False-River

High Rise #2

2012-02-01T09:48:00.002-06:00

I found ant high rise number two. It was out back and the light was next to a small Oak tree we planted a while back. It was the same designed light, we have several different designes but I'm guessing the other designes are not to the ants liking.

I noted that there are holes in the bottom that provide a path for the ants to get into the structure. The others do not seem to have these holes thus there is not access for the tenants.

I have washed this one out. I will get both batteries out and charge them up and reinstall the units. And I will use a dab of glop cement to close off the entrance way and that should forestall any reuse.

I do not know why the lights are attractive. I do know that fire ants like to get into electrical stuff. But there is usually a hum attraction, like transformers situated on the ground. The ants make their way into the transformers which provide some warmth to them in winter.

But the lights are like the transformers and have no moving parts. So I guess it is the magnetic field that attracts them. Your guess about that is as good as mine.

Got to stop those guys from moving in.

Ant High Rise . . .

2012-01-29T13:48:00.004-06:00

Scattered through out our yard are these Light Emitting Diode (LED) lamps. You can get them at Loews or Home Depot for four or five dollars apiece. They have a single LED and rechargeable battery with a photo voltaic cell on the top. So they recharge during the day and the battery does a fair job of keeping it lit though the night time. It has a light sensor to detect when it is dark or lite to turn it on and off.

Well while stepping out on my daily walk I noted that one of the lamps was chock full of dirt. That ain't normal, I mean the thing is sticking up in the air 10 or so inches. Dirt don't climb by itself.

So a closer look determined a colony of ants had converted our lamp into a high rise apartment complex. Shades of modernization!

The ground was pretty wet from the recent rain so I just pulled it up the entire assembly and set it next to the curb, top down with top off of it. I figured the cold would drive out the ants and I could clean it up and put it back to normal use again.

I retrieved it a couple of days later and brought it inside and washed a ton of dirt out of it. Took about 1o minutes to get the majority of the detritus out of the lamp, And there were a few tough ants still inside of the assembly. I squashed a bunch of them and washed them down the sink. A couple ants managed to get on me but I detected them and squashed them too.

I left the top out side to charge up so will retrieve it and put it back together with the remainder of the assembly. Must think through just where to place the lamp to avoid another high rise. There is one lamp on the other side of the flower bed about four feet away but it as yet has not been converted by the ants.

I can just see it now. Some little real estate ant is pushing high rises for the colonies. Had one going too. But this old human put a stop to that. I will sprinklie a little ant poison out there too. I'll stop the whole development in its tracks. I wonder if the EEO people will get after me for doing this.

You just never know who moves into your neighborhood these days.

"Connections . . ."

2012-01-16T11:54:00.003-06:00

Recently I have had a number of emails to and from Randy DeCuir. Randy is from Marksville but is familiar with New Roads and Pointe Coupee. He shares my mother's penchant for genealogy.

We also have a commom friend, Glen Morgan. Glen and I go back to literally grade school. His home and current home was a couple of house over from mine. And we share the common river. His uncle Louis lived a house over the other way.

Growing up in a little town meant we knew each other and played with each other. We were boys and enjoyed boy things. I recall Glen had an awesome set of Lionel train stuff, mostly track and such. Later he had pup tent. And his father like his uncle had a power boat, boat house and pier. Did a ton of fishing off Glen's dad's pier. And I caught my first fish, a big old Catfish, off Louis' pier.

We swam in the river and later learned to water ski. We were literally river rats for a while. Not so sure Glen was as wild as I was.

New Roads was like a big family. I ranged from one end of town to the other on my bicycle. I once peddled the entire length of town hands free. Friends were friends regardless of where they lived. Some of those friends continue on today.

It was distressing to learn that Glen needs oxygen to breath. He his trapped in his home by the needs of his body. Good to hear people like Randy DeCuir pays him visits.

New Roads is not the same. Times have changed. Still a small town, more progressive and some things have changed. But old St. Josephs Academy operated by the Sisters of St Joseph has morphed into Catholic High School of Pointe Coupee. The grade school is Catholic Elementary. CHPC attracts students from across Pointe Coupee and into West Baton Rouge and Iberville Parishes.

False River Academy, a non-sectarian private school, has a similar attraction for attendance. Both schools boast staffs that had at one time been in the public school system. Both schools have enviable academic credentials.

The sad irony is that there is no public high school in New Roads city limits. Pointe Coupee Central High School is located more or less halfway between New Roads and Morganza. It sits literally in the midst of sugar cane fields, part of old Brunswich Plantation.

Poydras High School, the one of the two public high schools once found in New Roads, has been turned into a museum, business office and public auditorium. It has become an attraction for New Roads. Rosenwald High School, the other high school, is today a grade school inside the city of New Roads.

There is always a strong attraction to New Roads. There is False River, slow southern living, closeness to Baton Rouge. Lots of things. With the new Audubon Bridge I expect it to explode with discovery.

Mean while I will keep up my connections.

"What Was He Thinking . . ."

2012-01-10T09:55:00.002-06:00

What was Les Miles thinking and doing for preparation for the BCS Bowl? Looking at his own resume', perhaps he should. Because after stinking up the Superdome, it may be time for him to go. He may need to dust it off to use in presuing a new job somewhere or other. I mean that seems to be all he has, a resume'.

Jordan Jefferson looked like a high school kid, fumbling, missing center passes, throwing the ball to the opposing teams players. Why didn't Miles change quarterbacks? He had one just as good standing around waiting to be called. Again Miles failed to use his resources.

Miles, for whatever reason, could not get off his game plan. That's the same problem Charlie Mac had. He gets, "Heads up and locked." That means he is not being observant, not coaching and using all his resources to fend off the opposition. Stood there like a post, what an idiot. At least he could have shown some emotion, some leadership, some skill but he did not even have a blade of grass to eat.

The defense was good but even they break down after doing nothing but playing defense. The offense, well what offense? I guess that is better not said at all.

Very embarrassing and disappointing. Not the loss, the showing. I'm saying he did not prepare his team. He relied to long on a quarterback that was not producing. He relied on a offense coordinator that had no imagination or skill in pulling out good plays to use. They looked like a bunch of yoyos that did not belong in the same game as the Bama team.

Enough said.

A New Year . . .

2012-01-05T16:58:00.003-06:00

We have turned the corner into 2012. One of the first things I did was to close my local bank account. They changed the rules, their excuse was the Federal Reserve changed its rules - which really means they can change their rules to fit the Feds rules.

Then they stopped paying interest on the checking account. Yeah, it was not much but it was at 5 or 6 bucks interest per year. And they changed their requirements of a basic $10,000 total deposits (CDs, savings and checking summed together) to a requirement of $25,000. Now I am sure they changed because the Fed allows them to do so, but they did not have to change, they just got more greedy. If you did not have the basic $25,000 they started charging for bank statements ($7,50 a month to tell you how much money you had, your balances, that they were using (now using free of charge)) plus other nit picking charges that mount up to maybe $60 or $75 per year. That is a big change from a piddling little amount of interest to a whopping big fees schedule and all of it with a big smile on their faces like they are doing you a favor.

The credit union was a deposit $25 to be a member. They pay interest on all accounts including checking. Albeit, it is not much but it is something on checking. And they pay more interest on savings accounts albeit it is compounded quarterly instead of monthly (it ought to be daily in both institutions but . . .). And the rates are compatible though slightly different. But the bottom line is that checks are free (they cost $7.50 at the bank for a basic issue, probably about 200 or so checks). So one starts earning more money at the credit union immediately and stop leaking money on fees at the bank.

And the checks are free at the credit union too if you have more that a $1,000 on deposit in the institution. That limit may be a few dollars more, maybe $1,500. They also give a free debit card (I do not need one or use one), a free credit card if you want one. All those benefits accrue based on levels of deposit. We meet all those levels.

The banks are not interested in the little guy. I am not an "Occupy Wall Street" person but I am frugal. And it does not pay to pay for services when you can get free or a reasonable cost. We have joint account with USAA Federal Savings Bank and they continue to pay interest on the checking account, have Gold Master Card with them and I can use any ATM for free. ATM fees are refunded, of course that is not unlimited but it works in an emergency. It just goes to prove the banks do not need to raise their fees, they are just greedy.

USAA does some things quite well. One is auto insurance, homeowners insurance, life insurance and banking. Stay away from their investment business. Their mutual funds suck - poorly managed. They unilaterally dumped me out of a Variable Annuity -just got out of the business and pushed me off to some fly by night insurance company. I ended up using Fidelity - yes, they sell annuities too. And I can use Fidelity Mutual Funds that I am familiar with and invest in my brokerage account to flush out the variable annuity.

So I have lost confidence in much of USAA's businesses. I no longer communicate with them via the Internet for inexplicable unusal security requirements. Basically, they were going to assess my security to see if it met their requirements. I question their security and their security management - it was very intrusive. So we agreed to disagree and I do all business with them via the USPS or the telephone.

And the beat goes on . . .

"I'm getting a Rise Out Of . . ."

2012-01-01T11:28:00.002-06:00

It seems Mr Ovid LaCour Miller thinks I am putting out rumors. Perhaps Mr. Miller should check Louisiana Department of Natural Resources SONRIS Lite. If he disagrees with the numbers posted he should take action to correct same. Or he should take action to get Anadarko to report correctly.

SONRIS update dated 11/18/2011 shows the following numbers: "3000 BOFD, 2500 MCFD and 600 BWPD ~ PERFS 14,955 to 21,920 (EST)." That tells me they have upped the oil production to 3,000 barrels per day, the gas number is unchanged and the water number is 600 Barrels per day.

They are currently drilling an ejection well to get rid of the water. I presume the water is salt water which is common. So they will pump the water back down into the earth at a depth somewhere between 3,000 and 4,000 feet down.

So they are still dealing with the water. And my nephew says they are still flaring off the gas. That means they will also have a separator installed to separate the water from the oil.

Perhaps Mr. Miller should retire from Baton Rouge and move back to either St. Francisville or Batchelor. I mean with the new John J. Audubon Bridge he can cross over at will to Pointe Coupee from West Feleciana. Or perhaps he still lives in St. Francisville and commutes to Baton Rouge. Matters not, he should come down from his elevated perch and breath the same air as we do.

And now, maybe we can move on . . .

Not Hearing Much . . .

2011-12-29T11:04:00.002-06:00

Not hearing much about Oil, Gas and Mineral Leases (OGML) in Pointe Coupee. Seems like all the activity is in the North part of the Pointe Coupee Parish. And if one looks at the stylized drawing of where the Austin Chalk is located, it makes sense.

The older gas deposits could be said to be part of the "Down Dip of the Edwards Shelf." At least the well on Alma, lead scout well of the era, is said to be of that ilk. That is the False River field. As one moves slightly to the North and West, the gas wells are in Judge Digby Field (basically Parlange and Wurtell holdings). Judge Digby is North of and abuts to Frisco Ridge Field.

The Frisco Field is all oil and is down about 11,500 to 13,000 feet in depth. This is an old field and for a while they were ejecting water into it get the dregs of oil out of it. They shut in most of the wells and used one central well to get the oil out. Now, they are drilling a new well at a greater depth - 13,000. I think this is said to be in the Moncref zone, well above the Austin Chalk (or AC) and Judge Digby Tuscaloosa Trend wells.

We are waiting to see how the LaCour #43 turns out. It is reporting a good well but they seem to be working on it a lot post drilling operations. Rumor is that the long lateral, about 7,000 in the AC is subject to collapse.

The AC is hard, naturally fractured but is no where near as hard as the shale beneath it. That shale is said to be the cap to the Tuscaloosa Trend and is known as the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (or TMS).

All the OGML to the North and East of Pointe Coupee Parish, literally across the Mississippi River are said to be for the TMS. So it is AC in Pointe Coupee and TMS in West and East Felecianas, East Baton Rouge Parishes and further East and North into Mississippi along the common state border lines.

The "Go Haynesville Shale" forum seems to think that the TMS and the AC will sort of meld together. The TMS is generally known as the Eagle Ford in adjacent Texas (another hot spot). Truthfully all are slightly different and are related to the Edwards Shelf.

Time will tell.

Got A New Car . . .

2011-12-21T10:27:00.003-06:00

Got a new car, an Explorer. My old Mountaineer was beginning to evidence some problems of age. The tranny was acting kind of funny when cold, like the internals were sticking. Time for a brake job. Air conditioner a bit on the weak side, still fine but probably needed a tune up. And, oh yeah, it had 93,000 miles and was gonna be due for the 100,000 mile check up. And these vehicles resale value drop like a rock after a 100,000 miles.

So it was time. Either keep the old one for another 50,000 miles and do all the maintenance or get a new one, at least new to me.

I got a 2010 with 17,000 miles on it. It has extra seats in the back, fold down electrically, rear cooling/heating system (got to take care of the third row passengers). It also has dual heating/cooling system that Judie likes. Tan interior and black exterior (not sure I like that too much, but . . .). Electric front seats on both sides (the old one just had that stuff on the driver's seat), heated seats, passenger side air bags and media control on the steering wheel. It has Sync for the cell phones but does not have the navigation system (I think I can find my way around). Got satellite radio too.

So it is a bit of an up grade to the old vehicle, a bit more modern.

I have already installed my model stuff in the back. That is easily removed and will be removed when the Jacob Morrisons arrive. I am sure grandson Will will be installed in the third row. We shall see.

It has got a funking gas filler. You just push the pump nozzle into it. Kind of hard to add additives if you do that kind of thing. They give you a special little funnel for that.

Basically, it is the same vehicle with more modern accoutrements in it. And all the rest is the same. Except this vehicle is black instead of tan. And it is Ford and not a Mercury or a Lincoln. But that is just fine as they no longer make the Mercury and Lincoln does not make their equivalent to Explorer any more either. So it is a spiffy newer vehicle and I do not have to worry about the 100,000 maintenance routine (new plugs, belts, etc.).

What a Waste . . .

2011-12-09T09:37:00.002-06:00

Just read where Tulane is building a football stadium. Well, doh! Why did they tear down the old Sugar Bowl, a fine stadium at one time that was the biggest in all Louisiana. Why the Super Dome of course. It was supposed to replace the Sugar Bowl and be Tulane's home field.

So why can't Tulane play in the "dome." Of course they can and do. But they can not fill the dome much less any new stadium until they have a decent team. They had a shot a making a decent team by playing LSU but got out of that because Toledo's nose was bent out of joint. LSU simply wanted to make a little money on the deal instead of losing money on the deal. Tulane could not even begin to fill the dome thus it was a money losing proposition. Well they finally fired Toledo or he quit which ever comes first.

LSU said play in Baton Rouge and we will continue the series. Tulane said, "Up yours!" They got a one time payout of about a half million dollars and were told don't ever come back. Tulane has sunk even lower and hardly qualifies to be a Division I team anymore.

And now they want to waste money on a new stadium. Have they gone brain dead? They need to build a football team first, they think about a new stadium. If they do not then they will have another empty foregone place to play football.

I would have thought my brothers in New Orleans had more sense.

Geaux Tigers

Oh My God . . .

2011-11-15T13:26:00.003-06:00

Just recieved a report from Haynesville Shale Forum that LaCour #43 well is producing 3,000 barrels of oil per day (B0PD). A bit of caution, in that the Anadarko well in Avoyelles reported initially 2,000 BOPD and it turned out most of it was water. It got rechecked and it is producing a little less than 800 BOPD and the remainder was water. Later it slowed down on the water to something less than 300 barrels of water per day. Of course 800 BOPD oil per day is not shabby. That would be around $8,000 per day at $100 a barrel price.

None-the-less, that is a whoppa of a well in Avoyelles Parish. I am sure there will be more information available shortly. Right now there is nothing to be found in SONRIS Lite, this data came out of SONRIS, the full time Louisiana Department of Natural Resources data base. So I expect in a couple of days there will be more information on Sonris Lite. Then I will know more.

This is terrific news for all of Pointe Coupee. It means another oil boom is underway. And this one is bigger than ever before. Technology has caught up with three dimensional siesmic analysis and more extensive horizontal drilling coupled with fracking technology improvements. As gas is declining in the Judge Digby Field, oil is cropping up in the LaCour Field.

This an Austin Chalk zone well. In my presuit of information I have found that the Austin Chalk sits atop the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (TMS). TMS is coupled to the Eagle Ford formation in Texas, another oil boom zone. TMS is the hot topic in West and East Felecianas and going on Eastward. It extends South to East Baton Rouge (only the Northern extremes around Zachary and over towards the Mississippi River. For example, the Mississippi River bottom has been leased by the State of Louisiana from around St. Francisville Southward past the new John J. Audobon Bridge.

I am sure North Pointe Coupee is going to be turned into a lease bonaza. Perhaps all along the Mississippi River in what is locally known as Pointe Coupee. These wells are not as deep as the Tuscaloosa Trend but are plenty deep.

The horizontal lateral of the LaCour #43 is a little more than a mile long. The depth of the well is about 16,300 and the total is around 22,000 feet. As far as I can determine it is drilled toward the East at maybe an angle of 95 or 100 degrees from the North. So it is on a slight angle down from due East. I would not be surprised that the next well be located in the forebay of the Morganza Spillway.

Maybe out turn has come. We shall see.

Strange Little Critters . . .

2011-10-04T08:25:00.002-05:00

Our little lizards are strange little critters. Our matriarch, Fritzina, is the biggest baddest one of the bunch but she has spawned any number of second generation lizards that are all around us.

Of recent times, some of her off spring have decided to live in her turf, so to speak. We have watched them grow from a little over an inch and half to almost full size. They have fine long tails while Fritzina has a shorter one, I think something got a hold of her and it got sacrificed. No matter we see them often on the patio.

Of late Fritz junior has been hiding in and around the baker's rack that is adjacent to the back door. The baker's rack is against a short brick wall that faces south, and is only about four or so feet wide - just right for the baker's rack. We find him in the flower pots and lately entwined on the bakers rack or just on the wall behind the rack. His coloring matches quite well with our bricks, so one has look carefully to see him sometimes, they blend in well.

He seems to come in at night and clings to the wall. It is, I think, a safe spot from predators. He has the rack between him and free space from a potential attacker to get at him. Good instincts I guess for I am sure they have limited intelligence. Their life is food and survival.

Well Fritzina discovered the interloper in her territory. A couple of nights ago I noted not one but two Fritzs behind the rack. But in the AM I found only Fritzina behind the rack. Me thinks she chased them away.

Yesterday, while cutting the grass, I do the weed eating, Judie cuts the grass ala styled like her father, Bill Gremillion. I had trimmed the usual spots along the front curb and by the power transformer and was walking toward the back yard. When all of sudden I saw Fritzina taking off toward a Hackberry tree. She quickly climbed and moved to the opposite side from me. So when I went of to see her, she scooted around to the other side away from me. Of course, I had that lethal weed eater in my hands.

Any rate, it is getting cooler and the Fritz, etal, will soon be seeking a winter haven. I am sure they burrow under some leaves to find a spot to winter over until next year. Their season is coming to an end. Being cold blooded animals, they need the heat and with that fast disappearing, they will go into hibernation.

The Market . . .

2011-09-22T12:55:00.000-05:00

Looks like the bottom has fallen out of the market, the stock market. The market does not like Obama, his jobs plan (or reality lack of a job plan) and European debt problems (Greece, Portugal, Spain and Italy). The only European country that seems to be solving its problems is Ireland. Great Britian, not a member of the common market or a member of the European Economic Community, seems to be holding its own. Germany, bouying up the European economy, is fighting to hold on. The Swiss simply sit back and wait. Nothing heard from in the newly liberated states in Eastern Europe. I suspect they are truly teetering on ruin. No tell what is going on in Russia.

All that adds up with Obama uncertainly premeating the economy here in the states bodes bad news for all markets. The only thing seeming to be doing good is commodities but that is way to risky for me to get involved in. I suspect gold and silver will soar.

I guess I will just stick with coins for the moment. My collection will probably appreciate quite a bit. Though I am not in it for profit.

I see a buying opportunity opening up. Probably tomorrow. Also time to unload losers. I am of the opinion to trim some of those less than stalwart performers. I will probably buy some more DVY, an Exchange Traded Fund of dividend paying stocks. It is yielding 3.58%. at least that is well above US bonds. So it is probably a good time to acquire some more of it. It spreads the risk across 90 stocks and pays well.

