Gov't Mule and the Disco Biscuts, at the House of Blues in Dallas.

oSo, my girlfriend and I met a few very close friends in Dallas a week or so ago and spent the night enjoying some great food and music.

There was some drama attached to the evening. There was a HUGE cluster fuck with the balcony seats I bought. I won't harsh your mellow with those details though. Suffice to say, we all had a great time consuming great food at the Hoffbrau in the West End, and then listening to excellent music at the House of Blues; Gov't Mule and the Disco Biscuits.



First, the great food. The Hoffbrau makes a killer Teriyaki steak. Wonderful stuff. Denise ordered this one, and a baked spud. Next time I may have to get this myself.



I went for the bacon cheeseburger and the wedge fries. It's fillin', I wanna tell ya. Wonderful!



Both Jim and I went with the tall Shiner Bock off the tap. Denise had a shandy, and I think Terry had water. She's not much of a drinker.



Of course, when we got to the gig, the drinking continued. I think Jim got the first few rounds and then I took over. Those are 7&7s for Denise and Jim, and a Rum & Coke for me. I think we must have gone through about four rounds.



The Disco Biscuits came out at about 8:30PM and played for about an hour. I'd checked them out on Youtube and wasn't expecting much, but they grew on me. By the end of their set I was really enjoying them. They do a long instrumental thing that reminded me of some of the stuff I used to love from bands like Yes, But mostly they did a lot of hippie noodling, like The Dead or Phish. The guitar player, Jon Gutwillig, can play his ass off. He really jams!



After about 20 or 30 minutes to switch out the gear, the main attraction hit the stage. Warren Haynes and Gov't Mule played a set of their own music for about two hours. While the others sat back and kept their seats at the table we found near the bar, I elbowed my way to the front of the crowd. The music was bliss, and the vibe was all friendly.



If you've never seen these guys, you need to work them into your schedule. Warren is one of the best Blues/Rock guitar players that's ever lived. Hands down, he's one of the best alive today. He took a position with the Allman Brothers about twenty years ago. Hitting it off with his band mates, they formed formed a side group, affectionately called "The Mule", in about 1995 with Allen Woody and Mat Abts, all of whom had been added to the Allman Brothers line up in about 1989.



Allen Woody passed away in 2000, and since then the band has gone through some other personnel changes. The current line up includes Haynes on Guitar, Abts on drums, Danny Louis on keyboards, and Jorgen Carlsson on Bass.

They took a break for a while after playin' for about two hours, leavin' Abts on stage to bang away on his drums. Abts did an amazing drum solo, switching from sticks to hands at one point. Then Carlsson came out, stood in a spotlight and began a steady bass beat. In the end, the Mule played for three hours, from about 10PM to 1AM. It was wonderful.



In the end that beat turned into the Pink Floyd tune "Pigs On The Wing". They did a few Floyd tunes, and then "When The Levee Breaks". After that the guys from Disco Biscuits came out and they played Nirvana's "In Bloom". After that the show ended, and we spilled out into the street, blissfully happy to have sat through the four and a half hour experience. You can check the pictures here at my FlickR page.



And after the ticket drama I just went though with this concert, it feels good to have the next set of tickets in hand. Denise and I are set to see Johnny Lang in a week or so in Austin, at the Paramount theater. It should be good. I'll have the camera, so You'll see what I see. Cheers!

My Monday routine in San Saba.

If you've been readin' here for a while, you know I drive to San Saba four days a week to teach at the TDCJ unit there. I drive about 150 miles a day, four days a week, goin' from home to Florence, then to San Saba, and then to the base and back to the house.

I have classes in San Saba at noon Monday through Thursday, and then I have a class at 5:30 PM on Monday and Wednesday nights. So on those two days I stay here in town all day. Two afternoons a week, I find I've got time to kill there in the pecan capital of Texas.

In the last few months, a routine has emerged for my Mondays. After I get out of my noon class at the prison, usually around 2 PM or 2:30, I head straight to the Dairy Mart.

It's a wonderful little family place right off the main drag that the locals all told me about. I think it must have been Ellis who really turned me on to it.

Every time I come in I see these same folks... a bunch of little old men, occasionally a little old lady, always sittin' at this same table while Fox News lays out the drama of the day on the corner TV.

My daddy used to call such a gathering "the D.P. Bench", referring specifically to the gathering of little old men on the bench outside the barber shop in Belton. I'll leave it to your imagination what "D.P." stands for.

The guy with his back to you in the blue shirt, looking up as the lady on the right gets set to leave, is the proprietor of the place.

He's always there when I come, and he's always wearin' dark glasses. Always... like he's a rock star or somethin'. Between that and the Conway Twitty hair cut, he sports a pretty cool image. I'd wager he's got some stories to tell.

