I was talking to a good friend the other day. I told her that I use to write, but I just can't come up with anything to write about, now. So, I started looking for some of my old writings... Maybe find inspiration somewhere in my past writings.
... still nothing.
Okay, what did I see today...
I saw undying loyalty for my son from his dog, Sho'Nuff. And like someone reading my mind, he just woke up and walked over to my side of the bed. Just wanted someone to to scratch his ear. Sometimes I wonder what ideas form in his head. What does he think of when he sits on the sofa next to me and stares at me. He is going to the guess bed room to see if Carlos is there. He will come back to our room once he checks the downstairs, then he will check the window to look for Carlos' truck outside.
We just came back from Sho'Nuff needing a potty break. Now, it is late and I need to go to sleep again.

Very good dog.

 

I just noticed that it's been more than a year since I posted anything.  I wish I kept up better with this blog.  I wish I rode my bike more often.  I wish I could write like I did before.  

I went for a walk at the dam.  Took some photos.  Spent most of the time chasing grasshoppers.  I had to feed my tarantula.  Such is life.

It has been a while since I was here.  Lots of changes in life.

My selfie, It's good to have a remote for the camera.  You can take your own picture from a distance.

My wife with our new addition to the family.  This is Maxwell Edison.  Smart dog and very well behaved.

Sitting at home on a cool Saturday afternoon.  Not much to report.  We had a beautiful afternoon yesterday with some needed rain.  You could see the storm coming an hour before it arrived.  The wind turned the horizon yellow with dust and the clouds turned the sky gray.

The storm from last night gave us a beautiful morning today.  The flowers reflected their appreciation  for the rain.

Living colors.

I have trouble coming up with things to write.  I have plenty of photos but the stuff to write just doesn't come.  Like a reflection off the water, anything that touches the mind sends ripples through the though process distorting the memory.  I should learn to concentrate better.... but then my pictures would probably change since most are taken on impulse.   

I logged on today so I don't forget my password.  I should be outside fighting the bees trying to nest under my balcony.  It's a beautiful day outside.

Back again

I've sat here and tried to think of something witty to write but keep coming up blank. Facebook seems to take up most of my time. I hadn't thought much about my blog until I got an email notifying me about a post on my pictures of Mosheim.

I have taken pictures of places that don't get too many visitors now but are still vivid in many people's memories. It always feels good to hear from one of these persons. I am going to go through some of my photo's and post some more pictures of these out of the way places.

Thank you Ms. Dorothy Sellers Walcott for sharing your recollections of Mosheim.

The photo is from by back fence of the setting sun. Thank you all that have visited.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

One dead rat or a doggie snack

Two weeks ago both sons came over to help me set the storage shed on a better foundation. I locked the dogs up in their pen just in case there were any rabbits still living under there. We emptied the shed and moved it about 15 feet. There were still two young rabbits there and they took off running as soon as we got near them. Maiko found a mummified rat. He was so proud of the complete skeleton. I put a pan on the ground and told him to put it there until we finished working on the shed. He called his girls over but neither one was very impressed or willing to get near the dead rat.

This brought back memories of why Elfida stopped checkingMaiko's and Carlos' pockets when she did laundry. As kids they would put dead lizards, dead birds and dead bugs in their pockets. She had too many scares while checking pockets.
This was an impressive specimen and even my sister Dora would have been proud of it. It had skull, legs, feet and even the tail.
I collected skeletons too and had never gotten a complete skeleton. Well we went back to working on the shed. We did a great job on it. Maiko and Carlos screwed the plywood floor to the 2x4s we had laid under the shed. Elfida went and got some foam sealer and Maiko did all the edges to keep the rats out.
While we were busy doing other things. I decided it was time to let the dogs out of their pen. I don't like to keep them in there too long. The like to run around the yard and their is plenty of yard to run in.
I was by the side of the house when I heard Elfida screaming at the dogs. She screamed at one and then at another one and she took off running after them. I ran to the back thinking they had bitten one of the girls. Well, it wasn't that bad. Sister found Maiko's rat and took off running with it. Elfida saw her and screamed at her. Sister dropped the rat.... but as soon as it hit the ground Izma came running and snatched it up! She took of with it. Elfida gave up on saving the rat. So all we have are pictures and memories of this magnificent rat skeleton.....

