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!
A Plague of Ants
Looks like another import causing problems here in SE Texas. A Plague of Ants in Houston – The Lede – Breaking News – New York Times BlogAs recently as Wednesday, all was well in Houston,…
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Middle of the Week, Middle of the Month, Middleing Muse
I’ve linked to the writing of Andy at The Ladybug Letter before. I first stumbled across him in a link to his history of field greens and spinach during the spinach disaster a year or…
May 13 Twenty O’Eight
Summer’s back…Both the temperature and the humidity are back. No wanting to spend the morning in the backyard today. Though I must admit the birds seem to like the weather just fine. Loud greetings to…
This Man Makes Me Proud To Be Texan
There are many people in the public eye that leave me embarrassed of my home state…Bill Moyers is not one of them.
Just When You Write It Off…
Spring decides to pay another short visit. We had another “cold” front slide through yesterday. I think it would be more accurate to call it a dry front. Sunday morning we watched the humidity drop…
Scamming the Budgetary Process
Why do we keep seeing this? When the Republican Presidential Candidate see us in Iraq for 100 years (it really doesn’t matter what the role is), how can the budget for these operations still be…
Closing Down a Blog
Today I imported all of the posts and comments from my old political rant site “Blues From The Red Side Of Life” into this blog and shut down the old Blogger site. It seemed the…
The Music I Grew Up With
Heading south on I45, middle of the night, looking to catch the sun rising on Galveston Island. This is the sound that blasted out of the 8-track in the VW Bus we used to haul…
Friday Political Muse
This could explain the Republican love affair with GW Bush… Michael Gerson – Sticking Points for Obama – washingtonpost.com A president is expected to be a patriotic symbol himself, not the arbiter of patriotic symbols….
The birth of a Blog
Two years ago today I started North Carolina Mountain Dreams, my first blog. That first post was entitled “Inventing the Myth as I Go”. It seems that not much has changed in two years. I…
It looks like summer musing time is here…
Crank up the AC: 90-degree days return to Houston this week | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle Summer’s coming, and right on schedule, too. Forecasters say Houston’s mercury should top 90 degrees Thursday or Friday. During…
Bill Moyers Journal . Transcripts
Bill Moyers Journal . Transcripts | PBS May 2, 2008 BILL MOYERS:Welcome to the Journal. I once asked a reporter back from Vietnam, “Who’s telling the truth over there?” Everyone he said. Everyone sees what’s…
Mmmmmm…muses
Interesting little legal quandary… McCain’s Birth Abroad Stirs Legal Debate – washingtonpost.com The Senate has unanimously declared John McCain a natural-born citizen, eligible to be president of the United States. That is the good news…
Pesticides In Your Food?
Check the Guide… Environmental Working Group || foodnews.org Be A Smarter Produce Picker — Get Our Free Guide! EWG always recommends buying organic, but we know you can’t always find it. Our new Guide —…
Mid-Week, Mid-Morning, Mid-Life Muse
Monday Morning Muse
The weekend weather was trying…Thunder boomers rolling through on Friday night. Rain off and on all day on Saturday as we were chained to the house waiting for a furniture delivery. More rain and thunder…
Playing with some photos…
Playing around in photoshop on some of the images I shot last fall on our vacation in the Blue Ridge Mountains. This is a shot of Fred First’s barn on Goose Creek out of Floyd….
Photo Friday: Electricity
This week’s Challenge: ‘Electricity’. Please read our Participant Guide before deciding to submit a link. Your link must be to a static page that will always show your challenge image, and not your website’s main…
Pre-Weekend Musing…
We appear to have fallen off of the weather pattern we have enjoyed for the past month or so. It was nice while it lasted…Cold front on Thursday-Friday to blow out the stale air, cool…
The Road Goes On Forever…
And the party never ends… Robert Earl Keen is a hell of a story spinner and a pretty good songwriter. Sherry was a waitress at the only joint in town She had a reputation as…
WordPress Upgrade…
Well I finally took the plunge and upgraded my WordPress to the latest version. If you should happen to hit any glitches, please…please let me know… It looks like I’ll be spending a little time…
A Victory in Pa?
‘The tide is turning,’ victorious Clinton says | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle “Because of you, the tide is turning.” I suppose the question is…Exactly how many Republican voters does it take to turn a Democratic…
Earth Day 2008 – The Countdown Is On…
Happy Earth Day…Twenty-eight years ago on Earth Day I, I could have been anywhere…I really do not recall what that sophomore in high school was doing. Especially since those days were lived down wind from…
The end of spring?
The last couple of weeks have been really nice. Cool nights days in the mid 70’s at the highest. Today though it looks like summer is coming on. The temperature this morning at 6am is…
Is it just me?
Watching the Democratic Debate the other night left me with the strong suspicion that it isn’t just Washington and politicians living in a bubble…It appears the mainstream media is living right in there with them….
