The first morning of Autumn dawned cloudy and cool. The cool air drifting in through the open windows offered a welcome relief from sizzling summer temperatures. I kept the windows open as much as possible over the next few days, and the house is now wonderfully aired out. I also took advantage of those cool days by doing some work outside. The yard looks much better now after a good mowing and trimming.
The coming of Autumn makes me realize just how fast this past year has gone by. The year began with a sense of hope I had not felt in a long time. Sadly, some of those hopes have been dashed. But a few still survive, and as the cool clean breeze continues to waft through my windows, I am allowing it to cleanse my heart and soul of bitter disappointments, and refresh my spirit.
The injury Larry suffered to his ankle seemingly dashed a lot of the hopes I had for us traveling to scenic places and indulging in nature walks, and other sight seeing activities while at those places. Of course, Larry has always believed nature walks and other sight seeing activities are the by-products of an insane mind anyway, so talking him into indulging my “insanity” was always an iffy proposition to begin with. Even before his ankle was hurt, Larry believed any sight that can’t be viewed from the comfort of the driver’s seat of the pick up, isn’t worth seeing.
The trip to the Big Bend Balloon Bash did make me realize that I still have some viable options when it comes to traveling to scenic places. As long as I make sure there are some sights that can be viewed from the comfort of the driver’s seat, book us a nice motel room with a little beer fridge, TV, and remote, Larry will view those sights he wants to from the comfort of the driver’s seat, and spend the rest of his time happily sipping beer and flipping through channels in the motel room, while I indulge in nature walks and other such sight seeing activities.
He is especially agreeable to this plan if it includes a good steak dinner. I’ve even gotten him to agree to a few little day trips to enjoy some of the colorful Autumn foliage around us by shamelessly tempting him with the promise of a good steak dinner before we head back home. I am also busily planning a trip to Alpine in November to attend the Downtown Art Walk. Larry has no interest in attending the Art Walk. But the promise of a good steak dinner, and nice motel room with all the necessary amenities, is going to insure I get to attend it. I am now very hopeful that I will get to enjoy more cool Autumn breezes in some scenic locations over the next couple of months.
The bad news is, this the second time he has escaped while on a field trip. That’s right as if letting insane killers out on field trips to the state fair doesn’t seem crazy enough, this mental institution allowed an insane killer who had already escaped on a previous field trip to go on another one. Is it just me? Or is anybody else wondering who is really crazy in that mental institution?
Wait, it gets even better though. The ironic news is the officer he knocked unconscious the first time he was captured, is the same one who captured him the second time.
Having used free internet access at a motel for the first time at the balloon bash I recently attended, I couldn’t resist clicking on a story about The High Price Of Internet Access in other countries. I was surprised to learn some hotels and motels charge outrageous rates for internet access. What was even more surprising was the the fact that some of the more expensive hotels are the worst when it comes to gouging their customers for internet access. Discovering that American hotels and motels seem to have the right idea when it comes to internet access was enough to make me even more patriotic than ever. It made me damn glad I live in a country we can travel about in and not get price gouged at when it comes to the issue of internet access.
One can’t read the tech news, or any news at at the moment without seeing something about Twitter or Facebook in it. However, this story about a burglar who used his victim’s computer to log into his Facebook account, then neglected to log out, indicates that at least one not so bright criminal is way too hooked on the Facebook experience. And in this story, a turnabout is fair play move was made by one of the good guys on an underground hacking used for distributing stolen credit numbers and other nefarious activities. Google also had a glitch in it’s migration system that wound up with some Brown University students receiving other student’s email.
Science is another category in the news I like to keep up with, and thanks to my penchant for doing so, I now know Why Flamingos Stand On One Leg. Psychologist Matthew Anderson has studied a group of flamingos and come to the conclusion they stand on one leg to help prevent body heat loss. If you are wondering why flamingos would have to worry about body heat loss, click on the link and read the rest of the story. Those of you who are color blind might also find this story, Therapy Fixes Color Blindness In Monkeys very interesting. And for the dinosaur lovers who are reading this, if you haven’t already seen the story about the remains of a tiny T Rex being found, Click Here.
I also like to keep up with the world news, which is why I know the the Indians in Canada got body bags along with the flu vaccines they requested. Is this a prediction of a grim outcome as some of the First Nation people think? Or is sending body bags along with flu vaccines standard practice? The Canadian Health Ministry was under fire earlier due to their reluctance to send alcohol based hand sanitizer for fear the Indians might drink it.
I’ve also been busy trying to figure out what is the real truth behind a lot of the rhetoric floating around the net concerning the health care reform bills before Congress. After much research I think I have a little better understanding of what the health care reform is really all about. Do I agree with every aspect of the current health care reform? No I don’t. However, I have come to the conclusion that Obama is NOT trying to euthanize us grannies. Nor is he trying to force all of us to accept a government health care plan, implement Soviet- style rationing, secretly plotting to cut senior citizen’s Medicare benefits, or bankrupt American via health care reform. Those are 5 lies I will not be buying into after researching this issue. Oh, and you won’t see me painting Hitler mustaches on Obama’s picture either.
With a long boring Labor Day Weekend looming ahead of us, I decided to follow Moonie’s excellent example, and Sunday morning Larry and I headed to Alpine for the Big Bend Balloon Bash. This little hot air balloon extravaganza has been held every year since 1987. Each morning of the event, weather permitting, a number of hot air balloons rise from the ground and drift up into the sky. This year the thermals weren’t very good, and none of the balloons got very high, or far from the lift off area. However, watching those colorful balloons rise as high as they did, and drift as far as some did was an experience I am so glad I decided to try.
Part of what made the Balloon Bash so much fun was that Moonie and her husband were attending it too. While we waited for them to get the room Larry and I had reserved for Sunday night cleaned and ready for us we decided to drive out to the RV park and visit with them. We got lost trying to get out there, but a phone call to Moonie had her where we were waiting to be rescued in no time. While our husbands sat and told tale tales, we headed to the Museum of the Big Bend. After enjoying the exhibits and buying a couple of souvenirs we headed off to do a little more sight seeing, and find the stadium where the Fire Concert would be held that evening.
The Fire Concert on Sunday evening was a very unique and interesting combination of orchestrated two part harmony between music, and the flames put forth from the butane burners that fill the hot air balloons. The sound of the burners going full blast drowned out the music where we were sitting, but the sight of the burners doing their thing to the beat of the music was pretty awesome. And once again, thanks to Moonie’s suggestion, I used the video feature of my camera for the first time. The video I kept is at the end of a number, and all you could hear is the crowd clapping in the background as all burners roar at full blast, so I added a little music to the video while preparing it to give viewers a little more of a “feel” of what the Fire Concert was like.
I also took still pictures and videos Monday morning when the hot air balloons were taking flight. I did a couple of voice overs in the finished video so those who have always wondered what I sound like can hear me narrating parts of that video. The first balloon lifted off just as I got out of the truck and started walking towards the area where all the rest of the balloons were preparing for flight. I got a nice little video clip of that balloon going right over the top of my head. I know my eyes were as big as saucers when I shut the video off, then turned around to find a man staring at me. I grinned and said, “Man, that was totally awesome!” The man looked at me like I had a few screws loose and said, “I would have been ducking instead of filming!” And as the still picture by this paragraph shows, while others might have been ducking again, I was busy zooming in under another very low flying balloon.
Click Here to view the video directly from this website.
