Shadows of my mind Just a few images of things that caught my eye in the last month... I was captured by the shadows on a brick wall outside of the office at Alvin High School. Moving closer and changing my perspective brought in more of the vivid blue sky.…
Monday August 28th Out on the porch this morning and while the temperature isn't cool... The dew point at 72° makes it almost pleasant. Last night at bedtime the radar image was pleasantly surprising. Quite a large portion of Southeast Texas showing rain. Not that the water flowing from the…
It's Tuesday It's another late summer morning in Southeast Texas. A lite mist hugs the ground. Not a breeze is stirring... Except around the wings of the hummingbirds. And... On that note... I'll catch you on the other side.
It's Monday This time it's for real Linda... I was off to the doctor earlier today... Nothing wrong, just a regular follow-up. When I got back I was wandering around the internets... Somehow I stumbled upon a site called Cover Lay Down. They seem to have had their last post…
Saturday... https://youtu.be/LwSE3sjv0ZM The Winamp machine was playing this song last night. For some reason it just didn't sound quite right and I couldn't figure out why... I mean I knew the song... Knew it really well... But not the Jimmy Buffett version. So, I went into google mode... And the…
Saturday Coffee Muses, Sept 2007 It's funny how an old fart like me can get set in his ways... For as long as I can remember my photo editing software foe most things has been Picasa. It was a free software from Google. Google abandoned it almost a decade ago.…
Deere Meditations Interrupted By Broken Belt
Testing the latest iteration of the WordPress app on my Kindle. The last time I installed it, it kept not playing nice with the memory card. But, I miss being able to post from the Kindle. The photo is of the keyboard I received for Christmas. I keep wearing out…
I have found myself swamped with a lack of umph these past few weeks. The heat and humidity of a SE Texas August has me spending all of my time just trying to stay cool... I have been stuck in a procrastinating mode for days and days and days. I watch the…
A cool front was moving through the area as I watched that morning. The day promised to be pleasantly warm and not as uncomfortably hot as it had been all week.
Let's Talk Weather You know it's summer here on the Texas Coast when you step outside before sunup and the humidity settles around your shoulders like a heavy damp cloak. At daybreak the mercury has been hovering in the mid-seventies on the thermometer for most of the past few weeks. That makes…
I find myself spending more of my time outside than I am used to. Yes, it's hot out...And dry. It almost reminds me of my summer in south Texas back in the early 1970's. Unusually dry heat for Southeast Texas at this time of the year. Walking the trail I've…
After months of fighting with signal strengths on the different televisions scatered around the house I was already starting to dread the day when a analog signal was no longer available as a backup. So this morning as I sat with my first cup of coffee I switched on the…
Light rain has decided to bless us today. The clouds and rain are keeping the temperature below 80° so far...Though... I am sure the rain is making the mosquitoes more than happy... ◊≡◊≡◊≡◊≡◊≡◊≡◊≡◊≡◊ A pot of soup is working on the stove for lunch. I tend to use weekday lunches…
Saturday was another 90° day here in SE Texas...The past week has seen upper 80's every day. The weather prognosticators are trying to tease with hints of a "strong" cool front coming our way. I have even heard whispers of highs in the upper 70's...Personally, I think they are smoking…
This morning as the sun comes up, the day starts out foggy. The woods behind the house are hazy through the gray, cloaking moisture. The morning is still, but nowhere near quite. Birds, lots of birds are singing their welcome to the mornings light. The back doors are wide, letting…
Another in the TedTalks Series of videos I try to visit on a weekly basis as a method of personal continuing education...Have a look at what a "play expert" has to say about the importance of play...Stuart Brown: Why play is vital -- no matter your age A pioneer in…
You never know where you will stumble upon a word, a phrase, a few paragraphs that paint a picture in your mind so vivid you would swear you were there... I made my getaway. This dark and wannabe-smokey hideaway was nearly empty. The cushy chairs and couches were without asses.…
Life throws you that spitball. Your plans don't count because your plans were based on being allowed to work out your career and end it when you planned.
Looking on the weather wunderground, I see that Fred is still feeding the woodstove and wearing the multiple layers of clothes he was lamenting in his essay. While I am enjoying the open door and the porch rocker, Fred is still dreaming his summer weather dreams.