And all the while a new roof is going on - in the rain. Things have stopped due to the sky is leaking. No hard rains but they can not count on that and must sit by and wait. I'm thinking they are finished for the day.

Football Weekend . . .

2011-09-18T12:48:00.000-05:00

Football got into its first real football weekend. The previous games were sort of warm ups. The big time teams schedule the "big check" teams to play usually at home where the stadium is quite large and the seats get filled. The big check teams are wanta bes, need the extra revenue and the NCAA forces the big teams to schedule a few of the little guys every year.

LSU opened with Oregon, which was not a big check team. Oregon was ranked #3 and LSU #4 and the game was played at the Cowboys stadium in Arlington, TX. That was a neutral field for both teams but it really was more an LSU turf area. LSU sent about 37,000 fans and Oregon about 15,000 fans. Of couse, it is history now, LSU stomped Oregon and took its place in the national rankings. Oregon fell back to about #15 or so in the rankings. Oregon has since trashed a couple of teams out west.

LSU played Northwestern State, the Demons, from Natchitoches, LA. They were no competiton. The first string for LSU played the first half and the rest of the team played the second half. A good way for gaining experience.

LSU has since played Miss State, my father's alma mater. It was a good but tough game. Miss State played well for a while but simply got worn down by LSU. LSU's conditioning was superior and their depth of players was greater. Not that Miss State does not have a big team, they just do not have the talent in depth that LSU has. LSU really took over in the third quarter and by the fourth quarter had decimated the Miss State team.

Now on to West Virginia for LSU. Going to be a good regional game. Clemson demolished Auburn this weekend in an ACC rivalry game. Tigers facing Tigers. Auburn just barely beat Miss State and BYU. Both teams they played put up pretty big scores. They just out scored them. Miss State did not even score a touchdown against LSU. Clemson out scoured Auburn. That bodes badly for Auburn, no defense to speak of. Bama and LSU will eat them up.

So we will see how another high scoring offense does against the Tigers in the West Virgina team. Could be very interesting to watch. Since LSU shut down Oregon's vaunted offense and Miss State's offense, it will be challenge to take down West Virginia's offense.

Other teams that got stuffed were Ohio State. Miami took them down. They did not look to good to me. Notre Dame took down Meechigan State too. So a few of the big timers got shut down. Watched Kentucky lose to Louisville. That is an in state rivalry. I think I saw that Vanderbuilt destroyed Ole Miss, if so that is a bad set back for Houston Nutt. His days maybe numbered.

New Orleans and the Monteleone . . ,

2011-09-13T10:32:00.000-05:00

We got back from our New Orleans trip. We did all the things we wanted to do. Ride the St. Charles Street Car, walk the French Quarter and visit the French Market. Bought Parlines from Aunt Sallies, had coffee and binquets at Cafe du Mode. We dined deluxe at Galitois and even strolled down Bourbon Street.We found the city, the French Quarter, vibrant and alive with people all over the place. The tourists were everywhere having a good time. Where else can you walk out of a bar with your alcoholic drink and stroll down the street. It is truly a carefree zone.You see all kinds of people, mimes, drunks, strippers, hot dog stands, oyster bars on every corner, lots of food, good food at that. The major restuaraunts in the Monteleone were undergoing renovation so eating out was a must. But that was the intention anyway, Even brought a sport coat for the occasion. Certain up scale eateries require a coat after 6:00 PM, which is okay with me.My legs were sore from so much walking. I did not bring walking shoes so was stuck with my loafers which did not have the support of athletic shoes.Missed the LSU football game but it was ho hum anyway. Watched the end of the Meechigan and Catholics game. Thought Meechigan had lost but they came back and did in the Catholics. Poor Nortre Dame (the Catholics) no longe have the mystic and magic, they are at best a second tier team now days.En route to New Orleans we spent the night at the camp, ate dinner at Morels with Mark and Paul. The Camp looked good, well cared for with the grass freshly mowed. Some of the elaborate planting gone and will be missed. The new place next door is obnoxious. But then that's life along False River now days.We left New Roads and drove across the new bridge, nice and quick. Down to Baton Rouge, stayed on I-110 to I-12 and drove over to Covington. Ate dinner at the Acme Oyster Company, simple, a bowl of gumbo. It is located on US 190 just a couple of miles from the Pontchartrain Causeway. Like the new bridtge, the Audubon Bridge, we had never been across the causeway, so drove it across the lake. It was a pleasant drive and tooks right into I-10 on to downtown New Orleans.Got off at the French Quarter, went to the hotel and parked the car (and it stayed parked until we left).We really enjoyed the Monteleone Hotel, we found the employees to be pleasant, friendly, helpful and not over bearing. So it made the stay even better, no snobishness, just sort of family oriented. There was at the hotel six weddings and one convention going on. The Carousel Bar was packed nightly.We were surprised at how may tourists were floating around the French Quarter. They were everywhere.We think we will do it again, maybe next year. Who knows, we had a great time looking around in the shops and walking the French Quarter.

I am beat . . .

2011-09-04T12:29:00.000-05:00

I am beat, kinda slept in this AM, tired after a day at Humperdinks solicting money for LSU Scholarships. Gary Taylor, our Treasurer, had the idea for the Cotton Bowl to have a box with a small poster asking for $5 per person to get into Humperdinks. Of course it is free to get into Humperdinks but the generous LSU fans contributed hardly at the Cotton Bowl last January. My diea was to get in their faces and asking for the donations. That worked. But it was tiring and others did not seem to have the knack for asking for the money. Not me.We had to split the take with the Dallas Alumni Club at the Cotton Bowl but not this time. So all that I collected went into the pot for the scholarship fund. Gary sold cozys and towels, T shirts and beads. I just begged. But we rolled up a nice return for our efforts. Opportunities like these do not come by a little remote chapter like us, so we had to make the most of it,Gary and his lovely wife, Linda, went off the game and I stayed at Humperdinks and count up the take. We collected and sold $5,268. We also collect from several motels that we ballyhooed on the web page and from independent vendors. So I expect we racked another thousand or so dollars. Nice take, right.I arrived at 8:00 AM and began collecting while Gary set up his sales table. Humperdinks (aka Humps) did not open until 9:00 AM but we had people there already. By 10:00 AM the place was rocking, by 11:30 we had already maxed out the building capacity.We who stayed at Humps to watch the game on TV had a more sedate time of it but still well populated with folks. We even had some that left the game at half time, the complained of having "High altitude seats." Any how, beer is a lot cheaper at Humps than at the Jerry Dome.We had a great time. I got home at about midnight, hoarse, tired and pleased at what we had done. But old guys like me can not take to many of these events. Counting out over $5,000 was quite a task. And it was great win by LSU. Oregon learned that SEC defensive football is quite different than west run and gun or speedy shoot outs. They found LSU defense equal to their highpowered offense and got kinda shut down. The LSU offense came alive in the second half and Oregon got beat pretty badly.Geaux Tigers . . . .

Rant

2011-08-11T11:20:00.002-05:00

Today I sent a rant to one of my old military friends, a Democrat. I asked him why President Obama was so bad. He has shown no effective leadership. He has dragged us deeper and deeper into debt. Yes, others created debt too but he has more than doubled all others in that category.

And he shoveled out the money his union cronies and the like. Shovel Ready as he personally said, "Was not so shovel ready after all." He literally pissed the money away.

He spent two years brow beating congress into passing Obamacare. He had to pay off several Senators to get it through. And now it has been declared by both constitutional and unconstitutional by Federal Judges. It is own its way to the Supreme Court and hopefully will die an indecent death.

He had stopped the border fence, his Department of Justice (DOJ) via the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) has been caught up in a scandal of selling arms to Mexican gangs just to prove such things happen. Well duh?. The same DOJ has been caught up in voter fraud scandal. The same DOJ attach Arizona's effort to control illegal immigration. The Transportation Security Authority (TSA) has been caught searching young female children and old ladies. How stupid can we get? The border is on fire and he does little or nothing about it. We got to get thses illegal immigrants out before they over run us.

He tried to close Gitmo and fortunately, Congress intervened. Nobody wants those scum bags in their states. Nobody want some crazy Federal Judge turning them loose in the US. Sanity prevailed and Gitmo continues, thank God.

He has dragged into yet another war. He lambastes for Iraq and Afghanistan but has pushed us into Libya. He does it by excuse, somebody else is prosecuting the war but with our money and our jets and our munitions being used up. He can not face up to reality.

When are we going to act. I am not against Democrats but this man is a progressive, not really a Democrat. He wants change and he wants fairness. Let me define that for you, he wants to take from the those that make and waste it on those that are non-productive. It is not so much a redistribution of wealth as it is buying off the mob, the masses, the proletariat. It is socialism at its worst.

We need to return to sanity. We need to cut government. We need to get EPA under control. We need to disband the Department of Education. We need to cut government salaries. We need to face reality!

I Passed the Test!

2011-08-09T11:17:00.002-05:00

I had an Echo-Cardiogram Stress Test today. And I passed it with no trouble.

First, I was "wired" for an EKG. Not your normal EKG, I had 10 sensors hooked up. Then the nurse took my blood pressure. I was connected to a Quiton Q-Stress tester and I could see the heart pulses and pulse rate displayed. The METs, a measure of heart/lung performance was 4.6 resting. Later under stress that went up to 7.0.

Then I had to lay on the examining table/cot and while still wired up had an extensive Echo Gram looking for aneurysms, etc. The nurse complained that I had too much air in my stomach, and the machine had a hard time "looking" through air. I was asked if I ate breakfast and I replied, "I never eat breakfast, but did have a couple of cups of coffee."

We moved on with me on my left side so she could look at the heart. Every once in a while I could hear the sound of blood flow out of the heart. Sort of a growl but occuring at the rate of the pulse. Interesting but of no value to me.

Then came the stress test. The Cardiologist, a nurse and the technician were all present. The nurse took my Blood Pressure and I began "walking" on the treadmill. Did that for six minutes. And at several tread mill levels. The result was "fair to normal." It was not as steep as my morning walk but at a faster pace, 2.5 miles per hour. So I guess there is a trade off in there somewhere.

After the stress test and during the recovery, heavy breathing on my part, another heart echo-gram was conducted. Took about 3 or so minutes for my heart rate to decline along with my breathing and Blood Pressure.

So I passed.

And the Cardiologist said there were no blockages. He also said the Naisapam I was taking did not do much for blockages, not as much as they expected it to. But that it was super stuff for Cholrestorol treatment, so keep taking it and all the meds I was taking. And to keep doing my morning walks. He also said there are no guarantees and that things looked good but you can never tell. I take that as a self protection against an unusual cardiac event.

The final was, "See you next year." So for now on, I get an annual stress test.
The goal is to continue to pass tests.

Edwards Shelf Edge . . .

2011-08-06T09:15:00.002-05:00

The Edwards Shelf Edge is the geological formation that seems to have all the oil in it. A shelf is an ancient beach so to speak. And just like a real current day beach it has gaps, and places where streams cut through it, etc.. When something cuts through the shelf it is bad news, where it does not cut through is good news.

The original False River Field Alma #1 gas well, the big discovery back in the late 1970s, early 1980s is now defined as the beginning of the Edwards Shelf Dip, or where it falls off so to speak. Alma #1 is capped off now, no longer producing anything. But it spawn the infamous Judge Digby Field which lies under Parlange Plantation and the adjacent Wortell holdings. There must be 15 or 20 wells drilled into that bonanza, not all are active but still generating a lot of gas. At one time that was the top producer on land in Louisiana. It does not do as well now days but still a winner. It has been producing since 1980, that's over 30 years now.

The Edwards Shelf is part of the Austin Chalk deal as is the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale. They are down there quite a distance, like a little over three miles or so. Given that the elevation of Pointe Coupee probably averages about 35 feet above sea level that is pretty deep. That means a lot of problems to drill and very expensive. Ergo, the price of oil has to be around a hundred dollars a barrel.

Some folks draw the Edwards Shelf on a map about in the Mississippi River in front of Angeles Plantation. Others show it further north well into the West Feliciana Parish. Only the experts know, the new technology includes three dimensional seismic plots. We of course have no access to that closely held data. But then why is Angeles Planraron being leased ahead of others in our area, eh? Don't get your false hopes up.

There are wells around Angeles, one on the back of LaBarre, one on the LaCour place both considered to be in the Morganza Field. And at one time the Wilbert well on the back of Stonewall, had a tiny corner into Angeles and the family got a lot of money for a while. That well played out in a year or so. Makes you wonder if it is worth reworking. They did that to the LaBarre well and it started producing again.

Our lease includes the Tuscaloosa Trend, a greater royalty involved. So I guess there is some potential that they will go for the Tuscaloosa Trend vice the Austin Chalk. Who knows what they will do.

The way the geology is in east Texas is Austin Chalk, Eagle Ford (that is very hot play in Texas), Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (TMS) and finally Tuscaloosa Trend. TMS is the hot play in the Felicianas across to Tangipahoa Parish. The TMS generally follows the Louisiana Mississippi State line with some very nice wells in Mississippi. There is a new field name Ethel (one says e Thel not Ethel as on I Love Lucy) over in East Feliciana. As the crow flies that is about 15 or so miles ENE of New Roads, a little past and below Jackson, LA.

Well you never know where lightening will strike, perhaps we will hit it this time around.

Here we go again . . .

2011-07-30T12:52:00.003-05:00

The price of crude oil is hovering around a hundred dollars a barrel. When that happens mineral activity in Pointe Coupee heats up again. Back in the 1980 it was the Tuscaloosa Trend.

The "Trend" was a layer of sand bearing condensate and natural gas. Tremendous amounts of gas and the Parlange Plantation out on False River was right on top of the bonanza. It still is, still producing along with several other wells in what is known as the Judge Digby Field. At one time it was the top producing field on land in Louisiana, it is down around 15 or so today.

That spawned a lot of exploration activity and new fields named Moore-Sams and Morganza appeared. Both fields are still producing, though some wells have gone dry. The one the family was involved in went dry years ago.

Today there is a well about a mile south of the family holdings down into the Tuscaloosa Trend and is producing about 250 barrels of oil and umpty ump cubic feet of natural gas. It was a productive well, stop producing and was reworked three or four times, the last one successful. It has been producing for the last four years. It is known as the LaBarre well and is in the Morganza Field. There are a number of wells still producing in the Morganza Field.

The new activity involves the Austin Chalk. The Tuscaloosa Trend is down around 18,000 feet. Considering the average elevation of Pointe Coupee is around 30 feet above sea level, that is an impressive depth. Austin Chalk is above the "Trend" at about 16,500 feet. Between the Austun Chalk and the Trend is the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (as in the Hayville and Barnett Shales).

Our place is being leased for Austin Chalk at 20% royalty and Tuscaloosa Trend at 25%royalty. I am surmising that they may do either or both.

Some of the maps show the place is on top of the Edwards Shelf Edge which seems to be the most ideal spot. Other maps show it to be across the Mississippi River in West Feliciana Parish. No matter, the place has been leased - again.

The new field is name the LaCour Field and the test well is located in upper Pointe Coupee near the confluence of the Old River and North West Moganza Spillway Guide levees. It is set back a couple of thousand feet from each levee. It is to be 16,300 feet deep with a total depth of 22,000 feet. That means it will have a horizontal of about a mile. I believe the horizontal will be generally east/west in orientation. This will be LaCour #43. It sits in the edge of the older Morganza Field, wonder why a new name? I guess it has to do with the geological strator they are after.

So with the lease our hopes rise again. Just getting the lease money is good enough for us. It is like finding money in the road my grandfather used to say. He meant if was like free, no work, just collect it up.

BTW, the LaCour #43 us about 7.75 miles from the front of the plantation. But I have read they have leased as far off as close to the new John J. Audubon Bridge, or about 16 miles from LaCour #43.

Fritzville . . .

2011-07-22T10:32:00.002-05:00

You have heard of Margaritaville, well we have Fritzville here. For several years we have had a lizard live in and around the back patio of the house. They are commonly known as "Fence Lizards." The proper name is Scroplosis Undalitus Undalitus or Hyacintha. They are found from Northeast coast of the US as far North as Massachusetts and across the South to our area in Texas. They are not found very much futher West than Palo Pinto County right next to us.

Their coloring matches very closely to a pile of old oak limbs we have stacked up to burn by the patio. So they often sun themselves on the wood pile and are hard to see as they blend in so well with old wood and lichens. You have seen old wooden fences with age growths on them like lichens and moss, and that is where you find them. They are not Chameleons and do not change colors. And they are bigger than Chameleons. Yes, we have Chameleons too.

Well we have Water Well Fritz, he lives at the water well. I believe he lives under the pressure tank. It is a great place to find insets, their primary diet. They love crickets.

We have on the other side of the yard near the faucet and hose storage container yet another Fritz. He lives under the hose roll up box, a big plastic assembly that we crank the hose pipe back into when finished spot watering. He roams the "mound," a left over pile of dirt just barely in our yard. It has a Crepe Myrtle growing on the top of the hill and a large one growing next to the hose storage container.

And we have the front porch Fritz. He lives out front. He roams the bushes, Crepe Myrtles. We see him infrequently but we see has leavings here and there.

And we discovered little Fritz, about a inch long body with a tail about the same length, residing in the flower bed by the main bedroom back windows. His turf is shared by Fritzina (who is probably his mother). She is quit a bit bigger than he is or any of the other Fritzes.

Fritzina lives under the big green storage cabinet that is on the patio pushed up against the rear windows. We store bird seed and other paraphernalia there. It is on rollers so there s quite a bit of clearance for her underneath the green box. We see her often in the AM on the patio, she ranges all the way into the garage, so she moves about. She also climbs the Hackberry Tree next to the main bathroom. We suspect it is cooler and yet another population of insects residing there.

This is Fritzina's second year with us. There was a Fritz but I think she ran him off, not enough food for both of them. She is bigger so she won to the turf.

Our neighbors are jealous in that we have so many Fritz's around us. We all use pest control a lot so there is no reason for us over them but we seem to be the preferred location.

So it is Fritzville.

Things . . .

2011-07-18T11:16:00.002-05:00

Mid July, 2011. Eye surgery tomorrow, the left eye this time. Only a few more months of putting up with this for me. Dr. Labor said all I needed would be a Lasik tune up. Probably a PRK tune up. Have to wait for the eyes to return to normal. But first got to have the final operation on the left eye.

Examination the other day revealed high pressures in the right eye. New drops for that but no prescription. The servicing Optomertrist asked if I had been using any steroids. It did not occur to me, that one of the post eye drops was indeed a steroid. Makes you wonder if Doctors ever read their charts?

Fritzina is back under the big green cabinet on the patio. We often she her in the AM when it is cooler. She leaves big deposits right on our door lip. Makes you wonder if that little animal is trying to say something.

Weather is horrid. Temperature is running over a hundred degrees everyday this week. We are on to a new record for number of days over a hundred degrees. Lows at night coming in at eighty two or three. Good enough to walk at 5:30 AM but not later in the day at all. It truly is hotter here than in Tucson, Arizona.

Well is indicating it don't like the dry weather either. We are increasingly having to manage it to keep it going. The acquifer is suffering, everybody is sucking it down and it is not getting recharged. Already some neighbors have had their wells dry up (over drafting does it).

Life goes on . . .

Its Hot . . .

2011-07-13T11:46:00.002-05:00

It is hot, burning up here. Record high temperatures and now over 11 days over 100 degrees Fharenheit. Heat index up around 104 to 106. The grass is showing stress in places where the water is not quite as much as the other spots in the yard. Even one little Oak tree showing heat distress, the other is doing fine as it gets a lot of run off from the hill (well not a hill, more of a slope).

One of our neighbor's well has gone dry, again. He does not seem to manage water very well (no pun intended). We space out our stations with a 15 or 20 minute wait after each one. That gives the well time to recharge. And then we do spot watering here and there.

When you use the irrigation system you are flowing the well at max capacity. When you spot water using a hose and single sprinkler head, then the well has plent of capacity. That and using a proper cycle as described above and watering at night all tend to get the job done without over drafting the well.

Don't understand our neighbor. He is a civil engineer, or so he says he is. Yet he has drainage problems (I don't guess he pays much attention to slopes or natural drainages). Now he has dried up his well. Not sure about this guys sense of geography or use of resources.

