brrrr....

spring is here at last, at least on the calendar, it arrived on march 20th.  someone must have forgot to tell old man winter his work was done for 2011. as i sit here the furnace is blasting away in it's efforts to keep the chill in the house at bay.

it's high noon and the temp outside is a damp, not quite balmy, 34 degrees. figure in the wind chill and it feels like 23. enough already! 

                                                                                                                                        this front will pass but there may be others on it's tail. it never fails, the weather finally warms toward summer temps as winter slips into a distant memory. still, you can bet there is at least one more cool snap in our future.  after all the snow balls have yet to bloom.  until that day, you can never be sure that cold is done for, until fall that is. 

at least, that's what the little woman would tell you and i've not seen the weather prove her wrong yet.

 
so, snow balls, get to bloomin'. let's get this cold weather thing over and done with already. i'm ready for summer. aio                                                                

important hair events...

our middle son is still on the downside of his thirties.  he lives, works and plays in austin, the self proclaimed "live music capitol of the world". over the years, in his quest for rock stardom, he has carefully cultivated, consciously or not, an image congruent with that scene. put in plain english, he has grown his hair without cutting it, save maybe an occasional trimming of the dead ends, since he quit shaving his head, many years ago now. 

in his defence, as his hair grew longer, he defended the decision by voicing his intention to make a donation to "Locks of Love".  i believe in order to donate one's hair must be at least 10 inches long. 

recently, he announced that at last he was ready to back up his words.  i truly admire his unselfish giving to a cancer victim in need.

the picture above, was taken of him and his honey, at the local 2010 Renaissance Festival. as you can see his hair is quite long. it goes well with the lascivious look for the maid he would have as his own.

blame it on his mom, but i e-mailed him requesting he be sure to get before and after pictures for us. that prompted a query from him.  ""what, are you afraid you might not recognize me?' to which i replied, "maybe!"

in what was meant as a gentle jibe, i reminded him of what i think are the three most significant hair events in his lifetime.  the first would have to be his first big boy haircut at around age one.  cutting off his soft blond curls was a moment which brought tears all around.

ranking second, or third, i'll let you decide, is a toss-up between the time when after a trip to the family stylist, not liking the results of that cut, he emerged from the bathroom with a completely shaved head.  i've always wondered why he couldn't have taken that leap BEFORE i'd paid good money for the cut.  as i remember he didn't ask permission beforehand, nor give any hint that he was thinking of shaving his head, he just did it.  a subscriber to the theory "it's easier to beg forgiveness after the fact that to gain approval before" it would seem.  at least he has a nicely shaped head.

also in the toss up round is the unselfish act of donating 11 inches of hair to a good cause. this gets my vote for number two, i think.  at least this time losing his hair will do some good and not end up in the bathroom waste basket.

hair, or no hair, no matter--he will remain our baby boy, and near and dear to our hearts, always. aio

    

                                                                

                                                               

 

Them young'uns can hang...

                                                                


a highlight for me each symphony season is the concert featuring the amarillo youth symphony and the winner of the young performers competition.  this past saturday marked the 2010-11 edition of the youth symphony concert.  presented this year was Faust's: Ballet Music.  beginning with Les Nubiennes, progressing through Adagio, Danse antique, Variations de Cleopatre, Le Troyens and Variations du miroir, i sat thinking "this is all pleasant enough but Maestro Kimbo must have picked pieces any good high school orchestra could handle" and "boy the professionals must be bored to tears playing this stuff." 

au contraire, mon cher.  at last the coda, Danse de Phyrne. I'm here to tell you, them kids can hang-- the pace built toward frenetic throughout, the young players matched the pros stroke for stroke, note for note.  it was enough to leave an old fool breathless and in tears.  in a word "wow." credit goes to the youth symphony conductors in preparing these young players for this most excellent performance.

up next was the winner of the young performers competition; J.T. Hassell, 14, a student at St. Andrew's (and a student of Jim Rausher ??) on piano, playing the 1st movement of Camille St. Saeen's Piano Concerto #2.

Take heart good people. A rare gem has been mined from the dust of the panhandle plains.  In a word "amazing"  and even more so in light of this age of video games and limited ambition. That J.T. has the grit, determination and dedication to hone his skill speaks to his character and hints at what might be in his future should he stay the course.

the extended "standing os" and shouted "bravos" were much deserved.

in all, it was an exciting evening capped by an always satisfying ASO performance, Brahms' Symphony # 4 in E minor, Opus 98.

again, these young musicians can hang.  the future of  classical music 'round these parts is in good hands.  already, i'm awaiting the 2012 concert with bated breath.  i hope to see you all there next year. aio

what a difference a day makes...

gone, at least for the day, are the near hurricane force winds that fanned a path of destruction across the area yesterday.  today's agn reports that at least 58 area homes were destroyed and 32,000 acres burned.  one sheriff's deputy was among those taken to area hospitals for smoke inhalation and breathing difficulties.  it reported 34 dogs were saved before the fire consumed willow creek kennels.

the good news in all this is that, so far, no human life has been taken.  however, the lives of 58 families were forever altered by the flames that claimed their homes.  perhaps to a lesser degree, the same can be said for those whose homes were "only damaged" in the fires. February 27, 2011 will be etched into their memories for the rest of their days. forever more, the question will be; where were you when hell broke loose that day in february in 2011? aio 

go to www.amarillo.com/photos/wildfire0222711_1  for pictures of yesterday's catastrophe.

