TUESDAY KIWANIS GOES TO CHINA

I went to Abilene in the rain for my dental appointment. The technician recommended a Sonicare electric toothbrush so when I recycled at HEB I added one to my pills and wine purchases. I then took my old hearing aids to Holland Hearing Center to see if they could revive them or send them back to the factory for maintenance. They called me later to say that they had them working but the factory said they were too old to rework. I asked them to mail them to me and made an appointment for new hearing aids in August.

I got back to CP in very light rain to visit with Carl Edington before Kiwanis. Carl got his degree in petroleum geology by correspondence from Texas Tech and Kansas U. He formed a partnership with petroleum engineer Russell and had offices in Abilene and Kansas. They ran a core testing laboratory plus working on wells in TX, OK and Kansas.

Kiwanis had Jake Estes who just graduated from high school, tell about his mission trip to China where they were frustrated from their assignment to teach English at a rural school when the school said they wouldn't admit them because of the swine flu in the US. They did get to visit with Chinese youth who wanted to practice their English and saw a lot of the local country. He said the food was good in all the restaurants and he used chop sticks. He brought back an umbrella farmer's hat and lots of special chopsticks.

It continued to sprinkle all day and late this afternoon I mounted an outside rain guage that has an inside dial, but it quit raining so that I didn't get a good test on it. Maybe it will rain tomorrow. We have a slight chance and it has rained a little the last two days. Tomorrow I may get the new deer feeder up, or not.

RACCOONS 1 ME 0, MOUNTAIN PINK

Last night the raccoons completely tore up my metal squirrel proof feeder. Not only did they take it apart and remove one of the springs so that I couldn't find it, they pulled the wires for my electric fence shocker off and pulled the clips I had attached to the end of the wires off and I can't find one of them. So I gave up, and unplugged my electric fence, put feed in the feeder and left it without the part that closes when a squirrel got on it. Of course the squirrels had learned to work around it anyway.

The mountain pinks have started blooming and my poor photos show what two of them look like. I found four in bloom, a drop off from previous years. But I will keep looking.

Today I went to town to buy groceries and when I mailed a letter to Vanessa I drove by the Review office and it occurred to me that I hadn't printed up another installment of the REH cowboy story. So after I ate and napped until the phone rang, I printed the copy and took it to the Review, stopped at the Library where they have moved books to the old children's area and it looks great. I then visited for a few minutes with Carl Edington and we talked about the oil patch. He is 88.

For my children, I called the Hospice and they are still working on putting the photos in the memory book and may want to get some comments from you. At least we know the photos didn't go to England with the volunteer who started the project.

WEEKEND OF BANK ROBBERS, CIA SPIES AND KITS



Mark and Mary Kathryn came out Friday night and we went to the opening night of the Big Country Dinner Theater production of The Santa Claus Bank Robbery in Cisco. The composer, writer, director and banjo and guitar player is Billy Smith who grew up with Mark in Bryan from grade school to high school. Billy's wife has a PhD in dance and choregraphs the production. She is also the President of Cisco College. The performers are recruited at auditions in St. Louis and screened from 600 down to 160 from which the about one dozen are brought to Cisco for a couple of months to rehearse and perform from the last week in June through July.



It is an audience participation with the performers coming into the audience several times and during the bank robbery the audience are given plastic machine guns firing small ping pong balls and everyone gets to shoot at the bank robbers as they run out. During the original Cisco bank robbery they counted over 100 bullet holes in the bank. The food was great with dessert served during the intermission.



I am glad that I went with Mark because Billy invited us out to his Lake Cisco home after the performance. He has a beautiful home that he bought when he saw them putting up the for sale sign, drove in looked at the house and said he would buy it. It is located on the north end of the dam. He has a great deck that looks on the lake. Has a boat dock that he says goes up and down with the lake. They have lived there for three years. He also bought160 acres near by where he runs a herd of cattle. They moved from their other house south of Cisco where he started his cattle herd and they were baling hay when Mark drove by in the morning. We talked about the recruiting operation and got home at midnight.

