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Lloyd Pond

Went to a Christmas Eve Service then dinner at my daughter's house. I got to read the Night Before Christmas to all th grandkids and their cousins. All in all a wonderful way to enjoy the Christmas holidays.  So Merry Christmas everyone

Kay Watters '65 (Greene)

Merry Christmas belated, I know.  Hope everyone had a satisfactory Christmas with loved ones!  Spent mine with grandchildren and great grands.  They are really struggeling in life, so it was a plus for all of us.  On to a New Year 2014 ....hoping it fares well for all of us. Each of us has our own journey in this life, to do the best we can here and to enjoy our lives no matter what the outcome.

BRING IT ON, 2014!

Teddie Jordan

I contacted Curtis Chapline, WHS '63, through Facebook and asked him to check out the '63 Reagan football game poster that Lloyd posted to see if it was his artwork. The following is his response:

"Ha! Although I don't actually remember the poster, I believe that I did the drawing! It looks like someone added extra lettering around the drawing. The style of drawing matches what I was doing back then including "pig noses" and flies. Good detective work, Ted!  Thankfully my artistic talents improved over the years and it's sort of a shock to see the crude beginnings! Thanks for remembering my crazy beginnings! I had a great 40+ year experience as a commercial artist in Houston after graduating from college."

Wayne Lake

Welcome Buddy, Wayne Mitchell to the fray.

Kay, I am as loopy as anyone else, just ask those that know me well.

Susan asks why am I stuck in Minnesota in the frigid, frozen tundra. Good question,  25 years ago, I married a gal from Northern Iowa and started the ritual of  Thanksgiving in Texas (my Mom insisted on a family dinner) and then Christmas with her family up North and now it’s like the lines in the Hank Jr. song, ‘it’s a family tradition’. With current temps below 0F (highs and lows), I am contemplating writing a scrip for a movie titled ‘No Weather for Old Men’ starring Tommy Lee Jones if he is fool enough to venture this far North.  

Speaking of why things are the way they are…….

Why do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries, and a diet coke? 

Why do banks leave vault doors open and then chain the pens to the counters?

Why do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in our driveways and put our worthless junk in the garage?

Why does the sun lightens your hair, but darkens your skin?

Why can't women put on mascara with their mouth closed? 

Kay Watters '65 (Greene)

That is so funny, Wayne, maybe loopy funny.  It is cold here, thank goodness we just have to wait a week til it get sback in the 60's!

Ted you are quite the detective!

Susan Howard (Bowman)

Thank you, Wayne, for enlightening me on why you are in the frozen tundra during the winter time!  We will look forward to your return almost as much as you are looking forward to returning to a warmer, although not real warm right now, place that you call "home"! Indiana was cold enough for me in the winter - and all of that white stuff - I am so happy to be back in Texas!  By the way, when I taught school I would have a diet Coke and a Snickers after the kids left for the day!  Felt they balanced each other out, right?! Plus I deserved them, especially the Snickers - YUM!

Take care and stay warm!  Also, keep the laughs coming our way!  

Scotty Croom

fyi to all my gym rat pals....did you know delmar fieldhouse is being torn down....my mother drove past this week and saw tear-down...new gym being built by 2016...my mother scooped on this...

James King '65

I hate to hear that Delmar Field House is being demolished.  The roof was a great place to ride a bike.

Teddie Jordan

James, I believe you but please tell us more. It's been a while since I paid attention or have even been by Delmar, but I remember the roof as being arched? Either way it had to be exciting for sure!

James King '65

Teddie,

Yes, the roof was arched from the north to the south sides.  Also, the roof was considerably higher at the east and west ends which were over the seating.  The portion of the roof over the basketball court was the lowest point of the roof.  My friends and I discovered we could drag a bike up an exterior column which was arched as well.  Once on the roof with the bike a rider would walk the bike up to the high point of either the east or west end and take off going down towards the middle and up to the opposite end of the roof.  Pedaling wasn't necessary, gravity provided a very exciting ride.  The only downside was when the bike's chain slipped off and the rider had no brakes. 

Beau Wann, Jr.

My first ever bald eagle flying in the wild. This is a couple a hundred yards from my front door. In the woodland trails subdivision. Some classmates said they purchased houses in here back in the old days. I didnt know it existed other than driving by it a gazillion times.  Great neighborhood. Not one forsale sign in all the hood. Houses are kinda small, but livable.  This hood and the one north of this one across white oak bayou, put on one hell of a fireworks show at midnight. Havent seen one like it since I was a wee lad and the "wild bunch" was alive. I havent stayed up and watched the new year come in in 20 years or more. Just stayed up last night to watch the "works".

      I took these photos and about 200 others last friday. I followed that old boy/girl around for about 3 hours. One of the residents here told me the eagle has been living here for 3 years, and just recently came into young maturity...white head and white leggings. I also have pictures of a huge osprey with a fish in his talons caught in one of the two lakes here. We have a kingfisher that perches in our back yard everyday. got a few photos of him just sitting, but not flying.

Just found the picture of the osprey with the fish. Not a very good picture, but then I'm not a very good photographer. Had camera set on wrong settings, forgot my glasses and couldnt see anything to correct it.