This past week the signs of the season's change have sprung up all around...The oaks that were stripped of their leaves by Ike in September, now are leafing out with all of that bright, spring green color that changes the very light. Around the edge of this little house the…
Currently (on Mon 6:02AM CST from Pearland Regional Airport) Light Rain Temp: 66° Dewpoint: 64° Wind: SE 9 MPH The weather here this winter has seemed to be more spring (or fall) like than any I can recall seeing. Checking the almanac for the past two months is eye opening. Since…
High compensation doesn’t attract the very best. It attracts the greediest. via Letters - Wall St. Bonuses - Enough Is Enough - NYTimes.com. Why is this the first time I've ever seen anyone say this? A more true statement has never been said. This sentence should be the banner headline…
While I was do my house-husband duty folding laundry I started to muse on the condition of some of our towels...You know you've been married a while when you hold up a towel and can see through it. Now granted we own a lot of towels...I know, it a woman…
WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME you were dazzled? When was the last time you lay down on a block of granite and fell asleep beneath the sky? Our few remaining pockets of unconnected, unwired time—walks, airplane trips, camp-outs, reading a novel on a beach—are dwindling fast. And yet: The Earth…
Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday 61° F | 45° F 61° F | 56° F 76° F | 61° F 72° F | 58° F 70° F | 52° F It seems that 2008 is insistent on going out looking more like summer in the mountains than winter...Today has been…
Sherry and I were in the car this morning heading to the grocery store for the weekly shopping and listening the Christmas music on the radio. I started thinking about what our children and grandchildren must think about the words to the traditional Christmas songs. I am sure my children…
The deepening recession has eroded the financial standing and optimism of a broad swath of Americans, nearly two-thirds of whom say that they have been hurt by the downturn and that the country has slipped into long-term economic decline. In New Poll, 63 Percent of Americans Say They Have Suffered…
Back last month as I began to think about what I was going to do with myself I wrote on a list that I was going to watch a video a day from the TEDtalks series. I haven't completely kept that promise but I have watched multiples on numerous occasions.…
Coffee Muse I like coffee so much that I have tea for breakfast: The first cup of the day in particular is so good that I’m afraid I won’t be able to properly appreciate it when I am half-asleep. Therefore, I celebrate it two hours later when I am fully…
Already in free fall, the price of oil could soon push much lower as the effects of a global recession take hold. Crude fell $3.12, or 6.7%, to settle at $43.67 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Thursday. Many oil-industry insiders and traders now say prices could…
It looks like just about everyone in the house now has the flu...except me (knock on wood). What a great lead-in to the Thanksgiving Feasting. Tomorrow we head to my mom's where my clan and Sherry's will gather around a number of tables to see if we can get through…
Day 22 Post Freeman Three weeks and a day, the vacation is over...What now? I am still a long way from figuring out what the rest of my life will be...I guess the symbolical nature of the season and the state of my life are in sync. It's the little…
Reading my morning emails brought me this... 5 Myths About Our Ailing Health-Care System America has the best health care in the world. Somebody else is paying for your health insurance. We would save a lot if we could cut the administrative waste of private insurance. Health-care reform is going…
It's a heck of a note when the week before Thanksgiving the weather is perfect for Bar-b-Que...Only in Texas.
At about 4pm on Monday afternoon this was what the Weather Underground had to say about the conditions here... Current Conditions Alvin, Texas (PWS) 68.9 °F / 20.5 °C Clear Humidity: 17% Dew Point: 22 °F / -5 °C Wind: 0.0 mph / 0 km/h Wind Gust: 0.0 mph /…
Currently (on Sun 5:53AM CST from Pearland Regional Airport) Clear Temp: 36° Dewpoint: 34° Wind: Calm MPH After a gorgeous day yesterday, the sun is rising over the start of what looks to be another...Just cooler. This day looks and feels a lot like Saturday morning last week in…
The Guardian has this to say about yesterday... They did it. They really did it. So often crudely caricatured by others, the American people yesterday stood in the eye of history and made an emphatic choice for change for themselves and the world. Though bombarded by a blizzard of last-minute…
While my friends on the Blue Ridge are climbing out of bed this morning and firing up their stoves to beat back the cold we finaly greeted some nice fall weather. The temperature this morning as I sit and write this is 46°. The sky is clear and we should…
Only in Houston could you hear a 66° temperature referred to as a "chilly autumn morning". All summer I've been amazed by the weather prognosticators descriptive adjectives. The mid-nineties and ozone warnings does not a beautiful fall day make...At least not in my book. I will admit a couple of…
Up on the mountain behind my house, the wild blueberries are ripe and prolific. It’s public land, part of the Maine state-park system, so the berries are free for the picking. In a half-hour or so, if I’m lucky, I can fill a tin cup with enough berries for breakfast,…
This has to be one of the strangest things about Texas Republicans... When health care in Texas makes headlines, the issues raised by administrators and physicians are hardly rosy. They include overcrowded emergency rooms, mounting hospital budget deficits created by unfunded indigent care, and uninsured rates for adults and children…
Could McCain possibly have received a better response to his "Celebrity" ad than this? See Paris Hilton Responds to McCain Ad and more funny videos on FunnyOrDie.comSee more funny videos at Funny or Die For the first time in my life I have to say...You go girl...
