Teton Pass, highway 22 between Jackson Hole and Idaho.

Sunday Brunch at Squire Creek with the Farleys.

I enjoyed the prime rib.

New roof for the Senior Center building.

First a layer of insulation and then steel. It should be cozy. The silver should reflect the sun. AC cost should go down.

It is going to look nice thanks to the work of Nolan Roofing.

Nevada came to town and almost had their winning streak ended!

Beside two birthday parties yesterday, I attended two basketball games. The second was Louisiana Tech vs the University of Nevada. Boy! it was a tough game and Tech almost won, which would really have been a feather in their cap. They looked good anyhow.

At half time here came another bunch of three year olds.

A Stars of Tomorrow show twice in one day.

My last four blogs indicate that I was busy on Saturday. My day started with breakfast at 7 am at the Waffle House with John. Then I attended birthday parties and basketball games at 10, 12, 4, and 7 o'clock.

ULM played ULL.

I, and family, attended a basketball game at the University of Louisiana at Monroe (ULM) yesterday. They played the Raging Cajuns from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (ULL). I had never been to ULM before and it was interesting.

We were really there to see Christian and a hundred other three year olds put on a half time show.

Christian was easily  the best ball handler of the hundred! NBA, here we come!

John Morgan Adams's Sixty-third Birthday Party.

I had the pleasure and fun of attending two birthday parties yesterday. Great grandson Christian's third birthday and son in law John Adam's sixty third birthday. John's four grandchildren were all there to cheer John. Happy Birthday John!

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Christian's Third Birthday Party.

A dozen or so of three year olds met at the Jungle Gym in West Monroe.

They ran wild.

Time for cake.

My son Chris passed away one year ago today.

We miss Chris. He was known as snaggletoothie of the Loyal Opposition to his internet friends. He had many friends in the blogosphere who eloquently expressed their regard for Chris and sorrow for his passing.  It was such a sad accident. I look at his blog everyday. This picture is on his blog. Click to see Chris's Blog.

Chris and I were in a cafe booth when I pointed the camera at him. He made this face for me. It was about two years before he passed away. I miss our hour long conversations so much. He was an intelligent gentleman. I am so proud of him.

Yesterday I received a card from the Arlington National Cemetery stating that a new headstone had been put on our gravesite. The stone has Chris's name on it.

4 seconds to play, we were behind one point!

Guess what. We won by one point. We had it out, passed in, and made a two pointer. This is Fresno's last game in the WAC in Ruston and they had a hard loss.

These guys work hard.

So do these guys.

Lots of fingers pointing up when we won.

I do not understand why it was only a three tuba game. It seemed more important than that. The band had to play and sing "oh Lord, it is hard to be humble".

Depression era memories of the old prune picker.

A prune picker blog reader has asked me about my memories of California during the depression era.

I was five to fifteen during this period. 1930 to 1940. I remember that money was very scarce. I could go shopping with a nickel. My crop work consisted of grape picking, walnut picking, and orange picking. My father planted a few acres of corn. I suckered, picked and sold corn. It was Golden Bantam and sold for 25 cents per dozen ears. At times my meals came from the apricot, peach, and orange orchards.

I can remember in the sixth grade that I did not have a lunch to take to school. While my classmates ate their lunches I would go around the corner and pretend that I was going home for lunch. I would come back when lunch was over.

I slept under bushes for one night. My siblings put me up a lot.

I was placed in boys homes twice. At age 7 and age 13.

In junior high school I had a job picking up trash after each school day. My pay was a little more than $5 per month. I remember picking up a check at the Education Office across town.

Starting at around age 12 I washed dishes in a downtown restaurant, the U & I. I worked a couple of hours at noon and in  the evening. I was paid with my meals and $15 per month. I remember that it calculated out 17 cents per hour. However I ate good. I supported myself from this time, age 14. I rented a room for $4 a month. My closet was nails in the wall.

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There were two large families from Oklahoma in our neighborhood. One was across the alley from us. My oldest brother married the oldest girl from across the alley. So at least one prune picker married an Okie! My folks had arrived in California from Kansas/Kentucky around 1907. All of my siblings except my oldest sister were born in California. We were a bunch of prune pickers.

I read the Grapes of Wrath. I had a sister who lived near Weedpatch, which was a location in the book. On a visit I saw the government camp that the Joads lived in. This is the camp where the Joads saw a flush toilet for the first time.

Pomona was not a bad place to grow up. There is a blog that celebrates that fact.

Windows 7 Computer Class.

I have been busy using a Mac and am not very good with Windows. I have been attending a weekly class on Windows 7. The class is sponsored by the Trinity Methodist Church of Ruston. The church has a great computer lab. My teacher is Donna Belcher. She does a great job. She is very gracious and energetic and intelligent. She is also an unpaid volunteer. The class is her ministry. I really appreciate her. The two hours fly by.

The class can seat more than a dozen.

The class really serves great cookies and coffee! I highly recommend the class.

Senior Winter Games-Application

I am signing up for the games. You can see that I picked three tough competitions. Mall Walk, Shuffle Board, and Spelling Bee. February 9th will be here before you know it. I have to start training. I wonder if I can use spell check?

Collage of Skeet's Retreat Fish Fry of 1/21/2012.

Some of these pics are not on the blog.

$1800 deer bump,

GMAC and Bradshaw's Body Shop agreed that this bump on my grill will cost $1800 to repair. Left car this am. Will pick up Thursday. Bless Skip Russell. He loaned me a fancy pick up to use.

Does that look like $1800 worth of damage?

Fish Fry at Skeet's Retreat

I went to a World Class fish fry yesterday. The best part of the fish fry was the nice bunch of people that were there. The host, David Carnal, his daughter Chelsey, and his staff were so welcoming and gracious. The food was delicious. They even presented us with Skeet's Retreat tee shirts in the right size.

I want to thank David and Chelsey for a wonderful time. 

Leaving mud landing.

Arriving at Skeet's Retreat.

Check out the food.

Lets socialize!

Lets fry fish! Fresh caught white perch and catfish.

Lets eat fried fish!

I sure had a good time.