I do love nature and her gifts...well, not hurricanes or tornados and flood and drought, but other stuff...
 

Beau Wann, Jr.

Just thought I'd share a couple a other photos of our eagle.  Pulitzer prize winning quality?  Yeah right!

Beau Wann, Jr.

     Howdy! ! ! Just thought I'd post those pictures above because to me they are unique. Not necessarily in the art of photography, but  Unique in that we all grew up and went to school and spent a lifetime just a couple of miles from where the eagle lives. Never fathomed as a child,  I'd see a bald eagle anywhere other than in the pages of the National Geographic and the Houston Zoo, let alone Oak Forest.  And when it comes to eagles and wildlife, I'm still a child!

     Not a particularly good Christmas this year. Our little senior Kitty Katie died Dec 20, the friday before Christmas. It wasnt a surprise, she was almost 18 and hyper-thyroidism had finally taken it's toll...death!  I sensed her imminent departure of this life, so I held her most of that day. Nothing else as pressing! When Diane got home, we changed places. Katie was waiting for Diane to get home, because after an hour in her arms, Katies eyes went fixed and dialated, a sure sign of brain death....then within an hour,  her tired little body gave up....

     We wrapped her in one of my t-shirts she liked to sleep on and  linen befitting her stature, and layed her in the little box she loved to sleep in...
And there she slept her eternal sleep till "Little Friends" funeral pyre claimed another...One last ride for her that Saturday morning...how she hated riding when she was alive!   She would howl to high Heaven, almost drive you insane. You couldnt sing loud enough, or play the radio loud enough to block out her idignant howls, she was bound and determined to show you just how much she hated going to the vet, or just going anywhere in a motorcar.

     Now, the truck was deathly quiet on her last journey! But it sure was noisey outside the truck. A major thunderstorm was raging. Thunder booming, and rain so hard and thick, it was almost a whiteout. Maybe the angels were expressing their condolences for the earths loss!  If so, I thank them...There were no words between Diane and I, other than the occasional  sniffle or heavy sigh inside the truck. We didnt even look at each other.  Katie was no different than any other Kitty or dog that has come and gone in our lives, guess we are just older and softer.

     Sure, she was just a cat, but what a cat she was.
 
She was the sweetest of the sweetest....she looked at us for her almost 18 years with the same love in her eyes as the first day she looked at us.  Hers were determined eyes...determined to show us how much she loved us unconditionally. She was never a momma kat, but she woulda been a great one. She always mothered anyone in the household that was ill, including the other cats, dogs and us. She also would fetch and return to your hand, a small piece of balled up paper.  She could and would do that for as long as you wanted to. Hell, I've got two dogs BRED for that purpose, but wont run after anything, let alone bring it back to you.

    We will miss our sweet Katie as we miss all those that came and have gone before her...joining all those waiting for her across that rainbow bridge...finally she is with her friends, Tucker, her lover cat that died 7 years ago at the age of 13 years and 13 days...wonder if that fact is significant with the fact that he was coal black. I could hardly get a good picture of him, because his black fur seemed to absorb the light from natural lighting to flash bulb...Along with Tucker, Katie will see Libby and Callie and Goldie and Rocky and all the many critters that we all have loved over the past century and beyond....Whether one believes in the rainbow bridge,  an after life for animals, is really not as relevant as the afterlife they share in our minds.

    I think it was Will Rodgers or Mark twain that said, "if there's no dogs in heaven, I dont want to go"...My childs mind says they will be there, if we need them...

    Lest anyone think that I hold the passing of a cat in more stead than the passing of a child, let me put that to rest now. The first I heard of one of our classmates losing a child, was somewhere around 20 or so years ago at one of our reunions. I saw them standing against the wall, and greeted them and asked them how they were, in my niave way. (everythings ok with me, so everything is ok with everyone else)....Not so mon ami!  They told me they lost a child,  18 or 19 years old.  Killed! ! ! They were not only parent, child, they were best friends as I remember hearing....to be sure , they didnt tell me that terrible news to make me feel bad...but I did...I could almost feel their pain...I could feel the part of what I thought it would feel like if fortunes had been reversed. I have never forgotten them, or that night.

     Others in our class have lost children, and one I know of, a child AND a grandchild. How those people have stayed sane and coped with that kind of tragedy is nothing short of a miracle. There hasnt been a day go by over the last 20 or so years that I havent thought of and prayed for those classmates.  A practice I plan to keep till... 

     Sorry, didnt mean to get all maudlin and weepy! It is important to me, to realize that no matter how bad we think we have it,  you can bet someone else is suffering worse slings and arrows...

    Christmas has never been a particularly good holiday for me. As they have said for years, "Christmas has become too commercial"...Probably best 4 Christmases for me was in the service. Christmas day and New Years Day and just about any other holiday, would find most of us on watch/duty, being that the outfits I was in were manned 24/7. I didnt realize it then as much as I do now.  There never was a rush or a need to buy presents for your buds, because there just wasnt a conscious need to go Christmas shopping, plus we didnt make a whole lot of money defending the country from whatever was the perceived threat, and the person you might buy something for, just might not be there to receive it. Never really thought about it at all back then.

