor Lollipops (~.04) (Yield: 90-100) Stuff You’ll Need: 4 oz Hard Liquor of your choice ¾ cup Water 3 cups Sugar ½ cup Corn Syrup Fl...

  Thanksgiving Chores © 2026 Lyrics by: jim Young Music by: Arthur Irving Performed by Arthur Irving

Terror In The Woods - jim Young “After watching horror movies, I realized that I’m afraid of the monsters because I don’t know what they are capable of and I’m afraid of people because I DO know what they are capable of.” - jim Young With Halloween approaching I started thinking about some real life scary events from my past. Do dreams count? Because this is where one of the scariest events of my life started. It should count when you consider that the original “Frankenstein” story was inspired following a nightmare of author Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. “The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” came to Robert Louis Stevenson in a dream as did the plot for “Misery” by Stephen King. Anyway, my story doesn’t actually begin in a dream. But the setting for my soon to come nightmares started in a wood lot near Coldwater, Ontario. In the early 1980s I was temporarily out of work. I decided to join my brother-in-law Jim who was cutting firewood for a living at the time. Coincidentally Ji...

Examining The Tactics Of Power - jim Young Just how much respect can you have for a world leader that would use sarcasm, mockery and derogatory insults when referring to other world leaders? How would you judge the integrity of a world leader who would seek revenge against his political enemies? Would you support a world leader who would undermine and even go so far as to ban the media when they deemed their media coverage was less than complimentary? What world leader would claim election fraud just because he lost an election even after all legal challenges had ruled his claims of fraud were unsubstantiated. How appropriate would it be for this same world leader to make a public statement declaring that the United States would one day annex their Canadian ally and further suggest Canadians would accept the takeover without a struggle? If you think I’m talking about Donald Trump I will no longer entertain any accusations that my past comparisons between Donald Trump and Adolf Hitler a...

  “from Santa with Love!” Published 2025 If you're a professional Santa, "from Santa with Love!" will be of particular interest to you. It's the same material as "Let's Ask Santa", but with all references to the author removed. "from Santa with Love!" is ghostwritten for YOU to personalize and present as your own. Add a modest markup to cover your costs and realize a small profit, this book will still be an affordable treasure that all your family, friends and clients will want to purchase to include in their Christmas Library. And at just $10 per book, this would also make a wonderful "thank you" gift for your special and favourite clients. With your contact information stamped on the inside cover, you won't have to worry that your client might have lost your business card when next year rolls around. Available at Amazon.

Letters Home: A WWII RCAF Navigator’s Journey Through the Eyes of a Teenager “Hitler was a bully, and he needed to be stopped.” When 18-year-old George Edward Young enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force in September 1943, he was shipped over 3,000 kilometres away from his home in Stroud, Ontario, to train as a navigator. Like thousands of young men in the British Commonwealth Air Train Plan (BCATP), George left behind a world of innocence to take up the burden of a world at war. Letters Home brings to light a deeply personal, unfiltered collection of wartime correspondence written by George to his mother, Cora, and his younger brother, Jack, during his postings in Edmonton, Saskatoon, and Winnipeg. Interspersed with these are precious letters from his father, Sapper William S. Young, serving overseas in England with the Royal Canadian Engineers. Unlike grand historical narratives of battlefield heroics, Letters Home captures the authentic, everyday voice of a teenager navigating m...

  Moscow Mule - jim Young Autumn may be officially just around the corner but that doesn’t mean we won’t still be able to enjoy a few more sunny days of sitting in the backyard enjoying some fun summer drinks. For something just a little different, why not try a Moscow Mule? From “Chapter 5: Common Cocktails” of my new book “Belly up to the Bar, Cocktails for Two” , the Moscow Mule isn’t really that common but it’s quick and easy to make. In addition to cocktail recipes, as you will read below I try to provide a bit of the background of the origins of the cocktails along with some personal anecdotes and family stories. If you’re interested in purchasing a copy of “Belly up to the Bar” , it’s available on Amazon or you can contact me at dogonaroot@gmail.com for more information. Moscow Mule (1.5) Stuff You’ll Need: 1½ oz Vodka ½ oz Lime Juice Ice cubes 4 oz Ginger Beer 1 Lime Wedge Do This: Add all of the ingredients except for the lime wedge into a highball glass and stir to mix...

An Open Letter To My Children… I’m Dead - jim Young, “To begin with, Marley was dead… dead as a door nail.” - Charles Dickens It’s been almost 10 years since my sister and I were charged with settling our parents’ estate. Some of the challenges are still fresh in my mind. And just as I wanted to avoid the mistakes my parents made in raising me when I became a parent, so too do I want to avoid the mistakes my parents made with the instructions they left me when they left this world as I prepare now to follow them. My children deserve new and better mistakes on my part and damn it - that’s what they’ll get! So the following is an open letter to my children in the hopes it will make the challenges they will one day face a little easier. If you’re reading this, I’m dead. Well not necessarily “this” . If you’re reading “this” it just means you’re reading something I’ve published online or in the Great North Arrow or something like that. So thanks for following me and reading my stuff. I’...

 

 

Free Is Fun - jim Young “I don’t care how much money you have, free stuff is always a good thing.” Queen Latifah I am proud of my Scottish Heritage. And at the risk of perpetuating a myth let me just say “Free” is my second favourite four letter word. It seems there was a lot more free stuff when I was young. Post-war manufacturing growth and the new medium of television brought about inventive marketing strategies to combat fierce competition. This ultimately resulted in free giveaways and mail-in prizes to encourage brand loyalty. The brand loyalty concept didn’t really work on me though. As a youngster during the 50s and 60s my only loyalties lay with whatever flashy give-away toy caught my eye as I followed my mother down the aisles of the grocery store. And there were a lot of them to choose from. One of my favourites that comes to mind was the small plastic submarines that used to come in boxes of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes. After filling them with baking soda and dropping them into a...