Saturday Mark K. cooked a great meal and invited Ike and Sue to share. They all left at 2 so that I could get ready for my new guests, two retired CIA spies. James and Meredith Olson were both spies for 30 years stationed in Paris, Moscow, Vienna and Mexico City where they had a lot of hair-raising experiences. James told about one difficult dangerous assignment in Moscow that used all of his skills of disguise and hiding secrets for an entire day. He was wired with radio to listen the the KGB agents trying to find him and had recording equipment to record his meeting with the Russian defector who delivered a box of films taken of their secret crypto files by the Russian who hated communism and wanted them to get him, his wife and daughter out of Russia which they were able to do under very difficult circumstances. James didn't tell the rest of the story about the KGB catching him on his way home and beating him to a pulp breaking his jaw and knocking out a tooth.

We had a sell-out crowd of 140 at $10 for the fund raiser and got another $380 from the money voting for one of the three local spies. Their talk was great and enjoyed by all. A lot of people talked to them after. Judy Killgo's daughter-in-law from Albuquerque is an Aggie and had heard Olson speak at their Muster. Our pastor's oldest son had heard Olson speak at some meeting so they renewed acquaintance. The son is planning to enter A&M next fall after completing his work at Weatherford College. After the meeting I found out that the Library had gotten their furniture Friday and moved the children's books into our new Children's Resource Center so I took the Olsons for a tour. Meredith hadn't seen the Library. They had been given a tour of the Robert E. Howard house by Arlene and Tom on their way in.

This morning I made French toast for them and they got to see the two kits that the fox brought out from under the play house. They are always cute little puppies and put on a show. They left at nine and I got to teach SS class covering the Noah flood this morning. At church we had new visitors who just moved to a place near Burkett after he retired from the Army at Fort Hood. They had a son who just finished high school and is enrolled at Angelo State for the Fall. After church the Administrative Council approved hiring the pastor's wife as musical director. She directed the choir this morning and with his voice added it was great. We have been praying for a choir director and the Lord has provided.

I ate lunch with the Methodists at Jean's after church. After my nap I wrote a letter to the editor of the Wall Street Journal replying to an op-ed about scientists having to be atheists because they can't assume God will interfere with their experiments. I also got my Livestock Weekly column in and instant messaged with Ken Davis who is still having heart problems and may get a pace maker. It has been an eventful weekend.

WILDLIFE OBSERVATIONS

This morning the fox brought her kits out. I only saw one and when momma saw me she took off and the kit ran under the play house Mark built for Ashley many years ago. The last time we saw pups or kits there were four. I will watch for them.

I don't know if many people know what mountain pinks are, but we have them going up the hill in the back where they can't be seen too well, but some have crept along the road. I tried to sow some of the seeds by the road and that may have worked. When I first saw them when we moved here they appeared in late August or September, but the last couple of years they have started blooming in late June. One along the road is putting buds on now and when it blooms I will try to get a photo to post. They form a perfect bouquet with their flowers.

Tonight Mark, Mary Kathryn and I will go to the premier opening of the Cisco Dinner Theater to see the Santa Claus Bank Robbery musical written by Billy Smith, who was in school with Mark from grade school to high school. He is very talented and brings performers from all over the US to be in the show, so it is professional quality.

NEW PASTOR HAS WWA HISTORY

This morning I met Harris Worcester, our new pastor, at the Methodist Men's Prayer breakfast. He asked about Lou's Stirrup award and then told me that he was an affiliate member of Western Writers of America and even served as the Spur chair one year. That is the largest job in the organization. His father was a lifelong member and hosted one of the Fort Worth meetings. He said he let Judy Alter host the last one. I think that was the one where Lou joined and I can't remember the year.

After I got home I mowed the lawn inside of the Halsell House fence. I walked from there to get the mail. When I fed the birds this morning I found that the coons had gotten past the baffle and tore up the metal feeder. This morning I saw a squirrel on the top. I presume they jump over from the trees.

This afternoon I printed 12 copies of the Flame on my inkjet printer to get the color photos. While I was waiting for the printing I play solitaire and won over $1400. That is the first time I ever had that run of luck playing Las Vegas solitaire. I normally end up losing $3-500. I also accidently got the Flame looking ok by somehow getting rid of the blank spot that had baffled me yesterday.

Tonight I read in the Review that it was the American Legion meeting night. I had a letter on my desk from a couple of days ago asking me to join, so I took the form and check to the meeting and ate a hamburger for the first time in months and enjoyed some homemade desserts. I felt like I should support them after they worked to get the marble veterans center near the city hall that has my name on the WWII and the Korean tablets. Don Clark is the chief honcho and I enjoyed talking to him.