So far we are still doing okay. Drought here and floods elsewhere in the Dakotas, along the Missori and even down the Mississippi this year. Water distributino is not so good or water management is not so good. Texas has only two natural lakes, one of which extends into Louisiana (Cross Lake near Shreveport, LA). Even the Red River separates Texas and Okalahoma and they have made a huge man made lake, Lake Texoma, but it to is subject to drought conditions. The Red River is not a raging torrent most of the time, but rather a slow moving small river that can be mean and out of control at times.

We depend on man made lakes all around us for our water supply. Lake Weatherford is near us and it is down six feet or so already and still a couple of dry months to go. They back pump water into it from Lake Benbrook down the Clear Fork of the Trinity River from us. Locals don't like it but it serves its purpose to keep Lake Weatherford going.

Birds and deer come often to drink. So we have lots of them because we keep the bird baths full and feed the birds too. The deer are scavengers, drink water out of the bird bath and tip over the bird feeders to get the seed.

More on Austin Chalk . . .

2011-07-03T15:01:00.003-05:00

Our lawyer says there is no fracking going on in Pointe Coupee. I sense that it is too deep to get done.

There is horizontal drilling and there is going to be a lot of that in the Austin Chalk. The test wells in Avoyelles are all horizontal wells. Some of them are posting laterals or horizontal distances of up to a mile or more. and there is said to be some new technology in seismic data reading. Really don't care as long as they sign up for a lease.

While the long laterals are good for the exploration and development it is bad for the land owner. It means the exploration companies want rectangular shaped units that are basically long and narrow. This takes up more area, ergo less production per square foot, royalties are spread over a larger area, or less per square foot. So the land owner suffers at the expense of the developer. I foresee fights at the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) over the size and shape of the units. Gonna get interesting I am sure.

Mean while I have found the Lebarre well on Google Earth which is directly south of the plantation, I estimate about three miles. The Lebarre well is considered a Morganza Field well, produces about 230 to 300 barrels of oil and gobs of gas each month. It was a producer that quit. And it is really a Tuscaloosa Trend well, not an Austin Chalk well.

In 2005 it was "recompleted" at a different Tuscaloosa Trend reservoir at 18,200 feet vertical well. However, it took three tries to recomplete the well but has been producing since 2005. It is kind of hard to imagine a well that is over three miles deep and the surface elevation is around 30 feet above sea level. Amazing!

I also located the Wilbert Well back of Stonewall Plantation, over grown and shut in. I wonder if it is worth "recompleting at a new reservoir level of the Tuscaloosa Trend" or even a location to go back in and to explore the Austin Chalk. I am told that (a) developers do not like to go back into wells and (b) their drilling processes really messed up the Austin Chalk as they went by it (too much mud packing the zone). I would imagine that there is a consideration of doing that but . . . As a matter of interest it was the well in which we had about four acres of production, our parents got a nice piece of change for about a year, then it sanded over and no one recompleted the well. It was a Moore-Sams Field well.

I urged the family to get on with the lease as I am afraid the price of oil is beginning to drop. If it gets to low, they wont lease and we will not get any street money!

Geological Terms . . .

2011-06-24T09:30:00.005-05:00

If you are from Pointe Coupee you become familiar with certain geological terms that are associated with mineral production. Few realize that the top gas producing field in on shore Louisiana is Judge Digby Field. The big production is located on Parlange and Wurtell properties along False River.

The second most prolific gas producing area in Pointe Coupee Parish is the Morganza Field, which is somewhere around 9 or 10 in the rankings for onshore gas production.

Located close to the family Plantation is the Moore-Sams Field but production is limited. I think the only good well is located on the back of Sugarland Plantation which belongs to the Beaud family. It is several miles from us on Angeles Plantation. And it does not produce a lot of gas either. Perhaps they will go back in a frack it?

The geological terms or names we are familiar with are Tuscaloosa Trend and Austin Chalk. The Tuscaloosa Trend crops out around Tuscaloosa, Alabama but under Pointe Coupee Parish is anywhere from 18,000 to 21,000 feet deep. Considering the highest point of Pointe Coupee above sea level may be about 35 to 40 feet and average around 30 feet or less, those are very deep holes. The zones or reservoirs of gas are very narrow.

Above the Tuscaloosa Trend lies the Austin Chalk zone. It is somewhere around 15,000 to 17,000 feet down. And the Austin Chalk crops out around Austin, Texas. In fact, wells in eastern Texas in the Austin Chalk seem to be very prolific in production of oil.

Recent mineral leasing activity surrounds the Austin Chalk zone. LSU Petroleum experts think Austin Chalk may have around seven billion barrels of oil in it.

So what is driving the leasing furor. A couple of things. The foremost is the price of oil at around $100 a barrel and looking like it will go higher. But the other thing is changing technology in principally horizontal drilling and fracturing or "Fracking." Both of these technologies have been around for 50 or so years. But equipment has improved and the fracking fluids have improved.

Way back when all petroleum wells were just vertical in demenison, drillers when the got to the geological formation they wanted, would fracture the lower well casing with Nitroglycerene. Yup, they would literally blow it up so to speak fracturing the lower casing of the well and the surround geological deposits.

Today's fracking is differnt. Yes, explosives may still be used to preforate the well casings but then the drillers pump down a mixture of fine sand and chemicals under great pressure to force open cracks for the petroleum products to flow into the casing. The sand holds the cracks open. Oh, yes the pressures used to force the chemicals and sand into the cracks is tremendous.

Ganged up pumps, several in series, force down the mixture into the well. Pressures may exceed 20,000 pounds per square inch. The pumps are mounted on trailers, one pump per trailer. The pumps are generally driven by 12 to 16 cyclinder diesel engines. This is a massive undertaking. Some say they may use up to a quarter of million gallons of water to do the job. But it only takes a day or two to do the actual fracturing, may be a week to set up to do the job.

Fracking is a common practice here in the Weatherford area. The Barnett Shale under lies Tarrant, Parker, Denton counties. Actually, it is much bigger than that and is America's number one producer of natural gas a the moment. At any given moment there are four or five drilling rigs in Parker County and the same in Tarrant County. Tarrant county has turned out to be a richer area but harder to drill for it is in the City of Fort Worth. But that is another story . . .

Not more than a couple of miles from us is a company named, you guessed it, "FracTech." Their fleet of trucks go out as far as Haynesville in Louisiana and Cotton Valley in Oklahoma. Others in the fracking business are Schumlemberger, Halliburton and the other common names of well servicing found across the oil producing areas of Louisiana and Texas.

All wells here undergo fracking. And not all wells produce for long periods, just as that is the same in Louisiana and Pointe Coupee Parish. I have seen several wells get capped and abandoned. Ironically, I have seen new wells be drilled close by, may be 500 yards away from the abandoned well. With slant/horizontal drilling there is no telling just where they are seeking the shale. All the shale wells around here are about 6,000 feet deep, give or take 500 feet.

So it is more risky to drill for success in Pointe Coupee. The wells here produce semi-wet gas, that is there is salt water, condensate and some oil. Gas is the primary objective here. Oil is the primary objective in Pointe Coupee. Every well here has a little tank of detergent that is dribble down the well bore to keep it clear of the crap coming up. A small bit of technology that detergent but it is the life saver of many a well around here.

So the current hot "play" is the Austin Chalk. No telling were the sweet spot is. All of it has some oil, but some oil is not enough, they want a lot of it, like a couple hundred barrels a day production.

When You Least Expect It . . .

2011-06-18T12:46:00.003-05:00

When you least expect it up comes a piece of good luck or fortune. Received word that someone is interested in leasing the mineral rights on Angeles again. Turns out it is Anadarko Petroleum.

Strange sounding lease. $150 per acre for three years with an option for two more years at $75 per year. The $150 was said to be the bonus, like they are doing us a favor or something. Lots of questions.

I did a web search on Anadarko and Pointe Coupee and came up with the LaCour Field. Never heard of it. Well of course not, it is new. But it is based on the old Pennington well and the Austin Chalk formation, not gas but oil.

Austin Chalk extends from Austin Texas over to Biloxi, MS. And it runs right under the plantation. But it extends down to 16,000 feet or so in depth.

Any rate we are hearing good and bad things and will go with a lawyer this time for the lease. We can get a lawyer for $2 per acre to negotiate the lease for us.

I had thought all such activity was long gone and here it is again. As my grandfather once said, "Its like finding money in the road. You did not do anything for it, you just get it." The place has probably been leased five or six times over the years.

Closing In . . .

2011-06-07T10:08:00.003-05:00

Time is closing in for the eye surgery. Had the "reoffer" appointment yesterday and we are set to go. Just need a time for the day of the surgery. I have already done the physical examination as required for presurgery clearance. I have also modified a pair of glasses with a clear lens and have gotten the presurgery mandatory eye drops.

When I had the physicial examination we discussed going to see a Cardiologist, it was deemed not necessary but recommended. I had a EKG done during the presurgery exam and it was said to be no problems. I do have what is known as "lipodemia" meaning high clorestorol, it has been that way since the 1980s.

They have me strapped down with high doses of Lipitor, 80 MG per day, and that keeps my lipids in and around the "Gold Standard." But since I am also a Type II Diabetic, it all bears watching.

I have other effects from the exposure to Agent Orange besides Diabetes Type II. I have Cataracts that are said to be caused by Diabetes/Agent Orange and Peripheral Neuropathy (sensitivity of my hands and feet). PN as Peripheral Neuropathy is referred to in VA circles, means I am gradually losing the ability to pick things up. So far it does not seem to effect my ability to fly radio control airplanes. I am hoping, of course, the cataract surgery will result in improved vision for flying.

And typical of being a Morrison, I have high blood pressure, sort of an association with age, Lipodemina, Diabetes interrelated. I also have arthritic knees from jogging while on active duty. And Gouty Arthritis too. All these things add up. The VA also says I have "bilateral issues" due to PN and arthritic knees.

But so far the VA deems that I do not have Carodic Artery Disease or as they say Ischemic Heart Disease. I will either have to have a heart by pass, stint installed or God Forbid, a heart attack before they will deem that I have that disease. But it is so common in my family it is unbelievable. My guess is all that jogging forestalled any of that kind of disease and I continue to this day to walk distances. Exercise pays off with longevity!

Any rate the year of the doctors for both me and Judie has arrived. Seems like one of the other has an appointment per week. Better than dying!

Winds Up . . .

2011-05-28T16:16:00.002-05:00

No RC flying to speak of, getting tired of just fixing airplanes. But I needed to do that to really get ready for when wind conditions are ideal.

Got my Mountaineer back from hail damage repair, the job was just super, looks almost new to me. Costly but then I intend to keep the vehicle a while so might as well get it done and the insurance company paid for most of it.

A neighbor runs a paint and repair shop, so had him do it. Service King did the estimate and I did not like the looks of their operation. The Oneil's gave me a modest $50 "good neighbor" discount and really did a superior job. They were recommended to me by the local Lincoln Mercury dealer, also a neighbor.

Felt trapped without a second vehicle but we got by very easily on one car for a short period of time.

Oh, the Woe and Misery . . .

2011-05-23T14:40:00.002-05:00

Oh, the woe and misery predicted by the liberal press over using the Morganza Floodway seems to have disappeared from the national scene entirely.

Earlier, it was, "You are going to flood a town, to flood Butte LaRose." Now they have seen (a) the flood is not tramatic but presistent and (b) it has not over whelmed the town nor the spillway for that matter.

It appears the dry/drought conditions have soaked up a lot of the water and while the Atchafalaya is rising, it is not inundating everything around it. Yes, there is more to come and there are yet some small communities in the line of fire, those communities knew it and are preparing for it.

It could be disaster down river from Morganza, now it is not even close. Some worry, some risk but the real pressure of over topping the levees is gone.

The Morganza Spill worked, the Old River Structure is still in place and the June rise has yet to ocurr. Yes, there will be yet another highwater condition coming down stream but not as severe as the present one.

Old Man River is doing what Old Man River wants to do, within limits.

Things are looking up . . .

2011-05-21T10:07:00.002-05:00

Things are looking up in that the Atchafalaya will crest at a lower elevation at Morgan City/Berwick area. Those little communities like Stephenville and Amelia are making preparations and with a lower forecasted crest may help them avert disaster.

Butte LaRose may not get it as bad as forecasted too. I understand there are some hold outs that will not leave their hoomes. Sounds like Mount St. Helens kind of thinking to me. All too fatalistic. And they had dire results, the same could happen to the hold outs in Butte LaRose. I guess that is why they live there to begin with, isolation and the beauty of the swamp. It is all they have and they just do not want to give it up.

Last I read there now 17 gates open in the Morganza Spillway Structure. I understand they will get to 21 gates now. Even so, at 17 gates the estimate is 114 thousand cubic feet per second going through that massive structure. Photos from the space station show just how much water has already gone through those gates. The concept and design is working. If they go to 21 gates, that is about 17% of the capacity of the control structure. I understand the crest at Vicksburg was not as high as forecasted, by less than a half a foot or so.

That just means the accumalators, the balloons, are soaking up a lot of the water and some of it is going into the ground. That also means those same accumalators will slowle release their water holdings over a longer period of time. So while the crest may not be as high as expected the duration will last longer. That to is a risk in that the levees will have to hold for a longer period of time. And time is one of the many enemies of a levee.

Not so lucky up river at Yazoo City/Vicksburg area. Memphis too. The low lying areas all flooded as expected. They live to learn their lessons again. But the poor usually have no where else to go but into the "cheap" territory. They get the land cheap and their small houses get consumed every so often. Others learn about how tributaries back up because they have no place to send their water and in fact get water pushed up their courses. No matter what you house cost it is a terrible loss.

It is never pretty. Saw where a three grain barges ran into a parked barge, sank all three of the barges. One came back up but it was enough to shut the river down in North Baton Rouge. The Old Mississippi Bridge abuttment had to be inspected and the sunk barges located. The rivermen say it is very hard to control the tows when the water is high - that means faster currents, more trash and snags moving down the river, etc. A few years back an empty gasoline barge hit an abuttment of that bridge and blew up. It knocked a large piece of decking out on the West bound side of the bridge closing it for a while.

Old Man River is the master!

The Snake . . .

2011-05-18T10:54:00.003-05:00

There was a photo of an alledged snake along side of the road coming out of the Morganza Spillway. I think that photo went viral.

Turns out it is either a Brazilian or Australian photo. The trees in the back ground are nothing like ones would find in and around the Morganza Spillway. So it is a hoax, kinda got to expect some of that given that we are dealing with a sort of premordial area like a swamp.

There are more than one vedio shot of deer escaping the spillway heading for high and dry ground. Since there is a large wildlife area in Pointe Coupee over close to Krotz Springs, it extends down into Iberville Parish. I mean the area is not much good for anything else.

Apparently the water is not moving south as fast as the Corps of Engineers expected into the Atchafalaya Swamp and basin. But then the Mississippi has not crested either. So I expect they will open a few more gates to discharge about 100 to 150 thousand cubic feet per second. A cubic foot holds 7.4805 gallons, so that is about three quarters of million of gallons a second. That is a lot of water to turn loose.

We have several more weeks of this to deal with. Then when to close the gates as the river goes down, we will see what has transpire at the spillway structure. I am sure there will be much work to do to repair things. Got to replace or rearrange rip rap, check for scouring, replacement of soil in front of the structure etc., that will take some time to assess and evaluate.

We need to get ready for the flood to occur again. But it appears the Morganza Spillway is doing its intended job, to reduce the flow of the Mississippi in a controled and measured manner. It has been done many times at the Bonnet Carre since the 1930s. It has to be very serious for the Morganza Spillway to be opened. And all indicators, the river gauges, show the levels exceed the infamous 1927 flood levels.

It is a pity that over time along these cities or ports of the Mississippi, like Natchez, Vicksburg, and Memphis, all had to relearn the lessons of history. People should not build in the flood zones of those localities. Yet, they do it just like they do it down in the Atchafalaya Swamp. They know better and do it anyway as the land is cheap.

Some Good News . . .

2011-05-17T09:43:00.002-05:00

There is some good news coming out of the Morganza Spillway, it appears the recent drought has caused a lot of the water to be absorbed by the soil. That's not much solace for those who had to evacuate but it is a good thing for maybe Morgan City - Berwick in that the river may not rise as much.

Still the water is creeping up at Krotz Springs and up around Melville. I saw a picture of what was reported as Simmesport but not sure. Soon those towns will be isolated by water but yet inside the ring levee will be pretty dry.

Word is that the gates opening is having a decided effect on the lower Mississippi, so Morganza Spillway Structure is doing its job. Also instead of 25% of the gates, and that is about 31 gates, the Corps has dropped the prediction down to 20% of the gates, or about 125 thousand cubic feet per second flow. The crest has not reached Red River Landing yet.

Domr of the prisoners of Angola State Prison have been evacuated to other jails. The local news said it was about 3,000 or so convicts have been relocated. The deputy warden did say the levees were holding and things should be okay.

So we can expect up to 20 gates to be opened at Morganza Spillway. That is an improvement for those in the way of all that water. Not much solace but some.

Saw a video of deer swimming out of the spillway, and a still photograph of a snake that was at least 25 feet long. I don't think the snake is a native but rather somebody's cast off python or something similar. Also a shot of bear swimming out of his habitat.

Some interesting things are being observed. The character of the Mississippi, wild life and Cajuns.

"Nine Gates Open. . . "

2011-05-16T10:41:00.003-05:00

Nine gates of the 125 gates of the Morganza Spillway are open. All are fleeing in front of the wall of water: wild life and people. The Atchafalaya Swamp is getting restocked with fish from the Mississippi River.

So far things are working as expected. No one knows what will happen in the forebay of the Morganza Spillway structure. Could a new channel be developing? Or what is occurring the down stream flow out of the gates, will the rip rap hold the soil in place?

People are worried that it can not be closed. But remember it is built at ground level which is way above the channel of the Mississippi. So when the river recedes, the water will not continue to pass through the gates. The gates will be high and dry.

It is said that only 25% of the gates will be opened. The max capacity of the Morganza Structure is 600 thousand cubic feet per second, so that is a rate of about 150 thousand cubic feet per second. That will keep the river from rising any further at Baton Rouge and all places south including New Orleans.

Now that the spillway is opened we must wait and see what happens. If there is a disaster to the south, then I am sure they will open it up all the way to take the pressure off a crevasse. I worry about Upper Pointe Coupee, it is below the Old River Control Structure, and above the Morganza Spillway, so it is at the mercy of the river. A crevasse there would fill Upper Pointe Coupee to the top in about two days and the water would stay there.

Stay there you say, yes. There is no outlet, the water would be trapped by the surrounding levees. Water on both sides and no where to go. In normal times the natural drainage to south end of the area is pumped out into the Atchafalaya River. Those pumps would be submerged and useless. So Upper Pointe Coupee is isolated and must stand by itself.

So what you say, well in the history of crevasses from about 1880 to present day there have been 10 in that region. Even in the 1927 flood, the levee crevassed at McCrea which is a community of sorts in Upper Pointe Coupee along the Atchafalaya River. There was a later crevasse on the other side of the river at almost the same location. All the flooding of that era went down the Atchafalaya basin to the Gulf of Mexico. All the Mississippi River towns like Baton Rouge, White Castle, Plaquemine, Donaldsonville, New Orleans, etc. were saved by those crevasses. The levee did not crevasse on the Mississippi, it did it on the Atchafalaya.

The Morganza Spillway is a man made crevasse that can be controlled. And the excess water is going to the same places as in 1927. Yes, the wider area has levees not to keep it contained in the Atchafalaya valley. The exception is that the Morganza Spillway will not flood Upper Pointe Coupee, the flooding occurs further down river on the same old Atchafalaya.

We will start to see the effects of the spillway in a day or two. We can expect to see the Atchafalaya up stream flow to slow down and rise to cause flooding along that stretch of the river. Already Melville and Krotz Springs are under alert and folks are withdrawing into the ring levees. I suppose Simmsport will be doing the same.

Towns with no protection like Butte LaRose and Stephenville will get flooded. Parts of Morgan City will get flooded, those parts outside the ring levee in particular. Butte LaRose is like on a hump of land down in the swamp. It is not high enough and will get flooded. Not nice but a fact of life.

Pray for those people, they need all the help they can get.

"Old Man River . . ."