    Oh, some commands had some sort of Christmas tree, or facsimilie thereof decorated with empty beer cans and bottles, perf tape to handgrenades to Kabar knives. You make merry best way you can! ! !

    Diane and I decorated our little rent cottage with a tree, and outside lights and all the accouterments, frills and dressings that go with Christmas...mostly we just hugged and held hands and were thankful we had each other...

    Well, time to go...hope I didnt wreck any good moods...not my intention. Just share a part of me with a part of you. Seems to be more important now than in my youte...as it should be.
Keep the sun at your six, and ride boldly ride...
Your frien and bro...Attilla the kat whisperer.. 

Kay Watters '65 (Greene)

Beau and Diane, you have gone through tremendous pain.  I'm hoping we will see all of our animals and our loved ones when we pass through the rainbow. If you have loved and lost, it is a part of life, as my life and all of our classmates.  I'm so glad you are letting us share this with you.

I just get up and accept, and know God has this as His plan.  I also miss Burgess, wish he had better care,  I've experienced the VA firsthand with my brother, and I am not positive with care from them. I want to say I am close friends of a couple here that the wife, Mary has lost three of her four sons, drugs, man-eating disease when he was scratched fishing in Lake Conroe, not sure of the other, and the fourth is suffering from a debilitaiting disease.  This tiny lady is proof that you do go on.  She is the sweetest woman you would ever hope to meet. She gives me strength as well.

Most importantly, Beau, we all love hearing from you, No matter what is happening.  Sometimes the good ole days are the best memories, when we were, younger so busy creating our families, working and hoping for all the good of tomorrow, and now we see this with our grandchildren, doing much the same thing. And here we are with older bodies and minds confronting the realities of our elders.  It is life. So this Forum is something to look forward to as we tread this path together. 

Happy New Year,

Teddie Jordan

Amen Kay.

Beau, sorry to hear about Katie. I know that after 18 years it's like losing your right arm. Like you I can only imagine the grief and pain of losing children and grandchildren.

And I sure enjoyed the eagle photos. Like you said who would have thunk it when we were kids. They have slowly expanded their range, but it is also safe to say that all of the habitat created by flood retention ponds and by products of development have sure helped. That pond wasn't there 30 years ago and eagles never get far away from fish.

Beau Wann, Jr.

     Moanin myne fyne Walterpynes...thanks Kay! You are one of the special folks that are never far from my thoughts. Your friend with a loss of 3 of her sons...just unbelievable. Cant be a just a happenstance, or coincidence...like you said, must be a plan.

     We thought Dianes mom had a stroke last Friday, Thursday? Well, no matter! Slurred speech etc...After a zillion tests and sawbones examinations, MRIs Cat scans (she could have come to our house for a catscan) ultra sounds etc...Docs found no evidence of any malady, stroke, hangnail, or hangover! Jeanine is in her 80s, and in her youte, was a dead ringer for Myrna Loy. 

     I told my beloved that I thought perhaps her mom had gotten bimped on the head by the liquor cabinet door! That of course, earned me "the look"! Well, maybe, just maybe she had started celibrating the passing of Christmas and the soon to be Gnu Year! Just a thought!  I am a doctor you know! Yup, got my doctorate in conjugatin verbs..."I'm a fixin to...your a fixin to...he she and it is a fixin to"...case you dont recognasize them conjugatins, theys from the immortal Davey Crocket! Or at least how Walt Disney siezed up the sitcheation!

     I guess you sawr where they made a movie about Walt Disney! Tom Hanks? Comeon, he's good, but he's no Walt Disney! 

     You know what I wish? I wish I had had the money to buy the Garden Oaks Theater!  Couldnt think of a nicer time than seeing some old movies and smelling the popcorn at the Garden Oaks Theater. of course I can no longer eat popcorn, but dont mind if you do...love to smell it a cookin!

     Not the scary Frankenstein movies, or wolf man or Dracula or Mummy...no way! I was thinking maybe about some Abbot and Costello or Laurel and Hardy or Tammy and the Bachelor. Now there's a great movie with Debbie Reynolds and....what the heck is his name...dang! Well you gno to whom I speak of eh what!  I loved the part where they do the old plantation reenactment and Debbies character comes down the stairs and she has on the buffant skirt and a zillion petticoats and hair all immaculate and perty and she's barefoot. She recites her part about how she came to this part of the country...Leslie Neilson! ! ! ! HA! mess with my memory will you!

     Anyway, she did all that recitation of her part in one camera shot...Maybe Rio Bravo, followed by El Dorado, Magnificent Seven....etc...Oooooh , I gno, "It's a Wonderful Life"! ! ! I watch that every year....Mrs. Minniver! Well,, there are lots of good entertaining ones out there!

     Any of youse youtes watch the BBC? They have a good british sitcom called "As Time Goes By"! And yes, they use the song from Casablanca as their theme song. It is such a wonderful departure from all the gruesome murders in all the American cop/special agent crappola. I use to like um, but grew weary of them after a short while. I do like "Castle"...well, I like the Castle character and Kate Becket! But then what red blooded Oak Forest boy and girl wouldnt like those two!  Just dont like all the blood and gore mysteries they try to solve. I figure out whodunit in the very beginning of each show. I dont know if the writers know, but the guilty party is generally the first person Kate and Rick interview.

