Camping and Fishing Report Hanks Creek, Sam Rayburn Lake USA...
If I counted up right as I reviewed back through this blog there have been 10 camping trips this year. For #10 we did not range too far from home as we set up at Hanks Creek which is about 20 minutes from our house and the jumping off point to our favorite fishing spots. As blues man Taj Mahal said "many fish bite if you got good bait" and bite they did this weekend.
Though we camped by ourselves we were joined by daughter Katie from Chicago who was in for a funeral of a friend's mom, the Zamora family (there was fried catfish to eat) and our friends Sherri and Peter. Final total for catching fish was 42 for this three night trip with is right in line with a trip we had 15 years ago this weekend where we tent camped, it was colder, rained and we caught 48 fish.
By the way, all those fish were eaten.
The lake is almost 9' low as you can see from the large exposed beach in the background of this photo. The fish were holding in the creek channels about 7 feet deep so they are still hanging in the same areas but it's worth a note that we have caught 100s of fish on that exposed sandbar behind these fishers.
Yeah mama, eat it every day if I could.
I don't think I got a photo of Katie or Miguel but they might not have fishing licenses and in a surveillance society no need to incriminate.
Big gator living in the campground cove. This photo taken in sight of our boat docking spot.
Bikes always fun on a campout.
Not many campers in the park. We saw maybe 6-8 sites occupied but many are still closed from hurricane damage last summer or spots where you could pull a boat up are not close to the water with the lack of rain and dam repair draw downs. One bathroom is closed. All camper we talked to were catch catfish but I think they were mostly fishing deep so take your pick. Fish are everywhere.
No trips currently on the books but I'm open to suggestions.
I sat down to do a year in review thing today. I put together a picture collage from the last year and there was so much I don't know if you can make heads or tails of the details from the crowded blend of action. I also reviewed back through the blog to get the catfish count for the year and while we are still thankful to be living better that most of the other 8 billion people on the planet December kind of has us limping into the new year.
Cathy had a shoulder replacement at the first of the month and the joint is doing well and maybe is even a little ahead of expectations. She has been troubled with a lingering urinary tract infection and chest congestion. I have been having great fun with a visit from Katie and kids in from Chicago but Cathy has been out of action for most of it.
Morgan, Ali and kids made it to Greenville, South Carolina yesterday for his new position with his employer. I'll miss them but it's nice to see your kids and their families doing new and exciting things and we look forward to the travel adventures to see them.
On a sadder note this week my first cousin Betty Bush passed away at 97 years old. You might have noticed Betty at one of my fish fries. She was a tiny woman who sat and quietly ate her weight in fried catfish. May the Eternal Light Shine on her. I know your family and sister Dixie will miss you. Betty and Dixie were my mother's nieces but so close in age to my mom everyone thought they were sisters. That's Betty on the left with Dixie.
The catfish count for the year is down. We managed 183 catfish on 9 trips. That does not include 4 or 5 sharks and one sting ray at the beach. That seems pretty paltry compared to some of the 500 fish years we have done but there were many swimming, hiking and tubing trips and at least a dozen camping trips with this old man spending a good bit of time in his lawn chair in the shade. Maybe I should count live music attended because there seemed to be a pretty good variety of that.
Here's a photo from a hike at Martin Dies Jr State Park yesterday. Of I can survive New Year's fireworks with this bunch tonight I should cruise smoothly into 2025.
When I'm scrolling Netflix and I see a movie blurb that says something like, "a heart warming coming of age story" I just keep on clicking right past that. Maybe that's cause I have lived all that kind of stuff and it was with my old friend Kenny Baker whose funeral I attended today.
From about eighth grade band on up to graduation from high school we were inseparable friends. He played trombone and I played tuba. In addition to the social activity of band we went to the same church and grew up close learning to play music, drive old 1960s beater cars, listening to music, going to concerts, hunting and fishing like our dads taught us and engaging in as many teen age hijinks as our imaginations could come up with. Yeah, coming of age is a good way to put it. Certainty Kenny, as he aged became the man his family and the world will remember him as and maybe one day I will too.
Here's an old band hall photo from about 1972. Left to right back row is Ernie Murry (I'll play a concert with him tomorrow) Kenny, and Ivor Little. Bottom row is Mike May (RIP), Bob Pennington (Bob's a nurse, I have worked with him and he's taken care of family) and me.
