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!
Storm warnings posted for parts of Gulf Coast | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle
Storm warnings posted for parts of Gulf Coast | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle MIAMI — Tropical storm warnings were posted today for parts of the U.S. Gulf Coast as a subtropical depression formed in the…
Photo Friday – The Beach
Galveston, Texas as the sun comes up over the Gulf of Mexico on a fall Sunday morning… This week’s challenge: ‘The Beach’. Please read our Participant Guide before deciding to submit a link. Your link…
Political Thursday
There is a new deal floating through Washington DC. It’s called Republican Speak. Whenever a Republican does something, blocks some law, breaks some law or rule the idea is to get the MSM (mainstream media)…
Fall has slipped back north for a while…
It stole in for just a short stay and stole away in the same quiet way. The mornings weather station report was 74° at 6am. Here we are sneaking up on the autumnal equinox and…
Tuesday Shorts…Short takes from my reader feeds….
This morning was another of those mornings when the weather outside is livable. Too bad it will not last… Today: Mostly sunny, with a high near 91. Heat index values as high as 102. East…
Fall…Well, it’s in the air.
When I wandered in to the kitchen for that first cup of coffee this morning the weather station on the shelf informed me that the outside temperature was at 70°. I didn’t even bother to…
Saturday morning muses at the end of summer.
Photo Friday: Fantasy
The fantasy of a fishing camp on a week day while working away at the office…..You don’t even need a hook and bait. This week’s challenge: ‘Fantasy’. Please read our Participant Guide before deciding to…
It’s Friday, where is your head at?
Had I written that sentence in my earlier years someone would have answered “between the “A” and the “T” to remind me about ending a sentence with a proposition or some such semi-remembered sentence structural…
After the storm that almost was…was…somewhere else.
Humberto Update: Wunder Blog : Weather Underground A surprise Hurricane Humberto ripped into Texas near the Louisiana border this morning, bringing winds of 85 mph and torrential rains to the coast. Humberto didn’t even exist…
Tropical Storm Humberto – Update
Wunder Blog : Weather Underground Tropical Storm Humberto is steadily gaining strength as it closes in on the Texas coast near Freeport. Radar animations from Houston show a well-defined circulation, with plenty of low-level spiral…
TS Humberto
SciGuyHumberto forms, how will it affect Houston? 12:35 p.m. UPDATE: The National Hurricane Center has just designated the tropical system off the Texas coast as Tropical Storm Humberto, with 45-mph winds. It could strengthen a…
Hump day in Texas…
It’s Wednesday on the SE Texas coast in September which means there is a stalled out “cold” front somewhere in the neighborhood. The upshot that is we will be adding to our 18″ surplus of…
Tuesday in Paradise…Or, Every Cloud Does Have a Silver Lining.
Our cooler, wetter summer sharply cuts West Nile cases | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle Along with greener lawns and lower water bills, this summer’s abundant rainfall is being credited with one more benefit: fewer human…
Summer fights back….
It has been hot and humid here in southeast Texas this weekend. Both the temperature and the humidity have been in the upper half of the 80’s (measured under an acre of shade here at…
Photo Friday – “Purple”
The sky on an autumn morn as the sun comes over the horizon… This week’s challenge: ‘Purple’. Please read our Participant Guide before deciding to submit a link. Your link must be to a static…
TGIF – There is talk on the airways of a cold front coming…
There has been talk the past few days by the weather prognosticators of a cold front heading for these parts. Now granted, at this time of year a weather change that lowers the high temperatures…
Thursday Shorts….
Jim Hightower | CORPORATE AMERICA’S “CHEAP” IMPORT ADDICTION Let’s be honest. China’s trillion-dollar-a-year export economy is based squarely on the country’s deliberate lack of humane standards. That’s precisely why our CEO’s rushed over there –…
Midweek musings on a Wednesday evening…
As I sat reading my email and the news online this morning I had visions of reading the news not all that many years ago. Newsprint and ink stains…Reading the daily news was much more…
Back to work…
The Labor Day weekend played out long as usual. The bar-b-que was well received by one and all. I think we ended up with a bakers dozen here at one point or another during the…
Eugene Robinson – Good Morning, Vietnam! – washingtonpost.com
I spend most of my time these days trying to ignore the insane direction that George W Bush and his enablers have taken this country for the past six years. Then the White House comes…
Labor Day on a cloudy, rainy Monday.
Status Report: The remodeling of our lone bathroom was finally completed yesterday after noon. We have spent the last day finding the little nicks and dings that will be driving the wife crazy as we…
Labor Day Weekend Sunday – Day 6 of a 3 day project…
I always know a remodeling project will take longer than anticipated when I am doing all of the work myself and without help. I did not expect to watch the projected timespan double on a…
Saturday – First of September…High summer is over.
