Some Old Hippies

Dancing to the Bellamy's

I'm using old as a relative term, and just trying to be quippy, because we went and saw the Bellamy Brothers play on the bricks in Roscoe last night. Excellent performance, makes me wonder why we listen to new songs when so many good ones have already been written and sung. There was a big crowd, but it was loose and navigable, like the Willie picnics in the early '80's. I saw so many familiar faces. I can't imagine living somewhere where I haven't grown up. Even if you don't know someone directly, you know who they look like.

We ended up getting 3 4/10 of rain last weekend. I was running mail on Saturday in Mitchell County, and I should have taken a canoe instead of my truck, although I have a certain appreciation of the 4-wheel drive. It got me out of some tight spots (C'mon, c'mon, c'mon!). I didn't test for buoyancy, though. I saw some other folks who did. Trucks don't float.

 The weather is beautiful here, one of the reasons fall is my favorite season. I like autumn lighting. It makes it seem like mid-morning for a longer portion of the day, and 10 a.m. is the best time for me. I'm very hopeful and can think well around then. After that, no promises. In the afternoon, I can hardly remember my name.

Since I'm giving up politics and religion, I don't have much more to say. There's nothing to gripe about, now. I think I'll just hum an annoying tune and be happy.

If He Catches You, You're Through

Some of my chickens have found it to be true, the song the roadrunner sings. There has been a rash of raids this week with a resulting loss of two hens and a rooster. I had someone ask me why I didn't just keep the chickens put up, but that would be like keeping your dog in a box, or making the cats sit in a cage all the time. Chickens like to run around and peck and scratch at things. It's a joy to watch them.

Yesterday I let them out for a little while and I thought I was keeping a close eye on them. I kept going outside every fifteen or thirty minutes, had Sue the dog on duty watching them, and had the front door cracked so I could hear any commotion.

By the way, this week was the first time for my baby chicken to foray into the world. I've been anticipating her debut beyond the chicken pen because she's such a vocal little hen and has a lot of different voices to express her little chicken emotions. No, not like Linda Blair in  The Exorcist type voices, just a bunch of chirpy sounds that make me happy to listen to.

Anyway, so I thought I was paying attention. Then a rooster in the front yard sounds an alarm (he didn't pull the fire bell, he just crowed) and I shoot out the door. He's out there by himself and I run around the house and see that everyone is alarmed, even the cats, who have been kittens of interest in the recent deaths. I start counting chickens while I'm running around and find that baby chicken and mama chicken are missing. I'm calling (chicka chicka chicka) and starting to get desperate when I look over and see baby chicken hiding under some pampas grass. I was so relieved, because I was fixing to give up chickens if she was gone. Poor mama chicken met her end, though, probably defending baby. I've seen her go up against the roosters over her chick.

The chickens are put up today. I finally got a print of whatever is nabbing the fowl. The cats can stand down, as they have been cleared by this recent evidence. Once I started looking around, it appears that a whole herd of wild critters crosses through our yard. The print in the photo is about 3 inches long. The best I can guess is coyote. There are smaller prints that might be a fox. Mr. Me says that if it's a fox, we'll never be able to catch it. Just too wily.

I think the way to combat this is to get more chickens. They can be very aggressive in large groups, chasing down wild animals and pecking their eyes out. Not really. It's just if there are more, then I won't miss one or two so badly when they're gone.

Confused about Confucius

I was reading the local paper today when I saw a quote by Confucius. I thought, "Oh my gosh, don't they know Confucius is bad!" and thought about how we, or, rather, I, say things off the top of my head, showing my extreme ignorance of all things beyond the borders of West Texas. Then I asked myself why I thought Confucius was bad, and realized I had not investigated the facts to justify my own reasoning.

I recently read The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan, where the character Winnie blasted the Chinese Philosopher because of the oppression of women during the time in China in which she was living, which apparently was part of Confucian belief. I guess I could get all down on Confucius for that, but it would be a pot calling the kettle black situation, or some sort of hypocritical thought, because, historically, women have been shunned in our own country and in our own religions. Shoot, the black man got the vote before gals did, and you know how vigorously racist people were back in the day. Just sayin'.

Also, I think it's ironic that Christians would quote a philosopher who was considered agnostic.

After a little perusing, it seems that the original Confucian ideologies were twisted to fit whatever religious or political situations that were occurring in China. I'm highly suspicious that this is a global phenomenon.

Migrating

Our annual monarch migration has been going on in dribs and drabs for the past several weeks. Usually there are jillions of butterflies everywhere and you have to just grit your teeth and barrel through them when you're driving (like we're who does the real suffering). This year they have been in lesser numbers, but they're huge, as large or larger than the palm of your hand from wrist to fingertip. I was driving along the other day and it looked like someone had pinned them here and there in sky as if they were ornaments. The beauty in the photo was lighted on a Russian sage plant in my back yard.

