Archive for January, 2010

…a new set of boat plans! The postman was kind enough to deliver to me Wednesday, in addition to a detailed topographic map of Kisatchie Bayou, a set of boat plans from Swan Boat Design in California. It was like Christmas all over again. The plans arrived in a nondescript brown envelope a couple of inches thick.... »

Well, here it is January, and temperatures are cooling again. Plus it’s going to get wet, so they say. It was a pretty nice semi-warm spell. Kept me in the yard a little more, even if only to grumble about how long it is until spring. The Satsuma crop is largely done, and I miss them... »

The Yanks are coming, the Yanks are coming The drums rum tumming everywhere So prepare Say a prayer Send the word, send the word to beware… (George M. Cohan, “Over There”) The victory of a “conservative” candidate to fill the seat left vacant after the death of Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts might indeed warrant a title and lyrical change... »

Cheerful! Cheerful, dangit, cheerful! Granted, the weather has improved significantly. My mood is not nearly so foul as it has been. It’s warmer, and despite the considerable chance of rain today, I am mildly heartened. But it comes with a bit of bad news. The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries announced last week that they... »

Trying my best to be less melancholy and more cheerful. It ain’t working at all. After three or four half-hearted starts at writing something funny, I gave up. I’m not there. I’m not feeling it, so I apologize in advance. I am incapable of pontificating on anything that’s not important to me, or on my... »

Not getting out much. Who can stand it? Polar bears, I guess. Grouse and ducks, and foxes. Not me. I go outside for a cigar and that’s about it. Even then, I try to stay in the workshop where a little ceramic heater is laboring futilely to warm even so small a space. But after... »

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to honor the dead, and commit the body of our brethren to the afterlife. May responsible journalism rest in peace. Edward R. Murrow must be spinning in his grave. When I first started in this business nearly 30 years ago, the Associated Press was the icon. The most respected,... »

And I submit: BRRRR!!! You know of course I don’t like cold. To me, 40s is cold. This week? Utter misery. And I submit again: What the dickens is the use of living in the deep South if temperatures are going to get into the 20s and possibly lower? I have had it up to here with... »