Just Wandering Around In The Heat

 

One of the things we have to do here is get our vehicles inspected to satisfy some kind of state-driven "emissions testing" or, in other words, a tax. But it's not so onerous, 7 bucks, and while the rig was being checked out I took the opportunity to go walk about, in the heat.

"What's it like downtown," I asked myself, "in the heat?" No trees, for a start. Can't have those, thought the geniuses in charge of our small, bucolic farming community. No, can't have those, let's root them out and award ourselves concrete contracts.

Of course no one walks, how could they, but if they did they'd notice "Glitz and Glamor" is open for business, one of our few shops in the aftermath of asset-stripping. So is Texas Through The Ages, which I think's a kind of dinosaur fossil museum adjunct, nice.

Then there's the Discipline School, which sounds dangerously racy but is, in fact, a regular school room where ill-behaved teenagers have to wear a uniform, chinos and a polo, not speak in class unless spoken to and actually do their schoolwork. Huh, much like "school" as I recall it.

Resisting the urge to declaim on the utter failure of our Marxist controlled, taxpayer funded, fake-as-you-like education system, I wandered over to the old Presbyterian church. It gleamed whitely in the sun and comes complete with a little bandstand/outdoor worship area. Nice.

Next door lies the old courthouse and gaol, complete with iron shutters, a reminder of the days when this town was a notorious den of outlaws, rustlers, thieves, bandits and ne'er do wells. You see, some of these boys had just demobbed from the War and weren't about to give up the fight, in whatever form that took.

Walkabout over and strangely not melted into the sidewalk, I made it back to the shop, "Mr. LSP, truck's passed." Well done, shop, we move onwards and upwards.

Cheers,

LSP

Memorial Day

 

The flags are out in force in this small country town as people get ready to have fun with family and friends around the grill. Quite right too, and I'll be firing up the Compound's Weber in short order, but as we behold delicious burgers, toothsome brisket and juicy steaks (what, you can afford that?!? Ed.) remember those who gave and give their lives for our freedom and country.

Via Zerohedge:

But today is Memorial Day, 2022, when we mourn the fallen of the United States Armed Forces who died for our liberty.

And because it is Memorial Day, not burger and beer day, not sports day, not play video games day, not chips and dip day, there is one tradition I hope we try our best to keep.

It involves us taking time out to think hard and long about a soldier’s poem and the poppies, row on row.

“In Flanders Fields” is that soldier’s poem, written in World War I by Col. John McCrae, a man who’d seen the devastation of war, and hopelessness. Yet with clear eyes and a clean heart he wrote of poppy blossoms as rebirth of hope, those bright orange/red papery thin blossoms, as delicate as dreams, waving in the breeze over the freshly dug graves of the dead.

Lest we forget,

LSP 

Small Town Texas

 

Welcome to the new normal in the rural idyll that is North Central Texas. But all's not lost, you can still buy regular for $4.39 a gallon, for now.

And drive to Itasca.

Which was prosperous until we declared war on ourselves.

Then it wasn't. Still, there's some bright spots like Karen's, home of famously good bean/brisket burritos, and the Olde Towne Country Store, run by Mennonites(?).

They sell all kinds of locally produced food, spices and much more besides. Their sandwich/deli's not bad either, pretty much a local lunch hangout.

Then there's the war memorial. What a terrible loss of life from such a small town.

Business taken care of I drove back to the Compound and that, all three of you readers, is the story of that.

God bless,

LSP

I Like West

Czechoslovakians Settled This Town

The other day I drove to Waco and those of you who know I35 will agree that that's no small thing. On the way back I stopped at West, which was settled by Czechs and badly hurt by its industry, a fertilizer plant, blowing up last year. I heard the explosion from a good 20 miles away; bad business and a miracle that more people weren't killed.

Downtown West

So I pulled off the highway and into West to have a look around. There's the obligatory failing "antique" shops, a couple of Czech bakeries, a feed store, a barber, some bars (well done) and a railway line that still goes through the middle of the town. Freight only.

Better Days, My Friend

West has had better days, no doubt about it. The sidewalks are cracked, you'll see the odd broken window here and there but you know what, I like West, it had a good atmosphere and the people were friendly. I understand they sell ammo at their hardware shop and I'll be back to check that out, maybe the barber too.

God bless West,

LSP