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John Burgess Webb

hey dougr;good to see that you are still out there,good to see you still remember.we still have some suprises in store but reverance from our prez wont be one of them.i guess ill start saving string and tin foil like my grandmother did,no telling how hard the economy is going to fall.just remember that there was madness in their method.reparations for the entire world.aint we got fun.

b

John Burgess Webb

oh,to put my comments into a better perspective and explain why i am an optimist at heart,i relate the story from nasa about the star burst recorded as the largest gamma and x-ray explosion ever recorded.it shut down the software in the photon detecters,virtually "blinded the satelite set up to detect such events.the fact that this star died fifty billion years ago..it took that long for the photons to reach our eyes.this is what i mean by perspective.we live by the light of a living star,with the light from a far-gone star reaching our new-born sensors. to be able to calculate the distance by spectral analysis, then figure the time it took for the gamma and xrays(travaling at the speed of light) to get here,amazing.our instruments expand the definition of 'infinity'.we are in the future arent we? the parameter of our knowledge is expanded.this is the prime mission of nasa.fifty billion light-years,now how many miles is that from earth? what has this got to do with perspective?well to me it means that our ignorance is vast and every improvement of our ability to accuratly measure and thereby predict is a step in the right direction,our weather satelites are the externalized proof of its value.one of the hidden beauties of surveying;you cannot "fudge",what is not 'true' is  unexceptable.the goal is enlightenment;the work is applied philosophy.with the help of some sense god gave me i can reconcile perspective somewhere within the range of light-year down to the anstrom.thats where we little humans live,in vast space and time.

semper fidelis

Jackie Crowe (Finch)

Hey Doug,

Glad to see you on the forum.  I hope it's okay - I posted your information about your Uncle Hiller under our Military Salute - we salute his service and sad he was killed in action.

Everyone else, please send me information and pictures of your service or any family members to post on our "Military Salute" section.

Hugs,

J

Robert Derrick

DOD, Rich LH, b, Doug R, et al

I have read with much interest all that all you all have said for many months. Never comment much. But agree with most everything you say. I am not searching for all the answers in this forum, but would enjoy all your thoughts on what to do for the next few years. I think we agree that after that, God will take care of all. (as he does now)

John Burgess Webb

teddie and fran,those are facinating films of the humming bird.they are tough little critters,we get plenty of them up here.ivwatched 12 or fifteen of them jocky for my neighbors feeders.they swarm over the honeysuckle in my front yard and and really help spring feel alive.i like em.

i was still pondering over the distance to that dying star.spectral analysis gives so much information about the nature of the universe;the materials forming our planits and stars,the reactions throughout both physical and chemical;things like solar wind,gravity,friction and heat.measurements that are made possible by the cumulative knowledge of centuries leading up to the pinacle of our observation.the engineers'  definition of infinity has put us on the cusp of understanding what is still veiled from us;the mysteries.though we can see now the elements more articulated than the vague discription in genisis "from the dust of the earth".the the more precise 'how' may be clarified by the undestanding of the complicated chemical reactions that constitute all life.to me it adds credence to an unknown force that passes the test of scientific observation and measurement."the power and the glory" need no further investigation.god and science get along fine,the power that created us gave us the intelligence and tools to seek out the principles of the world we live in.empirical in nature and sound for the purpose of improving our lot.a look at our infrastructure gives us a clue to the standard of living we enjoy.even our freeways are works of engineering art.its not just nature in the wild sense,but nature in the urban sense.

houston freeways are another subject again.i enjoyed them before they got too crowded.everybody remembers the freeway from the time they opened.lots of memories,fun times

