Author: Vic Socotra

Profit and Loss

  The pelting rain made me think of Dwight Eisenhower, which is a bit of a leap, I’ll grant, but capitalism in the microcosm has much in common with the awesome decision that resulted in the commitment to hurl the Allied Forces against Hitler’s Atlantic Wall at D-Day in 1944.   Like Dwight, the Hermanos Brothers Paving Company had all […]

Yes No

(LT Richard Welsch) No story this morning- dog pooped in the bathroom, had to write an obit, blah blah, and a nine o’clock I have to run to. Rain, so no Mexicans paving.  The President is going to take questions from the American people via internet later today, confirming my suspicion that he thinks he was […]

A1 Towing

(A-1 Towing- “Your Choice in Arlington for efficient vehicle removal!”)   It is one minute past the deadline for the residents of Big Pink to move their damned cars, or have them moved by force by the skilled professionals of A-1 Towing. This is day two of the Main Event, the resurfacing by the Hermanos […]

Confidence Game

(FDIC Chair Sheila C. Bair)   It is all about how we feel when we get up in the morning. The Mexicans have brought a gigantic machine to the grounds at Big Pink. It looks vaguely like a Tyrannosaurus Rex, and eats old asphalt.   We are going to re-pave the parking lot, and when […]

Boots Boots Boots

(Boots)   We are still at war, as best I can determine. There were suicide bombings in Iraq this morning, and ambushes in Afghanistan, and the Pakis appear to be folding in the face of the Taliban. The fundamentalists have spilled out of the Swat Valley and have not put down their weapons as promised. […]

Columbia Gardens

Vic 23 March 2009 Columbia Gardens Columbia Gardens Cemetery buttresses the eastern end of Buckingham, where the little houses end and the garden apartments begin. It real Arlington, family-owned and operated since 1917. In those days, the gently-rolling thirty-eight acres were surrounded by small farms.   In the Spring, before the leaves erupt on the […]

Pains and Penalties

(The old Parish Stocks at Meldreth)    The first blooms are out, brilliant pastels on the bushes and bright cheery yellow on the daffodils out in front of Big Pink. The earth is repeating the cycle as it always does. So are we.   I wish we were up to it, but it appears that […]

Tar and Feathers

(Dome of the Capitol)   I was in one of those meetings with the government yesterday in the big aluminum breadbox across the river that put things in focus.   We were talking about in important financial initiative that will ensure the health and comfort of the program I work. I should say that we […]

Maps, Charts and Geodesy

It is Saint Patrick’s Day today, and naturally my thoughts are elsewhere. I saw that the Free State is offering discount deals on Irish Citizenship. Apparently if you can demonstrate that your Great Grandfather was from the Auld Sod you can qualify for dual nationality.   I have to check that out. Grandfather Mike was […]

Masada

The Pakistani Supreme Court judges fired by ex-strongman Mussharif have been reinstated, and the oily bastard Nawaz Sharif has stared down the elected President of Pakistan, “10%” Zardari. I guess that is good, if the nuclear arsenal is secure this morning.   I don’t like the passivity of watching things play out there any more […]