Sunday, March 17th

I'm still around... just haven't had much to say lately.  I'll make an effort to get back in the habit once again. Today has been quiet. The world has pulled on it's greenery to celebrate the day. It's late afternoon, a cool spring feel to the world. The sun is…

Post Deere Meditations Muse

I'm on the back porch contemplating the outcome of my Deere meditations as I cool down with some ice water. Looking good. Now for a shower and lunch. Ever since Harvey I've been flummoxed by the outside power outlets being dead. I'd checked the breaker box over and over. I'd…

Wednesday, March 8

I have workmen swarming over the outside of my house today. Hammers banging, saws screaming... After 5 years the builder is replacing the rusting flashing above all of our windows... Persistence... Anyway, I'll just put up a couple of more pictures of the day... And, just to show how much…

More Rain In The Forecast

The following quote always leaves me with a queasy feeling... Michael Lowry, hurricane specialist with The Weather Channel, points out that three of the five wettest tropical cyclones on record for the U.S. mainland occurred in Texas, and none of them attained hurricane strength. These include Allison as well as…

Goodbye Endeavour

I just saw the Space Shuttle Endeavour pass over my house on it's way toward Houston. I didn't even know it was going to be passing through the area. Wish I would have had my camera out as it passed by...There won't be another chance to see one in the air....

A Musical Interlude

I had Winamp playing yesterday as I fiddled around on the computer when Mary Gauthier came on playing her song "Sugar Cane".  That led me to a Google search for a video of the song to post here. What I found was even better...Two hours of interviews she did with…

Summer Is Here

Yesterday about mid-morning, I was sitting in the rocker on the back porch with a cup of coffee. The temperature had already passed the mid-eighties. The ceiling fans on the porch were the only thing making it doable. Later in the day, as Sherry was driving in from work, I looked over…

Tall Grass Prairies

I never realized how much of my life I've spent on the Gulf Coastal Prairie...I found this video on line as I was looking for information on native plants. The original link fell by the wayside over the years so here are few new links ... https://youtu.be/aqknxErvs6Y https://youtu.be/_u1K-AQ9fCc https://youtu.be/VMDZ5GTQKhQ https://youtu.be/mZdsyKaIAYE

The World Out My Window

The world out my window this week has been rather busy. The hummingbirds are visiting the feeder off the front porch. That means it's time to pull the rest out of storage and spot them around the place. All of our trees are at some stage in their re-leafing. The Pecans and the…

Winter Solstice

I was wandering through the kitchen just a bit ago and glanced out the back windows. There in the yard I saw my first flock of Robins of this winter season...On the very first day of winter. Growing up I was always confused by all of the references to Robins and spring.…

Weather For The Soul

When I ordered some seedling trees from Pennsylvania the week of Thanksgiving, I was holding out as late as possible to have them shipped dormant to our SE Texas version of fall. What I didn't expect was for the nursery to ship Pennsylvania fall weather along with the trees. The…

Phil Ochs

I just spent the last couple of hours reliving the subliminal sounds from my formative years. I know they were't my parents sounds...I can't say where I ever heard them during those years of the '60's. But they are the sounds and songs that resonate more than most for some…

Getting Near The End

We passed a milestone yesterday when we said goodbye to the bright yellow modern equivalent of my grandparents "Quarter Moon". In other words, they picked up the "port-a-potty" that has graced our site since June. The construction portion of this ongoing project is, for all intents and purposes, complete. There…

Blog Action Day – Let’s Talk About Food

Just last week Tipper was talking about "Tater Soup" which brought back all kinds of childhood memories. Reading her post from the southern Appalachians had my nose and taste buds fooling my brain into thinking there really was cornbread in the oven and tater soup on the stove. That's what food memories are like, total immersion into the recesses of your brain. A smell caught in passing that can trigger the memories of meal long gone and the loved ones who cooked them for you. That food memory of tater soup and cornbread can be laid to my Grandma...My mother's mother. I don't really remember eating it all that often with my grandparents but I ate it enough to know that my mother's recipe came from Grandma. Tipper's post triggered decades of memories and tastes and smells...The old country kitchen in Orchard where many of my childhood food memories were made...The small kitchen in the home where I grew up... The jars and jars of fig preserves under the counter. Made lovingly by Grandma in the hottest of summer heat and sent home with us every year to heap on buttered toast through the winter. Deer steaks fried in the pressure cooker for lunch along with the fresh vegetables from the garden out back...creamed squash...fried okra...green beans...creamed corn...Memories tumbling down through time.

The End Of June 2011

It has been a busy week in our back yard. On Tuesday they cleared the site... On Wednesday a crew started the forms... And this morning the trucks came rolling in...12 of them in all. So we are finally seeing some progress. It's been a long time coming. Sherry was…

And Now It (Finally) Starts

After months of planning. After months of negotiating. After weeks of waiting on the city's methodology. It finally happened today...We broke ground on the construction drive to the new house... And now we wait for the next step to become clear...Ya gotta love it.

Small Stones…

Kaspa & Fiona have taken over my blog for today, because they need our help. They are both on a mission to help the world connect with the world through writing. They are also getting married on Saturday the 18th of June. For their fantasy wedding present, they are asking…

It Was Five Years Ago Today

That I walked on this road of blogging for the first time that took. It was the beginning of a dream. A dream that has branched and grown in ways I could never have foreseen. That first blog post was on a Blogger hosted blog at North Carolina Mountain Dreams.…

Happy Earth Day 2011

Today is Earth Day. A celebration of our Mother the Earth sometimes known as Gaea. My plan to celebrate the day is to spend a big part of it outside in my backyard. The dewberries are ripening and make a tart mouthful as I wander around. The mockingbirds are serenading all who stop and listen.…

San Jacinto Day

April 21, 1836...This is the day most Texans celebrate as Texas Independence Day even though that day is officially March 2nd when the Texas Declaration of Independence was signed at Washington0on-the-Brazos. To some historians, the April 21, 1836, engagement between the ragtag 900-man Texian army and the more formally trained…

Hummingbird Update

I've been away from the blog this week because my better half took a couple of days off work. It seems she always wants to talk right about the time I start typing (how long will that word mean anything?). Yesterday I noticed the female hummer that had been visiting…

Democracy Now?

And if you missed Annie Leonard in her Story of Stuff, it's here: Any thoughts? Related articles Annie Leonard Derides Corporate Influences on American Democracy [Video] (fastcompany.com) The Story of Stuff Does Democracy (strongerdemocracy.org) The Story of Annie Leonard: Her Take on Stuff, Bottled Water, Cosmetics and More (treehugger.com) Live…

Zee Avi

I love it when I stumble upon a new artist...This one via Suzanne of at home with the farmer's wife who led me to Na-Da Farm Life with Anne Marie. Blown away I was...Take a listen. https://youtu.be/WkYCtvy8CQw Zee Avi will be releasing her debut EP, One More Time With Colors, on…

WordPress 2.9 Blues

Updated my blogs overnight and this morning...My problems with NC Mtn Dreams seems to have migrated here now. I am beginning to be a little frustrated with the loss of functionality. Sadly, I don't know if I need to blame WordPress or GoDaddy. But after the reply I received when…

Dog Days…

Here it is, the first week of September is almost done. The weather has teased us on a number of occasions in the past few weeks...But we are still dry and the temperature passes 90° on an almost daily basis. Even the dogs are still spending most of the day…

Digital TV…

After months of fighting with signal strengths on the different televisions scatered around the house I was already starting to dread the day when a analog signal was no longer available as a backup. So this morning as I sat with my first cup of coffee I switched on the…