StraightAhead

All this hub bub about what Geraldine Ferraro said about Obama’s presidential race figures, I guess. Of course she was spot on. Do we really think he would have won Mississippi by so much if he weren’t black, or half black. Of course he wouldn’t have. To say it matters in an election if a person is a man a woman or black or hindu or muslim or whatever makes a lot of sense to me and certainly sways the outcome. To say it is racist is ridiculous and of course , Hillary had to say that she and her campaign don’t believe that what Geraldine said is true. Man, that’s a big one. I can just hear what her and Bill say about this when they are home alone. haha!

I guess everybody has stories that stick out in their lives , that they never forget. I have some that I have told over and over to whom ever will listen. Some are pretty unbelievable, some are not, I suppose. Some people don’t seem to believe this story about the Black Racer. That is a kind of snake, for those of you who don’t know. It could also be a marathon runner from Kenya, but in this case I am talking about the snake. When I was a young tyke of about seven, I was living in Humboldt, a small town in west Tennessee. The year would have been 1953 or there abouts. Humboldt still had many dirt/gravel roads within the town. I was riding my bicycle down one of these about two blocks from my house, when all of a sudden a long black snake came out of the bar ditch to my left and fell in behind me and my bike as pretty as you please. Well, needless to say, I pretty much freaked and added substantial speed to my lazy pace. I looked back to make sure I had pulled away from her. No , that didn’t happen. The snake was staying right in position directly behind my rear tire. I really freaked then and started pumping for all I was worth. The racer stayed right with me. I covered a good block by this method, the snake staying right in my vapor trail, until I made the decision to ditch the bike and run into a near by house on the corner. I ran up to the front porch of the home and ran right into the living room in the front of the house since the door was unlocked, luckily. There was a man and woman in the room watching television, or just talking. That part is a little hazy. I’m pretty sure they were watching television , though, even though not that many people had them that early. They looked up at me with that deer in the headlights look. I had to do some quick explaining about why I was barging into their living room unannounced. They bought it as I recall. They had a pretty good laugh whether or not they believed the story. They knew that I thought it was real and had really happened by the out of breath excitement in my voice and the shakiness of my knees. I’ll never forget that snake homing in on me and how fast that son of a gun could move. That’s why they call them racers. I’ve since read about snakes a lot. My brother and I used to catch all sorts of snakes. I think I must have gone through its territory and at times they can be pretty aggressive and protective. That just must have been one of those times. I never saw those people again and never knew their names.

I ran across this article from the British press. Just another interesting google thing. That’s the fort I wanted to be stationed at when I was in the army at despicable Ft. Hood. I wonder if the car camera guy still has his job after this incident.

See me in my pajamas. See Blake run. Run, Blake, Run. See me retrieve the ball for Blake. HaHa, here is a video from youtube of a boy and his dog for those of you who know you wanted to see Blake.

I’m going to be playing my trumpet for the musical at the high school again this year. We start rehearsals tonight for Annie Get your Gun. The theater at LPHS has gone through an enlargement and won’t be ready until march so we are going to be doing the musical in a large tent outside. It should prove to be interesting and cold possibly. Also we will be up on the stage instead of down in the orchestra pit so we have to wear some kind of outfit. Probably just a cowboy outfit or something like that. That reminds me of the old Smothers brothers bit. “If you get an outfit you can be a cowboy, too.” Some of you older folks will know what I mean. Anyway here is a video of a couple of the tunes from the show, done very well.

Our Zephyr Lodge

Originally uploaded by Memphis Joe

This is where we stayed in Winter Park on our recent ski trip. I skied for three days and lasted pretty well. The third day was the best. All around Dec. 14, 2007. The lifts were really close to where we stayed. I need to ski at least once a year to keep the feeling and skills going.

Who knew there was a competition for this? It’s in Vegas of course.  I guess it’s perfect.  It’s sure better than any I ever tried.

I’ve always thought that HOV lanes that are physically separated made a lot more sense. If they aren’t separated people just start using them as an extra “fast” lane and this article is saying that a lot more accidents happen because of it. I admit that in Houston it is hard to find the entrances to the HOV lanes often, but when you do it really works well and you usually zip right along waving at the heavy traffic in the regular lanes as you go by. It’s pretty easy to get on Google maps and find the entrances to the HOV’s and how to get on them.

I just kindof discovered thenewspaper.com recently and have enjoyed reading the articles in it. I would , I guess, since I like to drive so fast.

Another example of big brother at work.  Funny thing, this hasn’t actually made the streets safer like it was supposed to.

A great shot of my dog that I took today on a 4 mile hike that I went on with her. She had a great time.