When I first started goin' to the Dairy Mart I'd usually get the Bacon Cheeseburger, fries and a diet soda. It's my one day of the week when I allow myself a fatty lunch. Otherwise it's grilled chicken at the local Dairy Queen.
But then Roger Ellis and a few others out at the prison started tellin' me I needed to try their Jalapeno Sourdough burger. You can see the sign for it there on the bottom left, on yellow paper.

So, one Monday I went in and asked them for the works; a Jalapeno Sourdough Bacon Cheeseburger, fries and a soda. With that, a Monday tradition was born.

Since then I've become a regular, hittin' that place each Monday afternoon, so long as I'm workin' that day, and they serve me up a meal for the ages.


For whatever reason, they're never open when I get out of the prison on Wednesdays. Their hours are a bit strange.

I think they only open for breakfast and lunch during the week, closing at 2PM. But maybe Mondays and Fridays they stay open longer. So, Monday is my lucky day.


By the way, that ham and cheese Po Boy on the right is also wonderful. I found that out one Wednesday when I was lucky enough to get out of class a bit early and they whipped one up for me. And they make some kick ass onion rings too.

I think if I lived in Saba I'd steadily work my way through their menu, but at this point, goin' there once a week, I think I'll stick to the good stuff.

After I eat my fill, I get back in the ol' Silver Bullet and head East towards the court house square. The county seat there is a nice old building.

The local Library is just off the square, and that's always my ultimate destination. I go in and the nice lady there scans my library card and signs me up to use one of the half a dozen nice, new Dell computers they have there.

I kill about two and a half hours there, checking emails and trying to catch up on reading blogs, checking Facebook, and posting stuff to the blogs I'm associated with.


It's a nice, clean, comfortable atmosphere to work in. Usually I get so involved with what I'm doing, the time flies by and next thing I know the lady that runs the place is telling me it's time to hang it up. They close at 5PM, so I get out of there just in time to head back to the jail for my 5:30 class.

So, this is what my life has become. One of these days, maybe, if things evolve the way I think they will, Denise and I will end up getting a house in Lampasas, about 30 minutes from San Saba. Then I might switch from teaching the dual credit classes in Florence and start doing it there at the high school in San Saba. We'll see how that all goes.

For the time being though, my routine doesn't look like it'll be changing much. So I'll be hittin' the Dairy Mart and then the library each Monday for the foreseeable future.

And you know, that's cool with me too. I've grown to really like this little place. Cheers!

Stuff that's goin' on.

It's been a busy week, and it's lookin' like a fun and busy weekend to come.

Denise and I took Monday morning off so we could relax and enjoy the concert in Dallas Sunday night. The Mule played a great set from about 10 PM till 1AM, and then we hit the Holiday Inn Express in DeSoto. I took a bunch of pictures at the gig, but I haven't had a chance to work on them yet. You know that when I do, you'll see them here and at FlickR.

Went back to the grind Tuesday morning and started giving exams. I think I've given about five this week. Have one more to give Friday afternoon. Fun, fun, fun! LOVE to see 'em sweat.

I got out of my noon San Saba class early Tuesday afternoon, having given an exam, and stopped at the grocery store in Lampassas on the way back. I picked up a dozen pale yellow roses and some chocolate covered strawberries for the little woman. Then I stopped at Arby's too get her a late lunch. She loves their Chicken Cordon Bleu Sandwich. I'm kinda partial to their Southwest Mini Egg Rolls. Wonderful, spicy little egg roll bites, with a spicy Chili-Lime Ranch sauce to dip them in. They remind me of the wonderful Southwestern Spring Rolls that we get at BJ's in Temple.

She called me while I was drivin' up to the campus and I led her to believe I was runnin' late and couldn't come by to see her. You should have seen the look on her face when I walked up there, flowers and food in hand only moments later! She was tearin' up, and all the other women on the floor were in a flutter, tellin' her how lucky she was. I love the hell out of doin' stuff like that. I guess I feel kinda partial to Denise too.

I went to work 0on the base, with the weather lookin' ugly. people were talkin' about a tornado warning and rain. Maybe hail. I tried to concentrate on "How a Bill becomes a law" while the music teacher across the hall was playin' incredible stuff; Cream, and some other old blues stuff. I had a hell of a time, pausin' now and then to head bang while my students laughed.

By 9PM, the storm had hit, with driving rain and small hail, and to everyones surprise the power went off in the building we teach in. All of a sudden the lights went out and the computer died. I made and executive decision and told everyone to fend for themselves.

I had a hilarious time escorting two scared females out of the building. They wanted me to guide them down the dark stairwell with my little pen light. So I took the point, only to stop half way down and turn out the light, witch brought blood curdling squeals from both girls. I tell ya, it was almost as fun as playin' with a rubber snake.

I was drenched to the bone runnin' to the car, but then I got home and found the little woman in a fabulous mood. The flowers had done their work. I tossed my jeans in the dryer, opened a huge bottle of Sutter Home Muscato, and the rest of the evening was history.