We slept in our own beds for the first time since Monday last night. The construction crew worked till almost 10pm making sure the most important part of the newly rebuilt bathroom was complete. Hopefully,…
The romodeling saga continues with another night planned for the local Best Western…
No matter how much wishing and wanting you might do, remodeling projects take longer than the best laid plans. Looks like another night at the Best Western for the three of us. Tom Philpott has…
Wednesday – Blogging Lite
The night was spent at the Best Western around the corner and in all probability tonight will be also. At home this morning to pick up a couple of things and before running off to…
The start of a home remodel…
We are starting an update of our bathroom today. I went in to this project with some misgivings. Today’s start has not made these misgivings go away. Realize please, our house predates electricity and most…
A rockhounds lament…Texas coastal tears.
As a youngster growing up on the Gulf coast I naturally became a bit of a rockhound. Makes sense doesn’t it? What with no natural rock formations being available within a hundred miles of where…
Gonzales quits as attorney general | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle
I have just one comment…It’s about time. One more down, too many to go. Gonzales quits as attorney general Associated Press CRAWFORD — Embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, under fire from congressional Democrats, has resigned,…
Leon Hale’s take on the heat of summer…
Leon Hale is a Houston institution. His column has been running in Houston Newspapers for as long as I’ve been around (or at least as long as I’ve been aware of being around). Today he…
Saturday – One week back and I need the rest…
Thanks to Rebecca Blood for the link… I agree with her assessment. It is great advice on living well. Reflections On Italy TODAY WHILE TROLLING the hard drive on my Macbook Pro I came across…
Photo Friday – “Unfinished”
Unfinished Grandson… This week’s challenge: ‘Unfinished’. 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…
The Bush Administration Drops The F-Bomb on Appalachia
Morning muses over email with coffee and toast.
You know as I was putting together my lunch to take into work today I was thinking just how oppressively hot it was outside yesterday afternoon. I remember marveling at one point because the temperature…
Hump Day – Thank God it’s over.
These first days back at work are taking a lot out of me. My posting is slip sliding away, and I don’t like missing a post after getting the habit pretty much ingrained. Today in…
Second Day Back…Boy Am I Tired.
The sight that greets me in the morning as I leave for work… And the sight that greats me when I return… I must admit…I prefer the second shot to the first ’cause it means…
Daylight’s end on Back-to-Work Monday….
As the sun sinks slowly behind the trees to the west the heat of the day begins to approach the lowly mid-eighties. Mid summer on the Texas Gulf Coast is always a charmer unless you…
Back to work…
The day has finally arrived where I am returning to the office on a daily basis. Since the daily routine has gotten a bit slack in the last couple of weeks I am running short…
Wandering the web on a Sunday afternoon…
For many years back in the late 1980’s and into the early 1990′ I spent way more time than I should have exploring fractal images. On Friday GreenmanTim over at Walking the Berkshires posted an…
It’s eyes on the horizon time in SE Texas…
It looks like it’s time to keep an eye on the tropics if you live in this part of the world. Hurricane Dean has reached category 4 and he’s still strengthening. He is prognosticated anywhere…
Photo Friday – Old
Old Friends And old photo’s of Old Friends… We still get together once and a while, me and my old friend from the 6th grade…It is over 40 years ago that I developed my first…
Weather goest thou, Erin? What path doth Dean follow?
The predawn hours have been accompanied with the distant rumble of nature’s own percussion section. Tropical storm Erin moved ashore just northeast of Corpus Christie this morning and the outlying rain bands began to come…
Wednesday – The end of week +2
Today’s emails contained this week’s copy of the “Weeknight Kitchen Newsletter” from The Splendid Table. I’ve been listening to Lynne Rossetto Kasper on the Splendid Table Podcast for a while now and enjoying it immensely….
Musing Through The Dog Days of Summer
From Washington Forgive me a few moments of happiness at the news from Washington. The one bit of uniting not dividing to come out of the White House in six years…Karl Rove is resigning. One…
Sometimes…Just Sometimes, The Boob Tube Is Right!
Who Are You? – New York Times
Who Are You? – New York Times I KNOW you. I know you well. It’s true I always have a little trouble with your name, but I do know your name. I just don’t know…
Food or Not Food?
I am in the process of working my way through Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle…A Year of Food Life, so be prepared to see more on the state of American food. Every day that goes…
America’s Roadside Bloomery
It’s been a while since Fred First came up with this idea…contest? So I thought I’d throw out another mention just to see if I could push it about a bit… It would be neat…
Photo Friday – Oddity
While most of the country encounters a Christmas Snow with a fair amount of regularity, this is the only known Christmas Day Snow in Brazoria County, Texas. I would think that would rate it as…
How should you spend your food dollar?
For the record…This is day 1 of week 2 Post-Radiation. In a bit of serendipitous follow-up to yesterday’s post. My email brings me this from Grist…How to prioritize your organic food dollars to get the…