2011-05-07T10:03:00.002-05:00

The mighty Mississippi is up to its high jinks again. Daddy used to say, "There is no problem in the lower Mississippi valley unless the Missouri rises early and the Ohio rises late." And that seems to be the problem.

The Mississippi south of St Louis is flooding. Already the US Army Corps of Engineers have blown the levee to protect Cairo, IL. Cairo is important because it is the confluence of both the Mississippi and the Ohio rivers. If they had not relieved the pressure from the upper Mississippi, Cairo would have flooded and quite possibly been washed away. I have cross over the Mississippi from the Illinios into Missouri from Cairo on my way home to New Roads from Chanute Air Force Base, IL. When we went to Chanute we crossed over the Ohio from Paducah, KY into Cairo. So I have seen it from both directions so to speak.

The lower Mississippi is constrained at Memphis, Vicksburg, Natchez and Baton Rouge south to the Gulf of Mexico. Between those cities are places along the river that can get up to 10 miles wide and thus act as an accumulator slowing down the flow of the river. But the river really rushes though those locations. The accumulators or balloons help slow down the rate of flow, dampen things so to speak but they do not retain water for long and it all drains back into the river.

When the river rises like it is now, it backs up water in all its tributaries. One has no idea how many those there are - creeks, small rivers even just drainage areas. So while Memphis itself sits on a bluff and is relatively safe, the low lying areas drained by the local watershed is soaked and full to the top. That means all the low lying areas are flooding. That is why those areas are called the flood plain, they are subject to flooding. And that is a well known factor.

The US Government provides flood insurance to those people. No, it is not free. And it has a $15,000 deductible. So it is crisis insurance only. And it is not cheap to get.

When the levee breaks it is called a crevass. Pointe Coupee Parish is most vulnerable to crevasses. It has the Mississippi on the North and East sides of the parish and the Atchafalaya forms the West boundary. In 1927 the Atchafalaya crevassed at McCrea in Pointe Coupee, down river from the present day Simmsport bridge. It also crevassed at Melvillie across the river (West side) and little further south of McCrea. That is why towns of Simmsport, Melville and Krotzsprings on the West side of the Atchafalaya are surrounded by ring levees. You would not notice it too much today as both Krotzsprings and Simmsport have out grown the ring levees and are sprawled wll out beyond the levees.

Just above the Old River Structure, where a US Corps of Engineers constructive effort to keep the Mississippi out of the Atchafalaya river, is a stretch of levee that can be dynamited if necessary. The fear is that if that is done, the raging waters may cut a new channel to the Atchafalaya and leave Baton Rouge South high and dry. So that is truly a last resort location to cut the levee at that point.

The next location is the Morganza Spillway. The town of Morganza is not new to crevasses and once there was a town of New Texas out on the river above Morganza. It has long washed away. The spillway structure is just North of the town on Highway 1 which crosses the structure. Basically, there is a fore bay that stretches from the flood gate structure to the river, perhaps three or four miles in depth. This is one of the accumulators I refer to. The river at that point can reach perhaps 10 or 12 miles wide. Pretty significant size body of flowing water.

The spillway is a series of guide levees that extend down into the great Atchafalaya Swamp and eventually to the Gulf of Mexico. The spillway runs abreast of the Atchafalaya river as it more or less leaves Pointe Coupee Parish to the South. A great deal of water can be absorbed by the swamp and if need be, the lower Atchafalaya levee can be breached to allow the water to flow back into the river making an easier path to gulf.

The guide levees cut off upper Pointe Coupee from any natural drainage. That enclave drains toward the South end of the parish but there the water is cut off. Pumps have been installed to lift the drainage into the Atchafalaya. But if there is a crevass in that area, all there will be flooded severely, up to the roof tops as the levees often reach a design level of 50 feet. Give the terrains ranges from 20 to may 35 feet above sea level, well you can judge for yourself. We are talking about a land mass of say 150 square miles.

Trouble is that Terrebone Parish and cities like Morgan City sit in the path of all this water. Morgan City has a ring levee but like Simmsport it has way outgrown the ring levee. So it is a prime target for flooding if the Morganza Spillway is opened up completely.

New Orleans is protected by the Bonnet Carrie Spillway that goes from the river at Norco to Pontchartrain Lake. The Lake fishermen complain bitterly about its use but there has been not significant damage to the lake ecology due to its usage. And it is has been used often. I can recall crossing it with water up to but not over the elevated roadway (bridge). I was but a small child and my father worked for the US Corps of Engineers in New Orleans.

He always said the Bonnet Carrie was opened when the flood gauge at Carrolton Street read 18 feet. New Orleans levees could not tolerate much more than 20 feet at best. So the Bonnet Carrie has been used many times since its construction pre war days some time after the great 1927 flood.

The new John J. Audubon Bridge opened yesterday as the St Francisville ferry was shut down due to high water. The ferry had no place to dock on the New Roads side of the river. This is a sort of annual event anyway, not necessiarily caused by the current anticipated flooding. The bridge is open prematurely with little fan fair. I am sure there will be festivities later in the year.

Let us hope that the new bridge does not become an evacuation route for Pointe Coupee. Ironically, New Roads in all the history of crevasses in Pointe Coupee has never gotten more that 3 or 4 feet of water, and that was only once. However, you can imagine what happens to False River. The camp would be under water!

And it would take a while for it to drain off. It would be a grand disaster of epic proportions. Now you know why the Morrison plantation house is up high on brick pillars.

Much A-do About Bin Laden

2011-05-03T11:59:00.002-05:00

It is over, he's dead. He seemingly died ignobly by using one of his wives as a shield. What a POS.

All pundits seem to say it is better he died, keeping him around was said to be very troublesome.

No matter, he is gone. The head of the snake is cut off. It will writhe for a while yet, but its source of money is now gone. And we are advised it will gradually dry up.

No so for the Taliban, they still rage on in Afghanistan and it will for a while too. But now that one of their precious icons has been tapped out, means are we are getting closer to eradication. Take the next one and then the next one and they will learn. Dogmatic as they are, most of them do not wish to die, just for others to die.

As the man said, "Kill'em." There is no salvaging of the radicals. Terrorism has gotten into their blood and they lust for it. So give them what they want, an early and untimely death.

"Smashed Again . . ."

2011-04-25T12:03:00.003-05:00

The "dry line" crossed over us and we had another monster thunderstorm come through Weatherford. We have hail stones in the freezer that are the size of golf balls, proof so to speak.

The trees got trashed a bit but not like the other storm we had three years ago. The vents are not smashed in, the wind turbines are turbining but we did pick dents in the Mountaineer, mostly on the hood. I am sure there are dents on the roof too.

I walked the neighborhood and Post Oaks gave off the most apparent damage, lots of leaves and small branches. Last time, the storm cleaned off all the leaves, not so this time. So the damage is minimal.

But there is currently a tornado warning for our area and more thunderstorms coming our way. Tis the season of, so to speak. Nothing to do but bow one's head and pray for the least amount of damage.

The reservoirs need the water. So it is not all bad but it can be very damaging if a tornado touches down or a prolonged hail storm comes through.

"Musings . . ."

2011-04-24T09:06:00.003-05:00

Thursday we traveled over to Timpson, TX for Millie's funeral. Millie was Judie's first cousin, a step-daughter of her Uncle Ford Gremillion. She died of the dreaded disease, Breast Cancer. Millie knew what was coming as she was a registered nurse and a had a teaching certificate. So she was educated and knowledgeable.

Her married name was Trift and she had two children, a boy and girl. The son is married and lives in Timpson or near by. Both children are grown into their 30's. Timpson is a few miles from Nagodoches, TX, slightly to the north in the piney woods country speckled with oil wells. Timpson appears to be an old town, quite a few brick buildings but time has passed it by, it has but a little more than 1,000 inhabitants and I suspect most of them are urban dwellers, living away from the big city of Nagodoches.

She was interred at Forest Lawn Cemetery there in Timpson. A nice and peaceful place on the edge of town and a nice place for her to rest forever more.

One of the ironies, is that we parked just off the pave path in the cemetery near Millies spot for last ceremonies. As we walked back to the car we noted we had parked next to the Morrison tomb stone. We both mused if that was a message.

After interment, we had a late lunch in the City of Timpson community center. A small but nice facility ideally suited for such a setting. It was in a little park on the south side of the city just down the road from both the funeral pallor and the tiny post office. We got to visit with the family once again.

We kibitzed with Billy and Cherry; Cherry is Millie's little sister and the same age as Judie. They went to school together and finished together at Poydras High School. We got married a year before Cherry and Billy.

Both Billy and Cherry looked well. We learned Billy, an MD and Surgeon, survived a bad Prostate operation where he nearly bled to death. He had signed a document to prevent transfusions (in today's age one can understand that directive with HIV/AIDS running around). It seems he checked himself out of Emory Hospital in Atlanta and went home to Big Canoe to recover. We learned he said some very bad things about University of Emory hospital, like incompetent, etc. He has both the credentials and the experiences to make such statements.

We saw Charlie Gremillion and his son, Nate as well as Patty and her husband. It was a smallish family gathering but then the occasion was not the happiest. This is virtually the only time we see any of them; we never see them in New Roads, the last time was at Taddy's funeral.

Millie is at peace now . . .

"Crawfish are a coming . . ."

2011-04-13T15:33:00.003-05:00

The LSU Tarrant Tigers Crawfish Boil is coming up on April 30. It will be at the US Corps of Engineers park at the top of the hill on the east side of the Benbrook Lake. It is pretty high rise, well above the dam which is to the West of the park.

You take Bryant Irving all the way to the South end. It tee's into a road, turn right and head toward the lake. Just prior to reaching the park, the road turns sharply to the right. On you left is the park with plenty of parking and a covered area. It has rest room facilities and is probably 8 or 10 acres, most of it mowed, but some of it with wild flowers remains un-cut.

Plenty of room for animals both pets and children. It is, however, usually windy. There will be plenty of drinks (free beer), and a sales table with all kinds of LSU stuff.

Gonna be fun. Geaux Tigers!

"Wendel"

2011-04-05T09:52:00.002-05:00

I sent a letter to an old fraternity brother, Joffre Fusilier. Well it turns out that Joffre has reverted to using his middle name, Wendel. It seems he only used his first name at LSU in both undergraduate and law school days. In his native Ville Platte, he was known as Wendel.

When he returned to Ville Platte to start his law practice he continued to use Joffre but ran into problems confusing his father's account with his over the name Jaffre. So he had to revert to Wendel again.

His son is also named Joffre. A fireman but attending college. Two daughters, one a lawyer that does not practice and one a nurse.

We had a long telephone chat. He is not much of a computer man, says his wife uses one at home and he has one at the office but not at home.

Anyway, another old fraternity brother contacted. Hank Bernard put me on to the Wendel name and I was successful getting through that way. I guess the Joffre addressed ended up at his son's house and in the ash can.

We talked a bit about Terry Dardeau. Sad, Terry returned to Ville Platte, bought a house and within weeks was dead. Yvie thinks Terry came home to die. Joffre (er, Wendel) said they were good friends but that Terry did not come to see him in the end. I don't think it was a snub, I think Terry was too sick.

I told him about Dwight Paulsen and Bernie Lafaso. He did not recall Keith Irwin at all. I found that strange but that is getting close to 50 years ago now.

"Friends Again . . ."

2011-03-30T09:10:00.002-05:00

I managed to link up with former Fraternity Brother Hank Bernard. It was a nice thing to see the return email and now Hank is in my address book. I had sent a letter in the dark so to speak and it struck gold!

But the more interesting side issue is that Hank and I had a common friend from New Iberia, Leon Harris. And since Leon and I communicate quite a bit, I sent a message to Leon with Hank's email address (with his approval).

Today, I saw Leon's email to Hank. I hope they are well linked up now.

Our worlds grow and yet shrink. Our youthful buddies come back into contact. Today we are so mobile you never know where we end up. Hank ended up in Lafayette, just a few miles from New Iberia. Leon ended up in Grants Pass, Oregon, many mucho miles away in the mountains.

Ahh, that's life. . .

"A Visit From Abbe . . ."

2011-03-28T09:44:00.002-05:00

We had a delightful visit from Abbe Sunday. She was enticing, adventuresome and cute. Who is Abbe you may ask? Well Abbe is a found black dog. And she brought her new owners to visit too.

James, Joan and Jammie captured Abbe along side the road across from the old Morganza High School in Morganza, of course. She was to near the highway and they picked her up to keep her from being squashed along the road. She was shaky and reputed to be full of fleas.

The fleas are gone. They took her to the Vet in New Roads, and they pronounced her healthy.

And they decided to keep her. She had no troubles traveling and still does not mind a long ride.

She is about 10-14 weeks old, black from stem to stern, with an almost chocolate color. She is otherwise a black dog of mixed ancestry. And she seems to be very intelligent little dog.

She is already house trained and yet just a puppy.

She is cuddly, quite and generally well behaved. It took a bit of work to entice a bark out of her. Right now she is more curious and very content to be an owned puppy.

So there is a new dog on the scene. A new member of the family.

Welcome Abbe . . .

"Looking for People . . .

2011-03-26T08:50:00.002-05:00

In the past year I have tracked down a few of my old fraternity brothers. Some were easy like Yvie Poret (fellow USAF retiree, LT Col), others difficult like Terry Dardeau (I found his obituary), Bernie LaFaso (successful man), Dwight Paulsen (very successful man) but have yet to locate Brother Kieth Irwin. I know Brother Woody Bergeron married a girl from Livonia, a cousin with the same last name. He is in Atlanta region, a retired Delta pilot.

Dwight and Kieth were both from Franklin, LA. I looked there for Kieth but to no avail, then all over Louisiana, still no joy. Contacted Dwight and he thought he was out in Colorado. So I did a search out there and did find a Kieth Irwin.

Next step is to send him a letter. That does not always work, sent a letter to Brother Joffery Fusilier and got nada, nothing. Heard that Joffery was a very successful lawyer. I guess he forgot his college buddies but that's life for you.

Others like Donald Littlefield died early. Saw his obituary in a Lafayette paper. Today, I think Don was probably a homosexual and died of AIDS. What a tragedy, an early and unfortunate death. Don was the son of a very wealthy man, drove and Austin Healy 3000 sports car while at LSU. Sorry that his life ended so soon, I'm thinking no one missed him, pity to get caught up in the flotsam of life.

I think Hank Bernard is a lawyer in Lafayette and he does not respond either. He is either too busy or perhaps too sick. We had a common childhood friend in Leon Harris. Leon and I swap Emails regularly, he lives in Grants Pass, OR with his life love and wife. Leon done well too. Leon's brother, Johnny married Leah Raye Mougeot and lived in New Roads. Sadly Johnny passed on some time ago due to cancer, Leah Raye and I met at ex-brother-in-law's funeral. Through her I connected with Leon.

Well I am gonna sent Kieth a letter and see if he responds. It is interesting that those of us that are successful have no problems in responding. It seems that those of us less successful are perhaps embarrassed and thus do not respond. That's a shame because we don't care one way or the other, they were our friends at a formative time of our lives.

Life goes on . . .

"Got Tired of Screwing With It . . ."

2011-03-23T13:27:00.002-05:00

Yup. I got tired of screwing around with the old weedeater and went got a new one. Oh, I will work on the old one, it is too good to give up on. But work had to be done.

I am more careful with this new one. It is a Troybuilt, a brand now owned by MTD, same folks as the Cub Cadet but a couple of steps down the ladder so to speak.

So all the tool heads attach, like the blower, the edger and the cultivator. And of course several versions of weedeater heads. So I have lots of weedeater stuff.

I am taking my time breaking it in. This one simply says use 40:1 oil mix where as in the past it said 40:1 but run a tank full of fuel that is mixed at a lower ratio for break in. I looked through the cheap but bountiful instruction sheet and saw no such break in directions.

It is a 25 CC engine, the same size we use on model airplanes in gasoline applications. So I doctored the fuel with a 2.6 ounce bottle of special blend 2 cycle oil and added about an ounce and half of Castor oil. I have plenty of Castor oil from my Radio Control applications.

Castor oil is unique in that it will blend with alcohol or gasoline while basic automotive grade oils will not mix with alcohol. So it blends in well and is a super additive for break in. It is a higher temperature oil and when it gets hot, it morfs into an even larger molecule. So it is excellent for break ins. It forms a varnish type coating and is good for bearings. Plus it smells good or at least in my mind smells better than the normal exhaust for a 2 cycle gasoline engine.

I am giving it heat cycles. Run for a while, let it cool down and then do it again. We call this temp cycles in the model business. After five or six cycles it will be essentially broken in. So I am treating it gently and feeding it good stuff. I hope it lasts.

Now I gotta go edge some more. . .

"The Weed Eater - Again . . . "

2011-03-16T11:01:00.002-05:00

Had to tear down the wead eater power head again. Nothing wrong with the motor or carburettor, it is the pull start mechanism.

It is not a complicated thing, just have to figure out how to get into it and out again. First you have to take the trigger throttle/kill switch/handle off. Not hard actually, only five screws, four hold the handle assembly together and on the output shaft. The fifth screw is short and in fits a screw hole on the shaft to hold the handle in one spot. So when reassembling the handle one has to center that screw over the specific hole in the handle. The trigger throttle goes back to the power head carburettor and the kill switch fits in a little pocket on top of the handle convienent for the thumb to turn off the engine.

Next one has to remove the base where the power shaft fits on to the power head assembly. There are three screws holding that in place. Kind of chinsey, but it seems to work. Under the housing is the clutch.

There is a spring assembly that threads the power shaft drive assembly together. It is a flex cable and the end is squared off so it fits in a shock spring that fits ovet the end of the clutch housing. Easy in and easy out.

But now one is left with the silver clutch output assembly where the flex shaft feeds into and is held in place by the shock spring and housing assembly - nice lose fit as described above.

But how do you get the clutch housing off? Aha, there is a secret. One uses a torex bit screw driver and goes down the housing shaft. There is a screw that holds the housing on to the spring clutch assembly under it. You can not see it, you have to know its there. Unloosen the screw and it comes off. The screw is retained inside the clutch cover assembly so you never ever see it. This is where most home tree mechanics get stymied, took me a while to figure it out but I did.

Now one sees the clutch spring assembly. It is a centrifical expanding clutch. The springs hold it in the non-engaged position. When RPM goes up the mass of the assembly overcomes the spring load and engages the clutch assembly housing by explanding outward which inturn powers the flex shaft. Simple. Good design.

Once again, one has to resort to magic. A pair of lock pliers applied to the shaft of the spring clutch assembly and a large pair of water pump pliers are used here. The threads holding the spring clutch assembly are always counter to the rotation of the engine so are tight at all times. But with the water pump pliers, I grip the outside of the spring assembly and turn, and off it comes. Just unscrews off the flywheel shaft.

Now I can remove the front of the motor housing which houses the recoil starter asssembly. The flywheel has two spring loaded swing arms that reach out and engage a prawl assembly. So that when one pulls with authority, the prawl is engaged by the swing arms. The prawl is a star shaped nylon item and subject to wear and tear. It is a matter of clearance and reach.

Any way, one bends the swing arms so that they will engage the prawl when activated. The manufacturere cleverly does not tell you about this and after a year or two of operation, it kind quits doing its job. The result is the normal user will (a) take to be repaired or (b) junket for a new one. Repair shops are hard to find and expensive and so it usually becomes a matter of getting a new weed eater. Planned obselence is work.

Well it is all back together now but too cold to try out. Will do so tomorrow and get her going again. Then I need to change the oil, it is a four cycle engine of 50CC capacity. Works good when it is running. Lots of power.

Spring has sprung, grass cutting season is upon us once again. Never ending cycle . . .

Next Up . . .

2011-03-10T10:17:00.003-06:00

I am next up on the cataract surgery path. We had joint eye appointments yesterday in Grapevine. Judie worked around her schedule to have a trip in May to Madison.

After we got her set up, then we had to set up my schedule. I will have the right eye done first, then after a month or so, the left eye. The right eye in the examination was very unstable.

The optometrist, Dr. Coldrick, said it was a level 2 to 3 grade now. The rating ranks from one to four. So it has reached the time to do it. When they do one eye then they do the other one right after it.

I unlike Judie will have Crystalens installed. She had ReSTOR which are alleged to be better for dry eyes. In my case, Crystalens is better for intermediate vision as well as night vision. I, of course, do not have dry eye issues as does Judie.

