Monthly Archives:May 2013

Deliberate Judgment

May 15th, 2013 / Categories: Family, I wanna go home!, trifecta, words / 10 Comments »

: caseyaltman / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA

Peering over glasses perched at the end of his nose â€“ the judge looked at the defendants seated before him. It was just another day in his judicial service. Just another string of defendants jumpsuited in faded yellow, manacled to each other.

Just another day in paradise.

He let his gaze slip over each â€œin custodyâ€ in a slow, deliberate way, taking in the appearance and demeanor of each.

Seated at the table was a gaggle of young and eager public defense attorneys. They did their job â€“ defending the guilty – well, with eagerness, fervor and mostly smiling faces.

â€œCall the first case, madam clerk,â€ he bellowed into the overhead mic.

â€œCase number 62-43690, Judge,â€ she replied.

A timid hand raised from the midst of the in custodies and the judge tried to act less surprised than he felt. What was SHE doing here? In chains? Hair unwashed and tousled? Yellow jumpsuit and blue tenny-runners with pink socks?

â€œCharge, Mr. District Attorney?â€

â€œMinor consuming, Judge.â€

â€œI see. Thank you. Now, Miss Michaels, this is what I am going to do. I need to recuse myself and let Judge Olsen continue with your arraignment. Do you understand?â€

He tried not to smile as she nodded and he noticed her trembling lips and a tear working its way down her cheek.

Leaving the courtroom he took off his robes and went to the Bailiffâ€™s office. â€œIâ€™ll be posting bail for 62-43690, Josh. But I have a favor to ask. Donâ€™t let her know the bail has been posted until the morning.â€

â€œSir?â€

â€œYou see, I always promised my kids that if they were arrested they would spend a night in jail before I bailed them out.â€

â€œAha! Yes, sir. Iâ€™ve got it.â€

Fully robed again the magistrate reentered the courtroom.

â€œAll rise! The court is back in session, the Honorable William Michaels presiding.â€
He adjusted his glasses once again, looked over the remaining prisoners and boomed into the mic again. â€œNext case, please.â€
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Those deliberate trifecta judges . . . erm . . . EDITORS have challenged us with the third definition for DELIBERATE. Here are 329 (or 330 – depends on the program) of mine . . . bring on your own. There is still time.

onomatopoeia

May 11th, 2013 / Categories: trifecta, words / 14 Comments »

Alaska spring erupts
With sounds of music
Geese honk
Forming vs in flight
Sandhill cranes
Giant turkeys on stilts
Crooning melodies to
Their mates
Seagulls screech
Mine, mine, mine
Begging for handouts
Ahhhhhlaska

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Those wordsmithy editors at Trifecta are seeking onoatopoeia in 33 words . . . at least one example. The “flats” in Kenai are abuzz with a cacophony of sound right now as the birds pause to feed on their way northward. My 33 include some of those sounds.

And, do . . . if you would like . . . take a gander at my Texas posts. I found much to love about my visit in Texas. I want to share that with you as well.

Dentoning

May 11th, 2013 / Categories: Dentoning, Moose Nuggets / Comments Closed

Part of the fun of traveling is getting the “local feel” of a place. Denton offered that to me in spades via my travel guide, Shelly who is an awesome guide and has a wealth of knowledge about her town.

It all starts with coffee, right? And a tour around the square, which is quite active, no matteer the time of day.

Ms. Shelly leads a ghost tour around the square – that is, she tells stories of those who may be walking still among us. It’s a 90 minute, very fun an informative tour – do take it if you are ever in the area. Can’t be Dentoning without doing it.

Interestingly, the moose became a part of that ghost tour . . . it all started with a visit to Recycle

So, you want to hear the story, eh? Well it all started as we wandered through the store looking at books here an books there, stopping to admire leather bound tomes, exclaiming over books older than we. I stopped in front of a set of educational children’s books, then turned and stepped about two feet away to look at children’s books that I remember – and some I do not . . . suddenly a book from the shelf I had been standing in front of moments before LAUNCHED itself from the shelf an hit my right calf. Now, when something FALLs, it falls straight down . . . this came across the way and hit me. “Shelly . . .” We both laughed nervously, then placed the book back on the shelf.

Sigh – yes, you read that right. We placed it back on the shelf. We did NOT buy it! Argh!!!! And, when we had thought about that and decided to go back to buy that book . . . it was no longer there – the shelf was bare where it had sat.
🙁

Ah, well . . . a book came into play later that night . . .

