The Trail Since 2006
It began with a spark of inspiration from a few kindred spirits scattered along the Appalachian ridges, mostly in North Carolina and Virginia. Back then, we were virtual friends who—for the most part—never shared a physical porch, but we built a digital one together. Some were writers, some were poets, and some were photographers, each of us finding our way through those early “virtual woods” on the internets.
What follows is a collection of my latest musings (and perhaps a bit of blathering), a trail of thoughts that winds all the way back to those first steps in 2006.
Or just meander through my past muses… Just hope the coffee isn’t stale!
And Now For The Steam…
It’s still cool on the back porch, even as the sun peaks through the mostly clouded sky. There is a front sitting right on top of my house. Sadly “cool” fronts at this time of…
Ditto
Another day of rain on the back porch…
Rainy Friday Back Porch Muse
At least it’s cool on the back porch this morning. Still raining… but cool. Yesterday it was raining and hot. The yard is starting to look like a swamp in a lot of places. If…
After The Rain
I spent yesterday on the back porch enjoying the cool that came with the all day rain. Though the actual rain did not start till almost 2pm, the day was overcast from it’s beginning and…
Monday on the Back Porch is Rainy and Cool
https://youtu.be/wOxW5YWqqdU The pitter patter of raindrops hitting the roof. Rumbles of distant thunder rolling across the land. If the Weather Underground is to be believed… This is what my week will look like. My backyard…
Saturday on the Back Porch
I’m Still Here
Autumn Muses
This time of year I find myself following the weather trends at the homes of my friends as much more than our own. As you can tell from the lack of activity here, I tend…
Cruel August | Redtree Times
…most years I struggle with the month of August and this particular one is no different.Source: Cruel August | Redtree Times I find myself in agreement with GC Meyers on the subject of August… But…
Summer Time Blues
This has been a poor excuse of a month. A couple of weeks ago I was greeted with an email telling me this website and all of the others I host here had been disabled……
July 3 Muse – 2015
Friday morning Coffee Muses – there is a smell of rot in the air… a feeling that vegetation has sat too long in water. It is a smell that has been all to common this…
July 1 Muse – 2015
Wednesday Morning Coffee Muses – As I set here on my back porch reading the morning news, the stories are beginning to make me sad. We Americans keep fighting the same battles over and over…
June 26 Muse – 2015
Friday Morning Coffee Muses… It’s a nice morning to be sitting on the back porch with my coffee. The summer weather pattern looks to be well established… Clear blue skies with just wisps of white…
June 25 Muse – 2015
Thursday morning Coffee Muses from the back porch… Well it doesn’t feel as cool as yesterday, but, then again… it doesn’t feel as hot as Tuesday. So all in all, that’s a good thing. Sitting…
Wandering Around The Web
You never know where a thought may lead… I was reading my Facebook feed this morning and saw a post from Texas Music TV… https://youtu.be/q3zOYn6Ewgs When Pat mentioned that the song was from Jon Randall, It…
June 24 Muse- 2015
Wednesday morning Coffee Muses – Walking out on the back porch today was much different than it has been for the last week or so… The humidity is down to a less tropical feel and…
June 23 Muse – 2015
Tuesday morning Coffee Muses… still hot and humid on the back porch. I have been struck by a continuing feature of this year… The lack of sunny days continue to be in stark contrast to…
June 22 Muse – 2015
Monday morning Coffee Muse… Well, summer has descended upon us and the back porch in the morning is becoming a place to sip iced coffee. The trouble with that is, I’ve never developed a taste…
Just Saying
That is all…
June 21 Muse – 2015
Sunday morning Coffee Muses… it’s another overcast, warm, muggy, still morning on the back porch. Before 7am and above 80º, not the way I like my days to begin. It’s mornings like this that leave…
June 20 Muse
Saturday morning Coffee Muses… even the birds are happy to see the sun this morning. It’s still warm and muggy on the back porch. It just doesn’t feel as bad as yesterday. The blue skies…
June 19 Muse – 2015
Friday morning Coffee Muses… You know you are in trouble when you head for the back porch and you notice the windows are fogged up. These aren’t single pane windows either… double pane low e……
Let’s Recap TS Bill
But given the information we did have—the city was in the path of a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds of about 45 mph—did it make sense that all of the drinking water should be gone? Shouldn’t we have…
June 18 Muse – 2015
Thursday Morning Coffee Muses… warmer this morning than yesterday even… The Weather Underground is telling me it feels like it’s 85 and I’m here to tell you it feels even warmer. Even the ceiling fans…
June 17 Muse – 2015
Wednesday morning coffee… it looks like that two day rain event they have been threatening us with since Sunday night finally arrived just after I stepped out on the porch this morning. Starting the day…