After high school though we went to the same college our paths in life diverged and we would only meet and play in an occasional community band or band alumni concert.
Recently someone came up and introduced themselves as Kenny's co worker. Kenny knew I was connected to the person and they told me, "He talks about you all the time." If that's not some cosmic reach out, I'm soon be gone but I'll be watching out for you moment I don't know what it is. If I felt that vibe from Kenny I can only imagine what his family and really close friends feel from his presence in Heaven.
I saw many old friends from those high school band days at the funeral today. As we age it will just be a matter of time till we feel the call. Hopefully we will be able to reach out and touch the ones we love, our families and each other just like Kenny touched me.
Here's an old clipping of the jazz band, 1972. Kenny is the trombone on the right. He's been playing that same horn as in the photo all these years.
8th and 9th grade band about 1971. I'm the tuba on the left. Kenny is the tall guy next to the white sousaphone.
Trombones, baritones and tubas, yearbook photo probably 1973. Can you pick all us coming of agers out?
Band alumni concert 2009. Me and Kenny in the back, probably causing trouble.
Resonator Guitars, Tubas, Weddings, Christmas Concerts and More...
Here's a photo of the stage set up from the recent Brazos River Rats show. That's my metal bodied resonator guitar. People always ask me about that guitar, complement it, say they have never seen such and that it sounds great. Actually it's an Asian import, Chris Edward's big Gibson sitting on stage next to it probably cost three times as much, the first resonator guitars like this were made in 1928 and I've been playing this one for about 25 years. Those that never seen such I'm sorry you are just now making it to one of my gigs and I guess that's also a sign that I am always finding new audiences to hogwash.
Someone at this show asked me if it was a National, which is the top of the line for this kind of thing. It does sound pretty good and for an import it's top of the line. I can't imagine myself sounding any different if I had a better guitar. All my instruments are mid level journey man type gear. They look nice, get me through the gigs and if a drunk wanders by and sits down where I laid it it probably won't even break like something more expensive might.
Speaking of gigs even though we have pretty much retired from playing weekly Masses in favor of weddings, funerals, and Quinceaneras we have been asked to substitute for two Masses on Sunday. In between we provide music for the RCIA class. On Saturday we play a wedding of one of our group who began playing with us since she was a teen. Today we will be in a get some music together mode.
On Dec. 3rd at 2:30 in Temple Theater you can also catch me playing tuba with the Angelina Civic Band for our Christmas Concert. Also in December I'll try to squeeze in a couple of tuba Christmas in the park days.
Here's clip of resonator great Bukka White showing how it's done.
I was sorry to hear of the passing of Sabine River Brass Band drummer Jason Carriger this past weekend. It was unexpected. Many that knew him better than I have written fine tributes but I write for my own remembrances that though I saw him play and we hung out only a handful of times Jason was the kind of guy that made you feel like a close friend. He made his personal interactions important.
I made this photo at the 2015 Brass Band BBQ.
Jason was the funniest guy on social media. He won the internet every time he posted his observances of human nature.
They always tell you to hold people tight because you never know what will happen. I'm sorry Jason that we never got to develop the tuba-tooth paste idea or we did not get that chance to trade my fresh caught catfish for your home made sausage.
Ramble on dude. I'll think of you every time I hear a brass band.
Someone, an old friend told me the other day, "come over I want to record you. Bring tuba, cigar box guitar and your resonator and let's capture what makes mudbelly mudbelly." I was honored and flattered at this idea thinking, wow my stichk must really be good or either he's thinking my music is like a painting by the early peoples of the desert that you might find hidden in a West Texas canyon. It's worth noting, seeing and documenting because one day old mudbelly will join them peoples to dance around a fire in the many rooms of the afterlife and while we won't want his sun baked cave paintings to hang in our living rooms it will be good to know they existed.
Music has been picking up for Cathy and I. I think it has for all musicians with the easing of covid and vaccinations and I am seeing many friends busy also. All this spittle spraying from tuba blowing and yelling into microphones has not given me covid or made anyone else sick.
Depending on where you see us playing you might see anything going on and with this blog entry I thought I might try to cover the range of musical activity that has been underway for the last few months. It might not all be rock and roll but as a musician I think you let your talent guide you and most of all you put music in places where it might not be.