So late spring and early summer will be eye work for both of us. Judie's PRK is delayed until her Thyroid hormones are stabilized. That may take up to six months.

In my case, there is no follow on Lasik, Lasek or PRK necessary. While I have high levels of astigmatism, the "machines" indicate it is not a problem. So there is potential for me not to wear glasses again. If so, it will probably be reading glasses. I have worn glasses since I was thirteen, that is 58 years! I probably will be uncomfortable without them for some time - self conscious too.

Time ever marches on.

"Out and About"

2011-02-24T08:42:00.002-06:00

Judie went for a ride yesterday, out and about so to speak. She did not venture out of the car, her car. I did the driving. We went all the way to Walgreen's to pick her prescription. On the way back we cruised through the neighborhood.

Lo and Behold we ran up upon a couple of her friends walking. So we stopped and she had a grand time talking to them. One had just returned from Christchurch, NZ and was carousing about that they just been in that cathedral that took a beating. Glad they had seen it and glad that they were never going back again. It seems that it is a 14 hour flight from Los Angeles to Brisbane, AU. That was very onerous for them.

They did enjoy the cruise from Australia over to New Zealand and back. And they were mesmerized by the thermal activity in New Zealand. Pretty, yet dangerous.

Another step to getting better. She is really getting tired of living in one room even though it has TV, computer and comfortable chairs. It is the limitations that restrain you that is so hard to take.

Hanging In There . . .

2011-02-21T08:05:00.002-06:00

We are hanging in there regarding Judie's radioactive treatment. She has taken up residence in the den. Literally living in her Lazy Boy chair. She is really doing well considering the limitations placed upon her. No outside traffic, she can not go to Sonic for a Coke or the grocery store (which she hates anyway). We have to stay apart until the Isotope goes though at least one half life.

The half life is 8 days. She took 20 millicuries. So at the end of 8 days it will be down to 10 millicuries depending on how much her body retains. We can assume all of it is retained but who knows. Any rate she had a bad day with upset stomach but that could be the treatment or it could be Montezuma's Revenge. She was better yesterday.

Time is marching on, nothing can stop that but it is time after all. And it seems to drag when you are constrained as she is. Me, I bounce in and out of the garage working on Radio Control airplanes and running food errands. I bring her a Sonic Coke every now and then - that helps a little bit. I don't press her and she seems to really appreciate that.

Gotta go feed the birds.

"Its Begun"

2011-02-17T14:26:00.004-06:00

Judie's treatment for Graves Disease has begun. We are isolated within the same house. We must stay apart due to the radio active Isotope of Iodine she took. The Thyroid Gland will collect up the Iodine from her entire system, and of course most if not all of it will be radio active.

The congregation of the Iodine in one spot kills off the Thyroid Gland. It is a slow treatment but other than being apart it is painless. It takes up to six months for it the kill off the Thyroid Gland.

She took a dose of 20 millicuries (That would be 20MCi). It has a half life of 8 days. So at the end of the week plus a day, it will be halved. And eight days later halved again. She generally becomes safe after eight days but even safer after a total of 16 days. They will let her out of the house at the end of 10 or so days. As well all know nothing is perfect so 20 millicuries maybe a bit more or a bit less of Iodine, who really knows? So time is important element in the overall treatment. Right now, no visitors!

Just Checking . . .

2011-02-12T13:03:00.002-06:00

I have been checking on ebenefits.va.gov and have seen little or no progress regarding my new claim with the VA. So I moved on the a Veterans Benefit Forum run by veterans not the government.

I learned that since the Secretary of VA determined that there were three new presumptive disabilities regarding Agent Orange that the VA has been swamped with claim actions. There was a court decision sometime ago and is now referred to as the Nehmer Stipulation. It makes the VA go back in time to check records, etc. regarding Agent Orange claims and determined that there were disabilities related to Agent Orange exposure in Viet Nam (and curiously to Korea War too). I was a wash in the stuff exposed on the flight line in both DaNang and Bien Hoa. In the case of DaNang my roommate was a "Ranch Hand" pilot. Ranch Hand was the code name for the fellows that sprayed Agent Orange all over View Nam (and probably areas of Laos and Cambodia too).

Most of tour time in Viet Nam was at Bien Hoa Air Base which was adjacent to the "Iron Triangle." The Iron Triangle was an area of swamp, etc, part of the Mekong River delta zone of many square miles in size and infested with Viet Cong. So a lot of Agent Orange was sprayed there and I am sure a lot of it waifed over good old Bien Hoa where I lived for a year.

At any rate my Diabetes Type II is considered a Combat Related disability. And it has spawned other problems - cataracts and Neuropathy in both feet and left hand. These things will only get worse with time and of course Diabetes Type II is a life limiting disease with no known cure. So I just get to live with it. Maybe they will even award a Purple Heart in retrospect - not.

My combined service related and combat related disabilities have almost reached
100%. They are at 90%. The VA has a complicated rate table to make these determinations. So in fact I have 170% in total disabilities but when aggregated on the VA rate table it comes out to 90%. This table has been in existence since WW-1 and has historical roots all the way back to the Civil War. So it is a tried and true process, at least one that will not change anytime soon.

I made the mistake (well maybe not a mistake) and made a request to be determined as "unemployable." Age of course was not a consideration in such of a new rating. But the VA had a panel of doctors evaluated me in Sept of 2010 in regard to employablitiy. There was an Ophthalmologist, a Orthopedic Surgeon and a GP, each doing his on thing so to speak. The eye doctor said that my cataracts were a 1 on scale of 1 to 4, the Orthopedic Surgeon noted that my knees were popping and cracking, and recommended I stop walking as an exercise (I did not stop, I need to exercise regarding Diabetes and potential heart disease), and the GP did a number of BP tests (and I provided him with a list of my current medications) and other agility tests and the usual thumping and listening thing.

And I began the wait. Takes a while for things to percolate through the VA. About mid December I checked in with the Disabled American Veterans (DAV), my on scene representatives. I am by the way a life member of the DAV. You know the DAV, they are Red Poppy people. At any rate I get a email from then saying they were doing a look see at Ischemic Heart Disease (IHD).

That is a new disability and it is another Agent Orange thing. Scared the crap out of me. I did the Internet search and found out that IHD was another name for Coronary Artery Disease. Ah ha - Cholesterol, etal, has risen its head. I have been treated for elements of CAD for years. Take blood pressure medication, two medications for Cholesterol and one for heart rate - that is four medications for CAD. So in the terms of the VA I have at least one MET for IHD. That on their basic table for IHD is a rate of 10% for the disability.

Could that drive my total disabilities to 100%? Perhaps. But the rub is that since the Secretary has added these three new disabilities to Agent Orange, there have been almost 90,000 cases to adjudicate in the Texas Department alone. Looks like I am in the middle of all of that hoopla. A veterans run forum, that is by us veterans and not the Government Veterans Administration, they indicate the VA can address about 1,500 to 2,300 cases per week. You do the math. I could be the middle of the summer before I get an answer. And they do it by date of application, so mine is September 15, 2010.

And what is worse is the bad weather shut them down. They lost a week of work time and probably gained as many new cases to evaluate/adjudicate. Its gonna be a long time this go round. On the other hand, since I made claims about high Chlorestorol way back in 1989, they may have to compensate to that date. That would be a nice piece of change and is totally tax free (state and federal).

As Hermine said in Harry Potter, "And now we wait."

This To Has Passed . . .

2011-02-11T10:58:00.002-06:00

This to has passed. Yesterday it was 14.1 degrees at the early AM on our electronic reporting weather doda. It sends a signal from outside to inside and is displayed on Judie's desk. It is pretty reliable until the sun hits it and it heats up. But once back into the shadows reverts to its accurate reporting.

By noon yesterday the cold snap was broken, the winds were still up a bit and it was sort of brutal outside. By late afternoon, it was well above freezing at a toasty warm 37 degrees. And that meant more of the remaining ice/snow/sleet disappeared into the soil. Really the snow and sleet went away early due to the solar heating but the ice remained in spots here and there out of the direct sun light.

Today we will hear the gutters ringing with the remaining melt off water. What melted yesterday froze last night in nice slick spots. But that too will go away today. The temperature will be well above freezing day and night.

By tomorrow it is predicted that we will see 70 degrees F. And that will be most welcome.

But once again, good old "Global Warming" shows it was a colossal scam while we were shivering in out homes. The great inventor of the Internet, Al Gore, has had his reputation further tarnished. That fat fellow is living in humongous houses and flitting around in a jet, and tells us to conserve and stop making green house gases. He is excess green house gas in and of himself. Sure glad he was not elected to be President of the US.

Well, duh! What do you think trees and grasses need to convert to Oxygen, well it is carbon dioxide - the culprit green house gas so hated by Al Gore and his cronies. The meeting in Europe fell apart and the world recognized the silliness of it all. And if we did not have carbon dioxide we would be living on a big chunk of ice. Let nature take its course!

Hope everyone warms up.

Ho Humm . . .

2011-02-07T09:33:00.004-06:00

Yes, that was the Super Bowl. Good in spots, sometimes great but otherwise just another football game.

Gloria Aguilera's rendition of the National Anthem was a sorry thing. Not only poorly done, screwed up lyrics to boot. Don't they audition those people before they turn them loose on the world? And while nice, I did not understand the America the Beautiful rendition before the National Anthem. It was sort of like, "Huh?"

I did not see the Sweet Pea stuff and I guess I did not miss anything.

I hope none of those people got paid anything to do their acts. They were sorry performers.

And even worse, the football players themselves. Such egos! Some held their right hands over their hearts during the America the Beautiful song, and totally ignored the National Anthem. Others were doing warm ups, jumping around and otherwise ignoring the National Anthem. Some did not seem to know what to do when.

The Commissioner needs to come down on those people. Its about respect people, respect for our troops overseas and at war. Respect for our nation and its heros past and present. These idiots can not see beyond their on egos. What a bunch of losers.

Ka - Boom . . .

2011-02-04T10:57:00.005-06:00

Ka-boom, well at least I think it went ka-boom. After two days of less than 20 degrees F, I had a can of Diet Coke exploded in my Mountaineer.

I went out to go to the Post Office to mail stuff, the mail to go out had been building up and we kept missing the mail lady. And I had a bit of cabin fever too. So out to the vehicle I went.

I pulled open the driver's door. Yes, the handle worked, but the door was slightly frozen to the frame. So it took a little bit of effort to get the door open.

When I had the driver's door open, I saw this brown colored fluffy ice all over my seat and the other passenger seat. Then I looked up and it was all over the head liner. So I swept off the seats so I could sit without it melting and getting me wet.

I got a lot of Coke out but much was still stuck to the headliner.

About half way to the PO, I noticed it was melting and being absorbed by the headliner.

Later I discovered the Coke can. The entire top was blown off. The pop top seal did not go, the seal around the entire top gave up the ghost.

Well there you have it, do not leave unopened Coke cans in your car outside in severee cold weather. Oh yes, the Mountaineer started right of way and the drive, while slow and careful, was uneventful.

Now up to 30 degrees today (Friday - Feb 4, 2011). Quite balmy, yes?

Some Silly Things . . .

2011-01-25T09:02:00.003-06:00

Mardi Gras is on March 8 this year. My birthday is March 9. So it is on Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. Really an asupicous beginning this year.

Looks like the Morrison family business meeting is going to be on March 5th. If not the 5th then it will be on the 12th. So I am figuring it will be on the 5th. That will be a trip to New Roads on that weekend.

I have been looking at establishing a web page for the W. C. Morrison family. Lots of stuff can be published and it would be a nice place to host a lot of family trivia. Lord knows, we have a ton of family trivia going back to Jacob Haight Morrison. Some of it has got to be made up but for the most part it is all true. And to think my family were new comers to Pointe Coupee Parish.

Judie's family goes back to literally the beginning of the history of Pointe Coupee, the Gremillion's ancestor was a soldier at Fort DePointe Coupee. That is back into the early 1700s. The Morrison's did not show up until 1856 at Brunswick Plantation.

Brunswick passed on to the Thibauts in the 1930s but my Grandfather had long ago split his share off and it became Angeles Plantation, still in existence to this day. It is now known as the Morrison Farm, Inc. And that is the annual family business meeting conducted on the first weekend of March of every year.

The business meeting is more than just a stock holders session, it is a family gathering. We never know who all will attend, sometimes long lost cousins show up. They are most welcome visitors. We have a grand meal and share our bread with all comers. It is not a big affair but it is a warm affair, warm in that it is family.

Till then . . .

Its Cold . . .

2011-01-21T11:48:00.002-06:00

Brrrr. It was 19.2 this AM at 7:15, I went out to get the paper and there was frost on the plastic cover. Apprently the dew froze on the thin plastic cover. To me that is cold.

I can remember it being colder in Ohio but then I was younger and ready to challenge the cold. Now I am ready to sit under my electric "throe" and stay warm.

It is supposed to warm up to the 40s to day and 60s tomorrow. That will be nice. Realy don't like this cold weather.

Good that we did not have moisture with the cold, don't need an ice storm. All that slick would drive these Texans crazy and lead to many auto accidents. They seem to drive at one speed - fast. No thoughts of driving at a reduced rate. Just does not enter their minds.

Another milestone passed. Jack Borden, a lawyer here in Weatherford, died. Jack practiced up to the day he died. So what is significant. Well Jack Borden was 102 years old. Quite a character, once mayor of Weatherford, ex-FBI agent from the WW-II era and even his wife, long since passed away, was a lawyer (though she never practiced law). His law partner was his nephew - he too is already in his sixties. Jack even had a street, albeit a short one, named after him.

Life goes on . . .

"Snowing"

2011-01-09T12:56:00.002-06:00

Snowing to beat the band now. Started about noon mixed with rain, now at 1:00 PM all snow. Nothing sticking - yet. Birds are all hiding.

Saw a couple of Cardinals feeding this AM in the rain. But they do not fly while it is snowing unless it is a dire emergency.

The snow has a sort of Northern slant to it. So I guess there is a little breeze to help get down. Not even sticking to the roofs - yet.

Just a mess.

"Hoopla . . ."

2011-01-06T15:28:00.002-06:00

The new Congress has been sworn in and all kinds of hoopla is boiling up. The Dems are saying the Reps have to come over and agree with them. I don't think so, that is patent BS. If the Reps have a majority in the house and vote together there is nothing the Dems can do about it. And they know it.

So they are all out trying to make it look like they still have the power, they don't.

I think some reasonableness shall return, at least for a while. I think the Reps will relish cutting the budget everywhere they can but mostly in Obamacare. Yes, some of it is destine to remain but the most part is going to go down the drain of no funds to execute.

Saw where another Federal Judge in Virginia this time strike down part of the Obamacare mandating the purchase of insurance. That is the second Federal Judge to do so, the first was in Florida. That may speak doom for the entire bill as the Dems neglected to add a clause that if part of the bill is unconstitutional the rest can go on. Since they left that out, it the Supreme Court agrees with the original finding, Obamacare is toast.

Yep, lots of hoopla gonna is go on. And that is probably a good thing. Checks and balances in play again, the super majority is gone. And the Dems are barely holding on in the Senate.

Finally Got It To Work . . .

2010-12-29T08:13:00.006-06:00

I finally got my "A" drive to work. I kept noting that it was showing up as "working properly" but not working at all. I did determine the X1DE USB drive was not compatible and Iomega had no intentions of making it work at all. So that was a lost cause.

So I removed that item from the computer. That is I physically removed it and then deleted all reference to it.

Then I cast about reading other peoples problems in the forums and finally ran across one that kinda answered my question. Basically, getting the ribbon cable on correctly (I did that) and going in to the CMOS set up and turning on the "A" drive. How simple.

Did that and I'll be damned if it did not fix everything. So now I have access to lots of old files kept on floppies. Of course, the one file I was desperately interested had to be converted from WordPerfect to Word and then I saved it to my hard disk. So now access is not a problem anymore. I still have the old Word Perfect software but it was on floppies too and I am sure I have forgotten how to really use it. Microsoft has become dominant.

Took a year of that kind battering around to get this Dell to work like I wanted it to work. I guess now it is obsolete.

Finally Got It t

2010-12-29T08:13:00.003-06:00

Finally Got It t

2010-12-29T08:13:00.001-06:00

Ahhhh! I found a bunch of Unpublished Blogs

2010-12-27T10:25:00.004-06:00

Well checking back through the work I found that a bunch of blogs had not been posted. I discovered I could not "click" on the "Publish Post" icon and get it to work. I did find I could click on it and then press "enter" on the keyboard and that did the trick. How odd but I got it to work after much delay.

So there are a bunch of Blogs to read.

Enjoy.

Getting Up Steam . . .

2010-12-27T09:57:00.004-06:00

Trying to get up some steam, not much interest in going out into the cold garage to fiddle with models. I do have a nice new propane heater that gets with it but it takes a few minutes to do that.

I have a ton of repairs to do on models, some rebuilds and some new construction. But when it is cold it just is not a whole lot of fun. Need to get with it.

I started feeding the birds again. Judie does not seem to have the energy or desire to do it. So I went out yesterday and filled up the feeder in front and one in the back. And boom, the birds are here. They know where the food is.

This AM I noticed that Blue Jays were even feeding here. Plumped up for the cold, colors are darker too, like mountain Jays. They spot the peanuts from a mile away. Don't know how they do that but it sure brings them in.

I noticed a couple of Crows trying to break the ice in the bird baths. So I took a pot of hot water out to help melt the ice. They were frozen solid -p it was 26 this AM. Those old Crows were pecking at it to break it and I can tell you there was no water underneath the ice. So I dump a pot of hot water in each bird bath and that will speed up the thaw.

Water brings the birds, food makes them happy and they stick around for a while. But water is hard to find in the winter. So if you can get your bird baths to thaw they will really come in to visit. Even saw a couple of Blue Birds out by the bird house. Checking out the arrangements maybe.

I've Been Chided, Nay Scolded . . .

2010-12-25T19:40:00.003-06:00

Yup, scolded for not writing in my Blog. I kind of quit because I never get any feed back. So it is sort of like posting into never never land, all out go and no return.

We had a good Christmas. Limited for us, we are getting too old now days, little patience to shop and so we lapse into the check writing mode. That's okay, it works. Cash for the youngsters and a couple of special gifts for the grandchildren, the get the last of the attention getters.

Judie has been on a medical onslaught since her return from Madison. She arrived back feeling so bad, we stopped at the emergency clinic on the way home. They confirmed she had Pneumonia. I called it airplane Pneumonia - the germs get spread into the aircraft's cooling system (really a recirculating heating system) and spreads about to all passengers. The passengers are trapped and remain in the contaminated atmosphere for the duration of the flight. Nothing they can do about it.

The PA that saw her wanted the doctor to look her over the next day. We returned and among other things she had an X-ray. The doctor confirmed it was indeed Pneumonia. Later another physician reviewed the X-ray and did not like what he saw and recommended she see a Pulmonary Specialist. She also had a blood test that next day and it show anemia. So they recommended a Hematologist too. All this was sent over to her (and mine too) GP, Dr. Reeve. The blood test also showed some kind of Thyroid problem and Dr. Reeve recommended she see an Endocrinologist.

She also had a Cat Scan done for the lung thing, then later a Iodine test for the Thyroid. Well it appears the Thyroid is putting out too much of what ever it does but she has yet to see the Endocrinologist (lousy staff at Dr. Reeves office is the cause of that).

Mean while she is still being treated by the Ophthalmologist for Cataracts. She sees him every two weeks, slow progress. Last visit they said her eyes were too dry and were going to put plugs in the tear ducts to improve that condition. Judie said, "You did that three years ago." Oh, they said, hummmm. "Well come back in two weeks." It has been over a year since the first surgery. They may soon get around to doing the Lasik tune up and BTW, the Thyroid problems may be part of the problem.

The beat goes on. This AM we were at the local hospital emergency room because she has developed a Unitary Track Infection. That is about the fourth time this year for that.

Me, I get a Email from the Disabled American Veterans (DAV). I had sent them a missive to enquire about my last visit/evaluation to the Dallas VA hospital seeking a ruling on non employability. I am a life member of DAV so they respond to me and are my agents on the scene so to speak. The message was short and to me disturbing. The Officer reported that it was being "evaluated" by the committee and that there was a new finding, or disability - Ischemic Heart Disease (IHS), it is yet another Agent Orange thing.