As I sat down on the couch an episode of Without A Trace was ending, and they were playing the old Band classic, The Weight, as one of the characters gave some sort of tearful soliloquy.



I hadn't heard it in a while, so I was inspired to ask Denise if she'd ever seen the movie "The Last Waltz". She said "No.", so I asked her if she wanted to watch it. I have the DVD. We spent the next few hours singin' along (well, I sang) with the music and enjoying the film. She loved it, saying she'd have paid to watch it in the theatre. Here's another personal favorite, this time a clip from the movie.



For some reason this one made me think of Daddy. I teared up a bit while I was singin' along. Denise just hugged me a little harder till the moment subsided.

Anyway, we shared the chocolate covered strawberries and did a lot of snugglin' on the couch while we watched the flick and drank that bottle of Muscatel. It was a wonderful night.

Aside from all of that, the weekend is set. We're gonna go down to Austin and eat dinner at Pappasito's on Valentine's Day, and then we've got a room reserved at a nice hotel on the strip in Fredericksburg. After spending Sunday afternoon there strollin' around and sampling all the wine we'll eat a good meal at the Auslander and drive home.

Monday is a holiday for most of my students, but the high school is still having classes. So I'll have to head down to Florence for a few hours Monday morning while Denise sleeps in, and then I'm loading the car with guns and heading up to Dave's place in Gatesville. A bunch of us are gonna meet there at noon and shoot stuff, celebrating Presidents Day in our own particular way.

So you guys have a great Valentines day and President's Day, and well see you again on the other side. Cheers!

We're headed to Big "D" Sunday to see Gov't Mule at the House of Blues.

The ticket drama has been a pain, but it looks like a pretty good time is comin' together nicely.

I ordered two general admission floor tickets and two balcony seats (third row center) for the gig about five weeks ago. But none of them arrived after a month or so, so I had to call Tickets Now and bitch a little.

In the end, they emailed me the GA tickets and left the others at will call. They supposedly were "lost in the mail", so they voided the bar codes on those and will run us off some new ones. I tell ya, if I get there and some fucker is sittin' in those seats, like my mail man, there might be a new episode of COPS in the works. But everything is on track now and it looks like it'll be a great time.

My buddy Jim and his wife Terry from Ft. Worth are gonna ride the train over and meet us at the West End. We were plannin' to drive up Sunday and get a room at the Hyatt, but the Hyatt has dicked themselves out of our business.

We used to stay there for something like $115 a night, and be glad to have it, close and convenient to all the stuff we wanted to do. But now they're askin' something like $240 for one night! I don't think so. So we'll get a reservation somewhere else and drive to the gig. No sweat. One thing we're sure of, nether of us want to have to drive home for two and a half hours on I-35 after the concert, what with all the adult beverages we'll be consuming.

We're gonna try to find a new restaurant Jim's heard of recently. We'll eat a great meal, probably have a few adult beverages to start the night, then try get to the gig at the House of Blues in time for blast off.

Denise has taken Monday off and I'll be off till about 3PM. Terry'll probably have to try to keep Jim from talkin' out loud, drunk off his ass, about the squirly folks they always see on the train back to Ft. Worth in the middle of the night. It's happened before.

Anyway, I think I may have posted this one before, but I love what they do with this tune.



That's about the view the GA tickets will get us. Can't wait. And dig this.



I'll have the camera, so you'll see what I see. If you're in the vicinity, see if you can get tickets. Maybe I'll see ya there. Cheers!

What the hell?

I mean, how long will it be till we get over this stupid thing with weed? I mean, if this is a lesson about ANYTHING, is says that you can be a fully functional human being, at the VERY TOP of your field of endeavor, the friggin' greatest Olympic athlete of all time, and still take a drag now and then. If he'd been shot with a cocktail in his hand there'd be no press. And booze kills people every day. Wait a moment... THERE, another drunk driver just killed someone. Sheeeeiiiiitttt!

I mean, I was so stupid back in the day. Bought into all the shit my folks told me. Passed up so much fun, in so many ways. I say leave the guy alone. Hell, he's already rich, so it can't really ruin his life. They can just fuck his whole future, chances for 2012, everything, and for what? Please!

My wheels.

I recently put a few new stickers on my bumper. Took a shot while I was parked at the library in Florence. That's where I do a lot of computer stuff during the week, killin' time between classes on Mondays and Wednesdays.



My old jeep used to be plastered with bumper stickers. Folks always knew it was me goin' by. Once I traded it in for this little silver bullet, well, I guess I wanted to keep it lookin' classy. But slowly, sure enough, the stickers have just materialized.



First one was the Billy Bob's sticker. Covered a ding in the bumper that was there when I got it. The Smoky Mountains thing was purchased on our last road trip to Tennessee. The ACL sticker was given to me by a friend who lives in Austin. Thay'd also gone to the festival and had a few of these stickers layin' around.



This one was purchased at a gun show in Dallas. Same folks who sold me the "Thin the herd" t-shirt. Loved it, so I had to go there.



