I Buy Used Records...

I could use a new computer chair. Cathy spotted one at a thrift store for $10 but did not purchase it without my blessing which I would have given because it's probably not too long before I'm sitting in the floor at the rate the current one is disintegrating. The next day we returned together. The chair had been sold. There were good records in the used bins and I took advantage of them. 

Many times when I buy old records, especially jazz albums the are from the 50s or 60s they reissued in the 70s on another label perhaps in another country. This is a business deal, sometimes done by a true believer or a fan trying to make a few bucks keeping the music available to the public. I think these are all original releases a bit grimy with dust but still in good condition.       

Here's a Dave Brubeck record called Southern Scene. Dave released a couple of albums of southern songs and this is the second one from 1960. It's mostly standards in the Dave style with his classic lineup of sidemen and reviews state "well played but somewhat forgettable program." I've been going to the pool several times a week lately for water aerobics. It's a good class and the rock music they play while I act like I'm doing the exercises could be described the same way. Who else do you know that has this record. If you come over and request "modern jazz I'll throw it on. 

I grab up lots of swing and traditional jazz compilation records. This one, The Best of Dixieland is from 1964, the tunes are all older with some really classic players, Louie, Bunk Johnson, Baby Dodds, Dukes of Dixieland, Muggsy Spainer and more. There are people on this record that heard and maybe even played with the great New Orleans cornetist Buddy Bolden who never recorded. I enjoyed this blurb on the back of the record. 

Read the bit on the "flipped teenager." If as this states the first jazz recording was 1917 and at the release of this it had not been 50 years. To put it all in perspective my mom was a Frank Sinatra fan in the early mid 40s. In 1964 she was 40 years old when the Beatles played Ed Sullivan. I was 40 years old in 1997. The record of the year in 1977 was Hotel California by the Eagles. As the Dude says, "I hate the Eagles." 

Next up is Al Hirt's Swinging Dixie Vol. 3. Released in 1960 and reissued in 1975 I believe this is the original record after comparing sight differences in the cover and label. It's not valuable as Al made millions of records and if I find one of his used I'll always buy it because these are good sounding records with a variety of material.  This is pretty much the standards. 

Last but not least I picked up Louisiana Man Doug Kershaw's The Cajun Way. This looks to be his first album from 1969. It could be described as more country than Cajun and I often think that if as a tuba player I could have met the right clarinet and accordion player we could have hit a couple of hundred views on YouTube I think I would have liked to have a shot at playing lap steel in a Cajun band. I would have just turned a Fender amp up loud till I learned how.

Actually I saw Doug in concert at the SFASU Coliseum about 1974 or 75 when he was making a big splash with a release called Alive and Pickin'. I owned it on 8 track tape and at the concert Doug was  erratic. Something was not right onstage with the people or the sound and he ended up sitting with his legs dangling off the edge of the riser and playing acoustic guitar for several songs before calling in a night. A ticket in those days was probably $5 or maybe less and I didn't feel like I got my money's worth. Like a lot of creative people Doug has probably done some self medicating for all the wrong reasons and that's what was going on that night. He seems to have lined things out at now at 87 years old. There does not seem to be a Doug Kershaw.com but now and then some musician I follow plays a festival and posts his photo of getting to jam with Doug so he's still out there.  

I hit Second Blessings Thrift this morning. It was half price day and no computer chair but I picked one record that's worth a blog post of it's own so I save it next time.  

          

 

   

 

100 Degrees at 11 AM...

 We have not done much fishing this summer. Some of that is due to the travel trailer purchase almost a year ago that's had us split our time with our toys. Some of it is the fact that we've had about 39 days last I heard anyway, of plus 100 degree temps. It's hot on the lake and even though I know there are fish out there dyeing of old age before I can catch them with a heat advisory almost every day I want to make sure I live to see some cool fall fishing. 

Cathy took off on a girls shopping trip, my services not required so I scheduled a canoe adventure to B. A. Steinhagen Lake, this time to a Corps of Engineer launch instead of my usual State Park stomping grounds. The State Park hours begin at 8am and I thought I'd beat the heat by being able to launch at 7am. Might have well waited on the State Park as this trip produced no fish but I did get this good sunrise photo of my canoe. The area is pretty, I have good equipment and this photo will look good on the internet. I guess I will have to be satisfied with that. 

Don't get me wrong it was a satisfying morning. I blooped old school top water poppers around swampy cypress trees and drifted plastic worms along sandy creek bank drop offs. Every now and then I spotted wood ducks swimming between the cypress and occasionally got a half hearted swirl or tug at the lure but it was a strike more out of curiosity than trying to make a meal of my bait. 

