Time to Get a Gun, Redux

There are a lot of issues that get people's blood up. Guns are one of 'em. I've been hunting a few times. I'm not really good at it, but I've been. Don't worry, Bambi's safe; I've only ever seen two deer on the few deer hunts I've been on, and I didn't get a good shot either time. Still, I love to eat meat, and I'm under no delusions about where it comes from. Hunters also have been prime movers in conservation. Ducks Unlimited has been responsible for conserving lots of land for hunting. You can't (legally) hunt in a subdivision, right? Trees, spotted owls, snail darters benefit, so I'm good with Ducks Unlimited. Shotguns? No problem. Pistols? Well, it's a little more complicated. I'll bravely take a spot on the fence, for now. Automatic weapons with extended clips? Armor-piercing ammo? Nah. Include me out. You gotta love the old debate on Boston Legal:

Racing Along, Redux.

Life's not bad in the Boro, of late. Not perfect, but not bad. After an unseasonably warm Winter and Spring, the mornings have been glorious and cool in June. Go figure. It's got me feeling Celtic. Don't ask me why. Anyway, here's a Chieftains tune I've been digging:

Poison.

Alice Cooper just played in North Charleston. I couldn't see him, because I had to spray the yard. These seem to be unrelated things, but they're not. I continue in my quest to gussy up to grass. Moles continue to make a mockery of my efforts. We water and feed and seed the lawn; while moles, in search of succulent grubs, dig it up. "Kill the grubs", they say, "and the moles will leave quicker than you can say Jack Robinson". We've tried the pricey grub killers; however, our lawn must be pretty tasty, because the grubs always come back. With the return of the grubs, the moles return as surely as the tourists traveling South on I-95 pull into the Cracker Barrel at Exit 53. So what's a gardener to do? Well, I took a tip from Alice:

Hairy Potter and the Craft Show.

Lady Di and I did the Spoleto thing again this year. Old Crow Medicine show. A funny play by Thomas and Judy Heath. Art exhibits. Lots of food. And, oh yeah, the craft show. Whilst at the craft show, we happened on the dude at left (the picture at left, and the guy with the Tilley hat. No, that's me. The OTHER dude with the Tilley hat). The guy worked with clay, which, by his own admission, made him a potter. I asked him how long he'd sported the beard. He said twenty years or so. I told him that made him a hairy potter well before J.K. Rowling came up with the idea. He told me I'd gone to an awful lot of work for not that great a joke. He still let have a picture with him, though.

Take it Easy.

I don't really mind squirrels. Heck, when they're not bogarting the bird food, they're kind of entertaining. This dude was chilling out on the back porch a little while back. I've been acting squirrelly for years, but I used to feel a little guilty about my love of naps. I don't feel so bad about taking it easy as I used to, though. I used to have big plans, but it's occured to me of late that I will probably never be the President of the United States. I'm never gonna be a billionaire. Or a millionare. I have been a thousand-aire, but I managed to burn through it with alacrity. It's okay. Shoot, I even got a little support from Psalm 131:

Lord, my heart is not haughty, Nor my eyes lofty. Neither do I concern myself with great matters, Nor with things too profound for me.

Or, you can listen to the Eagles, or Alan Jackson, if you'd rather.

The Play's the Thing, Redux

The Lowcountry Players are putting on "Tales and Fables by Dale and Mable" at the Colleton Center in the Boro. Opening night was last night, with performances scheduled for 7:oo p.m. tonight, Saturday and Monday, and with 2:00 p.m. shows on Saturday and Sunday. Three directors for five skits, narrated by Dale (Megan Gooding) and Mable (Janet Princess Taylor). Director Heather Tuten has done a fine job with her two segments: "The Dragon Prince" and "To Tell the Truth". I mention these skits in particular because I'm in the inner-circle of one of the actors (well, inner-circle is not exactly right. What word am I hunting for? Hmmm... Ah, yes: Son. That's it. My son, Tyler, is pictured above, in the dragon suit. He's also the chief in "To Tell the Truth"). Heather has worked hard- as have the actors, and I'd imagine the other directors, Christopher Williams ("Jack and the Beanstalk", "The Rabbit Grows a Crop of Money", and Amanda Broderick "Me Wish". The Dragon Prince is a Chinese "Beauty and the Beast". Tyler eventually gets to take off his dragon garb, once actress Brooklyn Thurston's Chee (also above, together with Vaughn Spearman as her fearful Papa) calms him down.

Daniel Mullin plays a tune between skits. He did a fine job with the guitar, and as Devon in the Irish skit "Me Wish".

Vaughn Spearman is the prince, Strong Wind, in a "Cinderella" reimagined as a Native-American skit in "To Tell the Truth". Tyler plays Chief Glaring Hark, a not-very-nice father of three daughters: favorites his favorites, Talking Bird (Kathleen Vassar Richardson) and Swimming Loon (Amanda Broderick), and outcast Diving Swan (Brooklyn Thurston). ). No glass slippers here, but a vision of integrity insures that the best gal wins the prince in this one. The costumes were lovely, and it was fun to watch. 'Course, I may be a bit biased. (Richardson, Tyler, Spearman, and Broderick are pictured above).

Sisters Doing It For Themselves.

The National Susan G. Komen Foundation has taken some heat lately because of mis-steps that have taken some attention away from the wonderful job that they do both nationally and locally to fight breast cancer in America. Let me tell you, they are still out there making a huge difference in women's lives. Lady Di, a breast cancer survivor since 1993, is very active in the Lowcountry Komen Foundation. I was lucky enough to be her date to a banquette where the local affiliate awarded several Hundred-Thousand dollars worth of grants to local health care and social providers to help them inform women about breast cancer, to detect it through mammograms for indigent, uninsured, and underinsured women, and to provide treatment and support for women in whom breast cancer has been detected. One Orangeburg provider noted that she provided about 150 mammograms to women who would not have gotten them without Komen's aid, and that 10 of them were diagnosed with breast cancer. Those women would probably not have been timely diagnosed without Komen's aid. In addition to helping to save a few women's lives, Komen's assistance helped provide peace of mind to those that did not have cancer because of the negative mammogram test. It was an honor to be with Diane, and the many other women from the Lowcountry Susan G. Komen Foundation who are donating their time and talent to help beat breast cancer. Annie Lennox and Aretha Franklin could've been singing about this crowd.