Time Moves On . . .

We subscribe to the weekly newspaper from New Roads - the Pointe Coupee Banner. It is a source of news that can only be gotten there, like obituaries. And sure enough, this weeks Banner had the obituary of an old neighbor, Louis B. Morgan. He was a veteran of WW-II, son of very well known family and a true family man.

I can remember his father-in-law, Leroy Major, shooting Comorants in his back yard. They seemed to cover the sky at times. And they were not controlled in those days, so there was no limit or season to worry about. It always impressed me but I am sure it must have upset my mother with all the noise and such. Just think shooting a BB gun in town today may be a crime much less a 12 gauge shot gun.

Louis also had a pier and boat house jutting out into the lake. I caught my first fish off that pier, a hefty cat fish that my father skinned and we ate. He had built a boat house for his Higgins boat and Evinrude 25 horse power motor. The walk way to the boat house was lower than the pier and made it easy to get into and out of the lake - False River.

As I recall we were swimming with the other kids, one of which turned out to be Leon Harris (I did not recall he was there but he reminded me he was). At any rate, I was bent on cleaning up the trash off the bottom of the lake. Being a fresh water lake and located in the deep almost tropical south, the water is not clear, it is full of life, much of it microscopic. So it is cloudy and only a couple of feet of it is enough to obscure the remaining depths.

So I was feeling around with my hands, it was quite shallow there next to the boat house walkway, for trash. Old bottles (mostly beer bottles from bass fishermen), limbs and other ditrimous of time. I picked up what I thought was a top to a tin can, at least it was round. I started to throw it toward the shore, then stopped as it was quite thick and heavy. And I knew tin can tops were quite thin and light. So I kept it and put it on the walkway.

Later I took it up the hill and gave it to my mother to evaluate. Little boys trusted that their mothers would not take their treasure not matter what it was. I went off to play and returned to later find that my mother's friend, Lucy Roberts, had cleaned it up (a no no but . . .). It was a Spanish "piece of eight," a silver doubloon dated 1803.

There had always been rumors that there was treasure buried around False River but none had ever been found. Well I found it but it was only one piece of eight. And it was silver to boot, I always thought there were gold (they are not).

Turns out one of the kids swimming with me was Leon Harris. I had seen his sister-in-law Lea Ray nee Mougeot Harris at Nickie's funeral. She told me Leon was in Grants Pass, OR. So I did a Internet search and located him. I sent him a letter and he responded with an Email. He said that he had just told an local friend about me finding a piece of eight in False River.

Time has caused our paths to come near again. Louis' back yard and pier, my piece of eight and contact with an old school buddy. Life is dynamic and the constant is us, the people of the world.

Making Contact . . .

While attending my exbrother-in-laws funeral, I was greeted by one of our old friends, Lea Raye nee Mougeot Harris. Her husband's brother was a childhood friend, Leon M. Harris. So I inquired as to where Leon was and she replied Grants Pass, Oregon.

So I took a stab at his address via the Internet White Pages and looked up Leon. And sure enough there was a Leon Harris listed. So I banged out a letter to Leon in hopes it was the person I was looking for. A shot in the dark so to speak.

This mornig I got an Email response from Leon and yes, it was Leon of my childhood responding. He sounds like he is in great shape, retired very successfully and doing what he wants now days. He ended up in Grants Pass as it is his wife's hometown. That makes sense to me.

So strange those old connections from the past. Other people at the funeral triggered memories too. Pap Baum was there, a member of Nickie's, my exbrother-in-laws name, prayer group. Him along with the likes of Glenn Morgan. Nickie's old brother-in-law, Major Hebert. Major's second wife was a close class mate and friend of Judie's, Sandra nee Roberts (Sadly, Sandra has past on). Glenn was childhood neighbor and his father, Boots, became a close golfing buddy of my father. Both Glenn Morgan and Major Hebert are retired architects.

How we weave through life together, it is amazing. Small town USA is a strong powerful relationship and society. Those of us that grew up there can return and mix in; others who have moved there and lived there for years can not make that transition. I pity those that did not have that small town life to fall back on, a place to go, a place to remember - a place called home.

And everybody has to have a celebrity in the family. Nickie's was/is James Carville. James Carville is a close personal and political advisor to former President Bill Clinton. He showed up for the funeral, went through the line. He turns out to be a man small in statue, not one of those larger than life people like Nickie. Yet even in small statue, he stood out because of who he is and what he does.

Today is Easter Sunday - a day of renewal. Renewed contacts are appropriate.

The Wind . . .

She's ablowing and ablowing! The wind is ripping along, I watch my neighbors Willow Tree swish back and forth and back and forth. Even the Red Oak out side the front window is twisting to and fro even though it has no leaves.

I can even hear it, not a moan but a definite whisper as it gusts along. The Holly bushes short and stiff in the flower bed are charging around in resistance to the wind.

But no clouds, so I guess that is a good deal. Usually this time of year we get severe storms along the dry line. Fast moving thunderstorms that have hail and sometimes tornadoes imbedded in them. The dry line is sort of a Texas phenomena, it is quite definite for in front of the line is calm and the humidity is up and behind it the humidity is down and the weather is violent. There can be a difference of 40 to 60% drier, very noticeable. These storms sweep out of south central Texas fueled by moisture out of Mexico from the Pacific Ocean. This is not a jet stream effect, it is the natural flow of winds west to east across Mexico into Texas.

Another source of fuel for storms are the predominate winds out of the south flowing up from the Gulf of Mexico heading north. This feeds the tornadoes of Oklahoma and further on into the Ohio valley.

We are really located in the bottom of the Great Plaines where the wind always blows. So we get a lot of it. We are also on the edge of desert country, so it is dry in that we do not get a lot of rain. And when El Nino is predominant, we do not get much rain, lawns dry up, the place turns sort brown.

It also means our man made lakes start to dry up. Dallas/Fort Worth depends on man made lakes for water. Even now some metropolitan cities are negotiating with Oklahoma counties for water. These are counties that bound the state line. The target I am sure is access to Lake Texoma - a man made lake that is the Red River Valley north of D/FW area. Lake Texoma is a favorite spot of boaters and fishermen. They do not like anybody screwing around with their lake.

Our little lake, Lake Weatherford, is down 6 feet already. And the rainy season is fast closing. That means water will be pumped into Lake Weatherford from Lake Benbrook. Both are man made lakes, but Lake Weatherford, smaller, is up stream and therefore a more "senor" reservoir. I have already seen Lake Weatherford down 9 feet, seems odd to see a boat suspended in its boathouse of dry land. Water is a big deal around here. And pumping cost money, that means the City of Weatherford will raise the already expensive rates. And as usual, once raised, will never be reduced.

We have a well down about 200, so far the aquifer has held up. It is known as the Pulacsi or Pulacksy Acquifier. There are two strator of lime stone to be penetrated to get to it. The next aquifer is down 600 are more feet. It costs about $20 per foot to drill the well, to put in the pump, pressure tank, and electrical service. After is was all done ours cost about $5,000.00 but due to the cost of city water we have amortized that cost in three years. Some of our neighbors pay $300 to $00 a month just water their yards.

There is talk of regulating the wells. That takes special legislation to do so. For in Texas each landowner owns his water rights on his land. If he wants to put in a well he can, there is some limitations in cities but that does not hamper us much. So we have the well and soon we think others may be to late to drill as the cities and state want to cut them off.

And the wind blows drying out the lawn. Got to water to keep it green. But at least we can water the lawn with our private well.