Wednesday's Digressions

From Enchanted Rock

It always catches my eye when I see a personal message or a person's address in a used book.

The most widely recognized military symbol in the world. 

My first memorable military job was driving a vehicle that any WWII era soldier would have recognized immediately. My career ended with one that had computer mapping and satellite tracking capabilities and that was twice the cost of nice houses I've lived in and provided as much protection as some WWII tanks. As I recall, the Jeep cost 13000 dollars. The Jeep motor probably generated 30-40 hp, the HMMWV about 200.

Bird carvings by Japanese internees during WWII.

This Japanese mortar was incorrectly called a knee mortar by our troops. The would capture one and a bunch of ammo and say, Hey, lets use this cool knee mortar to blast some Japs!  They would then place this bad boy on their thigh, fire it and promptly break their femur.

• Everlast White Trash Beautiful
• Funny Onion headline: DEA recruits Lil Wayne to use up all the drugs in Mexico.
• I'm tired of my aquarium and think I'll give it to my friend-girl.
• My goofy buddy recently taught Zachary to make realistic fart noises with his mouth. I'll admit though- I laughed so hard my face hurt.
• Our get tough on crime- lock 'em up and throw away the key attitude has already cost us terribly, but if this country fails it will need to be input into the equation for why.We have 2+ million people locked up. Probably the most egregious aspect of this is the numbers whose offenses are related to drugs or alcohol. This is about as sensible as locking up a cancer patient for their disease.
• In other headlines NASCAR racers at Talladega stop their cars mid race and walk off the premises stating,"This is just ridiculous."
• A big, scary homeless patient went berserk in the clinic recently. Predictably a supervisor trying to defuse the situation said, Here sir, lets step into Kevin's office and see if we can figure this out... Man, he would have been scary and crazy looking without being in an absolute rage. I don't get this way often but I felt small and powerless in his presence. I was aware that if he really did snap I would die or be hurt so bad I would wish I were- I was defenseless. That is not an awesome feeling.
• Jeff Corwin and Brady Barr's wildlife shows are the best. I hope they never stop doing what they do.
• As many people do after a visit to the hill country I fantasized what it would be like to live there. I looked up a property I remembered seeing a roadside sign for. It was 500 acres and the Pedernales River ran through it. The list price was 45 million dollars. Huh? I nearly fell over. A lottery winner still couldn't dream of having a place there these days, or the very least- they better dream small.

Monday's Missives

Team America is gonna wipe those smug grins off those ugly mugs- you just wait. USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!

Battlefield pickup 1911 from Corregidor. Note the hammer is in the cocked position.

The requisite sunburst through the antiaircraft  sight picture.

Aussie tank from WWII. The hull gunner was killed by the explosion evidenced by that gaping hole.

Hatch from the Arizona. The hole above the door was cut to look for survivors.

Vest worn by USO girl during WWII. It was signed by service members and adorned with ranks and unit crests etc. Pedolph!?

During the Nimitz museum tour- my guess is he wasn't kidding.

Hey guys- whats up? My owner is a total tool for letting me run loose without a leash but we're cool- right?

No? Ok, you're sucky humans. I didn't want to play with you anyway.

I'm huge on Enchanted Rock.

Hawk eviscerating a pigeon behind the house. What a weird privilege it was to see him work. I missed him bringing it down though- that would have been cool.

Satanic squirrel near Pedernales Falls.

Lightening rod on LBJ's boyhood home.

Kev napping on Enchanted Rock waiting for sunset. 

From the trail near P Falls

In olden times in Texas primitive man would paint porch ceilings blue so mud daubers would think it was the sky and wouldn't build nests.

Back to the sunset on Enchanted Rock.

I digress- a weird sculpture on Sculpture Ranch.

He was with a group from Austin. Don't ask me why I know they were from Austin but I assure you, I'm right.

After I snapped this the sun disappeared. One second it was there, the next it was gone- just like us.

• Air supply- Making Love Out Of Nothing At All. The song is about the singers wife who happens to play the girl in the video.
• An odd thing I remember about others memories of seeing ELO live- I've heard their concerts were not only one of the best live shows you'd ever see, but the loudest.
• No one believed me when just over 5 years ago I told them Zachary's mom was pregnant. It was like they were waiting for the punchline...
• Life is carazy isn't it?
• If I can't grill the best burger in the world, I promise you I can cook you among the very best you've ever eaten in your life.
• Among the ingredients: fresh 1015 onion, fresh coarse ground black pepper, chili powder and Worcestershire Sauce.
• Teamwork- It Keeps Our Employees Gruntled. A motto from from a fake commercial for a fake company the characters in Better Off Ted work at.  Better Off Ted was a good show whose very goodness and/or the fact I liked it insured its early demise.
• Fredericksburg has exploded. I do remember reading multiple articles years ago about the surrounding area becoming The Texas Wine Country but wow- there were tour buses everywhere, new hotels every 50 feet and tourists walking nose to tail on Main. Soon, if it isn't true already the articles will be about the water crisis created by the population boon and watering all those grapes and making all that wine.
• Site # 16 at Pedernales State Park is very pretty. It was the last non occupied site and in fact somebody had it reserved. Thankfully, the girl behind the counter had the hots for me.
• Everybody should watch the sunset from Enchanted Rock at least once in their life.