July 4 and we turn the badger loose, whoop and holler, shoot the anvil and fire the rockets. Why? Because 243 years ago 56 white men, 26 to 70 years of age, gathered in a stifling hot room, not much bigger than a two car garage, in; ♫Foul, fetid, fuming, foggy, filthy Philadelphia!♫ and signed […]
Blog Archives
What You Have Done.
Oct 8
Mr. President; I write this, my first letter to an elected official, in the hope that you are not fully aware of the ramifications of using the National Park Service as a tool, indeed, a weapon, against your political opponents. If there is any small corner left in our Government that people from all parties […]
What Did You Watch in the War, Daddy?
Sep 27
Ever taken a picture of something, a person or group of people; and noticed five or ten or twenty years later, that there is something in the background; a car, house, building, an old barn, uncle Fred mowing the lawn, a 59 Chevy Impala Convertible; that you’d really like to remember better, but it’s out […]
How Old Am I?
Sep 15
UPDATED 07/13/2015 I’m old enough to have put a quarter and two dimes my father gave me into a cigarette machine, asked the man at the gas station to help me pull the very stiff lever to dispense a pack of my father’s brand, thanked the man, and carried my purchase home to dad. I’m old enough to […]
Should We Have Dropped the Bomb on Hiroshima?
May 5
“Every one talks about the weather, but no one does anything about it.” – Mark Twain? Every one talks about history and a lot of folks like to do something about it. They spin fanciful theories saying, with a certainty anyone who deals with real life day in and out can never feel, that if […]
Report From The Front
May 2
For the last several months I have been commenting at several different websites on various topics; mostly religious themes; Creation vs. Evolution, Abortion, Same Sex Marriage; that sort of thing. I comment from the perspective of a life-long Christian raised in the Baptist church, mainstream Protestant. Some of the people I engage in a lively […]
MASTER of ALL I SURVEY
Feb 22
MASTER of ALL I SURVEY W.A. Adams Don’t want to be hurt by Jihadist Don’t want to be scared anymore You say it will cost me my freedoms Well, I’ll leave them outside by the door Take all the ones you have to Leave me the ones I can keep But please, don’t take my cable […]
Why do the innocent suffer?
Jan 31
Why do the innocent suffer? Why does evil go unpunished? Far better men than me have chewed on these questions for eons. I have read and listened to a few of them and most have answers or solutions that don’t really satisfy, they don’t close the circle. The answers I have been taught and have […]
Falling Gracefully
Jan 20
Many there are that can fall, but few can arrive at the felicity of falling gracefully. Alexander Pope ‘He’s going to the dirt’ – – expression used by tower hands when someone falls from a 1,000 ft. radio tower When you first begin to fall, from a tree, a ladder, a cliff, for the first […]
Where Have all the Graveyards Gone?
Jan 7
“Where have all the graveyards gone? Long time passing Where have all the graveyards gone Long time ago?” I like graveyards. Tired, old graveyards best. They are quiet, serene, well sculpted and orderly. There usually aren’t any crowds in graveyards. You can wander, unhurried, amid the trees, stones and flowers and reflect without interruption on […]
Things to Do
Jan 6
Lately I’ve been doing a lot of writing, but it’s mostly comments to others articles on other blogs. This is my response to a list of “Things to learn to do.” on ‘The Huffington Post’, I go there mostly to rattle the cages which I suppose isn’t very admirable but its infinitely amusing. The ‘Posts’ list included […]
Where Have all the Soldiers Gone?
Jan 2
“Where have all the soldiers gone? Long time passing Where have all the soldiers gone Long time ago?” If you ask this question in Switzerland they will answer; “They went home.” In 1847 there was a month-long Civil War in Switzerland that produced about a hundred casualties. Since that time no Swiss soldier has fired a shot […]
Where Have all the Young Men Gone?
Jan 1
Where have all the young men gone? Long time passing Where have all the young men gone Long time ago?” The correct answer to the songs question is; they haven’t gone anywhere, they are still here , for the most part, among us. Young men become mature men in the natural order of things. Then […]
The Slaughter of the Innocent; It’s Time to Try Another Way
Dec 15
As I write this, another horror has been visited upon us; a madman has walked through an elementary school in Connecticut, killing twenty children as young as five years old, and seven adults before turning a gun on himself. The survivors, teachers and staff present during the shooting, and the parents of the children killed have […]
Where Have all the Young Girls Gone?
Dec 10
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“Where have all the young girls gone Long time passing? Where have all the young girls gone Long time ago?” Girls used to dress for school. Of course they did. I mean – they used to dress for school as though it was someplace special. If you saw a group of girls from 1965 on […]
Where Have All the Flowers Gone?
