Thank you Steve Cochran

My Outlook Express has not been allowing me to send email since February, but I finally found the solution today. A guy in this Windows forum had the answer. Or maybe I finally figured out the key words to make the answer come up. Anyway, maybe this will help if any of you are having the same problem.

Nice people, but this costs too much!

-For What?-

We had need of medical assistance this past week. We were treated well, above and beyond, but I still left the hospital feeling like a big welfare jackass.

Everyone in my family works. I own my own house, my car is paid for and I pay taxes every year. Yet, when I explained that we had no insurance, I was directed to go to the hospital business office and apply for indigent care. They considered us to be poor, needy, impoverished, penniless and destitute, I guess, because that's Merriam-Webster's definition of the word indigent.

We ended up making a payment arrangement, but why is it so much work? Why is there not one formula? Why can't I pay for my x-rays with a pig? I'm thinking about keeping a voodoo queen on retainer for future medical needs. I bet it would be cheaper.

A mess o' fish

-Not in Texas-

When I see fishing adventures on television or in magazines, the scene is serene and organized. There's usually a nice fisherman wearing waders, tossing a line in the air, or a bass boat full of lures and coolers. Texas back-country fishing is a very different activity from either of those.

The first boy I went fishing with was very emphatic about the rules of fishing. When we got to the fishing spot, there was to be no talking, and one must crawl to the edge of the creek, lest a fish should spot a shadow. Hooks were to be gently lowered into the water, in the case of catfishing.

Getting to the fishing hole is a very big adventure. Usually some ledges and lots of face-slapping trees or brush is involved. One foray led us across outcroppings from a sheer, dripping wall with a creek below where snakes would periodically swim out.

And there must be a legend. The catfish that no one can catch is a good one. Every shadow in the water will inspire the imagination to believe a fish of giant proportion has been seen, adding another inch to the fable.

The grand prize is a large, inedible fish that could rival the Loch Ness monster. If not that, then a big mess o' crawdads.

By the by, one trap full of dead crawdads taught us that they have to come to the water's surface to breathe. Live and learn, right?

Hobbs Campus up for grabs, for real (estate)

There's a Notice of Sale of Real Property in the Rotan Advance Roby Star this week, notifying the public that the Rotan Independent School District will take sealed bids for the Hobbs School until June 11. Minimum bid is $200,000. To look at the property, call Jeff Branson at 735-2992. A bid package can be obtained through Branson or the RISD administrative offices.

RRC GIS guidance

-RRC Map-

Check out this video created by Kreg Harrison. He presents precise instructions on how to use the Railroad Commission public GIS viewer to look at property and where the dry holes, plugged wells, etc. are situated. I found the link to Harrison's video on the Fisher County Mineral Rights Forum.

Dirt wave

I see a lot of weird weather things and amazing clouds out here in the country. It keeps me scared of storms. This was shot after the outflow boundary blew through here yesterday and headed east.

Would I let the grasshopper die?

Poor ol' grasshopper, he got a pretty bad rap. That ant was pretty intolerant. Sometimes the grasshoppers are the ones who know how to have fun, and that's worth a few grains of wheat.

When we were teaching our kids about work ethic, we told them that the most important thing was to show up everyday on time. I've seen a few fellow workers who weren't much on form or style, but as long as they could be depended on to be at work when they were supposed to be, they had fulfilled 99% of what was required of them. An excellent job can't be performed by a worker who is not present, no matter how talented they are.

TEXASCBX Photography

My eyes love looking at this photo (click!).TEXASCBX:

Just wondering

I read something the other day about how many people died this year while driving and texting. I just wondered how this was determined. What is the evidence? Is a phone found in the hand? Did authorities at the scene pick up the phone and find a text that was mid-sentence? It seems it would be hard to prove such a thing unless there was an eye-witness or someone on the receiving side of the message who could associate the time of a wreck with the time of the correspondence. I would think that when a wreck occurs, the phone goes flying. I'm not trying to make little of texting and driving, it's just that people are too quick to jump on a showboat, requiring no evidence in taking up a new mantra.

Apricots & Algerita

- Algerita Bush -

The algerita bushes and apricot trees are heavy with bumper crops this year, but the window for picking is very small. I've been fantasizing about apricot jam with a few berries thrown in or a sunrise concoction made up of mostly apricot jam in a jar topped with a layer of algerita. I've never eaten such, but it makes my mouth water to think about it smeared on a piece of heavily buttered toast.

The photo was taken on a Mitchell County back road. I haven't seen any around here because they were burned out in last year's fires. Regrowth is evident, though, and the berries will once again be plentiful in this part of Fisher County.