More than half of all cats sleep between 12 and 18 hours a day and nearly 40% of cats sleep more than 18 hours per day. As they grow older, a majority of cats sleep for more hours each day than they did in their younger years.
— Sleep Foundation (sleepfoundation.org)
I recently spent several nights sleeping on the couch, though dozing might be a more accurate term. I was not in trouble with my spouse, at least not that I was aware of — which is not unusual, given my general cluelessness. In this case, however, major shoulder surgery left me in a sling and under doctor’s orders...
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Big Red, a 1965 Ford F100, joined the family in the spring of 2015. My Beautiful Mystery Companion announced she wanted a farm truck to drive to work, so we found Big Red on eBay. The truck was shipped from Iowa to Longview and unloaded at the top of the hill back when we lived in town. We took it for a spin around the neighborhood. I quickly realized that the lack of power steering or power brakes would make Big Red a death trap for my diminutive BMC, who rarely breaks 100 pounds even after scarfing down a cheeseburger.
A friend who has restored a couple of dozen vehicles came over to inspect...
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My Beautiful Mystery Companion and I married 12 years ago tomorrow — June 10 — on a warm, humid late afternoon at the bottom of a hill on her brother and sister-in-law’s place outside Hughes Springs. It was a beautiful setting for a simple ceremony, mainly family in attendance. Rosie the Wonder Dog (sadly now gone) served as ring bearer. She was our first rescue dog.
As time passes, so did our pets. We are now on our second generation of pups together — Mollie the Maltese, and the Great Gatsby, our cavapoo rescue dog with his teddy bear face. At nearly 7 years old, our cat Tater, aka Blubba...
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Dear Connor:
I bet you thought this night would never arrive — when you walked across the football field at Harmony High School to receive your high school diploma. For me, sitting in the stands with your beloved Aunt Hiss and cousin Abbie (my wife and daughter, respectively), it was just an eyeblink of time ago that I met you at Ms. Geneva’s house outside of Pittsburg. As she did every year when the grands (children, nieces and nephews) were young, Ms. Geneva was hosting Easter dinner with the requisite hunt afterward. You were 3 and sported a serious expression as you tried to keep up with...
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DOWNTOWN DALLAS — We have returned to our favorite hotel, in Texas at least, the stately Adolphus Hotel for a single night made possible by saving up points over a couple of years that bring the price down to something that we will not feel guilty about spending for a single night. This is a quick trip to enjoy a wonderful meal and a concert at Café Momentum, a few blocks from the hotel.
I have written about Café Momentum before. It is not just a restaurant but a mission whose motto is Eat. Drink. Change Lives. Founded eight years ago, by Chad Houser, the restaurant’s mission is to take...
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DESTIN, FLORIDA — It is exactly 600 miles from Three Geese Farm to the condo in which we stayed in this Florida Panhandle resort, thanks to a generous family with whom we are friends. We were ready for a break now that the semester is over. My Beautiful Mystery Companion stayed three days longer than I did, which meant taking separate vehicles. Originally, I had booked a rental car but decided at the last minute to take our 2001 Toyota Tundra. It now sports a set of new tires and had been proclaimed a perfectly fine truck by our new — and beloved — mechanic. With its faded paint job and ripped...
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It was late October 1944. The end of World War II was still months away — May 8, 1945, marked V-E Day in Europe, and August 14, 1945 for V-J Day in the Pacific Front. According to the NOW newsletter I recently uploaded to the Portal to Texas History, R.G. LeTourneau, Inc. — then with plants in Peoria, Illinois, Vicksburg, Mississippi, Tournapull, Georgia and Stockton, California — had 2,161 employees in the armed services. The eight-page company newsletter went out to “everyone connected with R.G. LETOURNEAU, INC.” And anyone interested in subscribing could have copies mailed to them...
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I have survived the two online graduate courses begun in January at the University of North Texas, seeking a certificate in archival management under a grant the R.G. LeTourneau Archives received last year. It was touch-and-go for a time. The digital curation course in particular at times seemed akin to learning a new language. I would read the assignment and realize I had absolutely no idea what was required of me.
I learned how to create and compare checksums for example, which I never knew existed. A checksum is a digital identifier consisting of letters and numbers that is assigned to a dataset....
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Just outside the picture window nearest to my desk, a daylily planted a month or so ago is blooming. This variety keeps multiple blooms that last longer than the name implies. Uninvited but welcomed is a tiny daisy, a wildflower, which sprouted up in the middle of the daylily. It has white petals and a yellow button in its center. There are hundreds of these daisies growing along the hill heading down to Pancho’s Pond. We don't mow that hill, save for a swath creating a path down to the shop/gym. I will mow the hill after the first frost this fall turns the grass brown, and the flowers have wilted.
I...
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Things are beginning to pick up out here at Three Geese Farm. A major landscaping project is coming to an end. A local landscaper who works solo (message me for his contact information) has done the bulk of the work — first transplanting roses that dominated the front and east side of the house and creating a stone walkway in its place. People can actually get to the front door now without walking through the grass. Three different walkways in the backyard break up a boring rectangle of grass. At his suggestion, we have added a variety of plants suitable for our climate — azaleas, purple sage,...
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