I saw a TV show last week where an elderly man simply reached out and grabbed the telephone of a young lady and slammed it to the ground and where he subsequently stomped the hell out of the thing.  A group of bystanders, apparently from an asian country, were absolutely flabbergasted and quickly tucked their own cell phones away.  It was a put up deal but it sure painted the picture of my feelings towards a cell phone.

At the grocery store this morning a woman was texting while the checker was running a large stack of coupons thru the machine.  After he had finished she stopped texting and wanted to know if he could show her what had been accepted and etc.  I informed her that he couldn’t.  I also informed her that her attention should have been on the project at hand instead of a damned text that probably could have waited until she got to her car.  She was a tad indignant but, then, so was I. 

I guess my life is just not complicated enough to require me to keep in constant contact with every single person I know.  I check my phone on a regular basis to see if anyone has died but that is pretty much it.  I rarely use it for telling anyone what happened over the last 3 minutes since i talked with them last.

At our ages we should be slowing down.  Life should flow like a gentle stream in a pleasant little valley, hign in the Rockies.  Life should not be like the mighty Colorado roaring thru Grand Canyon like a runaway freight.  We should savor our quiet times and hope that those quiet times come more often and stay for a longer period of time.  One should take time to enjoy a stand of agapanthas that are in full bloom and not worry that they are eventually going to droop.  One should certainly not call or text 10 people and tell them the details of how the damned flowers are going to die back.  And for sure dont do it when you are standing in front of me at the grocery store.  You might get your phone stepped on.

Chuy

If you have read much of what I rant about you will probably know that I dont care much for Tiger Woods as a man or human.  However, I do like the way he plays a game that I have loved and played, sometimes on a daily basis.  It can be argued that he is the best that has ever played the game.  I happen to think he is.  He devotes himself to practice like few others who play now or in the past.  He can make shots that few can make.  But, despite his physical skills connected with the game, he has something that even fewer players have.  He has the mind for the game.  He is an automatron when it comes to the mental part of the game.  Bad shots bother him less than they do most players.  He doesnt often get rattled.  This takes skill.

Our local newspaper had an opinion to the editor this morning stating that Tiger was not a good role model.  The opinion listed a number of reasons, mostly having to do with being a good sport.  Well, just maybe he doesnt want to be a good role model.  Maybe he just wants to play his game and be left to hell alone?  I know of few people who would like to have a son or daughter who was just like Tiger.  Many people would like to be able to play golf like Tiger.  Maybe we should just be happy with that.  We place too much value on what professional atheletes give our society.  We are exposed daily to their feet of clay.  Many professional atheletes are people who left school to go “pro” at a time when they are unable to handle such fame and fortune.  They usually turn out to be just people like we are.  They have problems just like we have.  Many people get too bent out of shape when one of their “heros” falls from grace. 

I cut people a little more slack in how their fame and fortune affects me.  Little that Tiger Woods does on a daily basis has much to do with how I live, think or act.  I enjoy watching him play in a golf tournament.  I would like to have dinner with him some night.  After dinner I would take him out behind the barn and give him some advice that his father Earl apparently failed to give him.  He wouldn’t care for the advice but if he thought about it for a few minutes he would know I was right.  My advice would simply be that the sun doesn’t rise from his shadow or the shadow of people like him and he should realize that he is what he is simply at our pleasure.

Gary

I am sitting at a battered, water-ring stained table in the kitchen of my Casita de Adobe.  I stare alternately at my coffee cup and out through the fly specked screen door towards the yard.  I watch an old red hen, scratching in the gravel for seeds possibly blown in by the west wind.  The yard dog lays in the shade of a mesquite bush, one eye open just enough to watch the cat, walking across the yard with airs of a much more regal creature from across an ocean.

The air shimmers with the heat of an early summer.  There is a dustiness and a haziness about the landscape.  Things seen are not crisp.  Summer will be a long time leaving. We will have to plan carefully to avoid the sun and to remember the spots of shade that develop during the passage of the day.  Shade will become a thing of premiums during the coming months.

