Happy Birthday, Alice & Clint!

No, Alice and Clint aren't my next-door neighbors.

"Alice & Clint" as in Cooper (born 1948) and Black (1962).

Two of my favorite performers having the same b-day, how cool is that?

I think they should do a duet together.

I can see the titles now:

"Put Yourself in My Coffin", "A Better Ghoul" and "When I Said I'd Kill You".

Alice Cooper could bite the head off of a chicken while Clint played the harmonica.

Look Out !

It's Groundhog Day!

My pal Garazon and I both share a fondness for the "holiday". I am not for sure the origin of HIS like for the date, but I always thought it should be a celebration that spring isn't far off.

If the groundhog see his shadow, spring is postponed for six weeks. (I guess that's the way it goes; never for sure about that)

I guess we'll have six more weeks of bad weather because the sun was shining bright this morning. So, according to the legend we're assured of another month and a half of winter, but we almost always have six weeks of bad weather after the first of Feb.

I don't think there's any groundhogs around here, but there are a few prairie dog towns left, those that haven't been wiped out by the ranchers and/or the Bubonic Plague.

Anyway...here's to Garazon and his new love, Alison:

Lightness of Being

The bright sun dissects the airglow above Earth's horizon in this view photographed with a digital still camera from the Space Shuttle Columbia during the STS-107 mission.

Space Shuttle Columbia and the STS-107 crew perished during re-entry on Feb. 1, 2003.

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This image was d/l from the NASA website.

The morning the Columbia disintegrated over the Central Texas skies I was working the night shift and was supposed to have been off by that time. In fact, I had told a co-worker that we should watch the sky and we'd be able to watch the shuttle coming in on its approach to the landing spot in Florida.

He was skeptical, but I assured him I had watched the shuttle land before; once was at night, an awesome sight. I had to use binoculars, but I could make out the shape and the red glow in the sky, the trail left by re-entering the atmosphere, helped focus on the spacecraft.

That night we had to work overtime and after the couple extra hours of work added onto the other work-filled eight hours, I had forgotten about the landing. We were getting into our cars that cold Feb. morning when I noticed some odd looking vapor trails in the southern sky. It was nothing new to see them, what with the winds and the jet stream dipping down south during this time of the year.

Little did I know it was the result of the disaster.

Rick Husband, commander of that flight, was from Amarillo. The city airport is now named after him.

Breaking the Tie

From a poll at the Dallas Cowboys website

I cast the tiebreaker vote.

Which means I have doomed the Pats to a loss.

I'm horrible at handicapping ball games. I learned my lesson after losing an entire paycheck on the '78 Super Bowl.

UPDATE: Went back to the website (I visit it nearly every day) and voted again in the poll. (a proud Texas tradition, going all the way back to LBJ; "vote early, vote often")

I don't know why the site allows more than one vote, but it does, or seems to allow it. Be that as it may, it was really strange to see the updated results (regardless if my vote counted or not)

I'm wondering if the bookies are spamming the polls?

I'm not very good at these things (lost the paycheck, remember?) but I will predict a Pats win, 34-14.

What Kind of Meat Are You?

You Are Fish

You have a well formed palate and a daring appetite. If it's served to you, you'll at least try it. People are pretty scared of your exotic ways. But once they get a taste of you, they're addicted!

What Kind of Meat Are You?

Gone, Gone, Gone - Robt. Plant & Alison Krause

LOVE this song!