When I see

these:

I know Autumn is here.

In an astonishing

scientific feat, the French have managed to clone their own kind.

Apparently the Air Force

can't figure out who is a citizen and who isn't.

Looks like

the courts are at it again. And I thought my dinner would never again be interrupted by one of these clowns. Of course, they have always policed themselves:

In a statement Wednesday, the DMA acknowledged that millions of American do not want to receive telephone marketing calls. The group said it supports the idea of a list for consumers to express their preference not to be solicited by telephone, and pointed out that for years it has offered its own no-call system for consumers.

Right!

I am ashamed

to say that a U.S. airman has been arrested and charged with espionage and aiding the enemy. This comes on top of an army Muslim chaplain being arrested also. The chaplain has not been charged but since he was caught, as was the airman, with classified material, he will be. The airman was a translator assigned to the prisoner of war facility at Gitmo. Both these events should, in my opinion, give a strong signal to our military that Muslims in the service of our country need close and immediate examination. But of course, it won't happen because it's not politically correct.

A Texas size cold snap

in our neck of the woods...65 degrees at 7:00 AM.

This is both

bizarre and beautiful. Click on the crosses, have your speakers on, and run your mouse across each picture.

Ellie called from Denver

where she's been since last Friday. The weather there has been diametrically opposed to ours--sunshine, cool, typical Rocky Mountain stuff.

Lung cancer is ravaging her last uncle and she's there to pay a deathbed visit. In the past she spoke of him many times as the eldest of her family but now we find that there was an older sister, an aunt that somehow slipped out of memory. I think he may be the last of her father's family. The clock turns on us all.

Galileo died today

as, at over 100,000 miles per hour, it dove into the clouds of Jupiter. This mission gave us 14 years of superb science and images that almost defied belief. What an accomplishment of man that we can build and send this machine so far from our home planet.

I usually judge

the beginning of fall by the day I put on my long pants and house slippers instead of shorts and flip-flops. Well, I've got 'em on so this must be the day. Looks like I'm only about 24 hours early.

A soggy day

and I'm bone tired. I managed to sleep an hour or so earlier in the evening so, after coming home from the site, I still wasn't that sleepy. Finally got in bed at 3:00 AM but good sleep never came. I was staring at the ceiling and listening to the rain by 8:30 so I crawled out and showered.

I am still fair the well pissed off because I have to cancel my vacation. My confidence in Stewart & Stevenson as a service organization has dwindled to nothing.

Dark and drippy

is going to turn into dark and floods if the weather prognosticators have it right. Predictions are for major rains tomorrow and tomorrow night.

After a debacle at work tonight, I will have to cancel my vacation. We were going to Clearwater Ranch for a few days of astronomy away from the city lights but that will have to be scrapped now. The generator repairs didn't go as planned because the tech brought parts he didn't know how to install.