Sky Watch Friday

May sunset in Harlingen, Texas.  See more at Sky Watch Friday.  Post your photo, sign in, and visit others.

Back at the Barn

It's good to be back home again.  Sounds a little like a John Denver song doesn't it?  Mom came through her second stint procedure like a champ.  She now has four stints, and her blood is flowing like the Alaskan pipe line.  I loaded up last Sunday morning and started out for Uvalde, Texas and then on to the Texas Hill Country to meet with Sparky and Wire grass Steve.  The old Road Star rumbled along with its heavy load like a sturdy beast of burden.  
Over mountains, prairies, desert, and plains we whizzed along to the rumble of the old V-Twin. The vistas were beautiful.  It has been so dry in the west central part of Texas this year, the Bluebonnets didn't reach their peak.  However, it is a beautiful and challenging ride anytime you choose to make it.
Sparky and Steve trailered their bikes over from south Georgia and off loaded in Kerrville, Texas.  We rode the hills for two days before I had to move on and attend to my little mother in San Antonio. The picture above was taken at the Lost Maples State Park where we stopped to rest for a while.  They are a wonderful couple and we shared good food, fellowship, and a lot of balderdash.  Be sure and visit "My Thoughts Exactly" when you get the chance.  They stayed on to ride with other friends who joined them there.  I left San Antonio yesterday and battled very heavy cross winds for five hours before rolling into my garage.  My trip meter read 930 miles. Now it's time to clean up and get ready for the next adventure.  

The difference between a democracy and a dictatorship is that in a democracy you vote first and take orders later; in a dictatorship you don't have to waste your time voting.
  - Charles Bukowski

Sky Watch Friday posted Thursday

If you read Thursday's travellog you might recall I said I went through D'Hanis, TX . Well, the skies over downtown D'Hanis were clear to partly cloudy. Looks a little Western doesn't it? Have a great Sky Watch Friday and if you want to participate just click on the Title and show us a little of your sky. Pappy

Sky Watch Friday posted Thursday

Sunset over the Laguna Madre from the Gulf side of South Padre Island, TX. Hope you all have a great weekend. Click on the title to access and participate in Sky Watch.

Sky Watch Friday - New Format

Recent sunset over my back yard. For instructions and link click on the title. If you are a reader, stay and read a while. Pappy

Sky Watch Friday - Ride

Bebe and I took a little evening ride yesterday. We stopped by my daughter's house for a few minutes, and I took a picture of my motorized contraption. It is almost ready for some real road work. The skies over Harlingen, TX were clear and the temp was in the high sixties. A nice breeze made it hard for the mosquitos to land. Have a great weekend. Pappy

Sky Watch Friday - New Format

Tulum, Mexico - May/June 2008 Mayan Ruins.

Sky Watch Friday - New Format

Harlingen sunset under a threat of thunderstorms.

To participate in Dot's creation, nurtured by Tom and Jane Wigley, and now maintained by Sandy, Klaus, Imac, et. al. click on the title line and go to the New SWF site to sign in. Post your own photo with sky showing and visit as many sites as you can. Pappy

The Ultimate Sky Watch

Where Does Space End?

The thought
should be enough to give us pause.

A picture of eternity.

A tiring mind push.

So, we create reality.
A show to watch.
A triviality.
A gothic play
that lacks originality.

So much knowledge.
So little wisdom.

Perhaps if we had no food
we could focus.
We don’t leave the mirror
long enough to care.
Our lives are air.
It’s all about what’s fair.
Rights without responsibility.

It will not last.
It never has.
The cycle will repeat and
we’ll be forced to scratch
for scraps of bread.

And,
for a while we’ll understand
the beauty of a loaf.

Dennis Price

Sky Watch Friday - New Format

Hurricane Dolly pounds us with near 100 mph winds and twenty three inches of rain.

Sky Watch Friday - New Format

Beautiful skies over the Laguna Madre, bayside on South Padre Island, TX.

To participate in Sky Watch Friday you can post on Thursday afternoon, or Friday. The new format started this week and there are a host of folks helping Tom Wigley and Jane. Just post a photo that shows some sky, then go to the new site and sign up on Mr. Linky. Visit as many sites as you can. That's it. Have fun. Pappy

Sky Watch Friday

Twas a rainy day

as we made our way

across the bay

to South Padre.

To celebrate with the U.S.A.

on July the 4th,

Her birthday.

