Los Chicharrones. Much cooler sounding than the American name – Pork Rinds. No matter what you call them, they are delicious. I buy homemade ones at La Palmita, a local gas station/market. Made from deep fried pork belly or skin, with zero carbs and half the calories of potato chips they are better for you than chips, and other processed snacks.
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The great sheet of cloth covering the name of The Kennedy Center now appears to me more a funeral shroud. It is one of the many physical and political changes that make DC a less desirable place to visit right now. Let’s take a tour of those changes, including endless new fences, construction zones, and chopped-down trees.
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My war with the cattails continues. I have attacked them regularly at the pond for two years now. I trudge in the mud on the shoreline or arrive by boat, pulling them out one by one. They are densely packed and their root systems interconnect. I think they secretly laugh at my efforts.
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Our dog Carmen and I were sitting on the front porch at Tilghman watching the world go by. Truth be told, not much world goes by at 8:30AM on a Sunday morning at the end of a road at the end of an Island. As I sipped my coffee, it occurred to me neither of us minded.
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I’m concerned. You should be as well. This week, Secretary of the Army Daniel Driscoll resigned. With his resignation, only one of the four most senior Army positions is confirmed by the Senate, and among the ten senior Army positions requiring confirmation, only half are confirmed. The others are either vacant, or people are serving in acting roles.
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It wasn’t date night. We weren’t celebrating anything. It was just your average Wednesday evening, and we were tired of cooking. We decided to go out and wanted a nice restaurant. I said to Cathy, “Field and Main?”and she immediately answered “YES!” Off to Marshall we drove.
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Carmen saw the intruder first. Using her big-girl bark, she alerted me to the danger. I called her off and she came to me. Damn. There lay a copperhead on the edge of the garage concrete, not more than eight feet from where a copperhead bit me in 2012.
Continue reading “Copperhead Redux”
If still alive, my buddy Tim would turn 71 on August 27th. I was recently thinking about Tim, while reminiscing about our friend Howard’s 10th birthday party in 1965. I still laugh at the story of an usher almost kicking us out of the Roxy Theatre when Tim shouted out, “LOOK AT THAT SPITFIRE!” in the middle of the movie, “Von Ryan’s Express.”
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201 years ago, on August 23, 1825, The Marquis de Lafayette visited Warrenton, VA as part of his United States Farewell Tour. 5,000 residents cheered him. They understood how he and France made America’s Independence possible, a contrast to our current president’s attitude about the French.
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My military career was almost over before it began. When I was a First Lieutenant in Germany, our Battalion deployed to Hohenfels for ten days of training. On the last day, it appeared that Spec 4 Moses Saxon III lost his M16, a career killer for the entire chain of command, starting with me.
Continue reading “Accountability”
Live Life Exuberantly 