I am dreaming today of many things.  Dreams are easier on an old brain than remembrances.  Remembering requires an attention to detail. Dreaming allows you a fuzzyiness about details and allows you to slant things a bit more.  Simple dreams can be the thoughts of the first north wind that will eventually come to a land of heat.  Dreams can be thoughts of putting on a sweater in the mornings to avoid the chill of the previous night.  Coffee tastes much better if you are wearing a sweater.  Ice tea tastes better if you are sitting bare-chested under an elm tree in the shade.  Ice cold spring water tastes best anytime you are thirsty.  I dream of these things, maybe to keep from having to remember, maybe just for the pleasure of writing my own thoughts.  Who knows?

Select a spot and do some dreaming.  Let your mind float, to an earlier time, to a time in the future or for things in the present.  It requires no equipment other than an imagination and a pleasant place to sit.  Could be at an old table, a rocking chair on a porch, or a stool under a tree. 

Gary C

There are few things in this world that are as pleasing as a good biscuit.  I have been looking for a recipe for years that would produce a biscuit that is as light as a feather yet has a bottom crust with some chew to it.  I wanted a biscuit that would require sausage gravy be poured atop it in order to keep it from floating off the plate.  Well, praise be to Jesus, that recipe has been found, thanks to Ms Carol Ann and the internet.

THE 7UP BISCUIT

2 CUPS OF BISQUIK BAKING MIX , 1/2 CUP OF SOUR CREAM, 1/2 CUP OF 7 UP. MIX WELL AND POUR OUT ON FLOURED SURFACE.

MELT 1/4 CUP OF BUTTER IN AN 8X8 SQUARE PAN

PAT BISCUIT DOUGH OUT TO MATCH THE SIZE OF THE PAN AND CUT THEM IN SQUARES.  PUT IN PAN AND BAKE AT 425 DEGREES FOR 15 MINUTES.

THEY SHOULD BE BROWN AS BRONZE AND LIGHT AS A FEATHER.

 I know that since I am diabetic I should not be eating biscuits but a couple on Saturday morning shouldnt hurt too much.

Thanks for the pleasure, whoever made up this recipe.

Chuy the biscuit eater.                                             

I am sorry but I just dont buy the global warming concept.  I woke up this morning and the temperature, on May, 3, 2013, in Corpus Christi, Tx was 47 degrees.  It rarely gets colder than that even in winter. Yoohoo, Mother Nature, it is spring.  They have just said on TV that 5 states set snowfall records this week.  Ole man Winter, its not your turn at bat.  Let someone else control things for a while.

Yesterday coming home from a trip down south towards Laredo, well, there was a sand storm.  Shades of Pecos, Tx during the late 50’s.  The sky was full of dust, the roads were covered in drifting dirt and then it started sprinkling.  Wonder what is going on?

Of course, this weather has got the clothing store owners as happy as clams.  We are having to load up on several types and styles of clothing because we never know what to wear.  I put on a sweater this morning and by 10:46am I am in bermuda shorts.  It has me perplexed to say the least.

However, as confused as I am, I am not buying the Greenland ice cap is gonna melt concept.  If it is getting 47 degrees here, then it has to be below freezing up there.  Right?  I am going to withhold judgement on the warming scare until I am about knee deep in water that has ice cubes floating in it/

COS.  I just made reservations with CHINATI HOT SPRINGS SPA,  This is a hot springs resort just up river from Presidio, Tx and a favored haunt of some other notable Pecos folks.  I am going there for a couple of days, the weekend before the big mega reunion in June.  I want to get all tanned, new skin ( I understand the hot mineral water causes sloughing) and generally take a few days rest.  I am going to try for a personal best in how long I can stay in bed.  I will try to loll in bed until 7:30am.  I will take my new Kendle paper white and do some heavy duty reading.  YOu have to cook you own meals so I will have a few fusion meals.  Maybe mexican-oriental or Serbian-arab.  I have been doing that lately and Dorothy just sits down to dinner and shakes her head. 

G