Richard Meek '65

Robert, I like your question. It opens up the opportunity for discussion about many things. Over the last few years I have found it very interesting to do quite a bit of reading about what scientists and doctors are figuring out what makes people live longer. My interest is in improving the quality of my life not necessarily extending it. Which I think is important because we are faced with the potential to live longer than previous generations. If God grants me that opportunity I would like to be in good mental and physical condition right up to the end. Over the weekend I was perusing a book I had previously read called Blue Zones. It is I what I guess you would call a study of four of the zones in the world that have been identified as having the longest lived people. They are called blue zones because when the project first started someone used a blue market to circle them on a map (no great scientific thought there, eh). Anyway they are located in Okinawa, Sardinia, Nicoyan Peninsula in Costa Rica and Loma Linda  California. Without restating the book basically what they found was the centenarians they studied in these areas had several similarities. They eat a primarily plant based diet. They get regular exercise. Either by having a garden, walking a lot or some regular workouts. None of them were involved in aerobics or going to a gym every day. They have a strong faith. Doesn't seem to matter if it is Christian, Buddhist, Hindu or Muslim. It's having a higher power to turn problems over to. They also have strong support networks from family and friends. They generally have an optimistic outlook even though they have had tough times in life as we all do. The thing I think is key to it all is that they have a reason to get up in the morning. That doesn't mean necessarily a job, although a lot of these folks continue to work in some fashion. It could mean working at your church, gardening and family and friends activities or community service. One quote I remember was from a lady who was 107 at the time they interviewed her summed what she would thought was important for a long life. "Life ins short. Don't go so fast you miss it." So have a plan and enjoy it. For many of this group it won't be just a few years. Many of us will have another 20 to 30 years or maybe longer with medical breakthroughs. We just don't know which ones of us that will be. Was this long winded enough? What are your thoughts?

Burge, if you haven't been to Houston in a few years some of the freeway expansions would surprise and amaze you. For instance the Katy Freeway is now 22 lanes wide (incl. the feeder roads) and runs out past Katy. The Northwest Frwy. (Hwy. 290) is under a similar expansion. Demographers say that Houston will grow by 2 million people in the next 10 yrs. Hang on it will be a wild ride. I am a director on the Board of a regional water authority and it is truly fascinating to see what sort of planning is in the works for this area and the state in general. What is going to happen over the next 50 years in all aspects of life is going to be absolutely amazing. I seem to have my hands full with Liz, keeping her from digging up anything I plant. At 4 mos. it takes more and more to work her energy levels down. It's fun though.

Keep on dancing,

Rich LH

Beau Wann, Jr.

Speaking of freeways, remember when we got to see films in this class or that class in High School??? I remember seeing a few on the gridlock of the freeways in New York and surrounding high dense populated areas! That sort of freeway and roadway problems hadnt reached us here, whilst we drank at the fountain of knowledge, known as SP Waltrip HS. I remember seeing the mess on films, and commenting either to myself, or whoever would listen, "if the traffic ever gets that bad down here, I'm moving", or words to that effect...I'm still here!!!! But, would like to get moving... out.

Hummingbirds are a true marvel of nature thats for sure...we had a plethora of them at my mom and dads lake house at lake livingston! Everytime I see one just hanging in the air, it's like the first time I have seen something like that! The lake house was the first time I ever saw one of em sit on a branch, or not be in motion! I THOUGHT THAT,  was the most marvelest thing I had ever seen!I have a few pictures of some hummingbirds that I took up along the white river in arkansas. the feeder was just a few feet from me, and the HBs paid me no nevermind, and just supped at the feeders like I wasnt there!  See, it pays to be simple minded...amusements and fun are cheap!!! Heck, I still marvel at the doodle bug, or roly poly as we sometimes called them! Most everything in nature awes me...seriously!!! I like ducks and owls and lions and tigers and bears...well, the latter three, I only like seeing them at a safe distance, say, oh about the focal length of a billion MM lens on the old Nikon!!! those are best viewed in a book. I started to say in a cage, but I dont like to see animals caged, especially the exotic birds...now, to me thats a crime...but another story...

Hey Robert, what do you mean about what to do over the next couple of years??? I am trying to plan for the future, ie lay in stores of necessities, but you have to use them as you go, or they go bad and that of course defeats the purpose of "laying in stores". There are some things you can buy that last years, and that is Toilet paper, paper towels etc, bottled water, some canned goods, but you have to rotate those and use oldest to newest! Coffee, sugar, salt, rice, etc...there are somethings that you can store for almost ever, and that would be whiskey and ammo. Now, I'm not much of a drinker, anymore, but you can use it for barter, that and the ammo! I have about half dozen cases of 20 and 12 gauge shotgun shells, left over from when I was competing in trap and skeet and sporting clays! You could buy a case for about 35 dollars, and that was about 3.50 a box. I also reloaded, but found I could buy them cheaper than I could reloading. Although reloading served several purposes, you could load them to shoot hot, or cold, hot loads on windy days, and not so hot for calm days,  plus it is sort of a repetitive therapy.

