If you know anything about life in a small town in Texas, you know about the central importance of high school football. Maybe you’ve seen the amazing TV series (which I miss desperately), or read the book, or viewed the movie. Heck, there’s even an exhibit at the state history museum. Friday Night Lights, it’s called….
In Praise of Precipitation
We got a notice this week full of phrases like “extremely critical conditions” and “to prevent catastrophic effects.” It said we’re not allowed to water our plants with sprinklers (at all), wash our cars (or airplanes), fill up our pools or jacuzzis (not that we have one), or run decorative fountains. We can water plants,…
Tomatoes! (Canning Tomato Sauce & Tomato Jam)
There is no feeling like that of being overwhelmed with freshly-picked garden-fresh produce. It’s something you want to revel in — that sensation of abundance, the freshness, the deliciousness — but, before long, what sets in is panic. What in the world am I going to do with all this squash, all these cucumbers, 20…
Deer in Velvet
At my father’s the other weekend, I commented offhand that we hadn’t seen many bucks lately, when the subject of our local whitetail deer herd came up in conversation. What ensued was a slightly-embarrassing (for me) discussion about how one shouldn’t expect to see any bucks (or identify them as bucks, anyway) in spring, because…