Monday's Missives

• Seeking a Friend For The End Of The World is a sweet and very good movie.
• When I see a book book by Stacy Schiff or see her name in print somewhere for some reason I think of Nora Ephron. I say,"some reason" because I presume there is one- although I have no idea why I make that seemingly odd connection.
• You can look it up if you want but sex offender registries do not work as intended and are counterproductive in multiple ways. Those are 2 facts related to that issue I presumed intuitively when I first of heard of the idea years ago and I would still be shocked to learn those registries help in any demonstrable way.
• My coffee cup is positioned on my chest as I write this lying in bed. It was nice at first as I could smell it but due to adaptation that effect is gone- but at least it is very handy.
• Ads for Dick's Sporting Goods have started randomly appearing in my mailbox.
• Saturday night (today is 12/19/2016) we camped at Mineral Wells State Park. My truck thermometer- which is usually pretty close (+/-3 degrees) to actual temps said it was 11 degrees Sunday morning. During the day Sunday when we got home it was hard to get my perceived body temp. regulated. Stepping outside for a minute would have me feeling like I was freezing to death. I would come back in and feel like my skin was on fire, then I would start shivering so I would jump in the tub, then I would start sweating bullets...
• Sunday I saw an ex girlfriend's profile pic on a dating website. Interestingly, she used a pic she took while we were together- I remember exactly where we were and what we were doing when she took it. So a note to whoever ends up with her- that content, confident, satisfied and happy look she has on her face that made you think you wanted to be a part of her life when you saw her picture? Yeah- that was all because of me.

Monday's Missives

• Somebody at work recently tried to hurt me- as she was walking out the door to a new job. I did not have it coming to me as what she said to try and hurt me was a lie but she did not have to do it at all as again, she was walking out the door- to another job.
• She has issues.
• Edit: Today (01/23/2017) I bumped into the aforementioned back stabber. Did she have the respect for herself or me to act like she did not see me or at least- flip me off to my face? Nope, she lit her smoking  hot mug up and rubbed on my back when we spoke like I was her one, true long lost love.
• What is wrong with people?!
• To try and save money I quit buying coffee for the house and told myself if I really wanted a cup I could stop by McDonald's or Jack In The Crack every once in a while. Consequently, I have spent a small fortune on drive through coffee in the past month or two.
• The new truck/boat/motorcycle fever has been burning hotly in my brain for months now.
• I like the name Nestor and always have.
• 3- the number of friends/friendly acquaintances I have had in my life named Larry Smith.
• My neighbor always has to start his loud diesel truck and let it warm up for 30 minutes to an hour before leaving for work at a job which is maybe 1/2 a mile away. It has to use more fuel in a week warming up than actually driving.
• No wonder the terrorists hate us.
• Man I miss my kids like crazy today.
• I guess I thought we would all always be together- now I do not know the last time we were all in a room together
• My children's great grandmother died while speaking to my eldest son as he held her hand.

Wednesday's Digressions

• At work requests are made for me to personally make the coffee. Sometimes it is by Email, phone or people dropping by my office. They will say, I need a really good cup and I can never do it right- will you please make some coffee? That is cute, flattering and kind of funny. What is interesting to me though is the couple of people who have said, Oh yeah- I like his coffee really well now that he doesn't make it so strong! Funny- I haven't changed a thing; their taste has adapted but good luck getting them to believe that.
• We believe what we want to believe and see what we think we're seeing.
• I started Rob Roy this morning. It isn't as good as I remembered. The acting, directing and script were very clumsy and it seems oddly amateurish for all the big names it had and the scene stealers highlighted the faults instead of carrying the show.
• Why do we critique movies and television shows now that we have the Internet? I suppose it is because we can.
• A friend was fired recently from her job. The simple answer for why is she did something that was arguably against policy. The deeper answer is she rubbed the wrong people the wrong way and then gave those people her head on a silver platter with a very minor infraction (that literally every other person in the workplace engaged in frequently). She then proceeded to post details and basically make an admission of guilt on the Facebooks. When encouraged to take said post down she refused.
• While yes- she is definitely her own worst enemy, in this case the Facebook rabbit hole took her from probably having a case for wrongful termination (if she wanted to pursure it) to a public record of her admitting guilt in an event that happened in a healthcare setting and very publicly talking bad about a former employer. That rash post will haunt her in ways she can't guess right now.
• We are our own worst enemies.

Wednesday's Digressions

Azteks have  a perennial place of honor on every list of worst cars ever made however, you just nearly never see them that don't look like new- and a new one hasn't been made in nearly ten years. They are loved.

