(Image grab taken from a propaganda video uploaded on June 8, 2014, by the jihadist group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)- or Syria, (ISIS) depending on which part of the new Caliphate you prefer. Photo AFP/Getty Images) Being a voting member of Virginia’s 7th Congressional District is a liberating feeling. It […]

(Eric Cantor concedes in Richmond. Photo Steve Helber/Associated Press). I did not vote yesterday. I used to live in the wrong congressional district, and my registration is still in Arlington, though the primary residence is down toward Richmond at the Farm. The Democratic primary was yesterday, and I was concentrating on other matters. I thought […]

(The first two pages of Big Mama’s Baby Book. She kept meticulous records. I still have boxes of check stubs from 1949 down in the garage at the farm. Photo Socotra). It is a birthday today- mine, as it happens, along with a few million other residents of the globe. I would be the one […]

(Botta’s Pocket Gopher (Thomomys bottae). I did not get this close- not yet, anyway. Photo Wikipedia) The new tenants moved in without benefit of lease. Sort of like Mrs. Mouse in the Mailbox last year, dammit. I am not happy with the trespassers, and I am not going to get into who is trespassing on […]

Well, it was great wandering off into the days when people knew the difference between right and wrong, and knew that there were things you could do and things you couldn’t. It was also good to spend some time with people who were real, amalgamated heroes. Of course, the reason that they were heroes was […]

I was going to do something different this morning- we have spent a fair amount of time lately looking at the vastness of the conflict we call World War II. Many folks have brought up memories of the men who fought at Midway and stormed the beaches in Normandy lately, but I think it is […]

It is the 70th anniversary of the invasion of Europe, and the beginning of the end of Adolph Hitler’s domination of Europe. There are still veterans alive who were there, and some of them have returned to the beaches where they landed, and changed the course of history. The Presidents of the United States and […]

(The manuscript of the book about the life and times of RADM Mac Showers. Photo Socotra). Things are all over the map about developments in Afghanistan this morning. I am deeply disturbed about it all, but I am going to let others comment and have the thing play out on its own merits. This is […]

There are so many issues in play this morning that I am a bit dazed. The glorious weather continues, and it feels good to be alive and crashing around at the farm. I don’t know what to think about the Kings beating the Blackhawks to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals. Do you? The most […]