INTERESTING DAYS Wednesday we both had 8 a.m. appointments with the skin doctor and as expected he blistered us with liquid nitrogen to earn his fee. Lou had spots on her right cheek and left hand and of course he had to drive three nails in the top of my head, or that was what it felt like. But we got in and out without waiting so the medical profession came up a little in esteem. Wednesday was also celebrated in Abilene by naming it Dr. B. J. Estes Day because he was celebrating 50 years in practice. He is our family doctor. He hopes to practice at least 3 more years to have his family in practice in Abilene for 100 years.

Yesterday morning Lou was in the shower and called out, "the water is off" so I got up, put on shoes and pants and checked the well house. The water came back for a minute and then went off again. I opened the valve to the storage tank. Lou doesn't remember but the first year we lived here we had the tank connected to the house. A Spring hail storm came through and a couple of weeks later the water quit. I checked the well house and there was no pressure on the pump. I tried to turn on the light and there was no electricity. I checked the switch and apparently a hail stone had hit the switch and knocked it down turning it off. The tank on the hill had lasted for two weeks. But Lou worries about having enough water. We assumed that our 23 year-old pump had given up, called the pump man. He was working on the mansion West of us and couldn't get to us until this morning. Found out that the old wiring had a short in it. Replaced the wires, and the cracked plastic cover to the well and now everything works great for our newly wed granddaughter and her husband to visit this weekend.

The pump man gave us the word on what is going on at Dick Lowe's millionaire mansion behind us. They are installing 50,000 gallon storage tanks and huge (12" diameter plastic pipe) to collect the rainwater from their roofs of the three buildings. They have built a swimming pool, but plan to truck water to fill it. The great news was that their water wells are not in our aquifer. They also don't use that much water because no one is ever there.

We also got great news that Mark's wife, Kathryn, received the biopsy and there is no cancer but she needs to change medication to control bleeding.

LOU'S CANCER UPDATE We got a call from Dr. Hancock's office this morning. He finally looked at the CT Scan and found a small mass in the lower quadrant of her abdomen. He has scheduled an appointment for September 12 at 9:15. Because Lou will be giving a book review in Fort Worth Sept. 11 we will just spend the night in Weatherford and make the appointment the next day. Lou isn't worried about it. She continues to improve. Her back is a little better each day, but at times when she has to stand up or work very long at her computer, the back bothers her.

My physical condition continues to improve. Yesterday I mowed with the Ford Tractor and today dug a few grassburrs from the lawn. Lou got some photos from Lou Ann in Alaska today, but I didn't get them. Lou says that the kids look wonderful and Lou Ann is doing a great job with them.

We had a rain shower today about 1. Didn't float my rain guage but showered for a few minutes. Yesterday the gold fish were gasping for air. I ran some water into the pond that picked up some air and they were better this morning. I need to reinstall my fountain.

Ashley called today to say that she and Ross will come to see us this weekend. They can help us celebrate our 58th Anniversary Monday. Itis nice that the whole country will celebrate with a Holiday.

ALASKA REPORT Here is the latest report from Lou Ann Bate teaching in Alaska:

Hello, Family and Friends,

I have been thinking about everybody so much. I wish I could share this experience with each one of you. I have been in school for a week. The children are precious. It will be a challenge teaching three distinct levels at the same time. However, I do have a little more insight into the challenge than last weekend, and that is one of the reasons for being here.......a new challenge.

My students have English names and Yupik names. They go by both. One of myl ittle girls is named Sylvia or Mama Beaver. I have a little boy named Daniel or Bobaq. I would tell you the rest of the names, but I only know the English....I can't pronounce or spell the other Yupik names, yet. It is so interesting to hear the children talk. They are still children like any other, but their conversations are very different. I asked what a couple of them were playing on the tundra in front of the school, and Trevor (8 yrs.old) told me they were duck hunting with sling shots. The other little boy was 6yrs. old. They told me about how muddy they got with their hip boots on.

I read a story to them about a raccoon. Afterwards, I asked them who the story was mostly about. Most of them responded by saying a bear. Well, the bear was a very insignificant character in the story, but it was the one animal that they identified with. They understand walrus, bear and caribou, not, horses, cows and raccoons.

We talked about birthdays, and most of them said they wanted either a four-wheeler or a snow-go for their birthday. The older children in Rod's class are very curious about Texas. They wanted to know if everybody rides horses. One of them speaks to me in a "Texas"accent. Just about everytime he see me, he says,"Yee-hye". It's pretty cute!

