An anniversary of sorts...

Happy Halloween, a very important day to us, the anniversary of the day I asked Cathy to marry me. A scary day indeed you say.

But I'm not so scared now. That spell I put on her seems to be working.

This was the day daughter Rose and husband Juan, brother in law John and Granny Wallace were born. Happy Birthday.

Long work day...

Eleven and a half hours at the hospital today. We were busy.

So busy I did not even think much about kids dressing up for Halloween until I stopped by a local Mexican restaurant to buy some tamales for a Mexican pot luck at school on Monday. There were several dressed up kids and adults that came in while I waited on my order.

I just gotta get one of them Mexican rassling masks, I did not know I wanted one so bad until tonight.

Staying home...

Everybody is out having fun, I'm staying home studying.

Cathy and Morgan went to Austin to see Katie and go see Go Gol Bordello at Emo's. See the Go Gol Bordello link to the side.

Mary is at the fotball game.

I got the Panthers tuned in on the radio and fixing to hit the books.

Sucess sometimes means putting off fun till another day.

Damn, that's profound, did I say that?

Taking the wife to the boats...

She is lucky. On a hot streak right now. In September she won a digital video cam at the fiestas patrias raffle at church, proceeds to the building fund and today she won a cd/dvd player from work for donating a days pay to the United Way.

The cd player is small, just right for the bedroom, we can listen in quietly without having to crank the big unit.

The Panther band pictures you have seen on this site have been video captures.

So if you have a charitable cause, and a prize for donating I'll get Cathy to help you out.

Character deconstruction...

OK I saw something, I'll try to deal with it, I just got to say something.

I was bike riding down a dusty no rain since the last hurricane East Texas road a couple of days ago and I spied a character on foot down the road a piece. Me approaching from one direction, him from the other, a classic east meets west senerio in the making.

Now this road being traveled by myself and this fellow, (it was a male) is short, has no houses, being bordered on one side by woods and on the other by a wholesale plant nursery. I chose it to ride because no traffic, no pit bull he won't bite, no meth cooking trailer dwellers. Why did he choose it?

I think I was dressed in shorts, t-shirt, tennis shoes. Not really sport bike riding type equipment, but I got other hobbies I go full force on. It might have been slightly unusual to meet a middle aged man on a bike, but hey 50 is the new 30.

I now come to my characters description. Age about 13 maybe 14. Trucker hat, Red, I think it said Lone Star Dog Food. Black Racing t shirt. Racing is the new rassling. Puka shell necklace. Why are puka shell necklaces making a comeback? They were bad jewelry in the 70s, they look terrible with a trucker hat. He also had a portable cd player, not the latest ipod thing, but plain old cd player and head phones. I bet that was some terrible music he was listening to. I don't want to just diss the boy's music, I have at least 1200 cds and records in my collection. I'll bet I could pick at least 200 that would be personally offensive based on the individuals traits of the person I was trying to infuriate. But I bet his music was that manufactured pro tools created stuff that is massively shoveled out to the public as the next cool thing.

As we passed I said hi, he said hi. We each pass on, I continued my ride making a loop through the backroads, arriving home by a different route. Where did he arrive to? Will he ever arrive?

Just had to deconstruct, just a little, seemed like such a strange combination of things, not ruling out my participation in the encounter at all, what happened is what happened.

Cold...

39 degrees in East Texas this morning. I wasn't thorough with summer!

I guess I am just a cold natured kind of guy. No matter how I try to conjure up fall harvest scenes, with people laughing and gathering in the last crops as the weather changes, or Thanksgiving gatherings arrived at by sleight, over the river and through the woods, and last but not least, a white Christmas, I am a no shirt no shoes kind of guy.

I sometimes think I would like to try ice fishing, but I just can't even think about fishing unless I am barefoot. I like duck hunting, but I may be at the end of that, cold rides across the water just don't seem worth it to kill and eat something that tastes like mud.

Winter finds me too much indoors, I have plenty of fire wood and I might duck out side and dive in the hot tub, so these things will have to last till the dogwoods bloom and the bream start biting again.

Another busy day for the Marching band...

The Lufkin High School Band received a 1st Division rating at marching contest yesterday.

