Category Archives: Texana

Ice night, and snow

Posted on January 23, 2014 | 1 comment

“Rain and sleet likely before midnight, then freezing rain and sleet likely between midnight and 2am, then snow likely after 2am. Cloudy, with a low around 24. North wind around 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. Little or no ice accumulation expected. Total nighttime snow and sleet accumulation of less than a half inch possible.”

That’s from the Nat’l Weather Service. Their forecasts don’t always come true. We’ll cross our fingers that this one also is faulty.

UPDATE:  It wasn’t. There was enough ice and snow to cause scores of accidents this morning and the school district closed the schools for the day. Mr. B., as you might imagine, was crushed at not having to go to school. By 4 p.m., the temperature was 37 degrees, headed for 28 overnight,

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Posted in Rancho Roly Poly, Texana, Weather

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Abortion Barbie is ready for prime time!

Posted on January 22, 2014 | 2 comments

WENDY DAVIS: My paraplegic opponent**, Greg Abbott, doesn’t understand my struggle, “hasn’t walked a day in my shoes.”

“There’s a gaffe for the ages.”

Via Instapundit & Althouse.

**Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott—Davis’ opponent for governor—has been a paraplegic in a wheelchair since an accident in 1984.

UPDATE:  Now her slogan is “Stand With Wendy.” Fat chance. Lefties have such a talent for shooting themselves. Abortion Barbie’s candidacy was goofy enough. Who could have imagined that she and her dipsy supporters could turn it into a clown act.

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Posted in Obituaries, Texana, The Culture

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The dumbass generation

Posted on January 19, 2014 | 6 comments

They wear shorts in the winter: knee-length basketball shorts for boys, crotch-hugging short-shorts for girls. Mr. Boy wears his daily, even when the temperature is in the 20s, which is about as cold as it usually gets in the daytime here in CenTexLand.

I think he’s deficient in common sense, but, then, so are the rest of the kids his age at his middle school. As near as I can tell most of them do it, too. Nevermind the Millennials. This is the dumbass generation.

Because, wandering the Google trail, I find it’s common across the country for kids his age to wear shorts in the winter, and it has been for several years now—even in Iowa, in the snow, and in New England when it’s 10 below.

Mr. B. swears he isn’t cold, swears he’s not trying to be a macho man. Has to be a fashion thing. I’m sure of it because when I drive him somewhere the first thing he does is turn up the car heater. So I know he’s really cold. How could he not be?

I turn the heat back down because I’ve already got on three layers and I’m not interested in sweating underneath them. He doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t want to call attention to the fact that, underneath the swagger, he’s freezing.

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Posted in Evolution, Mr. Boy, Texana, The Culture, Weather/Climate

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The Texas Curse

Posted on January 13, 2014 | 2 comments

The annual Texas curse is back. It hits me the worst about this time every year. Cedar Fever. When the airborne pollen hits your nose, it mimics a really, really bad cold with its own special features.

You know you have it when your eyes burn and the roof of your mouth itches. And you get into sneezing fits while your nose runs. If it goes on and on until you want to die, that’s cedar fever. But despite the common name, it’s not “cedar trees” behind it. It’s juniper that the Hill Country’s early Anglo settlers called Mountain Cedar. Know thy enemy.

Nowadays, thanks to the damn birds carrying the seeds around, the trees grow all up and down the I-35 corridor, from about Waco in the north to San Antonio in the south. People in Beaumont, way over on the Gulf coast east of Houston, swear that a really strong cold front will bring the juniper pollen to them, too.

Texas Monthly claims cedar fever only lasts a week. They lie. It can begin in November and go on until around Valentine’s. Every year Austin allergists come up with a different reason why it’s so bad: too much rain, not enough rain, too cold, too warm. After 35 years of it I’m convinced they know nothing and have no remedies. Except a series of pollen shots you have to start in the spring. They’re expensive and they frequently don’t work.

Every year I swear I’m going to move to West Texas (preferably Alpine) to get away from this. But I never do. Maybe someday. The only blessing a really bad cedar fever season brings is to thin out of some of  Austin’s godawful traffic.

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Posted in Blogosphere, Rancho Roly Poly, Texana

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Shakey Graves

Posted on January 9, 2014 | 1 comment

Country blues guitarist and singer Shakey Graves of Austin—whose offstage name is Alejandro Rose-Garcia—is really stepping out in Austin, Lubbock, etc.. Not to mention South Carolina, Georgia, and other places he tours.

A one-man band, even, something you rarely see anymore. With two drum pedals Graves-Garcia works with his heels, one hitting an empty-suitcase drum that is part of the act, and another on a tambourine wrapped in a bandana.

Sez my good San Antonio IT guy, Scott: “[Graves] has an unique sound, a really distinct voice, seems to be the real deal as a songwriter, and is blessed with movie-star looks. Here’s hoping he isn’t crushed like a bug by The Machinery.”

And, thanks to the magic of the Internet, you can see Shakey (Alejandro) for free. He is, in fact, all over YouTube. (But his stuff is worth buying to listen to away from your PC, laptop or what-have-you.)

Via The Fat Guy.

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Posted in Music, Texana, The Culture

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Hot Times In The Oil Patch

Posted on January 8, 2014 | Comments Off on Hot Times In The Oil Patch

“I can hear them slinging pipe on the Flex 5 up the way and when I poke my head out the door, no less than a dozen flare stacks are runnin’ hot out across the pucker brush.”

An oil patch update from gate-guard Andy at My Old RV down well south of the rancho, and that’s without his new solo hearing aid:

“A rattling diesel sounds like they got a clothes dryer with 5 gallon of rock in it running overspeed on the passenger seat next to ‘em.  Walking on the caliche rocks sounds like I got feet like a brontosaurus.  The generator sounds like a 747 spooling up for take off. It is distinctly unpleasant and near painful.”

Yep. Wait’ll you try the two of ’em at once. You’ll be turning down the volume like I do.

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Posted in Blogosphere, Science/Engineering, Texana, The Economy

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The Stronghorns

Posted on January 6, 2014 | 2 comments

Catchy moniker, yes? Now we’ll see what Mr. Charlie Strong can do with Mack’s recruited talent. Whether, in fact, he wants them all. Or will find a way to unload some. He surely needs a much better QB, with no history of concussions.

Strong being black will definitely be a factor in his recruiting in Texas and out, given that, what, two-thirds of college players are black. At least two thirds of most teams. Sez commenter SW M at Forbes:

“One important reason to hire Charlie Strong is [black coach] Kevin Sumlin. Sumlin has generated enormous interest among high school players, especially African Americans, in playing at Texas A&M. Charlie Strong is the best possible response to this very serious threat to the Texas program going forward.”

Sure looks that way. But it remains to be seen how Strong, whom some sports writers say is a thin-skinned disciplinarian, will work out with players who are used to pampering. Being called “kids,” among other things. Not to mention how Strong will scheme to beat OU (which just beat Alabama), OK State, Baylor, etc. Four years of whooping up on Rutgers, East Kentucky and Florida International are not much training for the Big 12.

It was a liberal U’s PC hire, obviously, whatever they say and they certainly won’t admit it, but even though the guy coached football at a basketball school in a second tier conference, he did help Florida win two titles. It might turn out really well. If he can handle the off-field hassles: the occasionally-nasty local media, always whiny fan base, and a few backstabbing big donors.

For now the new nickname, Stronghorns, is a success. Just win, Charlie, just win. Do that and everything else will take care of itself. Hook ‘Em!

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Posted in Obsessions, Texana, Texas Football

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