Peaceful Autumn Boredom
'Tis been quiet around here this week. Halloween came & went quietly and as usual, we did not have any trick-or-treaters. We rarely do seeing as we're over a hundred yards off the street down a dark driveway. We do occasionally get one or two, probably on a dare, but we always have plenty of candy around just in case!
Winter has made an early and rude arrival this week with howling North winds yesterday and our 1st freeze this morning. Seems like just yesterday, it was over 100 every day, though we've been having some really nice Autumn weather on most days. I've only taken a few decent pictures lately and included some of them here.
Sports are the pits right now with the big World Series letdown combined with the fact that both the Aggies and da 'Boyz are bad and the Mavs are locked out, but hey, guess we still have the Stars!
My back pasture just after I finished mowingThe time changes this weekend - back to "Winter" time - grrrrr! I personally would prefer Daylight time year-round. As it is, now it will get dark almost as soon as I get off work. Not too bad, since I now work at home and don't have to commute, but still, working from sun-up to sun-down stinks. Congress has expanded Daylight time over the years and has wanted to make it year-round to save energy for years, but there's still too much of the tired protest whine of "My kids will have to walk to school barefoot in the dark...XO", even though I haven't known of any kids who actually still WALK to school in years! I still remember the one year that DST ran all year because we were in the first "Energy Crisis" and had to save power or else the universe would implode, which was the last year I actually WALKED to school (went to Middle school further away the following year) and I do not remember it being dark.
One small tradition I cling to with the time-change is that I always insist on getting the entire yard and pasture mowed, the mowers put away and all the yard-work done BEFORE the time-change, probably due to the fact that I used to commute and it would indeed be dark when I came home from work. It also seems that in the winter the weather is rainy / miserable / cold most weekends so there is very little time available for mowing, etc. after that point. I have also observed that grass mowed mid-October does not grow back due to shorter daylight hours and cooler ground temperatures, so it just always works out well this way. Also as November gets going, getting ready for the Holidays starts competing for my time and energy. Hopefully we'll have some awesome autumn color soon (since the summer was very dry this year) and I can get some good autumn photos!
Black head volture over Lake Weatherford
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan Schools the Obamanation on America! - "What makes America exceptional -- what gives life to the American Idea -- is our dedication to the self-evident truth that we are all created equal, giving us equal rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And that means opportunity." - Paul Ryan, at the Heritage Foundation
by Peter Ferrara, "The American Spectator" Nov. 2, 2011.
Some belated parental advice to protesters - "Call it an occupational hazard, but I can't look at the Occupy Wall Street protesters without thinking, 'Who parented these people?' [so] Here, then, are five things the OWS protesters' mothers should have taught their children but obviously didn't..."
by Marybeth Hicks, "Jewish World Review" Oct. 20, 2011.
One weird theory could make anti-gravity and faster-than-light travel possible! - IO9.com Nov 3, 2011.