Yesterday, after school, one of our para-professionals who is native asked me to go berry picking with her. We left on her four-wheeler at 4:00pm. At 6:00pm we were still picking berries. It was hard to stop because they are so plentiful. I had to stop because I filled my small bucket. Next time I go, I will be sure to take a larger one. I did not want to disturb her picking, so I walked back to the village. It was a beautiful walk and a refreshing end to a good day.

Today, I Iearned to drive the four-wheeler. The other teacher and his wife, Rod and Barbara Lindberg, took me out to the beach and on to the cannery. While at the beach, I found the most beautiful rocks. The cannery is only alive during June through August, so it was abandoned today. Then......I drove the four-wheeler all the way home (about 2-3miles)......yahoo! It was scary and fun all at the same time. The school has a four-wheeler and a snow-go for our use. Now I can actually make use of the four-wheeler.!

I know that I have promised pictures and before the weekend is over, I will have them loaded onto my computer and sent.

I love and miss you all.

Take much care. And keep writing....I thrive on all of your sweet and encouraging words.

TWU REGENTS IN DENTON Since the last post Lou had her CT Scan at Hendrick Wednesday and although she dreaded it, it went better than last time and her back is doing somewhat better. Today we left at 7 a.m. and got to TWU at 9:45 for her 10 o'clock meeting. Thank goodness I-35 was running smoothly. Lou went to her Regent's meeting and I went to the TWU Library. I opened my laptop and it said there were no wireless sites available. About that time the Library computer specialist wandered by and I persuaded him to log me on to the site. He had to download some special software that checks to see that the computer is free of viruses and then logged me on. I used it to check my email and read Judy Alter's blog. Turns out that she with Fran Vick and Gayle Christiansen were in Buffalo Gap last Wednesday and didn't come by. Of course Lou was in Abilene all day doing the CT Scan so we probably would have missed them if they had come by.

Today was interesting. After checking my email, I finished reading PURGATORIE by Johnny Boggs. It turned out to be a pretty good murder mystery story. They let me eat lunch with the Regents and then stay for the afternoon presentations. Their Information Technology is at the forefront of the US. They are in the process of implementing a security system that has a control room that looks like NASA's System Control room with large flat screens on the wall and several computer control stations that constantly monitors all activity on the campus looking for hackers. They get about 14,000 hacks a day testing the system. They can control all nodes of the system from the center so that students are protected and the system is protected from student mischief.

Another IT activity is the creation of a Second Life site for the University. They are creating a virtual campus with buildings such as the Library and the fountain out front. They see this as a place where professors can launch classes but primarily they see it as a way to market to the youth generation that is living in the virtual world. They have four Atavars already established and are facilitating the system for the profs. The learning world of the future will have a computerized component that may grow huge.

FAMILY WEEKEND We had a lot of family here for the weekend. Our daughter, Kathy, and her husband, Keith, our son, Mark, and his wife, Mary Kathryn, two granddaughters, Valerie and Vanessa Wilcox, and our two great grandsons, Christopher and Brent. It was a merry time. Keith tried out my new cordless string trimmer and used up both batteries. But the yard looks a lot better. He also changed the top filter in our AC system. He designed the house and I make him change the filter so he won't ever design a house with the filter located over the stairs. But he got it done without falling down the ladder.

With the two chefs in the kitchen we ate really well for all our meals. Ike and Sue came out for Sunday dinner and Sue brought two Sweet Stuff pies for additional dessert. We also had wedding cake and brownies that Lou made plus other stuff. I got my walk in Saturday morning with Mark and his dog, Dotty.

Vanessa came in early Thursday and told us about her experiences as a missionary in India working in the slum areas. It is monsoon season in India and she said they had rain every day. The hotels were not too bad and she enjoyed the experience. Her greatest fears were the van rides. They had a driver for all their trips and once they were within inches of a collision. The last few days were out in the country up in the mountains somewhere near Mumbai. She felt like they gave hope to the people they visited. Their church operates school for preschool kids who are required to learn English and Hindi before they can go to Kindergarten. There are about a thousand different languages that they speak in the different areas. What surprised her was seeing Muslim women in full burkas delivering their children to the Christian schools where they pray to Jesus at the start and end of each class. But the women need the schooling so that their children can go to school later.