Tonight Mary Kathryn sent me this photo of Ashley and Ross with their dog Kodiak. Ross is from Alaska and they needed an Alaskan name.

RECORDS MOVING DAY

Today Dawn Letson, the Woman's Collection Librarian came with a moving van to move the 50 boxes of books and files from Lou's collection. She said that they needed more women's novels in their collection and that Lou's many books would be a valuable addition. She said that they have already changed the name of the woman's collection in Lou's honor.

I took her to eat in Cross Plains after the movers left to give her a tour of the Cross Plains Library. We got there as the Wednesday Children's program got underway. She was impressed with the Robert E. Howard collection, the Meet the Author Wall, the Texana collection that Lou started and our new shelving. We toured the new Children's Resource Center that had Jacque Childress and her sister setting up a music display for the next round of children's program. They had an old, old cylindrical record player and a hand cranked player, a music box plus a record player that could play all sizes of platters. Jacque is a singer and a great teacher.

This morning I walked a couple of thank you letters to the mailbox, came back to get on the riding mower and mow the upper terrace in back then clean up the front drive while I picked up the mail. On the wildlife front, when I came back Sunday the hummingbird feeders needed filling so I added the new glass feeder. It is beautiful, but I haven't seen a bird using it yet. Then this afternoon I looked out and a raccoon was climbing the metal pole feeder in back, so in spite of the 101 temperature I mounted the baffle that Mark gave me on the post. It probably won't stop the squirrels who can jump from the trees but maybe it will discourage the coons. I also ordered a new deer feeder from a different company and used my $50 gift certificate leaving only 40 cents on the table.

Last night I spent a couple of hours working on the Flame for the church and today I was baffled by a blank space that I can't remove. Sometimes my computer completely baffles me. I just lost half of this blog and where it went I have no idea so I had to retype it trying to remember what I said before.

JUNE 23

I forgot to tell what my daughter gave me for Father's Day. In addition to a gift card she gave me a box of Wiseman Handmade Chocolates and some chocolate covered pistachios. First time I have had them but they are good. She knows I am a chocoholic.

Today I mowed around the house. I have been watering the tomatoes at the house but ignored the ones in my little disater garden. When I was mowing I was surprised that most of the plants had small tomatoes on them and were drying up. I watered them and watered the cottonwood trees, which I rarely do, but they are showing drought. The tomatoes I have been watering have blooms but no tomatoes.

I went to Kiwanis after visiting with Carl Edington who was watching Obama's news conference. Kiwanis had a program by our Librarian Linda Burns and Sue Bennett who teaches the little children's programs. Linda told about one of their programs this year was Mark Finn reading a Breckenridge Elkins cowboy story to the kids. I asked how many of the Kiwanians were reading the Breckenridge story running in the Review. They looked blank. So much for reading the paper.

When I filled my deer feeders, I found that the battery was disconnected and when I put a new battery in the controls wouldn't operate, so I may use my gift card to buy a new feeder. I filled the self feeder but I haven't trained the deer to make it work. My pond is a disaster after the lillies were totally removed. Too bad I didn't have the game camera working to prove it is the raccoons. I haven't seen a fish in weeks.

Tomorrow the moving van is coming from Denton to move Lou's files to TWU. I hope to get some more mowing done before it gets too hot.

FULL MENU FOR DAYS

Saturday was the big day at WWA. Having grown up in Oklahoma I have always been interested in Indians and went to a couple of the panels focused on Indians. One was looking at the Washita Battleground where Custer wiped out a Cheyenne camp and killed Chief Black Kettle who had been pursuing peace after his village was destroyed by Col. Chivington in the notorious Sand Creek massacre. Mike Blakely's last book told that story well. I told Mike I wanted to read his third novel in the trilogy and it might have the Washita battle.

Of course that night was the Spur Awards banquet which is the reason everyone goes to WWA. Kathy and I went on stage to accept the Stirrup Award that Lou won. It is given for the best article published in the Roundup last year and is voted on by all the members. It was an emotional presentation by Candy Moulton, the editor, whose editorial in the current Roundup was an essay on Lou. I commented that Lou had won one Stirrup and had to ride side saddle until she won this one and could ride straight.

