Scattershooting Once More / No-Mow Zones Amongst The Bluebonnets

While you sit in your zone wondering if you should have chocolate cake or blueberry pie, I'm sitting here letting my fingers do the walking for another round of Scattershooting, right here on Case's Column. Stick around, because I've got so many things to scattershoot with in this space, you only wonder how I can get it all in.

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Mild winter? No problem here. That only leads to a great bumper crop of Texas bluebonnets. Driving along F.M. Road 3040 in Lewisville and Flower Mound, Texas, you can find several beds of bluebonnets. This past weekend, I would not at all have been surprised to see several families, couples, and kids gather in a bed of bluebonnets for a picture. Why not? It's just what we do here. What I get a kick out of are those signs near the bluebonnets, surrounded by high grass and few weeds. The sign sez that it's a "No-Mow" zone. How about that? Nobody, and I mean nobody can be allowed to mow that grass away. Those bluebonnets must stand, dang-it. The only concern is this: There'd better not be any stickers amongst the field of bluebonnets. Wouldn't it be funny if you sat down and came back up with grass burrs in your butt?

Then again, I can always take pics of the bluebonnets from the highway. No biggie.

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You should have seen my apartment parking last week. Thursday night, I saw a brief downpour of rain, with heavy wind gusts, marble-sized hail, and a few golf ball hail stones. The rain came and went in twenty minutes, but that's Texas weather for you.

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Did anyone notice what came back to SiriusXM? It's the Escape music channel (XM 69). I'm rejoicing. There apparently was a lot of demand for the easy listening format after it had been taken off the air about a year ago, and so, it's been brought back to Sirius listeners. Every now and then, we all need that easy escape from the usual things, and nothing beats instrumentals of your favorite songs.

And, ........another excuse to listen to Mantovani.

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Want to see an historic schoolhouse filled with the pleasures of your own dream home? Check this link out. And you thought you've seen everything....

Former Idaho Schoolhouse Now a Historic 16-Bedroom Home | Fox News

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Some notable passings in the celebrity world we interact with:

Earl Hamner, Jr, writer, creator of "The Waltons"
Joe Garagiola, former major league baseball catcher and legendary voice of NBC-TV's "Game of the Week"
Garry Shandling, comedian and star of "The Larry Sanders Show"
Patty Duke, longtime actress of stage and television

Rest in peace. Thanks for so many great memories.

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Fayetteville, Arkansas, residents are about to see an expansion take place. Interstate 49 is going to be expanded to accommodate a reconfigured interchange at the Fulbright Expressway. That stretch of freeway is going to see one additional lane from Fayetteville all the way north through Bentonville. Yes, it is badly needed for them, but don't you think the big priority is getting I-49 completed through Western Arkansas?

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The Rolling Stones actually went to Cuba this past week and performed a free concert for more than 400,000 people. That may be fine and good, but why cut any kind of a deal with a dictator such as Raul Castro? Not a good idea. It's bad enough that we have a sitting president making waves with our enemies while our allies burn. Americans have to muddle through with Barack Obama giving all Americans his extended middle finger, as that's all he's done to us while in office.

You'd think that Donald Trump and Ted Cruz would at least let that be their focus instead of trashing each other's wives. Sad state of affairs in my homeland right now while we crave conservative leadership.

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Strange incident last week as I was making my way to a Bible study gathering in Frisco: As I was turning at a Carrollton intersection, I witnessed a teenager in Carrollton picking up his bike in disgust and chucking it on the ground. Was just a small bicycle, but after the kid chucked it, it broke into pieces. Then he walked away from it towards a convenience store across the street.

I have no idea why.

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It's amazing how I haven't spent more time in Grapevine doing some wine-tasting. They have a few wineries in town. The Messina Hof, Umbra Winery, and Delaney Vineyards should all get a visit from The Casester as soon as possible. I have a vacation in the planning stages, but this time, it's going to be spent right here at home, going to places I haven't take time to see on my days off from work. More on that later on. But I should venture off and sample some wines at the three great Grapevine locales.

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Whole Foods Market has some competition. And said competition, in this case here, is getting quite serious.

Trader Joe's is reportedly slashing prices - AOL

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Those of you who've just read my recently-posted baseball predictions probably came away from that lactation utterly shocked. That largely depends on your point of view and who your favorite team is.

You all know that my favorite team is the Houston Astros. And you may have wondered, "Why didn't Case pick his Astros to win the world championship? After all, they're contenders, and they're real strong in the outfield and infield, and Dallas Keuchel is just real great, and...."

I didn't want to jinx them. True, they'd have been a sensible choice if I wanted to pick them, but, no, I did not want to put any pressure on A.J. Hinch and the boys. Let them play ball first. The games begin Sunday. Of interest is the rematch of the 2015 World Series entrants, the Kansas City Royals and New York Mets. Should be a good series.

Besides, picking the Astros lower than everybody else might actually give them an advantage this year.

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Enjoy the sights and sounds of spring. It's an exciting time of the year, so go grab that tennis racket or golf club that you've been meaning to employ. So, go turn that bad tennis game or golf game into a game for the ages! Turn those lemons into lemonade!

And there you are.