FROM MY FRONT PORCH

FROM MY FRONT PORCH

HOOD OUTDOORS

THE IDLE AMERICAN

BOOK REVIEW

This past weekend, I stuck up a conversation with a musician playing at one of the local establishments. He told me he was originally from North Dakota and had moved to Texas to work in the horse business. 

I am composing this column using talk-to-text while driving on Highway 287 from Amarillo to Azle.

Do you run or scream in fear?

Maybe both. When you see whatever it is that scares you to the point that you're a babbling puddle of mess, it's no longer a fight-or-flight thing – it's just plain flight

FROM MY FRONT PORCH

Let’s visit a little about some of the things that we have been through during the past 12 months and how they have affected the quantity, quality and prices of agricultural products.

“Where could you travel over and over again?”

You can’t absolutely predict the fishing for any given day, but you can get close right after a rain. Fishing after it rains or even during a drizzle can produce some great action as most of us know.

More than three-fourths of Texas teachers say they have seriously considered quitting the profession largely because of a perceived lack of respect and support, according to a new survey by the Charles Butt Foundation.

Dear Frankie,

I’m concerned that my mom is over-focused on my health. Once a month, she gives me pills to prevent heartworm, fleas and ticks. I’m OK with that; no one wants heartworms or Lyme Disease

It's your deal.

Cards cut, they're in your hand, and now you dole them out. Thirteen cards each, one at a time around the table, let the game begin. Do you bid, or pass and hope that your partner has a good hand?

“If you’ve been praying for rain, today would be a good day to gather with God’s people and thank Him.”

There was no paper handy.

That's your excuse for writing a phone number on the meat of your thumb. No pun intended, but it was handy but now you can't quite totally remove the ink and you're feeling like an eighth grader again. Even so, you've got the number and, as in the new novel, "Stay Awake" by Megan Goldin, you won't likely forget it.

Out on the lake all day fishing a tournament, in the heat at work or participating in other outdoor activities in this brutal Texas heat can cause overheating of your body. Too much heat stress can lead to a heat illness that is the body's way of saying it can't take the heat. Here is some i…

The best music ever is late 1970s rock. It’s a scientific fact.

Fingers on the second, third, and fourth strings.

Now that we have gotten through the political primaries, perhaps we will get back to some degree of reasonableness and civility. Emotions were running so high before the election.

Dear Frankie,

I read your column last month and saw how upset you and your readers were about the dogs in Ukraine. I thought you would be interested in knowing about Patron, a brave little Jack Russell terrier who serves in the Ukrainian military.

Dear Frankie,

I am all for individual expression. It is the American way.  My dad and I had crew cuts and it was a little unsettling back in the 60s when boys started to grow their hair long. It was different and not something I was accustomed to.

You never know when an experience—a sound, a smell, an image—is going to remind you of something from long ago.

Do you recall the days before cell phone service and electronic money? Everyone nowadays has a cell phone that gives them the ability to communicate with others.

I may or may not be suffering from jet lag as I attempt to compose this post. (Actually, there is no doubt whatsoever after a 10-hour transatlantic flight yesterday).

I have been so occupied with a variety of tasks that I failed to realize we are halfway through the month of May. Before we turn around school is going to be out, graduation is going to take place, and we will find ourselves smack in the middle of summer!

Dear Frankie,

How would humans like it if hairdressers washed their hair with dog shampoo? They wouldn't. Neither do dogs like it when groomers wash them with human lavender shampoo and spray them with lavender perfume.

I make a point of seizing every opportunity to be around young people. I love to listen to their enthusiasm about the future and their aspirations. I am not trying to cling to my youth.

I am a Chihuahua and a genuine service dog. I'm not one of those make-believe emotional support dogs. My mom has a hearing disability. She is not deaf like she can't hear anything, but she does have a hard time hearing voices and sounds.

Life is made up of a series of routine or repeated tasks. Since the age of 16 or 17, I have shaved most every morning. Getting dressed, I always put my right sock on first and then my left, but curiously put on my left shoe before the right.

What’s the best warning you ever got? I’ll let you interpret “best.” You could go with most memorable, most helpful or most ridiculous. Most warnings begin with some form of “don’t.”

Dear Frankie,

A couple of months ago, my mom's friend asked if her dog Rags could ride with us to the park. The first day my mom and I drove over to pick up Rags, she said I should be sure to introduce Rags to the other dogs.

That's music to a performer: the best you can ask from a group of people expecting to be entertained is approval for your efforts. Laughter, for a comedy. Gasps for a drama.

ON FISHING

I live in a condo on the 16th floor. My parents love where we live – they can see and hear the ocean and swim in our community pool. Unfortunately, I saw on the news that an apartment building in Florida that looks like ours collapsed.

Mom is always after you to clean your room.

She always wants you to make your home a better place, starting right there. Sometimes, you wonder why and it's probably because a clean room makes everything better. In a way, you're safer when you live in clean surroundings, too, and that goes for the biggest home of all: the Earth.

Once I learned to read, I found the “funny papers” to be a favorite pastime. When the newspaper arrived on our doorstep, my father would immediately grab the front page and I would grab the comics.

Spring winds can put a damper on the fishing, especially when you have lake wind advisories. Lately, it seems that we are having a windy April. Lake wind advisories are typically issued with forecast of winds over 20 mph

Two weeks ago, I was standing in the foyer of the First Baptist Church of Waxahachie, Texas, waiting for my sweetie. It was almost time for our monthly concert with the Singing Men of North Central Texas.

Sometimes you see the hand of God in the moment and sometimes you see it later. I started singing with the Singing Men of North Central Texas in March 2009. They had a mission trip planned in spring 2010. It would be their first trip to Ukraine.

Every season about this time of the year, many more folks come out to enjoy the weather and the water and each year I believe it is important to discuss this subject. 

It was still dark on Sunday morning when they left their homes. The neighborhood was eerily quiet as they met on the street and walked, without conversation, to the cemetery on the edge of town.