The next morning we got up early, ate breakfast at the Waffle House and drove to Antlers. Kathy thought eastern Oklahoma was pretty country. I kept singing about the Oklahoma Hills where I was born. It is hilly all the way south down the Turnpike. We had a wonderful meeting with not only my brother Robert and his wife Tommie, their daughter, Liz, now living in Antlers, but still working in Hugo. Her daughter, Nicole, came in from OK City where she works and Bryce, Liz's youngest daughter was there. Kathy got to see Robert's home and Bryce showed her their latest photo collection.

We left there at 2 and got to Mark's house at 6 where Mary Kathryn had prepared a great BBQ meal with her own sauce that she was bottling after. I don't know if she is taking orders. Of course she had a dessert of a new brownie recipe that was to die for. It was closer to fudge. They had Father's day celebration with Ashley and Ross there as well as MK's mother and her aunt. Mark and MK gave me bird feed and a squirrel baffle to put on my metal feeder that was torn up when we got home. We got home as it was getting dark after watching a couple of stray thunderstorms raining on a couple of spots north of I-20 with the setting sun behind it.

Today was really busy. I started the laundry, fed the birds, and Kathy took me to the mailbox while she picked up Vanessa's stuff stored at Halsell House. She then took me, the mail and the flag that I had left up during flag week back to the house and she left for San Antonio. Needed to be there at 1. She called to say she had made it.

I then hoed grass burrs, watered the front plants, finished the laundry and went to CP where I left flyers on the Lou Rodenberger book prize at the Library. I took one to the Review office and Vanda let me read the opening pages of her book about how God has interacted with her life and not only has talked to her but sent her guardian angel that she has seen. Fascinating stories that I hope a religious book company will publish. I ate at Subway and visited with Rick Potter. He told me that James Nichols is not in the hospital that relieved my mind. I bought deer and bird feed and groceries, got a nap and handled a bunch of email. Gifts are already coming in for the TTPress Fund for Lou's book award. Charlie and Cheryl Korbell started the ball rolling and Fran Vick has added to it. I plan to when I can. It is a tax-deductible gift to Texas Tech Foundation through the TTUniv Press.

TWO MORE DAYS AT WWA

Today we got to tour the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum where they were holding their annual book signing event. I don't know if it got much local publicity because I didn't see a lot of locals coming in to buy books. Of course having Elmer Kelton at home sick didn't help because he is always a great draw. Even I didn't buy my usual $100 worth. But Kathy found a lot of things in their gift shop. Kathy and I spent a couple of hours looking at the entire museum which is fantastic. Western art and sculpture, Indian displays, Mexican charro exhibits and replicas of a frontier town and a rodeo arena all with sound and visual displays including some 3-D opportunities.

I goofed up and missed the Agents and Editors panel where Judith Keeling from Texas Tech Press announced the Lou Rodenberger award for a manuscript that will be printed by the Press. The financing has started with a nice gift from Charles and Cheryl Korbell and I expect others to contribute as we get the information out. I will pick up flyers to take back to Cross Plains. I missed the meeting because Mike Powell stopped by at breakfast and we listened to his war stories about being hit by enemy fire on his second helicopter mission in Vietnam. He showed us the armor piercing bullet he keeps with his dogtags. He also gave us the story of his daughter driving her car into the San Francisco Bay at 2:30 in the morning and having to float for three hours until a passing boat finally heard her cries. Needless to say we were late for the panel.

I had thought that the announcement of the award would be made at the Spur Finalists Luncheon or the Spur Awards tomorrow night so I goofed and missed it at the panel. Tomorrow or Sunday morning we hope to be able to drive by the Federal building in downtown OKC that was bombed to see that memorial on the advice of my brother Robert.

WEDNESDAY AT WWA

Kathy drove me from Halsell Hill Tuesday to Oklahoma City for the annual Western Writers of America meeting. We left about noon and stopped at Marlene's in Graham for lunch. It is located on the square at an ice cream parlor and was a great lunch. We got to the newcomers reception and heard the stories of the new members. Most of them are retirees who want to publish their first novels, but there were a few younger people also. Then we went to the reception and visited with old and new friends. Lori B. Garrison from Utopia is here and trying to sell her memoir of her life and her family. We really enjoyed talking to Mike Powell the lawyer who is a retired magistrate in Alexandria, VA. He was talking about serving as technical advisor on a movie called HIGH CRIMES where Morgan Freeman played Mike's role in one of the JAG cases that was written as a screen play. Mike is famous at WWA for his book collecting. He has read most western written and seen all of the films. He has served as an advisor to Hollywood on JAG films. Judge Advocate General. He served as a Marine helicopter pilot and JAG both in the Orient and Europe.

