John Howard Payne Ireton

John Howard Payne Ireton is the father of my bride, Jackie. He was known as Payne. He is the son of David Rufus and Minnie Ann Ireton. He was an oil well driller/pusher who learned his trade in the oil fields of Oklahoma and Taft, California. He spent many years over seas as a drilling superintendent. He worked in India and Saudi Arabia. The picture below was taken in Oildale, California probably in 1952.

It is a nice picture of Payne, Jackie, Chris, and Nancy. I like the picture. Nancy and Chris are sure good looking children. The group looks like friendly Choctaws.

Minnie Ann Ireton

Picture taken in the Chickasha Indian Territory in Oklahoma around 1900. The photo is in good shape for being so old. Minnie was born in Texas and married David Rufus Ireton. David was 1/4 Choctaw. Minnie and David are the paternal grandparents of my wife, Jackie.

I assume that Minnie was a fine guitar player and could sing real good.

According to my calculations Jackie was 1/16 Choctaw. Our children are 1/32 Choctaw. Their children are 1/64 Choctaw. Jackie and I have great grand children who are 1/128 Choctaw.

The Choctaw Indians lived in Mississippi and were very successful at growing corn. They were the first Indian tribe to travel the "Trail of Tears" to Oklahoma.

Sunrise at Mitcham Orchard

On the way to Jefferson Corner this morning.

How to eat crawfish.

Crawfish or mud bugs are like shrimp in shape but have a different bite and taste. You grab the crawfish like the person in the pic. Then you twist off the head. Some people suck on the head before placing the head in the trash dish. Then you remove or strip off one or two segments of the body covering at the neck. Some of the body is then exposed. Pinch and pull on that body while you squeeze the tail. Once you get the hang of it the body will pop out of the body covering. You now have a bite of crawfish in your hand. Dip it in sauce and enjoy!

Repeat 50 to 100 times.

The Knowltons.

This is a picture of my Mother's family. I believe it was taken in 1904. It was taken in Stirling, Kansas. My Mother is the beautiful teenage girl on the left. She would have been 15,

The names of the people in the picture by front row, middle row, and top row, from left to right are;

Front row: Uncle Harold Haight, Uncle Francis Willard.
Middle row; My Mother Olive, Grandfather John Edwin, Uncle Warren Gray, Grandmother Ermina Delphine.
Top row; Uncle Clifford Hale, Uncle Jesse Lewis, Uncle Leon Mathew, Aunt Marjorie Adela.

I never met my maternal grandfather as he passed away a year before I was born. I met all my uncles and Aunt Marjorie. I spent some time with my Aunt Marjorie and Grandmother Knowlton.

The Knowltons all tended to be nice people.

Thanksgiving Dinner at David and Joy Newberry's.

What a good bird !

We had a great meal complete with homemade apple pie.

We all had a good time. Christian really enjoyed Dora on Kerry's iphone.

Senior Center Thanksgiving Eve Dinner.

We had great meal furnished by the Princeton Place Rehabilitation Hospital.

We had great entertainment. This man can sing !

The Senior Center had the largest attendance I have seen.

Pretzel Bakery

The first commercial pretzel bakery in America was in Lititz, Pennsylvania. It is still going strong. The building in the picture is the Sturgis Pretzel Museum in Lititz. Jackie and I visited the museum on one of our several stops at the 1000 Trails RV Park in Hershey. Part of the visit was rolling and forming a pretzel with Playdough. Jackie was good at it.

On the last Sunday Morning TV show on CBS the reporter visited the Museum and tried to roll a pretzel. The show really made the memory of the visit there by Jackie and I come alive. We walked through that door and stood in the spot where the reporter tried to roll a pretzel. The memory brought tears to my eyes.

Jackie and I have many wonderful memories !

Lunch at Moon's.

Had lunch at the world famous Moon's today. John Adams said that when he was going to Tech in the sixties that Moon's was closest place to Tech to buy likker. It is amost fifty miles from Tech. John also said that he had never been to Moon's. Moon's is still in business and sells great steaks and burgers. A wonderful and unique thing happened on the trip to Moon's today. ROEBUCK OFFERED TO PAY THE BILL ! You can see how happy he is that we accepted his offer.

The front door.

Waiting for burgers.

The likker wall.

Picture of Roebuck paying the bill, which was in two figures !

The delegation from the Jefferson Corner Liars Club who had lunch at Moon's today included Russell, Farley, and Roebuck. And Monson.

Tony Melendez, armless guitarist.

Tony was born without arms and is a concert guitarist! He is world class good and has played for the Pope amongst others. Last night he played in Ruston, LA for me and others,

He was introduced by a former President of Nicaragua. The gentlemen was President of Nicaragua from 2002 to 2008. His introduction was 20 minutes long.

Tony puts on a good concert.

Pretty fall flowers.

This is a friend's bougainvillea.

This is John and Kerry's camilla.

Reformat the Macbook.

Today I am going to reformat my Apple and put it back to store bought condition. I have so goofed it up that it turns on in Windows 7 and I have to use a procedure to get into Apple. I had a section of the computer that used Windows 7. But in playing around I have a slow running computer, passwords and synchronization fouled up, and it opens in Windows. I am going to leave Windows off this time. My desktop computer has all the Windows that I need.

BB gun practice.

John has the care of Ethan and Ross today. Joy is working. David is working. Kerry is on her way to Franklinton. So it is time for bb gun practice. John is a good teacher. John received a phone call during the practice about an ailing relative. You can see the concern and dedication on his face. I think it is a nice pic of a nice guy.

Milk Cow Blues

This morning I attended a session of Louisiana Blues at the Lincoln Parish Library. The opening number was Milk Cow Blues. It was an enjoyable 10 to 11 am on a Friday morning.

I framed this building.

The building is on the 1000 Trails RV Park in LaConner, Washington. It was about 20 years ago and I had just helped build 175 sheds at the Evergreen Coho Resort in Chimacum and thought I was a framing carpenter. After two weeks and framing this building I decided that working 8 hours at a time was not for me, so I retired again. I was on the 1000 Trails payroll.

I took this pic while on my trip last summer.

Two new right side doors.

Both of the doors on the right side of my car are very low mileage. In fact they are new. The car looks new but it is really a junker as the next two pics show.

These are pics of the damage to the rear right door and damage to the front right door. This is the result of two different parking lot accidents. On the first accident to the rear door, the driver came in the coffee shop and apologized. On the second accident to the front door the driver burned rubber fleeing the scene! My car has been in the body shop for almost five weeks. (Two different times.) It sure is nice to have it back.

Rhonda of the Jefferson Corner Liars Club has offered to let me park in back (Both accidents took place when I was parked in front.) and she would walk me in to be sure I was safe. I am going to be brave and park again in front. It can not happen a third time!

An excited Techster fan.