Great News!!!

The House has passed bill 239-185 which expands the range of wild horses by millions of acres and stops a plan by the BLM to kill thousands of them now held in holding pens. It appears that they will be set free. I have been following this story for a long time and I can't tell you how happy this makes me. I hope that the BLM will get the message and change some of its other policies.

Read more here.

Help Repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell

If you are interested in this issue, you can go here and sign a letter from Lt. Dan Choi to Speaker Nancy Pelosi asking her to help do away with this ridiculous piece of bureaucratic BS.

My Bloomin' 'Hood

Garden in front of the trattoria


Mormon tea (Gnetaceae Ephedra)


Day lilies


Neighbor's roses




Yellow hollyhocks



Lavender and a blue door

More Moe

I just found a couple of videos by my favorite blues band. If get to the Houston area, check them out.

It at Least Got a Shot in the Arm

The Austin City Counsel, in an unusual fit of common sense, voted last night to retroactively reinstate Shady Grove's outdoor music permit.

In other news, since it is the anniversary of the Monterey Pop Festival, I'm gonna listen to me some Hendrix.

The Music is Not Dead,Just Mortally Wounded

I have written several posts describing the reasons I love Austin. However, the Austin that I love so much seems to be on life support which is one of the reasons I moved. One of my favorite venues, Shady Grove, was shut down last Thursday night before 8pm because a 'neighbor' complained and the police showed up to enforce the cities new noise ordinance. It appears that this ordinance is only used against live music venues. You can make all the noise you want with your power tools, motorcycle, construction equipment, whatever, just don't play your music any louder than you can talk.

http://www.burntorangereport.com/diary/8854/unplugged-at-the-grove-shut-down-due-to-noise-complaint


photo from Austin Daily Photos http://austindailyphoto.blogspot.com/

John and Nanci

I just found one of my all time favorite music videos on Youtube.