Now, this is totally off subject, but check out this cool ride. Spotted it outside the pool hall we played at last week. I think it's the one I'll get some day. Love the paint job/decals. NICE!

A night off, and a sleep in, kinda.

The weather stepped in last night and gave me the evening off. Got the word as my San Saba classes were ending. The classes on the base were being canceled due to the threat of ice on the roads.



We had about three days in the 80s last week, but then the norther blew in, and with it some slight precipitation. So by Tuesday night it was droppin' down into the 20s and I was building a nice blaze in the fire place.

That gave Denise and I the chance to enjoy a real night at home together during the week, which is usually a treat of the weekend. I got home first, a few hours before she did, so I got the fire goin' and started dinner.



She picked up some pork chops the other night, but we weren't expecting to be able to cook them for a few more days. I busted out the skillet, tossed in some butter, pepper, and some sweet white whine, covered it and set the burner on medium.

We also did some green beans for her. OK, I had some too.



Turned out really good. I thought maybe I'd cooked them a little long, but Denise said they were delish. Who can argue?



Denise also whipped up some good, buttery cheese sauce and I boiled some Rotini noodles to throw into it.



Mmmmm, good. Toss on some fresh pepper and it was good to go. Have some in the fridge for left-overs too. I doubt it survives the night.



Good lookin' eh? You should have tasted it. That's some left-over Chinese stir fry there, heated up in it's sauce and poured over the finished chops. I know, I shouldn't post this stuff. It's just wrong.



That wasn't the half of it though. Denise introduced me to something called a Kahlua and Cream the other day. Last night was my first attempt to make them. You see the ingredients here.



And this is the end result. Tastes like a ice cream float, but with a kick. Wonderful. And yep, somehow in all this orgy of gastronomic goodness, I lost my shirt. You know, that'll happen.

It turned out the ice was mostly west of here, so the morning classes today were only delayed. I had to go down to Florence for about 40 minutes, and then did my drive to Saba. The sun is out, and everything here is back to normal.

Hope the weather is treatin' you nice. Cheers!

Monday stuff, and a new twist.

First off, I want to explain why I haven't been around here as much in the last few weeks... hell, the last month. Well, I've been workin' on somethin'. Started it back in early December, right after comin' home from that Gun Show in Nashville.

The mind started to wander off as I was drivin' back down I-40 towards Texas. Next thing I knew the normal ravings of my imagination had taken a seemingly more solid form. A story started to come together in my head, and when I got home I started to write it down.

I tell you what, tryin' to write this stuff down has finally given me an appreciation for all the stuff I didn't study in grade school, like spelling and punctuation. Hell, anyone who's read enough of my stuff over the years probably doesn't need to be told what a dolt I am. Thank God for spell check, is all I'm sayin'.

Anyway, I've policed up the stuff I've written so far, revised and fleshed it out just about the way I want it, and set it up in a new blog. It's an ongoing story, only maybe a third finished. Having played with it enough for now, wanting to get going with the rest of the story, I've decided to let more of you in on it before I move forward. So, click over there and see what you think.

I had an epiphany this morning, driving out here to San Saba, and I think I know how the rest of the story is gonna go. It's gonna be juicy stuff. Lots of blood and guts. Should be fun to write, and I hope, fun to read.

If you know enough about me, and about some of the people in my life, then you'll probably come to recognize some of the characters in the story. let's just say, I've stolen liberally from life and art, and changed the facts around to make them work, and to make everything more fun. I tell ya, it's been a huge blast, putting all this stuff together. It continues to be. Hopefully, you'll like it too.

So, go check it out. Leave comments if you want, or you can email me. Go ahead and tell me how stupid you think it is, and how basic my command of the English language is. And if anything fails to ring true to you, go ahead and say so. Any help you can give towards realism will be deeply appreciated. Having said all that, this baby is mine, and I'm the only one who really needs to like it. So there... But I hope you do like it.

Now, on another front, I made my last payment on my land today. 17 acres, south of Killeen on HWY 195. Paid off a 15 year note in 6! Very happy at that. Now, if I can only sell it, I'd make enough in profit to pay off about 90% of my other bills. Torn though. Part of me wants to keep it and wait for the price per acre to go up even more. We'll see.

Denise and I had a great time this last weekend. Very relaxed and fun. But the next one will probably prove to be hell on wheels. My sister is finally moving most of her crap into storage and moving herself into the upstairs room in my Mothers house! This is NOT something I'd like to see happen. But she's been totally unable to find a job of any kind that would allow her to pay her own rent, and mom just isn't willing to pay the grand a month it takes to keep little sis in the comfort that she has become accustomed to.

If you've read any of my past rants about my sister, then you know that the chances are pretty good that this is NOT gonna end well. But, I realized a long time ago that there's NOTHING I can do about any of it. So, I'll just stand by, ready to haul boxes and fix things. I tell ya, it's times like these that make me glad my job keeps me so friggin' busy.

