Midweek Roundup

 

Typical Texas Street Scene

It's a hard life. When not watching inspirational videos of Eva Peron who could, per LL, launch several B 52s, it's all about Vespers or Evening Prayer.

Speaking of which, do you remember our bizarrely incompetent retreat from Afghanistan? How much money, we have to ask, was paid to the "big guy," and why aren't the people he paid in full control of the Panjshir Valley? Apparently they're not. "Ban, ban, Taliban," as the song goes.

Let's see how the resistance plays out. In other news, more and more people are getting sick from the vax, China's facing a Lehman moment and Biden's popularity is tanking, which is weird, coz he's the most popular president ever in the history of popularity. 

And lest we forget, the millionaire celebrities at the Emmys were exempt from masking because they're "performers." Quite unlike you, the serf. Maybe we need some frontier justice?

Your Old Pal,

LSP

Ramblin' Man

  

Biden's America. Note made in China mask trash in foreground

The sun shone, birds sang, squirrels attacked a cat nesting on the Compound's fence, and the cat won. All was right with the world, so I went for a ramble after morning prayer.

Tarleton House, a wreck since "Biden"

Past the broken down shacks behind Tarleton House, past the flotsam and debris of Biden's America and into the comparative sanity of the local High's "discipline school."

Hail the Discipline School

Dicipline School? It used to be a bakery and sounds ferocious. Like, maybe, Prussian BCT, but it's just where malfeasant teens go to pass high school. The kids have to wear khakis and a polo, a veritable uniform, and they're not allowed to talk in class unless it's requested, either, and their performance or miserable lack thereof is monitored daily. Good heavens.

Doge Lofts?

Sounds a bit like school, which puts the normal ISD carry-on in perspective. Whatever, I know all this because the SPC attended this hallowed hall of academe before embarking on a career of military adventure. He's enrolled in college now, partly thanks to the DS. Thanks, teachers.

And on, past half-occupied warehouses which stand as mute monuments to King Cotton. You'd think some enterprising dogecoin millionaire would turn those upper stories into attractive lofts for people who want rural bucolic haven but have to commute to the appalling metrosprawl to earn a buck.

Then home, and guess what. Governor Abbott's lifting Texas' absurd, stupid, corrupt, iniquitous, snake oil, faked up China virus restrictions. About dam time. Let's hear it for secession.

Republic of Texas forever,

LSP

So I Went For A Stroll, Dixie

It's not easy having to look at the face of Lyin' Self-Promotin' Comey, leering out at you from myriad screens. Sometimes you have to escape, and that's what I did, strolling through the spacious boulevards of asset stripped rural Texas.

Albanians Run This Place

The cotton's gone now, mostly, but a lot of the bricks and mortar remain of former wealth, albeit re-purposed, and I like that, it gives a sparseness to things and a feel of the frontier. 

Chip & Joanna?

The Spring air is crisp and clear too, unlike the smog you breathe in the plastic sided monstrosity of the Metrosprawl, and that's a benefit all to itself.

Dixie

You may be surprised to know that this town has no plans for removing its Confederate War memorial, unlike Dallas.

Go on, come and take it,

LSP

The Cotton's Gone

William

I walked the few minutes into town this morning to go to the Post Office and met William; he's 71 and does a bit of "scrapping" though he used to work on the cotton back when that was the industry of the county. He told me how the sound of the cotton press filled the air, but that was some time ago.

County Seat

Now the cotton's gone and the town's declined from a population of 20,000 to less than 8,000. That trend looks set to continue as there aren't any jobs; a concerted attempt to turn the place into an antiques and gift shop emporium failed miserably. Fine by me.

Once a bank, now a failed gift shop

At the turn of the last century things were different, with the Square being notorious for cockfighting, drunkenness and lewd behavior of all kinds.

Bad behavior gone

I understand that things were cleaned up by the '30s. Now there doesn't seem to be much behavior of any kind, which is a shame. I'd like to see a pub, butcher, tack shop, gun shop, and a place to drink coffee and buy books.

Why cut down the trees?

Surely that's not asking for too much? As it is, Hillsboro's starting to get that deserted "turning into a ghost town" feel. Surely it doesn't have to be that way.

On a different theme, there was big commotion in my neighbor's chicken coop. I thought it was a cat until a great hawk glided up and over the fence. Wish I'd taken a picture.

It seems to me as though the place is reverting to nature and maybe that's no bad thing. Neither should it be an obstacle to getting a pub...

Cheers,

LSP