Author: Vic Socotra

Weather Report: It’s an Exciting World!

Goodness, a busy morning in the country! There is plenty to be excited about, though these days an old word with meanings we all understood now contains new elements. “Horror” is one of them, but we are old and some of the new interpretations no longer have any particular meaning. “Fear” is another one of […]

After a Holiday

The Scribblers were uncomfortable this morning. We normally enjoy the “4th” in a vaguely Midwetern manner, and we had a good one. Flag banners were nailed up, a brand new 3 X 5 US Flag fluttered from the staff on the back deck of the Big House. The food was perfect, real country fixins’ from […]

Arrias: If You Can Keep It

It isn’t easy to be an American. The sometimes contentious proceedings in 1787 that eventually yielded our Constitution were behind closed doors (and windows). But the people were very much interested. When the prolonged debate concluded and Benjamin Franklin walked out of the Philadelphia State House he was asked by Mrs. Elizabeth Powel: “Well, Doctor, […]

04 July 2022

A short one this morning, fellow Citizens. We here at the Scribblers Section at rural Refuge Farm have been reading a remarkable book about the events of our times. It is a fascinating book, and the Fire Ring occupants are struck by something remarkable. We have had the opportunity to live our lives in what […]

Top Ten

You might have heard that the Supreme Court just finished their session. They made a lot of noise with several decisions accompanied by a variety of levels of emotion. Probably the most vocal of them was about the overturning of a decision made nearly fifty years ago. It was based on the Women’s Health Section […]

The Word This Year

The current malaise abroad in the land is sort of astonishing. We noted it last year with mild surprise. We hadn’t even heard the term “malaise” in a couple decades. We know it from former President Jimmy Carter’s speech in 1979, the year I was living on an old ship in the Far East, saluting […]

The Long Weekend

The Bolivian Workers are here, arriving early-bright. There is a stated goal, arrived at in a mixture of languages generally characterized as Spanglish. Lately it has become a common tongue at Refuge Farm. We also believe we have general agreement on the proposition that will have the extended new porch and associated roof on the […]

Historic Times

Editor’s Note: The Supremes are at it again. The last of their decisions for this term will curb the power of regulatory agencies as “unconstitutional.” There may be another one on the “Remain in Mexico” policy later this morning. This will provoke more discussion atop the decisions on the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 10th and […]

Arrias and His Muse: First Victim

Weather suited news, both were grim and gray, Wars dragged on, famine and cholera loom, Gray cloaks hug green giants, we approach a new day, Nuclear tension, are we approaching doom? The morning warms, the trees shed their gray cloaks, But the dire news did not get much better, Politicians shift blame, but problems are […]

Arrias and His Muse: The Land

Editor’s Note: A trusted group of landed Latin American’s has arrived at Refuge Farm to commence work on the new screened-in front porch. There will be cheerful chaos over the next few weeks around the front Fire Ring, new steel roofing and the joy of summer construction. A Supreme Court in controversy about the nature […]