2006, revisited?

the driver of this truck had the good sense to turn around and go in the opposite direction as he neared an area grass fire. conditions are ripe for a repeat of the 2006 grass fires that killed 11 people, 10,000 cattle and claimed numerous structures in it's race across the plains. those fires burned 850,00 acres, that is 1,328 square miles of grassland, leaving a scorched and blackened scar behind. eight towns in the path of that inferno back then were evacuated.

                                                           
conditions are conducive for a repeat of that 2006 horror.  winds this afternoon have calmed to a gentle 36 mph, down from the high of 48 mph (with gusts to 69 mph) i saw earlier in the day.  acres burned today are being reported at 1200. willow creek kennels and 40+ homes have been claimed, and others damaged, in the flames thus far.  mutilple communities have been told to evacuate.

                                                              
with the humidity hovering at 6-8%, with the plentiful dried grasses left behind by an unusually wet spring and summer, conditions for an encore conflagration on the order of 2006 fires is waiting in the wings.

how do these fires get started?  is there some depraved firebug at work here? is there some nut, intent on garnering a cheap thrill, out there with a zippo doing his worst? possibly, but there is a more likely source of the sparks, which when fanned by our panhandle winds, burst into hungry flames that then race before those winds, leaving a trail of ash and blackness in their wake.

                                                           
many of these fires start in open country.  how can that be, you might ask?   the dried  grasses plus the howling springtime winds do not equal a prairie fire.  without a spark the two add up to much ado about nothing.  it is when you add an x-factor, the presence of xcel's, or a local electric co-operative's, transmission lines perhaps, that the equation can equal fires like the one that has burned 1200 acres today. another posssibility for the source of the fires might be a spark from the ubiquitous coal trains that wend their wayacross the plains.  an annonymous source related that one of the fires may have been started by a nogoodnik in the process of trying to steal a trailer by using a cutting torch to free it of the chains holding it.

                                                                

the generator of prairie fires is often the combination of high winds and electric power lines which when whipped together by the wind can result in shower of sparks falling into the tender grasses below.  the result can be a flame, which when propelled by wind can turn into a racing inferno, scrambling fire departments into the face of danger.

panhandle folk are fond of opining in winter, "the only thing between the texas panhandle and the north pole is a barb wire fence-- and the fence is down".  at least for today the temp made it into the 70's and as the smoke cleared the reason for the fence being down came into view.

the area is under an extreme fire danger warning until wednesday.  keep the good folks of the panhandles in your prayers over the coming hours and days. aio
                                                                                                                                   

                                                               

                                                          

  

you just never know...

in the news of late is the story of a 2 year old boy who allegedly contracted a fatal infection from alcohol wipes manufactured by Triad. 

that may be the case, or not, but that particular wipe was in use at the hospital where i work and at hospitals across the country i suspect.  hospitals, any business trying to watch the bottom line are wont to procure needed services from the lowest bidder. while that is a solid business practice i'm sure, perhaps not a good decision in this case. however, saying that unfairly shifts the blame to the buyer and away from the provider.  law suits will most assuredly be in the offing.

the Triad wipes were removed from use at my work as soon as the recall was announced.  nurses are creatures of habit and it was a major pain implementing the alternate plan until another brand of wipes could be had. old school ain't all it's cracked up to be.

is it fair to lay this catastrophe at the feet of the lowest bidder practice?  would purchasing wipes from the next lowest bidder, or the highest bidder for that matter, be a guarantee that their wipes would be sterile? whatever the case, products are purchased in good faith.

the bottom line is that hospitals, anyone in business for that matter, depend on their suppliers to deliver their product as represented. if the rebar going into the 110th floor of the WTC was presented as being of a certain spec, if the wipes supplied to a hospital are said to be sterile, that construction company, that hospital expects that the product will be delivered as promised. in most cases it is.  

you just never know...

European Vacation

                                                                 

is there anything better to soothe the jangled nerves and weary body inflicted by a low census saturday at the work than a bitsy vacation respite?

as a rule, by saturday quittin' time the only thing on my mind is collapsing into the cozy confines of the old lounge chair, rearing back, feet up with a schooner of chilled moscato close at hand, remote at the ready. 

last night, however, was symphony night.  after a quick shower and shave, the usual routine out of the question, i was whisked away on a european vacation guided by maestro kimbo ishii-eto and our ASO.

i don't pretend to know anything about classical music.  still it is clearly evident, even to this un-sophisticate, the growth our ASO has seen under the deft baton of the maestro.

i was moved to tears by orchestra's sibelius' karelius overture, opus 10.  as often as not i could just as well do without the guest artist. the exception du jour proved to be bruch's scottish fantasy, opus 46 featuring kyoko takezawa's riveting, strad worthy performance. our wondrous hall, and kyoko's face reflected the nuance of every wondrous note.

the highlight of the evening, for me, came after intermission. lawsy, i say, lawsy! i was carried away to a place where aching backs, fallen arches and frazzled nerves dare not tread. grieg's sigurd josalfar, opus 56 and strauss' don juan TRv 156, opus 20-- conducted by maestro kimbo and played by the marvel that is ASO lifted my spirit on the air of every amazing note.

the maestro was a blur of exhausting, conduction electricity, educing an infinitely precise performance from the house band on my saturday night vaca.

Maestro Kimbo and members of saturday eve's ASO, i would sum up the trip you took me on in a single word. Bravo!  aio