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!
Week 2 – Day 2 Working on an interior tan…
I had a funny thought as I lay on the…hmmm, I really don’t know what to call it…the platform(?) while x-rays were taken of my throat before my radiation treatments started yesterday. I was recalling…
One down, six to go – The end of the first week of radiation
So far so good. Other than a raspy voice not much to report after the first weeks radiation treatment. No news is good news I guess. The promised cooling effect of afternoon thunderstorms did not…
Millions of Missing Birds, Vanishing in Plain Sight – New York Times
Verlyn Klinkenborg has a new piece out. His observations on humanity and our relationship to the natural world do not put humanity in the best of lights…Rightfully so in my humble opinion. Millions of Missing…
Richard Cohen excuses the excesses of politicians with a sentence…
With the sentencing of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Fitzgerald has apparently finished his work, which was, not to put too fine a point on it, to make a mountain out of a molehill. At the…
Day 5 – Bathing in the artificial sun…along about the orbit of Mercury.
There was a break in the afternoon gully washers yesterday. I took that opportunity to play a bit of catchup on the yard work. I managed to mow about 2/3 of the yard…if I’m lucky…
Political Muse For Monday
The reason Bush and buddies are so clueless is that they are eaten up with corporate arrogance and avarice. They possess a stunning sense of entitlement, leading them to treat our government as their private…
Day four in atom crunching…
The weather the past two days was…to be nice…wet. Occasional heavy thunderstorms interspersed with steady rain. Short periods of local street flooding. One of the changes I have seen in my half century in SE…
Sunday Morning on Sunday Morning
I was sitting here checking out some WP plugins when I noticed the time. Poured my first cup of the morning muse and turned on “Sunday Morning”. I was late for the preamble but caught…
The Ethicurean: Chew the right thing.
The Ethicurean Blog always has some intriguing posts about the food we eat and how it is raised or shows up at our table. Maybe I’ve been reading them too much, ’cause this whole dependence…
Does George Will look at the world thru rose colored glasses?
To judge by his latest columns my answer would have to be yes. It looks like I’m not the only one who thins so either. Marbo is Guest Posting over at The Carpetbagger Report this…
It’s Saturday so I don’t have to go glow in the dark…
American Agriculture – Do you trust a CEO to decide what you eat? It may just be my inherent distrust of corporations or the complete lack of values most corporations have shown in the course…
Slideshow from my PhotoBlog
From My PhotoBlog at Gary-Boyd.com I just learned an interesting fact. If you ever had a Blogger Blog that you posted photo’s to, you seem to also have a Picas Web Album for that blog….
To Fence or Not To Fence…
Charles Krauthammer has a long piece on the Immigration Bill and building fences. This whole fence argument comes with a timing that I find full of synchronicity. What with all of the air play Ronald…
Day three – another round of atomic scientist in the making
Currently: 72° Dewpoint: 68° Wind: Calm Humidity: 85% Pressure: 29.85 in Hg Average: High 91° Low 72° Record: High 100° (1936) Low 58° (1933) Today’s Sunrise: 6:20AM Today’s Sunset: 8:24PM (14:04 hours of sunlight) The…
Day two – Mommy I Ate the Geiger Counter…
Currently: 73° Dewpoint: 72° Wind: Calm Humidity: 97% Pressure: 29.87 in Hg Average: High 91° Low 72° Record: High 102° (1998) Low 62° (1995) Today’s Sunrise: 6:20AM Today’s Sunset: 8:23PM (14:03 hours of sunlight) I…
Gaian Tarot Oracle: an Online Reading
Gaian Tarot Oracle: an Online Reading I was reading Cate’s post Four of Earth which led me to Joanna’s Gaian Tarot While looking at her art I saw the link to the Oracle…Go try asking…
Wednesday – Middle of the week musing
5:52am Currently: 75° Dewpoint: 73° Wind: Calm Humidity: 94% Pressure: 29.92 in Hg Average: High 90° Low 72° Record: High 100° (2006) Low 61° (1955) Today’s Sunrise: 6:20AM Today’s Sunset: 8:23PM (14:03 hours of sunlight)…
Die ya buzzing blood suckers…Die!