     "As Time Goes By", is on channel 8 on Saturday eveninks from 7 to 8. They are 30 mins each, but worth the short sit down. My beloved ordered the entire set, 9 years of the sitcom! We are almost to the end! My beloved looked at me last night as we were finishing one episode and said, "when we're through all the episodes, we can start over..." ! Right you are sweetness, right your are !

     I dont catch all the words spoken, well, you know the British, they talk funny, and especially when we watch our DVDs, because I cant get the Closed captioning to work on the DVR. But when channel 8 plays them, the CC works, and I am so appreciative of that little bit of technological advancement!  I've always been under the assumption that you should like the characters you are watching or reading about. Some shows, I dont like anyone in them, and dont generally ever watch what ever show it is, ever again. But the characters in the aforementioned Brit sitcom, are all loveable and never boorish, or crude. Makes you sort of want to be in their family, or at least friends with them!

     Hmmm, how did I get to ramblin on a Friday morn? Oh, I know, after I fed the zoo this morn at 6, I had to go out and pick Jack up and carry him in the house. He wouldnt come in, even with his harness on. Kept coming out of it. He started this last night, or yesterday afternoon. We took him for a ride to run some errands, and when we got home he didnt want to come out of the truck. Getting in and out has never been a problem for him. Cooper usually loads up in the truck ok, up his ramp, but yesterday, just would not get in the truck, so we left him home and took Jack. Now, jack is freaked out about something, and slept under my desk/table all night, and is there now.

    When I let them out after breakfast, Jack burrowed down in the hay I bought them, and would not come in the house. I had to pick him up, which was hell on my body to do that, but it was freezing outside, and not a good place for a critter that hasnt been use to that sort of cold. We are at a loss as to why he suddenly changed. Katies death did not seem to phase him, and he was a little skittish about the fireworks on gnu years eve, but nothing out of the ordinary. Now he is inconsolable. Wont look at us, and is so antisocial, something not like him at all!

    Any dog whisperers out there? Ok, I've overstayed my visit. Here's a picture of Katie...

In better times. That blankie is actually a saddle blanket we bought for our dog Rocky! No we werent going to ride him, his old blanket was raggedy, so we got him a gnu one. It is 100 percent wool, and as you can see, stars and stripes theme. Cats all liked it too, so he would share it with them. She was what they call a "blue and white tuxedo" breed. Four white stockings and a white bib, and as you can see, well fed!

I believe I was signing off...Your frien and bro...Gabby!

Teddie Jordan

And hey James, thanks for the description of your crazy bicycle rides on the wildly uneven roof of the Delmar Fieldhouse. Talk about wild and crazy, but it had to be an adventure for sure. You do realize that the entire sports complex there is now named for Mr. Joe Tusa? (And deservedly so) My guess is that you will be receiving a call to report to his office any day now, since you spilled the beans. And I would expect that you'll be invited down to the old equipment room at Waltrip and asked to bend over and grab the seat of the metal folding chair and receive at least three licks from the Board of Education, and quite possibly five!

It's what you worry about when you're raising teenagers, TTI, temporary teenage insanity. Back about '62-63 a few of us discovered that the tires on our cars would fit perfectly over the rails of the local train tracks, and that if we let the air pressure down to about 5 psi and got centered on them at a crossing, and didn't touch the steering wheel after starting out we could go a long way. We had a few adventures exploring that means of travel. Of course even though we had lived around them for years none of us had any idea what the schedules of the trains were. Another example of TTI.

Lloyd Pond

Sorry about the poster picture I was tryin to post a picture of the grand dog mentioned later.Teddy glad you got the Curtis Chapline information. Now if we could find who decorated the poster. James, that sound like a death defying bike ride, somehow we survived even without helmets knee pads or gloves.

Beau, I thought about getting a Ferrell a puppy for Christmas. Of course, I put off looking for one. My daughter and her family went to San Diego for a week and so we got to keep their mutt er dog. He is fairly well behaved. Sorta of a terrier type of hybrid. Ferrell and I have vastly differences in how dogs should be treated. She is more  lax in the discipline area while I wanted to be like the Dog Whisperer and get that little k9 into shape. I kept him on a leash in the house and made him stay on his doggie bed by my chair. But Ferrell let him on the couch  or in her lap. So much for training. The worst habit he has is if the door is open he shoots out and starts sprinting down the street. This happened twice and the only way to catch him is to get in the car and follow him until he is tired. Took 30 minutes one time. Believe me we are way past the dog whispering at that time and into the loud as you can bellowing , "get back here you &@//!!' Mutt." So now the   rascal is home with my daughter and I guess there will be no puppy in our future.

Wayne Lake

DIARY OF A TEXAS SNOW SHOVELER

This is from a guy who retired down South  and went to his wife`s hometown in MN for the Holidays…… 

December 8 - 6:00 PM
Flew up North and it immediatley started to snow.  The first snow of the season and the wife and I took our cocktails and sat for hours by the window watching the huge soft flakes drift down from heaven.  It looked like a Grandma Moses Print.  So romantic we felt like newlyweds again.  I love snow!

