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I didn’t write this, but I wish I had……..

Short Week

Yesterday was Monday, a day that usually starts the week for people with jobs, and for retired folks like us who built up habits over years of employment. 

We sort of skipped yesterday. 

Honey didn’t take her usual walk, because she had a doctor’s appointment.  I was just coming out of 24 hours of allergy Hell – feeling a lot better after sleeping 11 hours Sunday night, but still not ready to take on the world.

Honey is already out walking this morning, but I’m still trying to get it in gear. 

Monday morning syndrome is especially tough when it comes a day late.

Getting Mooned

Yesterday evening, the slightly-larger-than-normal full moon shined brightly in Earth's skies and then dove into the planet's shadow, turning a gorgeous reddish-gold color as observers with clear skies enjoyed the view. The event marked the first supermoon total lunar eclipse since 1982, and the last until 2033 — and it was visible to potentially billions of people across the Western Hemisphere and parts of Europe, Africa and Asia.

Just about the only place it wasn’t visible was here at the Boggy Thicket.  True to tradition, when anything of interest is happening in the heavens, our skies were overcast – whatever celestial events took place behind that curtain of cloud could only be imagined.

Here on the ground, we were supposed to have a 60% probability of much needed rain.  We did get (and  are still getting) some form of precipitation, but I’m not sure what to call it.  The drops are too small to call it drizzle and too few and far between to call it mist.  After 20 hours of the stuff, there are no puddles, the ground isn’t even muddy and the grass is barely damp.

Quarterback

Just last night, Honey and I were talking football, and she said that no Houston team has ever had a really good quarterback.

I had to go waaaay back, but I finally came up with:

(That’s his Fleer bubble gum card from 1962.)

Not the same, but related - Brian Kalchick, who writes for the Houston Texans, just released an interesting piece on Rant Sports listing his picks for every NFL team’s worst quarterback of all time.  Some of the names might surprise you.

Acorns

 

I have written at least twice in the past, once Last November, and previously in October, 2012, about the size and the number of acorns that fall here at the Boggy Thicket.  Both times, I mentioned that the acorns from the white oak trees were HUGE.

This year is a little different.

It’s still early for acorns to be dropping, but a couple of days ago, I noticed that the top of our generator was covered with something that I didn’t recognize right away,  They were little round balls that appeared from a distance to be covered with tiny scales.  Only about 1/4 inch in diameter, they almost appeared to be fuzzy. 

My first thought was that they were some kind of fungus or mushroom, but close inspection showed that they were – or would have been – acorns.  The balls were what would have been the caps on the acorns had they continued to develop normally.

The strange weather cycles this summer – months of extremely wet days followed by months of drought – have been hard on a lot of plants.  We may have lost some of our azaleas that have been growing for over thirty years.  I suspect that the weather may have led to the oaks suffering a sort of acorn miscarriage.

The oaks are not due to drop their acorns for another month, so it’s too early to tell how many are still developing.  I suspect that – like stressed plants that drop only some of their leaves – the oaks only dropped some of their acorns and there will still be plenty that make it to maturity.

Will

Honey and I have a phone conference with our attorney today to update our wills.  Don’t worry, you weren’t getting anything anyway.

The End of Forever

You might feel justified in expecting a TV series called Forever to be around for more than one season.  If you did, and you were depending on the ABC television network to keep providing the show, you would be disappointed.

In case you missed it, Forever was the story of New York pathologist Dr. Henry Morgan, ( Ioan Gruffudd)  an Englishman who could not die.  Oh, he could be killed – and he was at least once in every show – but every time it happened,  he would soon pop to the surface of the East River (or was it the Hudson?) alive and well and naked as a jaybird.  His adopted son, played masterfully by Judd Hirsch, would fish him out and take him home to get dressed and resume his life as if nothing had happened.  Sure it sounds ridiculous, but it worked – it was actually an entertaining and intelligent show.

This time, it looks as though Morgan and the series are truly dead.  The series female lead, Alana De La Garza, has jumped to CBS where she has landed a recurring role on Scorpion, and another as a regular on a new Criminal Minds spinoff, Criminal Minds – Beyond Borders due to debut sometime mid-season.

Even so, as someone who really enjoyed the show, I hope Hirsch is keeping an eye on the river.