Tuesday in Spring…
The small number of posts this week can be blamed on the beautiful spring weather we have been experiencing. I have been spending most of my free time out in the yard enjoying the cool…
Saturday Morning Muse
Occasionally a blog entry will touch a spot in me that makes me do something…Cate’s “ramble” today was one… Beyond the Fields We Know: Looking for… Some places arrange themselves perfectly in eye and viewfinder,…
Quick Quotes From The Left…
Eugene Robinson – The Surge Turns Into the Stall – washingtonpost.com Of course, Bush long ago lost any credibility with Congress and the American people on Iraq. It’s understandable that he hides behind Petraeus’s breastplate…
End of the Week Musing
“The most alarming sign of the state of our society now is that our leaders have the courage to sacrifice the lives of young people in war but have not the courage to tell us…
Wednesday Morning Muse
Current Weather (on Wed 5:53AM CDT from Pearland Regional Airport) Partly Cloudy Temp: 72° Dewpoint: 66° Wind: SE 6 MPH What isn’t shown in that snipit from my email is the humidity. Right now it…
Nothing Good To Say…
Corporate Croesus – New York Times It’s hard to square the conceit that chief executives are rewarded for improving companies’ performance with the fact that chiefs at 10 financial-services firms in the study made $320…
Sobering Thoughts for a Monday Morning Muse
Paul Krugman’s latest column focuses on food. Wander on over and check out his thoughts… Grains Gone Wild – New York Times These days you hear a lot about the world financial crisis. But there’s…
Weekend Musing
The first wealth is health. – Ralph Waldo Emerson If you are as skeptical as I am about most of modern medicine’s miracle drugs, you might not want to read this book review. It will…
YES Magazine and Pete Seeger
YES! Magazine Exclusive Interview :: Pete Seeger “I remember Pete Seeger from when I was a child and this story-telling, banjo-picking singer would come on his sloop, the Clearwater, to the neglected little parks that…
Tuesday Morning News Muse
This was in my morning email news feed from Grist… TOP STORY With Gore Galore Al Gore will run as Independent for president, Bloomberg tapped as veep You might want to sit down…
Monday Morning Musing
Another Reason To Be A Localvore… Did Your Shopping List Kill a Songbird? – New York Times Migratory songbirds like bobolinks, barn swallows and Eastern kingbirds are suffering mysterious population declines, and pesticides may well…
Musing On Stories That Just Won’t Go Away…
Now this is just wrong… Katrina aid recipients may have to pay back millions | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle NEW ORLEANS — Imagine that your home was reduced to mold-covered wood framing by Hurricane Katrina….
And you thought the voting was over in Texas…
For everyone who has heard Clinton won Texas (over and over and over again), the voting ain’t over till it’s over… Party’s not over for Texas Democratic caucus-goers | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle Clinton, a…
A little deep thought on coffee muses…
A daily thought from Eknath Easwaran is delivered to my inbox by The Blue Mountain Center of Meditation. Each thought causes me to reflect a bit as I prepare to leave the house each morning….
A perfect morning…
On the drive in to work this morning I had to stop and shot this field of yellow wildflowers with the moon setting above. Truth be told I had to drive away from work to…
Lest We Forget…
Eugene Robinson has a really good muse on the Iraq war in todays column…It starts with this: Eugene Robinson – 4,000 Dead for What? – washingtonpost.com When U.S. military deaths in Iraq hit a round…
Another reason for real leadership in th White House…
It’s not just the laws that have been passed. It’s not just the laws that have been vetoed. It’s not just the laws that GW Bush has said don’t apply to him as he signed…
Where should I keep my nest egg now?
Paul Krugman has an informative column up today… Contrary to popular belief, the stock market crash of 1929 wasn’t the defining moment of the Great Depression. What turned an ordinary recession into a civilization-threatening slump…
Just Words for a Good Friday
I’m a liberal, and I loathe the anti-American things Wright said precisely because I believe that the genius of our country is its capacity for self-correction. Progressivism and, yes, hope itself depend on a belief…
First Day Of Spring Musing
On the first day of spring I don’t know whether to welcome spring or to welcome it back after our preview of summer over the weekend…This morning is starting out at 47° with the prognosticators…
Wednesday Muse, It’s Another Spring Day In SE Texas
I see from my weather report that we are having another anomalous day where the temperature here matches my favorite ares of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Of course in order for this to have happened…
Troubled Times Call For Muses Of The Same
E. J. Dionne Jr. – The Street on Welfare – washingtonpost.com Never do I want to hear again from my conservative friends about how brilliant capitalists are, how much they deserve their seven-figure salaries and…
Ozone Rules Weakened at Bush’s Behest – washingtonpost.com
Ozone Rules Weakened at Bush’s Behest – washingtonpost.com The Environmental Protection Agency weakened one part of its new limits on smog-forming ozone after an unusual last-minute intervention by President Bush, according to documents released by…
Just as we got used to the convenience…
It looks like we will need to cultivate that 1990’s dial-up Zen attitude of waiting for the download. Overload looming for the Internet? | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle Caution: Heavy Internet traffic ahead. Delays possible….
