I Have Good Neighbors, Sorta...

Out here on my little dead end road we are good neighbors. That means everyone kind of keeps to themselves in an unspoken agreement to mind their own business. My next-door neighbor, a hard working young man and his wife are some of those people with a travel trailer who go off to work only returning occasionally to mow the yard, take the boat to the lake and then do it all over again. There's another small house on the property that he seems to rent in a short term manner to women with children. They don't stay long and I don't know much about them other than learning first names to say hello. I can't imagine the rent being much and they seem to move on along, hopefully to bigger and better things. Right now there are two young women, a baby and Roscoe living next door. 

Roscoe is a Feist dog. He's not a full on outside dog and I can kind of imagine him usually in his Alpha male position of on the couch napping at most times. My boat garage abuts his territory and when he hears me doing my old man piddling in this structure he must cause a disturbance in the house that they can only remedy by putting him outdoors when on sighting me he proceeds to, in the words of my late father, "pile a good cussing" on the perceived threat. He also kicks dirt while doing all this barking which was probably a behavior evolved by this breed of dog over a millennium to make themselves look bigger than they were to the animals they were trained to hunt but in modern lay on the couch times it serves to uncover the feral cat landmines in the sandy yard dirt and the tasty candy buried there.           

The first few incidents of this behavior his master appeared and reined him in and apologized saying, "I don't know why he's acting like that." Another time, trying to analyze Roscoe's aggression she said, "he must really like you." Since then she no longer mediates and Roscoe's incursions sometimes reach my porch. I take that her declining interest means we are left to develop the relationship on our own. I have begun to fantasize about Roscoe captured in a landing net that hangs in the boat garage. There's actually two nets, a short handled one and one with a longer handle. I think I'm going to need the longer handle one.      

Of course there is that old silver lining that you find in most situations and I am a glass half full kind of guy. As long as I don't get bit, infected and lose a foot there will be declining amounts of cat candy in the yard. If someone asks I'll say, "Yeah, that Roscoe, he a good neighbor."  

 

I'm Always Learning Something...

 In Cathy's family both parents were teachers. They had all that time off (ATTO) every summer, 5 kids and just enough money to make a camping vacation to popular state and national parks every year. When they pulled into a campground in the old station wagon those kids came boiling out of the back and dashed to inspect the toilets. Once inspected they stuck their little heads out the door and shouted back to the parents, "flush!" or "pit!" to announce their findings on the status of the plumbing facilities. I find it very cute that Cathy still does this even though she does not have to race her brothers and sister to be the first to know anymore. It's one of the many things that endears her to me.    

While in the Great Smoky Mountains we hiked up Clingman's Dome which is the highest mountain in Tennessee, in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and the highest point along the Appalachian Trail. At 6684 feet tall I was glad that I did not wait till I was any older to hike it. Though the trail is paved and easy walking but it's steep and I rested probably 6 to 8 times on the way up but made it down without a break. There are a lot of people on the trails and I would advise beginning early as the parking lot at the trailhead holds only so many cars. 

It was in this parking lot where we arrived early enough for a good space that I learned my thing for that day. I hit the bathrooms as a precaution (Pit! After a difficult plumbing repair in my own backyard what else would be expected way up in the mountains?) and came out to catch a little mini lecture from a guy that was probably a teacher himself explaining the workings of the pit or vault toilet which although I know there are those that don't trust it involves a good deal more science that you might imagine.

The fellow explained and I had complied with the instructions posted to close the lid of the commode after use that if the lid is closed the sun heats the black smokestack like pipe on the roof, black to increase solar heat which then draws the stink of the vault toilet out into the sky above our heads making the bathroom break more pleasant. This the experience of our youths of a pit toilet and a room full of stench is avoided. 

I did not get a photo of the toilet on Clingman's Dome but I later made a photo of this Corps of Engineers issue vault toilet on Lake Oakatibbee in Mississippi. You can see the black stack. The lid was not closed.     

I also noticed that the government wants men and women to use this restroom which is something a lot of people have their panties in a knot over lately but looks like they are mandating it in Mississippi. There were two industrial sized Corps of Engineer issue rolls of toilet paper in this facility which also seemed to be meant for unisex use.   

When we came down off Clingman's Dome the parking lot was full with many people circling in their cars waiting for a space. There were also lines at the toilets. Men and women. I don't know how the paper was holding out but the black stacks were reaching for the sky.  

Aggie Tubas...

Regular readers here know I am a sucker for tuba music, even to the point I will play it myself if no one else will. Same with photos, here let me hold that tuba while you make my picture. I did not have to do that on my most recent visit to the campus of Texas A&M where there were quite a few folks holding tubas.

