We had a "cool" front blow through here this morning...Cool is now at 71° and rising. The front brought an hour or so of rain and then clear blue sky. The real sign of spring though is the cardinals, you know...Red birds chasing other red birds out of their perceived…
After eight years of backpedaling by the previous administration on the requirements that it protect the environment, there is a new group in charge. They seem to feel that the laws passed by congress prior to the Bush Administration really are laws...Go figure.
Ten days into March and the weather feels more like late spring or early summer from my childhood. This week we have seen 80's over and over again. So far the March winds (which began blowing in November) have kept the house reasonably comfortable. I don't like to think about…
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…
Reading Leon Hale's column is an institution in Houston and the surrounding counties as well as my house. Mr. Hale has been published in a Houston Paper for most (if not all) of my life, and his was the only column I remember reading in my dad's paper as a…
Why you should listen to him: Few writers approach their subjects with the rigor, passion and perspective that’s typical of Michael Pollan. Whereas most humans think we are Darwin’s most accomplished species, Pollan convincingly argues that plants — even our own front lawns — have evolved to…
In my daily walks with our dogs I travel a route through the woods behind our house along a pipeline right of way then along Mustang Bayou to anther pipeline right of way and back home.The trip if I wanted to hurry it would not take much over 10 or…
Verlyn Klinkenborg has something to say about what's happened to our view of the stars at night...He starts out this way... If humans were truly at home under the light of the moon and stars, we would go in darkness happily, the midnight world as visible to us as it…
Driving toward Kerrville along the Guadalupe River somewhere west of Hunt... From Coffee Muses
Image via Wikipedia The weather here has been very dry...at least until the past week or so. We have been having a spring-like amount of rain. After complaining for so long about the lack, it seems almost sacrilegious to say anything about the water we needed so bad. After months…
Leaving the house this morning the temperature was already passing 80°. August in SE Texas may not be as hot as other places in the country, but factor in the humidity and it ain't pretty. The prognosticator on the radio was holding forth about a high today of 96°...But then…
Up early to check on the status of Edouard...Looks like a miss for my house...Heading inland already on the Louisiana border. Should miss the majority of the Houston area, rain and moderate winds only. Sherry has headed for work already...Television on, radar on the monitor... Happy Birthday Wendell Berry It's…
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…
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…
I have never felt that the Corporate pushers of GMOs were looking out for anything other than their own profits. That has led me to look on their actions in an unfavorable light. While this has always been a personal "feeling", I find my concerns expressed very well by this…
TED | Talks | Malcolm Gladwell: What we can learn from spaghetti sauce (video) Tipping Point author Malcolm Gladwell gets inside the food industry's pursuit of the perfect spaghetti sauce -- and makes a larger argument about the nature of choice and happiness.
Danah Boyd had an interesting comment on her blog today... In an attention economy, it's better to ignore than to critique. This drives me absolutely bloody batty. Anyone who's been online for too darn long knows has heard the expression, "don't feed the trolls." This stems from the general belief…
This has been a "wild" year around our house. So far this spring we have been blessed with four identical little armadillos, a litter of four raccoons, and a couple of opposiums. Down in this part of Texas most of the older homes are built up on blocks so that…
This is how I spent my morning muse today...
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 the EPA.
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…
No matter what the weather brings tomorrow, I will spend the day on my annual photo road trip/beach meditation party. This will be the third annual event. A holiday from work I present to myself. A day of wandering the countryside of my life. If the prognosticators are right, the…
Talk about touching a chord in my psyche. Verlyn's essay on driving and learning to drive is poetic in the way it pulls memories out of the dregs of my subconscious and plants them in the forebrain, full of scents, and sounds, and muscle memory. Being from Texas, I was…
While I have only experienced temperatures of this nature once in my life, I do remember being surprised at the time that the cold didn't feel that cold...Of course, that was Colorado. The only time I've seen temperatures in the teens around here it's felt very, very cold...I guess that's…
This morning is glowing...The light outside is golden. I would be outside trying to capture a remembrance except the temperature is at 40° and the humidity is 88%. Too cold by far for the shorts and long sleeve "t-shirt" I am wearing. I don't know if it means anything, but…
The cold front that is putting a big chunk of the country in winter stalled just north of my house yesterday. The cooler air made it as far south as the office before deciding to run back north to more friendly environs. Though this mornings presentation is in the 60's...barely...…
The weather outside is...springlike. Not what you want to get you into the Christmas spirit. The high here today could break the record for high temperatures on this date. Here we sit, just after noon on a cloudy day, under an acre of green leaves of oak trees with the…
I went out for a walk this morning with the camera because I noticed the red oak out back finally decided it autumn. The predominate color is still green around here, but what do you expect when the temperature outside is 75° at 10am on a Sunday morning. Here's what…
As we left Virginia behind today Mother Nature gave me a perfect picture postcard view of Mabry Mill. Actually the two colorful trees in the background are about the only two left in the vicinity with much color but they were in the right place at the right time for…