He is a conservative and his wife is a liberal who works for the Kennedy Foundation for world peace or something like that. We have known him for years at WWA. He was familiar with Lou's books and was always giving us books that he had liked. He always shops every second-hand bookstore where ever we meet.

Today we had a panel on Libraries for research and the Cross Plains Library would stack up with the big ones. The room was cold and I didn't bring a jacket, so I jumped in the car, ran over to Walmart and bought a $3 sweater on sale and got warm in the meeting. We drove around and found a local diner for lunch. We then boarded buses to tour the Express Ranch. The founder, Bob Funk, made his fortune from Express Employment Professionals, a Mary Kay type of operation scattered all over the world with 360000 people involved. He has ranches around Oklahoma and in New Mexico and has an artificial insemination program to raise thousands of cattle. For fun he has Clydesdales that he enters in competition along with a zebra, minature horses and other fun things.

We got back on the bus and went to Guthrie, the first state capitol of Oklahoma for a trolley bus tour driven by a historian, a meal at the Victorian Tea Room and then a walking tour of the pharmacy arboretum where we found out that all of the plants on Halsell Hill could be used to treat something. Even Red Bud trees. We then got a walking tour of the old saloon and brothel area with an explanation of girls being chained in their rooms to keep them from running away or jumping out of their second story windows.

We didn't walk all that much but I am worn out tonight.

SATURDAY SUNSET BBQ

Saturday I worked at the Library for the lunch relief and got to meet a lot more Howard fans. I even sold some of the copies of Howard's original typescripts that are the major collection of the Library. It was really hot, 97, snd I came home for a nap and to write a LW column. I went to the Sunset BBQ held out at the Caddo Peaks Ranch west of town and the setting is fantastic for viewing a sunset. I had checked the radar before leaving and a thunderstorm developed over Sweetwater and the clouds were blowing this way. That cooled off the air and the breeze made the BBQ very comfortable. We held the first REH BBQ at Halsell Hill but it is not a good place to view a sunset because Halsell Hill gets in the way.

While we waited for the BBQ to cook, Mark Finn read his short story creation emulating Howard's style of writing and it was a great contribution to the literature. He wrote about one of the boxers who fought for money and traveled with a vaudeville group demonstrating their strength.

This morning I really enjoyed teaching the first three chapters of Genesis and sharing some of my scientific understanding of the story. Didn't have too many people there so I may be running them off with my passionate defense of creation science approach. I do think I advanced the understanding of why the author stated that God said let there be light before He created the earth and sun. I argue that the term light refers to the fact that light is rotating electromagnetic energy and that all matter is composed of that energy. So it had to precede everything else. Today I have looked at population dynamics and have posted that to my other blog; creationcorner-charles.

LITERARY FRIDAY

Today was the day that the Robert E. Howard fans came to Cross Plains to hold their annual get together. My assignment at the Library was to let the others go to lunch starting at 11. I did that until 1 when I attended on of the panels looking at Howard's poetry. The three experts on poetry were amazed that Howard could write more than 800 poems while he was writing 4 million words all on a manual typewriter. Terms like genius and prodigy were thrown around. The last question from the audience asked if there was any criticism of his poetry and the response was that the ones that have been collected were often first drafts that were never polished.

I went home and took a nap. The heat takes it out of me although I am in air-conditioned comfort most of the time. I returned to the dinner meeting that had well over 100 from France, Canada, 13 other states and out-of-town Texans. Arlene Stephenson greeted us with a poetic welcome that was quite good. Debbie Gosnell thanked everyone for coming to CP and our barber mayor, Ray Purvis welcomed everyone and blessed the meal. Catered by Humphrey Pete's from Brownwood it was salad, chicken fried steak, green beans, mashed potatoes with a lot of white gravy. Rusty Burke from Washington, D.C. was the master of ceremonies and remembered Joan McCowen and Lou along with one of their members who died since the last meeting. He presented their scholarship to Emily Harris who read her winning paper that gave the history of the building that was built as an ice house. It was where they staged local boxing matches that Howard participated in. The building was later used by Lawrence Farm and Ranch until the storm that broke Lou's mother's hip came through and took the roof off. It is now a taxidermist building.