Were did I go....

I have been here all along. Working, laughing, traveling, learning a little, living a little, etc. I was looking at two of our dogs as they slept. What a life. Sleep, eat, walk around outside, get hot, bark until they get back in the air conditioned house.

This one is to big for her bed, but her life is almost the same as the other dog's.

Una mascara...

Many years ago Carlos bought some wrestler masks in Mexico. For years they were stored away with his knife collection, soccer socks, toys, and other items his mom couldn't part with.Last Sunday he went through the boxes looking for a backpack and rediscovered some of those masks. You can't just bring stuff like this out and not try it on again.

Maiko came over and put one of the masks on and left it on. He went to cook dinner for himself with the mask on. I knew that was the moment for a photo. Then we, Carlos and I also put on masks. We had fun.


Now I realized how much fun we could have with just a piece of clothe and vinyl to cover you identity! Yeah, we knew it was us, but it was different. No, it was like when we were kids. My Tia Lile made Batman masks for us out of some vinyl she had. They were baby blue mask, but that was okay.

They were still Batman masks. There were about six of us with the same mask but were wore them while we fought bad guys, monsters, Germans, and imaginary wrestlers.


You know, a mask hides your identity so well that grown men will wear there underwear outside their stretchy pants and go out in public. They feel no shame or embarrassment as long as the mask is on.

We had so much fun putting on the masks last Sunday that Maiko kept one on. Carlos understood and left it with him. The grand daughters stayed with us and Lily put on the mask. I took pictures, then Isabelle put it on and I took more pictures.


I crush your head!


Oh yeah, we wrestled.


And we posed for the customary pre-match photo.

And the traditional magazine cover photo.

Ah yes, special moments. Maybe one of this days Elfida will put one on too.

Hello there, its been a while....

I got on Facebook and kind of neglected this blog. I've picked some photos to post here but then something always came up and I never got around to doing it. My change of schedule really has hurt my active life. Today I woke up late and then I heard the rain. I melted back into the covers and zoned out watching TV. It took great effort to get out of that bed. Cold weather is perfect for sleeping. My writing ability has also decreased lately, okay, maybe in the last two years. I just haven't been able to sit and concentrate long enough to expand on any one idea. My picture taking is still doing okay, but I really wish I could write a few poems, maybe a short story.We saw the movie "The day the earth stood still" and I remembered this beautiful place we went hiking. It was still green in some areas but the trees were already changing colors. Now I realize that we are doing so much damage to this world, yet technology is so much a part of our lives that we wouldn't be able to change enough to save the world. At least not fast enough to do it in my life time. Even now I am at home running the central heater, watching TV, typing on my laptop and tomorrow I will drive to work in my truck.

Could I give up the comforts and luxuries I enjoy now? Could I walk to work? Yes, I could, but will I? I would be a liar if I said I would. Not because I don't want to save the world, but because through our acclimation we have become weak and dependent on technology to survive. Such beauty, clear water, bright sunlight, trees, fish and we wouldn't survive very long out there with out a gun, matches, clothing, etc.

Wouldn't this make great shelter? It would protect us from the rain, snow, wind, but we would have competition from the animals. Not so much the big one, but the little ones, snakes, spiders, scorpions, rabid skunks. Yeah, not the big ones.

Eventually nature will kill us or we will kill nature and that means we will kill ourselves. We probably are already doing it, killing ourselves slowly, poisoning our own water, food, and air.

Ah, but we are not content with doing it slowly. No, we are killing each other for money, glory, power, and as that is not enough we are also killing each other in the name of god. Not just one god, but every god we can think of. And if a person is too much like us, then we use skin color to justify hating them and making it okay to kill them.
In the end, when we are almost through killing everyone there will be two survivors. Those of us who aspire to be tolerant will probably be killed first. Yeah the last two survivors will be same sex, same skin color, from the same group, same religion, probably brothers or sisters and they will both be willing to kill to be the lone human alive. To be the winner. And in the end they will die too.
And this world will be a better place... maybe... maybe not. Without humans this planet will not be Earth.
Tonight I hear the rain outside my window... cool, wet, washing away the dirt from the trees, grass, bushes, giving them new life... and us too. I close my eyes, say my nightly prayer. My faith in the goodness of my God, allows me to sleep knowing that tomorrow the sun will rise above the hazy horizon behind the gray clouds, another beautiful day.
Good night Europa.... Earth's cry, heaven's smile.