December 9
We woke to a beautiful blanket of crystal white snow covering every inch of the landscape.  What a fantastic sight!  Can there be a more lovely place in the whole world?  Moving here was the best idea I've ever had!  Shoveled for the first time in years and felt like a boy again.  I did both our driveway and the sidewalks.  This afternoon the snowplow came along and covered up the sidewalks and closed in the driveway, so I got to shovel again.  What a perfect life!

December 12
The sun has melted all our lovely snow..  Such a disappointment!  My neighbor tells me not to worry- we'll definitely have a white Christmas.  No snow on Christmas would be awful!  Bob says we'll have so much snow by the end of winter, that I'll never want to see snow again.  I don't think that's possible.  Bob is such a nice man, I'm glad he's our neighbor.


December 14
Snow, lovely snow!  8 inches last night.  The temperature dropped to -20.  The cold makes everything sparkle so.  The wind took my breath away, but I warmed up by shoveling the driveway and sidewalks.  This is the life!  The snow plough came back this afternoon and buried everything again.  I didn't realize I would have to do quite this much shoveling, but I'll certainly get back in shape this way.  I wish I wouldn't huff and puff so.


December 15
20 inches forecast.  Sold my van and bought a 4x4 Blazer.  Bought snow tires for the wife's car and 2 extra shovels.  Stocked the freezer. The wife wants a wood stove in case the electricity goes out.  I think that's silly.  We aren't in Alaska , after all.

December 16
Ice storm this morning.  Fell on my ass on the ice in the driveway putting down salt.  Hurt like hell.  The wife laughed for an hour, which I think was very cruel.


December 17
Still way below freezing.  Roads are too icy to go anywhere.
Electricity was off for 5 hours.  I had to pile the blankets on to stay warm.  Nothing to do but stare at the wife and try not to irritate her.  Guess I should've bought a wood stove, but won't admit it to her.  God I hate it when she's right.  I can't believe I'm freezing to death in my own living room.

December 20
Electricity's back on, but had another 14 inches of the damn stuff last night.  More shoveling!  Took all day.  The damn snow plough came by twice.  Tried to find a neighbor kid to shovel, but they said they're too busy playing hockey.  I think they're lying.  Called the only hardware store around to see about buying a snow blower and they're out.  Might have another shipment in March.  I think they're lying.  Bob says I have to shovel or the city will have it done and bill me.  I think he's lying.

December 22
Bob was right about a white Christmas because 13 more inches of the white crap fell today, and it's so cold, it probably won't melt till August.  Took me 45 minutes to get all dressed up to go out to shovel and then I had to pee.  By the time I got undressed, peed and dressed again, I was too tired to shovel.  Tried to hire Bob who has a plough on his truck for the rest of the winter, but he says he's too busy.  I
think the a$$hole is lying.


December 23
Only 2 inches of snow today.  And it warmed up to 0.  The wife wanted me to decorate the front of the house this morning.  What is she, nuts?!!  Why didn't she tell me to do that a month ago?  She says she did but I think she's lying.


December 24
6 inches - Snow packed so hard by snow plough, I broke the shovel. Thought I was having a heart attack.  If I ever catch the son of a bitch who drives that snow plough, I'll drag him through the snow by his b##ls and beat him to death with my broken shovel.  I know he hides around the corner and waits for me to finish shoveling and then he comes down the street at a 100 miles an hour and throws snow all over where I've just been!  Tonight the wife wanted me to sing Christmas carols with her and open our presents, but I was too busy
watching for the damn snow plough.


December 25
Merry fricking Christmas!  20 more inches of the damn slop tonight - Snowed in.  The idea of shoveling makes my blood boil.  God, I hate the snow!  Then the snow plough driver came by asking for a donation and I hit him over the head with my shovel.  The wife says I have a bad attitude.  I think she's a fricking idiot.  If I have to watch "It's A Wonderful Life" one more time, I'm going to stuff her into the
microwave.


December 26
Still snowed in.  Why the hell did I ever come up here?  It was all HER idea.  She's really getting on my nerves.

December 27
Temperature dropped to -30 and the pipes froze; plumber came after 14 hours of waiting for him, he only charged me $1,400 to replace all my pipes.


December 28
Warmed up to above -20.  Still snowed in.  My WIFE is driving me crazy!!!


December 29
10 more inches.  Bob says I have to shovel the roof or it could cave in.  That's the silliest thing I ever heard.  How dumb does he think I am?


December 30
Roof caved in.  I beat up the snow plough driver, and now he is suing me for a million dollars, not only the beating I gave him, but also for trying to shove the broken snow shovel up his BUTT.  The wife went home to her mother.  Nine more inches predicted.


December 31
I set fire to what's left of the house.  No more shoveling.


January 6
Feel so good.  I just love those little white pills they keep giving me.  Why am I tied to the bed?

From Lake Wobegon only because my flight to Texas today was cancelled due to snow,

wtl

Beau Wann, Jr.

