Texas has 500 times more water underground than anything you see above the surface. The question is, how much do we pump and how fast? Late last year I reported on a project called Our Desired Future that focuses on issues surrounding groundwater conservation in Texas. I’m now happy to report that the new ODF… Continue reading “Our Desired Future” website launches
Fish Dinner
We were giving some friends an afternoon tour of Horseshoe Bay and were driving across the low water crossing where Slick Rock Creek empties into Lake LBJ when I spotted a crane* diving under the water, presumably in pursuit of a fish. Sure enough, he surfaced shortly thereafter with a large silver fish grasped firmly… Continue reading Fish Dinner
Desert Willow: Destruction & Rehab
Alert Gazette readers may recall my report on the Great Ice Storm of 2015, in which I chronicled the apparent destruction of the beautiful desert willow in our back yard. That event was heartbreaking, and it even made the cover (with accompanying article) [PDF] of the newsletter for the Texas chapter of the International Society of… Continue reading Desert Willow: Destruction & Rehab
Car Repair Customer Service Done Right
Note: The following is an unabashed plug for a local business. If you’re a competitor, don’t take it personally. Better yet, use it as motivation. So, my truck suddenly developed a rather severe front-end shimmy (a highly technical automotive term, implying that my vehicle was demon-possessed), and I began to imagine all sorts of complicated… Continue reading Car Repair Customer Service Done Right
When Species Collide
Update (6/21/15) – A lot of people have asked if we’re feeding this fox, and that’s why he’s in our yard so often. The answer is an emphatic “no.” I have no doubt that there are some people who are providing food, perhaps inadvertently, in the form of cat or dog food, but I would… Continue reading When Species Collide
Filling the Dance Gap
I spent much of a Sunday afternoon downloading Seventies and Eighties TV show theme songs from iTunes and editing them* into gain-consistent 20-second clips with tasteful fade-ins and -outs to serve as fillers between songs in the playlist I’m compiling for an upcoming ballroom dance. If this sounds like fun, you must be a geek,… Continue reading Filling the Dance Gap
ARCO’s Corporate Art Collection in Midland – The Rest of the Story
In which we continue to fill in the gaps in the history of ARCO’s corporate art collection in Midland.
Questioning a Gallant Gesture
A front page article in our local newspaper described how the incoming president of the University of Texas at Austin – the second largest university in Texas, by student population – has declined a $1 million salary in favor of “only” $750,000 per year (plus deferred pay, and a bonus which he also requested be… Continue reading Questioning a Gallant Gesture
Local Nature
Just a few random observations from the Wide World of Nature – Midland, Texas Edition. First, the following video is noteworthy in spite of its poor quality (shot through an office window with a zoomed-in iPhone), because it shows a ladder-backed woodpecker who landed on a red yucca and began working over the blooms. These… Continue reading Local Nature
Workplace Retrace
Someone recently posted a photo on Facebook of their office walls, and that caused me to think about the offices I’ve had over the course of my career(s). In four decades of work, they’ve run the gamut from yuck to bling, and in looking back I’ve realized that some were pretty noteworthy. The Introductory Bullpen… Continue reading Workplace Retrace