• People close to Robin Williams have reported they were hopeful for his future as he had started trying to do things he had previously enjoyed but had left behind for a long time. As I recall he had started reading and watching television after not doing so for months due to depression. In the past I have heard friends and family of a person who killed themselves take note of the decedent recently taking up an old hobby or pastime as evidence they didn't kill themselves as in, Hey, it is obvious somebody killed him as he just took up golf again. He loved golf! Why would he kill himself he was finally back to doing something he loved? Those things become a last ditch effort for a depressed person- when nothing else works and they don't want to return to drinking alcohol or other drugs. When there is no joy left in something they loved and know made them happy in the past they feel there is nothing left and so, they kill themselves.
• Everyone is capable of killing themselves. I'll be the rare person to just be honest and say I know I could but there is also a reason why I would be very, very unlikely to do so.

  

  It looks fancy and pretty  but it is a cheap instant coffee- literal swill.

• Last night (11/22/2014) I went to Bakers for a chopped sammie and then drove around to McDonald's for a large order of their amazing French fries.
• America- what a country.
• They serve something at Baker's called a Sloppy Spud. That sounds like a perverted sex act. I intend to try it at my earliest possible convenience (the food product-not a perverted sex act).

  

  I hung this Inova flashlight from my pack. One of the kids threw a pillow at the gear gear pile causing the brand new light to literally disintegrate. Ridiculous.

• There are a lot more black people in Weatherford than there were a few years ago.

  

  Pretty cool old car. It wouldn't be my first choice for a hot rod but I can dig it.

  
  
  
  

  

  Orphan.

  
  

  

  That is one messed up grill homeboy. Get yourself to a dentist yo!

• I'm trying a reusable cup for the Keurig. It is a metal and plastic contraption you put coffee grounds into. It is a little troublesome but a lot cheaper. After I make a cup of fresh delicious caffeinated beverage I dump the used grounds into a planter on the porch. Recently (today is 11/27/2014) I stepped out onto the porch wrapped in a towel to dump the grounds into said planter. FG's dumb cats took advantage of the cracked door and bolted causing me to have to try and get them back in the house. Taking advantage of my semi-nude weakness they evaded me with amazing agility. The towel fell away. Somehow I caught it with one hand and was able to mostly cover my hiney by holding the towel against my lower back while simultaneously reaching down and catching one of the Satanic beasts with the other hand. Then I was able to corral the other with my foot and shove it back toward the door as the normally not too vocal vermin meowed and hissed and spit all the way. Help! Hey look this naked freak is kicking cats up in here! Help! Meow! Meowww...
• Yes, I have herded cats naked- hasn't everybody?

  

  The first pumpkin I ever carved. No, really- the first ever. We found it a couple of days after Halloween 2014 on the banks of the Trinity.

  
  

  

  He will haunt your soooooul. Muwahhahaha! 

  
  

  

  He made a big splash as he left our lives forever.

  
  

  

  Rollin', rollin', rollin' on the river...

  
  

  

  Thug Goose says, Whats up you orange freak!? I think you're in the wrong hood homes.

Just A Tuesday

Well, there is hope. The class of 2013 can spell.

I loves this view at Holland Lake and must take in visually at least 5 times a month and have probably photographed it 50 times.

It is hard to look hard with a day glow orange bolt block in place but here I give it my best. The next time you see Isabella she will be wearing a laser and cornea scorching flashlight combo.

Soil and water conservation pro tip: Don't allow any woody plant to root near erosion control structures. They will damage the structure (here Gabion basket) and actually promote erosion by providing a channel for water to flow down into the soil.

• A local physician has been trying to get on the floor the panties of a hot married acquaintance who is friends with my friend-girl. He recently brought jewelry back from a trip to Asia and offered her some. She took a few pieces and gave them to her friends. Friend-girl took one and deciding it wasn't her asked if I knew anybody who might want it. Knowing my flashy Latina nursing buddy would dig it I took it to work and gave it to her.
• That was a local tangled web of deceit that became a convoluted international supply chain.
• Unless there is  a spoon already available requiring the barest effort, I never stir my coffee if I add creamer and sugar. I just dump them in the coffee and swish them around a bit.
• Probably odd: I don't have to have cream and sugar nor do I have to have my coffee black- I switch up from day to day. I'm not sure I have ever seen anybody else do that.
• A recent headline was, "Drones are coming but our laws aren't ready." Thanks Sherlock. Somebody should have had at least an outline ready for that scenario the minute they saw them being used in our recent wars. If America is complacent on this issue those things will be mailing us speeding tickets, breaking cities budgets, colliding with piloted aircraft, scanning homes for excess energy loss and mailing out bills, further eroding privacy...
• It isn't a conspiracy theory- any technology that can be abused will.
• Argo is on the counter to be watched.
• I have heard and tend to believe The Hobbit is terrible
• Chinua Achebe died this week. I first read Things Fall Apart after it being loaned to me by a Nigerian Ibu friend. It was his boyhood copy and his introduction to literature. It was yellowed, brittle and taped up and held a million different foreign smells. When we talked about our dreams he would say, I will continue to study for the MCAT and God willing and I become as smart as my good friend Kevin I will be a physician- and you my friend? 
• He is a local emergency department physician and I'm still looking for that roadside rattlesnake ranch and bigfoot research center to buy.
• Gravity Kills- Guilty

Turner Falls Take Two

Early AM at the Blue Hole. All these small mouth bass were oriented downstream and slightly in toward the bank they were near when I approached. The ones who are out of phase to the others moved only due to my presence.

