1. First Shower On the morning of the second day, it was cold. Trudy and I looked at each other and both said, “I’m not taking a shower today.” But on the still-cold morning of the third day, we saw things in a different light. Trudy walked off and took her shower, coming back happy […]
Yearly Archives: 2010
Editing By Hand
Mon, 29 Nov 2010, 08:28 PM (-06:00)
I’m sitting here with a journal in my lap and a pen in my hand (a fountain pen with green ink, no less). I’m writing the old fashioned way. Trudy says this journal has become our camping journal, since that’s pretty much the only time I write this way, anymore. Such are the downsides of […]
A Squirrel in a Tree
Mon, 29 Nov 2010, 07:15 PM (-06:00)
I watched a squirrel in a tree on the other side of the road the other day as I sat beside our campfire during the day. It was climbing to the tips of the branches, meticulously checking each hull for an untaken, unfallen nut. One by one, it investigated each twig tip, climbing out carefully, […]
Shell Station on the Hill
Mon, 29 Nov 2010, 07:05 PM (-06:00)
We pulled off state highway 46 at a Shell gas station on a hill overlooking Interstate 10 stretching west to El Paso and back east to San Antonio. I waited with the dog at a picnic table while Trudy walked in for a drink. When she came out, I went in. There was a young […]
Burn Ban (3)
Sun, 28 Nov 2010, 09:08 PM (-06:00)
So here’s the funny thing about the burn ban that they had going in the park when we were there for Thanksgiving. On our second day there, I saw a truck drive slowly by in the morning, and Trudy saw a sign on the side of their trailer that said: Firewood For Sale. In yellow letters […]
Burn Ban (2)
Sun, 28 Nov 2010, 08:47 PM (-06:00)
We didn’t have a camp fire on our first night at the park. The temperatures dropped into the 40s just after sunset, and a burn ban had just been issued. And so after our one-pot-Thanksgiving turkey and sweat potato and onion meal that couldn’t be beat, prepared by the Fair and Industrious Trudy in the […]
Burn Ban (1)
Sun, 28 Nov 2010, 08:34 PM (-06:00)
You see, we have this experience from a few years ago. A New Year’s Eve camping trip gone awry, where a Travis County burn ban forbade us from having a camp fire, even as the temperatures dropped precipitously. It was so cold that we were caught unawares. In the end, even the boys gave up […]
Cold Front on Thanksgiving
Sun, 28 Nov 2010, 07:53 PM (-06:00)
It had been a hot week: in the 80s and humid, notable for November even for Central Texas. And of course, this was the cause of some excitement for us, as we had booked a camping spot at Garner State Park for the holiday weekend. A balmy Thanksgiving on the Frio. Our excitement was met […]
Spring Semester Registration
Fri, 12 Nov 2010, 08:43 PM (-06:00)
Multivariable Calculus. Advanced Spanish Grammar. Political Sociology. Political Economy of Advanced Capitalism. The Militarization of American Life. Not bad for a kid trying to figure out where his life is taking him.
A New Couch
Fri, 12 Nov 2010, 08:40 PM (-06:00)
We got a new couch. It’s kind of retro: buttons on the back, tweedy fabric. Kind of makes you think you ought to be holding a martini and listening to avant garde jazz. The futon (which served us well) has been relegated to another room. And now when we stand in the living room and […]