Here's What I'm Thinking

Saturday, June 7, 2014

Saturday. This is what I read on Yahoo’s front page this morning and here’s what I’m thinking. Kathy, since I know you do camp, this is for you and B. It is called “Glamping” So I clicked on it to find that it is – “A phenomenon called “glamping” has been overtaking the world for people who want to experience the outdoors but don’t want to deal with bugs, tents, and sleeping bags. Glamping, a combination of “glamorous” and “camping,” lets people enjoy the experience of camping without abandoning modern conveniences.” Hmm. Aren’t bugs, tents, no conveniences and sleeping bags what camping is all about? Glamping is just a fancy tent with electricity and a hot plate. You could just stay at home for that and run one of those orange electrical cords from the house to a tent in the back yard. I am certainly no expert in camping, although I do have some good camping stores from days gone by, but this just sounds stupid. Of course I consider camping to be a motel in Canton (or Athens) Texas with no coffee maker. I wonder if the high school state fishing tournament would consider glamping when the members spend a couple of days to prefish sites. If one camps or glamps during a school event, what is the per diem? Perhaps, glamping would attract more females to fishing, but then again, I do not fish so I do not know. However, I am not really seeing a glamping spot in deep East Texas where banjo music plays nightly among the tall girls and virgin pines. K & B, let me know if you switch to glamping. Go Tech!

June 6, 2014

Today, June 6, marks the 70th Anniversary of D-Day. There were five beaches along the 50 mile stretch of French coast that would serve as the landing point for Operation Neptune, a part of the overall invasion of Europe, Operation Overlord. More than 160,000 Allied troops landed on Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword Beach – collectively known as Normandy.They were supported by more than 5000 ships and 13,000 aircraft. It was the largest seaborne invasion in history. So today we remember the over 12,000 soldiers who were killed or wounded on the beaches of Normandy. Their sacrifice allowed more than 100,000 Allied soldiers to begin to the slow, hard march across Europe defeating Hitler and the Nazi army. What these brave individuals did is give us the freedoms we enjoy today. So thank a veteran. Remember his or her sacrifice.

Thursday, June 5, 2014

Don’t sit under the apple tree with anyone else but me, anyone else but me, anyone else but me … till I come marching home. And that was sung by what popular group during World War II? And don’t drink the red liquid in the apple juice jar in my refrigerator. Yesterday, I set up a hummingbird feeder in the back yard.  If you have ever done this, you are aware that when you mix the prepared package of hummingbird food with water you get a bright red liquid, necessary for attracting the hummingbirds.  One fills the hummingbird feeder and then stores the remainder in the refrigerator. One must be careful when storing the remainder of the red liquid. It seems that once upon a time, for some strange reason my father, Honeyboy, and Maggie Lou – a most talkative women and his wife for 25 years – went to my sister’s house to check on things. As we all do when we house sit or “check on things”, we snoop.  You know you do it, so shut up.  It seems that ML opened the refrigerator and asked my father if she could have a glass of this red wine in the refrigerator.  He examined at the red liquid in the wine-shaped bottle, and knew full well it was hummingbird juice, but still said “Sure, I’ll get you a glass.” So ML drank a glass of hummingbird food. Upon leaving the house, he asked her “How was the wine?” She said “Not too good. It was very sweet.” No hummingbirds today. I will let you know if there is a sighting. And the song, Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree? The Andrew Sisters. Patty. Laverne and Maxine.

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Well, Kiss My Bass

Did you know that Texas high schools can offer fishing as an elective? This is no fish tale. It seems there were 84 two-person teams that competed in the 2014 Texas High School Fishing State Championship in March. Who is in charge of this competitive event? The Texas Education Agency or the University Interscholastic League? Is there a Director of Fish at one of the agencies? Does one get a Letter jacket from L. L. Bean? Student anglers must follow the no pass no play rule that all student athletes follow. Perhaps you should adopt a variation of that with a “no pass no cast” rule. Here is my question. In the article, Finders, Keepers in the Texas Co-op Power Magazine that was in my mailbox today, on page 15 it states, “The teammates, who will fish in eight to 10 tournaments this year, usually arrive a couple of days early to prefish a lake, identifying spawning beds, coves and underwater structures that, depending time of year and weather, should hold fish.” Aside from finding where the fish have sex, (and I so wanted to use the obvious alliteration), if you fish 10 tournaments and arrive two days early to prefish (really, prefish is a term?), aren’t you missing some school? Even counting weekends, this prefishing, or finding where the fish are, must certainly bleed into some week days. Are those considered excused or unexcused absences? Now less you think this bass fishing phenomena is limited to the small, rural behind the pine curtain schools, I see where THE Woodlands, College Park club, member caught a tournament record 32 pound fish. I know you cannot wait to learn more about this topic, so I am giving you the websites as they are listed at the end of the article. “To learn more about high school fishing, including tournament listings, visit highschoolfishing.org or setxhighschoolfishing.com.” Yes, I see the last site looks like a high school sexting site and it is not a typo. Time runs out on the Aggies in baseball.