Dec 2
‘Where have all the flowers gone Long time passing? Where have all the flowers gone Long time ago?’ We went through a lot of flowers, my generation did, a lot of flowers. We planted them and watered them from Aquarius’ pitcher. We picked and scattered them across the land, around the world. Wove them into […]
Don’t You Worry at All
Nov 10
Business everywhere is slowing down to a crawl, like a big rig truck that has run out of gas and is coasting down the road on momentum alone. Eventually it will come to a dead stop. But you shouldn’t worry at all. Your Congressman won’t suffer the least little bit. His salary will be deposited […]
The Ghosts of Benghazi; Lost in Libya
Nov 3
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“The Things you do come back to you, as though they knew the way” – Lorenz Hart It’s funny how places that figure in our history pop up again as though they’re not quite finished with us; we were through with Benghazi long ago, but it isn’t through with us. There are eighty and ninety year […]
Judith Durham Never Had a Wardrobe Malfunction
Oct 21
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Judith Durham, Linda Ronstadt, Judith Durham Never Had a Wardrobe Malfunction That’s what the title to this little soiree was supposed to look like, but I still can’t get this *~%/{|=&%< word processor to see things my way. Judith Durham was my first choice to represent what I remember from my youth that was good , talented […]
Why Nador is Smiling
Oct 8
There is a picture taken by a U.S. Army Signal Corps photographer at the end of World War II, of a woman who has just come out of a German concentration camp. Her name is given as Nador Livia. Her self composure and her inexplicable smile have always held a fascination for me; most images of […]
Defusing Muslim Rage
Sep 21
It’s late summer in the Northern Hemisphere and signs of the season are everywhere. In wheat fields the stalks are bending under the load of ripened grain, ready to harvest; trees are dropping the last of their fruit; hives are full of honey; and the Muslims are rioting. In cities, towns, and villages all over […]
A Little More Room
Sep 17
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Audels Country House For you who liked my earlier piece of small cottages from the classic Builders Guide, https://thelastminstrel.wordpress.com/2012/07/30/a-little-cottage-of-your-own/ here is a larger example of early Twentieth Century residential architecture. The ten foot Piazza, or porch, circling both floors has me at first sight before even looking at the floor plan, but if you must […]
Clever Chaps
Sep 10
Reuters; The European Central Bank and the U.S. Federal Reserve will take measures to support struggling economies. —– U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Germany’s finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, in a joint statement issued after their meeting on Monday, emphasized “the need for policymakers to adopt and implement all reform steps required to deal with the […]
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Sep 10
At the conventions for the Republican and Democratic parties, we were treated to a sight that, if I were a feminist, I would do every thing in my power to cover up and suppress any mention of in the press. A group of about a dozen women paraded up and down in front of the […]
A Little Cottage of Your Own
Jul 30
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Here are a few plans for modest little cottages from AUDELS GUIDE to CARPENTRY – circa 1906. Audels is a series of guide books for almost every ‘mechanical, engineering, and building trade’ These pictures are from my fathers four volume set ‘Carpenters and Builders Guide’ published in 1906. The books cover every aspect of the […]
Why James Holmes is Alive
Jul 24
James Holmes walked into a theatre in Aurora, Colorado with a shotgun, semi-automatic rifle, and a semi-automatic pistol. In a matter of minutes, he killed twelve movie goers, wounded more than fifty, and then walked back out the door and was later arrested in the parking lot by police without a so much as a […]
New Cabinet Post
Jul 20
I’d like to make a serious proposal that could bring a better perspective to those tasked with executing the laws of our fair land. A new Cabinet Officer , appointed by congress, to serve in the executive branch as a liaison between the Legislature and the Executive. Its title would be – ” The Department of History” – […]
Changing the World
Jul 18
If you were brought up in the Baptist Church, you were probably taught that one of the most important duties of a Christian was to Witness to your fellow-man; to share the ‘Hope that is in your heart’. There are basically two ways to accomplish this sacred duty. One way is highly effective, very difficult, […]
The Foolish End of the Board
Jul 14
When I was twelve or so, I started working summers on my fathers construction jobs. I think he paid me ten dollars a day, which, for a twelve-year-old kid in 1962, was a fortune. [ He subtracted the dollar or two a day he advanced me for lunch; there’s no free lunch. ] Most of my […]
God is Dead – – – again
Jul 10
[special report from Jake’s Post Super Collision Garage—Somewhere, Alabama;] Scientists today announced the successful conclusion of a decades long search to find the ellusive “Dodge Particle”; the original building block of The Automobile, which they proclaim explains the existence of cars without the need to believe in the supernatural creator Henry Ford. Working at the worlds […]
Time Turns Over
May 31
TIME TURNS OVER by; W A Adams 1st verse Oh the rich keep on diggin’ to find more money The poor keep on spending to keep themselves poor And the folks who are happy keep laughing and chuckling And the people who worry keep walking the floor Chorus: And the rivers run dry and the […]
Despair
May 16
Despair by Walter A Adams Sometimes I think I could lay me right down here and die And the traffic might stop long enough for my hearse to go by No one would notice the hole here where I used to be And I doubt anybody would wonder what happened to me. It seems like whats […]
What Women Want
May 16
When God drove Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden, they walked untill they got tired, then Adam stopped to catch his breath and get his bearings. Eve plopped herself down on a rock, invented “The Look”, and directed it full force at Adam. The first man felt the hair on the back […]
The Two Things Maggots Won’t Eat
May 10
From Houston to the Gulf of Mexico the land lays flat as a flood plain, a flood plain for the Sea. Halfway between Houston and Galveston Island, on I-45, you come to Dickenson Bayou; a creek that meanders lazily to the east about five miles to Dickenson Bay, which opens on the Houston Ship Channel. Next to the […]
Greed
May 8
You hear a lot about greed these days, it being an election year. Usually the term is applied to business’; as in – The Greedy Big Oil Companies. The inference of course is that the Greedy Big Oil Companies jack up the price of oil at their whim, Just To Be Mean, and to take in […]
How Then Should We Pray
May 6
Should we pray standing up, kneeling, sitting, or prostrated on our face? Does your body’s’ position affect the reception of your prayers? How long should we pray? A minute, hour, the time it takes a tall candle to burn down and snuff itself out? What kind of language should we use? High formal English? Street slang? […]
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