Ball Diamond Ball

My older brother has arrived for a visit. He is my senior by seven years and is well into his retirement on two pensions and a lot of friends.

We are a contrast to many.  He never left home, just ending a two decades stint of caregiving and running the household for my mother and then our sister, who just passed a few months ago.

He is respected in his community, the go to guy for car and household repair, active in the church and other community organizations.

I left home at 17 and never really came back except for visits. I married , he did not. I travelled the world, survived some serious near misses , did the corporate thing, met the celebrities of our time , … Continue reading →

I write a weekly book review for the Daily News of Galveston County. It is not the biggest newspaper in Texas, but it is the oldest. I have been doing this for over a decade. In 2006 two books came out at separate times about the Texas Navy. Although you may never have heard of the Texas Navy, it was important both to the survival of Texas as a republic, and as a result to the history of the United States. I reviewed both. I am reprinting the first one this week, and will do the other next week.

Nonfiction work full of unbelievable stories

By Mark Lardas

The Daily News

Published April 30, 2006

You may have never heard of the Texas Navy. Maybe you thought it … Continue reading →

I found this a reasonable analogy –

Title: Draining the Swamp is Messy
By Michael Master
Our home is in a community of 2,000 homes located on the intercostal in North Carolina. Everything lives here. Alligators. Water moccasins. Rattle snakes. Sea hawks. Egrets. Giant blue heron. Mosquitoes… blood sucking mosquitoes. We’ve watched from our back porch as dolphins chased sail boats
and motor boats up the intercostal and watched the moon rise over the ocean to cast its glow over the intercostal.

When the community decided to drain the swamp in the center of the community, it was a big deal. Draining the swamp was messy. The swamp was about 10 football fields, about 6 feet deep, with lots of creatures living in it. … Continue reading →

It’s that time of the week again, when we connect for another townhall meeting in the Village of the Darned.

If the software tells you that you’re the only caller, don’t you believe it!  Press on with the access code and you’ll probably find us in there!

US: 515-604-9908

Access Code: [see chat in “BDB Chat” tab above]

International Local Dial-in Numbers

Albania +355 4 454 1702
Argentina +54 351 569-7183
Australia +61 2 8077 0505
Austria +43 1 2650524
Belgium +32 3 294 11 50
Brazil +55 11 3042-5274
Bulgaria +359 2 495 1701
Cambodia +855 96 696 7824
Chile +56 2 3210 9930
Colombia +57 6 7334210
Costa Rica +506 4090 1321
Croatia +385 1 8000 111
Continue reading →

http://www.11alive.com/news/politics/elections/ballot/race-to-replace-tom-price-polls-open-at-7-am-today/450354092
Now he doesn’t have to move to the district he was running in.

The released video adds quite a bit to what we had heard from the girlfriend’s post:

My recollection was that Castile had been a passenger. In this 2016 report, the cell video looks like the woman is on the left side of the car and the reporter says she was in the driver’s seat. Due to use of the selfie camera, the video is a mirror image. We can see the steering wheel appearing to be on the right hand side of the car in the cell video.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/navy-sailor-could-have-saved-himself-chose-to-save-his-kids-or-die-trying

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