For some reason this year my wife has spring break off. It makes no sense, she could never get spring break off when we, you know, actually had kids off on spring break. But this year she has spring break off. Guess what? Grandson #2 is all ours each and…
Wind power generation in Texas is growing so quickly that it is testing the limits of the state’s electrical grid. The state set a record on March 5 when wind turbines generated 6,272 megawatts of energy, or about 19 percent of the electricity on the state’s main power grid. That…
I found this in my email reading today...It makes you wonder if the modern world is really all that modern after all. Apparently for about a third of the world's population not a whole lot has changed in 21 centuries... Cooking and Heating in the 21st Century. Some two billion…
Welcome to the International Year of Biodiversity You are an integral part of nature; your fate is tightly linked with biodiversity, the huge variety of other animals and plants, the places they live and their surrounding environments, all over the world. You rely on this diversity of life to provide…
Spring Gradual warming that began earlier this week is forecast to continue through the weekend, and by early next week high temperatures should climb into the mid-70s as warm, wet air flows inland from the Gulf of Mexico. No rain is forecast until late this weekend, according to the National…
This afternoon I finally started working my way through my Google Reader subscriptions. The sequence of stories brought me up short and I tried to capture a screen shot. Evidently I had left the laptop running for a bit too long because when I opened Photoshop all I had was…
Today, Texas celebrates 174 years of its Lone Star Identity. This past year has given me a closer connection to this piece of Texas history. Research has now connected our family to Willis West. Willis West arrived in Texas in March 1835 and is enumerated in his father's household (Richard, a widow)…
The sun has risen on more frost covered morns than I can ever recall. But by mid-day the temperatures will be pushing into the mid 60's...even over 70 degrees. Then after sundown the temperatures fall again into the mid to low 30's...Only to repeat the roller-coaster all over again the next day.
Now comes a fitting bookend to a winter seemingly without end. While we have missed any snow accumulations here this winter, we did have a full afternoon of flurries back in earl December...And now, this is what greets me in my feedreader this morning over coffee... Houston already had its…
Blue jays and robins are a sign of winter in my neck of the woods. Over the weekend a notion of mine, one that has been percolating around in this head of mine, kept roiling to the surface. All winter long I have been noticing an absence...A hole in the…
I tossed and turned in bed last night in a perfect storm of tax related muses...nightmares...planning. I had a meeting with a CPA yesterday. I had arranged the meeting to try to get a handle on my tax plan for next year. This is the year I finally bury my…
Mr. Will, from his pontificating height, has this to say about Sarah Palin in his latest column... She is what she is, and what she is merits no disdain. She is feisty and public-spirited, and millions of people vibrate like tuning forks to her rhetoric. When she was suddenly forced…
The weather could have been better...But I drug myself out of bed and hit the road before sunup...heading south, going to the beach...hoping for a sunrise photo to remember the day.
Image via Wikipedia There are a few reasons I subscribe to Cook's Illustrated Magazine...One of the main ones is to read Christopher Kimball's Editorial first thing when each issue comes in. More than the recipes, more than the test kitchen results, more than the illustrations on the covers...back and front...It…
The logical outcome to the Supreme Courts twisted reasoning... Murray Hill is planning to run in the Republican primary for Maryland’s 8th Congressional District, which would be pretty unremarkable national news but for the fact that Murray Hill is not, well, actually a man named Murray Hill. Murray Hill For…
Talk about getting your head in a spin...Today I went through my daily routine of reading email as I listen to yesterdays "news" via podcasts downloaded to iTunes. I do this every morning, without fail...Coffee, email, podcasts. All of a sudden, it hit me...The incongruousness of what I was doing.…
Blogging or not. For some reason, I find myself unable to get in the muse on days when my wife is supposed to "not here" but she is...And thus yesterday was the end to an unexpected three-day weekend. Which means that even though I did a lot of back-end maintenance…
The Weather Yesterday, when I went through my daily email, this is what I saw from the weather gurus at My-Cast.com... Currently (on Fri 6:22AM CST from Pearland Regional Airport) Thunderstorm Temp: 70° Dewpoint: 64° Wind: S 10 MPH Today's email brought this... Currently (on Sat 6:06AM CST from Pearland Regional…
The world's last remaining natural flock of endangered whooping cranes, which suffered a record number of deaths last year, will probably see another die-off because of scarce food supplies at its Texas nesting grounds this winter, wildlife managers said. The flock lost 23 birds in the 2008-2009 winter season, in…
morning haze; as in a painting of a dream men go their ways Buson ~ (via The Haiga Pages) The sun rising through the morning mist last week drew me out my backdoor armed with my third eye...After letting the image stew for a week it felt done...
And it looks like if this keeps up, I'll have more company than ever before... Shorts, T-shirts and flip-flops may be in order today and this weekend as unseasonably warm, spring-like weather is forecast for the Houston area. A slight chance of rain is possible Saturday when remnants from the…
Image via Wikipedia Have you ever Googled your own name? No you say...Go ahead do it now I'll wait... For those of you who answered yes...Did you find yourself? On what page? How many times was there a link to your information. You know you've been online too long and…
I really hate to post this knowing what my friends along the Blue Ridge are going through, but... Today we hit 80° here with the sun out in a perfectly clear blue sky. I guess I better enjoy it before the roller coaster starts down again this weekend. Just sitting…
Over the past few days I noticed all of my Google AdSence blocks had disappeared. Also missing were some other blocks of code I had used a Wordpress Plugin to place in my sidebars and footer areas. I do not think the problem was wholly in the one plugin as…
The computer lets us approach in a startling demonstration of general-to-specific. The world becomes a continent becomes a region; a particular city surrounded by mountains; a set of streets; a house on a certain corner, with a brick walk and a tree in the backyard: someone’s home, someone’s place in…
NOTE: AS USUAL BACK UP EVERYTHING BEFORE PROCEEDING! (Only takes a couple of minutes!) Here’s how. Login as “Admin” user. Pull down the “Users” menu in administration page. Click on “Add New” Add a new user, set your permissions to “Administrator” Save the changes, and log out. Log back in…
All of the folks that are claiming that the Earth is and has been in a cooling cycle are being disingenuous...Using weather trends to infer climate trends breaks down when you watch the averages over any period of time. I can already hear the cries from the climate skeptics...But, here…
It has been a misty, rainy, quiet day today. Nothing spectacular in the weather, just a slow drizzly, yukky looking winters day. It's been quiet because number two grandson and number two daughter went off to stay with hubby for a few days...Don't ask. I've been lost in the muse…
Coffee Muses require solitude...Having a non-blogging significant other across the table from you as you wander through your morning routine tends to put you in a different place. Not a wandering the web, not a reading email with an open mind, not a "oh yea" that's neat kind of place.…
Thanks to Mary Jaksch of Goodlife Zen for the link to this...It really started my morning off right...