The football team also won the homecoming game. Me and Cathy did our part, we worked the concession stand.

Here is Mary and boyfriend Brian at homecoming.

Me and Cathy also did something else Saturday morning, I forgot what it was...oh yeah we walked in the Alzheimers Memory Walk, a benefit for the local association.

Go Astros, tough luck last night.

My old Strat...

Another guitar story.

In about 1982 or 83 I drove a monkey poo brown 1978 GMC pickup to Dallas with the one tracked mind idea that I would buy a Fender Statocaster. A used one was what I wanted, I don't really know why, now that I think about it, I was young and single why did not buying a brand new one cross my mind? Frugal I guess.

Any way I stayed with my friend Jeffrey, he kind of helped guide me around town to a few music shops and I did not see too much I was interested in. I picked up a Dallas paper and scanned the want ads. I saw one , STRAT FOR SALE. Guy was way out from us in Farmers Branch, I called him up and went over there. A little negotiating and it was mine. It was made in 1976 I still own it today.

To tell the truth at the time I bought this guitar, I could barely play it. I mean I could play some cowboy cords and stuff, but had mostly played acoustic guitar and tuba up to this point. The tuba thing is another story.

A Fender guitar just seems to bring out my best, easy to play, I much prefer the maple necks. I also like the black on black pickguard, a 70s thing for Fender, don't see it so much today. At the time Fender was in sort of a down swing, the company was going through some changes, things had not been too good there at the time this guitar was made in 76 and these guitars were not too well thought of. None of this kind of stuff mattered to me at the time and still doesn't, I have not spent 30 minutes with any other strat in all these years.

These guitars are a little more wanted these days, one this year model will bring about four times what I paid for this one. Mine might not do so well, it has some non original parts, things that wore out that I fixed.

This guitar has been an old friend. Being mostly a bass player, my old friend don't get out of the house to gigs much, but there has been many a day I spent learning scales and theory on its fretboard, which is starting to show a few finger prints where my dirty mitts find their favorite places. A little picky on staying in tune sometimes, it is comfortable to my hand. I barely knew what I was doing when I bought it, but it has covered all the bases for me as far as electric guitar needs have gone for these many years.

What about them Astros now...

It is good to see them win. About the only pro team I keep up with and actually go to a game every now and then.

Wish they were playing in the Dome though, I have some attraction to the place, really just getting to be cool. I think it brings to mind the absurdities we sometimes see in this state, just has this this thing shouldn't be here vibe but everyone act normal about it.

Strange Dreams...

Brain working hard this week, must be, strange dreams. Dreamed of a door that looked like a number on it's side, a five. Someone said, "Is it a six?:

Busy week, high school football Monday, State school gig Tue, test at school Wednesday, more high school football Saturday and marching contest and I am going to try to crowd in an Alzhimers walk (extra points for school) got to help the Astros through too.

I did not list anything for Friday and Thursday, bound to be something...


Numbers on their side...

Mary and boyfriend...

I get a request from big sister Katie to embarrass little sister Mary for all the world to see. Have I embarrassed Katie on this blog? Is that the reason for the request? She is a regular reader I know. She is just watching, making sure I keep my mouth shut. She is creating a great wide world outcry over little sisters business to hide her own. This is like the politicians do, a spin tactic.

Little does she know of the video that has somehow escaped to the internet of me in the whirlpool in the lab at school. Everybody and I mean everybody is talking about that one.

Anyway here is a picture of Mary and her boy friend Brian. They are sitting in the stands at the football game. I don't know why Mary is covering her face, I don't think she knew the picture was being taken. Brian is a quiet boy, plays the French Horn, don't say much. His family did not know he could talk until he suddenly came up with a girlfriend. Now they know he is capable of language.

PTA class...

Here is a picture of me in the Physical Therapist Assistant Lab at Kilgore College.

Thanks to Tony for the great pictures he has made, our PTA class will have a great historical pictorial record of the times we studied so hard.

In this picture I am studying.

For lack of something better...

I think from time to time here if there is not much else going on I'll write the story of my instruments. Music has meant a lot to me and I don't think that is something that I get across to other people so well, other than the people I play music with that is.