Of course there is the tuba playing that has been an ongoing cross to bear since 1969. Our Lufkin Brass Quintet has not been much active this year but we are going to begin again after Easter. In the meantime the Angelina Civic Band has been busy with rehearsals each week and a concert is scheduled May 1st at 2pm in Temple Theater. Here is a video of Leonard Bernstein's Danzon by our band from the last concert.
I also had a chance to jam with the Stone Wall Rockers and the Brazos River Rats and Bluegrass Orchestra to make a big racket to celebrate the re-election of Judge Travis Kitchens to District 258. There's a lot of rules in these jams like this. You can't use music, I think they make you sing a song you don't know or at least have never performed (that's what they do to me) and then you go back and see the rule about no music. I don't know if this politician we honored with all this chaos is a Republican or a Democrat and I've known him for 30 years and it's never come up but there certainly seems to be a spirit of all men are equal as long as they have an electric guitar in their hands which sounds like something the Founding Father probably would not say.
That's Chris Edwards in the background on the Stonewall Studio stage. I'm reading his book "Nobody Come to Visit Anymore" and you should also.
After a couple of years of slowed activity playing at church retirement has helped us pick it up. Cathy is the musical director in this and the music is bilingual English and Spanish. We don't play a regular Mass but play anytime bilingual music is required. I just stand behind her and if her foot comes down and I'm not playing I start, if I'm playing when the foot comes down I stop.
We've played music for a lot of funerals during covid, I wish I would have counted but thankfully we are seeing more weddings these days. The last two weddings have had good parties afterwards. We play real good for our supper and the food was excellent at both of these.
With the Lenten Season coming to an end we furnished music for a couple of retreats. I think the fact that we both chose yellow shirts was as impactful as the music this day. It does not matter if it's church or a sweaty VFW stage somewhere this just reinforces my rule that you should always dress like you are with the band.
Mary sings with us here and has shown a real talent for organizing retreats.
This is a youth retreat group. I messed up and did not wear the yellow shirt fut the music was fun and the kids sang well. .
Youth retreat group.
Cathy and the other adults Mary, Maria, and Jose lead the kids. I worked the sound board.
Speaking of soundboard we have a new one, it's sounding good and also a camera to improve the livestreaming of services. Live had been done from a phone in the past and it's all been some new things to learn but I can compare it to my instruments. You have to put in the practice.
We will be doing Easter music on Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Vigil. Cathy blew her voice last week and between singing and yelling at grandkids she has had laryngitis but reports this morning, "better."
Hopefully she is back to full strength by Thursday. I will sing and actually my Spanish is getting better but it will sound nicer if my cave paintings are not hanging out front in the living room.
"Soundmen and mixers make us sound loud, two girls dancing make us a crowd, sometimes we make money, sometimes we don't know..." is a line from a song by famous Tulsa songwriter J.J. Cale. I almost said old song but then some would say "mudbelly, you listening to that music from back in 2005 again?" and it might not be the best song example but we have a new soundboard at church and I'm scheduled to spend time this evening learning to work it.
The old sound board was a big analog made in Mississippi Peavey and I'm gonna miss it even though there were those times that I spent an hour before Mass doing a sound check and then as the entrance song began little green gremlins began dancing on speaker main cables with poop stained feet and making unusual gain adjustments with little stinking hands and the whole system resounded in noises noises that could have brought down the walls of Jericho but instead caused the congregation to suspect that the operator was a total idiot. Fortunately the gremlins were excised or we just learned to get along. Hopefully I won't miss the analog layout as this new made in China board, while it has a good reputation contains a lot of multi function buttons where you have several actions for each fader depending on the button pushed.
If you don't know about Catholic Liturgy it's a bit different from the praise band set up you might encounter at other churches. Songs you play have to go with the Readings for the day. Just because they liked "Yellow Rose of Texas" last time you played it does not make it acceptable and "Amazing Grace" is not Liturgical but nobody will gripe if it's played as a Recessional at a funeral. Without these big productions you are pretty much left with organ, piano, and acoustic (which came to wide use in the 60s when Latin was out and English was in because they were the easiest way to get the singing going) guitars. Most of the time when doing sound I run two or three mics for speakers and overhead choir micing. The old board and the new board for that matter are much overkill for this situation but it is time for some upgrades.