Monday June 2, 2014

Take me out to the ballgame; take me out with the crowds; buy me some peanuts and Crackerjacks; I don’t care if I never get back; We will root, root root for the Aggies, (Ok, I was just checking to see if you were reading or singing) If They don’t win, it’s because time ran out; But it’s one, two, three strikes you’re out at the old ball game. NCAA College World Series. I guess the “walk-off win” is like the buzzer beater in basketball. There have been several walk-off wins, and there have been several almost, but not quite, walk-offs too. And we are only in the Regional brackets. Each year the teams seem to get better and the excitement builds. However, like most TV sporting venues, there is too much talk. Whoever is calling the Aggie/Longhorn game, please shut up! You talk more and say less than Jon Gruden. And also please learn to pronounce these small Texas towns. For example, last night’s pitcher for the Aggies is from Diboll, Texas, way behind the Pine Curtain. You pronounced it DIB ALL! It is DIE BALL, as in Dumb Ass! Speaking of baseball, the Bryan Bombers open their season tomorrow night. But for this evening’s diamond of the night it is the Aggies and the Longhorns. It is a must win for both teams. Win and you move on. Lose and you come home. Gig ‘Em!

Saturday, May 31, 2014

Happy Saturday. In honor of Maya Angelou who passed away this week, I selected three quotes. She had and shared so many beautiful thoughts, it was difficult to select a topic, let alone a quote about that topic.  But perhaps, like me, you will enjoy these three.

The best comfort food will always be greens, cornbread, and fried chicken.

I love a Hebrew National hot dog with an ice-cold Corona – no lime. If the phone rings, I won’t answer until I’m done.

Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.

May 30, 2014

Greetings on this the eve of the last day in May. June 1 and hurricane season are just a couple of days away. So are 90 degree days. How far away are 100 degree days?  Welcome to summertime in Texas. Obviously, no one in the family has read my comparison of Austin and B/CS. I suspect that had they done so, there might have been a comment regarding their placement second to the Texas Aggies.  Well, first of all, it was a close second. And second, the Aggies are like family. I forgot to mention that the top news story over the weekend was the closing of Fuego Tortilla Grill in College Station. It seems this is a hot, late night, after hours, early morning, after the bars, breakfast taco kind of place to go. It voluntarily closed to due to an outbreak of salmonella. I hate it when those little salmonella break out of their little cages and take up residence in your intestinal tract.  The next day the top story was how the place was cleaned top to bottom, not once, but twice.  The second cleaning was done by an outside company. By day three, the place was back open and the parking lot filled with eager customers.  It seems eggs were the source of the outbreak. Coming in a distant second in the news was a police shooting of an elderly woman in Hernia, two robberies, a pervy, Perry appointee dentist who took pictures of his female assistants changing clothes and an assault in Caldwell.  Now that is just KBTX in Bryan. I also get the news from Waco-Temple. Talk about being along a cultural corridor. I have not heard the terms “legislature,” “bicycles” or “downtown closings due to festival” in over a month. Such is life in the Brazos Valley.  Go Spurs.

I’m a little Tea Pot; short and stout; This is my Senate and this is my clout.  Also known as just when we thought we could not do worse, with Dewhurst. Hang On Buckaroos, this is shaping up to be a Texas government for the history books.  May I be the first of a long and growing group who said “Be careful what you wish for?”  With the distinct possibility of Dan Patrick taking dictatorship over the Texas Senate, it is enough to turn Texas back into a blue state. Where are those Castro brothers?  But I now live in a county so red that I bought a pair of red shorts to look as though I fit in.  What are the residents of Bryan called? Bryanites? Bryanettes? I am pretty certain the people who live north in Hearne are called Hernias. And of course the residents of College State are called Aggies.  Last Saturday my friend, Karen R and I went to the Longhorn Steak House in downtown Bryan. When she asked “what kind of red wine do you have?” the response was “merlot” and “cabernet.” However the steak was delicious and the sign as you exit said it all “You call it a mascot; we call it a steak.”  One morning while she was here, we took a walk around my new neighborhood. We happened upon the across the street neighbor – RC. Not Slocum. More like the cola. But RC had his bible tucked under his arm. I asked what he was going to do and he replied, “I am going to go read to some of the people in my church.” And then he asked “Do you ladies go to church?” Karen responded first while I hoped he would not ask me, but then RC turn to me and said “How about you?”  Truthfully, I said, “I was confirmed right down the street here at St. Joseph’s and I might give it a try since I moved back.” RC kind of made a hurrmph sound and said “Catholic, huh? Some of my best Christian friends are Catholic.”  I am not sure those red shorts are going to be enough.

Lent – Day Forty-Six

Saturday, April 19, 2014 – It is the Saturday before Easter Sunday or the Easter Vigil. I am actually doing an Easter Vigil by watching The Ten Commandments by Cecil B. DeMille. I watch it every year. I have seen TTC almost as many times as I have seen GWTW. It came on TV at 6:00 pm and it is currently 10:31 pm and there are still 15 minutes left as I write this. See what I mean about a vigil? I am in another room and can only hear God giving Moses the Big 10 on the mountain while the people below are smelting the gold and making the golden calf down below and being wicked, vile and wild. The voice of God is really good, but Morgan Freeman could be slightly better. It is one of the greatest movies of all time. This is the movie that defined “epic.” There was no computer generation back then. There was no green screen. Those were real animals being herded. The musical score is outstanding. And of course, there’s that Red Sea parting scene and tremendous other special effects. Well, Moses is down from the mountain and boy is he pissed. And so is God. So the Jews get to wander for 40 years. This after 400 years of enslavement. That is a long time for guilt to build up. Well, I must go to bed and wait for the Easter Bunny to come. Oh wait, wrong holiday. I hope you find the Golden Egg tomorrow.