The dinner speaker was Larry D. Thomas, Poet Laureate of Texas, whose talk was entitled ROBERT E. HOWARD: A POET OF PLACE, THE 'PLACE' OF TEXAS. He read some of Howard's poems that captured the hard times of trying to make a living on a farm in West Texas. The decorations for the tables had wooden cutouts of Texas with excerpts from Howard's poems. The programs had a copy of the wall decorations again with Howard's poems on them. They used the theme FROM THE FIRST with one of Howard's first poems TO THE LAST with one taken from a letter just before he committed suicide.

Today I worked the lunch shift again but came home to nap and am going to the Sunset BBQ that was first celebrated at Halsell Hill in 1986.

FULL DAY THURSDAY

The alarm went off at 5:45 so that I could make it to the Methodist Men's meeting at 6:30. There I learned that the church we moved into just about one year ago had water dripping on the organ during choir practice. They saw it and covered the organ. Probably due to water being blown under the steeple.

I got some work done on the transcript and walked to get the mail. I called TWU Library and then hadn't gotten the contract I mailed last week. Some problem with their mail delivery system. Haven't had any mail for two days so we rescheduled the pickup of Lou's documants until the week of the 22nd when Kathy and I get back from Oklahoma City and the Western Writers of America annual meeting.

I have been experimenting with prepared food for my lunch. It is hard cooking for one as many of you know. I like the Healthy Choice Steamer dishes, but it bothers me that there is so much plastic waste with the bowl and strainer bowl. It does taste good and had a lot of broccoli in the chicken marinara that I ate yesterday. For my fruit because I hadn't eaten my banana at the men's breakfast, I had a banana split with fruit cocktail, two scoops of frozen yogurt and one of moo-illium Blue Bell ice cream. Probably too many calories. My weight wasn't down this morning.

I napped then left for Abilene at 3 with a large thunderstorm building south of me with thunder and the promise of rail. Some of the storms lately have been moving NE so I hoped I would get rain. In Abilene the sun was mostly out. I recycled and bought some pulleys at Walmart and made an impulse purchase of a remote rain guage that I may give to the Wilcoxs. I then had my car washed and was the only car in line. So I had time to run out to the Farm supply store and buy the $20 electric fence controller to try on my squirrels.

At 5 I went to the InventAbilene meeting held in the Texas Tech Engineering building in downtown Abilene. It was interesting because they had everyone tell what they are doing. They have some real inventors and some old-timers like me who work with inventions. The first fellow is working on developing computer solutions to the problem one large oil field service company has obtaining data from hundreds of field units scattered all over the world. I was next and told them my interest was attracting new companies to Cross Plains.

Another new company is developing algae that produces crude oil on its surface as opposed to the other oil producing algae that have to be killed to extract their oil. Their project is to strip the oil off and reuse the algae. They need bio waste, like dairy cow manure and CO2 to feed the algae. They are recyling the waste materials so it is carbon neutral.

A woman inventor said that she had built a metal building shop and was working on a number of inventions. After the meeting I visited her shop and she is a true inventor with ideas galore but wanting someone else to build and sell them. She had gone to Lubbock to visit their development staff but wasn't impressed with their help.

An opthomologist had a great invention. He had devloped sunglasses with only a strap to hold them on. He envisions various straps that make a fashion statement with a slider that can be a bolo (he commented on the one I was wearing) or a piece of jewelry when the glasses are stored behind the neck. He was enthusiastic and was obtaining assistance from a retired neurophycologist who has a shop where he is developing better instruments for a RV. He is using LEDs to make large displays that can be seen by the driver. He showed the invention at a RV show, got comments and is test driving to see what improvements are needed.

One Chinese woman who teaches chemisty at one of the universities is working on cancer treatments.

In the meantime I could see the large cumulus clouds SE of Abilene and hoped it was raining on Halsell Hill. Sue had called about 5 saying it was pouring in Cross Plains. As I drove home about 8:30 the road was dry but when I got to HH I saw evidence of rain. Had one inch in my guage and leaves everywhere indicating hail had fallen. But by the time I got home the road wasn't even muddy.

Today I have to go work at the Library for Robert E. Howard day.

