Culture - A boy name sue

This is a great song by Johnny Cash

Well my daddy left home when I was three
And he didn't leave much to Ma and me
Just this old guitar and an empty bottle of booze
Now, I don't blame him 'cause he run and hid
But the meanest thing that he ever did
Was before he left, he went and named me "Sue"

Well, he must o' thought that is quite a joke
And it got a lot of laughs from a' lots of folk
It seems I had to fight my whole life through
Some gal would giggle and I'd get red
And some guy'd laugh and I'd bust his head
I tell ya, life ain't easy for a boy named "Sue"

Well, I grew up quick and I grew up mean
My fist got hard and my wits got keen
Roam from town to town to hide my shame
But I made me a vow to the moon and stars
I'd search the honky-tonks and bars
And kill that man who gave me that awful name

Well, it was Gatlinburg in mid-July
And I just hit town and my throat was dry
I thought I'd stop and have myself a brew
At an old saloon on a street of mud
There at a table, dealing stud
Sat the dirty, mangy dog that named me "Sue"

Well, I knew that snake was my own sweet dad
From a worn-out picture that my mother'd had
And I knew that scar on his cheek and his evil eye
He was big and bent and gray and old
And I looked at him and my blood ran cold
And I said: "My name is 'Sue!' How do you do!?
Now you gonna die!"
Yeah that's what I told 'em

Well, I hit him hard right between the eyes
And he went down, but to my surprise
He come up with a knife and cut off a piece of my ear
But I busted a chair right across his teeth
And we crashed through the wall and into the street
Kicking and a' gouging in the mud and the blood and the beer

I tell ya, I've fought tougher men
But I really can't remember when
He kicked like a mule and he bit like a crocodile
I heard him laugh and then I heard him cuss
He went for his gun and I pulled mine first
He stood there lookin' at me and I saw him smile

And he said, "Son, this world is rough
And if a man's gonna make it, he's gotta be tough
And I know I wouldn't be there to help ya along
So I give ya that name and I said goodbye
I knew you'd have to get tough or die
And it's the name that helped to make you strong"

Yeah he said, "Now you just fought one hell of a fight
And I know you hate me, and you got the right
To kill me now, and I wouldn't blame you if you do
But ya ought to thank me, before I die
For the gravel in ya guts and the spit in ya eye
'Cause I'm the son-of-a-bitch that named you "Sue"
Yeah what could I do, what could I do

I got all choked up and I threw down my gun
Called him my Pa, and he called me his son
And I come away with a different point of view
And I think about him, now and then
Every time I try and every time I win
And if I ever have a son, I think I'm gonna name him
Bill or George! Anything but Sue! I still hate that name! Yeah

Texas - The Houston Livestock and Rodeo

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Ecuador - Storytime: The power of the village

Our guide led us into the Ecuadorean jungle and stopped somewhere in the middle, to tell us his very personal story, he felt compelled to tell it.

He was from a local native settlement but did well at school, and went to university in Quito, the big city. There he had a girlfriend.

He came back to visit his native settlement and found unknown to him while he was away, they had chosen a wife for him, and they were building a home for the new couple!

He was not happy, he loved someone else, but the village ethos was very strong, and he was reabsorbed by his community.  When he went back to Quito he had to explain to his girlfriend what had transpired.....

He is fluent in his native language, Spanish, and English, and with the chef, runs the off the grid lodge for the owner. Although he is working a few miles from where he was born, the outside world comes to him.

2020 - A castle in Texas

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2020 - An excellent story teller

Victoria Johnson was the guest speaker, at an event hosted by the Houston Garden Club in the St Luke's Methodist Church.  She spoke of the life of David Hosack, and the Elgin Botanic Garden, on the island of Manhattan.  She spoke with clarity and emphasis, and held the audience's attention for an hour. A joy to listen too.

It was held in the Fellowship hall, a great venue for speakers and events.

Ecuador in Pictures

Three days in Quito and the Amazon

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Texas - The butterflies are here

Texas - The curse of full employment

Story time - Tales from the ophthalmologist

My wife was seeing double with reading glasses after cataract surgery. One eye was distant, one close up.

History 

• Got a prescription from the ophthalmologist and had two pairs of lenses and frames made. When they came they were unusable, she had double vision.
• Went back to the ophthalmologist and reported the issue, they checked the prescription, and had the one pair remade.  Same issue.
• Went back to the ophthalmologist and they diagnosed the issue was not looking through the center of the lens.  Remade the lenses. Same issue.

Today

We went back to the ophthalmologist, appointment was at 3:15 pm, left the building at 6:00 pm.  We saw four people. We only wanted to see the ophthalmologist.

The optician checked and measured the problem glasses. A waste of time.

The medical assistant checked the eyes very carefully and diagnosed Esotropia (cross eyes) and the need for a 2.5 diopter prism addition to the left eye.

The ophthalmologist checked the eyes again, and said the lenses were incorrectly made and the viewing angle was not through the center of the lens.  He demonstrated the double vision, and the non-double vision. It was not Esotropia.

He walked us out to the optician, and asked her to mark on the lens the exact place the eyes were looking through the lens. It was critical to look through the center of the optics. "Do you understand?" he said to her.   I was on guard.

She started to reach over and do it sideways.  I said, "Don't you think it would be more accurate if you face the patient straight on?"  She move the chair to be aligned. She put two red dots on the lens.  Then she left to check with the ophthalmologist if it was correct.  When she came back she had "lost" one of the red dots and had to recheck again.

She got out a box and said, "I need to check this myself." The device measured the distance between the pupils.  She said 6.4.

I said, "So you if you measure the distance between the red dots it should be close to the same distance.  So she measured. The number was different, but she would not reveal what it was, just "close."

I asked 6.4 what?  She said degrees, and after a pause said millimeters.   She meant centimeters.

We left, "Call us when they are ready."

It was dark outside.

2020 - Junk House update

The inside is fixed up, but hard to see.  The outside is being covered in old overlapped ceder fence pickets.

New aluminium window



The back of the house, the metal cover over the door is from an old vehicle

 

Springtime in South Texas