All of them went to Abilene Saturday to visit Doug Hodel's studio to pick up the photo albums he had made of the wedding. He was the official photographer and really covered all aspects of the wedding. He even used some unusual effects by using black and white combined with color. For example he has one photo of Ashley in b&w looking into a mirror where her image is in color. Another of Mark dancing with Ashley is in b&w except the Boutonniere is in color. Keith purchased a large photo to put in his office of the gates to a spanish mission and Kathy bought the set of three photos of the Red Dress that she had admired. We all enjoyed looking at the two albums of wedding photos and reliving the experience.

Sunday Mark, Mary Kathryn, Valerie and Vanessa came to sit with me in church. We then went home to the feast that had been prepared.

We had one bummer experience. Mark was planning to visit his pasture Sunday afternoon to check on the tree digging and when he came back up from trying keys in the locks, he got out of the pickup and a wasp in the corner of the garage roof hit him on the neck. He is highly allergic to wasp stings. He ran to the house where MK applied baking soda and vinegar and we had a bottle of Benadryl. He took four teaspoons of that and MK drove him home. When he got home he reported that he felt like he had been burned from the back of his neck to his shoulders and was woozy. I thought I had been keeping that wasp nest sprayed but I failed to see that they had returned. They are gone now.

Lou's cancer report has a cloud. While the doctor could find no problems in his digital inspection, the CA125 blood test came back Wednesday at 320 with the ideal being less than 20. So they are having Lou go to Abilene Hendrick next Wednesday for a CT Scan. Hendrick just put in a new machine that takes 64 slices rather than the old 16 slice machine. Hopefully they will be able to determine if there are any new tumors forming. I am totally disappointed that the ginger didn't keep the test results down. Lou is feeling well and came through the weekend feeling better in her back that she expected. I am doing better. Today I used my arms successfully to raise a deer feeder that Keith had filled with corn and to fill the big metal bird feeder. I had to use a ladder to get it back up, but I feel good about being able to do those tasks. We both walked this morning. Lou gets to the front gate and I am still making my 2 miles.

LITERARY UPDATE Yesterday while waiting at the Doctor's office I got half way through PURGATORIE by Johnny Boggs. This book was inscribed to Keith Wilcox at the Spokane WWA so I presume it was a book Kathy bought at that meeting. It is a real western with a drunken former Texas Ranger staying at a brothel in Purgatorie, Colorado talking to a fallen dove whose brother had been killed while he was in the Rangers with Capt. McAnelly in the raid into Mexico. A vivid description of that battle is a chapter in the book. I also bought gas for $2.569 in Weatherford at Shell and could have gotten it for $2.539 at Racetrack. Strange that we would think that is cheap, but compared to Cross Plains prices, it is.

Also Lou Ann Bates who is teaching in Alaska has given me permission to share her emails on her experiences. Lou is encouraging her to keep meticulous notes and put her experience into book format after her first year.

Here are her first two emails:
This is from August 7:

Hello, Everybody,I know sending to everybody at one time can seem impersonal, but I definitely don't mean it that way. I miss everyone of you and want to share my past few days with each of you.When I arrived on Friday evening, it was raining. There was no one at the airstrip to meet me. The pilot called the school to let them know we has landed. Then he left me standing beside a utility building with an overhang to sheild against the rain. Thank goodness I was dressed properly. Soon the school custodian came riding up on the school's fourwheeler w/ trailer.IJohn is also the leader of the tribal council in Twin Hills.) We loaded my luggage, I climbed on beside John, and off we went toward the school. I grinned to myself all the way thinking, "If only they could see me now", He dropped me off at the school, and Rod and Barbara, the other teacher and his wife, came out to greet me. We then went up to the apartment located above my classroom in the school. It was very raw....boxes everywhere and workmen's stuff everywhere. It was new but dirty from the building process. So...........I worked until around 12:00 that night getting it to where I could sleep on the couch and feel comfortable. Most of my things had made it and I was able to find the bedding. I cleaned a little (you know me) and pulled things that I did not want out into the hall.THe next day I unpacked every box, but still didn't have a bed or hot water. However, that afternoon, Rod figured out how to get the hot water to me. I now have hot water just not in the bathtub. The next day, Sunday, I finished decorating the apartment. I have a new sofa, recliner, kitchen and bathroom. I just had to scrouge the building for things to hold lamps and such. I don't have a closet.....that's interesting. Hopefully I will get an additional chest-of-drawers. They also found a rack for me to use (you know, like you see at garage sales). Then I pulled a shelf from my classroom to use. I do have a W/D. I very happy! My learning curve is tremendous in this new world. I met some of the kids and aides. Rod and Barbara are wonderful. There is so much work to be done. The school needs much, much work before the kids come in a couple of weeks.Loneliness is beginning to set in a little. The weather has been beautiful which is not the usual, they say. It is usually foggy and rainy.....oh boy! I would like to explore a little, but I have been so busy and I'm not sure where to go. There is suppose to be a beach somewhere. All in good time......I fly to Dillingham on Thursday and will be there through Wednesday. I will be attending in-service. It should be enjoyable. Most of my things made it. I am still missing some boxes mailed from Abilene. Hopefully they will show up while I am away.I want to thank everybody for you support. I can't believe that I'm finally here and that I actually did this. It is a different world. I have so much to learn. Pictures will come later when I have my computer and figure it all out.