Black Gold, Texas Tea and a Little Bit of Natural Gas

University A-1 Well

We had to go to the title office in Roby today for a little business and found a lot of action going on there and at the courthouse. Landmen all over the place, and you know what that means. Boom! Very exciting, go on up there and see if your neighbors have agreed to a lease or not, get your mineral rights in order and play your cards right. Get them suckers bidding against each other! I'm hearing leases are going for as much as $2400 an acre in east Texas. I don't know if it's going to get anywhere near that here, but it's going to get interesting, that's for sure.

Park Lane

My library friend Eloisa is selling Park Lane Jewelry. Check it out online then head on over to the County City Library in Sweetwater and give her your order. She also has hard-copy catalogs for you to look at. Cute stuff!

Just a Couple More...

Regarding the vaccine that Perry wanted all girls to get: In my memory, what was so offensive about it was that the illness the inoculation was for was said to have been contracted only by sexually active individuals, so in essence, it seemed like he was saying all girls are excessively promiscuous and needed to be vaccinated.

Regarding the accusation that scientists are to blame for global-warming paranoia: The first person that I noted saying the atmosphere has it's own rhythm was a top scientist at a facility Tom Hargrove was affiliated with. Tom sent me the article the man wrote. The man is a noted scientist, if only I could remember his name or still had Tom's note to me. I believe he was a scientist at the University of Alabama. Anyway, he said that global warming was bunco. In so many words.

I Won't Miss You

Teel House

It was very surprising last Thursday to find that between the time I went to work that morning and drove back home that evening the old Teel house at the corner of FM 419 & FM 611 had been demolished.

I even hit the brakes as I went around the corner, and then came to a full stop in the road. I thought "Wow", then "I like it". That old eyesore has been there my entire life, and it has been a very long time since any Teels lived there. It was a relief to see it scraped up into a pile.

The razing was done for the placement of a high voltage line that Lone Star Transmission LLC is installing. This part of the project reaches across Scurry, Fisher, Jones and Shackelford counties and covers 1,467 acres. The overall line will run about 300-miles, through many counties.

I would give a website for information, but Googling will deliver an abundance of results. I found it somewhat interesting to see many names that I recognize associated with the process of the initial development of this project.

Lone Star and Oncor were used as key search words.

She Was Shakin'

Big Country Home Page news site is reporting that we have had seven earthquakes locally in the past two days, six of them close to Snyder, which makes them close to Hobbs. We have not felt anything, but Howard Gordon said he felt the one Sunday morning around 7:30 a.m. He said it was about a 2-second rumble.

According to Big Country news, the last one was recorded this morning around 4:26 a.m. near Forsan, southeast of Big Spring. The United States Geological Survey site has a map showing responses to the tremors. There are some Advanced National Seismic System maps on the USGS site that show where earthquakes have been occurring. Click on any of the highlighted words for more information.

Abject Criticizing

Looking at Twitter, to the right, you will see that I commented on a black cloud hanging overhead.

Unfortunately, it is not rain. I get in these damned moods where I am so hyper-critical that even I can't stand myself. I gripe at the tv, the cat, chickens and I have deep ruminations.

If I were a cast iron pot, my lid would be rattling from a slow boil.

So, I'm going to make one heavily edited comment just to get it out of me, then we can get to the lighter side of life.

The insurance company that provides coverage to state employees is going up thirty dollars per month on everyone who uses tobacco. I think that is taking advantage of a captive audience.

Ok, there ya go.

We briefly visited the West Texas Fair & Rodeo yesterday. The photo is of the most clever entry. It's not worded that way on the ribbon, but that's what it is. When I saw it, I thought, "Of course, why haven't I thought of it!", which makes it even more ingenious, because it's been right there in front of me all the time. Now there will be a wave of bathtub settees across the area. It's about time, the bathtub planters are so last season.

I noticed that Tom Wideman won first prize in antiques kitchenware with a metal muffin pan. I'm supposing this is the former mayor of Sweetwater, Rattlesnake Round-Up aficionado and past owner of West Texas Manufacturing. Way to go, Tommy!

There were all kinds of entries, birth certificates included. I quit looking when I saw an entry of an Avon bottle that was shaped like a Sherlock Holmes bulldog pipe. One that I know every single one of you has seen, and would quickly toss in the trash if you were cleaning out a closet. I'm pretty sure we had one sitting on the back of the toilet for years. Or something of Avon 70's vintage. I mean, who didn't?

There were some pretty cowgirl contestants giving speeches, and I wish I had room for those photos on here, too. They were beautiful girls wearing fancy clothes, but not in an unsavory fashion. How refreshing to see a nice Texas girl.

We didn't indulge in the carnival foods, 'cause you know I save that for the previously mentioned Rattlesnake Round-Up in March. Twice a year would just be too much.

One more thing to say. The fair is here, so where's the rain?