Anyway, I'm off. Gonna go back to the other blog and write some more crap down. I tell ya, it's just flowin' out of me these days. Take care. Cheers!

Shootin' at Daves, and other stuff.

Went up to Gatesville, or really up west of Gatesville last Sunday and blasted away for a few hours with a few friends. Let's say we were celebrating our constitutional right to piss off a hell of a lot of scared liberals. You might say we were celebrating a last hurrah.



Looks like a mug shot, don't it? Maybe the James Gang, in better times.

God knows how long folks like us will continue to enjoy the right to get together in a field, as generations of our forefathers have done, and practice with our guns. We might soon be beaten down and "civilized", like our British cousins.

I was there a while back, about 2003. I stepped into a gun store in Sheffield, just to see what they had. It was sad. Nothing there but BB Guns, non firing replicas and toys! Sad, to see what these formerly free people have been reduced to. Sad, to think that this new government of ours, which publicly celebrates individual liberty and the individual "right to choose", doesn't trust it's own citizens enough to allow them unfettered access to the very power that average citizens once used to assert American Independence and sovereignty.

I'd bet good money that the leaders of the modern left, if transported back to 1775, would be riding out into the back country of Massachusetts to beg the colonists to pay their taxes, telling them it was their patriotic duty to submit to government authority, and help the Redcoats confiscate the arms of the patriot resistance. And now these nutless wonders run our country? Sad indeed!

But, it's not like the Right hasn't handed them all the ammunition they need to take over. It couldn't have happened without the corruption, mismanagement, and ineptitude of the Republicans in Congress, and the mismanagement of the Bush administration... amplified out of proportion, of course, but the regular rants of the media. They sowed the seeds of their own destruction. And we all were complicit, failing to stand up and shout "NO" when the Republicans outspent the Democrats and failed to live up to their own stated principals.

So, with nothing else left to do, resigned to the "change" that's rolling our way, my buddies and I went out Sunday to keep the faith with our forefathers. We filled the air with lead, and let a few war whoops fly. Maybe a few Rebel Yells too. And when the gun grabbers come, we won't give up these rights as easily, as sheepishly and our British brothers did, or the Canadians, or the Aussies. This is Texas, mother fucker! We don't play that shit here!

Having said all that, I've got to say that I'm proud as hell to see my country, 40 years after Martin Luther King's assassination, electing our first Biracial President. It does make me feel good. It makes me feel good about my own people, like we've moved on from a horrific and repressive past. So God bless this country, and it's resilience, and our new Executive. And please God, grant him the wisdom to know, as so few in our government on ether side of the aisle seem to know... that there is a HUGE difference between what you CAN do, and what you SHOULD do!

God bless this system of ours, with all of it's flaws. It's still better than most others I can think of. Still... but the time is coming I fear when I may not be able to say that any more.

Anyway, rant over. Here's some shots of the fellas and I out blastin' away.



This is Dave, our host, taking a turn with one of the pistols that materialized when we all got there and unloaded our toys. I think it was a .357 Magnum. Kicked like a mule.

This is Dally, loading his Civil War musket with a mini ball. He's the guy that makes all the Civil War loads for these shoots. Works on them at home. All perfect replicas of English Enfield rounds.



Eventually, Belknap (that's the other little fellow there behind me) and I took out our Tokarev SVT-40s and started blasting away. His son (the kid with the western holsters below) set up a good sized rock next to the paper targets and we proceeded to blast it into pebbles.

Then his son took a turn with my rifle. Love that rifle. Fun to shoot.

Well, that was our fun. Lets hope we can continue to do this sort of thing in the future. Cheers!

OK, the shots from Christmas.

OK, you remember, maybe, Denise and I went to Kentucky for Christmas. It was another road trip, not too long after the last one. But we love doin' that drive, so it was easy and fun.

We started out at my Mom's place on Christmas eve. That's the picture you see above there. I put together a box for dad's flag and medals, and mom loved it. We opened presents there and had lunch. Mom cooked fried chicken, some of which we took with us on the drive. We left there at about 2PM and drive on to Memphis.

After getting a good nights sleep in Memphis at a La Quinta, woke up Christmas Day, took advantage of the complementary breakfast and drove on to Denise's kids place in Bowling Green.



Once we got there, we waited for her other daughter and Denise's grandsons to show up, and then we enjoyed another Christmas with lots of cool presents and fun.



On day while we were there we all drove back down to Nashville and checked out the ICE show at the Opryland Mills Mall. I'd gone to Kentucky hoping for cold weather, but it turned out to unseasonably warm. So, going into this ice show, where it was 9 degrees, was a fun time for me.



Mostly, my time was spent supporting Denise, doin' whatever the others wanted to do. I love to see her having a good time with her kids. And I also love to play with her grandson Collin. He loves it when I pick him up by his feet and toss him around. I'm like an amusement park ride for little kids. I love it too.



