First of several American war in Vietnam photos I’ll be running here. This is my old headquarters unit from RF-PF advisory days in 1969.
Guy on left is my RTO holding my M-79 while I take the pix. Next to him is Mr. B.’s future godfather in his younger days. I hope the rest of them also survived but, since I didn’t keep their names, I have no way of knowing.
Our several long days of soaking rain, which ended Monday, have been really welcome here at the parched rancho. According to our amateur rain gauge we’ve collected a little more than two inches since the steady showers began at the end of last week.
Now Mr. B. has something extra to look forward to on his Boy Scout troop’s Hill Country camping trip this weekend: a camp fire for the first time this year. The rains most likely have been sufficient to lift the burn bans imposed in most parts of Texas this year.
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Posted in Mr. Boy, Rancho Roly Poly, Texana, Weather/Climate
Tagged burn bans, soaking rains, Texas drought
I happily ended November with six more ebook sales for Alamo and Knoxville—including twice as many of the latter. Which brings that one to a total of 91 since its first month in April, 2010—finally edging in on breaking even for the cost of ebook formatting.
Hardly bestseller material here, these single-digit sales months. Haven’t had a double-digit month since 15 sold back in April. Record still 27 for Knoxville alone in August 2010, thanks to a plug from power-blogger Instapundit. It’s a nice lunch-money hobby, however.
Thanks to all my loyal readers, including those who promised reviews at Amazon but haven’t gotten around to it. Several have good excuses, including one in San Antonio who’s seriously ill. Best wishes to him, of course, for a recovery soon.
Still in the works: polishing a Vietnam War novel which loyal-reader Snoopy was kind enough to read and criticize, finishing a Civil War digital regimental still in blog form, and writing a memoir about growing up in the Cold War.
War-Is-Us, obviously. One of these days I may do something different. Meanwhile, coupled with new violin lessons and full-time parenting, I’m busier than before I retired.
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Posted in Blogosphere, Library, Mr. Boy, Rancho Roly Poly, Scribbles
Tagged ebooks, Knoxville 1863, Leaving the Alamo
Comments Off on Pansy: the rancho’s cold weather flower
November 30, 2011 in Rancho Roly Poly, Weather/Climate
Tagged cold-weather flowers, pansies
I have rented a violin, embarking upon an effort to learn the instrument. Next is finding a teacher near the rancho. I have no illusions. It took me years to learn to play the trumpet and I was never very good at it. Likewise the acoustic guitar. Violin is just something I’ve been thinking about for a while. So, after a few weeks of Web wandering on the subject, I decided to give it a whirl.
Mrs. C. played viola in school, and we’ve talked about that, but my interest really grew when Mr. B. began playing the clarinet at the start of this school year. I’ve been helping teach him to read music and the sound of him playing everything from Ode to Joy to the Theme from Star Wars gave me the bug again. And I’ve also discovered the clarinet and violin are often paired.
Course having YouTube around is a great incentive: free intro lessons into the violin’s peculiar issues, and multiple chances to watch amateurs and professionals play what I think is going to be a very challenging instrument, indeed. Plus there’s the Violin Lab, part of Blackerby Violin Shop, the outfit I rented from. Adds up to enough instruction to make learning on my own feasible, if not necessarily successful. Have to wait and see about that.
Comments Off on Violin lessons at age 67
Posted in Mr. Boy, Mrs. Charm, Music, Rancho Roly Poly, Scribbles
Tagged clarinet and violin duets, The Violin Lab, violin lessons at 67
Snoop’s shot of one of our backyard buddies. It’s been long enough since the Rangers lost the series that it’s safe for the bird to show his face again.
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Posted in Blogosphere, Rancho Roly Poly, Texana
Tagged Cardinal, Simply Jews, Texas Rangers baseball
So says WeatherBELL meteorologist Joe Bastardi (formerly of Accuweather):
“Rain is coming for Round Rock and surrounding environs in the southern plains early [this] week and it’s something that is at a premium in a La Nina winter. The area from the Trans Pecos northeast through northeast Texas and into Oklahoma and Arkansas could have widespread 1-2 inch amounts…”
Of course this is similar to the forecasts last week, when we got a mere quarter inch altogether. We’ll have to hope Mr. Bastardi knows better.
Meanwhile his colleague, Dr. Dewpoint (Joe D’Aleo), sketches out the wholly natural and therefore repeating AMO and PMO causes of our ongoing drought:
“We have many Texans reading our blogs and the serious drought has affected their lives. Almost every year, other parts of the world have experienced serious drought. It is of course most likely in areas that are semi-arid to begin with but sometimes extends into areas where rainfall is normally abundant.“
UPDATE: As of Wednesday, Nov. 23, we’ve had about an inch of rain with more expected Friday-Saturday. No drought-buster, but welcome.
Comments Off on More rain this week?
Posted in Blogosphere, Rancho Roly Poly, Scribbles, Texana, Weather/Climate
Tagged Central Texas, Doctor Dewpoint, Joe Bastardi, Joe D'Aleo, La Nina winter rain
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 