THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER

On our route to and from Port Aransas every summer, we pass the forbidding walls of the old precidio. With its chapel in the background. As for those flags, let’s see now:  Spain, France, First (1812) Republic of Texas, Mexico, Second (1821) Republic of Texas, Dimmitt’s (1835) Goliad Flag, Third (1836) Republic of Texas, Confederate [...]

Mr. B. has finally been convinced, on the last day of our annual Port A trip, that he needs to try and “get back on the horse” instead of letting his Tuesday bout with the Sea Nettles keep him out of the Gulf. He and Mrs. Charm and grandma from Fort Worth are just setting [...]

Our annual jaunt to the beach begins Monday and will increase by one day and night this year, as the condo adds a free day to three paid. Sign of the economic times, no doubt—though Texas isn’t suffering near the 22 percent unemployment indicated by some measures.
Hardly in Michelle Obama’s class, of course (“Michelle’s $375,000 [...]

In  the forecast, anyhow. It’s August. July’s cool and rain is over. One of the coolest and wettest ever. It was pretty nice.
Time to whack us with triple-digit heat. So hundred-degree days are forecast thru Wednesday. Ninety-nines on Thursday and Friday. Yech.
Sez my old meteorologist buddy Bob Rose at the LCRA: “the center of the [...]

Strictly unscientific. No statistics herein to prove it. But July is almost over and we have yet to hit a hundred degrees. Usually, well, the last few years, we’d have done that by now. Still time, of course, but so far it hovers in the low nineties.

Mrs. C., whose hearing is much better than mine, said the pool pump sounded strange. She found the pressure gauge riding 10 instead of its usual 26, so she cut it off. Return pipes in the scuppers seem to be clogged. Waiting now for pool guys to come check. Hoping the water doesn’t turn green [...]

I read many more books than I review, on Amazon and in the pages of the Scribbler, and lately that’s become the norm. I keep reading, but I keep being disappointed. And it’s not just the Indie, DIY novels, but the Big Publisher ones, as well.
I keep running across some of the latter which are [...]

We’ve had more than an inch since Tuesday afternoon, when moisture from the storm in the Gulf began flowing in. This afternoon we’re expected to get the outer bands of rain directly. Or as the National Weather Service says:
“SPIRAL BANDS FROM ALEX WILL BEGIN TO IMPACT THE LOCAL
AREA ON WEDNESDAY AND PROBABLY LASTING INTO THE [...]

It’s telling, I think, that a recent Rasmussen poll finds fully a third of Americans either denying that fatherhood is important or being unsure if it is. It’s a hard role, and especially hard when dealing with a boy. The irony of that is that men are supposed to want sons. Yet daughters generally are easier [...]