 Oh my God Wayne, I feel so sorry for you...hey, did it snow where you were? A white Christmas, wow you are so lucky man...did you take pictures? Bring em to fudds next tuesday...I will buy you a hot cup of cocoa with marshmallows...Great story, still chuckling...thanks for making my day...oh, not that you had all that trouble with the deadly yellow snow, but your presentation...priceless...I reread it and am just rolling on the floor...what a great story...sorry youre having all the problems...when will you be released from the home?

  I'm  with you Lloyd, I like a critter that is going to stay indoors, be of good manners. Having said that, we dont practice what we preach. We start off in the right direction, and me being very strict, I'm usually the one that lets down first, and fast. Our critters have no voice, no say so in anything. So, I relent and let them on the couch and this and that. Cats, dont care what you want, they are gonna do whatever they want to. "Hey you cat, dont get on that counter, table, computer...etc"  Yeah right! ! !

      Just yesterday, three cats, unbeknownst to one an other, decided to jump up on Dianes desk, at the same time. They did, with split second timing, and what ensued was nothing short of a confetti strewn parade. they collided on the desk, and all turned and scattered to the four winds, if you can have four winds indoors. Everything except Dianes computer was thusly cleaned from the top of her desk. Well, I have been trying to get her to straighten up her desk for sometime. Now it is done. I got a cardboard box, and put everything in it and set it on her desk for her future enjoyment. I just know she was gonna be thrilled.

         If you have that thought again, getting a puppy, let me try to discourage that sort of thinking. Truer words were never spoken, "there's no such thing as a free puppy"! ! !  We have a sign at the antique mall, about unruly children. "unruly children will be fed pure sugar and given a free puppy for you to take home and enjoy"...

      There are lots of unwanted pups and cats out there just waiting to be adopted. Give that a try sometime.  Most of em will make a loyal and valuable member of a family. Look at Cooper! ! ! 3 years old, on death row at the pound, and his only crime was being homeless, unwanted. Someone wanted a hunting dog, and he isnt that at all, and untrainable in that area, so they turned him loose. Fortunately for Cooper and us and a couple of zillion kiddos, he was rescued.

      Barc was holding pet adoptions at Petsmart this weekend. Saw at least one lucky dog get adopted. Cute midsize rascal. Looked something betweeen a small skinny Rhodesian ridgeback and a whippet. When his new owners were walking him out, he was on leash being led by the male owner, when the dog stopped and looked back to see if his female owner was close by, then the pup licked the ladies fingers in an "oh thank you for rescuing me" gesture and preceded to walk between them and all the way to the car, kept looking from one to the other.  Quite touching that!

    Hey James, it never occured to me to go up on top of the Delmar Field house, let alone ride a bicycle down that sloped roof, possibly going askew, as I oft times did in my endeavors, and crashing to tthe parking lot a gazillion feet below. Truth be known, I have never been inside of the Delmar Field house, and only to the main football stadium once for a sadie hawkins game when Waltrip played Sam Houston High. Lanice Richardson, God rest her soul,  asked me to go, so I went. The only other time I had been to the delmar complex, was in connection with the Special Olympics for a few years.

    Teddie, all I can say is "ALL ABOARD"! ! ! Thats another thing that never occured to me, take my car on the railroad tracks and play chicken with the Silver Eagle passenger train. What were you thinking young man??? Bout the onliest (east texas for only) bidness I had with the trains, other than riding them and enjoying watching them go by, was putting a penny on the track. I only put one, cause pennys back in them DuBarry days was valuable. Put enough of em together, you could do lots of stuff.  10 of em could get you a coke and a candy bar. 25 of em could get  you in to the Garden Oaks Theater. Of course you'd need about 10 or 20 more for the Shuttle bus ride up Wakefield to Shepherd, and then on the return, back down 43rd to Rosslyn to Wakefield again and off at Oak Forest.  A hundred of em could buy you all sorts of food and toys.

     I will admit to one time hoping a slow freight train up around Oak Forest and Judiway. Hoped on a long one some where in the middle of it, just far enough so the guys in the caboose and ones in the engine wouldnt see me. Well, it picked up speed and then I got scared, cause I couldnt jump off without crabeling myself all to heck and gone. Had to wait till she slowed down again, some 5 miles or more from where I got on. yeah, what fun that was, had to walk all the way back from Timbuktoo. So ended any more thought about trains and me being adventuresome.  From then on, I just settled back and watched em or rode em...legally, with a ticket and my mom.

     I do remember my granddad telling me that "railroad tracks were hottest spot to be in the summer and coldest spot to be in the winter". He was right!

     Is it me, or is it JUST COLD? Had to get out and do stuff last night and this morning, and I havent felt that hurting cold in a long time. Saw some phone trucks out and about. Reminded me of when I worked at the dial tone factory as a lineman and my couple a years as an Ironworker. Working in this type of weather is just  les miserables'.   My uncle Paul and I were putting an addition on the channel view central office, and in the dead of winter. As luck would have it, and she is adamant about getting her way, we were on top of the building on the north side, and it was a howling norther blowing through. I was on a roto hammer, which generally shakes you about whilst you use it. That day, I was shaking it about, and doing no good atall. Finally it was so cold and miserable, my uncle said them wonderful woids..."lets go to the house"...