And We Wait
When we went to bed last night the prognosticators were telling us the then still to be named Bill would be ashore when we awoke… Maybe. All morning the talking heads on the TV have been telling…
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…
June 15 Muse – 2015
Monday morning coffee… humidity up… check. Temperature up… check. Skies threatening…check. Local news weather prognosticators beginning to run in circles and cry the sky is falling… check. Bill might be paying us a visit… and…
June 14 Muse – 2015
Sunday morning coffee… The word for today boys and girls is humidity. It hits you in your face when you walk out the door. It coats your glasses with a film of moisture. You have…
June 13 Muse – 2015
Saturday morning coffee… It’s damp on the back porch this morning. Overnight some rain has already fallen. Thunder rolls in from the southeast promising more to come. A look at radar shows a long band…
June 12 Muse – 2015
Friday morning coffee… another warm morning on the back porch. If you are in the sun, a very warm morning. Though, even in the shade under the ceiling fan, it’s not what I would call…
June 11 Muse – 2015
Thursday morning coffee…Another warm start to the day. At least we can see great big white fluffy clouds floating in from the Gulf. Yesterday afternoon we had pocket showers moving inland… nice circles of rain…
June 10 Muse – 2015
Wednesday morning coffee… a bit warmer on the back porch. It’s also a bit quieter, not much in the way of bird noises, a dull far away rumble of traffic on the bypass. Way, way,…
June 9 Muse – 2015
Tuesday morning coffee… after the beautiful skies of yesterday afternoon, we have returned to the mostly clear promise of 90+ degrees for today. Even the birds have been a bit subdued this morning. The sound…
This Should Be No Surprise To Anyone Here
I guess what surprised me was I actually agreed with Republicans 19% of the time. To here my friends and relatives tell it, that’s just way too high a percentage. Maybe they are talking about…
June 8 Muse – 2015
Monday morning coffee… starting another week on the back porch. The temperature this morning is closer to normal, it’s already passed 73 and headed up. The humidity is making it feel thick out… and the…
June 7 Muse – 2015
Sunday morning coffee… the day is as still as any I’ve seen. Yesterday ended this way, and it was miserable out on the back porch… even with the ceiling fans working overtime. Watching the wind…
June 6 Muse – 2015
Saturday morning coffee… it’s still dripping in the machine. The grandkids have been up and Sherry is already fussing with Abbie. We slept in and I already hear the work crew bumping around. Messing around…
What to Be Afraid Of
The sun, for starters. Also lightning, choking on a chicken bone, drowning in the bathtub, and people who text and drive. But probably not terrorism. Source: What to Be Afraid Of Timothy Egan has I…
June 5 Muse – 2015
Friday morning coffee… A person could easily get spoiled by these cool morning temperatures. A bit of haze in the air, dew on the grass, a almost full moon hanging high in the shy… birds…
June 4 Muse – 2015
Thursday morning coffee…It’s another cool morning here on the back porch. The humidity is back… which is paradoxical because it not only makes the afternoons feel hotter, it also makes these cool mornings feel cooler……
June 3 Muse – 2015
Wednesday morning coffee… caught the sun rise this morning. I got out early to try for a bit more quiet before work started next door. Shot this video first thing and managed to catch the…
June 2 Muse – 2015
Tuesday morning coffee… it’s another cooler than normal day for June. The birds were in fine form right up until they were overshadowed by the sounds coming from the construction site 500 ft away. 7:30…
Texas Barbeque
https://youtu.be/lnRRDSYgdmw Aaron Franklin has become my goto person when it comes to improving my smoking of big chunks of meat… It was probably his use of a small backyard smoker in his video series that…
June 1 Muse – 2015
Monday morning coffee and the day is cool and bright. The sky from the back porch is blue from horizon to horizon without a single blemish. Our resident hawk passes over low, scoping out the…
May 31 Muse – 2015
Sunday morning coffee is always so peaceful on the back porch. No traffic sounds from the bypass up the road. Just the birds (and this year… the frogs in the woods out back) singing their…
A Bit of History Found
Yesterday, while trolling through the many folders on my hard-drive, I stumbled across the xml WordPress export file that I used back in 2013 to move Coffee Muses to a new host… So thanks to…
May 30 Muse – 2015
Saturday morning coffee… there is a crew working just over the the city limit line (about 500′ away). They have been at it since a bit after seven. I wouldn’t mind so much if it…
A Little History
I guess since this is a rebuild of the original, I suppose I should explain the name of this site. Way back in May of 2006 I started a blog I called North Carolina Mountain…
May 29 Muse – 2015
Friday morning coffee is cool and damp with a bit of un-forecasted rain moving through. At least, the weather underground was not expecting it. Rolling waves of thunder got me out of bed. And watching…