Why am I "hoarding"??? I'm not really a hoarder, although I generally try to keep useful stuff if I can, but just remember the old boyscout slogan, of "BE PREPARED"!!!! Most times I am, and then sometimes I fail, or plan for thewrong thing! Like Ike, remember that bad boy???? I had two generators, plus about 20 gallons of gas and enough food to last a month or so, which wasnt necessary, but the generators ran 24/7 for two weeks. Had a spare window unit that ran for two weeks! It didnt cost much, about a hundred dollars, and money well spent! It's even in use today at someones house! So, it not only helped me and my family, but now a friend! I shared my generators with a couple of neighbors, and finally after two weeks, power was restored, took the generators to folks that were not  so lucky!

Another thing is find a church family!!! My beloved has belonged to  the same church since she was 3, and that would be 53 years! I have belonged for almost 30 years, and we have been part of a lot of shared love and shared lives!!!Lots of tuna casserole, meatloaf, mac and cheese and salads have changed hands over the years at our church, as I'm sure must have at all other churches.  It just seems natural to pitch in when there is a problem, or a need etc...Our church is now so small, that the normal attendance on Sunday is about 30! Last Sunday we had 25!!! Most everyone nowdays attends the Megachurchs...safety in numbers, I suppose! There was a time we had about 800 or more members, and two services on Sunday. The Theissens also helped found OPC, around 1946 or so.  I sure enjoy seeing them there on sundays! Like I've said before, most all the "old members" have passed on, and now we are the old members!

But like you said, Robert, Gods gonna take care of whatever Gods gonna take care of, whether we're on board or not! But to my simple mind, we best be on board...

Keeping useful stuff??? Yeah, like the nut or bolt left over from a project. You say to yourself, "I might need that later, so I'll just put it here, for when I do"!!! I AM NEVER GONNA FIND THAT NUT OR BOLT EVER AGAIN!!! So I will jsut have to go to HD and buy another one! If youre like me, you hate to throw away anything useful!!!! I know, define useful!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well, since you asked, useful is the shard of broken coke bottle, that somehow took the shape of a useful wood scraper when I was refinishing an old walnut stock for an old rifle that I no longer have!!! I kept that piece of glass, for years, or until I forgot why I had that old broken piece of glass! It sure was great for finishing that stock though! Rubber gaskets???? Old inner tubes??? I finally found a use for old bicycle inner tubes, well, the 1.75 to 2.00 inch ones! I had one, but that wasnt enough, so I had to buy one at academy. Go figure! Sometimes holding on to things is good, and sometimes not! That holds true with the ones you love too, family and friends alike! But thats something most everyone knows about!!!

Well, stayed too long and yaked too much! But it's good therapy, for me at least!

Keep the sun at your six and ride boldly ride...

DOD

Jackie Crowe (Finch)

Hey Gang,

Enjoy all of your input - life, politics, health, military, religion, astronomy and all the wonderful youth and high school memories!

Love the dog pictures and speaking of critters, Beau, your remark about doodle bugs - oh, my gosh had almost forgotten.  Doodle bugs, pill bugs and lightning bugs were the past times in Austin in my younger years - along with the sand box (or it had to be more mud) because I made a lot of mud pies!  Give me sand/mud, tree sticks, rocks and a few tin pans and I spent hours creating!

Cannot tell you how many times at a Crowe family gathering in our yard in Austin (while making homemade ice cream and eating watermelon) all my cousins and I chased lighting bugs and the poor pill bugs and doodle bugs -- it didn't take much for entertainment.  Take a stick and stir the doodle bug houses until they came out ----- pretty destructive - but at the time we didn't give that any thought.  Thanks for bringing back all those wonderful memories. And I didn't know what a mosquito was until we moved to Houston in 1956 -- honest!

Have a good day!

Hugs,

J

Beau Wann, Jr.

Hey SisJ, one is glad to be of service!!! I miss the lightening bugs, and the horned toads!!! Hey Burge, the pentagon is upgrading their sniper rifle from the Remington M24 308 to 300 winchester magnum. Instead of 850 yards, it will be effective to 1300 yards. It will have a rail system for attachments such as  night-vision gear. An adjustable butt plate and a collapsible stock has been added to make it more compact!!! And for the first time the military will add a suppressor to to reduce the noise and distort the rifles signature, and an added 25X scope with a range finder to do the distance calculations. And all for the paltry sum of 5.6million dollars. Kind of a lot to invest in one rifle, but no expense should be spared for our troops. Suppose to be delivered to the troops this  fall!!!