As best as I can tell the Dallas VA GP that evaluated me decided that all the drugs I was taking were in response of potential heart problems - Cholesterol drugs (2 each), Blood Pressure drug, a heart rate drug (my heart rate goes up under stress like running as one would normally expect but it does not come down like my blood pressure does), and a baby aspirin (to ward off heart attacks). So I think he concluded that the aggregate of those drugs indicated IHD. And IHD with Agent Orange implications is considered a Combat related disability - no Purple Hearts but a result of activities in Viet Nam and an indisputable rating.

So one of two things and maybe both of them are in the offing. I will be rated non employable (and that gets all my property taxes removed) and I may get to the magic 100% disability rating. 100% disability rating is the "big" rating in VA compensation. It results in almost a $1,000 per month increase in my current compensation. VA compensation is among other things totally tax free; it can not be taxed by either Federal or State/City entities. Sort of like manna from heaven.

I would, if I could, trade it all back for better health but that ain't gonna happen.

So, we are getting older, and older, and older. And try as we might our bodies are just not as good as they used to be.

Could it be that we are wearing out?

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.

The Game of the Year!!!!

2010-11-16T15:31:00.003-06:00

I attended the game of the year at Tiger Stadium - the LSU/Alabama game. And I have the ticket to prove it.

The Tiger is Coming . . .

2010-10-13T16:21:00.002-05:00

Yes, the Tiger is coming. The LSU Tigers are coming to the fore light. Bama has one defeat and now both Auburn and LSU are undefeated. Auburn meets with Arkansas this weekend, a good and dangerous team but then so are the Auburn War Eagles (note I do not often refer to them as the Auburn Tigers, they do not have a real tiger mascot like LSU).

People have been bad mouthing Les Miles as head coach but he has shown them he is very capable. Urban, the man, Meyer found out - again last weekend. Florida got trounced by Bama and were expecting to just run over the LSU Tigers. Well LSU push Florida all over the field and in the end beat them at their own game. The LSU Tigers seem to be more mature, maybe error prone but more than make up for it.

Everybody says LSU has no offense. That's odd since LSU had more than 100 more that both Tennessee and Florida. So that non offense offense beat them.

And now LSU has a two quarterback system. Both quarterbacks do some things well. Right Jarret Lee is really throwing the ball well. And Jordan Jefferson is running the ball well. But each can run and each can pass. Makes it a bit hard for the opposing teams defense.

Geaux Tigers!

Coach Miles Escapes . . . Again!

2010-10-08T11:27:00.002-05:00

We have a very unusual football coach at LSU, Les Miles. Les gets it done in some weird ways, maybe he is just lucky. Don't know but do know his offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach, Gary Crowton is pulling him down. Will he wake up.

Perhaps he is beginning to realize this great short fall. At least I hope so or he is surely gonna get fired and take Crowton with him. We have a great defensive coach in Coach Chavis. Why can he not recognize the deficit in Crowton.?

Note, I refer to Miles as a Coach and to Chavis as a Coach but to Crowton as well less than respectful. He coaches alright but it does not seem to be good coaching.

Crowton is a failed head coach at both Utah and LA Tech. Hired for his "Pistol" offense and it has yet to produce much. In fact, if you look at the production recored, his coached offensives have gotten steadily worse. That ought to be a big red flag for Coach Miles, yet he seems unable to see it.

I hope it does not take him, the Athletic Director, Joe Alleva and Crowton out. For surely, if there is a further hiccup in the Florida game, they are all toast for not doing something about it earlier.

What a waste of talent.

Fritz is Back

2010-09-22T12:49:00.002-05:00

Fritz the lizard is back. At least it is a Fritz, maybe a new fellow. He has grown a bit since we have noticed him. I saw him on the wood pile the other day. Judie says he lives under the big green wooden storage box on the patio.

And he has an avowed enemy, the neighbors cat. Judie ran the cat off this morning, it was trying to get at something under the Green Box (Fritz maybe). At least Fritz knows a safe spot.

But the damned cat prowls all night so I am sure it will return to haunt Fritz. Maybe the toad (yes, we have a toad too that lives in and around the patio) will distract the cat. I do not mind missing the toad but do mind losing a Fritz. We prize them, they are superior cricket eaters.

We know we had a clutch of them in the back yard. We found the eggs in edge of the compost pile in a neat hole. I counted 8 eggs, so maybe we had a flock of them. I saw the eggs and hole, Judie discovered them and distracted mama (Fritzina) for a while. I cam out and looked at the "nest." She, Fritzina, later came back and covered over the hole. And a new Fritz showed up about a month later, think it was one of hers?

Who knows, but we seem to have the wildlife in our yard. And that's a good thing, right?

What A Show . . . .

2010-09-16T09:27:00.004-05:00

Yesterday, I had to go to the VA Hospital in Dallas for a couple of review appointments. I knew it would be a different thing for Judie to see and she decided to come because I was having an eye examination in one of the appointments. That meant I would get my eyes dilated and make driving home a hassle (The dilation was about 11:00 o'clock and we did not get out of there until past 3:00 o'clock, so much of that had worn off and I had ample sun glasses to take care of the glare).

I knew things would be sporting when we arrived at 9:00 o'clock and we had to park out in the South 40 lot. All the parking lots were over following. I opined it might be "appointment day." Somebody said that the Dallas VA hospital services 500,000 patients. That number does not include the everpresent person to accompany the patient, i.e Judie.

As we walked down the hall to the information desk, she commented the following, "It looks like an ant hill erupting with people all over the place." There were long lines at the pharmacy, lines at the waiting areas at the various clinics (mine was Clinic 16 but I was quickly shunted to Clinic 1 - the Eye Clinic). We waited in the lobby, then my name was called along with two dozen other names and we were led into the eye clinic and sat in yet another waiting room. They gradually processed us through the clinic.

After the eye clinic, it was back to Clinic 16. My next appointment was at 12:30, so we went down in the basement and ate lunch. That was zoo number 2. Crowded, lines everywhere, all tables taken, so we shared a table with guy. Naturally, we got his story too. All the food was fast food, I mean they shoved out the hash in record time. Judie had a hamburger and that was assembled before our eyes in less than 20 seconds; I chose a hot dog. We got our drinks and sat down and ate - like everybody else we ate as fast as we could to get out of there.

The next two doctors were an Orthopedic Surgeon (neck and knees) and GP at 2:00 PM. Those two appointments came off okay.

But it was fun to watch the people in action. One came and said he was late, the woman at the desk checked and said, "Yes, you are two weeks late." Another just came up and said, "I need more money in my compensation." Those patients got short shift real quick, there were just to many bodies to handle to take care of the idiots. Yes, there were plenty of disabled people, some missing parts and so on.

But it was fun watch some guy in his electric scooter zip down the hall way, shop at the VA store (it is much like a Base Exchange - a lot of the same kinds of things and no taxes!), drink Starbucks coffee, etc..

And of course they pay you mileage for coming in so the last step was to pull a ticket for your number and wait to get your travel voucher filled out. Sure enough, we got that done in about 20 minutes. Then you had to go to the cashier. A short line, they were very efficient. We were done at 3:30 or so, out the door and wait for the shuttle bus.

The shuttle bus gave us the same tour back to the "Back 40." The driver had a continuing conversation via his cellphone to "central." He reported a vacant wheel chair, and his general progress around the area (perhaps 10 - 12 acres) of child care, rehab, overnight facilities, etc.. We finally made it to the back lot; some other guy in the bus forgot where his truck was - he was in trouble - perhaps two or three thousand vehicles parked in that place. And yes, the ever present construction is going on too.

I noted that since this was my second time to this facility that there seemed to be twice as many people there. One person said he was there last Wednesday and the rain was so bad that the lobby was leaking like a sieve. He opined that a lot of appointments were rescheduled or missed and rescheduled, ergo a double load of "patients" there.

Guns are strictly forbidden - to many possible "Postal Patients" around that place. There were shell shocked guys, cripples, disgruntled people in general and so on. Since I had been though it once before, I knew that one had to be patient and have a good attitude, or go nuts. So it does not matter that if you have a conceal carry permit or not, no one is gonna take a chance in that place. The potential for harm is unbelieveable.

Also there was the ever present funeral home adjacent to the hospital. I guess they can just transship the bodies over to them for final processing.

To boot, the hospital is located in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas. So you don't want to be there after dark. Oak Cliff is the Scottlandville of Dallas.

We got the hell out of Dodge as fast as we could. Stopped at a McDonalds, got a coke and hit I-20 for home. Traffic both ways was not bad. We stopped at Lubby's for dinner and were home by 6:00 PM.

And Judie had the adventure of a life time!

Football Season is Underway . . .

2010-09-13T11:24:00.002-05:00

Son James, wife Joan and Grandson Jammie motored over to Nashville to visit with Alf, Joan's father. And they went to the Vandy - LSU ball game. Alf got the tickets on the Vandy side of the field. Oh, I forgot to mention that Joan has a Master Degree from Vanderbilt University.

Of course, there was large contingent from New Roads present at the game. James was saying that they had premier parking place to do their tail gating. He mentioned some DA from New Roads knew the LSU Chief of Police (we called that in our day, the Campus Security) who got the Chief of Police for Vanderbilt to carve out a parking spot for them. I said you mean Don Cazayoux who is the US District Attorney, just recently appointed by the Obama Administration. Don's mother, Ann (Hess) Cazayoux is a childhood friend of mine, class mate etc.

Another guest was some old guy name John Wayne Jewell. Of course, we know John Wayne, his older brother Kenneth and his wife, Martha, who is Ann Cazayoux's little sister. Ann's mother was my God Mother. Ann's grandmother, affectionately known as Auntie was a sister to "Retts" or Florette (LeBlanc) Morrison, a legendary member of my family. So we share cousins but are not related to each other, other than being "kissing cousins" meaning close but no cigar. John Wayne and Martha live not very far from where I grew up.

Of couse, nephews Charlie and Byron are prime mothers in the LSU contingent and were there in full force. James said that they were really rocking and rolling in their private tailgating location. Pays to have connections, doesn't it? Especially since there was special columm in the Nashville Tennesean saying tail gating would not be allowed around the stadium. Hmmm.

And LSU won, woke up late in the third quarter. QB Jefferson was not doing so well. Second stringer, Jarret Lee, came in and threw one pass (completion) and running back ripped off a 65 yard touch down. That woke everybody up. Methinks, Jarret Lee ought to get more snaps.

Next week is upon us, and with it is Mississippi State, a team that has shown a lot of improvement. They are dangerous. Going to be interesting.

Geaux Tigers!

Football . . .

2010-08-23T14:30:00.002-05:00

Football season is upon us and all kinds of rumors and predictions going. The popular one is that this Les Miles last season at LSU. Give me a break. He is the best coach we have had so far. His record is better than Saban's was at LSU.

Did he have a bad year, you bet he did and still won 9 games. Show me a coach who has made it through the last couple of seasons as well as he has with the set backs he has had. He had to let go a top notch quarterback that lacked personal discipline. He had to use an inexperienced quarter back and made his way through all the damage to the end of the season. Now he has a fairly good quarter back, one at least seasoned and ready to go.

The Tigers are picked to finish fourth in its division, yet the polls rank LSU well above all those opponents it is going to lose to. Something does not compute.

Do I think he should have fired his offensive coach, yes. Gary Crowton has been a head coach at Louisiana Tech and BYU and is now an offensive coach at LSU. He needs to be fired. He is terrible. He stinks.

On the other hand, the defensive coach is truly superior. So there is hope that the talent will not be wasted in that venue.

Just heard that LSU is one of the top five universities that produce income from sports. LSU is ranked #5, but it is one of the five that produces over a $100,000,000.00 per year. That is over a hundred million dollars a year. Football is the majority but baseball is in there along with basketball. It is a premier jock school.

What a school. What a staff. Geaux Tigers!

Rediscovering . . .

2010-08-11T09:37:00.002-05:00

In the last couple of years I have gone about rediscovering previous friends from the long past ago.

Leon. Leon Harris was a childhood buddy in New Roads, that moved away when he was 12 or 13 years old. He moved back to New Iberia and we lost contact. His older brother married a girl from New Roads, Leah Ray Mougeot. Leah Ray was my high school coach's daughter. She was a couple of years old than me. Saw her at my ex-brother-in-law's funeral and asked about Leon. Today, Leon and I exchange Emails almost daily, mostly jokes.

Bubba. Lawrence "Bubba" Pourcaiu and I went to school together at Saint Josephs Academy in New Roads. We reunited at a 50th Class Reunion in New Roads a couple of years ago. I did not recall but do after Bubba reminded me that he did not finish with us, he spent his last year at Poydras, the public school. It had to do with a tiff over his mother's operation of St Joe's lunch room. No matter, Bubbba identifies with St Joe and not Poydras. Today he is a pharmacist. And we trade Emails often, a bit of New Roads and a lot of dirty jokes, etc. Bubba keeps up with all the old buddies that will communicate with him. So I know what I send to Bubba will get out to the old boy network of New Roads.

Bernie. Bernard LaFaso was my fraternity brother at LSU. He graduated and moved on, I tracked him down in south Louisiana in the city of Thibadeaux. Bernie had worked for the State of Louisiana, Highway Department for a while and then moved on. He started his on company and got into the oil well logging business. I think he sold out to Schlumberger or one of those companies and walked away with several million dollars. I hear from Bernie every month or so.

Paul. Paul Smith was my next door neighbor in San Bernardino, circa 1975. We both were Majors at the Air Force Inspection and Safty Center at Norton Air Force Base, CA. They had a couple of boys and we had three boys - so lots of Boy Scouts and school things together. While at AFISC, I ended up traveling a lot and befriended a General Officer. So the General dragged me all over the place. I loved it, not so sure Judie loved it. But it was what got me promoted to Full Colonel. Both Paul and I retired as Full Colonels out of AFISC. We were the enigmas, it was said one could not get promoted having served at AFISC. We both got promoted to the highest levels.

Don Kaiser. Don is a retired LtC and we worked together at Rockwell International on the Peacekeeper Rail Garrison program. He was a project engineer. In the latter stages of my employment with Rockwell I was made a "Rail Car Manager." I was selected to oversee and assemble a command and control rail car. Before I got to do any of this, President George H. W. Bush cancelled the program. But Don and I became close friends and remain so today. He now works as a contractor for the Defense Nuclear Agency in Albuquerque, NM and lives in Colorado Springs, CO - commutes back and forth.

Leo Stockham. Leo was my program manager when I worked for Lockheed-Martin at White Sands Missile Range. Leo was a retired LtC from the USAF. He had gone to the Naval Academy, got into the USAF to fly and washed out of flying school. The USAF sent him off to graduate school, he had finished very high in class at the USNA. He was a PHD in engineering and ended up teaching at the USAF Academy before ending up in Albuquerque, NM. Today, I hear from him once in a while.

Mike. Mike Barry was an engineer at Rockwell, Int on the Peackeeper Rail Garrison program. Smart man, along the way earned a Jurist Doctorate - a law degree but never took the bar exam. Had a couple of failed marriages and was now a confirmed bachelor. He's probably 8 or 9 years older than I am. I keep up with him and he with me. Just old friends.

There are others, I could go on for awhile but these are just some of my friends. They are from all walks of life.

Amazing Event . . .

2010-08-09T12:21:00.002-05:00

I got a telephone call from Dr. Randy Gurie, the person assigned by the LSU Chancellor's office to be the faculty advisor to the Cadets of the Ole War Skule. LSU until 1956 was a military school much like its rival Texas A & M University. In fact both schools rival each in the number of officers produced in WW-II. Even in my day we had a Corps of Cadets that exceeded 5,000 strong.

At any rate the Cadets of the Ole War Skule has a Hall of Honor for its distinguished former LSU cadets. One has to be nominated and then selected for this honor. I took it upon myself to nominate Farhnam Libby Morrison, my Uncle Ham. He was not selected.

As a result I withdrew as member of the Cadets of the Ole War Skule. I have seen the other members of the Hall of Honor, read their Biographical notes and while certanly good and deserving people they certainly no more heroic nor valorous than Uncle Ham.

He had landed at Normandy on DDay, June 6, 1945 and fought his way across France, Belgium (the Battle of the Bulge), Luxembourg, and into Germany itself. He was one of Patton's troops.

He landed as a 2nd Lt and finished on VE day as Company Commander and the rank of Captain. Along the way he picked up two Purple Hearts, two Bronze Stars and a Silver Star. He was highly decorated officer. He was also awarded the Combat Infantryman's Badge.

Later in the early 1950s he help reorganize the Louisiana National Guard. He was activated during the Berlin Crisis and was stationed at Fort Polk.

In time he grew in grade and statue in the LA National Guard. He retired as the Adjutant General's Chief of Staff at Jackson Barracks in New Orleans. He moved on the be the State of Louisiana Civilian Defense Director. Interestingly, in that position he was the Louisiana's number two State Policeman. He was the chief Deputy, carried a badge but I don't think he ever participated in any police things.

Ham retired as a full Colonel. Unfortunately, he died under going dialysis. He went into shock on the dialysis table and never recovered. He is interred in St Mary's of False River Mausoleum along with his beloved wife, Bobbe.

The long over due call I got was from LSU saying that Uncle Ham had been re-evaluated and selected for the Hall of Honor. He will be inducted November 6, 2010 at Parade Grounds, the same parade grounds I marched over many times. Later he will be honored along with this fellow inductees at the half time at the football game.

I owe a debt of thanks to Levy Dabadie, Brigadier General (RET) and member of the Cadets of the Ole War Skule and the advisor, Dr. Randy Gurie.

An Old Friend . . .

2010-07-24T09:49:00.003-05:00

In the twight light of life, one goes about recalling old friends. One of those is Dick Mickley.

I first met Dick at Officer Training School (OTS) at Lackland Air Force Base, TX. Lackland is located in San Antonio, and it has no runways; it is strictly a training facility. It rests up on a hill across from and adjacent to Kelly Air Force Base, no longer an active duty facility. The Texas Air National Guard still operates from Kelly but the San Antonio Air Material Center, a one time employer of thousands is long closed as a budgetary action. It was closed by BRET, Base Realignment taskforce that closed a number of facilities for all services across our great nation. I am sad to say, it is closed forever now, much of the facility is disbanded, abandoned or otherwise in disrepair and well on its way to total rot. Lackland remains a going thing where new officers and enlisted go through basic training of sorts.

The fateful day was August 10, 1963 when I entered OTS with a host of others and one of which was Dick and another was Bob Cooke. We were in the same initial flight together. Dick, a prior service man, was quickly scarfed up and sent to the OT Staff. He was after all a sharp cadet, knew his way around and had been to Lackland before (as a basic trainee). Bob and I, on the other hand were the great unwashed and were remanded to be fodder for the Training Officer.

We have long forgotten many of those who were with us. Names like Poteet come back, a pimply faced lean tall Cajun was one. He was cashiered out in short order. There were others. We started with 16 fellows and I think only eight of us got commissioned. I recall one cadet that self initiated elimination and they made him do two years of enlisted service. It was so bad, that our flight was disbanded when the next class appeared.

We were then considered upper classmen. We were absorbed by another flight and learned that the Training Officer was much more amenable. Our Captain was bucking for promotion (and I don't think he made it either, he was too stiff and to hard on his minions). At least, I think he was canned as a TO.

Bob and I were destine to be OTS 2nd LTs, that is the bottom of the barrel thanks to that TO. Dick, our buddy, on the other hand, was out of the clutches of the dreaded Captain and flourished as a member of the OT staff. He was, I believe, an OT Lt Colonel, way above Bob and I.

Dick and Bob were both from Ohio. Bob from Cleveland and I think Dick from central Ohio. He went to a small college, Wooster or the like. And he was a couple of years older than we were.

Bob and I have long been corresponding. He and his family actually visited my mother and father in Louisiana. I never had the honor of doing the same as I only made to Cleveland area well after retiring from the USAF and his parents were long gone by then. I visited with Bob while he was stationed at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida once.

After I retired, I looked up Bob. He had run afoul of a Brigadier General in Iran and that ensured he would never get promoted beyond Major. He was a Distinguished Graduate of Squadron Officers School, I barely made it through the place. He was and is a brilliant man, graduating from Case Western Institute in Cleveland in the College of Business. His degree was in computers, today, he would be considered a computer engineer.

