Drew Monson, aka "mytoecold"

This is a picture of my grandson, Drew Monson, in his role as producer of several hundred You Tube “mytoecold” productions. These productions are several minutes long and have been viewed by thousands. Drew has been posting these productions for several years and is famous in the You Tube world.

It is interesting how different he looks and acts in the You Tube productions from how he looks and acts in real life. I guess that is what acting does. He recently did a live stand up act. I was able to hear it and the audience was laughing a lot. I am looking forward to seeing his act. I wish him the very best.

Four month weight history.

This is a plot of my weight for each day this year through April 30. Each number on the x axis is a day into the year. I started the year around 247#. I went on the nutrisystem diet and lost weight to 240#. The break in data is due to my trip to California when my son had his fatal accident. I have not been back on a diet since my trip. Recently I have lost down to around 238#. I believe this recent loss in weight is due to a bad cough. Recently I seem to be on the way up to 240#. I believe that my weight is the single most important gauge of my physical condition. It is the result of diet and exercise.

I have been entering a line of data daily to my blog. A key to this line of data follows.

Key to the row of numbers.

1. Date.

2. Weight, pounds.

3. Waist measurement, inches.

4. High blood pressure, pounds per square inch.

5. Low blood pressure, pounds per square inch.

6. Pulse, heart beats per minute.

7. Body temperature.

8. Number of steps I made in the day.

9. High outside temperature for the day.

10. Low outside temperature for the day.

11. Rainfall, inches.


4/29/11 239.4 50.7 123 66 66 96.4 5520 77 50 0

Techsters vs San Jose

We are ahead 1 to 0 in the fifth.

Friday walk with Jefferson Corner Ladies.

Walked again this morning on the RL Cook Park trail. Sure had pretty company. See picture of Rosa and Rhonda Blakley. I am looking forward to walking with them again on Monday.

I was busy doing chin ups on the chin up apparatus when Rhonda asked me to slow down so she could take a picture.

I am kidding about the chin ups. With some training I hope to work up to one in a row.

4/28/11 238.2 50.3 134 65 68 96.4 5450 80 52 0

Caney Lake Swingers. Thursday dance.

Joey Duhamel, Square Dance Caller, and the Caney Lake Swingers had their usual Thursday night dance this evening. They are such a great bunch of folks. I enjoy and appreciate their company. They always have great food too! Joey is a great caller and teacher.

However, I do not believe that I can apply the time and effort that is required to be a literate square dancer. It is great mental and physical exercise, however. I might consider a bonehead class in the future. For now I am hanging up my square dance boots.

Walked the RL Cook long track in 8 1/2 minutes.

Walked it with Rosa and Rhonda. Rosa and I chatted about our lives in California. She was in Arcata when she was 13. I was spending time there about that time working for Schlumberger.  We were living in Sacramento then. Before the ladies arrived I walked the track and took some pics of the exercise accouterments. I plan to do this walk every morning at 8:30 am. If I am so fortunate, some ladies from Jefferson Corner will walk with me.

I need a model to use these things while I take pictures. I might could talk a great grandson into doing that for me. As you can see there are eight of them, it would be a good workout to do them all.

4/27/11 238.2 50.2 120 57 67 96.7 2590 81 62 1.8

Joy Newberry and sons.

Joy is my grand daughter and lives in West Monroe. This is a picture of her and her three boys and the plant she received on the occasion of her birthday. April 26, 2011.

4/26/11 237 50.4 132 61 65 97.4 4680 82 71 1.8

A walk in the park.

I met Tina and Rhonda at the RL Cook Park this morning for a walk. The Park has two tracks that overlap. One is about 3/4 of a 1/4  mile track and is level. The other track is about 1 1/4 of a 1/4 mile track and has a loss and gain in elevation. The walks are laid out nice. You walk along a tree line on one side. There are exercise stations along the way with instructions on checking heart rate, etc.

I was so excited to have such lovely walking partners that I could barely do a lap. I really appreciated their company. They are so nice. Tina and Rhonda and Mrs Rosa make the Jefferson Corner store such a nice place.

Car bump # 3.

It is dangerous to go to a coffee shop. I recently was hit in the right rear at the Waffle Shop in Ruston. You may remember that my car was hit twice at Jefferson Corner. Those two bumps involved weeks in the body shop. This bump is so slight I am going to forget it. The collision rocked me quite a bit but it is hard to see any damage.

I got out of the car and walked around expecting a terrible bump. There is one there but it is hard to see. It is centered between the wheel and the tail light. See if you can see it. 

