It's an Old Fishing Rod...

Juan bought it for Coraline before she was born. She gets to put it to use for the first time. In this photo they fish at Shy Pond, a city park in Lake Jackson. I was sure glad to have Coraline fishing with us since the park rule stated something like, "adults fishing must be accompanied by a child under 17." Thanks Coraline, for being there for old Grandpa when he needed you.  

Not my Fishing Report...

Well I guess there are catfish in other lakes besides Rayburn and Nac because Morgan sends me this cell phone picture of a nice mess of Gibbons Creek catfish that he caught.


No mention of bait used but he did say 6' deep. 

It Was Kind of Like a Biblical Story...

In the beginning there were ducks and geese.
Then Coraline arrived and it was good. Grandma fed the ducks and they thought it was good. 


Coraline chased the ducks. 






Where did the ducks go? They seem to be banished from Coraline's garden.  

Rudeness...

Some people, well guys I guess give their guitars girl names. I think I'll call this cigar box guitar I made the other day "Rudeness" since that's the best way to describe it's over all tone. I know that's not supposed to be a girl name. 

The cigar box is from the cigars I gave out when Mary was born. Travis Club Cigars are or were made in San Antonio. The various guitar parts are salvaged from old stuff laying around, cheap guitars, broken effects pedals and and parts left over from the times I have taken my vintage Fender amps apart, accidentally  letting the magic smoke out. The neck is from Lowe's. I stained it brown with shoe polish. 

I strung it up with some used strings around the house. Two nickle strings sound good and will be the ticket. The third one was a phosphor/bronze that just did not have the mojo for the little humbucking picket. Think I'll copy right the headstock shape. Meant to be played with a slide it seems to like open D tuning. 

Had a little trouble with the electronics. Stretching and pulling the cheap imported components separated the thin wiring from it's dobbed solder.  Next time I have a day I'll get out the iron, fix her up. Maybe post some sound samples.    

Honey, I Drunk the KIds...

Happy Fat Tuesday. We present a photo of me and Morgan from a Mardi Gras long past. We were having a good time. Oh, yeah and that's really not booze that Morgan is drinking. Soda just comes in bottles like that way down yonder in New Orleans. 


Also notable in this photo is the rubber shark. I mounted it on a broken fishing rod handle and waved it in the air as the parade floats passing threw their beads.  It was just a little something to make me stand out in the crowd and bring lots of beads tossed the kid's way. Actually the local news filmed me with it in action. I never saw the clip but as we walked around town one day after a night of sharking several people stopped me and said, "the guy with the shark, I saw you on TV last night." 


Must have been on a big screen.  

Hat, Where You Taking Those People...

Over the weekend one Presidential candidate accused the other of not using up the Earth's natural resources fast enough or at least it came out something like that. Glad neither spotted me with the new hat I bought It would have sparked debate about the size of the carbon footprint necessary to construct such a large narcissistic item or maybe the hat itself could have stood alone at a debate and been very electable running it's own all organic campaign. 


Anyway Coraline says "Get a load of Grandpa, I wish I had two hats like that." Look for the debut of this hat at the March 31st VFW hall when the Back Porch Band plays. All the other guys wear hats, they ill be happy that I am not the odd man out any more. 


Speaking of odd man out and Presidential races a weekend of thrift store and flea market shopping in Ron Paul's Congressional District was quite fruitful. I spent $19 on this hat (brand new, Hecho en Mexico), a preworn snap button western shirt, two homemade fishing lures and a used Bunny Berigan record.  I don't know what Ron Paul spent. 

    

I Bet You Think That's My Phone Number...

So I know you think I should have have better things to do with my time, but somehow I keep coming back to the Big Foot thing. I think I'll take it up as a hobby when I retire. 


Maybe it is because of the legendary Texas Ranger Big Foot Wallace of who Wikipedia has this to say: 


 Wallace was a magnificent physical specimen. In his prime he stood six feet two inches in his moccasins, and weighed 240 pounds without surplus fat.


Does this sound like anyone you know? 