On the drive home we stopped in Memphis again. This time we walked up Beale Street and ate some great BBQ at BB Kings place. Blind Mississippi Morris, "The Real Deal from Beale" was playin there that night. It was a great time.



During his break, Morris was led over to the bar near us and he enjoyed a complementary adult beverage.

We made it home in time to have a drink and celebrate the new years here at home. It was a great trip, and it's been made even better now with the news that Denise's younger daughter Lynn is pregnant. She came home in tears Friday afternoon and told me. Lynn had called her to tell her while she was at work. It's wonderful news!

Anyway, if you want to see more of the holiday shots, go here for the Christmas shots, here for the ICE show, and here for the pictures from BB Kings place.

Enjoy the pictures. I had a lot of fun taken' 'em. Cheers!

Busy, busy, busy...

But I figure I need to post somethin' so the few people who still click over here now and then won't think I'm dead, piled up in a smoky heap on 183 or somethin'.

I think I told you last week that I'd started working again, teaching in Florence and San Saba. Well, that's all goin' down smooth. No problems. Well, none worth talkin' about anyway.

This week I'll start two more classes on Ft. Hood. That'll be eight classes in all. Naaa, it's not that much. I'm used to it.

I started playin' pool again last Thursday night. This time it's a Nine Ball league. Different rules, but mostly still the same fun folks. I lost, of course. They put me up against some little spindly dude that no one had ever seen before, who turned out to be REALLY good.

In a situation like that I don't feel bad about loosing. It's all in fun anyway. I mean, I did have a good time. Lots of good friends, two good cigars and three Coronas, not that I'm counting. I will meet that mother fucker again' though, and we WILL play another round. Did I say I didn't mind loosing? Sheeeeiiiitttt!

In my spare time, Denise and I have been busy cleanin' the house. It's too easy, as much as we both work, to let things go and end up livin' in a pig sty. So I've spent the last week or so goin' through lots of old boxes and piles, shredding old exams and papers and throwin' stuff away.

I took a bunch of old school stuff out to the base... old test banks and support materials for text books... so the folks out there could shred and incinerate them, and I brought a box of books to the library here in Saba today to get rid of them.

The house is lookin' a bit tidier now, and my main desk is no longer under such a huge pile of crap. of course, it's my nature to "collect" things, so I'm sure the pile will reappear in time. They always do.

Anyway, I do have the pictures from Christmas to show you, but I haven't posted them to FlickR yet. I can't do that here from the library computer, so maybe I'll be able to get it done tonight, or later this week. One way or the other, it'll get it done this week.

In the meantime, an old friend emailed me this video. If you're a gear head and love these old planes (and I know you do), maybe you'll love this as much as I did. Enjoy.

Back to the old grind.

I started back to work in Florence and San Saba today. It sure was nice to be able to sit around and be lazy for a while, but all good things must come to an end, or so they say.

I'm still workin' on the holiday shots, so be patient with me. Maybe Wednesday. Probably Wednesday.

Got on a clean up kick over the weekend, tryin' to get some stuff done around the house. Went through the shelves and sound lots of stuff to shred or throw away. Hooked up my new printer/scanner, and it's workin' fine.

Got my car tuned up Friday. They changed out the plugs and cleaned it up. replaced the battery cables and they told me my battery was iffy. I decided to wait and see. well, Sunday night at about 10PM I was goin' to Wally World to get a new one.

I cracked open my PC and vacuumed all the dust out of it. It's still a piece of crap, but at least the sound issue has gone away. I can listen to music again, and I can hear all the moaning and groaning in the videos. Porn just ain't the same without all the moanin' and groaning, you know?



As far as the world scene is concerned, I say turn it to glass. There'll never be a day when the Arab leaders and the Israeli leaders can really be brought to a place where they'd rather have peace than risk loosing. So, turn it to glass. keep it from draggin' us down too.

Anyway, I'm off. Gotta go listen to more "music". Cheers!

I'm kinda late, but Happy New Year everyone!

We got home late last night, in time to enjoy the new year here in the comfort of our own home. And as much as we enjoyed the trip, it is nice to be home.

Slept in today and spent most of the day watchin' bowl games and tryin' to get a jump on cleanin' up last years crap. I got most of the culling done on my pictures and started the photoshop process. I think there'll be a few nice shots to show ya.

Now we're lookin' at goin' out to eat and to a movie. See ya later. Cheers!

Headin' home this mornin'.

Breakfast is cookin', so this'll be short. We'll try to get as far as we can today so the drive on the 31st is short. Plan to stop in Ft. Worth that day and see some friends there. Plan is to be home and celebrate the new year in our own bed. Here's to tryin'.

Anyway, I'll see ya when we get back. Cheers!

Went to the movies tonight.

No, it wasn't Imax. There were no explosions and no humans died grisly deaths. The littlest of us, Denise's 9 or 10 year old grandson wanted to go see a chick flick, and all the chicks who run the show around here agreed.