Poor Jack, has an ear problem. DW has cleaned it with the prescribed meds, and now he is scooting around on the carpet with that ear down. Rocky use to get those dreadful ear problems. I first noticed when he kept shaking his head and rattaling his collar and tags. He came and put his tilted head in my lap and looked up at me with the saddest eyes that looked like they were saying, " I'm hurting, can you help me, please"!!! Bout broke my heart. But we're on top of it, hopefully!!! Hate to see a critter suffer!!!

Saw a movie, made in 1938, with Tyrone Power and Lorretta Young, called Suez, about the suez canal. Only took em 13 years to build, BY HAND,  no less!!!! The credits said it was historically inaccurate, so I broke out my Funk and Wagnalls and they werent too far off! Started reading about France and the many Napoleons it had and my lord, so much history to absorb and remember! They probably taught all that in school, but I was woefully absent, or asleep!!! I truly do love history...just cant remember it all!!!

Ok, gonna go lie down with Jack and let him put his head in my lap, and finish watching "Hurricane" made in 1937, by John Ford.  Sleep well, mine waltripians...DOD 

John Burgess Webb

hey beau,only one of my dogs has an ear problem,his is in the folds of the ear and i just rub a little vaporub on his ears and though he compains a little he usually stops scratching it red and settles down in a few minutes and the vapor seems to soothe the irration.he kinda looks up at me and says'what are you all about?'he accepts that i can turn on a light or open the door and all sorts of incredible things,he sees me in these simple terms.i love my dogs.ive been using vaporub since i was i baby,i remember how it could break up a chest cold and let you breathe.pretty good on paper-cuts and torn cuticles.anyway,i dont put any in the ear canal,just in the loose part of the ear,the vapor does the rest.summertime is hell on pets,heat and bugs;bad news.if its some exotic then the vet is the only way,if its just irratation from scratching,try the vaporub,it soothes.

yeah,about the marine corps sniper rifle,the .308 was easy on the shooter,therefore less deflection when antisipating the recoil.i almost always flinched with my big bores.gary and i had a contest one day at carter country where i bragged that i could outshoot him with my .264 winmag.he had just bought a .223 weatherby vanguard with a custom stock and and great accuracy.i knew that my commercial mauser in .264 mag. was dead on at 300 yds.well after a few rounds of that punishing recoil i started to miss.it was the recoil that stressed out the upper body and caused you to 'pull' and that fraction in deflection became a miss(2 inch)at 300 yds.gary never missed with the .223.a funtioning round at 300 yds.i know that out there in the deserts they use the .50 cal browning at 1700 yrds.its a matter of design now as it matters to recoil.the secret service has been using the 7mm rem-mag for years so the .300 should be good out to 800 yds.your' just lobbing rounds out to 1400yds,but a good shooter should be able to do it.im guaging the 800 yd. range because of the known effectiveness of the 8mm mauser with a record of 800yd shots during the boer war in south africa.in the mountains of italy the open sights of the 6.5x55mm mauser(sweedish mauser)was the way to look down at your enemy from 1000yds and spend a few rounds;all this with open sights.ive fired my sweedish mauser out to 300 yds and just applied the same technique as i learned in the marine corps,the recoil was about the same as the m14.the sights were flip-up ladder sights on the mauser and tangent-up peep sights on the m14.the sweedish mauser  got there a little quicker(mabe 200fps).i would defend with either or,including the .233.