May be I can make those manure spreaders feel a little better after the loss to Arkansas yesterday at the new Dallas Cowboy Stadium by putting these pictures up of the tuba section in all their glory. Kind of a contrast, a simple line of tubas, marching military style and a big huge mall like entertainment complex. Rumor has it the scoreboard/TV screen is low, did the tubas pass under OK? Did some kind of ugly music deemed necessary to inspire the average Joe to consume more of advertised products drowned out some fine college band performances?

Maybe it's just the old subversive rearing his head, thinking that a few more tubas and a little less false grandeur and the associated cost might lead to. well who knows what, a health care bill, a cure for disease, poverty, an end to war and who knows what.

Might be stretching it a bit tonight, I don't know. I do know that my old horn was made in 1936, apparently a fine year for tuba construction as it still does the job after all these years. May be like the Aggie football team, I am just happy with some consistency.

More Aggie Photos...

Sam, Ali and Morgan.















Morgan and Ali in front of the big ring.

















I took quite a few music photos this past weekend what with the gig at the festival and all. This has to be my current favorite music photo I have made, the Aggie Band leads the Corp into the stadium before this past weekend's game with Utah St. The small size of this shot posted here does not due it justice to how it looks blown up a little. It just has everything, a sun dappled fall afternoon, band, marching and tubas.

Ring Day...

Last Friday was Ring Day, the day seniors get their rings at Texas A&M. It's Morgan's senior year, he will be graduating next August. Here he is at the $400,000 photo op site they had set up for picture taking. The photos here really don't do justice to how many people there were in this area with a line for each side of this ring for proud parents to snap a shot.







Ali, Morgan's girl friend is attending UT this semester and drove up this weekend. Actually they decided to count this weekend as their one year dating anniversary as close as they can tell.



Cousin Samantha is a freshman at A&M this semester. Here she is hoping a little of that senior mojo rubs off on her.

Visit to College Station...

Paid a visit to Morgan in College Station, met he and Ali Friday for a minor league baseball game, the Brazos Vally Bombers vs. the McKinney Marshalls. The Bombers won. Good summertime fun with a nice breeze blowing through the covered grandstand.

On Saturday we paid a visit to The George H.W. Bush Presidential Library on the campus of Texas A&M University. I had forgotten my big camera so here is a grainy cell phone photo of me outside. Search the blog, there is also a post about our visit to the Clinton Library.

Hard to tell from this photo, but my wife claimed that everyone could tell I was a Democrat because I had my shirt tail out. I say she was being subversive and tried to disguise herself as a Republican because she had recently shaved her legs. Anyway, I was asked to speak at the library during my visit. It was by two security guards after I had emptied my pockets of phone, keys, wallet and strolled through the metal detector. They said, "you got on a belt.?" I said "Yes sirs." This was not the only security check I endured on this day, but that's another blog post.

Very nice place with many ponds on the grounds. Bush actually has an apartment there where he stays when there is business at the conference center. He likes to fish in the ponds. Morgan says that if you hear he is in town it is also a good time to hit the ponds as you can count on them being freshly stocked. Executive privilege I guess.

Anyway I think Presidential Libraries are neat. I am headed to Austin in September, might try to squeeze in LBJ's while there. I'll also get around to Dubya's at SMU one day.

Another Birthday...

Happy Birthday Morgan!

Here you see him beginning the birthday season.

He's having a party this weeknd in College Station. If all the poeple who read this blog show up it will make it extra memorable.

We are bleeding maroon around here...

Big news around here yesterday. Morgan was accepted into the Texas A&M engineering program. Begins in the fall. I think he is going to do mechanical engineering and has expressed some interest in renewable resource type technology. Just in time looks like. Hope the oil holds out two more years then we should be OK.

He is furiously looking for a place to live. May go down there this weekend.

I remember the good old days when we were kids and we watched old South West Conference football on the TV with my dad. Teams that struggled mightily against each other with no bowl playoff glory and big money at stake. Only school pride. Teams like A&M, Texas, Rice, Baylor, the Razorbacks and the TCU Horned Frogs and so on.

I remember my dad calling the Aggies by a name that no doubt came about in an earlier time. A&M stands for agricultural and mechanical. My dad would stare at the black and white screen and and those big old farm boys in maroon uniforms that we would have to use specialized brain cells to superimpose color on to make up for the short comings of the small screen in those days (not like today when we have the big screen and give them away freely, the big screen, not the specialized brain cells). and he would say, "Them manure spreaders are going to have to do something this quarter."

Renewable energy, manure spreaders, let's see, that might just go together.