We slept in again, as usual, and then rolled around the house much of the day today. I was watchin' Hannibal and some other History Channel stuff on TV. Plans were to go to an early showing, but everyone was still laid out on a couch or bed, vegetatin' when that opportunity rolled by. We ended up goin' to the 6:40 showing of Marley And Me.

We joked walkin' in that it'll probably be sad. I said somethin' about how the dog'll probably get leukemia in the end, like in "Beaches". Doesn't every chick flick have to end like that? I think it's a rule.

Anyway, I have to say, I loved the hell out of the movie! It had a slow build, but it turned out to be really good. And yes, we were all ballin' like fools at the end. I think even the usually emotionless teenager in the group was whipin' his face once when I looked over.

The performances were all great. I did get tired of lookin' at Owen Wilson's weird assed nose in all those closeups. What, did he have a horrible wrench accident as a kid or somethin'?

Anyway, if you've ever doubted the course of your life. Ever wondered what the hell you're doing. If you've ever been loved by a pet. Felt that unconditional love they always give, and then had to do what all good pet owners eventually have to do, don't miss the movie. It's well worth the price of admission.

Well, dinner's on the table, so this'll be a short one. Y'all have a great night and we'll talk again in a few. Cheers!

Oh, I forgot to tell you one thing. One of the surprises in the movie was the appearance of Kathleen Turner in one scene. I tell ya, that speeding freight train called AGE musta run smack dab into her, t-bonin' her when she wasn't lookin', tryin' to cross the tracks. Beat that signal. Remember when she was so hot? It hasn't been that long ago, has it?

Anyway, it's a great flick. Check it out. Cheers!

Havin' a nice weekend in Kentucky.

We got up late on Saturday and had bagels for breakfast. Denise went to a place called Panera Bread for those. They were wonderful. She lived around here for twenty some odd years, so she knows all the good spots to get the best stuff.

Later Saturday afternoon, we all (Denise and I, her eldest daughter Chantal and her two sons Bryce and Collin, Denise's younger daughter Lynn and her husband Dale) piled into two cars and drove about an hour south to Nashville. We went to a huge mall and resort down there, the Gaylord Opryland, and paid about twenty bucks a piece to see ice sculptures of "How The Grinch Stole Christmas".

Seein' as how it was about 72 there, with folks walkin' around the mall in shorts and flip flops, the 9 degree temperatures inside the "Ice" show were much more to my liking. It turned out to be really cool, and I got all sorts of good pictures of it, including one of my breath as I blew condensation like a chimney. But, being here in Bowling Green, I don't have access to my home PC. I can't download them and work on them till I get home, so you'll have to wait a bit to see them. Maybe this weekend.

After the chill of the Grinch, and after some wonderful hot chocolate after, we spent a few hours walkin' around the mall. It's friggin' HUGE, with an Imax theatre and a half dozen restaurants, all packed. At one point it occurred to me that we could see "The Day The Earth Stood Still" at the Imax, but the ladies poo pooed that idea. Not enough time. Then I became enthralled with the idea of eating there in Nashville and having a Yuengling off the tap. Nope, that didn't happen ether.

The first few places we looked at were ether the wrong food or there was a two hour wait for a seat. So, after the walk around the mall, we hit the road, thinking we'd find a place to eat off the highway. Well, before you knew it we were in Kentucky again, rollin' into a TGIF here in Bowling Green, where they don't have Yuengling. Muh! The food was good, if maybe a bit overdone. I couldn't help but feel a bit gypped.

Oh well, It was a fun time anyway, so I can't complain. Denise is really enjoying her time here with her kids. She keeps asking me if there's anything I want to do, but I tell her that I'm easy. Whatever she wants to do is cool, and that's the truth.

Today, Sunday, She and I drove up to Elisabethtown, near Ft. Knox, to visit a few old friends of hers from her Ft. Knox days. That was a lot of fun. Of course, the day was darkened by the dismal performance of the Cowboys.

Friggin' Cowboys! Here I am, in a nest of Satan worshipers (Packers fans - well, imps of Satan anyway), havin' to put up with their abuse, and the 'boys played like rank armatures! I'm glad I was on the road all day with Denise and didn't have to watch it. These boys, her grandsons, would have learned a whole new collection of expletives!

Not sure what tomorrow will bring. Maybe another trip to E-town or Nashville. We are plannin' to go to a movie at some point, but I don't think I'll be able to talk them into the Imax thing.

Whatever goes on, I'll tell you about it in a few days. Cheers.

Just chillin', here in Kentucky, in nauseatingly warm temperatures.

Nauseatingly warm! It's like 67 now. I might as well be in Texas! The drive up to Wisconsin has been called off. Ironically, too friggin' much snow! Denise's relatives all told her not to try it. I was yellin' "We're comin'!" from the other seat, but it' ain't happenin'. I'm destined to go without a white Christmas this year. Baaaa, humbug!

