CE Wills

   Hey, everyone. I have found that you can not put nature in a box, she'll break free every time. I know that sounds like Jurassic Park but it's true.     I have this mockingbird that hangs around here. I have written about him before. You may remember my post called Mockingbird Torments Squirrels . This weird bird would imitate the cry of a hawk and scare the dickens out of these squirrels. Remarkable as that may sound, I have a new one for you. Most of us have probably seen a hawk glide on the thermal currents and envied them their freedom and power. Did you think another bird might feel that way?     Today I was walking down my driveway and I saw a mockingbird turn sideways to the wind and let it sweep him to the east, just like a hawk. I've never seen a mockingbird do that. Of course he was very low compared to a hawk and his wings didn't do as efficient a job but he was giving it the old college try. If he had tried to catch a thermal and ...

    Hey, everyone. I was just thumbing through the current issue of Rolling Stone . One of the regular features in the magazine is called "Ask Dr. Ozzy". Here's the recipe. Readers write in with questions for Ozzy Osbourne. Yes, that rocker person. I am truly amazed how good his advice is to some rather freaky questions. I can not share any of them on the blog but the questions cover the entire compass, believe me. In a way it makes good sense for Ozzy to know a lot about unconventional problems because his life has pretty much ran a gauntlet of strangeness. Also, the dude doesn't judge any one for their quirks and he is very funny.     Which reminds me. I have really been enjoying Baggage with Jerry Springer. The stuff that these people own up to as baggage is mind-boggling. I think that I would make a good host for the show on those nights when Jerry was indisposed. The show's producers still haven't called me, failing utterly to recognize my talent. Sigh....

    Hey, everyone. First off, I'd like to thank kPg for his kind comment on my review for Source Code. I went over to his blog and read several entries. I enjoyed his posts. If you want, try his blog at Life From Head to Foot. He has a nice style of writing.     While I'm at it, I'd like to thank my friends at Rage.com for sending people to my blog. What a terrific game they have produced.      The picture at the top is a honeysuckle. They bloom this time of year, here in the Southern U.S. They grow wild all over and smell great. There is a perfume that is sold these days that smells like this flower.     The second picture is a moth. These are very colorful. I don't know what they are called so I'll just call them the Madonna moth. If one of them were to start dancing like the singer, I'd freak out. There were 13 of them on my back door this morning. They seem very feminine. I love the long blond hair. We have an amazi...

    I count myself fortunate because my family and I are safe. A tornado passed within a mile or so of where two of my grandchildren were sleeping. Thank God for their safety. Many others were less fortunate. Within an hour's drive of me there were 20 or so folks who were killed. The city of Ringgold is shut off from the outside world by felled trees, gas leaks and looters. That's what I heard, anyway. There are many areas where rescue workers can't reach trapped people because of hundreds of downed trees.     I was out in the mess until almost daylight, dealing with recalcitrant pumps, power outages and failed communication equipment. Here at the green retreat there were some tree limbs lying around, heavy rain and standing water but no tornado. Ten miles south of the house a tornado was on the ground for a distance of 6 miles and killed several people. One area I was in last night looked like a war zone. A major state highway with a small army of guys sl...

    On rare occasions a younger person will ask me, "What movies were considered cool, back in the day?"     That would be a long list, but one I often mention is a Charles Bronson thriller called Death Wish . Sometimes a movie transcends entertainment and lays bare a social mindset that has gripped society. When this happens, art is born. I can hear the laughter now. "A Bronson movie is art?"     This movie came out in 1974. It told a riveting story, but more than that it gave lie to the mentality that good people should expect to be victims. That self-defense is somehow ugly or evil or common or vulgar. Or let's just say, who doesn't like a good revenge tale?     Paul Kersey is a New Yorker, an architect. He is highly paid, respected and comfortable. He had been a conscientious objector during the Korean War and served in the Army as a medic. His Dad had been killed in a hunting accident when Kersey was a youth and this ac...

    Hey, everyone. It's a nice Saturday here in the green retreat, with partly cloudy skies and a temperature around 70 degrees. My wife and I have prowled around in the woods today and found some signs of a bobcat. It seems to be an active season for animal life and I suspect this is due to the fact that we are finally having a normal year for rainfall. If there is a lack of water animals tend to move on.     Last night I bought a couple of new games that are on sale this weekend. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12 and NBA Jam. I haven't played either one of them enough to give a review but I got them for 99 cents each, which is a cool price. I got a free sample of both and played them and liked them enough to spring for the paid version. I was up during the wee hours last night and played the golf game a while. I started out playing at Pebble Beach out on the west coast and I have to say that the virtual scenery is enough to make you want to go to California again...

    Sometimes in life you get a little turned around and need a helping hand. When my wife and I went to the creek today we saw a turtle that had flipped over. I flipped him back upright and we went on our way. These guys were not nearly as large as my buddy Walter, the lonesome turtle. In the first one I could see his orange eye with the black center, here on the big screen. I doubt you guys can make it out on the blog.      I found this picture of a turtle track that I got a few weeks ago. I just inserted it and blogger put it above the turtle pictures. It's not terribly clear.     By the way, "play the flip side" is a term from a bygone day referring to playing records.      For the information of my I-Pad readers, EA Games is running another huge sale this weekend. They have a bunch of their more expensive games on sale for 99 cents, including Dead Space, Mirror's Edge, Hot Pursuit, Scrabble and many others. Some o...