     One of my last jobs as an ironworker was working on the  12 oaks medical towers in the greenway plaza area. 22 floors up no walls and a howling north wind...again...Ok, lunch time...
Keep the sun at your six, and ride boldly ride...if any of youse youtes actually see the sun, give us all a shout, so we might enjoy some of that warmth too.  I tell you what, I can hardly move because of the stiffness and pain brought on by this cold. A couple more years and I'm gonna be in dire straights for getting around. Good thing I married a younger woman. She can push my wheel chair...

For your enjoyment, enclosed is a picture of my friend Eddie Eagle...aint he beautiful...! ! ! !

Pat Brantley (Ross)

Wayne, the story is wonderful.  I tried to read it to my husband, but i kept laughing so it took awhile.  Beau, when we lost our first Great Pyrenees dog my husband called in sick and took himself off the schedule for a week.  He was an emergency room doctor.  He stayed in the garage and puttered around all day.  C.S. Lewis said our animals will be with us in heaven.  

Lloyd, beau is right about getting a dog at least two.  Rescue societies are all over.  We got our current Australian shepherd when she was about three.  She is a great companion for us and our pound puppy (lab mix) who we inherited from Beth.  Pound puppy came from petco adoption.  She is now 13.  

Scotty Croom

beau, that was jack lemmon..i think...your stories get better...but,wayne 1 upped you with his "fiction"....like the garden oaks theater idea...they did same thing w/heights , when they reopened in 70 or 80's...showed cartoons and 3 stooges/laurel &hardy shows...still see stooges on cable sometimes..hope new year is good for all my rams...stay warm tonite...

Beau Wann, Jr.

    Hey  wayne, I tried reading your "snow account" to my beloved, we were both laughing so hard, we were crying. Scotty says that was fiction, I DONT THINK SO...for all intents and purposes, thats your story, and I'm sticking to it!

     Hey Scotty, Jack Lemon? I forgot the question! slept since then.

     Wayne, the snow plow drivers brother lives here, and  drives the garbage truck here in the hood! He drives by at 100 miles an hour and just knocks the cans over and redecorates the neighborhood. Picaso is his name I think.

     Pat, you had a Great Pyrenes? How big did he get?  My sister had one that got to 200 pounds, and looked like and was almost as big as a polar bear. Standing on his back feet, and he did that often, he stood almost 7 ft tall, maybe even taller.  She says they are obstinate. They want what they want, and generally get what they want. One night while they were out, "Bear" opened the fridge, and pulled everything out.  He ate a 14 pound standing rib roast, a pound of bacon, some cheese and whatever else was on the menu. (my sister is a gourmet cook, and has catered many parties)  He took out all the fruits and vegetables and set them gently on the floor. They found teeth marks in the apples and oranges and celery etc but not eaten.  When they got home, he was laying in the foyer on his back moaning and groaning. Called vet, and vet said to give him some pepto bismol.  They put a hasp and lock on the fridge after that.  He also didnt like being in a certain room, and ate a hole in the wall big enough for him to escape. His antics and escapades would rival that of Marleys!

     Kathy was walking him one time., one of many times, when a little ankle biter, a chahuahua came up and started yipin and yapin and jumpin up trying to bite Bear on the snout. Before the owner of the ankle biter could rescue her dog, the dog jumped up one time too many, and disappeared in Bears mouth! Of course the woman was screaming and carrying on something akin to being hysterical.  Kathy knelt down to try to pry the little brat dog out of Bears mouth, and finally did dislodge the little dog who ran to his owner, scared to death, but unhurt. I dont know how Bear knows when to bite down and when not to.

     I had the pleasure of meeting Bear on a visit to Virginia back in 92 methinks, maybe it was 85, oh well, no matter. Ol bear was not real friendly, nor was he unfriendly. I just got the feeling he was sizing me up for one of his meals.  A lot of the ranchers up by our old ranch, use them in the fields to protect the livestock from predators. They are 100% effective. They make a good house dog and an apartment dog, cause they just like to PERCH, and survey their domain.

    Our dog Cooper is part Great Pyrenes and yellow lab. His brain is mostly Pyrenes, and his body looks like a large yellow lab. Aside from his being a great therapy dog for regular ed and special ed and autistic and life skills kids, he is dumber than dirt, or extremely obstinate, bordering on the neurotic side of things. Cooper can stand in one spot and survey whatever room he is in, or the backyard, for hours at a time. Just stand and stare! Thats what the GPs do in the field, stand and stare.

     Jack Lemon? Been rackin my brain tryin to figure out what the question was. I even went back to some of my posts, and either missed it, or missed it. (yes I know that chahuahua is spelled wrong. It's the spelling of the pronouncement by Les Nesman of WKRP fame.)

     Guess I'll get out of here. Gotta call my beloved and get her to help me up and steer me towards the bed. Been wearing those rice socks out. She packs me in about 6 hot rice socks every night and morning. This stiffness will probably wear off once we get up around 72....maybe...