Unfortunately, Bob and his wife divorced, but he remains quite close to his children. I found him living close to Eglin Air Force Base and visited with him once. Bought him a steak dinner. He began working for H & R Block, and has been there for more than 12 years now. He is a retired Major, his wife has remarried to a Lt Col retiree. He likes his job in that he has three months of intense work and then nine months of relaxed work. He is the senior guy and takes care of the software and does tax audits on their prepared returns.

We reminisced about Dick and I chased him down. We have reopened a dialogue with Dick, now a lay Presbyterian preacher and semi-retired lawyer that lives in Marysville, OH but a stone's throw from Wright Patterson Air Force Base and Dayton, OH. Had I but known, and we could have gotten together back when we were stationed there.

We were all commissioned 2nd Lieutenants in the USAF on 5 November 1963. Dick got out after six years, Bob did 20 years and I stayed around for 26 years. Dick was surprised to learn that I was a Colonel. A long way for a OTS 2nd Lt to rise.

Mississippi Kites ...

2010-07-21T09:29:00.002-05:00

We have two families of the Kites that reside in our neighborhood. I have seen up to six of them, five in one grouping. They are a dove grey bird, smaller of the predator hawk group. They are primary insect eaters, insects like Cicadas but also prey on birds, small animals and lizards (Fritz better watch out).

They are very graceful fliers, while they do soar a bit it is more common to have them flying between trees and over the vacant lots. They like to nest in our Post Oaks; we had one nest across the street from us a couple of years ago.

They are migratory birds and do winter in South America. I am not sure all of them leave us in winter. They have taken to living close to urban areas and seem to enjoy or tolerate us humans (like Fritz does). And like Purple Martins eat their weight in insects - that's a good thing.

In my morning walk there are two locales for them along my route. They like to roost in the tops of trees with bare limbs or even dead trees. You will often see a youngster by himself. The parents come by and stay close but the youngster has to do his own hunting and thus is forced to grow up. I am sure he is building up stamina for that long flight to Uruguay or Paraguay, even Argentina.

They are smaller in size than Red Tailed Hawks grow to be. But they have pointed wing tips and a distinct V shaped tail. So they look very graceful in flight.

Apparently they return to their initial territories every year. Since they are getting more common they have been found as far North as New Hampshire but generally range around the lower Mississippi Valley and West as far as New Mexico.

Since they are migratory birds they are protected. So one can not disturbe their nests or hunt them for instance. They are not rare, but like Ducks are protected so that they will not become extinct. There seems to be no danger of that.

So every morning, I look for them. I seem always to find the two youngsters. Though one day saw a family of five. When the sun gets up a bit and the insects start coming alive, they are off hunting for food. So they do not tarry for long after sun rise.

Nature is always around us . . .

The Nest . . .

2010-07-13T09:18:00.002-05:00

Judie was back at the compost pile, heard a noise of something scrambling around. She look about and discovered a hole about two and half inches around and about the same depth. And in the hole were about 7 or so white eggs about three eights of an inch long, and a bit narrow length wise.

We speculated it was either a snake or a lizard that had laid the eggs. A while later, Judie was again in the area and say Frizinna at the nest. So we now know there were lizard eggs.

Judie went back later, and the hole had been filled in. We do not know how long the incubation period is, but perhaps two weeks or so.

We are gonna have a lizard explosion. I do not think we have enough bugs to support that kind of population, but who knows, it may be just right.

I have seen lizards at other locations in the yard. One in the front yard, another resides in the hose roll up cabinet by the mound flower bed in back. Still, again saw one on a wood pile in Curtiss and Terry's back yard area adjacent to us. That could have been Fritzinna but I did not get a good look, heard a noise and look over to see a tail disappearing in the wood pile.

We know the Walker's have not done to much in their back yard and the "girls" directly behind us are notorious for not cutting their grass. So those are good areas for bug hunting and thus lizard population.

I have even seen Fritzinna in the garage. And yes, there are a few crickets in there. Or should I say, there were a few crickets in there. She probably cleaned them out.

We have not seen a lizard on the back patio for a while. Our little wood stack is no longer a lizard residence. I believe she cleaned out all the crickets and moved on. Gotta eat, you know.

She tolerated us and was not near as friendly as last year's Fritz was. He was brazen, sunned himself on the chaise lounge, and on wood pile, and hunted all over the place. Saw him on the sofa looking down for bugs. He was a character but I suspect he moved on too.

General McChrystal . . .

2010-06-24T09:21:00.002-05:00

Did he step over the line? Take it from an old warrior, yes General McChrystal did so indeed. But was he right, I think so. It cost him dearly to point out that Barry does not give a damn about the military in general (no pun intended) or any foreign involvement at all. He does not really have a foreign policy except to bash the Israeli's. To Barry, the military is just a nuisance and a toy. He is too regal to admit his limitations. That all begs the responses and side comments in staff meetings. Believe me, I have seen some lulus in my time, but then the boss said, enough, let us get on with what we are about. Criticism does not go out of the room!

Barry's gonna talk some sense into the Iranian's, yeah, right? He has made no such progress and probably never will. Even the Saudi Arabians, who have no love lost on the Iranians, fellow Muslims, are not opposed to the Israelis from flying over them to get at the Iranians. The reason we sold the most modern F-16s ever made to the United Arab Emirants was because they wanted a capability to strike at the heart of the Iranian Empire. Remember, Saudis, UAE, Bahran, Qatar are all Arabs as are Jordanians and Iraqis, but Iranians are not Arabs. They share a common belief in Allah but even there have severe disagreements within their common religion.

We are sitting back and letting Iran develop nuclear weapons. We are luke warm on taking care of business in Afghanistan. Pakistan is about to blow up. And we really do need India on our side; a great market that China will take if we do not do something about it.

Yes, under Barry we have become a paper tiger (note lower case), and have little respect around the world today. Couple that with his socialist agenda, and we have a colossal loser in the White House. He meant well, he thought his was the righteous path. He has turned into a wastrel squandering our wealth on suspect schemes. And he is going to raise our taxes, he promised he wouldn't. But his Democratic Congress said they don't care what he said and are going to raise them anyway.

Hold on to your pocket book. The tax man cometh . . . And his name is Barry.

Hot and . . .

2010-06-23T13:58:00.002-05:00

Hot and getting hotter. Over a 100 degrees Fahrenheit and the heat index makes it even more uncomfortable. Judie talks about renting an apartment in Madison for the summer. That does not thrill me. What would I do in Madison?

Yes, I adore Anne, Will and Jake but that's about it. Nothing for me to do there. Hope she gets over it.

Fritzinna . . .

2010-06-14T09:18:00.002-05:00

Fritzinna is back. She showed up on the patio a couple of days ago. Probably ensconced in her wood pile. Judie saw her under the chaise lounge by the wood pile.

I guess this is her home. She just roams around getting enough to eat. Lot of competition out there. The Blue Birds and Mocking Birds are scarfing up all the insects in the yard to feed their youngsters. And dear old Fritz is still out back by the hill also eating his share of the insects.

Since Amy has not been to swift cutting her lot, I am sure Fritzinna and Fritz for that matter, make sojourns over to her lot. Tall grass provides a haven for insects.

Jude saw the deer late yesterday night. They just come in an lay down on the lawn. Nice comfortable grass, green too which makes it edible, and seed from the bird feeders attract them. The compost pile seems to attract the deer, especially the goat and the foxes. We know the foxes also eat the peaches. They work hard for their food. We know some animal is eating up all the old watermelon rinds tossed out to compost.

The foxes are very non-chalant. Any small noise seems to send the deer away, but the foxes simply look back at you and go about their business. Judie thinks the foxes rather like the deer being scared away. Lets them forage like the want we no interference from larger animals.

At any rate animal life goes on.

Baird

2010-06-11T09:03:00.002-05:00

Baird, Texas bills itself as the antiques capital of West Texas. The small town, and county seat, is about 15 East of Abeline a bustling metropolis. Baird is about 1,600 or so souls and it looks it. It is a dying town.

Well it ain't an antiques capital at all. Main Street was mostly closed, that is not open for business because we were there to early (about 9:45 or so) or the businesses had failed. We found one place open but the folks were stacking stuff up for auction come Saturday. We looked around but not much. We found three places and a real old time hardware store open, a bank, and eating establishment. We wandered around for about an hour then elected to drive to Abeline and Dyess Air Force Base.

On the way out of Weatherford we at at Cracker Barrel and Judie bought Will a T shirt with a Farmall Tractor on it. But she had to buy a larger size, it was a discontinued line and there were no others to be had close to his size. On the way into Abeline we saw a Cracker Barrel so we doubled back and Judie managed to swap a size down at that outlet.

We pressed on to Dyess, it has an excellent display of aircraft including a B-1 (it is the home of one of the two B-1 wings in the US). There is a new commissary and BX. The BX has a very modern set up, with clothing sales store (where Judie bought me some socks), a large food court and of course a new BX. We found the BX to be well stocked, spacious and obviously new. I ate a piece of pizza and Judie had a sandwich. Saw lots of young people enlisted as well as officers in the food court. It was a very vibrant place.

We then drove off base and through Abeline. Nice size town, maybe 100,000 to 120,000thousand folks. Home to Abeline Chrisian and Hardin Simmons Universities. The big ecomonic engine is petrolium industry and the Air Force base.

On the way home we decided to stop in Eastland and look for antiques. We found one place on the square. Eastland is also a county seat. Nice old homes and appears to be in pretty good shape. Judie got a couple of things there; an LSU placard and an old fashioned hand held fan as found in churches before air conditioning.

Not being much else we got back on the Interstate and headed toward Weatherford. Next stop was Ranger. Ranger is about 15 or so miles East of Eastland and is reputed to be about the size of New Roads. The local attraction is Lake DeLeon. Ranger had one large antique place, probably had as much stuff in that business as all of Baird put together. But Ranger is dying. The oil has played out and the gas drilling as not reached there yet (and may not do so). Several large buildings, like five stories are empty. Bank looks lonely by itself on the main drag. We stopped at the Dairy Queen on the way out to use the restrooms and grab a coke. The restrooms were marginal, the price of the cokes was reasonable - happy hour for them. The place reflected Ranger, while relatively new, it to was dying. I would say in a few years, maybe ten or so years, Ranger will be a ghost town. Mineral Wells will not be far behind. People in Ranger either go to Abeline or Fort Worth for serious services. Even Graham is more vibrant than Ranger.

From there we returned to civilization and a vibrant city - Weatherford. The change was dramatic. The people are moving from towns like Eastland and Ranger to Abeline and Fort Worth (and surrounding communities).

Next tour will be Stephenville and Doublin. Tour Dr Pepper and see if there are any antiques in Stephenville. Stephenville has Tarlton State University to keep it going. We may drive through Lipan to get there. Or we may go West on I-20 to Santo and turn south. Better see those towns before they are gone.

Blue Birds

2010-06-09T09:28:00.003-05:00

The Blue birds are hanging tough. The Sparrows have come by and try to out stare the Blue birds but it is a no go. The Blue birds are feeding their new young and fly in and out irregardless of the Sparrows.

We quit using bird feed that had millet in it. Millet is the favorite food of Sparrows and encourages them to stick around the area. But with the absence of the millet, the Sparrows are few and far between. Good ridance.

Judie hung a Wren house in one of the Hackberry trees. We have had them poking around the patio like they did out in Arizona. We watched a Cactus Wren wall up a House Finch house. The House Finches like open nesting facilities, Cactus Wrens like closed houses. This little Wren worked her butt off closing off the extra entrances leaving but one to go in and out on. Having done all that work, she moved off, I guess she was not satisfied with her new abode. Instinct working full bore, gotta build that nest.

I watched the Blue birds fly in, sit a few minutes in the Oak tree or Hackberry tree observing the nesting box. One female did not do that, she flew right to the box and fed the youngsters. They operate as a family, all take care of the young.

We have lots of Blue Jays (peanuts bring them in), Morning Doves, Woodpeckers, Nut Hatches feeding off the peanut feeder (different from whole peanuts that Blue Jays and Squirrels like). They all like the water in the bird baths. If you have water it will bring in the birds.

Ah, Nature . . .

2010-06-04T08:53:00.003-05:00

We were quite pleased to note the Blue birds have moved back into their house this spring. We learned that if you quit providing Millet seed in the bird seed mix, the Sparrows will not come to the feeder and thus leave the Blue bird house empty for the Blue birds. Well, we tried it and sure enough, no Sparrows around us anymore and the Blue birds no longer have to defend the home. We rarely see Sparrows anymore, good riddance!

We are pretty sure that the Blue birds are on their second brood. We can see them going in and out of the house providing food for the youngsters. They are very family oriented birds, the fledglings stick around and help with the new brood. They stay together as a family, often seen taking turns in the birdbath, each taking his or her own baths while others watch.

We were surprised yesterday to observe something we had not ever seen before. There was a Blue Jay on the ground, not far from the Blue bird abode. Mr. Blue bird did not like that at all. He began dive bombing the Blue Jay. Now the Jay Bird is about twice the size of a mature Blue bird, but no matter, Mr. Blue bird was on a mission. He must have made about three passes at the Blue Jay. And I must admit the Blue Jay seemed to care less, he did not even look up. I think he was fooling around with a peanut and the Blue bird thought he was hunting in his turf.

The Blue Jay flew up to the bird feeder and got another peanut and took off for parts unknown. They never stay around and can detect peanuts in the feeder within 10minutes of their installation. Don't fathom how they know this but they do. And it does not matter what time of day, the Blue Jays are on those peanuts.

The Blue birds are secure, the Blue Jays are no threat to them. And they seem fully capable of defending their abode if they want to or have to.

Nature at its best!

Fritz . . .

2010-06-01T10:53:00.003-05:00

Fritz or Fritzinna has booked it. He/she ate all the desirable bugs, that being principally crickets, has moved on. I have not seen him/her for a week. Last time I saw him/her was when it was skedaddling across the patio North to South. My thinking was that was the last trip before moving on.

Now, there is a Fritz out back at the hose winder box. He lives around the "mound" and I have seen him several times head under the hose pipe storage area. So I figure that is his turf and he roams about the mound so to speak.

Saw the fox while Judie was in Madison, he was checking things out. I think he eats the dropped peaches. Always a few falling off and the next day they are gone. So something is doing the clean up and it is not me.

With the fox around, we do not see the raccoons anymore, nor the possum. My thinking is the fox is a threat to them, though I doubt the fox will take them on full grown. But you never know, the fox is a very clever and sly animal. And they are ferocious hunters.

Got Blue birds nesting in the bird house. Ever since we stopped using bird seed that had Millet in it the Sparrows have moved on. No food source close enough to satisfy them. So the Blue birds moved back in and raising family after family of young ones.

Turning hot, things ought to slow down except for the grass growing. Pepper season is a upon us. We have pepper plants all over the yard now. I'm thinking we are gonna have a bumper crop this year. Watermelons are progressing too.

Time to move on . . .

Judie Is Gone . . . To Madison

2010-05-22T09:01:00.003-05:00

We went to the airport Friday, long lines to get into the terminal. Had to use the automated ticket machine. American does not or will not do ticketing, just boarding passes now at most locations. Only one location for face to face operations. Cheap and getting cheaper or is it less for more and even less than that. Plenty of agents around to collect for checked baggage.

The through the TSA mish mash. Took forever, there was a line for the great unwashed and a line for the priority check in. It appeared every other check in was a priority check in, so it took about 20 minutes for Judie just to get to the guard that allows you to pass on the gate inspection zone. What a zoo!

She called after arriving. The overcast was up there too. Except the stuff had burned off here by the time she called.

Now she will have a good time with Will and family. Glad she can go. Too much trouble for me - a ton of pills to sort out, etc.. Easier for me to drive up and we will do that later this summer.

She will be back Tuesday. Until then things will be quite around here. I miss her!

Fritzinna . . .

2010-05-18T10:15:00.005-05:00

Well, we think it is Fritzinna, she is bigger than previous lizards that have lived in the wood pile in the past years. And she seemed to have a mate for a while but he moved on. I think I saw him out back in the hose winder house. I saw him run and hide underneath that box. And she is lacking the small coloration on the throat, it is usually a small blue patch. That indicates she is a female; she is larger, more drab coloration, etc. that normally indicates a female in birds and other animal species.

We are amazed at Fritzinna's range. She typically lives in the wood pile next to the chase lounge on the patio. The wood pile is distinct in that her colors match the old oak limbs exactly, so she can sun and it takes a sharp eye to distinguish her from the wood. We often see here on top of the wood pile looking for insects white she sun baths.

We saw her the other day climbing up the Hackberry tree located by the main bathroom window. Slow going but up she went. Must be some food source up there for her to climb it. We wondered if she stayed up there or what.

Then I came around from the back of the house the next day and there she was in front of the big garage door. She would hiding under the flap of the store bought mulch bags that were parked between the garage doors. She would come out and did not seem to be afraid of me. But if Judie showed up in her red blouse, well she ran into the garage or under the mulch quick like a fox. So apparently she can tell her colors and my white T shirt is not a threat but Judies red coloring is a threat. Or at least she does not like Judie.

So we know that she roams quite a distance. I have seen her "deposits" as far away as the air conditioner compressor. And we have seen her up the tree and in front of the garage. She must foray quite a distance for such a small animal. Food reigns king; so she goes where she has to find what she needs.

Pity, she does not like June bugs. But spiders and especially crickets are her delite. Suffice to say, we no longer are plagued by singing crickets at night. She done et them all!

Two More Gone . . .

2010-05-12T10:21:00.005-05:00

Two more childhood friends have died. One, a classmate, Deanna Patin Roy. Deanna was always a stately looking lady. She was at our class reunion and looked the very picture of health and beauty.

She died of Pancreatic and Liver cancer. The class reunion was only two years ago.

Deanna married a Roy from Marksville. He was in the banking business and ended up being the big owner of the Cotton Port Bank. And that is the reason Cotton Port Bank has a branch in New Roads. She was a Vice President of the bank. Her husband predeceased her by a number of years.

The second was Michael Janis. He grew up across the street from where we lived on Main Street in New Roads. The house is still there. It was always neat and very reserved. I recall when the built it. The street along side is Janis Street, named for his family and his father.

Michael was a year older than me. So there was little contact after we started getting older. I do not recall him in high school, yet I know he was there.

He apparently died of heart failure. I seem to recall that is also what did his father in. Our hereditary diseases seem to catch up with us all.

My fellow class, Alvin "Al" Fabre, let me know. I did not have to wait on the Banner to learn of their untimely deaths.

And the beat goes on . . .

The Foxes . . .

2010-05-10T08:41:00.002-05:00

The other night as I usually do, just before going to bed, I turn off the lights in the living room so I can see out in the back yard. We often have deer visit our compost pile, they like the veggies or what's left of the veggies.

So I flipped on the backyard light and there were two foxes in the yard. One moved on pretty quickly, the other one fooled around quite a bit. I called Judie and we watched as the fox marked all around underneath the bird feeders.

The squirrels often feed at the feeders and underneath the feeders. I am pretty sure that is what attracted the one fox, the scent of the squirrels. Perhaps the birds to leave a trail but I rather think they think of squirrels as dinner or sorts.

That fox messed around for about five minutes, sniffing, marking and sniffing some more. It was really interested in what scent there was underneath those bird feeders.

They were not red foxes but rather brown foxes. They did have magnificent tails, big bushy tails for display. You knew there were foxes and not dogs or coyotes. Smart little animals, good neighbors to us.

We watched until they moved on. They were unperturbed by us. I am sure they could not see us inside as we could see them outside.

What a pleasure.

Billy Hayden . . .

2010-05-03T15:46:00.005-05:00

My cousin DR. William DeGraffenried "Billy" Hayden died over the weekend. Billy was the youngest son of Uncle Mule and Aunt Claire. He was a graduate of Tulane medical school, a surgeon and general practitioner in Paris, Texas. Billy was 83, in poor health and had recently suffered a stroke.

I recall attending his wedding in Carencro, LA back in 1957. I don't remember much, I was but 17 years old at the time.

Billy also took care of his mother in her elder years. She had cancer and he did all that was possible to cure her. I am pretty sure she died of old age, not cancer; she was well into her 90s when she passed on. My last conversation with her was in 1983 when my mother, her little sister, died. Even then it was too arduous for her to travel to the funeral, but she did call and I took that call.