The Pleasurable Choice Is the Ethical Choice I like to say that I'm not an an optimist, but I am a person of hope. That is to say, I cultivate the virtue of hope in myself. Hope takes account of the enormity and darkness of challenges and problems, and yet…
First things first --- Happy Birthday Sherry. I know you never read these muses...but hell, I'll still say it here. The best present I ever got... Now to the subject of this muse...Heat. It's hot here, it's hot across the south, it's hot on the Blue Ridges of North Carolina…
The "Party" on Saturday had all of the appearances of being a success. By the time the house was empty and the ticky-tacky leftovers were put away I could once again hit the lazy-boy and reflect on the past couple of weeks of labor and feel good that it was…
Around these parts most of our ripened fruit happened a month or better ago. The only thing still to come are the pecans in the fall. Even so the following resonates... The Suburban Life - Thinking Ahead - Editorial - NYTimes.com It’s a good year for blueberries. Decades ago, a…
I finally bit the bullet and upgraded this site to the new WordPress 2.6...I thought I was locked out of my own site...It took two days to figure out why I could not log in...user name and password were right...log in again was the prompt...over and over again...then on a…
Pardon the parsity of the recent posts. I find myself in that strange world of being in between. After thirty-five years at the same company (yes, most of my co-workers weren't even born when I started), I find my skills and knowledge not as welcome as they were. Management changes…
Overnight Thompson's price per kilowatt-hour went from 11.8 cents with the now-defunct retailer National Power to 31.7 cents with CPL Retail Energy. During the 19 days last month he had to wait before he was switched to a lower priced plan, he ran up a $385 bill. Top wholesale power…
Ever since Sept. 11, I have been of a contrarian. I never felt that the date had changed anything other than our own misguided perception of our own safety. A perception I did not share then. Now I read that my views are shared by, at least some of, those…
The Rural Life - Editorial - Summer’s Night - Editorial - NYTimes.com The last couple of nights I’ve stood at the edge of the pasture watching the fireflies. They rise from the grass, flickering higher and higher until one of them turns into the blinking lights of a jet flying…
Looking out the french doors in the kitchen this morning as I read my email and check the news I am amazed at the difference a couple of weeks of hit and miss rain can make. Everything in view is green again. The grass is growing like it should have…
I saw the notice in my email first thing and as I worked my way down the list I was trying to formulate a post. Then I read John Scalzi's...If you are or were a Carlin fan go read John's short tribute. Whatever » RIP, George Carlin He was my…
State GOP targets Obama at Houston convention (w/video) | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle Cornyn was among several speakers who called the party home to its philosophical foundation and urged voters to view Obama as a near-socialist who doesn't share Texas values. The state's other senator, Kay Bailey Hutchison, said Obama…
As I slide down toward another weekend, my feedreader brings me this from Mark Peacock at Appalachian Treks... Appalachian Treks: Serene Majesty There is a serene and settled majesty to woodland scenery that enters into the soul and delights and elevates it, and fills it with noble inclinations. --Washington Irving…
Clinton's Count Doesn't Add Up - washingtonpost.com You have to admire Hillary Clinton for her ability to reshape reality to her preferred outcome. She seems to assume that if she says something loudly enough, and repeats it often enough, it will become true. Her victory speech in Puerto Rico was…
Way back when, in the final season of the West Wing there was an episode with the title "The Presidential Voice". The premise was that Congressman Santos didn't have the "Presidential Voice" and they were trying to teach it to him. Long story short...You don't teach the "Presidential Voice", it…
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 happening through the lens of their own experience." That's how people see Jeremiah Wright. In my conversation with him on this broadcast a week ago and in his dramatic public appearances since, he revealed himself to be far more complex than the sound bites that propelled him onto the public stage. Over 2000 of you have written me about him, and your opinions vary widely. Some sting: "Jeremiah Wright is nothing more than a race-hustling, American hating radical," one viewer wrote. A "nut case," said another. Others were far more were sympathetic to him.
