Muses I Have Had, Coffee I Have Drunk

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!


It’s Official…

Houston this morning broke a record with the earliest snowfall ever recorded in the city's history. Forecasters are still hedging their bets on the amount, but say the most likely scenario is 1 to 2…

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It Is Snow!

It’s 9am and the snow is early…Rain started about 7am and it just turned completely to snow. Temperature is 37°F and falling. So far the big sloppy wet snowflakes. Should be an interesting day. Updates…

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Talk About A Long Leadup…

Amazingly, it seems likely Houston will see snow Friday, the city’s earliest ever white stuff. Forecasters are still hedging their bets given all of the puzzle pieces that must fall into place for it to…

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The Anticipation Of A Winter Event…

The prognosticators are keeping the hopes of children of all ages alive across Southeast Texas… Weather forecasters are more confident Houston will see snowfall beginning Friday afternoon, but whether that snow sticks to the ground…

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Snow? Houston? Could Be…But, Maybe Not

The outlook for snow on Friday is still in the forecast…With the following caveat. To get snow in our typically tropical clime the timing must be just right, with cold air arriving at the same…

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It Seems Autumn Just Started…

My mom is very proud of being a Texan…And she collects birdhouses. Felder Rushing would be proud of her bottle trees and her use of all of the found “art”.
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Happy Thanksgiving

We are spending the day with family…So from my walk yesterday… I hope everyone has a great day…

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A Worms Eye View Of Autumn

On my walk today to check the progress of autumn I ended up on my belly looking at the violet seed heads of the grass growing in our field. It made for an interesting photo….

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A Walk In Autumn…

Walking my trail through the woods yesterday I was struck that the predominate color is still green… Once I made it to Mustang Bayou, the color pallet didn’t seem to change… The temperatures this week…

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It’s Been A Few Days Since I Posted, And…

…we’ve been having some fine October weather here in the middle of November. I love this season, when we get little junior-grade northers trying to push through, followed by three or four days of Chamber…

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An Anniversary To Forget?

November 6, 2008 One year ago today…Life took a turn. A new beginning. Like the photo above, a new day dawned, different from all of the days before it. On this day last year I…

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Grandfatherly Duties

I’ve been falling down on my duties as a grandfather this past month. So to play catch up here are two slideshows…First of #2 grandson’s first birthday… Second, of #1 grandson’s third birthday…

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Wednesday Morning Walk

It was a cool misty morning as I poured a cup of coffee…Looking out the back screen the light looked intriguing. I grabbed the camera and slipped on the flipflops and wandered out into the…

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Ground Beef Recall Expanded – Slashfood

Another reason to change our methods… A ground beef recall for more than 545,699 pounds of meat has been expanded to states from North Carolina to Maine on fears of E. coli contamination. Fairbanks Farms…

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The Carnivore’s Dilemma by Nicolette Hahn Niman

To a rancher like me, who raises cattle, goats and turkeys the traditional way (on grass), the studies show only that the prevailing methods of producing meat — that is, crowding animals together in factory…
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A New Day Dawning…

Three years ago this month we were on Padre Island celebrating our 28th. Two years ago, it was the Blue Ridge Mountains and our 29th. Last year it was the Texas Hill Country and our…

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The Weather Yo-yo…

For the last couple of days here we have been having really beautiful weather. Overnight lows in the low 50’s warming up slowly into the low 70’s. Cloudless, scrubbed blue skies. You know, the kind…

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Global Warming? Climate Change?

