June 09, 2011

"Is there anyone home in this house made of stone?

wolf moon cropped Just asking...just asking... am I the only one appalled by the current events in the USA...?

China owns TRILLIONS of dollars of our debt (as do several other countries)...and we continue to GIVE taxpayers dollars away to China (yep) & the others (yep, Pakistan is one of 'em)...Iran will have nuclear weapons sooner than Joe Blow American is willing to recognize...American debt increases measured in nano-seconds...gasoline prices continue to rocket upwards (do YOU own an oil well?)...

and...then there's the Media...ah, one of my favorites...putting a magnifying glass on Weiner? Schwarzenegger? Bieber? American Idol? Dancing with the Stars? (FOX, CNN, etc - be ashamed!).

I'm reminded of a phrase introduced to me by a well-educated acquaintance, Peter G., who posited - "hoisted by your own petard..."

Yes, fellow Americans, unless you (we) get our minds out of the shopping mall, history will repeat itself, indeed (Rome come to mind perchance?), and we will be hoisted.

So...I say, rise up, rise up! (those of you who THINK)  Take responsibility for your (our) destiny and do not give over your personal sovereignty to Government!

 

"Is there anyone home in this house made of stone?

Anyone inside know my name

I've been around for a half of a hundred days.

Never saw a door shut so tight

Turn around, don't look down

There's a man behind you with a gun

Like any wandering child in the wilderness,

Wild and uncaged are your ways

I think I heard

Someone stirred

I think I heard

Someone stirred"

<comment from Poet Gordon Lightfoot, from long ago>

 

TTT

Posted at 09:20 PM | | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

October 22, 2008

Elmer and Anni Kelton - a Love Story: Part Four (video)

elmer_anni_web This is a continuation of my interview with renowned western author, Elmer Kelton, and his wife, Anni, about how they met in Austria at the end of World War II and eventually married.

However, I took a series of photographs of the couple as we talked and made them into a video slide show for this final segment.

Watch...
13 minutes
in QuickTime... quicktime_icon30
in Windows Media Player... wmp_icon30

 

Posted at 04:21 PM in Books, History, People, Texans, Texas | | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

September 17, 2008

A Timeless Way - A Photographic Tribute to Working Ranch Cowboys: an interview with M.L. Bolton and Alice Wells

A Timeless Way Alice Wells sent me a complimentary email for a couple of podcasts that I had done.

I pay attention to compliments; makes me feel like my work is worthwhile.

Came to find out that Alice is working with photographer M.L. Bolton on a photographic project called

"A Timeless Way: A Photographic Tribute to Working Ranch Cowboys."

When I saw some of his work, I knew we needed to chat; and chat we did.

Watch... 
in Quicktime... quicktime_icon30
in Windows Media Player... wmp_icon30
11 minutes

 

Comments?  Click here...

Posted at 02:04 PM in Art, Books, History, People, Texans, Texas | | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

July 28, 2008

All they found was the camera...

Large Snake Seems like snakes are everywhere these days, especially around here at Texana.TV and The Texana Review.

This video has been making the rounds lately, and I'm here to tell you, it's an attention-grabber.

I've added a little to it and I wish I knew who took the video, but the scuttlebutt is that the videographer has gone missing.

As one of my buddies said in an email, "all they found was the camera."

 

Watch in Windows Media Player... click here to watch
36 seconds

 

Posted at 11:57 AM in Nature, Outdoors, Video | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

July 12, 2008

Colorado Valley Sunset

sunset640 The meaning of the words "quiet" and "solitary" are what many of us in Texas embrace with open arms.

If you haven't spent much time in West Texas, you're welcome to visit and sample the fresh air.

Or you can watch the short piece linked below.

Best wishes from a city boy with a cowboy hat...

sig_logo_red_tiny

 

Watch...   
in QuickTime... quicktime_icon30  
in Windows Media Player... wmp_icon30  
3 minutes  

 

Posted at 11:25 AM in Nature, Outdoors, Video | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

June 25, 2008

Yikes! More Snakes!

indigo There's been a movement afoot for more than several years now amongst those who spend a lot of time in the Texas outdoors.

That movement is to nurture the endangered Texas Indigo snake.

"Why?" you may ask.

Because those of us who tromp around the countryside for whatever reason - work or play - understand how a rattlesnake bite can ruin our day.

As it turns out (and is absolutely fine with me!), the Texas Indigo considers rattlesnake a delicacy, as you'll see in this short slideshow.

If you're squeamish, I suggest you NOT watch this!

If not, watch... 

in QuickTime... quicktime_icon30
in Windows Media Player... wmp_icon30
99 seconds

Posted at 11:17 AM in Nature, Outdoors, Video | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

May 29, 2008

Yikes! Snakes!

yikes1

If you don't think the warm weather has made our Texas rattlesnakes happy, have a look at this!

Watch...   
in QuickTime... quicktime_icon30
in Windows Media Player... wmp_icon30
52 seconds

Posted at 10:53 AM in Nature, Outdoors, Video | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

December 07, 2007

Propane truck crashes and explodes on Hwy 208

(Click once to activate, again to play. Double click on screen to enlarge)

Yesterday I was hard at work on some audio files for the San Angelo Review when the propane truck exploded about 12:30 p.m.  I had actually planned to be driving into San Angelo on 208 about that time from my studio outside Robert Lee.  Things might have been different had I been keeping a strict schedule.

Anyway, I ended up making my trip around 2 p.m.  I never made it to San Angelo. 

The truck's crash site was about ten miles south of my property and 208 was closed both ways at the time.  I thought it was a pasture fire until two troopers waved me down and told me what had happened.

I drove a couple of hundred yards further amidst the smoke from smoldering mesquites and reached the site.  I took off my landowner's hat and put on my journalist's hat and took a few pictures and talked to DPS about what had happened.  Here's a little video from that effort.

For more hard news about this story, check out www.gosangelo.com.  Photographer Cynthia Esparza made some stunning photographs of the actual explosion.  And Maribel Salazar reports the story.

(This was originally posted to the San Angelo Review December 7, 2007)

 

Posted at 04:03 PM in People, Texas, Video | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

October 08, 2007

Nature greets me to San Angelo

(Click once to activate, again to play. Double click on screen to enlarge)

I arrived safely at the ranch in Coke County north of San Angelo last week, exhausted from all the packing, loading the truck and drive from Houston.  But soon as I stepped out of the truck's cab, I breathed in a large breath of west Texas air that extinguished my fatigue.

Although I still have stacks of boxes all around and my studio is a disaster, the boxes and organization will have to wait so I can ramp up The Texana Review again.

Yesterday, after working through several of my files, I stepped into the kitchen for a beverage.  I glanced out the window and, lo and behold, there were a couple of whitetail bucks sizing each other up. I know the rutting season is just about to begin, so I watched as these two circled one another, then started sparring.

I leapt to the box where I thought my video camera was and sure enough found it.  Here's what I watched through my kitchen window from about 40 yards.

Posted at 05:27 PM in Nature, Outdoors, Video | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

June 25, 2007

Branard Street Demolition, Houston, Texas

(Click once to activate, again to play. Double click on screen to enlarge)

I was sleeping late that Saturday morning when I heard the big diesel fire up on the street outside my studio. Peeking through the window blinds, I saw the big backhoe from Houston Demolition easing off its trailer next door.  I dressed rapidly, grabbed a Red Bull and my video camera and watched this machine make matchsticks out of the house next door in less than 30 minutes. Awesome!

8:30 minutes

 

Posted at 05:14 PM in Texas, Video | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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