You look at the calendar and one day it’s Tuesday, then you look up gain and a whole week has gone by. With no blogging, even! Well I’m here to let y’all know I’m still around. We had our first 90-degree day today, the earliest in history, thanks to the El Nino year we’re having, and folks around here are already dreading that nice n’ easy slip upwards to the 100s in just a few weeks. That would make the summer here in the Valley of the Sun a very long one, for sure.

As I’m blogging right now Peach the rabbit is snoozing next to me. I’d love to get a picture of him because he sleeps on his side with his eyes kind of rolled up inside his head so that he looks dead. It would be very cool to snap a pic of him, but I don’t want to disturb him.

I’ve spent a lot of time lately on my golf game. I’ve played a bunch of rounds and seem stuck in the 98 to 103 range so my goal of bogey golf is still a bit a ways away. The good news is that the changes I implemented in my short game have finally come around and it is better than ever – right now I’m a scrambling fool! The bad news is that I’ve kinda lost that power draw my swing coach Alex Black and I had so finely cultivated last summer; what once was a thing of beauty turned into an ugly massive hook, and the fix I tried to implement has reintroduced a wimpy, Jeb! Bush-esque fade or, at worse, a shank. So there is still work there to be done to reclaim what has been lost.

One of the best Christmas gifts I’ve ever received was the “Master and Commander” series of books by Patrick O’Brian, about the exploits of Captain “Lucky Jack” Aubrey and Dr. Stephen Maturin during the Napoleonic wars. The movie Master and Commander – The far Side of the World was an excellent portrayal of the characters in the series, and while that particular book is something like #7 in the series (I’m presently on #4), some of the scenes they used were taken from earlier books in the series that I’ve already read. It’s truly amazing how O’Brian captures the life and culture of warfare and life during that era. There are actually 20 books in the series, so it will take me some time to get through them.

I’m convinced that Donald Trump is going to trounce the field in South Carolina. After that, he’s going to be hard to stop in getting the Republican nomination for president. Is he feisty? Boisterous? Passionate? Borderline obnoxious? Absolutely. But I believe he’s exactly what this country needs right now. Go Trump!

I used to like Ted Cruz but I’ve come to find him creepy and obnoxious in the way he and those around him ply his religious beliefs as if it his campaign were some kind of crusade. If he had just stuck to conservative principles I think he would have done better; now he’s virtually unelectable.

I’m also convinced Hillary Clinton will not only be indicted, but will drop out of the race for the Democratic nomination at some point due to “health reasons” (meaning, voters and the Party establishment have gotten sick of her). I fully expect Bernie Sanders or Joe Biden to be the Democratic nominee, and Mass. senator Elizabeth Warren as their VP choice. And The Donald and his VP choice Marco Rubio will beat them both like a rented mule come November.

Jeb Bush is an embarrassment. And to think this was who the GOP establishment had in mind for the 2016 nomination! The more I listen to Donald Trump, the more I’m happy to see him destroy the clowns that Republicans and conservatives have had to deal with these last three presidential election cyles. As I’ve said before, BURN IT TO THE GROUND!

Glenn Beck is a bat-$hit crazy, pathetic excuse for a whack job.

I’ve been playing my Bayou Country music collection a lot lately. One of my all-time favorite tunes that fits perfectly on it is Emmylou Harris and The Band doing Evangeline.