AND FROM AUGUST 12:

Hello (this time from Dillingham which is the big city in the bush),

I am here for new teacher and all-staff in-service. Let me tell you....this is a different world. Patience with my learning curve is the name of the game. Everything (system, service, routine) that I was used to in the lower-48 has to be reestablished here. Saturday they took all the new teachers to the lake (lakes) located right outside Dillingham. We took about six small boats out into the most beautiful surroundings that I have ever experienced. When we started the lake was as smooth as glass with the mountains reflecting in it. If you have ever seen the movie called "The Edge" with Anthony Hopkins.....that is the kind of scenery we experienced. We saw spawning red salmon trying to cross a low-water crossing. Some even picked them up out of the water. We picked blueberries on a knoll overlooking the gorgeous water. Blueberry bushes are like a very thick carpet. You actually walk on top of the bushes as you are picking the berries. The aroma that is released as you are picking smells just like the bottles of aromatherapy. I've never smelled anything like that in nature. The whole experience made me realize how powerful our earth is. I think we forget that fact living in the cities. Man thinks he has all the power in his technical world, but out here you witness the real truth of the matter.....Earth has the ultimate control. They smoked King Salmon and, I believe, Red Salmon for us on the campfire...that, too, was marvelous. I even fished.....well, I learned how to hold and manipulate a rod and reel.....next time maybe I will actually fish. But that was another first for me and at least I sccomplished something. My goal is to learn how to fly fish. Among the new faculty, there was a native lady, Esther. I loved listening to her explaining aspects of the culture. She made native ice-cream which is called agoudak (spelling?????). It is made from crisco, oil, berries and sugar......can you imagine? She mixed it all together wih her hands because she wants her essence of goodwill to be a part of the icecream so that, too, can be shared with her guests. She told us that we should find out who the elder are in our village and give our first berries to that person to show our respect for their ways and for him or her. The ice-cream actually tasted pretty good when you put a small portion on some bread. Another wonderful experience. Then our boat went on a wild boat ride up a wilder side of the lake. The man who took us has lived there 12 years and seemed to know what he was doing........everything we did was simply incredible.

I now have my school laptop and I will soon get my personal computer. As soon I do, I will send pictures of all of my adventures. Uncle Charles, I will start the blog as soon as I have time to think which may be a while.....but I am going to do it. I think that I will wait until I have my own computer and service.

Thank you so much to those who have replied. I can't tell you how wonderful it is to hear from you. Again, when I have more time, I will stop and email each one of you personally. Just know that I am thinking about you and I miss everybody. To say this is an experience of a lifetime is such an understatement.

I listed the web site of her school in a previous blog. They post photos of the area on the web site.

13 CAN BE GOOD If it is August 13. Today we had Lou's cancer 3-month checkup by Dr. Hancock. His visual inspection found no new suspicious lumps and we will get the blood report Wednesday. He felt good enough to schedule the next appointment in 4 months. We also called our missionary granddaughter, Vanessa Wilcox, and she has returned safely from India and the monsoon weather. She will come visit us Thursday for the weekend when her family as well as Mark & MK will be here as well as Sylvia Grider. So it will be a fun informative weekend. Doug is bringing his wedding photos to deliver to MK this weekend also. Mark gave us a copy of the DVD that he prepared for the wedding showing photos of the bride and groom from infancy to their marraige.

I went by Cokesbury in FW to pick up SS literature for next quarter and then Mark and MK took us to eat at BooRays in Weatherford ( I guess really in Hudson Oaks). It is New Orleans food and was very good. We hadn't eaten since breakfast which made it doubly tasty.