This is the kind of bass fishing I grew up with. Drifting along and casting a top water lure. It's kind of a therapy. You methodically cast and swim the bait along imitating the minnows that dart along and scatter when the lure is tossed in fishy looking spots with a crashing strike on top sometimes catching you off guard. That's why you should relax with this kind of fishing. Let him take the bait, don't take it away. 

I thought about loading up and heading over to the state park. I had my line broken by a big bass there last trip. I usually print my park pass at home. I could have checked in at the office before launching but the digital read out on the truck dash said 100 degrees at 11am. I had drank almost half the water I brought along for the trip. I ate a banana and saved my lunch of canned of smoked oysters for the next trip.

I told Cathy fish for supper, possibly, hopefully. I was envisioning a couple of blackened bass fillets served over baked farmer's market squash on a bed of thin noodles. Not today, not today. 

         

Heat Wave Hits the Yard...

Yesterday was a record for heat in my small East Texas town. The mercury in the thermometer hit 110F and things are looking pretty wilted in the yard. 

I'm not worried about the grass. I've needed to change lawn mower blades for a couple of years now and if it does not grow I just save on that expense as there is not so much to cut and if I do cut it either way, dull blades or drought it looks like a bad haircut. 

I am a bit worried about my big oak tree. It shades my driveway, my house and the areas my grandkids do most of their playing. I would estimate it being 100-150 years old  and that's just an educated guess. As I figure I can afford water a bit easier than I can afford a tree service and this is judging from the price I paid to have a smaller oak that died from a fungus cut down so I have been putting the hose on slow drip at various places under it's big canopy several days a week.  

There is also a tall pine nearby and with the pine seeds getting ripe it's full of cat squirrels shucking their little hears out and carpeting the ground underneath with debris from the cone stripping the do to get at the seeds. Squirrels are pretty smart and it did not take long for them to notice the damp cool spot left by the slow water drip. It's been a common sight to see them in the evening, it's usually the day after I've run the water, laying on their bellies with legs fanned out to soak in the wet dirt. Sometimes I slip out and turn the water on them and they might take a drink but while it's running they will move on and birds move in for a drink until the next day when the squirrels return for any cool that's left.    

There's usually some animal scratch signs in the dirt where I lay the hose and hopefully the black carpenter ants which have plagued the kitchen sink and the counter top fruit bowel in search of a drink use this instead of eating and drinking on my dime and soaking up the air conditioning as well. Relocation of the fruit to the fridge has knocked the ants back and helped me cool off too.   

I'm a lazy landscaper and I let nandinas grow up at will. I recall them in my mom's and Granny's yard so they are something that's been all around but if I google nandina I get mostly "5 reasons why you should not grow." Seems it's one of those good for nothing plants that is probably an invasive species form somewhere and will take over. Global warming is creating some interesting problems but there might be a few cures mixed in. personally I think we will be better off with nandinas.     

Even the yaupon looks a bit droopy. Yaupon is a native plant and the only North American source of caffeine. The Indigenous people of the New World called it "Big Medicine" and the settlers thought it responsible for the good health of the native Americans. The settlers saw the locals using it as part of the Black Drink Ceremony to purify mind, body and soul along with chanting, fasting and purging. 

Even though some of the kids have expressed caution about my organic living I have made tea from the yaupon and drank it. I guess you can call what I do chanting. Still working on mind body and soul.       

Another lazy landscaper project is this ground cover. Probably another bad plant I can't seem to find it under any description of the best ground covers. It has done well, spreads around on it's own and fire flys come out from nesting in the leaves it traps making my deck view very colorful. The big freeze and now the drought is taking a toll. 

Here's something I usually have to trim regularly around the place the privet of the Ligustrum family. I've never seen it like this and I might not have to do much trimming come spring. Another invasive it's poison to humans but birds eat the seeds and readily spread it around. It's all around out here most strategically located here so that I can't be seen by members of the now defunct church (the one that tried to convert me to the Fox News Gospel) when I'm wearing the sarong.   

I have seen it written and it can probably found contradicted somewhere that this is the last cool summer. I myself think things are changing. Two ways to stop the change. One way is to pay the people that are extracting fossil fuels or building third world economies into global powers to stop what they are doing. It will take some money. The second way is to follow the logic of thought if unborn people have rights then those unborn have the right to a world that is not burning. Otherwise the children of the future will be pretty wilted.  

 

"That Feller Had on a Dress..."