jarhead

John Burgess Webb

ive been racing around the enter-net instead of loop 610,trying to find out whats shakin.no news is good news;thats about all you can get your ears around.one little cringe,two little cringes;this story of sherrod losing her job and refocusing attention on race was not just a double-clutch by fox news and brietbart,it was a low blow.i guess riding the wave and getting giddy on their ratings;they were not "fair and ballanced" this time.im disappointed that the airwaves have brought no enlightenment with them.the lady was due her full comment in the context it was meant to fill;her overcoming of her prejudices and helping the white farmer to save his land.now that would have been 'fair and ballanced'.i have fought my personal prejudices;i was jumped by a gang of blacks while on okinawa,they won and i was coming too on a steel slab in the base hospital.i know what black prejudice feels like,and its hard to overcome after having had your head stomped into the ground like a watermellon.the 'code' demanded that i get payback,and i did.i was called out by the gunny and acused of being racist and starting a fight by pulling the ring leader out of the barracks at 3 in the am.the officer of the day and a few other people broke it up; and here i was having to refresh to gunny isherwood that it was me that got jumped.it turned out that these guys were part of an l.a.street gang inside the m.c. and the technique they used to clique on me was called'double-banking'where they aproach from different directions then,boom!yeah,i understand prejudice,my own and others.very few black marines were gangbangers and when we got to vietnam,the 'badboys'wanted out of my unit.if a person can deal with it ;if a person can overcome it as this lady was proud to announce in the rest of the tape,i try to pay attention:the alternative is violence so it behooves all prejudices to suspend or we as a nation will be hard-pressed to prosper.i look at my own prejudices,i look at the people around me and include my friend henry,a black marine viet nam veteran;i view him as one that i would trust my life to.

this is kinda my opnion,the 'news'operations vis a vis the 'telecommunication'industry owes congress for the public airwaves that were "given"[only two senaters voted against giving public airwaves (versus their'lease) but it was fait acompli] it really means that we just sorta have a 'fourth estate',what we need to realise is that integraty is compromised by the quid pro quo ethics in the most rarified of inviromins,power.

Richard Meek '65

I think you have to remember that people are people no matter what their color, creed or religion. There are goods ones and bad ones in all groups. Treat people as individuals. It works better. Just follow the golden Rule that we all learned as children. Another one I like I heard Jim Hightower quote on the final Bill Moyers Journal show. This quote was from his dad, during the Depression. " We all do better, when we All do better"!

DOD and Burge, I followed with interest your discussion of what rifles to use to drive tacks at 50 to 300 yards. I find it more efficient to get within about 6 in. of the tack and hit it with a tack hammer. It drives it every time.

I went to a panel discussion last night at the UH at their Bauer College of Business. The moderator was Susie Gahrib, one the anchor people on The Nightly Business news on PBS. The panelists were local financial guys and a Professor of Economic History from SHSU. (For all you Bearkats out there, he has his PHD from Harvard. Pretty high powered guy up there in Huntsville) Anyway his data is that every great economic surge forward in the last 100 years has occurred after a recession when the government lowered taxes. All the panelist were optimistic in varying degrees. It is so good to go to something like that and have these financial pros agree with me. it almost makes me feel smug. So be sure and contact your congressmen and senators and urge them to lower taxes. Also get out an vote in November. If your representatives won't back lowering taxes help get someone elected who will. Just so you get the importance of this. . . the economic surges the professor referred to averaged 7% a year for 10 years. That my friends means that kind of sustained growth would double your assets in that 10 yr. period. Since we have just come out of the worst 10 yrs. in the past 100 we could all use some growth like that! Es correcto?

Oh and don't forget. . .

Keep on dancing,

Rich LH

Teddie Jordan

Richard, I admire your and the panel's optimism, but are you and they aware that the biggest tax increase in recent history takes place on Jan. 1, 2011? All of our personal income tax rates will go up, from 15 to 50%. The tax on dividends and long term capital gains goes up from 15% to 20%, an increase of 33%, and between the effects of Obama Care and corporate tax rates increasing, businesses will have alot more reasons to hunker down and not hire than to expand. As a longtime salesman I tend to be the eternal optimist. But when everything I see tells me we are going in the wrong direction, with increasing federal spending and anti business decisions, I'm having a hard time maintaining that optimism.

Jim Taylor

Jackie asked about our neighbor that opened the bomb disguised as a box of candy a couple of weeks ago.  She had some hand surgery at the Med Center, but was home quickly and is apparently recovering well.  It turns out that the perpetrator was probably her older brother.  It seems that they have some long running court fight going on over some land they inherited.  I guess he thought he would end the argument.  I guess at this point he will not need a retirement program as the taxpayers of Texas will probably feed and house him for the rest of his life.  Maybe all of the news reporters will now forget where our neighborhood is located and leave everyone alone.

John Burgess Webb

"      the little golden lion"

Richard Meek '65

Burge that is a great picture of one of your dogs.