The globe recorded its second warmest September since record keeping began in 1880, according to NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center. The combined global land and ocean temperature anomaly was 0.62°C (1.12°F), falling only 0.04°C (0.07°F)…

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Just For The “Record”…

Record heat is forecast for today in the Houston area, but by late this afternoon or early evening a blast of cooler Canadian air is expected to drop temperatures through the weekend. Temperatures are predicted…

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Blog Action Day ’09: Climate Change

It’s that time of year again…15 October 2009 is the third Blog Action Day. This year the subject of conversation for the day is “Climate Change”. Close to 7,000 bloggers are participating this year. What…

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Twitter Phishing Scams Are Becoming More Common

It is beginning to be an everyday thing. A DM from someone on Twitter that’s not…Leading to a fake login page… Another day, another phishing or malware scam on Twitter. It seems like these are…

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Where I’d Rather Be Right Now…

Two years ago we were planning our first fall trip to the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina and Virginia…Life has conspired since then to keep me from the mountains I love. I look forward…

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In America, This Should Not Have To Be Said…

Eating a hamburger should not be a death-defying experience. Too often it is. via Editorial – Toxic Hamburgers – NYTimes.com. This is where Food Policy and Health Policy come together. And the American people get…

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A Democrat Speaks Out…Loudly.

“We as a party have spent the last six months, the greatest minds in our party, dwelling on the question, the unbelievably consuming question of how to get Olympia Snowe to vote on health care…

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What A Way To Start A Fall Day…

Currently (on Thu 5:53AM CDT from Pearland Regional Airport) Mostly Cloudy Temp: 82° (Heat Index 90°) Dewpoint: 77° Wind: S 6 MPH And so starts my morning here before the sun even rises…Come on…Feels like 90° and the…

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Cool Morning From A Stormy Night…

We were awakened by the rolling artillery thunder of an advancing front…Weather not war, but just as shattering to a good sleep. The percussive sounds and flashes of lighning came booming through just before daylight….

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A Concept To Wrap Your Spirit Around

A day isn’t just a standard measure, all the same size so each fits on a calendar page. A day is a period of light, an astronomical event. I felt that on the road that…

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Fungi Conundrum

Walking out to the mailbox today I spotted this guy growing at the base of one of our live oaks. I don’t know what caused the strange pattern of growth, but it is definitely different….

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The Weather Muses Keep Me Cool…

You may not need your sweaters, but mild fall temperatures are forecast to be nearly 10 degrees below normal today in the Houston area as light rain and clouds from a weak cool front help…

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Fall Promises…

Rain chances increase to 70 percent Tuesday as the front approaches. The high will be near 84 degrees and the low will be near 69 degrees. South winds will be 5 mph to 10 mph….

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Reality Based?

Compare this… “We’re winning the argument,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) declared inside the hotel ballroom. “We know that most Americans are common-sense conservatives and that most of the people running our government in…

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Drought Relief…Just A Drizzle.

DALLAS — Recent storms in Texas brought some long-awaited relief to the nation’s most drought-stricken state, but the brutal dry spell is far from over as it drags into its third year. About 16 percent…

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Quote Of The Day…

The insurance industry, of course, loves the Baucus plan. Need we say more? via Paul Krugman – Baucus and the Threshold – NYTimes.com.

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Industrial Agriculture and GMO’s

I grew up with a strong support for the power of technology…But the abuses perpetrated in the name of technological advancement of agriculture in the past few decades have left a foul taste in my…

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Looking Toward Fall…

The past few mornings have felt nice…Low to mid 70’s to start with and a lot of clouds to keep the heat down in the afternoon. Not a lot of rain (as usual) in our…

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The Real Health Care Reform

Something I keep pushing in the healthcare reform debate…Agriculture is key to real reform. Recently a team of designers from M.I.T. and Columbia was asked by the foundation of the insurer UnitedHealthcare to develop an…

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Legend of the Seeker

This is not Sword of Truth I was wandering around on Netflix the other day and discovered this series. It was available to view online. Since I was a fan of the original Terry Goodkind…

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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°…

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The Status Quo Leads To What?

I keep reading how this reform is dead. We have Texas Republicans in Congress claiming if the Dems pass a plan they will be back in power and repeal it. Yet, the only alternative they…

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Muses About the State of Agriculture

Nicholas Kristof, writing in his column, had what I think is probably the best definition I have ever seen of the state of our agriculture… I think I figured out the central problem with modern…

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There Is Change In The Air

This morning feels different outside. For the first time in a long while the outside temperature almost matches the inside temperature. Walking out on the back stoop, for the first time since spring, you are…

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