Making it to Las Vegas

On the way to Las Vegas we stopped at Hoover Dam. The lighting was different, which is good. I prefer natural light to using the flash. The sun was below the horizon but it was still very hot. Extremely hot, so we just got out for a few minutes. We decided it was too hot this time of year to be walking here.

A little photoshopping adds some texture and mystery. Nice.

A new bridge was getting built. The picture was taken by Elfie as we drove by. Very nice work. The bridge looks like something out of a space movie.

With the telephoto lens it made it even better. This looks like a battle scene.

At the MGM we found a giant frog. During the day it was so hot in Vegas that you just had to spend the time indoors. But there was so much to see inside. The souvenirs were so expensive in this store. Later on we went to the ones on the strip where they were a lot cheaper.

Elfie in front of the Monte Carlo. This was so grand, the statues, the fountain, the entrance, it was great.

I love this wall! I don't drink Pepsi but the wall graphic is great.

We didn't find this entrance to our hotel until the second day.

Vegas at night is more impressive. So many lights, people, traffic. Something is always going on. Of course the temperature drops and you can walk around in more comfort.

MGM at night. The golden lion and its fountain.

This is the main drag at night. I wouldn't want to live in this town but I think I could enjoy working here... at night. I saw some of their bike patrol officers and I think I could enjoy working here.

Summer's Road Trip

It's been a couple of months since we went on this trip. Time went by so fast. The summer got hotter, the days longer, and my memory shorter. I love what the camera does, it keeps an exact image of one instance of this life.

So many thing have changed in so little time, here. Things we have seen changes in. Yet the rocks in these photos will remain the same. Ironically the photos will cease to exist long before the rocks are gone.

A sign on a quiet road in the middle on the night, a memory of another road, long ago paved over. It's a cool, cool night warmed by the yellow mercury glow of a nameless street light. Small town life.

The view is expensive, tranquil, breath taking, a view across eons of time. A large scar left on the surface of this earth by a persistent muddy river who knows not its bounds.

A nice paved walkway in the wild, another scar on the land, this one for our enjoyment.

One more photograph. A memory of a trips end. The start on another journey to another place, same year, same summer...

2009 Road Trip

We started out from Waco on our annual road trip. This time it was just my wife, my brother, my sister and me. Dora bought a new SUV and a 2500 mile round trip was just what was needed to break it in. We took off a midnight after waiting all day to get our home air conditioning unit worked on. I drove for the first eight hours. Roje took over the driving after that. We still needed another eight hours to get to Williams, Az.


We stopped in a small town to eat, due to wanting to get to Williams soon, we opted to eat a Subway. Next door was a hill so Dora and I ran up to climb it. It felt good to run up the hill after being in the SUV for about 14 hours.


We finally made ti to the Arizona state line. Had to stop for a traditional state line photo.


Dora took this photo of me. That is one huge rock in the background.


We could see clouds way ahead in the distance. It look like a rain storm was coming up. As we got closer it became clear that it was a dust storm. We got hit by some strong winds and lots of dust.


This was our last stop before getting to Williams. The dust storm was behind us, the skies were blue and the rest area had some rocks we could climb.


This has to be the best rest area we've stopped ever been at. The day was perfect for picture taking.


Roje took this photo for us.


We made it to Williams and we went to eat dinner. I was so hungry I left my camera in the room. The next morning we got up late and had a big breakfast. We made it to the Grand Canyon at about 10:00 AM. At the Grand Canyon we would walk for a few yards and then take pictures. There was so much to see. That place is so huge.

This photo is from the spot we first saw the Grand Canyon. It was a hazy day. They had a rain storm the night before and the water was still raising through evaporation and it was visible across the hundreds of yards of air between the rims of the canyon.


We had our walking sticks, hats, Camelbacks, and cameras. We were ready. The landscape was so awesome that there is no way my camera lens could capture its greatness.


This people, is the Grand Canyon seen from the south rim. The trip there was another excellent time spent laughing and reminiscing about our childhood.