Parasitic mistletoe infestation

Generations of hikers have referred to this rock as the Dragon's Tooth.

I was kidding about that last bit of lore but this really is Mormon Tea

Raccoons often eat on a log that has fallen over a creek. Their dooky then fills a rotted out knot hole. I'm not sure if this is intentional or just coincidence

Zac called this machete his big pocketknife

DPs made more delicious and nutritious by soaking in the creek overnight

View from the back porch

Zac begins his assault on the mountain behind the cabin. When he left he said, Dad, I'm going to climb the mountain behind the cabin. How many kids in the history of ever have said that?

His bid for the summit was thwarted by an injury. He booped his head on an overhang. Here he begins his descent free without ropes or support of any kind dispirited but not defeated. He will return next climbing season.

I think Mr Scuba Diver looked like more of a tool than he realized

Rat that did his macabre dance with death and met his demise in one of the water filled rock features. The water here is probably 2-3 feet deep and only discolored by the tannin from the leaves

Gravel pit cause by softer stone being swirled against harder stone over eons of time

Water skimmer skiing over Rat Fink's dead body

Yep, that is my boot as I traverse a very shaky cedar log over just nearly frozen water

I've mentioned that our south of the border friends had found TF. Spanish language graffiti  and food and drink garbage are everywhere.

I don't know what this is I found it near Honey Creek.

Sunset over a farm house on the way home. I think it was near Valley View

• OK, I'm reluctantly trying this again.
• There is a cactus splinter in my right pinky  that I had no idea was there until just now. 
• My vision is blurry and I have a bit of a headache and I don't know why. I've tried a warm, relaxing bath, counting to ten and counting my blessings in case it is a symptom of elevated BP to no avail.
• The cabin was OK. The biggest downside was the drunk couple next door doing it until the wee hours of the morning. I finally drowned her squeals out by turning the TV and ceiling fan on and turning the heater fan on high. Friend-girl slept through their antics so I gave her a play by play the next morning with a passable imitation of her sound effects. As you could guess we bumped into them everywhere we went the next day. He would turn red and mumble and she would look at everything but us and pull furiously at her cigarette and Keystone Light when we would see them and offer a greeting. I'm not sure if they just knew we had to hear their antics and after they sobered up were embarrassed or if they heard my interpretive reenactment of their escapades through the cabin wall the next morning.
• Another slight drawback- the satellite service had one usable station and eleventy billion channels of infomercials and cooking shows- ridiculous.
• I caught a crawdad. In it's torpid state I must have assumed I could get away with handling it lackadaisically  That is how the crayfish laughs at you man. It pinched the fire out of me. I jumped around in a circle hollering, Son of a ... and God... while Zac and friend-girl back away from me with their mouths hanging open looking at me like I was a crazy person. After a minute or two it drew up, lost it's color gasped a few times and seemed to expire. When I threw it back in the water after several seconds it came to and went about it's crawdad business. I don't know what mechanism causes that to happen but they do seem to rapidly expire when in a torpid state they're removed from cold water. I have seen it happen multiple times.
• We went to two areas I've never been before. An interesting thing I noted was how the nature of trails change the further way from the park proper we got. The trails seemed more rational- you may arguably take a step or two extra here and there but they were less strenuous and safer. They were obviously made by people who knew more about hiking than most of the visitors to the park.
• Me to friend-girl: Take your Keurig if you want. She: Really?! Me: Well, yeah, we'll be in a cabin miles from town and confidence is high we'll be wanting a cup of coffee in the morning. She: You're right that's a great idea! Want me to bring a toaster? Me: nothing but a blank, dumb look... She: Oh, uh- wow, where did that even come from? Is that the dumbest question you've ever been asked? Me: Nah, I've been asked lots of dumber questions lots of times. Why just last year a girl asked if she should pack an aquarium and two or three others have offered to bring vacuum cleaners.
• I must look competent in that environment, 2 or 3 people asked me directions or other questions.
• I can spot a veteran from a mile off and can usually tell very quickly if they were Army or Marines and if they were support or combat arms troops. The first time it happened if we hung out you would tell me I'm retarded and there is no way a person could know all that. Then I'd be proven correct enough times and you would understand it is just another one of my superpowers.
• Wish you were there. Thanks for reading.