4/25/11 237.8 49.9 107 57 69 97.3 300 83 70 0

Thomas Munson

Captain Thomas Munson, 1612 to 1685. Thomas is the ninth great grandfather of my children.

Genealogy was not a subject of much conversation in my family. I grew up with the feeling that our forebears had got off a boat from Sweden and went straight to Kentucky in the 1800s. My studies in genealogy found both beliefs to be wrong. Our forebears got off a boat from England in the early 1600s and went to Connecticut. That first forbear to live in America had quite a life.

Thomas was born in Rattlesden, England in 1612. At the age of 25, he was one of the men from Hartford, Connecticut who served under Captain Mason during the Pequot Indian War. He took part in the historical battle near New London against the Pequot under Sassacus on June 5, 1637.

In 1638 Thomas was one of five signers on the Fundamental Agreement to found New Haven. His signature is on that document. Later several Munsons were benefactors in the founding of Yale University. All Munsons/Monsons/Mansons in America are considered to be descendants of Thomas and his wife Joanna. He and Joanna had just one son, but that son had eight boys!

He was a life time member of the militia. He was a Sargeant from 1643, an Ensign from 1661, Lieutenant from1665, and a Captain from 1676. He served in all the Indian Wars from the Pequot War in 1637 to King Phillip’s War in 1675.

The first trial by jury in the Colony was held on October 3, 1663 and Thomas Munson was appointed foreman of that jury. In 1866 he was elected deputy to the General Assembly and served 24 terms.

Joanna died in 1678, Thomas died in 1685. Their graves are in the Grove Street Cemetery in New Haven, Connecticut. Also buried in the cemetery is Noah Webster, Eli Whitney, and Charles Goodyear.


4/24/11 237 50.3 115 61 67 97.1 1600 84 71 0

John's new pickup. Chevrolet Silverado.

John's new pickup has all the toys including proximity beeper, backup camera. and Onstar.

4/23/11 236.6 50.2 92 48 58 96.8 2140 83 70 0

Guess who was at Walmart today.

Boy's Night Out

My son in law, John Adams, his grandsons Ethan, Ross, and I had a boys night out at the Cajun Cafe in Ruston last night.. We tore up several pounds of crawfish. In the picture is John and Ross.

4/22/11 236,2 50.4 12-Apr 47 62 96.9 2550 84 68 0

Painting wooden cars.

The cars were designed and cut by John Adams. Ross and Ethan are the painters.

Great-grand Kid's Pictures. 1st Quarter 2011.

They are all precious! I deem it a high honor and great privilege to be associated with these nine persons. I love them and I am very proud of them!

4/21/11 236 50.1 128 61 66 97 610 79 62 1

A goal of mine is to get a photograph of each of the gravestones of my paternal grandfathers who lived in the United States.

Most of these graves are in Kentucky with a few in Connecticut and New Jersey. I might find some in close proximity to each other. I think that this would be an interesting and enjoyable quest. I have a picture of my first grandfather's grave in Covington, Kentucky. I know my 8th grandfather (first to live in America) is buried in New Haven, Connecticut. These  photos would be in the family tree I am working on.

Last week I attended a lecture on a genealogy website "Find A Grave". This afternoon I put my 8th grandfather in the website and clicked search.

There was a photograph of Thomas Munson's gravestone. Shucks. I was looking forward to going to New Haven. Maybe I will go and take a photograph myself.

Of the eight men I have two gravestone photographs. Only six to go!

Emergency Room Doctor prescribes tussin DM for my cough.

For seven or eight nights I have been coughing for hours (like all night) and not getting much sleep. I had convinced myself from past experience that nothing would help (I swallowed a lot of honey) and that only time would cure my cough. I soon became exhausted and my throat was worn out with coughing. There was no indication of improvement. I was convinced that I was going to die in the middle of the night while coughing.

Yesterday I had an appointment for an eye exam at the VA Hospital. After My eye exam I went to the Emergency Room. After 2 1/2 hours of waiting the Doctor gave me a prescription for some allergy medicine and a bottle of tussin DM (a over the counter cough syrup). Last night I took a swallow of the syrup before going to bed and slept all night! 

Why did I not go to the drug store and get some tussin DM a week ago? Sometimes I do things the hard way.

4/20/11 238 50.6 132 63 80 97.5 3300 88 71 0  

Eye exam today.

Went over to the Shreveport VA Hospital today for an eye exam. They have built a new building for the eye clinic. It is across a traffic circle from the main entrance.

They have some new equipment. Something new to me was a special camera that takes highly detailed pictures of your eyes.

By comparing future pics with a base pic any small changes in your eyes can be detected.

4/19/11 238.2 50.5 126 57 71 97.3 3700 88 72 0