Category Archives: Rancho Roly Poly

Why you must not move to Texas

Posted on June 25, 2014 | 4 comments

First, because we have too many immigrants already and only a small fraction of them have come from South of the border. Second, because every story you’ve ever heard about how great it is here was a lie. Plain and simple. We have fire ants in every back yard, scorpions, rattlesnakes and tarantulas all over the place, and cockroaches as big as your hand. And there’s more:

As TexasDoubleDoc, a commenter at Instapundit, says: “The grocery stores only stock potato chips and coke, the roads are full of potholes, and gunfights break out every twenty minutes. The schools are in shambles, there are regular book-burnings, and everyone is forced to attend [a Baptist church] every weekend.

“Women have zero rights here, gays are stoned in the town square, and minorities must apply skin whiteners to blend in and avoid violent mobs. There is no true ‘nighttime’ here, as Texans frequently burn large open swaths of oil for fun. And EVERYONE rides a horse, so it stinks to high heaven from all the manure on the disintegrating roads.”

Plus which, there are no more jobs left anymore. None at all. Zip. All taken. So do us all a big favor and stay the hell away. Pretty please.

4 Comments

Posted in Blogosphere, Rancho Roly Poly, South of the Border, Texana, The Culture, The Economy

Tagged

Cool June’s portents

Posted on June 23, 2014 | Comments Off on Cool June’s portents

It’s been a cool June so far, with just a week to run. Normally we’d have been in the upper 90s day-after-day by now and, at least judging from the past few years, had a 100-degree day or two. Not this year. Nada.

All of which could have been anticipated by anyone (like me) relying on WeatherBell Analytics and especially my fav Pennsylvania forecaster Joe Bastardi (formerly of Texas A&M) who called all this way back in April.

Relatively cool and relatively wet summer, JB said, and he’s been right so far.

He and his partner Joe D’Aleo also forecast last winter’s extreme cold and they were outliers against the federal forecast of a warmer winter than usual. Of course the feds are locked into their political global-warming hogwash and always see the future through those fractured glasses. How do they walk and chew gum at the same time, I wonder?

Comments Off on Cool June’s portents

Posted in Rancho Roly Poly, Science/Engineering, Texana, Weather/Climate

Tagged , ,

It was a dark and stormy night

Posted on June 13, 2014 | Comments Off on It was a dark and stormy night

Happy to awaken this morning to find the electricity back on. It was knocked out last night about 10:30 as big storms swept through with winds up to 60 mph. and a dramatic show of lightning, most of it east of us in Bastrop County.

Also reports of funnel clouds in the air and at least one touching the ground to become a tornado west of us in Burnet County. Some debris shown in this rather shakey quadcopter drone video from a few damaged houses but no one was killed.

We didn’t get a lot of rain, unfortunately. Most of it seemed to be falling south of the rancho. But we also didn’t get a lot of tree damage as some places did. Just enough to knock out the power, leaving us to move about the house with flashlights until we got tired of it and went to bed.

Comments Off on It was a dark and stormy night

Posted in Rancho Roly Poly, Texana, Weather

Tagged , ,

The stolen flag

Posted on June 7, 2014 | 2 comments

I was surprised the other day to discover that someone had filched the American flag and its short pole from the mount extending from the wooden pillar between the two metal garage doors. The next door neighbor’s flag also was taken.

We couldn’t imagine it was anyone’s idea of a political statement, since our upper-middle neighborhood mainly votes Republican. No, I figured it was a typical teenage prank. And, indeed, that was confirmed by the owner of the neighborhood hardware store. He said he’d heard about a dozen such complaints in recent weeks. It’s part of the end of the school year, he said. Happens every year.

He added that he’d like to be able to claim that he never did anything like that but he can’t, if he’s honest about it. Me neither, though I don’t remember actually stealing anything. Just harassing homeowners. Raining dried dirt clods on their roofs, for instance.

Anyhow I bought another pole and flag, this time a Lone Star and will put it up sometime this week. And if it’s stolen, too, I’ll give up on the flags. I only started with the American one way back on the day after 9/11. Had never worn my patriotism on my sleeve before. It seemed appropriate then. Bit out of date now, anyhow, with the lefty Democrats and their RINO allies preferring appeasement to war.

UPDATE: Two weeks after the Lone Star went up, nobody’s swiped it yet.

2 Comments

Posted in Rancho Roly Poly, The Culture

Tagged ,

My recital

Posted on June 6, 2014 | 2 comments

My first fiddle recital came off pretty good. I got through the one piece I had memorized thoroughly (having practiced it at least a hundred times) just fine and only momentarily got lost in the second, less-memorized one (dueting with another adult learner) and was able to find a place where I could jump back in.

Teacher was happy, but I expected him to be. He tends to exaggerate my progress, but, as Mrs. Charm says, “Would you rather he criticized you all the time?” Of course not. I just get suspicious when I’m always “awesome” and “excellant.” Of course some sort of criticism usually follows.

Fortunately, Mrs. C. videoed excerpts with her iPhone, so I got to see two problems that need correcting. I was hunched over as if trying to hide behind the music stand and it was as if my poor bow had shrunk to a few inches long I was using so little of it. “More bow, more bow,” the everlasting fiddle teacher reminder.

The best part was the adolescent Mr. Boy whom Mrs. C. decided to drag along, grumbling all the way, to get him there. He later complimented me and exclaimed that he had “really enjoyed it,” apparently struck dumb that it could have been anything but more boring adult shite.

So it was worth it and I’ll do it again in the fall and from now on if allowed.

2 Comments

Posted in Fiddle Stuff, Mr. Boy, Mrs. Charm, Music, Rancho Roly Poly, The Culture

Tagged ,

Whistle while you work

Posted on May 22, 2014 | 2 comments

Practicing for my June 1 fiddle recital, my teacher has been pushing me to use a metronome to keep the rhythm of my two pieces on point. Nobody who uses them likes the damn things and I’m no exception.

I struggled with the metronome for a week before complaining. Okay, he said, how about singing the notes of the tunes as I play them. Uh, then, how about whistling them as I read the dots on the chart?

It works. The only question is why? Perhaps, he said, because like most people I’ve been whistling to music all my life. Nor is it unusual for musicians to do it. Jazz players, he said, whistle or sing along with their work, sounds that usually go unnoticed because they’re lost in the other instrumentation.

2 Comments

Posted in Fiddle Stuff, Music, Rancho Roly Poly

Tagged , ,

Democrat Economy: unsold cars go to rot

Posted on May 21, 2014 | 4 comments

cars94

This an airfield’s runway near St. Petersburg, Russia, but other vast, impromptu carparks can be found in England, Spain and, probably, Arizona. Heck, probably Texas, but I know of none yet,

In the stagnant Democrat Economy (which we could blame on Wormtongue’s constant griping about the weathy who don’t pay his graft but he’s just the figurehead of his corrupt party) folks like us at the rancho are making our cars last a decade or more rather than going into debt to buy another one. And the result is….

Via Miriam’s Ideas.

UPDATE:  Well, now, was Miriam (and through her me) bamboozled on this tale? Could be. Could always be. But, as they say, consider the source. Zero Hedge has always seemed to be a pretty reliable business blog.

I never heard of the blog calling b.s. on it, Snopes isn’t always reliable, and the Mirror? Well… This one, OTOH, is a bit more persuasive. So I believe we should all sit this one out for a bit longer.

4 Comments

Posted in Blogosphere, Rancho Roly Poly, The Economy

Tagged , ,