Maybe I'll be up to speed by Friday as we play for a funeral Mass that day. I can recall years ago getting up to speed on the old board when there was a funeral and Cathy was unable to be there. I played guitar accompanying singers. I mean I play guitar but at church I play bass so am a bit unfamiliar with the guitar parts as I never play them. I used my hollow body electric because I felt comfortable on that instrument and went straight through the board. It was a small family gathering of people I did not know and afterwards I realized I only had the guitar through the monitors. I though, "bet that sounded great" but years later I met the family and without knowing it was me playing guitar that day they remarked how good the music had been for their loved one's funeral. Things have a way of working out.
The other thing new at church is a camera to livestream on YouTube the Masses. During Covid things had been live on Facebook but it was just one view and this makes it able to follow the Mass as if present. I have been tutored on this and am the administrator of the youtube channel but I have yet to operate the broadcast. Here's a stream from the St. Patrick's Celebration Mass. Our choir is playing the music (overheard choir mics) and we are still using the old sound board. I was happy with the choir mix but there could be some adjustment to the speakers on individual mics if they begin to sing along with the group for balance. Maybe the new board will address this. Surly it's made for livestreaming which had not been invented when the old board was made.
About that "sometimes we make money, sometimes we don't know..." line in the J.J. Cale song if you hit subscribe on this channel we might one day make another revenue stream for the church.
I can make money if you read this blog and venmo me.
What a past few days it has been. We gathered last weekend for Morgan's birthday. Top photo round the table is Morgan, Ali, Anne Kelly, Miguel, Mary and Cathy at the Rodney Crowell show at Gruene Hall, the oldest dance hall in Texas. It was a good show and we have some pictures for later.
Katie was in from Chicago for Cathy's Uncle Joe's funeral. Here you see Rose, Cathy, Katie and Mary. Katie says you can't get barbacoa in Chicago.
Next is Cathy and siblings, Jim, John, Matt and Margaret.
Last photo is Cathy's dad Bill and his siblings gathered after their brother Joe's funeral. Standing is Kevin and David, seated is Shelia and Bill.
Good times and sad times. Family is together for it all.
So one day in the future, hopefully a long time from now, but it will happen, I'll be dead. I'll lay in noble repose up at Gipson's Funeral home, like so many hard headed Wallaces of old, at rest, at peace, my long journey done.
They will gather, family and friends, sorry and sad for sure, but I am ok, ready to lay in Mother Earth, my work done. As they gather around, the casket is on that lazy Susan thing that Gipson's has, where the family takes their last viewing, the lid is closed and they spin you around to the main sanctuary for the service to begin. Contrary to popular belief this is not a special maneuver required to get a Wallace into heaven, merely a convenience to move the proceedings along.
Before all this happens there will be the remembrances. Coraline, the granddaughter in this picture will take her turn telling a story about the time with Grandpa on the beach. The time he ran up and down the beach so fast I had to hold on to his hat to keep it from flying off into the Gulf of Mexico and to keep myself from falling in the water.
The rest of the kids possibly other grandkids will hear this story and stare open mouthed in disbelief. The will all say,"Grandpa ran fast, nu-uh!"
My Aunt Aloise passed away last night. She was married to my Dad's oldest brother, Leonard. Please keep her family, daughter Sue, husband Duncan and kids, grand kids and other family in your prayers.
An old friend, Al Largent passed away yesterday. He leaves behind his wife, Madeline. They had been married 55 years I think is what she told me yesterday. I know in these days when relationships tend not to last too long sometimes, the divorce rate is 50% and people get married later in life some of us will miss out on this kind of commitment. I can only guess how much she will miss him.
I guess I have know the Largents most of my adult life. I went to school with their son, Mike. Al worked at the mill. Madeline worked at the credit union there and made me the first auto loan I ever had. Thanks a lot Madeline. I guess when Morgan was about 12 or so we began mowing and raking their yard, his first job. I continued to do this myself after he went to work at the TKD school and it gave me and the Largents many hours to visit. It was pretty easy to do this yard work as a little sideline while I worked shift work at the mill, but once I went back to school, attending classes in the day and working weekends there was just not enough hours to continue this. We would still see each other at various St Patrick activities and Madaline keeps up a lively email stream.
I'll be a pall bearer. funeral is Monday at 10. Please remember the family in your prayers.
"...I know I've seen that face before," Big Jim was thinking to himself
"Maybe down in Mexico or a picture up on somebody's shelf..."Bob Dylan from "Lilly Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts
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