Riders

It's that time again.  Trail riders are enroute to Houston and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. 
Over the next few days, it's a pretty good bet that on any major road you take into town you'll encounter folks like these.

Biting Off More than You Can Chew

Honey really ought to be writing this post.  
She saw most of the drama that played out in our yard yesterday - I only saw part of it.
It all started when she saw one of our resident hawks swoop down and kill a squirrel.  The hawk picked the squirrel up in its talons and flew to the top of the fence just outside our back door.  When it landed on the fence, the squirrel dropped to the ground.
The hawk sat on the fence for a while, then flew up to a limb in a nearby tree.  It was joined there for a while by his/her mate, but the other hawk eventually flew off.  
All this had taken over an hour, and I was trying to decide if I was going to have to collect the squirrel and put it in the garbage, but eventually the hawk flew down to the squirrel.
At that point another squirrel came down the tree to investigate.  The hawk spread its wings protectively over its kill and made noises that seemed to be saying this one is mine. 
Finally, it picked up the squirrel and flew away.
This was a full-grown hawk, but it was a big fat squirrel, and he/she couldn't seem to get it over about five feet off the ground.  He/she  did make it to the edge of the woods where he/she was finally able to dine in peace.

Wishful Thinking

According to the weatherman, there's a fair chance of one more freeze next Thursday.  He makes a very good living being wrong at least half of the time, so I'm ready to say that winter is over.

After all, like the song says, it might as well be spring.

Presidents

Years ago, Houston sculptor David Adickes created huge concrete heads of all of the (up-to-then) 42 Presidents of the United States.
You used to be able to spot them from I-10 just west of downtown, then they disappeared.
If you ever wondered what had happened to them, here's the story:
Presidents
Adickes is also the creator of the 70 foot tall statue of Sam Houston on I-45 just south of Huntsville.  It is said to be the world's  tallest statue of an American hero.
Back when they were off I-10, the presidents shared the lot with statues of the Beatles.  I have no idea what happened to the Fab Four.

Pratchett Truth

Nothing particularly earth-shaking to report today, so I stole this from a post published back in 2013....

America's Got ...Something

Watching the collection of democrats vying for the 2020 presidential nomination, and considering their various weaknesses, I thought that Trump had a lock on another four years.  Nothing they have said, either for themselves or against each other, has changed my mind.

Then, Monday night I watched the finals of America's Got Talent on NBC.

Only a few of the folks that I considered talented made it to the finals, and only two of them made the top five.  

The fact that all these acts were selected by "Super Fans" that supposedly represented  a cross-section from all 50 states is just scary.  It makes me seriously concerned for the country.

I am reminded that 49-plus percent of the voting public have below average I-Qs

Azalea

Our Azaleas are demonstrating that they are ready for Spring.  

Remembering

“My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends—
It gives a lovely light!”

― Edna St. Vincent Millay, A Few Figs from Thistles

Remembering our daughter, Shanna Leigh Couch Robinson,

June 5, 1973- February 15, 2006.

A life well lived, but much too short.  We miss you every day.

Parking In The Garage

I parked our truck in our garage Sunday.

That may not sound like such a big deal, but it was the first time I had been able to park it there since Imelda hit last September.

You might think parking one vehicle in a three-car garage would be easy as pie, but it was Sunday afternoon before I got enough stuff out and enough other stuff back where it belongs to fit our truck in there.

I won't say it's well organized - I'm about as organized as a pillow fight, so putting my possessions in some kind of order is beyond my limited capability - but it's about as close as it has ever been.

Boots

I think I had mentioned that I lost my cowboy boots in the Imelda flooding.  I ordered some new ones on line from an ad I saw on Facebook.  

I ordered them in early December and was about to decide I would never get them - then I got an email on January 15th saying they were on the way.  That email was the first I knew that they were being shipped from CHINA!  

The email included a link to a tracking app called China Post that allowed me to follow their progress from the other side of the world.  They left China January 21st and arrived at the USPS facility in San Francisco on February 2nd.  

They arrived at my house today, and they look and feel as good as I had hoped.

Prognostication

The old groundhog may have got it right this year when he predicted an early spring. Not even the middle of February, and our Azaleas are already beginning to bloom.

I saw the first blossom last week, and a few more are opening every day.  I afraid some will be bloomed out before the others begin, so the overall effect this year may be pretty ragged.

Untitled

Finally, A New Post

I haven't posted anything on my blog since January 25th.  

Honey finally asked me if I had finally gotten sick of posting daily, and I told her that wasn't the problem - it's just that there has been so much going on, things I feel strongly about, but I didn't want to add to the problem.

Here's what I mean ----

I was not a Donald Trump fan.  

I never read his books or watched his TV series. When he first announced for president, I laughed it off.  I considered him a modern reincarnation of P. T. Barnum, a self-promoting huckster with nothing to offer the country.  

When he won the nomination, I begrudgingly voted for him thinking he couldn't possibly be worse than Hillary Clinton.

My admiration for the man has grown over the past three years.  In spite of all that has been thrown at him he has managed to accomplish much of what he promised to do.  I still wouldn't call myself a Trump fan, but I think it's time to give credit where credit is due.

To my left-wing friends who still think of Trump as the Anti-Christ, I say it is past time for you to put your hatred aside and think about what is best for the country.