First freeze of the year for us out there at the moment, which will probably blacken the nice green elephant ears in the rancho’s front flower bed.
But this is mild (only 30 degrees) compared to the one that walloped Tulia, Texas this morning back in 1899. Forty thousand cattle dying overnight? Yipes.
Comments Off on Freezing this morning
Posted in Rancho Roly Poly, Texana, Weather/Climate
Tagged 1899 Big Freeze, Texas, Tulia
So I finally took the Honda in to let the dealer check on a recall alert I got in the mail last week saying the trigger on the driver’s airbag was so faulty that it might cause injury or even death. Mine.
Nothing like the prospect of hanging to concentrate the mind.
Harmless, the dealer concluded after a brief check, but, oh, by the way…
They replaced the clutch for $1,500. If I didn’t know that I had a bad habit of resting my left foot on the clutch pedal (“riding the clutch,” it is called, though it was never this bad), I’d suspect the recall alert was a dodge all along.
Comments Off on From an airbag glitch to a new clutch
Posted in Rancho Roly Poly, Science/Engineering
Tagged clutch replacement, Honda airbag alert
The thunderstorms overnight Tuesday into Wednesday were welcome in most places, except where they provoked trouble: power out for a few thousand homes, hail damage, street and creek flooding, emergency rescues, and at least one tornado.
The National Weather Service, whose Internet radar images always seem to go down on these occasions when they’re needed, lost them again right on schedule. Our tax dollars at work. At least they recorded a healthy five three inches of rain at their official downtown gauge (more than five inches out at the airport east of town). Got almost three here at the rancho, northwest of downtown.
Comments Off on Rains welcome
Posted in Blogosphere, Rancho Roly Poly, Scribbles, Texana, Weather/Climate
Tagged flooding down in texas, NWS Internet radar, Rancho Roly Poly
Actually, I’ve got them spooked. When I see them dangling from the bird feeders, trying to avoid the work of cracking their own nuts, all I have to do is unlock the sliding glass door to the patio. They drop and run. Heh.
And they better, or I might get me a pellet pistol and start potting these “limb rats” for an occasional meal, like the daily’s columnist Mike Leggett.
Comments Off on Rancho marauder
Posted in Rancho Roly Poly, Scribbles
Tagged bird feeder thieves, gray squirrel, limb rats, Mike Leggett
The Texas curse has my nose (and eyes and roof of my mouth) in its annual grip again.
But temporary relief may be forthcoming, if the forecasted rain tonight through tomorrow night falls in sufficient quantity. It will wash the juniper pollen out of the air, at least for a day or so.
Comments Off on Cedar fever, again
Posted in Blogosphere, Rancho Roly Poly, Texana, Weather/Climate
Tagged allergies, cedar fever, pollen
I find I actually feel guilty if I miss a day. Have only once in the past month.
Finally up to 30 minutes before my wrists start cramping, and scales, even though short and simple four-note ones on all four strings, one at a time or crossing over to two or more. Prompting another revelation: not only are my fingers too short, they are too fat to stay on one string at a time.
And paying attention to my fingers makes my bow stroke go all to hell, also hitting two strings at once. Sigh.
Ah, but insipiration definitely helps. Even if she has been playing since she was eight.
Comments Off on Violin practice
Posted in Music, Rancho Roly Poly, Scribbles
Tagged Chee Yun, Oblivion, violin lessons, violin practice
Whew. A few more days of winter break and… Well, nevermind. Mr. B. goes back to school today, in about twenty minutes in fact. Nor will he be around much this weekend, either.
It’s the Lumberjack campout starting tomorrow evening, where the boy scouts spend the weekend cutting down trees and building shelters on some nice person’s ranch out east of here. So, after two weeks of “togetherness,” things are about to return to normal at Rancho Roly Poly.
The bad part is that this will mean resumption of the homework wars.
Comments Off on Back to school
Posted in Mr. Boy, Rancho Roly Poly, Scribbles
Tagged back-to-school, Lumberjack, scout campout
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 