Category Archives: Rancho Roly Poly

Cub scout camping

Posted on October 18, 2008 | Comments Off on Cub scout camping

Tonight will be our fourth campout in the woods with Mr. B.’s cub scout den. This time we’ll only be a few miles from the rancho. It’s forecast to be in the high seventies during the day but drop into the upper forties overnight.

I’m bringing two radios, just in case, in order to listen to the Longhorns game. I expect them to beat Missouri, but I want to be sure to hear them do it. Watching it would be nice, but I never bought one of those portable televisions. No, that isn’t true. We had one on the family sloop years ago, but it was stolen. Anyway, where we’re going is in a valley between two hills, so the teevee reception might be poor. If necessary, I’ll hike up the shortest hill to listen to the game. But it probably won’t be.

UPDATE:  It was fun sitting in a camp chair, watching Orion climb the sky and listening to the Longhorns as they thrashed Missouri, 56-31. Next up, Oklahoma State, should be a bit tougher.

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Posted in Mr. Boy, Rancho Roly Poly, Sailing, Texas Football, Weather/Climate

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Of tile and sailboats

Posted on October 15, 2008 | Comments Off on Of tile and sailboats

The money I got for the family sloop last month yesterday paid for new adobe-colored, porcelain ceramic tile for the rancho’s family room. It looks good. Photo to come. Coincidentally, minutes after we got all the furniture back in place, Colby, the sloop’s new owner and neophyte sailor called to chat about his latest experiences.

He’s been trying to sail with just the main hoisted, easing into learning the art, and was curious why he didn’t seem to be making any headway on a recent gusty day. He was trying to beat, or sail upwind, at least as close as he could get to the direction of the wind, but he seemed almost to be going backward. I told him he needed to hoist the jib to beat. Running and reaching work fine with just the main. To beat he needs the "slot" that the jib creates between it and the mainsail, which keeps the boat in balance and the bow pointed as high into the wind as it will go. At least he finally got the Mercury outboard going. Its fuel lines seemed to be clogged from disuse. Now it runs fine.

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Posted in Rancho Roly Poly, Sailing

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At least the yellowjackets are gone

Posted on October 7, 2008 | Comments Off on At least the yellowjackets are gone

The mosquitoes, however, are hanging on, even in the mid-day. I planted a new Bourbon, the Souvenir de Malmaison, shortly after noon today, and wound up with four mosquito bites for my trouble. Hey, it’s already October, and the nights are in the upper fifties. So where’s the fall we usually get around this time? You know, the one where the yellowjackets and mosquitoes give it up for another year? At least we don’t have any kudzu.

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

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Paul Newman, R.I.P.

Posted on September 27, 2008 | Comments Off on Paul Newman, R.I.P.

His movies seem dated to me now. Like me, I suppose. We’ve used his salad dressing for years. The jokes on the labels were some of the first that Mr. B. could read, and he insists on buying more whenever we shop for groceries. I also liked his wife. Didn’t everyone?

MORE:  I used to write obits, but I would never have attempted a movie star. This one is good.

UPDATE:  Glad I missed this aspect of him, however: "President Jimmy Carter appointed him as his delegate to nuclear disarmament talks at the United Nations…In 1995, Newman bought a controlling interest in The Nation, a liberal political journal, and even began writing for it occasionally….Newman is also on the board of Cease Fire, a gun control group funded by prominent celebrities…."

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Posted in Mr. Boy, Obituaries, Rancho Roly Poly, Scribbles

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McCain won, I think

Posted on September 27, 2008 | Comments Off on McCain won, I think

I didn’t watch much of it live. I have seen several clips, and I followed some of the live-blogging, and read the conclusions of others–some of whom thought that, while Barry may not have won, he didn’t lose, either. Mr. B.’s mom, whose job it is to watch such things, thought it was a tie. She thought Mac won on content but Barry won on style. Style. Like an Olympic gymnast. Sigh. In some of the clips I saw, he was clearly irritated. I thought it was Mac who was supposed to have the temper?

All in all, I don’t think any of these "debates," are very meaningful, since the participants seldom say anything imaginative. Just their stump speech points. Nor do I think they have much impact on the elections. On the Big Media and the soundbite collections, sure, but how many people do they persuade? I think Biden and Palin will be more fun to watch and I won’t miss that one.

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Posted in Blogosphere, Mr. Boy, Rancho Roly Poly, Scribbles

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Sailboat sale

Posted on September 23, 2008 | Comments Off on Sailboat sale

Tom, OCS buddy and rare reader who cannot make the TypeKey comment system work, reminds me that I have not written much about sailing this year. The reason is I haven’t been doing much of it since April, for various reasons, mostly involving rancho chores, family travel and driving Mr. B. around to baseball, summer camp and, now, basketball and Cub Scouts.

In fact, the family sloop has been for sale for a few weeks and last Sunday I picked up two interested buyers. Am waiting on a local fellow to get his money together (he has to sell some stock, and this is not a good time for that, obviously), while the other one, from northeast Texas, says he is ready to buy it if the local one doesn’t. If Mr. B. enjoyed going sailing, I would have kept it, but, alas, he doesn’t. On one of our few outings, he pointed at a passing stinkpot (motorboat) and said: “Why don’t we buy one of those, Dad?” Sigh.

UPDATE: The sloop is sold. Feel a little bit sorry already, but that’s relieved by the young, local  buyer’s enthusiasm and excitement. It’s in good hands–younger and more energetic ones, too.

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Posted in Mr. Boy, Rancho Roly Poly, Sailing

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The six-gun tamed the West

Posted on September 17, 2008 | Comments Off on The six-gun tamed the West

Not hardly. It was something a lot bigger, a lot nosier, and still necessary after all these years.

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Posted in Blogosphere, Rancho Roly Poly, Scribbles, Texana, Weather/Climate

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