For You Deer Hunters....

 

 

 

Deer photos I made on LBJ's Perdenales River Ranch. 

Back Porch Band Saturday Night...

The Back Porch Band plays the Lufkin VFW Saturday night Nov. 10th Starts 8pm. Admnission $5.

Some of Dad's Old Photos...

I have been working on a military history of my Dad's WW2 service. There's not much to go on but there is some interesting stuff. 

Here's an old photo. This are members of Company A 398th MP battalion. I don't think my dad ever crossed into Germany so it's pretty safe to assume this is France. That's my Dad standing by the driver's side of the jeep. Next is a scan of his handwriting on the back of the photo. 

If you can't make it out it says, "Reading from right to left me, Steve Murmand, Jack Miller, Frank, Edsel Whitson, and Helsinger standing up." Poor old Helsinger got his head cut in the photo. All the guys in the photo look pretty cold and are all bundled up. 

Next photo must be after the war. Looks like the guy to the waitresses left is Frank. The guy to her right is my dad. Can't really make a positive ID on the other guys. I bet that Schlitz beer on the table tasted good after a gritty winter in post war Europe.  

As I say I don't have much to go on about my dad's service. I do know there was a mention that on his return there was a bit of drinking, a bit of fighting that went on. Guys still do that after they get home from the war. Since these past four years have seen no new wars and have been marked by the return home of may troops who served in harm's way let us pray the next four years are peaceful ones. 

  

Ready for the Election...

 Bet there has not ever been anyone who stood at this podium wearing a Todd Snider "What the Folk" tee shirt. Well anyway the president will be along shortly.

By the way Cathy is all ready for her poll worker job tomorrow. She's not an election judge just a helper. She is really cute in her blue UN helmet but I think the NATO auto pistol is a little slim and makes her butt look big. It would be better with a long barreled revolver. Oh well guess there are a few things to be worked out with the NWO. 

More on LBJ...

Here lies LBJ. That's him and Lady Bird under the two biggest headstones in the Johnson family cemetery located off the road you drive in on to his Hill Country ranch outside Johnson City. Nice and shady under those old oaks. It was a cool day when we visited but the brightness of the sun outside the boundaries of the shade give a parched Texas hot look to the scene beyond the stone wall of eternal rest. 

One thing LBJ believed in was education and starting it early. I stood at the corner of the burial ground and made this photo. In the fore ground the low bushes mark the Perdernales  River. The Lutheran Church is the site of the first Head Start Program in the nation. It was established by laws LBJ passed while in the White House. 









Also on the ranch property is the school LBJ attended as a child. It was a poor school and LBJ was poor. As I have been tracing parts of his life, visiting places he walked it's easy to see why one would wish things to be better for those that will follow you. May be the same mistakes LBJ made can be avoided if we all are just a little smarter or have a bit more opportunity. Makes you wonder why some make it fight over how to educate our children.   

Took a Walk Over at Big Slough...

 Deer season is fixing to open. Here's a big buck scrape I saw in the Big Slough Wilderness area. Looks like I just missed him. You can see when he just urinated to mark his territory.  I also spotted another scrape not 20 yards from this one. 

I also did just miss a big buck that ran inches in front of my car. A real close call. 

Not much water in the big slough. We will need some rain to have a decent duck hunt in the bottoms. This little road side spring was flowing quite well. I stopped and got a big jug of this water. Made coffee with it at work the next day.  Everyone said "good, good coffee." 

I said "it's the fresh spring water!" And then I said, "I can make more, more." 

Happy Birthday Pop...

 Bill and Geneva celebrate his birthday sitting in a special parade review stand they built just to be able to have a good vantage point for all the passing festivities. We wish him many more years of use for this special facility.

Hear his birthday song played here:
http://soundcloud.com/carl-wallace-1/happy-birthday