Spotted this in my feed reader and thought I’d pass it along for all of you southerners out there slapping yourselves silly. OakStump Farms Mosquito Trap Eliminates populations of skeeters When I saw this cheap…
Tuesday, O’Six, Twelve, Twenty O’Seven
Currently: 73° Dewpoint: 72° Wind: NE 3 MPH Humidity: 97% Pressure: 29.98 in Hg Average: High 90° Low 72° Record: High 101° (1978) Low 60° (1955) Today’s Sunrise: 6:20AM Today’s Sunset: 8:23PM (14:03 hours of…
SERENDIPITY IN THE MOUNTAINS
When I first started blogging I posted some photos from my North Carolina trips over my Photo Blog. One of the photos has consistently pulled in search engine hits. This is that photo..Brinegar Cabin on the…
Monday Morning Muse
Current Weather: 73° Dewpoint: 72° Wind: Calm Humidity: 97% Pressure: 29.94 in Hg Average: High 90° Low 71° Record: High 96° (1953) Low 57° (1955) Today’s Sunrise: 6:20AM Today’s Sunset: 8:22PM Well, this is the…
Republicans and the Law
Ok, after a long hiatus on this site my liberal rantiness has returned. All it took was a return to the 1980’s and the Republican definition of “Law and Order”. I found this statement from…
Sunday Coffee Muses – Music to drink coffee to
My morning email brought me message from Amazon.com about a new release from Adrian Young. It seems if I enjoy Alison Krause (which I do) then Amazon thinks I’ll enjoy Adrienne’s music also…I guess their…
It’s Sunday Morning – June 10, 20 O’Seven
I hope Charles Osgood doesn’t get upset with me for borrowing his date format. I have liked the way it sounds ever since he started using in, I think it was Twenty O’One…Sorry for the…
Muses from the middle of the day
My email brought me the latest “News From Vermont” a regular newsletter put out by Burr Morse from the Morse Farm Sugarworks. I stumbled upon a copy of one of his email missives a while…
Friday Coffee Muse – June 8, 20 O’Seven
This mornings muse was interrupted by intermittent outages of my wireless connection to my dsl. I ended up having to leave the house without posting or finishing my daily email read. I’ll try to post…
Thursday Morning – June 7, 20 O Seven
What a difference a day makes…Yesterday morning I was in Medical Mode and not hurrying out the door, so I drew my first cup and glanced up at the “Weather Station”. The outside temperature was…
Another First
Looks like the same old game for the Bush administration. Give a big speech taking the oppositions side away from them, do some back office finagling to ensure what you just promised doesn’t happen, and…
Political Musings
March 27, 2006I have decided that trying to keep up with multiple blogs requires more time than I want to devote. So I am now keeping my political musing on my main blog. If you…
Washington Scandals
There is a firestorm brewing in Washington DC. It is a storm fueled by scandal…Scandals based on the perception of dishonesty. At this moment, it is only the perception of dishonesty that is fueling this…
John McCain – The War You’re Not Reading About – washingtonpost.com
Leave it to the Senator to put his finger on the “New” policy for Iraq. One innovation of the new strategy is closing markets to vehicles, thereby precluding car bombs that kill so many and…
Politics Collide With Iraq Realities
On Easter Sunday the Iraq prognosis could be better. A political breakthrough in Washington already happened, Hamre (John J. Hamre, a former deputy defense secretary) said, when November’s elections turned into a referendum on the war….
Six Years is Too Long
1992 was the year I became a Democrat. That was the year I got the opportunity to attend every session of the Republican National Convention. I was in the building before the delegates and I…
You really have to wonder who they think they are fooling?
You know, either politicians are getting really stupid or they think we are. It really doesn’t matter a whole lot if they are being paid off any more, the appearance that they are being paid…
End A War
OK, maybe I’m dense…I know all of you on the right are sure of it, but…That big unanswered question…But, when exactly will the war in Iraq be over? We keep being told it will be…
Bush and Health Care – Not
I didn’t look to see how the op-ed pages tried to spin their own survey, but the data looks pretty bad for the gang in the White House. Nearly half of Americans don’t trust President…
Will the ‘decider’ branch out? | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle
Jim Wright says it all right here… It would help immensely if the president can remember that every senator and representative considers him- and herself chosen and charged by the public and instructed by the…
We should all take ‘voice lessons’ from Dixie Chicks | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle
This was in the newsfeed from the Houston Chronicle today. In the new spirit of media disclosure, I should tell you that I own several Dixie Chicks CDs. But I’m not writing this as an adoring…
This I Believe…
The take away paragraph tells the story of this President’s term in office. Bush has always supported a faith-based initiative, but his recitation of beliefs in the East Room yesterday — he listed no fewer than…
T.R.? He’s No T.R. – New York Times
Tony Snow had this to say about his boss and his environmental policies… Mr. Bush had in fact been “keenly committed both to environmentalism and conservationism from the start.” Must be something in the Kool-Aide…
David Ignatius – Expect The Worst In Iraq – washingtonpost.com
Somehow, after four years, the debate on Iraq is still animated by wishful thinking. The White House talks as if a surge of 20,000 troops is going to stop a civil war. Democrats argue that…
Charles Krauthammer – Who’s to Blame for The Killing – washingtonpost.com
Charles Krauthammer takes us to task for those blaming America for the deaths in Iraq… We have made a lot of mistakes in Iraq. But when Arabs kill Arabs and Shiites kill Shiites and Sunnis…
Remembering Molly Ivins
Another tribute to a life lived large… Remembering Molly Ivins Source: Remembering Molly Ivins
Molly Ivins, Populist Texas Columnist, Dies at 62 – New York Times
Molly Ivins, the liberal newspaper columnist who delighted in skewering politicians and interpreting, and mocking, her Texas culture, died today at her home in Austin. She was 62. Ralph Barrera/Austin American-Statesman, via Associated Press Molly…
The Bait-and-Switch White House – New York Times
I don’t know about you but to me it looks to me like Bush and Cheney have seen to many police shows on TV. I mean come on guys, good cop bad cop is so…
Defending Iraq War, Defiant Cheney Cites ‘Enormous Successes’ – washingtonpost.com
You have to wonder what they are putting in the Kool-Aid at the Cheney manse. Vice President Cheney said yesterday that the administration has achieved “enormous successes” in Iraq but complained that critics and the…
State to argue for reinstating DeLay charge | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle
Some day we will be able to put the DeLay era behind us. I feel sorry for Virginia… AUSTIN — A part of the criminal case that helped drive former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom…
Isn’t it nice to have our government back?
All it took was for the ruling party to be kicked out of power. Now we have legislators actually legislating. Perish the thought, the Republican minority may have to prove that government can actually can…
Martian Logic – washingtonpost.com
Today’s papers are full of news of war and rumors of war, both real and political. There are a number of sites around the internet that will give you better coverage of this than I will….
Questionnaire and answer on the topic of troop surge | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle
William F Buckley Jr has an article on the thought process behind a vote on “the Surge” that starts like this… You are a Republican legislator, retiring after this, your fifth term. Last night, into the…