WEDNESDAY WEATHER

We have had storms come through Abilene every night but it poops out before it gets here. Tonight there was a lot of rain in Abilene after a lot of wind damage last night. Last night I got not a drip of rain. Tonight I got a drip, about one tenth. and the sun is out at 7. I have to go to a church meeting at 7:30 so I will edit this post when I get back.

I got back early, wrote for 45 minutes and it didn't post. Completely lost. This blog is frustrating.

I will try to reconstruct it again. I walked to the mailbox yesterday and saw a huge white football in the field at the Halsell House. When I went over to check it out, it was the largest mushroom I have seen. We have a lot of softball size mushrooms when we have rain, but haven't seen them this year. Also when we get rain we see a lot of little mushrooms of all kinds scattered in the grass. I used to harvest morels in the backyard a few years ago but haven't seen any lately. It depends on the timing of the rain.

Tuesday I went to town to get a haircut. I followed Eddie Walt, former Dallas police Captain, who now raises a few cows near Pioneer. He was telling us that he just read that the EPA is going to charge him $85 per cow because of their methane production. When he saw the proposal several years ago, he laughed, but it looks like it may come true. He said that would put him out of the business. He is building new fences. I told him to make them goat proof because all cattle men made their money from goats. He said he didn't plan to go that route. Maybe he will find time to finish the book he started on the largest gunbattle in police history that occured when he was working in Dallas.

After I stopped to visit Carl Edington to talk oil business on my way to Kiwanis. Kiwanis had a great program by Dr. Susan Hunter who holds degrees in Geology from Michigan, Rice and Texas Tech and still is an adjunct prof at Tech. She just retired from NRCS, the old Soil Conservation Service, that my dad worked for. She worked on their soil survey program that used to be published in paper for each county but has gone online at WSS. She and her Shell Drilling supervisor husband are building a home at the Atwell community about three miles east of me. I gave her my card and invited her to see my fantastic geology site on Halsell Hill.

Hooray! It published this time. I will add some nature observations next time.

I have been busy with both routine and new projects. I got one comment on my quote from JEWS, GOD AND HISTORY from Jeff who had read Dimont back when the book came out. He thought it was hard to read but I thought it was a great history of Jews and particularly remember his prediction that the holocaust would be only Jewish. He was right on. When I try to get Christians to join Jews in remembering the concentration camp atrocities I get labeled as anti-semitic when I only want to share the whole story.

I have started another blog to put my thoughts about the evolution/creation controversary away from this blog because Lou wouldn't appreciate it here. The new blog is: http://creationcorner-charles.blogspot.com/.

On the wildlife scene, I am still mad at a squirrel who each day tears up my metal squirrel-proof feeder. I may yet buy an electric fence controller to try to control him. I have ordered one of the squirrel corn cob feeders to see what they will do with it. They will probably ignore it. I also ordered one of those fancy glass hummingbird feeders. I have had to make feeder juice about each week.

Today I blew my diet by eating with the Library board members after our meeting. We went to the pizza place and had a greasy juicy 6" pizza. My daughter told me to ask for less cheese, but that wouldn't help much. I am still working on the oral history transcript but didn't get to it today. I have decided not to try to get every word right but work through the whole thing and come back and edit it. I may have to have head phones to help me sort out the words I can't hear or remember. I keep falling behind on my reading. I need to spend less time on this computer.

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT GERMANY'S DEATH CAMPS

My literary contribution for today:

Every time I see a Christian president visiting the Nazi death camps I want to quote from an excellent book I read many years ago by a Jewish historian, Max Dimont. Published in 1962 after 6 years of research his book has sold over 2 million copies.

Chapter 28 is labeled THE BROWN-SHIRTED CHRIST KILLERS and the second paragraph reads:

"From that first day in power to that April day in 1945 when, with Berlin ablaze, Hitler shot himself through the mouth, the Germans exterminated with systematized murder 12 million men, women, and children, in concentration camps, by firing squads and in gas chambers. Of these 12 million victims, 7 million were Christians and 5 million were Jews*--1.4 Christians for every Jew. But because the Nazis shouted "Kill the Jews," the world blinded itself to the murder of Christians."

*The figure usually quoted for the number of Jews murdered by the Nazis is 6,000,000, but facts tend to support a figure of 5,000,000. .....Today the highest estimate is 5,600,000, the lowest 4,200,000....
Several different sources are cited in the extensive note.

