The View From Dry Creek Hill
The most recent View From Dry Creek Hill column is now up on the Bandera Prophet website. The Prophet is a local, on-line newspaper in Bandera, Texas. This is the 11th installment of the column, and it may be read here. The column appears approximately every other week.
I enjoyed your most recent musings. The Bandera Prophet is a pretty interesting publication, generally.
Squirrels are squirrels, but my birds have been multiplying, too — as well as the lizards. I have some that have taken up residence among my few patio plants, and I’m happy they’ve arrived. There are mosquitos aplenty out there, and enough other insects to keep them well fed.
I’m with you on turning down the noise, but I’ve become increasingly selective over the years. After my mother died, I threw out all the tvs, and as far as I can tell it’s not hurt me much. Granted, I’m out of the loop when people begin talking about the latest commercials, but I can live with that.
We’ve been seeing more lizards this year, too. They’d all but disappeared for several years but seem to be making a comeback. Things are dry now, but we had a wet spring and I assume that did the insects, and consequently the lizards, a favor.
I’ve modified my TV habits of late but I’d have trouble with no TV. I like to watch golf too much. I know that sounds odd to folks who don’t play the game, and I have to admit that golf looks like a total waste of time or looks boring from the outside, but it’s addictive and fascinating once you’re into it.
And thanks for the comments on the column. I’ve enjoyed writing it for the Prophet and plan to post something when future columns appear.
Believe it or not, the primary reason we had to keep the tvs was Mom’s great affection for watching golf. She absolutely adored Tiger Woods, but enjoyed most of the good players. Many decades ago, I used to caddy for her, but I never developed her enjoyment of the game.
Your mother has my undying admiration and respect. I could write a long essay on why golf is not what is appears (a game of chasing a ball around a course), but essays like that have a habit of appealing more to the writer than the reader. I wrote a golf column for the local papers for years that reported the results of our local tournaments and always included as much commentary as results reporting. I only stopped because the golf club where I play changed owners and withdrew support for the column. Now I report our results and our schedule on a website I manage (GolfBandera.com).
I also had a golf blog for several years. I kept the site up (FairwayWords.com) even though I haven’t written anything there for a while, but I’ve been feeling more and more like getting back to it. I keep searching for a way to balance my 3 main interests (playing around with words, golf, and life on our hill). I’m sure there’s a sweet spot in there, somewhere.