Ted, this is my take on what hopefully will happen. Yes I am aware that the Bush tax cuts are due to expire at year end. I think it will play out in one of two ways. Congress will renew the tax cut or maybe extend is a better word prior to the November election. What better way to get more votes than to vote for extending tax cuts. Or if it does expire I think the new Congress will re-instate them. I think this because I think you aren't going to have the Democratic Party totally in control of Congress. The new Congress  will be wanting to make their mark and here again what better way to get on the good side of the American voters. When you get down to it most people vote with the side that they think will fill their wallet. As a person in sales I too tend to be an optimist. I think we will resolve the problems ahead of us and them deal with the new ones that come along. I don't think the world is coming to an end but if it does I guess all we're worrying about won't matter will it? I also think that we do better when we have a dynamic tension in Congress. Also i don't think the major corporations can sit on the pile of money they have, what, something over $3 trillion. They are eventually going to have to put it to work. your thoughts?

Rich

John Burgess Webb

even the mongol turk under ghengis khan had their aristocracy;they wore silver on thier reines and fine fur on their backs.thats the way it is and will be from then to now to then.their brother the scythian went north and gave us the viking democracies and  inroads into the new world with nefoundland and  the precedent of trade with the 'six civilized nations'; the iroqois had their own aristocracy and that in spite of their unique brand of communism.iniative and energy are not equal yet we are born equal in the sight of god and in the protection of law.there will always be this disparency,and is the root of that "dynamic tension".every bit of it came from the same human impulse that we share today.the world is a cornecopia to the optomist; a "brave new world" to the iconaclast.

burge

Douglas Romans

Burge, the scythian commies, as you well know, have us all by the you-know-what---

All you have to do is waste two and one-half hours plus about 7 dollars and go see DiCaprio's latest cinematic mini-effort entitled "Inception", as I, unfortunately, did today.

But go ONLY if you enjoy a totally unintelligible plot, garbled dialogue due to constant whispering, loud background noises and foreign accents, easily confused and forgotten character names, thousands of bullets that hit absolutely no targets (if you like that sort of thing) and only so-so special effects. The dreams-on-a-dream-on-a-dream sequences become VERY BORING!!!!

All this movie proved was the "bright sparkly object in the dumb bird's eye" phenomonon whereby the bird's attention is caught by "much ado about nothing" as all the young audiences will be attracted to.

DougR

John Burgess Webb

hey douger,hollywood has become enamored of discriptive violence,orginized crime,romantic and blubbery revolution.i think of oliver stone and wonder if he ever had to face the brutality of guerilla warfare;i know he was in vietnam and wrote 'platoon' as per his experience in viet nam.i can say on one level it captured the messiness of 'little wars'but the moral and commoradery in my unit was better than that portrayed in 1969.all the differences were right there to get a handle on.there were no drugs in 1965 and the command structure was much tighter.it was living history,right there in your home ,every night and day.well, the planners gave it up;most of us had to 'eat s..t and die'.

the point is this,after fantisizing and romantisizing the idea of 'viva la revolution';we have the makings of a guerilla war on our southern borders.wouldnt it be ironic if we were once again "conquered" by the mexican army disquised as drug lords or is it drug lords disquised as the mexican army.anyway;there dosnt seem to be a problem as far as our gov.is concerned;mabe they have a contract with mexico for half of the movie rights when it comes up for 'the revolution'(directed by oliver stone and hugo chavez,when hugo plays himself). they will save that ace to play for 'national emergency';its a pattern,woven with care. the real danger is the infiltration of agents provocateur and the presence of hamas in mexico i.e. el norte.while the lawyers and politicians cry,'civil rights'to the courts ,the steady stream,poisoned by hamas and the patron,keeps on flowing.it gets less funny as you think about it.i dont think history has ever seen such energy and motion on the entire face of the earth.

as baby-boomers,we were right in the front seat of history,fathers coming home from a war and total victory over the three dictators of the axis.it was all too real to them and by their wisdom we were influenced in the way we needed to know about dealing with tyrants.the younger generations see electronic dots on a screen.thats artificial intel that these super-smart kids  have even taught us, in using the computers.every place i have gone in this country was populated with good people,with good intentions;we can take a whole lot more than most people;i think our enemies already know this about america.mabe we should just adopt mexico and make the movie anyway.

Robert Derrick

Rich and Beuu

Thanks tor the come back. Good words. Want to give both some more thought. Will get back.

Beau Wann, Jr.