I did not call the number, may be we should and just shoot the breeze and pass the time of day. I would kind of expect this guy to expect things like that. Anyway, the deer stand is still up on the land, not that I would hunt big foot or anything like that. The deer feeders are down but I don't know what a big foot eats anyway. 

An Engagement Announcement...

Morgan and Ali made a trip to New Orleans this past weekend and Morgan surprised her with a marriage proposal and a ring. You see them here in Jackson Square with St. Louis Cathedral in the background. Date of the wedding to be announced. The engaged are happy and so are we. 




A funny side note is inscription on the old civil war hero statue in the background. It's zoomed up and cropped for better viewing. They claim not to have noticed until later. I expect it will hold true.  


 

This Weekend is What I Call The First Wekend of Mardi Gras...

That may not be the right thing to call it. It is the weekend before the weekend that leads up to Fat Tuesday and it always has seemed like the best weekend for Mardi Gras fun. Something about it makes it just right for slipping into town like a Rocket 88 on a fog slicked highway. Maybe it's because there are still restaurants serving up some eats as opposed to Fat Tuesday when service of drinks takes a priority and the alleys of the French Quarter are not yet so slippery with the urine of drunken college boys. 


This photo, an old one shows Morgan and Mary taking part in a French Quarter Jackson Square magic show. Maybe made at Mardi Gras, looks like cold weather time for sure as Mary passes a hula hoop around Morgan  while he floats in the air. Don't ask me how it's done. 


Back to that first weekend, parades have been going on since January. I know this because you can look up anything on the internet. You can even look at the parade route and even though the beads have long been thrown from the floats I know they pass right through the Marginey and Bywater neighborhood I have come to favor when I stay in New Orleans.   Maybe next year I'll try a visit on the real first weekend.     

Just Trying to Keep Our Name in the News...

Not much action on the Back Porch Band front lately so I'll put a couple of photos from a December gig. 


Runt, pictured on the left has shoulder surgery scheduled today. He might be out of action a bit, depends on what the doc finds in there. It's his left shoulder, at least the cause has not been frantic cowpunk strumming. 
















In case you were wondering Mary is still in the band, not fired yet. 
Next gig is the Lufkin VFW march 31st. Possible gig is the St Patrick's festival March 18th. I am entertainment coordinator and will fill out the bill with home grown parish folks before bringing in all these ringers. 

At First I Thought it was a Flying Car...

...but then I realized it was Cathy's Evolution Robotics Hard Floor Cleaner. I know it's a popular prediction of 1960 science writers that the then distant 21st century would have individual airborne transport used by all. They may have assumed that such progress would bypass the greed of those that insistence we use up all fossil fuels and associated resources regardless of the cost first. Any way we do have this thing, a great work saver and barring some kind of accidental Newt Gingrich presidential nomination will probably be able to keep it. 


Just the title of this item falls off the tongue. Evolution, a word that can start an argument in certain contexts brings to mind a continual slow change adapting as required by the environment. Seems you do have to help with this environment adapting stuff by moving rugs, coffee table and straight back chairs. The big stuff is handled by an on board GPS type system. Works just like  my big new Ford truck. I run over something I back up and see what it was. 


Hard Floor Cleaner makes me assume one of two things. Either it cleans the floor hard or there is another Soft Floor Cleaner model I know nothing about. For a lot of reasons, the Hard Floor model is the one for us. 


So I guess this is a good thing A labor saver and hopefully I am not straining the power grid. It does take two electrical battery charges to sweep the house. On the other hand it helps conserve the native crop of East Texas pine needles because I am not out spending all my time harvesting the materials for pine needle brooms. 


   

The Eagle Has Landed...

I think I have used that blog title before. May be I am just recycling myself on here same fishing trips over and over, but I made this photo of a bald eagle on Lake Nacodoches the other day. Mighty regal looking and then I got a pretty good shot when he flew. 






If you check out the tub shot from Tuesdays trip you can see why that eagle is hanging around, plenty of good fish to catch in the lake.