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Crow's Column

Last month I was "cleaning oil from beaches seeing only what was bad" (Cake, Daria) and this month I've had what my family calls a C-change. It's not that I think the world is all clean and politicians are faithfully doing what's best for the country, it's just that I've been back to visit family.

Family always brings me down to the ground, takes my eyes off the horizon and straightens me out a bit. This year was a grand time because I saw just about everyone. I flew into Houston and immediately drove to San Antonio in a rental to see my father and his family. Then I drove back to Houston and hung with a friend (who is more like family than most of my family) before catching a ride to Bastrop State Park with some family members. We always have my grandmother's (on my Mom's side) family reunion in Bastrop; it's for all the siblings of my grandmother and their offspring, usually about 40 people attend. Then drive up to Dallas with my Mom, hook up with my cousin to see my grandfather and fly out. Quite a trip to do in five days.

It was great seeing my brother and sisters. I will spend more time with them as this year develops, hopefully Anna and I will take a spin through there at Christmas time. I have included here a picture of my youngest (and only) brother climbing on the roof at Bastrop State Park. I can't express in words how happy I was to see everyone again and thanks to my older sisters that had to drive so far on such short notice to see me, it meant a lot.

Then at the reunion, it was refreshing to find that even in the deep south(west) there are people that agree with me politically about the war. It's great to see everyone and remember what makes this country worth worrying over. In the photo below you can see my mom and dad, sister, uncle and aunts and cousins. This doesn't show everyone by any stretch, but it's a good sampling of the event.

Seeing my family tipped the scales in favor of getting a dog and living a humble life instead of buying some new things for the house like a deck or a hot tub. I decided that I needed to remember my roots more and live by an older standard than the material mentality that is marketed to us now. Here's a collection of pics that I took: Dix Pix.

Visiting Pawpaw and Bonnie I was glad to see them up and around doing much better than my phone interaction over the past few weeks had led me to believe. I'm looking forward to Christmas and hopeful for a healthy summer.

Here's a shocker: my favorite band is a Christian band. They are called Mortal Combine, which makes all us young folks think of Johnny Cage and Scorpion and maybe even that techno song from the movie, but these guys aren't young. They are an older, country influenced Southern Rock band complete with steel guit (pedal steel) that takes you to another place. It's odd to hear a band play Neil Young (when they do covers) and buy people drinks and then break into an original about Jesus conquering Satan. Still I think these guys have 'It'. Every musician is fine and the band gels so much you don't notice the lyrics all the time. I don't know why they aren't the most famous Christian Rock band of all time. They are way better than most of those no talent hacks. Here's the Myspace account: http://www.myspace.com/Mortalcombine The song Christ is the Answer on the Myspace is in response to one of those gaudy billboards out on the highway, kinda cool.

It's been a good month. Four more days to file for a tax extension for me. All of you readers out there that owe money remember that the patriotic thing to do is file for an extension and write a letter to the white house in the same day.

Crow