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 — now in its 5th edition — features the 12 fruits and veggies with the most…
I took myself and a glass of Zin out into the backyard to watch the evening light show...The fireflies were a bit subdued, but a pleasure to watch and wander once again through memories of the evenings when I was growing up and "lightning bugs" were everywhere.
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 on Sunday before the front finally pushed through. This morning we had temperature more in…
'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 Primary tide? ++++++++++ Whatever » 10 Delegates? Really? After all that, Hillary Clinton nets just…
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 one of the largest petrochemical complexes in the world. I grew up just a couple…
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 73° with a high forcast for the mid 80's. Now I know for a lot…
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. I mean, it can't be just me, can it? Who the hell really thinks that…
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 and the low humidity...Sadly it wont last long. Lows have been in the 40's and…
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, and yet they do not speak or sing. Others, often on cold, dank and foggy…
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 of medals and Crocker's thatch of gray hair, sending these loyal and able public servants…
“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 that we must be less greedy and wasteful.” Wendell Berry, Farmer, Essayist, Conservationist, Novelist, Teacher,…
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 is 94% and rising...Just think, we call this spring around these parts. You should see…
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 just reinforce what you already assume is the truth... Big Pharma's Golden Eggs - washingtonpost.com…
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 for this: Al Gore has announced his candidacy for president. Wait, wait, don't get up…
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 be to blame. A single application of a highly toxic pesticide to a field can…
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. Desperate for money to rebuild, you engage in a frustrating bureaucratic process, and after months…
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 that personal conversion and social change are possible, that flawed human beings are capable of…
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 pushing for the low 70's by afternoon. Now that is what I call spring. "What…
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 the mountains had to warm up 20° while we cooled down a like amount. Yesterday…
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 how government should keep its hands off the private economy. The Wall Street titans have…
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. For months there has been a rising chorus of alarm about the surging growth in…
Lord you know it's bad when Keith Olbermman finds himself compelled to call you on your actions...Something reserved mainly for President Bush. Special Comment - The News Hole - msnbc.com Finally, as promised, a Special Comment on the presidential campaign of the Junior Senator from New York. By way of…
When this year started, I figured the Democratic Party had a really good thing going. There were low polling numbers for the Republicans and we had some really good candidates running. As the primaries and caucuses worked their way down the schedule, Hillery and Barack both broke out and I…
A shot from last year's trail ride by my office on the southern edge of Houston. On the trail ride, cowpokes draw a crowd | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle On Tuesday, Davis and about 200 other cowpokes from the Southwest Trailriders Association ambled along highways to join 12 other groups…
The political novelty of actual campaign money being spent by national candidates in Texas is a subject of conversation around the water cooler at work. Between the two of the, Clinton and Obama have spent more money in Texas than all of the Democratic National campaigns of the last half…
Save it for a rainy day... Reacquiring the daily blogging habit after any layoff is tough. Doing it at the end of winter when you are just marking time while the season rolls over is really tough. Last weeks run in with the flu(?) put me in that place. Five…
It's been a long few days on the couch (and a lot of West Wing episodes through the DVD). I am feeling better, though weak, so it's back to the grind today. I'll try to get back on the track this evening if I don't tire myself out...Later
Just wanted to let anyone who may wonder what has happened to me that I seem to have gotten the flue...Been holed up on the couch and the bed for three days now and it looks like I have a few more to go. To kill the time I went…
Coming in to work this morning the light from the rising sun lit up the trees beautifully. Had I not been 30 minutes late already I would have stopped and gone for some shots. The thing that caught my eye though was the number of trees that were already show…