Hope you have a wonderful Sky Watch Friday. To sign in and participate in this creation of Dot, which is hosted by Wom Tigley and the lovely Jane, just click on Wom's live link here and sign up with Mr. Linky. Post a picture with some sky showing and visit as many other sites as you can manage.

Sky Watch Friday

Akumal Bay at sunset. Akumal, MX 2008.

Register and participate by visiting Wigger's World . Leave a comment with old Wom Tigley and The lovely Jane.

Fragmented Flummery

Whew! If you are a regular on this site, then you probably participated in Sky Watch Friday. The mad hatter, Wom Tigley, over in the British Isles, is the master of ceremonies. So, many of us on this side of the pond, post on Thursday (after six) because of the time difference - We don't want to be late to the party. If you are posting today no problem. I am a second week expert in this internet, sky photo, Mardi Gras, so don't feel like you are behind. Today, I thought I would post something Western - but with a calm aura. I am wanting calm today. This little fawn (in Texas I'm told) came out to play with his cousins, the horses. They didn't seem to mind and he was later reunited with his mom. Lots of wisdom for us in this picture. All day yesterday was spent in preparation and anticipation of my world wide trip last evening. My ADHD will probably prevent me from ever again reaching the level of participation that I did last night. I stopped counting in the sixties, the number of different blogs I visited. The Hank Snow tune, "I've Been Everywhere," comes to mind. Some locales I was unsure of because the blog was written in a language I was unfamiliar with. I know I visited numerous places in the United States, Canada, British Isles, Australia, Norway, Denmark, Estonia, Indonesia, Singapore, Portugal, and Belgium. I also got commenters from many of these locations. I was trying to make it through the entire list, but every time I went back to the list, it had increased by four or five participants. So, today my mind is fragmented and full of flummery.

I just want to go outside and sip a nice hot cup of coffee in my old tree swing and ponder life as a whole. My mind is always working. Why would people put themselves through an exercise like this? Well, no matter where we are, we are all God's creatures and we are curious about others and how they live out their lives. Early tribes created totem poles to tell the historical stories of their clans, but communication was limited and sometimes they passed from the scene before they passed their story on orally. Today, when we find these treasures, we must imagine what they were trying to tell us. All I have to do is go to your blog site, look at your offerings there, ask some questions, and I have some idea of how we are related. Have a great weekend and come by often for a visit.

Stake Your Totem

Chop the tree.
Carve the wood.
Tell the story of your clan.

Stake your totem
on the seashore
hoping all the world will see.

Who will be left
when others pass
to pass the epic on?

Unlock the past
without a key?

Learned men
will cogitate,
extrapolate, pontificate,
but in the end they speculate.

Dennis Price

In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts; they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Eclectic Ramblings

I'm kinda working with a blog hangover here. As a fairly new blogger, I don't always know what I'm getting into. I have a nice group of friends who stop by and comment on a regular basis, and I then respond. Yesterday I ran into this warp speed mania entitled "Sky Watch Friday." Apparently some self proclaimed village idiot named Wom Tigley has come up with the idea to play blog tag while looking at the sky all over the world. I didn't know the rules so I bit (without any sky photos posted). I went to his site and commented and signed in electronically as instructed. Well, before I could get back I had all these commenters from all over the world pinging me and asking where my sky pictures were. I grabbed my electronic equivilant of a brownie box camera, ran outside, pointed it skyward and snapped a couple of sky pictures. I then posted them to shield myself against mob action by the other participants. It turned into a whirlwind afternoon of responding to all the commenters, as is my custom, and visiting their sites. So many talented people out there. I enjoyed my journies, but I'm a little tired today. Some of you leave some big shoes to fill in the blogging world. It really was a fun new experience. I will be better prepared for my next attempt. I have set some new ground rules to prevent overload.

How about this young deer? I've heard of piebald horses, but I've never seen a piebald deer. These photos were sent to me last week and were reportedly taken in upper Wisconsin. Just thought you might like to see them too.

Well it's Saturday already and I'm going to see what's available to look at in our area and get out in the beautiful fresh air and sunshine today. If you want to add some international flair to

your blogging then give Sky Watch Friday a go as they say across the pond. On friday post some pictures from your area of the world with some sky showing. Add commentary appropriate for the pics and then go to Old Wom's site and sign the register. The idea is to visit as many of the responder's sites as you feel you have time for and view their contributions. Have a great Saturday. Wom Tigley aka Tom Wigley blogs under the title "Welcome to Wiggers World."

Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds... Albert Einstein.