Well, after 26 years, my beloved is finally leaving me!!! Well, for a week anyhow! She'll be back on thursday or friday! She and little beloved, are going on vaccination!!! Two girlie girls just gonna have fun!!!!

So, I'm bachin it for a week!!! Gonna party hardy!!! Get down... get back up again...maybe!!! I find when I get down, it's hard for me to get back up again! Well, my dance card is full...gotta mow the lawn...clean house, feed the zoo twice a day, walk the hounds of the baskerville twice a day.  Clean the furshlerginer cement pond! I'm already worn out thinking about it!

Been at the country place since Thursday, or was it Friday, no matter...Got the south gate set back 12 feet and  almost finished! That, my fine fellow waltripians, was a 12 hour job! Had to rent an auger, pour concrete etc...Damned near killed me! Did not cool off till after midnight Saturday!!! When am I gonna learn, I'm not 20 anymore??? Once I start, hard to stop!!!

I will post a picture of my handy work, maybe if I can find it!

there it is! Doesnt look like much, but it sure was a lot of work!!!

Just thought I'd post a picture of Big Oliver the Wooly Mammoth and the sweet bub, Jack, sharing a chair together!!! Awwwwwww...arent they cute!!!!!

Jack is generally checking the cats IDs by sticking his nose on their nose or the other end, and giving them a stern look, and then looking at me for positive ID! I cant tell if he is just getting in their face just because, or if he is near sighted!!!  that ol boy is something else!!! Ive learnt him how to take a treat REAL EASY!!! He's getting as good as Coop at it!

Tuesday, if I have all of Coops papers in order, we start Service/therapy Dog class! He's real anxious to get started! As you can plainly see! Whatever am I gonna do with that boy????

Guess I will sign off for now! Since I'm bachin it, Maybe some of us can have lunch??? Together????

DOD

Bj Brady '65

Beau-

Nice gatework. No need to remind you that 12 hour days outside at

our age are like 36 hrs in 30 year old bodies. Your pets are pitiful.

In TN we call 'em rurnt. Bet they didn't help at all on the gatework.

I'm moving back to TX- San Angelo in Sept. Bought my home after

selling my old one and paid cash. Gotta be frugal like you. Couldn't

be more excited. Just sayin hi to you and all the Watripians, Bernard

Douglas Romans

Burge, et al,

You won't believe this but last week I saw an interview between Oliver Stone and (I think) Harry Smith on Good Morning America or whatever CBS's daily morning news/entertainment show is called.

I didn't catch it all but I think Stone is making a film about Venezuela or Hugo Chavez or something but anyhoo, Smith asked Stone what he thought of Hugo Chavez to which Stone unbelievably responded, "I think he's a nice (or great) man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

I was totally flabergasted to say the least! Stone is out of his mind but is a good dedicated Leftist Democrat--Chavez is your typical South American dictator garnering votes by intimidation, coersion and government hand-outs to the weak of mind with a little violence thrown in for good measure. Any good dictator never lets a 10 to 20-year (or more?) term go to waste--think Hitler, Stalin and Mao, Castro and Papa/Baby Doc, the 2 Kim's, etc. ad nauseum---Chavez is in good company. 

You ask "where are WE headed ?"---God only knows  

DougR

Jackie Crowe (Finch)

Hey BroBeau,

Don't have but a second, but please tell Diane and Haley to have a wonderful Girlie Girl vacation!  We want to see pictures when they come back-- and for you --- behave yourself!  I know all the critters will take care of you - and stay cool.

I drove up to Austin yesterday to say "goodbye" to my grandparents/Aunt's home (vacant now for 2 years) that has been in my life for 63 years -- hard to let go - but certainly cannot afford the upkeep and so closing papers will be signed this week.  And life goes on --

As I was heading back to Houston looked at my outside temperature gauge -- 104!!!  And that was around 6:00 p.m. -----

Okay my second is up!!!!!  And you're excused on your expletive - makes me boil too!

Oh, and great job on your fine looking fence and gate - enjoyed the pics of your critters, tool.

Hugs,

SisJ

Kay Watters '65 (Greene)

Beau,

That is a really good looking gate......Since I've had mine up, I know how long it takes, so I can understandedly admire.

All pet's pics are the cutest!  Nothing going on here but the HEAT! and many outside and inside chores to try to accomplish before I go back to school in 3 wks.   So little time.....!