Burr (Lovell) was the oldest, next was Billy and then St. Claire (Little Sister or just Sister). Burr lives in Monroe where he practiced law with Uncle George (Aunt T's husband) and Sister lives in Delaware married to James D'Wolf - I believe he is or was a chemist for DuPont.

They all grew up in Shreveport, LA. The war interrupted Billy's studies, Burr was too old and Sister was to young for service. Stange, they all departed Shreveport. I can remember spending a short vacation in Shreveport but not much else. Uncle Mule and Aunt Claire's house was a simple affair.

We will go to Paris, TX for the funeral. His wife, Betty, is recovering from surgery. Tough to lose your loved one even though he may have been in pain or suffering. Surely, he, the doctor that he was, knew he was dying.

Our time is coming . . .

Iris

2010-04-21T14:54:00.005-05:00

Took a long time for this one on the left to bloom. The deer kept eating it and the squirrels (yes, ground rats) kept uprooting the rhizone. But I nursed back and man-o-man look at that beauty. No going back now, it is established.

This one next to it is also a beauty.

Pity one has to wait for spring to see them bloom.

Crawfish . . .

2010-04-18T11:46:00.003-05:00

We attended the first crawfish boil of the year and were pleasantly surprised at the size of the crawfish. They were really big and dark colored. Usually, the dark preboiled color indicates what I call "spillway" crawfish, meaning they came of of the spillway and not off the farms and rice fields or from the river. Of course, there is no way to tell for sure unless you are there pulling in the traps.

We had heard on our way down into Louisiana for the annual Morrison Farm, Inc meeting that the cold weather had driven the crawfish back down into their holes. At that time, early March, crawfish were scarce. So maybe they had a little longer time to get bigger.

They were tougher, the shells were harder than usual, but no matter, they ate about the same - very good. Perhaps another indicator that they were in their abodes longer. Just a little harder to peel.

River crawfish are usually lighter in color and have thinner shells - softer shells. Ergo, the reason to call the older dark ones as spillway or swamp crawfish. Yes, the river crawfish are easier to eat, easier to peel but they are also not as common.

Personally, them old black crawfish taste just the same - superb. My kinda food!

Thanks Becky and Dave.

A Quandry . .

2010-04-14T10:22:00.003-05:00

Fritz is back - along with Fritzina. Yes,there are two of them and they seem to be a pair. Not sure they will hang around for very long as there is not yet much to eat - bugs. Lacking a food source, I am sure they will move on but should return when hunting gets better.

They like the little wood pile, their coloring fits right in. So it makes a good place to hide from their enemies. They can dart into the pile and you can not see them as they blend so well with the colors.

Grass cutting today, maybe I will spot them out somewhere.

Fritz is back . . .

2010-04-12T09:19:00.002-05:00

Or is it Fritzina? Any way our small wood pile lizard is back residing in his wood pile. We first saw him/her about a week ago. This lizard is very timid, so if it is out and we pass by, it darts into the wood pile post haste.

But that is okay. It means the patio will be insect free. I am sure Fritz is enjoying the May Flys. They seem abundant and everywhere at this time of year. Next will be June Bugs. Then the chirping Crickets.

When Fritz has eaten them all, he seems to move on. But for now he is somewhat protected - no Road Runner will get near the Patio and the Crows will stay away too. I doubt any hawks will come that close either. So, yes, he/she is protected.

Yes, Spring has sprung!

Yard Work . . .

2010-04-11T09:31:00.002-05:00

We have begun to do things outside. Judie has been weeding the flower beds and around the trees. Not necessary to weed around the trees, does look good though.

The water well is back on and the leaks fixed. Had a pretty bad one at the faucet across the yard from the well. When we had the well drilled I had an extension on the line to connect the sprinklers over to the south side of the back yard. That way we could use well water instead of city water in the back yard. I had intentions of adding a faucet up front but never got around to it.

We have found the glue we used for the additional sprinklers out back was no good, it gives up the ghost to easily. So come spring, I have to find the leaks and repair them, usually replacing the bad joints. I have become a master at installing slip joints, this takes the load of the glue joins and allows expansion and contraction. It is the contraction that is causing the glue joints to fail.

The last failure was a the faucet, the vertical iron pipe was attached to a post and held in place by the concrete that held the post in place. So during our cold winter, the joint backed off. I had to dig a hole along the pipe finally finding the leak up next to the post. Using a steel rod and hammer, I chipped off the retaining concrete around the pipe and freed it up. Used a hack saw and cut the pipe, took the iron pipe off and took the joint inside and washed off the dirt.

I cleaned up the connecting PVC pipe and joint, used some acetone to clean it, a little 600 grit emery paper to get rid of the bumps and old glue. Then coated it up with new glue and stuck together again. The reassembled the whole thing with a slip joint (no more pressure on the glue joint). Done.

One thing I learned in California with the first house we had that had an irrigation system - every spring one had to tune up the system. An irrigation system is a constant work in progress. I am now used to it, just wait for the outside temperature to get to pleasant enough levels to do the work.

Happy Easter all!

Spring Is Here . . .

2010-04-06T11:47:00.002-05:00

Spring is here. Our Iris' are bursting out every where. Alas they will soon be gone. We do have some ever blooming ones but not these.

We have to split the Iris'. I did that last year and they just multiplied more. The are everywhere. I suppose we will string them out along the fence; that seems to be a good place for them. They get sun all day long there.

The peach trees are all setting fruit. Now if we can make it through the spring storms - hail - then we will enjoy a few native grown peaches. I hope we are successful this year.

More on VA . . .

2010-04-02T10:48:00.003-05:00

Well, I Googled around and found out how the calculations are done. First the VA awarded me a disability rating of 90% with Special Monthly Compensation. Don't laugh, the SMC as it is called is worth an extra $96 a month (Tax Free!!!). That is all VA disability compensation is tax free from both the Feds and State authorities. I do not have a clue why I was awarded SMC but it is acceptable to me.

But as I previously said, the VA disability compensation was deducted from my retirement pay and then given back to me by the VA (as Tax Free income). So essentially, I was paying my own disability compensation, the sole benefit was that I got it tax free. Congress in its wisdom acknowledged that that was not fair and set about righting a wrong. But they did it over 10 or more years unless one was 100%disabled and unable to work, then that individual did not have to pay his own disability at all. That means he/she collected all the VA compensation in addition to the retirement pay.

The correction is known to us VA disabled folks as Concurrent Receipt Disability Pay (or CRDP). It turns out that it is a percentage calculation over a 10 year period with certian adjustments. So the numbers can be calculated. It is not a simple table but a table of percentages couple with other exceptions (sounds like the IRS, doesn't it?). Well it is a government agency that deals with money.

Some of my disabilities are also known as Combat Related Special Compensation or CRSC. In my case specifically, my Diabetes Mellitus, Type II is a CRSC. However, you can not collect twice. So one elects to either accept CRSC or CRDP whichever pays the greater amount. In my case, it is CRDP.

It will take the DFAS - that's the people who pay me the military retirement - awhile to get it all correct. That drives Judie wild as it makes all the numbers change. More money one month, less the next until it all settles out. That's just life and deals with the changes as they come. In the end it will settle out to her satisfaction but until then I have take the brunt of the changes. Not a big deal but can be irritable at worst.

Done With The VA . . .

2010-04-01T14:26:00.003-05:00

Yes, done with the Veterans Administration. That is a red tape zoo, understandable as there are many veterans and a lot of them need help. Some need more care than others. Today we call it PSTD, during WW-II and WW-I it was called it shell shock. No matter there are many levels and degrees, those that suffer the worst usually end up in the VA alcoholic ward. I don't have disease fortunately.

But I do have lingering effects of Viet Nam, Agent Orange. Years ago, when other veterans were having problems I never thought it would effect me. After all they were awash in the stuff - Dioxin. Dioxin is the primary agent that attack us humans in any number of ways. In my case, it is the liver. I have had problems for years with high chlorestorol - that's probably primarily caused by hereditary liver problems. That is my liver was generating the stuff - much more than eating eggs, oysters or fatty meats. I was happy when the physicians put me on statins, primarily Lipitor. Over time I take more and more of the stuff. I am pretty tolerant of using it but it is supposed to effect one's memory a bit. I thought it was just getting old (maybe both???).

My Viet Nam disease is Diabetes Mellitus, Type II. VA has done several studies and had positively correlated the disease to Agent Orange exposure. I was on the flight line at both DaNang and Bien Hoa Air Base which staged the "Ranch Hands." That was the code name for C-123s that sprayed the stuff on the jungle. It kill the trees and deprived the Viet Cong from a place to hide. I can even remember rooming with a Ranch Hand pilot at DaNang. He carried a different gun each day he flew: he had 38s, 45s, AR-15s, even a Thompson submachine gun. The guy was a walking arsenal!

Back to the VA. My doctor, a good man, recently put me on Metformin, a drug that helps the liver deal with insulin rejection. He also had me on Januvia, another Type II drug that works on the liver. (Poor liver - Lipitor, Metformin and Januvia). So that restricts my alcohol intake - an occasional glass of Red Wine is okay. Maybe have two a month, no more Martinis at night.

So I filed a form, the VA is full of forms to use, for reevaluation of my circumstances. That was 1 September 2009. Nothing happened. Finally, in December 2009, I called the VA, got a nice person by the name of Sande Jones. Things began to happen. I was given an appointment to be examined by a VA contractor - a doctor. He did a good exam but did not even seem concerned about Diabetes for which I had filed a request for evaluation. I later learned he did detect a loss of sensitivity -known as nueropathy. This was in both feet and left hand. I did not think much of it but I guess it was significant.

Later, I had an examination by an Ophthalmologist. He said my cataracts were chemically caused but because there is no rating for that, he had to associate it with Diabetes Mellitus, Type II. That was significant in that he said, "Good that he saw the cataracts before I had any corrective surgery." Otherwise, the VA would have disallowed it. That was in February 2010. Slow progress.

Things were perking along slowly, so I contacted the Disabled American Veterans (DAV). I am a life member of the DAV. I contacted them via the Internet and got an instant response the next day. And within four days the DAV provided me with data that my new rating would be 90%. That was preliminary, and "Did I agree with it." Now I was expecting a change from 70% to say 80% and that the rating percentage to pay the compensation would move from 60% to 80%. So yes, 90% was acceptable. But I also said there was yet one more physical exam to be conducted by a VA contractor.

I received a letter from the VA with in a week saying actually I was now rated 110% disabled but because the VA combine certain ratings, it was only 90%. And that I was to get a compensation slightly greater than 90% (I did not know they had shades of gray). So I get a bit more than the normal 90%er. This was adjusted here and there to get to the number and oh, by the way, there was still the examination to be conducted on my other existing disabilities.

So there is potential that it could go higher but somehow, I don't think that will happen. The good news other than I confirmed I am getting older and sicker, that the compensation is 100% tax free (from both state and federal taxes). I am yet to figure out what effect it will have on my retirement income.

The military pays its own disability, it is deducted from my retirement and given back to me by the VA - tax free. A number of years ago, congress agreed that it was unfair, so they adjusted that at rate of 10% or per year. That is known to us retirees as "concurrent receipt." So I had just about worked off the old "60%" and now will have to deal with the "90%." I don't think it will start all over but some of it will get so treated.

We will see. Already, have had some impact on retirement but not paper work yet to tell us what is what. That took eight months but the good news is they adjust rates based on the date I originally filed - 2 September 2009 was when they received the request.

Oh My God . . .

2010-03-30T14:00:00.003-05:00

Oh, my God, will Bill Gremillion roll over in his grave? I wonder? His daughter, my beloved wife, just bought a John Deere lawn tractor. The old Yard Machine gave up the ghost, valve problems. So I gave it away to a buddy who has a good one for parts. His needed a steering arm and now he is in heaven. So we got rid of the old heap cheap. It lasted 7 years.

Of course, the new machine has a few more bells and whistles and cost less than the old Yard Machine did. Yard Machines are made by MTD. They make a whole range of machines, top of the line is Cub Cadet. Good machines and when we went to look at them they cost the same as the John Deere. It even had a better turn radius. But the wife wanted a mulching block or plug (not that Cub Cadet did not have one) and she liked the John Deere better.

So we have a John Deere. It is a LA105 model and has a constant gear transmission. That is you do not have to hold your foot down on a pedal all the time to get it to move. This has a combined brake clutch system. You press in to the brake and that also disengages the transmission. She has five speeds forward, one in reverse. And it has a back up button so that the engine will not kill when backing up. But you do not have to "ride the pedal" all the time. More comfortable.

I filled the fuel tank, installed the mulching plug and she went to cutting. All those leaves she wanted to mulch up had already blown away. So she attacked the winter/spring weeds/grasses with abandon. Did the job wonderfully.

But alas, she learned that she was not yet proficient in its operation. She ran into the brick mail box. Nice dent in her new lawn mower. Blamed it on me, of course. The dent is more of a wound of her soul rather than a severe problem with the lawn mower. A bit cosmetic, not a big deal, just hurt her pride.

Or was Bill getting even? Hummmm.

What A Disappointment . . .

2010-03-23T14:52:00.002-05:00

This Obamacare is going to consume the Congress for years now. Back door deals, Louisiana Purchases, yada, yada, yada.

I wonder what my son Chris will do. He cannot afford health insurance and now must buy it. And the taxes that abound with the bill. Our children will suffer for generations until this mess is cleaned up. Remember the Volstead Act - prohibition spawned the Mafia, and put the country on a pace of illegality not seen before. Will we see the same? I can bet there will be much gnashing of the teeth. There will be unheard of cheating. This is surely the path of destruction for our great nation.

Perhaps the only thing that will probably come out of it all is the destruction of the Democratic party. The Liberals, the Progressives, are destroying their party. What a shame. As Abraham Lincoln said, "You can fool the people some of the time, all the people one time but not all the people all the time." And yes, Lincoln was a Republican!

Cap and Trade will be next, a giant tax, for what? Because Obama and his ilk do not like coal, an abundant US resource. I bet they will find something wrong with natural gas next.

Swap Meet . . .

2010-03-21T09:35:00.002-05:00

The annual Weatherford AeroModelers Society (aka WAMS) is over. It is held at Shirley Hall Junior High school in Weatherford, the third week of March for one night and one day. We open the doors at 5 PM Friday and close at the end of the auction, about 5 PM Saturday. We have vendors for as far away as California and Minnesota, they travel from swap meet to swap meet, but only attend to the "big ones." And yes, we are now considered big time.

We do pull in folks from across Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico. I even sat by a guy at the auction that was from central California. He had gone to the swap meet in Perry, GA, a very famous swap meet and did ours on his return. He said to me that Perry and Weatherford ranked up there with the best. He bought four brand new Magnum 52 four stroke engines for $320, cash, no tax one box to the another box. That's $80 apiece and they sell for about $115 each plus shipping and maybe tax too. He said he was buying the engines for his buddies back at home.

I watched as the old adage about one man's junk is another man's treasure was being conducted in a mad fashion. Cash was following. Things were changing hands. We only provided the location, reputation and good natured help. The food court sold our of food. All tables were rented and some were rented again the next day. The auction starts at noon Saturday and was finished at 4:30 PM. I would estimate about $15,000, in cash, had exchanged hand during that free-for-all.

We gave away a couple of transmitters, nice new Futaba FASST stuff - pricey stuff. That was raffled, some tickets were issued as part of the entrance fee and the rest sold on the floor. A couple of merchants, local hobby shops, gave prises too. They have always supported us. And I guess we are their best customers.

I did not run the food court this year, I did help setting up and sort acted as a floor marshall; we all did that. We wore club furnished bright orange tee shirts and black hats, so we could not be missed.

The weather was balmy spring weather and by midnight Friday, a blue norther blew in, it was brutal outside but toasty warm inside. That help sell everything we had at the food court. No one wanted to go out, even the smokers did not want to go outside. It went from 65 to 32 and snow!

So it is done for a year again. And oh yeah, I was able to get some stuff too. And I had some stuff acutioned off. Did I break even, no, but I did walk away with some green stuff in my back pocket. The auction was good to me!

Old Friend . . .

2010-03-16T11:21:00.003-05:00

Made Internet contact with an old military friend today. His name is Stu McElwain. We were at England Air Force Base together - that would be back in 1964. Then later as we move en mass from England to Bien Hoa Air Base, RVN again. He, like me, was a maintenance officer. I was about year junior to him in those days.

After Viet Nam, I went to Germany and lost track of all those guys. Another fellows name was Voss - I think he got out of the Air Force. Ran across Stu's name when I went to Korea. I was a couple of years behind him. He unfortunately ran afoul of the Wing Commmander at Kunan Air Base and was moved up to Osan Air Base to finish his tour of duty. That was the kiss of death, he never got promoted after that and was later caught up in a Reduction in Force (known as a RIF). He finished his USAF career as an enlisted man but retired in his highest grade, Major. My friend Pete Hammerton ran into the same Wing Commander and his Air Force career was foreshortened too.

Stu, like me, came out of Viet Nam with some stringers - I have Diabetes Mellitus, Type II as a result of Agent Orange; he has cancer - it is in remission presently. But he is rated at 100% disabled - that helps his bottom line from the Veterans Affairs.

The ophthalmologist that looked at my eyes the other day for the VA said that there were going to be a lot of us because of Agent Orange. It is getting worse, more and more veterans showing up with effects due to Agent Orange. As it is considered a Combat Related Disability and in Stu's case, means he collects all of his disability now. Unlike me, I have to go through concurrent receipt, meaning that I had to pay a lot of my own disability; he did not have to do that.

The VA compensation was deducted from my retirement and paid to me by the VA. So in effect, that money came out of my retire check to be give back to me by the VA. The only boon was all VA monies are absolutely tax free. But starting in the Bush administration, the government started winnowing down the deduction from my retirement at 10% per year. As of this year, it is down to about $75 a month. By next year it ought to be zero and I will stop having to pay my own disability. That means Concurrent Receipt will go away for me.

But because of Concurrent Receipt I did get a pay raise when others did not. Since Concurrent Receipt is an accounting subterfuge, it is not a cost of living thing. So while the rank and file did not get a Cost of Living increase, I did get a small Concurrent Receipt increase of about a $100 per month. Such things make my bride happy.

Stu has to fight Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, he says he has a great VA doctor that keeps it in remission. I hope it stays that way.

Oh oh . . .

2010-03-12T10:50:00.004-06:00

Some of the things you don't want to be remind of - age comes to mind first. But then that's life. Here is a before and after, well later not after shot. The after is posted in the side bar of the Blog, here is the before.

Sometimes you just don't want to find that old stuff.

Oh, well . . .

Bridge Towers . . .

2010-03-10T08:17:00.002-06:00

While at New Roads last weekend I noted while driving into to town from the camp one could easily see the three smoke stacks at Big Cajun #2 power plant and one could also see the four bridge towers/piers sticking up in sky line. Four big structures poking up into the sky. They are huge. It must be four or five miles to the bridge from Bergeron's Pecan Shelling plant, that is a good view point.

That means the towers which top out a 520 feet will mean the bridge can be easily seen from False River Drive. It means parts of Pointe Coupee will have a skyline like Manhattan or Chicago, or even Baton Rouge for that matter. It will be a sight to be seen! Who would ever thought it would occur?

520 feet is like a forty story office building. They are adding the first cross structure on the New Roads side, which seems to be a little advanced over the St Francisville side. They are behind on the approaches on the St Francisville side, more elevated construction there. And if they don't get a move on, they will be even further behind schedule. High water is coming and there is sure to be lots of it this year with all the snow/rain fail for El Nino. The high water has already slowed down things on the St Francisville side but the little river crest is nothing compared to the April and June rises which will be flood levels. I would expect the bases of the bridge piers to be underwater and that will stop delivery of concrete, reduce access and put all services underwater.

That will be quite a picture, water ripping around the base of those piers.

The Big Seven Oh . . .

2010-03-09T10:04:00.003-06:00

Today is my birthday. I am 70 years old. Getting up there.

Had a nice trip to New Roads, family farm meeting went well, no controversy at all. All of Ann Gonzales family came, very nice. We miss Al and Camille - I guess no more travelling for them.

Good trip, fast, rain on the way back starting at Shreveport and on into Dallas/Fort Worth. As we got to Weatherford it tappered off. Got quite a bit of rain, the country side is soaked.