Men wearing dresses has been in the news lately. So has the fact that temps have been over 100 degrees around here for 23 days this summer. I say that a dress is cooler than trousers and for some years now a sarong, a one piece wrap popular in tropical areas of Asia and Africa has been a favored type of dress to wear while lounging about my house. Even though it seems that men with real short hair wearing suits may pass laws against men wearing dresses I may go against the mainstream and wear my sarong to town. It's hot enough, I don't think anyone will bat an eye and anyway that's kind of how I go, different from everyone else. 

Of course men with real short hair and suits have passed laws against heroin use. That does not make me want to go against the law and mass public opinion to sample narcotics because after all like climate change, COVID viruses and more there is science behind the reasons you should not take heroin. As far as I know there are no studies about men wearing sarongs. 

The other day I was driving along a main thoroughfare and I saw a poor woman walking in the 100 degree heat in a black bikini. She was probably in her 30s, the swim suit was on the modest side of this type of wear and she had a nice tan. By all appearances she was very hot and on a directional heading to the corner convenience store where what I imagined to be the only air conditioning she would experience that day lay in cool wait behind heavy glass doors. I say this woman would have been better served by a sarong and if you think I'm picking on women I saw a few men that would have also been well served by wearing a sarong. 

Once while working in the nursing home I had two physical therapy patients. One gentleman got up each day and dressed in button up western shirts, jeans, and leather shoes. The other gentleman preferred a patient gown with a pair of shorts underneath. Despite the differences in dress both men liked a good domino game and when they ended up in the gym together as a build up to more strenuous activities I placed a bedside rolling table with the dominos on them between the two and they happily spent quite a while playing. At the conclusion of the game I rolled the table from between them and Mr. Jeans sighted the other mans patient gown. "That feller's got on a dress!" he exclaimed. When you wear an unconventional garment in public it will take getting used to for some.        

Just so there is no confusion when you see me so you can start getting familiar with the terminology a sarong or sarung is worn wrapped about the waist. A West African word from the Akan language srong or sorong means fastened at the highest point. Memorize this and you will not be ignorant about which one I'm wearing. 

Cathy also has a sarong. She likes it when we are all matchy matchy. Whatever men in suits with real short hair think I like it also.  

 

Another Thrift Store Record...

A visit to the Salvation (The Sally) Army Thrift Store last week produced this item. It's a recording of the Mt. Calvary Baptist Church of Orange, Tx. From the picture on the front it looked a bit like they had Fats Domino to come over from New Orleans and play piano. It's not really Fats but it's pretty good with a half dozen old favorites covered and a short sermon apparently by the man whose name is listed on the front, The Rev. George Brown.     

The Reverend passed in 2011. He had been ordained as a minister in 1967 and took over as Pastor at Mt. Calvary in 1969. He looks to be a good man and the church still is a busy place with an impressive list of ministries. 

Since the Rev. took over in 1969 I am guessing this record was recorded a few years afterwards. Fashion experts can probably date it by the sport coat on the piano man. They charged 75 cents for this jewel at the thrift store. I had forgotten my wallet this day so my brother in law Matt bought it for me. Thanks, man.  

One album I did not buy, mainly because it was the cover only without a record inside was this Happy Goodman Family release. This was the follow up to the 1968 Grammy winning "The Happy Gospel of the Happy Goodmans." 

What caught my eye about this album cover was the guitars. Maybe Mosrites or Hallmarks which have a connected history and are small batch custom made in Southern California instruments of fine quality for the hot country pickers and surf bands of the day. They are very similar to the Eastwood Baritone guitar I own.  

Just looking at those guitars, a matching set of  hollow body bass with P-90 pickups and a hollow body 6 string with P-90s and a wang bar probably coupled with a big iron Fender amps I can guarantee those singers stood up there thinking the Jefferson Airplane was taking off behind them.   

I bet Fats Domino probably made a gospel album sometime in his life. The Rev, Brown died the same year I got that Eastwood guitar. It just goes to show everything is everything.   

 

It's not Always Me That Falls Overboard...

A while back I was taking photos at an event and someone well aware of my activity here on this blog said, "you make all those photos with that?" That to which they referred being a worse for wear Canon digital camera. I know internet influencers are expected to have all the nice gear and like a Clarence Thomas vacation be getting it free. I'm not quite to that level yet but I keep making the pitch. Maybe some day someone will catch.   