There are no museums commemorating the Christians who were slaughtered by the Nazis and it is never mentioned in visits to the concentration camps.

I walked to the mailbox twice once to post 3 letters and when I retrieved the mail two of the letters were in the box. So I decided I needed to go to town to buy some more stamps and mail the important letters I wanted to get out today. One was the signed contract for Lou's files and books to be transferred to TWU. The other was a letter to Coline in France to celebrate her upcoming birthday and graduation from high school. I printed up 3 issues of the Howard cowboy story to take to Vanda at the Review. I also went to the bank to get my name on the Robert E. Howard dinner list. I had read in the Review that today was the last day to make reservations.

This afternoon I mailed my letter to the Council of Bishops of the Methodist church and also got a letter to the editor published in the online United Methodist Reporter. You don't have to wait for the mail but can get it done in a few minutes on the net. Here's a link to it: http://www.umportal.org/letter.asp?id=1579.

I filled both deer feeders and somehow shorted out the battery in the automatic feeder. I opened the door after filling with corn and lifting it up. Has trouble getting it tied off by myself. I opened the door to check the time and the battery was smoking and melting where the two clips had gotten together and shorted it out. So I am charging the other battery.

I should have moved the camera to the pond. This morning there were no water lilies left in the pond. Just some root debris. One or two small leaves, but it doesn't look good.

WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY

Wednesday morning I measured the rain from Tuesday's storms. Had 1.5" which helped a lot. The mail brought another gift in Lou's memory and I am proud of my ability to write thank yous. As I have said I have written more handwritten notes this year than I did for the past 40 years. I also loaded the computer with my oral history disk that I need to transcribe of Zora Mae Bryant and Lois Garrett. Didn't get very far because the audio software by Windows wasn't very friendly to stop and back up. I may have to find another player. In the afternoon I wrote my LW column. A record early one.

This morning I set the alarm to awake at 5:45 so that I could get to the 6:30 Methodist Men's meeting. I got there in time for the devotional and prayer this time. They are looking forward to our new minister joining them soon. I came home and worked for a while on my computer and found that my checking account earned over $15 in interest that made me happy. On the way to get the mail I took the pickup and stopped to trim the tree limbs growing into the road. I then trimmed more limbs to get down the old highway to my brush pile. When I got back I got on the Ford tractor and mowed down the old highway along the front fence, the area around the Halsell House and the cross fence.

For lunch I had the foccacia sandwich I bought Monday and it was pretty good. I added my spinach with some cantalope for salad and had to have a little Blue Bell ice cream for dessert. I didn't get done a lot of the projects I need to do. I always eat some nuts with a small glass of wine. I always have some fruit. I bought cherries this week. I eat a couple of small pieces of dark chocolate and finish with an apple. I throw the apple core out in the front yard thinking the deer would like it, but I watched a deer the other day that paid no attention to it. Tonight I saw the fox walk into the front yard and watched him grab the apple core. So at least the raccoons aren't eating it.

RAIN FINALLY

With a little hail but no bad wind. Looks like we got over an inch of rain in about 30 minutes. More storm is on the radar and headed this way, but it is dying down from earlier as it rains out and the sun goes down. I haven't lost electricity so I feel lucky. The satellite TV went off for about 30 min but is back now and I can watch the Rangers at NY. A local TV station went off the air. They were complaining about getting lightning strikes close by and may have lost their antenna.

This morning Lydia came and I sharpened my hoe and worked for almost an hour digging grass burrs that have popped up in the one patch of green grass over the septic drain line. I went to Cross Plains for Kiwanis and mailed my WWA reservations. Jim Senkel, former Methodist pastor who came here in time to have the fires destroy his belongings in the parsonage and the church and then go through the construction project but left about the time we completed the parsonage. He had been active in Kiwanis and arranged for the carnival to come as a Kiwanis project one year. The weather was cold and attendance didn't measure up so they elected not to come the next year. He said he is now pastoring a small church at Brad because he wanted to move back to his home in Graham and look after his ole oil business that he sold.

When I got home I napped till 3 and then mowed with the riding mower all around the house. The cloud came in from the north as I finished but didn't start raining until 6.

Nelson Cruz just hit a home run to give the Rangers a 3-2 lead. His father is in the crowd and showed his elation with his son. I appreciate a good electrical system that lets me watch TV.