Pool

 

someone else's photo

Hubbard Texas is great in many ways, it has an attack helicopter for a war memorial, respect, an orthodox Anglican church where the sacrament's reserved and the door's unlocked, it even has Malone's old railway  station which serves a parish hall. Good work, crew. And it has a pool.

We went there today. What a great little community pool, lying there cool and blue under a hot Texan sun. It was pretty empty too, with a few kids carrying on mas gusto to lift the spirits, but here's the thing - they were VERY well behaved. Like no kidding, I was pleasantly taken aback, as in there's hope for us yet. Yessir.

Someone from LA accused me of taking "A Myspace era shot." OK, I'll take that, unreconstructed.

The lifeguard girl announced that she was "going to college" in September and I asked her where. Texas A&M. To do what? Engineering. Congrats kid, and well done that girl, and what a lot of fun to hang out by the water  in this rural Texan haven. Why, the world asks, can't the COUNTY SEAT have such a thing?

A community pool, dear friends, is apparently beyond the imagination of our local overlords. Something, someone once sang, better change. And perhaps it will, now that fleeing, cowardly, hypocritical, malfeasant, brazen, criminal, deceitful Democrat politicians have warrants out for their arrest.What can we say? Haul 'em in, lock 'em up and throw away the key. I'm not holding my breath, but still, it's a nice gesture.

Dark Star

Your Old Pal,

LSP

Look, A Sign!

A member of Team LSP just sent this in, from somewhere in East Texas. Here's another Texan picture, from Hubbard in 1908.

Slap Out

Hubbard used to be called Slap Out in the 1860s but was re-branded after a former Governor in the 1880s. Slap Out has 1,589 citizens as of the last census.

Burning Man

In other news, Big Tex has burnt to a crisp.

Somehow that seems relevant to me.

All for Texas.

LSP

Horsing Around

JB

To celebrate May Day I thought I'd go for a ride, and was pleased to see that JB's put on some needed weight. Being in a new pasture with plenty of grass, and a deworm, have certainly helped. So that's good.

The Terror!

We rode down a dirt road for a couple of miles and Kyrie, what an effort. A herd of cows? Very spooky to this horse's mind. A barking dog? Incredibly frightening. Tall bamboo? Oh dear, bad threat. A butterfly? Time to stop this scary dare and head for home! In brief, a whole lot of work and dangerous with it. A balking, spooked, snaking, nervous as you like thoroughbred might just decide to throw its rider onto the top of a T post, or back into some barbed wire, or anything bad and crazy. Solution? Stay calm, ride on, reassure the horse, keep going forward and move through the resistance.

random gun

A few days later we did it all over again and JB was doing better, perhaps familiarity had dimmed the fearsome terrors of the extremely threatening dirt road. I sensed a positive forward attitude and felt some speed was in order. Canter, all it takes for JB is a whisper and a slight shift of weight and leg to the relevant lead, and off we went.

good horse

She rode very well, working herself out of the spook and being a real pleasure to ride. We went faster on the way back, then turned around and went back up the road several times, just to prove that it could be done.

Moral of the story? Riding is hugely enjoyable, especially at speed and, as always, patience and persistence pay a large dividend.

Stay on the horse,

LSP