Opinion

My aged Uncle Mort is “up in the air” about balloons. “Until recently, balloons were festive, often gleefully ‘popped’ at parties,” he moaned.

Central to my Uncle Mort’s colorful life--now stretching over two centuries--are his scatter-brained decisions to “go off fourth-cocked,” even when “half-cocked” action might be preferable. Someone said that he’d be ahead of the game if he’d “keep his gun holstered,” even if his trigger finger gets itchy.

Gov. Greg Abbott, in a State of the State address last Thursday, outlined his seven top priorities for the ongoing legislative session before an invitation-only audience at a manufacturing facility in San Marcos, the Austin American- Statesman reported. Those priorities include $4 billion for border security, property tax relief and more school choice for parents, which he called “education freedom.” He avoided use of the word “vouchers.’

English mystery novels often have a body being disposed of in a manner unseen in this part of Texas. In the older novels, bodies were left in suitcases or steamer trunks, but the pure size and weight of a dead human being would prohibit much prodding, poking, and lifting in these situations. Try to lift a sleeping dog and one can appreciate the problem. Also, the absence of wheels was a problem.

The 21st century may soon be most known for worldwide paranoia. When topics worthy of fright are recorded, the list will spill over to a second page, and maybe a third.

Gov. Greg Abbot has issued a disaster declaration for Texas counties affected by the early February ice storm and is seeking a federal declaration as well for areas in Southeast Texas affected by rare January tornadoes. The ice storm caused considerable damage to property and power outages in the affected areas. The declaration for ice-storm damaged counties includes Denton, Hays, Henderson, Milam, Smith, Travis and Williamson counties.

For the next six weeks, thanks to the much-celebrated ground hog, we will have winter. Now, down here in the south-central part of North America, that doesn’t always mean ice and snow. It just means we will have “misery” highlighted by an occasional reminder of what it could have been if that overstuffed rodent had minded his own business and looked the other way.

Residents in Central and Northeast Texas are still cleaning up after a winter storm last week snapped power lines and tree limbs, causing widespread power outages, canceled flights and damage to homes and vehicles. At its peak, nearly 400,000 Texas households were without power, according to poweroutage.us.

A weathered rancher of my acquaintance stubbornly refused to join a group of church friends who “enjoy” bad health. A woman of few words, she explained her absence from services the previous Sunday.

The last time I was in, I was telling him about forgetting names, having a hard time coming up with words I want to use, and being dizzy when I stand up. I thought he was going to tell me to stand up slower, call everyone “Honey,” and quit talking so much. I enjoy our little visits, and usually he assures me that nothing is wrong. Well, he didn’t exactly say that. He said he wanted to do some tests.