We decided to attend the first Twilight Tunes event, which, because of the cold temps (!!!!) had been moved indoors to Sweetwater.

Yes, 45 degrees is perfect for an Alaskan, but Texans seem a bit put off by it. Thus the music was moved indoors. Before I tell you the story of this book, take a closer look at the bass guitarist . . . looks sorta like (what I would call) a “skater dude”, doesn’t he? Sorta out of place in a “chicha” or “salsa” band? Yes, I thought so, too . . . but he was GOOD! Los Patos Poderosos was rockin’ the house. We did a lot of “chair dancing” but others, as you can see, were not so “shy” and got up to dance.

The book story . . . thought you’ never ask. See the little old lady sitting there? We asked her to join our table and when she moved over she brought a newspaper, a book and a scarf. She placed them in her chair and sat on them while watching the band. After an hour or so the band took a break. She stood up grabbed the stuff from her chair, put them on top of the table and began wrapping the book furiously in the newspaper, tying it up tightly with her scarf. She patted the result, turned, and walked into the bar.

A young man seated nearby jumped up and came to talk to us. Seems the book in the bundle was his! He proceeded to extract the book, leaving the newspaper an scarf intact. We couln’t help it . . . we started laughing sooooo hard and had to leave before she came back. Not sure what happened next.

But, on telling this story to my boss . . . her only comment was . . . that book is following you! Nawww, I said. Are you sure? she asked. Ummmmmm, nope. GULP!

There is at least one more installment of “Dentoning” I want to share with you. It will have to wait . . . and so will you. Be back soon.

Texas Pics

May 6th, 2013 / Categories: Moose Nuggets / 1 Comment »

Another picture-full post. I won’t get them all here, but wante you all (oh, no! My first full day home and I’ve lost my “y’all”!) to enjoy some of the visit with me. Click for larger views.

The hotel in Austin was so nice. Not sure how, but I was given a room on the courtyard – on the second floor. There were patio tables right outside my room and I enjoyed sitting there at night getting some breeze. One night a storm threatened and I got that last shot.

Staying with the hotel theme for a minute: one of the things I was keenly needing was color and flowers. Both hotels (Austin and Mansfield) gave me plenty of both. Yes, there are pictures.

FOOD! Oh, my . . . so much food. I didn’t get a shot of each place, but here are a few I visited:

Hoochies in Denton . . . deep fried prawns – deep fried catfish – and, of course, hush puppies!

Meanwhile in Mansfield, one of the places we ate was Cha Cha’s – great Mexican food. Yum!

The colorful tooled leather mirror was impressive. Loved the blue tiles on the building as well.

In Fort Worth we ate at Joe T Garcia’s. Mexican delight – great old building and surrounding gardens.

Can you see how my color starved and winter weary eyes were just digging this?

While in Fort Worth we were totally tourists. That means The Stockyards! Ms. Shelly was a great tour guide – taking time out of her busy day to lead me on a great day trip.

Along the street the above stars are inset into the sidewalk much like Hollywood for cowboys. These were a few that caught my eye. The Cowboys Working for Cowboys is inside the colliseum.

Not to be missed at the Stockyards is the daily “cattle drive” complete with a whistling cowboy.

Hokey? Not at all. That was serious business – especially when one ornery steer decided to meander a bit. A very serious cowboy nudged him back into the center of the street with his horse. Well done – those are some serious horns!

Just a few more for this post. I may put up some more pics later – but will save it for another post.

A few fun pics from the Stockyards: Gene Autry, the Singing Cowboy, a booted steer, and the King with Shelly.

We followed the brick road to Leddy’s Boots. Oh, my! You will need a healthy bank account to shop there, but check out the tooled leather doorway.

That’s it for tonight. Hope you enjoyed.

People of Texas

May 5th, 2013 / Categories: Family, Moose Nuggets, Moosin Around / 3 Comments »

This will be a photo entry . . . of the ones I got to meet and love while in Texas.

Cousin David played the part of chauffeur, even meeting me at the hotel with sign and cap.

Aunt Barbie, my Mom’s youngest sister.

Uncle George

Together at their fave restaurant, Olive Garden
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I was also blessed to meet some online friends for the first time. (Click these for larger view)