Texas summers can feel interminable; that’s because they are. Depending on the year, it is not unusual that they begin in April and continue until Halloween. That leaves five months of other. Fingers crossed, I think we have mercifully reached that climatic stage. My plea for relief from heat is because at heart I love the four seasons and cold;
Read more
It is five-thirty a.m. My four-legged alarm clock – Ernie – is bed side, parked in the darkness on the floor staring at me. When I try to ignore him – which is most mornings – he lets out a nearly imperceptible whimper. That’s audible number one. Trying to hide is a fool’s task but I attempt it anyway. Predictably
Read more
Asheville, North Carolina. Imagine walking around a downtown corner bumping into a Pinball Museum! And it’s not your normal Touch-It-On-Pain-of-Death museum; here visitors are expressly invited to play its relics. [See image below.] My reason for becoming animated by Asheville was that in the 1970’s I had one of these, an old wooden 1940’s model. [The image above is just
Read more
After driving for ten hours you begin to think about a modest treat to end the day. And so it was last week returning to Texas from New York; an urgent family situation made the snap-trip necessary. The last time I checked – a few years ago – Italian was still the most numerous of ethnic food restaurants in America.
Read more
We finished our early morning walk uneventfully. Getting ready to return inside Ernie stopped, looked at me and sat down. That’s his way of talking. In this case I wasn’t sure what he wanted since we had just done our jaunt. My first reaction was to give him a second go, but he took a few steps and re-seated himself on
Read more
What put me onto this quirky subject was a recent foggy morning walk with Ernie. We were out in the pastures and into my nostrils wafted a noticeable scent of celery. Celery? It has been growing in my raised test-bed since March, and doing very well. However, over twenty-five years have passed since I first started it from seed and
Read more
I opened the door to the Shack as I always have. The difference this time was that something hopped in just before me: a greyish praying mantis. Since it wasn’t green as I have come to know them I assumed it wasn’t yet mature. Being a bug lover [but there are exceptions] I had no reason to kill it so
Read more
Visiting College Station last week on business I took the opportunity to stop at a Petco. They have everything imaginable for dogs. Ernie is a connoisseur of a certain type of toy that I knew would be a good present. Shelf shopping up and down the aisles I found the small fuzzy ones that have an embedded small balloon-like device that squeaks when bitten
Read more
For two weeks I feared something untoward happened to these Gulf Coast Toads; most notably missing was one on my doorstep. As previously reported one or another has been there nocturnally since 2009. I surmised that a series of torrents blew or washed them away, despite my providing no-mow sanctuary. So seeing a littlest one there again tonight gives me
Read more
Ernie bolts out of the Shack for his morning walk with the enthusiasm of American Pharaoh leaving the starting gate. I catch up with him as he leads the way with conviction down the well-worn path to pasture. Frequent stops are made so he can sniff out any rabbit that might be hiding in the high grass alongside the welded
Read more