What I did not catch the other day on a canoe trip was this camera before it hit the water. There is an unmistakable sound a camera makes as it hits water. Drop one in and you find out, "oh yeah that was the camera," the brain thinks. It's kind of something that happens when you let your guard down like pulling up to shore thinking I can't possibly turn the boat over here or in the case of those extra special precautions have been taken so far why should I keep sealing the dry bag where I'm just going to open it again in 5 minutes as was the case this time. I don't know it the camera fell out of the dry bag or had been laid on top but it hit the water, sank about thigh deep and I scooped it out faster than I can tell this story. 

That fast action, coupled with a 48 hour dry out period courtesy of global warming and other than having to manually flick the camera lens open it seems like it has a few more blogs left. The lens cover was already not closing and the lens had become scratched so I was carrying it a little soft case as secondary protection when it was packed away in a man purse or dry bag. It makes a good photo under the right circumstances which I am good at recognizing but here's what a typical photo with the lens scratch might look like. It's right on Ezra's face. I've generally learned to aim so the scratch is out there in the water. 

I think the last time I dunked a camera was in 2017. It happened to be the same model as this camera. The canoe overturned. I had grown overconfident with the camera stored in a leather man bag. The water was deep enough that I had to take the time to save myself and all the other gear before I could worry about the camera. That camera was a complete loss. Well maybe not complete. It's in the kid's toy box. They pretend to make my photo all the time with it. 

At this point in my life I realize another nice camera is probably like potato salad in gumbo. I won't have it. Time to simplify and besides the older you will get you will probably just screw up more so no sense in getting expensive stuff. I'll drop down a price point or just use a couple of old but still working digital cameras around here.

Of course I'll take a free vacation and publish the photos here if you are game. 

 

 

       

 

Swamp People...

Me, Ezra and Luca made a trip to Martin Dies Jr. State Park on B.A. Steinhagen Reservoir. We took the canoe and with the electric trolling motor mounted on the back I gave them some old school training on running a tiller handle motor. I feel sometimes like I was lacking as a parent because when my kids grew up I was pretty well to do, had a big boat with a steering wheel and they grew up driving boats like cars and I never trained them in small motors. They do say you are a better grandparent than parent so I'm making up for it now.     

That minn kota trolling motor pushes a canoe good. It was originally mounted on the first pontoon we owned so it's has a pretty strong thrust. 

I was hopping to see some gators. They are always out when I'm by myself but never with the kids. Ezra said, "too hot for them." 

Dam B was recently drawn down to the dry lake bed for repairs on the dam. A similar operation has begun on Sam Rayburn Reservoir located upstream. It won't be dry but a lot of water was released to fill this lake up and it is full and very pretty with a swampy/Big Thicket/Louisiana vibe. It took over an hour to cruise the Walnut Slough Paddling Trail with the motor and that would have been a pretty good pull with only paddles.

I think left to my own devices I could have caught some fish. Here's Ezra with a nice bass and I got my line broken with a big bass battle at the side of the boat giving the boys a good taste of the man against beast thing. Everyone was much more interested in fishing after seeing that critter.    

This photo reminds me of an old dog I once had. I took him out in a boat be he never knew he was in a boat because he was too busy eating the catfish bait to look up. 

There was one causality on the trip. I dropped the half broken camera I make all my blog photos with in the water. It was submerged less than 20 seconds and I put it to dry in the sun using the 100 degree solar power to do the work. Maybe later today I'll check the results.  

TXDOT is in the early stages of planning for interstate highway expansion that will effect this beautiful park. Infrastructure is important but not at this cost. If you are so inclined leave a comment at the link:

https://txdot.mysocialpinpoint.com/i14systems/map?fbclid=IwAR2AG6QLHyReZXYvH5i_BrnHU30oRZ-u5tx7kpTvDLPxMTKAjyXvPWEWLy4#/ 

 

Bury Me on the Lone Prairie...

 Rose was in for a visit. Me, Cathy and her were driving home and there was talk of how we rode bicycles to the old cemetery near the house. I don't know if I was looking bad or something but the talk turned to where I should be buried and how it would make sense to be close to the house and what's the procedure for being buried in these small isolated country cemeteries. Do you have to have a family connection? 

So we just stopped by what's called  the Old Center Cemetery or Rocky Springs by some. I have researched a lot of genealogy since our bike trips here and sure enough there is a pile of Nerrens in this East Texas ground. I am related to the Nerren tree through my Granny Nerren Wallace. The Nerrens came to Angelina county from Mississippi in 1948 and settled at the Marion's Ferry Crossing on the Angelina River now covered by Lake Sam Rayburn. At the old center cemetery I found this gravestone.

This is the resting place of a 3rd great cousin Lorenzo Dow Nerren Jr. The son of Lorenzo Sr. he is the grandson of my 3rd great grandfather John Nerren. His wife, Nancy McKinney is buried with him. 