    Well, nurse Betty is here....man, yall should have a nurse like my beloved....nah, she belongs to me...nite! !  Oh, I almost forgot, we have 3 Ospreys here. If I had to guess, two males and one female. They continually show off for her all day long, the big showoffs. Of course she will pick, her and her mother...nature will pick the strongest of the two.  I see the ospreys every day, as well as the eagle.  The king fisher hangs out in our back yard for several hours every day. This is heaven...Got lots of cardinals, and thought I saw a Red bird. The red was a different shade than that of a cardinal and the wing stroke was different. I could be wrong. I was wrong once, thought I was wrong, but I was wrong!

Beau Wann, Jr.

A terrible ending to last year, our beloved Katie died,  and now a terrible beginning to this crappy year...horror of horrors...

BIG OLIVER JUST DIED OF A BLOOD CLOT AND MASSIVE STROKE...HE WAS 16..

     .we rushed him to the emergency clinic where he died in my arms...as did another part of me...now, whats going to happen to Olivers surrogate little brother Sammy? Sammy is stone deaf, he cant hear us talking to him, or anything and just loved Oliver. In fact, Sammy never interacts with any of the other cats. Oliver and Sammy would sleep together and play together and eat together...Whenever Oliver was in another part of the house, Sammy would call with a small tiny plaintiff cry, you just knew he was saying..."Oliver where are you?", and Oliver would come running and they would groom each other to sleep...Sammy is so shy, we have to throw a towel or blanket over him to pick him up and pet him, that is if we are lucky...dont know why he is so shy, but been like that for about 12 or 14 years...poor sammy...This is just gonna kill him...

     This was so sudden! We had no idea that anything was wrong! He wasnt off his feed, his bio habits hadnt changed. He was the picture of health...so we thought...he was fine most of the day...I let him outside to play in the hay, and it was even too cold for him, cause he came right back in. Normally the cold didnt bother him.

    I noticed he went to the litter box, sometime around 1130,  then just flopped out of it, and couldnt walk and was crying...it was horrible. He cried all the way to the clinic and while they were checking him out. I dont know what she, the vet called the incident, but it was a blood clot that cut off the blood flow to his back legs, then his lungs, then he just died...The vet said that he was in a lot of pain also...Lord a mighty this one really hurts...yeah, I know, he was only a cat...but he was my cat,  and so so special. we were great pals, in fact anyone that he greeted, he treated as if they were his pal! Almost like he was a reincarnation of someone...he knew his name, and liked it. He would come when I called, and he would follow me around. He loved to be held, and he loved to sit with me in the swing. I regret we didnt get to today.

    Oliver loved to sharpen his claws on my boots. I would walk over to him, and bend over and stroke his massive head and body, and he would put his tail up in the air and get low in front and put those big paws on my boots and open up those switchblades...you could hear him purring across the room when he did that. And you know something, I didnt mind a bit about the scratches...hell, they were only boots, and I felt honored that he thought enough of me to grace me with one of his loving rituals. Ol Ollie was a low talker, and he would talk to you, just in a low pitch "meow"...the Lee Marvin of cats voice.

    Rocky our first dog found him, and they were buddies until Rocky died in 06, of the same thing, but Rocky was only 6!  Now, I guess, no, I hope, they can be together...Pat, I hope you and ol CS are right. You just gotta be right...Oliver was...just the best! ! !

  We are having one of the porches screened in for Oliver and Katy and the gang...I wonder if we will have any cats left when or if we get up there. Man, of all the kats I wanted to enjoy the porch, it was Big Ollie...He would have loved it...instead, he dies and not in his real home, a rent house. I wish we hadnt moved now and started all the new house stuff. I just want it to be like it was...of all the cats, I thought Oliver would live forever...

    Diane cried herself to sleep...she takes these deaths so hard...I hate it when she is upset like this, and there's not a thing I can do about it...

    I am so very very tired...My whole body hurts every second of every day, and has for years...there is never a respite, never a break from hurting. Even the drugs and the whiskey dont help much. Just makes me more depressed, and now this...They say, whoever in the hell they is, they say that "the Lord doesnt give you more than you can handle"...Sometimes I guess when there is nothing else, God is the last thing we have...the only thing we have...of any real substance...

   Guess I best go...I've already said more than I should have...given yall a glimpse into my heart and soul...and surprisingly enough, I do have a heart and soul...You know I also miss Burges late night early morning cant sleep posts...

I'll probably erase this later on...probably should...but writing it down and someone else looking at it sure does help...dont know about anyone else though, but it sure helps ease the burden, the loss, the pain...Ok, I'm getting loopy, it's 3:45 AM and I guess the drugs are kicking in.. 

Big Olivers last picture on the last day of his BIG life...Jan 6, 2014

We're sure gonna miss him... 

Teddie Jordan

Beau, I 'm just reading this and I am so sorry for your loss of big Oliver and Katie. All you can do is cherish the years and the memories and be thankful that you had them in your lives. And I do believe that we will see our beloved pets again in Heaven, and I look very forward to that reunion. Your cats won the feline lottery when they came to live with you guys. Hang in there and God Bless you and Diane.

And I miss Burge's late night posts too!