This morning I got to spend some time at the Library board meeting before taking Lou to Dr. We got a new board member and made Joan McCowen a Director ExOfficio while she battles her newly diagnosed lung cancer.

One down part of 13 was that our daughter Kathy called early this morning with the news that Mandi Wilcox has had a miscarraige last night and we won't have a third great grandchild as soon as we had expected. She went home from the hospital today at noon and is resting there. We know something about that kind of problem. Lou miscarried her first baby when I was in the USAF at Reese AFB in Lubbock in '51.

We got home before 9 and I didn't have to drive at night. Got home just after sunset. There were some clouds in FW and now the weatherman says rainy weather may return this week. Our cottonwood trees are looking like they need some more rain.

WEDDING WEEKEND It has been a wonderful wedding weekend. Ashley Rodenberger is now Ashley Pagenkopf. They are honeymooning in the Lake Tahoe area. But their marraige should be doubly blessed. At the Rehearsal dinner there were many blessings expressed by those attending. Mark closed the evening with a 25 minute presentation of a DVD he had created that had every known photo of Ross and Ashley from babies in their mother's arms to their being together. It was great to reminise our lives with Ashley, her dogs and all of her costumes and friends growing up. Even photos of Mark with his long hair when Ashley was a baby. Their wedding was largely composed of their church friends. Ross' father gave a prayer during the service and Mark blessed the food for the reception, so the marraige should be one made in heaven. For those of you who don't know Ross is a nurse working in Fort Worth and Ashley is working for Cook Children Hospital while she is taking courses for her Master's degree from TWU in Child Development. They will be living in a house a few block south of I-30 off Hulen street.

We got to see a lot of our family. Kathy Wilcox and her daughter Valerie did a lot of work on the wedding and reception. All of her family were present except her daughter Vanessa who is on a mission trip and emailed her wishes from Mumbai, India. We saw friends of Mark we haven't seen for years as well as our goddaughter Melissa Kite LeBahn with her husband Larry and daughter Nicole who is interning as a pharmacist at Harris Methodist Hospital and will become a pharmacist next year. Her sister Kimmy couldn't make the wedding because she had exams Monday at A&M where she is in summer school. Our friend and professor emeritus at A&M Sylvia Grider made the wedding and we got to visit with her. Others included Guy and Valerie Sheppard whose son Clayton was employed as the DJ for the reception dancing. We left a little early and didn't get to blow bubbles in place of throwing rice at the departing couple. This morning in the breakfast area Brent was doubly enjoying blowing bubbles. Brent is Jim's youngest and we were told would have another sibling in 7 months. So we are looking forward to seeing our third great grandchild.

Ike and Sue and Sue's son David with most of his family were there. David Bayliss, who Mark grew up with was there and we didn't recognize him. All of Mary Kathryn's family came and today they all got together to celebrate a bunch of birthdays that fall about this time of the year. Her mother is celebrating her 80th in September.

We left about 10 and got to Eastland about 11:30 and found the China Cafe in Eastland that had an excellent buffet luncheon. Tomorrow I plan to start mowing the yard again. Just mow grass burrs and all.

FOXES CLIMB TREES Tuesday Lou said Look, there is a fox in the peach tree. Before I could get my camera to record he came down, but one of the kit fox had climbed all the way to the top of the Alberta peach tree looking for peaches. I didn't see him gather one, but there are a lot of small peaches on that tree. It produces two crops: one large freestone Albertas and another crop of small peaches at each blossom point. Strange tree. We had gathered all the large peaches from both trees. The coons didn't beat us to them this year. We had seen the squirrels climbing around looking for peaches but didn't know that fox could climb just like the squirrels.

Today it is raining again. I was going to hoe grass burrs but can't get out. Yesterday while walking my 2 mile track, I had just started back down when a pickup came the same direction. I stepped off to the side in some gravel, lost my footing and hit the ground. The pickup stopped and backed up. While I was rolling around trying to get my feet under me, one of the Mexicans got out of the truck and helped me up. I must have scared them as much as I did myself. I wasn't hurt except for a couple of dings on my shin from rocks, but my pride was hurt bad. I had my walking stick with me, but it didn't help much.

We got an email from Vanessa in India. They are already working with children at a school where preschool kids have to go to learn English or Hindi. There are a lot of different languages in India but to go to school they have to master English and Hindi. Her church sponsors the preschool and adds prayers at the start and finish of classes. Muslims even send their children to learn. I hope she lets me post her emails and I will use them in the future.