That's a pretty good run for Lorenzo. Born during the Civil War he died Sept 25th, 1941 and did not quite see WW2. 

We next headed on to the Rocky Hill Cemetery, a place where I knew there was a nice pear tree but  I did not find and relatives and the pears were high in the tree and looked to be hard and knotty with the drought. A google maps check showed we were near the Nerren Cemetery in Huntington, Tx. We drove over and nearly missed the little track leading to it. 

It was a quiet place and we found some interesting things. Here is another 3rd cousin Alexander Nerren born Aug 5th 1851 in Angelina County and died April 13th 1947 in Huntington, Tx. He's the brother of Lorenzo Jr. 

That's a pretty good run. Born before the Civil War, might have grandchildren old enough for WW1, great grand children old enough for WW2 and managed to see the atomic age. 

He's buried by his second wife Mary Marshall. They wed in 1909. His first wife was Martha Richardson wed in 1874 she passed in 1897.    

  

Here's the photos I found on the internet of Alexander.

Yep, that looks like a bunch of Nerrens. Can anyone date the photo by the clothes? 

I did find Alexander's death certificate where he was described as "retired farmer" and cause is listed as "intestinal obstruction, partial."

Another interesting find was the marker for the first wife of B.F. Nerren, my 3rd great uncle. Old Ben Franklin was sheriff of Angelina County 1888-1894. He's buried in Walker Cemetery by where Paul Nerren's Junk Barn used to stand on Highway 59 North.   

I did not pick out a spot during this exploration. I'm feeling pretty good no matter what they may think. What age comes after the atomic age?  

    

I've Been an Alright Pretty Good Guy...

I've been a pretty good guy, at least most of the time. Sometimes I have been a pretty bad guy. Hopefully no one else remembers that but since I do have a conscience and believe in forgiveness and atonement I think about those times and try to do better. That might be why we kind of have a fascination with our 36th President, a Texan Lyndon Baines Johnson. Cathy has read all the Robert Caro Books that are finished on LBJ's life we have visited his ranch in Johnson City twice now, his Presidential Library In Austin and recall the history he made that happened in our lifetimes. LBJ did some great things with domestic policy for the poor, health care, civil rights, urban and rural development, education and the arts. He did not do so well in in foreign policy and was eventually undone by the criticism of his escalation of the Viet Nam war. Since he was president he probably did other bad things we do not know the extent of but like all of us the judgment of his life has fluctuated through the years. 

A personal connection I have to LBJ is through one of my mom's stories. In 1947 my mom went to work at Southland Paper Mill in Lufkin, Tx, the first mill to make newsprint from southern pine. E.L Kurth, a businessman who organized the mill and had served during FDR's New Deal in the National Recovery Administration to promote the timber industry and conservation was backing LBJ in his 1948 run for U.S. Senate. Kurth loaded all the mill secretaries up (they still beef up the crowds today with paid crisis actors some say) and took them to Jacksonville, Tx where LBJ was making a campaign stop in this helicopter which I found a picture of in the visitors center museum in Johnson City. It was the first time my mom ever saw a helicopter ( she would first fly on an airplane about 55 years later) and she got to shake LBJ's hand. I figure my mom voted for LBJ that year given what I know about her voting record in my lifetime. There was some controversy in the election but he won and like we say a pretty good guy can be pretty bad sometimes.            

As part of our tour in Johnson City we went through LBJ's boyhood home. LBJ stood right here on these steps and made his announcement that he intended to seek a senate seat in 1948. As we see from recent events there is symbolism in the steps someone stands on to make their statement. Back in the day Johnson City was a pretty rural place with no national significance. LBJ wanted his friends and family to be the first to know his intentions and hear it in person. I'm sure there was some press there to spread the news but no TV or video.      

I have been inside LBJ's ranch house, the Texas White House on a pervious trip but on this visit with our oldest grandkids in tow it was closed for renovations and structural work. We were able to drive the area seeing the cows grazing the working ranch, many, many deer and walk around the grounds and see his plane Air Force 1/2.  

Johnson City was pretty isolated back in the day. No internet but LBJ made sure he had three television sets to get all three networks. He adopted that idea from Elvis. 

Robert Caro is getting pretty old. His editor, also old passed recently. I hope he gets to finish his final book on LBJ's presidential years. It probably won't change what you think about LBJ, pretty good guy who was pretty bad sometimes but it might be something to read while we examine our own conscience. 

Most things presidents say are recorded according to certain laws. Do yourself a favor and look up LBJ's phone calls.