Category Archives: Rancho Roly Poly

Skunk patrol score thus far: 5 raccoons and an armadillo

Posted on August 2, 2013 | 4 comments

But no skunk. Not that we don’t keep sighting them. Two last night in the back forty. Probably the same two sighted the night before.

Our skunk hunter, of Austin’s Wildlife Removal Services (company motto: “Resolving Human and Animal Conflicts”) unfortunately keeps trapping other critters in his wire cages.

He’s embarrassed. We could tell when he lowered his price. Nevertheless, Mrs. Charm is tired of the occasional skunk smell (which the AC air compressor seems to suck inside the house) and, thus, onward!

At the current rate, however, we will have eliminated the neighborhood’s raccoons while leaving the skunks on the loose. Sigh.

UPDATE:  Make that 5 raccoons and TWO armadillos. Still no skunk.

MORE:  Make that 7 raccoons and three armadillos. Then, four days after we cancelled the contract, we have another skunk sighting. Damn! Wily creatures.

4 Comments

Posted in Rancho Roly Poly, Texana

Tagged ,

Of skunks and snakes

Posted on July 15, 2013 | 4 comments

Went out on the patio early Sunday (as in about 2 a.m.) to smoke a cigarette and got a glimpse of a big bushy white-n-black tail swishing around the corner of the house. Figured it was the skunk Mrs. Charm sniffed out the other day, or a member of the same family, anyhow. I left it alone. Never mess with skunks.

We also have big raccoons, opossums and armadillos now and again.

J.D., over at Mouth of the Brazos, however, gets the cold-blooded critters. For instance, what apparently was a “good-sized” Prairie Kingsnake advancing down his flagstone walk towards his flower bed and porch. Says he could tell by the shape of its head that it wasn’t harmful, but he stood up from his porch rocker and clapped his hands anyway which made the snake do a 180 and slither away.

All we ever see of the snake variety are pencil-thin, pale-green garden ones. Happily. If my only choice is skunks or snakes, I’ll take the skunks.

4 Comments

Posted in Blogosphere, Mrs. Charm, Rancho Roly Poly, Texana

Tagged , ,

Bye, bye AltaVista

Posted on July 8, 2013 | Comments Off on Bye, bye AltaVista

Years ago when I was new to the Web, I thought the AltaVista search engine was the epitome of what was possible. It didn’t hurt that I was then living on Alta Vista Avenue in the Travis Heights neighborhood of South Austin, though if there was any connection I never found it.

Alas, today is the day that owner Yahoo! is scheduled to put AltaVista to permanent digital sleep. It’s been little more than “a front end for Yahoo! Search,” according to the Bandwidth Wastage Station, “and Marissa Mayer needs to cut costs.” Adios, amigo.

Via Dustbury.

Comments Off on Bye, bye AltaVista

Posted in Blogosphere, Rancho Roly Poly, Science/Engineering, Texana

Tagged ,

The Violin

Posted on June 26, 2013 | Comments Off on The Violin

New, interesting book I’m reading on the fiddle has a very long title but its Amazon page has the most succinct (if almost equally long) summary of the instrument that I’ve seen:

“A 16-ounce package of polished wood, strings, and air, the violin is perhaps the most affordable, portable, and adaptable instrument ever created. As congenial to reels, ragas, Delta blues, and indie rock as it is to solo Bach and late Beethoven, it has been played standing or sitting, alone or in groups, in bars, churches, concert halls, lumber camps, even concentration camps, by pros and amateurs, adults and children, men and women, at virtually any latitude on any continent.”

It’s also been cursed, as “the devil’s box,” and, indeed, it’s origin remains unclear. In Texas, they used to say (might still do, for all I know) that the only people who played guitars were those who weren’t good enough to play the fiddle. Oh, and just as a warning: learning to play one is quite addictive.

Comments Off on The Violin

Posted in Music, Rancho Roly Poly, Texana

Tagged , ,

Austin’s hardcore musicians

Posted on June 19, 2013 | Comments Off on Austin’s hardcore musicians

Sennacherib, not the Assyrian prince but an anonymouse commenter at Simply Jews, just happens to live up the road a ways from the rancho. He offers Austin singer Guy Clark as a refreshing break from the political.

I responded with crooner Robert Earl Keen, a sort of poor man’s Bob Dylan, whose song “The road goes on forever, and the party never ends” has become a Texas classic. Okay, that’s enough of a break. Back to Barry bashing.

Comments Off on Austin’s hardcore musicians

Posted in Blogosphere, Music, Rancho Roly Poly, Texana

Tagged , , ,

Typical wet Memorial Day weekend

Posted on May 25, 2013 | Comments Off on Typical wet Memorial Day weekend

We got three and a half inches in an hour Friday at the rancho (raining so hard when school let out I went to pick up Mr. B) and another half inch overnight. The waterfall in the back forty was in full flow within 30 minutes.

Supposed to rain more this afternoon. None of which is really surprising. May is our wettest month, on average, and Memorial Day weekend has been rainy pretty much every year since at least the 1981 Memorial Day floods.

Which were so awful (11 inches in three hours) that I briefly reunited with my ex-wife, checking on her safety since she lived near one of the flooded creeks and I didn’t want her parents blaming me for her death. She was okay.

UPDATE:  No rain to speak of at the rancho Saturday, but San Antonio got inundated by 10 inches, sweeping a city bus off the road, and leaving two dead.

MORE:  Did get a downpour Sunday morning that almost immediately put the waterfall back in business for about 30 minutes. Probably an inch altogether.

Comments Off on Typical wet Memorial Day weekend

Posted in Mr. Boy, Rancho Roly Poly, Texana, Weather/Climate

Tagged ,

Racing clouds preceded twister

Posted on May 21, 2013 | Comments Off on Racing clouds preceded twister

Was out in the back forty about noon Monday, checking to see if any new deer had jumped the privacy fence to get at the rancho’s roses. Had one Sunday, and an earlier one a week ago. Still trying to figure where they’re getting over.

Saw no deer but was struck by the clouds overhead. Coming out of the northwest and the southeast. They were just racing north. Wind was picking up, of course. Had to be a low out there somewhere, in the direction of Round Rock, probably. Hoped it would spawn a thunderstorm and bring us some rain.

Had no idea then that the low was as far north as Oklahoma or that about 3 p.m. CDT it would spawn a killer tornado that would wipe out two elementary schools south of Oklahoma City. G-d bless the dead and the injured and the devastated untouched, so to speak. Glad to see that CGHill at Dustbury, at the Bandwidth Wastage Station, survived this “last rite of spring” as he blogged it.

Heard some fool Democrat blaming global warming/climate change. The usual dreck. This is Tornado Alley, nitwit, beginning down here around Austin and stretching as far north as South Dakota. We get these bastards every year about this time. Wouldn’t have wished it on Oklahoma, especially not those dead kids and their devastated parents. But I’m sure thankful it didn’t spin up anywhere near us.

Comments Off on Racing clouds preceded twister

Posted in Antique Roses, Blogosphere, Rancho Roly Poly, Texana, Weather/Climate

Tagged , , ,