Clinging to Guns and Religion

I was invited today to go out to the desert and do some shooting. Here in California there is empty land in the desert that doesn't belong to anybody and is under the supervision of the Bureau of Land Management. People can go out there and just hang out. Who knew? I don't personally have any guns but I have done some shooting before and the people I was with had plenty of guns; rifles, pistols, and shotguns. I was not much of a target shooter, but I had some success shooting trap. Then we went to the Bass Pro Shops and had some friend fish. Today guns, tomorrow communion.

New Locution

I realized that my writing vocabulary could/should be larger. I read things and I think, "Wow, that is a great word. Why don't I ever use it." I ruminated on my vocabulary and the myriads* of words that I do not use. I discerned that I have ample space in the capacious cavern under my pate to store these words. So I decided that as I read I will surreptitiously gather some of these great terms and then use them when I write. I apologize if you feel that this lubberly paragraph has been foisted^ on you. I am not trying to be impudent nor do I think it is a good idea to make new vocabulary the cynosure of a blog. I am just hoping that with practice to bring about a proliferation of superlative terminology.

*According to Merriam Webster online this is proper usage. Myriad is a noun and can be plural.
^Special thanks to Aase for this one.

On a Night Such as This

I just now, in this very moment as I sit on my deck listening to Ray LaMontagne with my bare feet up on a chair, found one thing that I like about wind: I like the sound that it makes when it blows through the trees. Southern California is currently experiencing some Santa Anna wind activity. This means that in the canyons there are particles of air moving at speeds of up to 60mph. Here on my deck I feel only a light breeze but I can hear the air through the trees.
It reminds of the howling sound that cold winter wind makes at night. Some of you reading this may be hearing it now. It is a similar sound that wind makes on humid summer evenings as it blows up a storm. I've always liked those sounds.
Don't misunderstand me. I despise wind when it becomes annoyingly loud and steals sound right from your mouth, but the respectful whisper, howl, and hum of a decent breeze is something else. I don't know why. It just is.

Trash Mail

There is something in my mailbox almost everyday. Most often it is a stack of advertisements. They come in many sizes shapes and colors and I have no use for any of them. There is a trash can by the mailboxes and sometimes I just throw the advertisements in there. I started to recycle them now.
I don't think of it as junk mail but more as trash mail. It is mail that goes straight to the trash. I think it should be illegal for people to send me trash through the mail. I'm afraid that my real mail might get lost in it. But I realize that if the Post Office didn't deliver all those adds they would probably go out of business.