First up is my bass guitar. It is a Fender precision bass, invented by Leo Fender in the early 50s to give the upright bass player an alternative to being drownded out by big bands. I think it changed the sound of music more than any thing else.

I bought this one brand new in about 1985 or 86. I have been told by the experts the serial number dates it 1983. I did not buy in in 1983, because this bass arrived by UPS truck at my house and the delivery man put in it the back seat of a 1984 Oldsmobile Rocket 88 I owned at the time because I was not at home.

So this thing has 20 years of playing time on it. I think it was a bit more the color of Cafe Dumonde coffee when I got it but it has aged to a nice yellow cream color that the picture don't seem to do justice to. Always buy a light colored Fender guitar, keep it a long time and watch it change.

When I play this guitar I always think of the Lucinda Williams song with the lyric, "... the worn down places in the wood the ones that made you feel so good..." and this pretty much describes the feel I have for this guitar. I have played it in a suit, I have played it in my underwear, I have played it at church, for weddings, funerals, and at biker parties way out past where the pavement ends.

After I'm dead and gone it will just be a piece of lumber to someone else. Don't seem fair for a thing that has brought so much pleasure and discovery to my life and somehow I don't think anything I have said here will really get that magical musical feeling I get across to anyone else unless they have been there themselves.

Clang...

What more can you say? Mary at the Panther game last night.








This manuver drew a standing ovation from a crowd that was bored to death by the lopsided score.

We are off to the SFA game this afternoon. Lot of Lufkin kids in that band.

Sparkey, Squeaky, Speedy please come home...

I have not seen my pet squirrels since the storm. I usually feed them sunflower seeds out of this frog feeder but I ran out and switched to corn.

When they find the frog has no food to offer they will knock him on his butt.

Flower kind of guy...

Just so you know I am not some old mean blogger here is a flower from my yard, a cotton rose. Blooms in fall, white in the morning, pink at night.

I'm good at growing these, they root easy and I have about 4 of them. Usually cut back after blooming, I am beginning to experiment with not cutting some back.

Rita History for church...

Here is an email I received from Denise concerning the writing of an account of Rita for the church. I assume permission to post since it was a mass email.


"Hey everybody,

Fr. Bill and the Bishop have asked me to write up all that happen......gonna take me awhile!! It's going to go into the church archives.

As I said all along, this was a total team effort. God put everyone of us where we needed to be. Many of you have shared beautiful stories and not so beautiful stories with me on your personal experiences. I'm asking all of you to write down these experiences and get them to me. Don't worry about it being perfect as this is to preserve history. Also, I'd like to have copies of any pictures that you have and I know there are many..........right? Ray!! So to all of you, our work is not finished.

Got a call from Dale (FEMA) today and he's back at work as a fireman in Arizona and said to tell all of you hello. He said he's never worked so hard, had so much fun and came away with such rewards. Senator Staples office called today and said how proud he and his staff are of St. Pat's and amazed at how we ran our shelter. They are calling me back tomorrow as there are loose ends to tie up. Lt. Governor Dewhirst also took us under his wing and would send me personal messages. You'll see in my write up.

All said and done, looks like we have two broken windows, outside of the Hurricane damage, and both those breaks were accidents. I asked the Evie Lowe, our new school principal, to have the teachers write down all that was missing or broken in their rooms, especially items the teachers purchased themselves, and the church/diocese would replace. Talked to her today and there are none.

Like I've told you all before.......we are truly blessed!

Love you all!
Denise"

Check out the new link...

I added a link on your right to the site when I download music, emusic.com.

Not a free site, but a great bargin. I have been a member for about a year and I have just upped my downloads to 90 a month. My computer is doing some heavy lifting.

They even have Sharkey Bonnano, one of my father in laws dixieland favorites. I figure anyone that knows who he is just knows if you know what I mean.

Off to study, three tests this week.

Weekend Report...

Worked 10 hours Saturday, caused me to miss going with Cathy to the out of town high school game (Panthers won) so I used the stay home time for study.

Worked 6 hours today and played at church, then home for more study. First time to have a guitar in my hand since all the storm business, felt good.

Got a walk from school tomorrow, some kind of oil celebration in Kilgore which is an old East Texas oil field town. I think they are celebrating how much we all have to pay. I'll use the time to study.