I just got back from  Arizona on Sunday & had a blast, but it was too short.

My captioned telephone arrived, & I can now talk to friends on the phone  with some delays between when I talk & the other person does, but as my best friend says, "it is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick".

Dad bought a Jeep that needs some work, so I am busy finding odds & ends…

I've been talking to friends & relatives this morning who have helped cheer me up.

It is cool & gray out & not raining, again, which is kinda depressing.

The cherry tree's leaves are turning yellow, a sure sign of fall.

I watch Pardner, Dolly, Pyroan, & Barry (our horses) grazing on some green grass they have found while I drink a…

I wrote a 6 a couple weeeks ago about love & respect of one another & our political beliefs, but apparently it has went unheedeed.

People talk about what "assholes"  & how "delusional" any member of the Red party is , so I guess that makes a lot of my family & friends an asshole & delusional.

Rick Perry helps  Texas to have one of the best economies in the…

I am learning American Sign Language (or ASL).

So far I know over 40 words ranging from cookie to tiger.

I believe this will help not only myself with my total hearing loss, but also will help others who write to me on whatever they can find (yellow legal pads, dry erase boards, even a stick in the dirt).

Some of the words are very similar, such as…

I was raised on the cliche 'if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all".

I look around & I see lots of people not saying nice things, especially in the age old Democrat versus Republican fight.

Big & Rich sing a song about taking a ride on a love train while Hank Williams Jr asks why don't we all just get a long-neck.

I…

We just got back from repairing a storage tank & a pipeline.

Now I sit here watching my folks make enchilladas & chile rellenos in the kitchen, knowing I should go help, but I'm feeling lazy.

I took a couple days off from talking to people online  because I took some things personally.

Pardner likes the fact that there is just a teenie bit…

I know the passenger side is harder than the driver's side when  changing the spark plugs on a Ford 460 engine.

I know I cuss too damn much, & it's not how I was raised.

I know that I actually have some things going on that are MY choice.

I know that I am pretty lucky to have a roof over my head & a family who…

We got.10" inch of rain last night, but that sure doesn't amount to much.

It's so dry the bears are rooting through the garbage dumpsters & one broke into a home in our nearest "town"

The cows don't look good at all ( the ones that came to the house) & you can tell they're hungry due to lack of moisture, which means lack of grass.

It's also…

So there I was, trying to put my Cowboys For Cancer Research vanity license plate on Mom's "new" Suburban with a drill & some self tapping screws, when here it came, COLD, WET, RAIN.

I hid out in the shop for a  second trying to find the right socket or wrench  to tighten up the screws as Dad's extension cord that he had cobbled together out of two cords didn't seem to be working (imagine that).…

I fail at:

Roping

Listening

Thinking of others

Being polite…

No, I’m not talking about one of those busty, never looks like she does any work, hair down to her thighs supermodels.

I am talking about a girl who doesn’t wear makeup often in the summer because the rains wash it away & always has dirt under her fingernails, the kind of girl who accomplishes something & her…

I made a resolution to learn American Sign Language.

It has been six months since the brain tumors have taken what hearing I had away, so no more waiting for it to return or having people write things out on paper or dry erase boards.

I am slowly working on memorization of the letters as we speak.

I have already learned three little words that I…

Last night the deer got in the yard & had a midnight snack on the peach tree & garden.

This morning Dad & I changed out the rear tires on the  pickup, & I also have been chatting online with dear friends.

There is a 40% chance of rain this weekend, & I will attend a parade &…

I think of the girls in their shorts exposing tanned legs, shirts exposing enough to make a man hungry,  (forgive the cliche).  Always with a pretty smile.

But, I am starting to view them as someone's mother, daughter, cousin, sister, aunt. As a human being instead of a great body.

There was a time when I'd have been one of theose judgemental guys who based my criteria on superficial…

The smell of much needed rain

The smell of useful leather

The smell of horse sweat after a long day’s ride…

This weekend has been one of the highlights of 2011. My buddy Pnut (real name Clinton) & brought his cute dog Dallas came to visit. He arrived Thursday in that white Dodge pickup with Dallas in the back & him with a big smile. Me, I was smiling just as big & am still smiling after a weekend of moving cows, fixing fence, Going to town (where he helped my deaf self get a cell phone, and we ate some Mexican food). Did I mention he drove over six hours to…

He was a day worker, working for wages all over the southwest, a "tall drink of water".

Her dad was a multi-millionaire, having hit oil several times on his 150 section ranch, & he sure as hell had no use for a "peon' like the dayworker hanging around his daughter, but what's that about opposites attracting?

She was the finest in that neck of…