Otherwise, everything here is cool. The drive was painless. We left Mom's place in Temple after having a brief Christmas thing there. She made us more fried chicken and baked beans. We left there, me ballin' like a fool (Only after we left. Didn't want Mom to see.), and got on I-35 at 3PM.

We drove to Memphis Wednesday night, making a few gas and pee stops here and there. We got to Little Rock and crossed the Arkansas river at 10:30. We were still feelin' good, Denise drivin' and me relaxin', and decided to keep goin'.

We stopped at that rest stop on the way to Memphis, but that stray dog was nowhere to be found. Hopefully someone has found a way to take her in. We drove on and crossed the big, lit up bridge over the Big Muddy at 1AM.

We stopped at a La Quinta on the East side of Memphis and had a great nights sleep. I think we both drank about three adult beverages while we wound down from the road. After getting up, giving one another a special Christmas present, we enjoyed the complementary breakfast and hit the road for Nashville and Denise's kids and grand kids in Bowling Green Kentucky. We drove up her daughters driveway at 1:30.

After we got here we exchanged presents. I got some cxool stuff, but Denise's grandson Collin made out like a basndit. I had a wonderful time last night, watchin' him put his Leggo planes and controle tower together. I resisted the temptation to play Godzilla a few times.

Now, were sitting' around the house jawin', gettin' ready to eat a big dinner. There's a plan to head down to Nashville in a few days and take the youngest kid to some sort of ice show they have goin' on down there. We could still drive up to Wisconsin, but the latest report predicts snow AND freezing rain, so I'll probably veto that. Too much of a good thing!

So, all is well. I'm takin' lots of good pictures to show ya later. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and has a wonderful New Year! Cheers!

Merry Christmas everyone!

I think I've been really good, but I guess all things are relative.





Have a wonderful holiday, and smoke 'em if ya got 'em!

I'm in Kentucky, probably on the way to Wisconsin. I'll be standin' out in the snow, bundled up in my Uggs and fur hat, lookin' for a chance to kill a cigar. Bliss! Love it!

You guys take care, stay warm and we'll talk again soon. Cheers!

Went to Austin last Saturday.

Like I said, Saturday was taken up with a trip to Austin. Gun Show fun and good food at Pappasito's. Originally it was just gonna be Denise and I, but she told a friend from work we were plannin' to go. Next thing I know this friend and her husband are goin' along. We're droppin' Denise and her friend Karen off at the outlet mall in Round Rock and then her husband Rick and I are goin' to the Show.



Got a few shots of some interesting stuff at the show. This is some sort of clip fed shotgun. You tell me. That's an AR-15 knock off in front of it. Looks like it shoots .308 or somethin'.



This is a .50, all broken down in it's case. I suspect that you won't see stuff like this for sale too much longer, what with the gun grabbers in power again. That's an M-14 there in front, and there's some nice, now very expensive AKs at the top of the shot. I will miss seein' them. End of an era. Very sad.



We drowned our sorrows over the sorry state of the body politic with beer and margaritas at Pappasito's. Karen and Rick had never been there before. It's always fun to take virgins down there and introduce them to the wonders of the spicy beef queso and such. It's fun to see the look in their eye when they bite into that dip for the first time.

I tell ya, the four of us went through that stuff in record time. Before you knew it you were down to crumbs in the chip basket and lookin' for the little swishy waiter to sashay his ass over with another one.



None of the others were shrimp eaters, which meant that I couldn't introduce them to the excellent bacon wrapped delights of the brochette shrimp. That's it there, with one sitting, marinading in the butter and white wine sauce. Of course, them not bein' shrimp eaters meant I didn't have to share, which was a good thing.



Denise went for the chicken fajitas this time...



While Rick and I went for the combination enchiladas. One chicken and one beef, smothered in their special sauces. Wonderful stuff. Of course, lookin' at this shot, it all looks kinda mixed up. That's because I dove in when the plate arrived and didn't remember to get a shot till one of the enchiladas was almost gone. I shoved the rice over into the sauce that was left to get all of it. Waste not, want not, someone said.



After the food we all went to Highland Mall to walk it off and try to get some more Christmas shopping done. I hadn't been there in many years. Turns out it's gotten very run down since I was there last. Lots of stores are closing, and the place has gone ghetto. I guess the white folks in Austin must have found a different place to shop.

Good news, there's a F.Y.E. Music store there that's having a going out of business sale. I got several CDs and a few DVDs there that I'd been lookin' for. The Black Keys, Grinderman, Joe Bonnamassa Live, and a Dickey Betts thing from the late 70s.



When we got back home I spread some of the spoils out on the computer desk and took pictures. That's about a hundred bucks worth of Bulgarian clips... three 30 round clips and one 40.



I saw several irreverent t-shirts I was dyin' to buy, but I was a good boy. I just spent $2 on this bumper sticker. Can't wait to get it scanned and on the sidebar here, and on my bumper. Love it.