Archive: June, 2017 - Gary Borders

A Weekly Habit Marks 35 Years

This week marks 35 years of writing a weekly column. This journey began in San Augustine — Behind the Pine Curtain in Deep East Texas — in July 1982 at The Rambler. I was a month shy of turning 27 and had taken a job as managing editor with nobody to manage but myself. I was the sole editorial employee. At that age, I had my hands full with self-management. Still do. I typed the column on an IBM Selectric. We had no computers, just typesetting machines that, through a complex process turned characters into dots on a ribbon that was fed into another machine, which spat out galleys of type...

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I’ll Never Wear a Speedo Again

Summer officially arrived this week. Finally, our swimming pool is at a perfect temperature. Every afternoon after work, I jump in to swim a couple of laps. This started about a month ago, when the water was Barton Springs Pool cold, which meant I jumped toward the ladder so I could extricate myself quickly. Now the water is just right. By July, likely it will be bathtub lukewarm. I will continue to swim, determined to, if not get my money’s worth, at least get some physical compensation for the amount of money this pools costs to maintain. Buying a house with a swimming pool was the second-happiest...

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Jumping On A Box Not Just For Kids

In a few months I will turn 62, which means I will be eligible to draw Social Security. I have no idea how that happened so quickly — time is whooshing by at warp speed. I don’t plan to begin receiving a monthly check then, since it would be greatly reduced. Barring unforeseen financial reversals, I plan to wait until I can receive the full take — at 66 years, two months. And, of course, if I croak I will not be receiving a check, but my Beautiful Mystery Companion will until she turns 65. I find all this faintly ridiculous. I take note of this age milestone because a few days ago I achieved...

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Shimmering Bicycles Below Austin’s Skyline

AUSTIN — Walking the Lady Bird Lake Trail while in ATX is a required activity, and we invariably stay at a hotel near the trail for easy access. My Beautiful Mystery Companion and I enjoy studying the wide variety of dogs loping along with their owners. “Look, there’s a Great Pyrenees!” “Did you see that sweet beagle?” And so it goes. The snippets of conversation one hears can be fascinating as well: folks talking about failing relationships, their bosses, a party last night. I once had the notion to set up a parabolic microphone along the trail and record these snatches and turn them...

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Powerless, Sort Of, For Three Days

I am writing this on my laptop on the deck, which vibrates gently because of the small generator that has been running nearly nonstop for three days. The only time the generator is not running is when it runs out of gas. When the generator is not running, we have no electricity. One of the fiercest storms I can recall since returning to Longview more than nine years ago swept through Sunday afternoon, just 30 minutes after my oldest daughter, Kasey, arrived for a visit from Florida. The power went out at the peak of the storm, and we sat in twilight behind the large picture windows in the living...

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