There's no "P" in "Pool"

Bathroom Break - These bloopers are hilarious

Alamo Joe

I've been getting the Texas Day By Day daily newsletter in my inbox for several years and when I started this blog, was pleased to see they also provide a feed for websites. (look in the right-hand navbar)

Today's entry is an interesting one:

(from the website)

Alamo survivor Joe escapes from slavery

On this day in 1837, an important figure of early Texas, known only as Joe, apparently made good his escape from slavery. He was a slave of William B. Travis and one of the few survivors of the battle ofthe Alamo.

Joe was born about 1813. He claimed that as the famous battle began he armed himself and followed Travis into the fray. After the battle the Mexican troops searched the buildings and called for any blacks to reveal themselves. Joe responded and was struck by a pistol shot and bayonet thrust before a Mexican captain intervened.

Joe was taken to Bexar, where he was detained and interrogated by Santa Anna about Texas and its army. He somehow made his way to Sam Houston's camp at Gonzales. He was questioned at Groce's Retreat about the events at the Alamo.

He was then returned to Travis's estate, and on the anniversary of the battle of San Jacinto he and an unidentified Mexican man escaped. A notice offering a fifty-dollar reward for his return was published in the Telegraph and Texas Register for three months and discontinued on August 26, 1837. Joe was last reported in Austin in August 1875

What Carnival Ride Are You?

I wasn't surprised at my results.

You Are a Haunted House

You are a deeply complicated and sometimes deeply disturbed person. You can't help but be attracted to the dark side of life - even when it's pretty gruesome. In relationships, you are honest and real. So real that it's definitely a little scary. You don't fake it or play along just to get along. And people either respect this... or deeply resent it Your life is thoughtful, deep, and even philosophical at times. You see the world as it is. You don't sugar coat anything. Facing and fighting your fears is important to you. You believe that too much of life is whitewashed. You're not too morbid... you just believe that you can't enjoy life without exorcising a few demons first! At your best, you are brave, intense, and fearless. Not only do you face the abyss head on - you challenge your friends to do the same. At your worst, you are depressed and morose. If you're not careful, your thoughts take over your mind... and they aren't pretty!

What Carnival Ride Are You?

Bust for Lust

NOTE: The game no longer exists at the site, sorry 'bout that. I should take this post down, but it would involve going back through 5+ yrs. of posts and I don't want to do that. I'm not sorry 'bout that, not at all.

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Can you help this guy sneak a peek at his beauty without getting caught?

How to Play...

Use your mouse to guide the guys head left or right making sure she doesn't see you sneaking a peak.

If she catches you peeking down her blouse, expect a big beer can to hit you on top of the head.

Pretty much like real life.

Play Bust for Lust

Stormy Weather

Once again the Panhandle is getting a storm rolling off the mountains in New Mexico. The large tstorm just developing over the top of me looks like the worst will be to the east, but there are other storms developing off to the west.

The sky is ominously dark off to the south, and I'm thinking that maybe the storm clouds behind the Groom Cross might make for a stunning photograph.

Then again, they have hail, strong winds and frequent lightning strikes. That reminds me, I need to see if the builder of the cross knows if it's been hit by lightning. I'm sure it's grounded, but the tall structure should still be a magnet for lightning, wouldn't you think?

My Angel

If you know me you also know that I love to take photos of the Groom Cross and in particular the angel atop the empty tomb. I've posted some of these photos before, but wanted to include them in this presentation.

Looking towards the northeast, you can get the cross and the tomb and angel all into the same shot. I really don't like the trees that were planted and "spoil" the bottom part of the view of the large cross.

I prefer to have the cross at my back and take photos nearly due west. I have to be careful because there are some ugly radio towers in the background.

I love it when there are clouds behind her.

And sometimes I like to photograph her head on, facing nearly due north.

My favorite time to photograph her is in the late evenings, near sunset; I am almost always enthralled the way the sun, the clouds and the sky frame the shot.

And sometimes I like to take the same photograph from the same perspective, but shoot with a different setting, such as in black and white:

It sounds silly, but sometimes when my days are dark and dreary I think of her and a ray of sunshine pierces my gloomy mood.

I think of how achingly beautiful she can be with the setting sun creating a halo of pure dazzling white against the azure sky, a few wisps of clouds disappearing with the light.

I never could get very close to her, though; using zoom gave me the best detail I could get from the ground, even standing on a stepladder I sometimes take with me.

Early one Sunday morning, I got up and over there around sunrise. I wanted to get some closeups of her, without anyone around because I had in mind climbing out on top of the "tomb" structure -- where there's a sign that asks people NOT to climb on it.

I felt a little odd doing something like this, at a place I love (and would hate to be banned from), but I also felt obsessed with looking into the statue's face.

A few weeks earlier, I had mentioned to a woman in the gift shop that the angel was one of my favorite things to photograph out there. She told me that before the tomb "exhibit" was finished, the angel was stored in the store. She said people would put their babies in the angel's arms and take photos. I thought that a touching story.

With camera in hand, I climbed out on the slippery fake rock, slick with the morning dew. I nearly fell a couple of times, but got close to "my" angel. I was nearly there!

I jumped down into her little "niche", the cubbyhole where she was mounted and where the lights and wiring for the tomb were hidden.

She was as beautiful as I thought she would be; I sat there in the cool Texas dawn, staring at her, oblivious to the noise of the truck traffic on nearby I-40. Something was SO familiar about her and then it hit me so hard that I nearly fell off the structure.

She looks JUST LIKE my ex-wife!

This is where I'd normally say something like "But my ex was no angel!" but that would be a lie, at least hateful and undeserved. She put up with me for over five years, and if she's not going to be an angel, she at least qualifies for sainthood, bless her.