PrunePicker: March 2012

Saturday, March 31, 2012

Poverty Point

Poverty Point is the site of a huge mound building site. The name is from the farm that contained the site. Not a very happy name.

Indians built mounds in Louisiana for 5000 years. What is striking is that the mounds were built by a hunter-gathering society. Food was so plentiful that thousands of people could be fed by fellow citizens. Some mounds are a hundred feet high. Millions of basket loads of dirt had to be carried to the mounds.

I enjoyed my visit, The State of Louisiana is doing a great job on this historic monument. I want to go back.

This is the highest mound at Poverty Point

Friday, March 30, 2012

Andrew M Munson, Barb wire fence man.

Andrew is a distant cousin who lived in Lee, Illinois. He had six patents on barb wire between 1879 and 1893.

If I was a steer I do not think that I would like Munson's Double Z

Jim Mize Track Meet a week from tomorrow.

In walking around the track at Tech lately I have been seeing all the preparations for the upcoming track meet. There is only one track meet a year at Tech and I am looking forward to it. I was introduced to the world of track by my son Michael many years ago.

This is a view of the new swimming pool building from the track. In two weeks we tour the pool building and start using it. New water!

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Albert L Munson, blacksmith-inventer.

A distant cousin, Albert L Munson, has twenty patents listed. They date from 1866 to 1871. The patents were for items in fire arms, cigarette manufacturing, and furniture. During this time he lived in New Haven, New York, and Hartford. The title sheet from one of his patents is shown below.

The item below is not a patent. It is comments about a 36 caliber muzzle loader rifle made by Albert. It is from a news letter of shooting aficionados. The muzzle loader is dated 1871. Albert kept busy.

Nancy and Annie.

This is a nice picture of Nancy, my oldest daughter and travel agent/companion, and her oldest daughter Annie. They are a lot of fun!

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

The platform on tight wad hill.

In the middle of February the platform looked like this.

A nice place to watch the baseball game. Last night while watching Tech play Northwestern I noticed that the platform was not being used. I made a trip to behind the fence to check it out.

There was not any trace of the platform. Tech had removed it. The fans on tightwad hill are a little upset and now have to watch from up by the RR tracks.

Last night was greek night. The sorority girls get points for attending the game. The stands were full.

View of tight wad hill from the stands.

The sight barrier for the train is now back up. No need for time out when a train goes by.

We won the game 8 to 2!

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Gravy by Bob E at the VFW

Today I went to the Tuesday morning VFW breakfast. This pot of delicious home made gravy was on the stove.

Looking at the pot with pride was Bob Eskanazy (Bob E) and JD Harper. The gravy was by Bob, the biscuits and sausage by JD.

We all agreed that breakfast was great. Thanks to Bob and JD.

Tuesday weigh in. Yeah! 229 #

I am excited about the weight of 229#. It has been years since I have been below 230#. Now for 219#. Last week I walked 14 miles or an average of two miles per day. Will try to increase this. I have been walking twice a day. Once in the morning and once in the afternoon.

Look at that blood pressure, will ya?

Date	Weight	Waist	Temp	BP High	BP Low	Pulse	Miles
1/3/12	252	50.8	96.9	134	66	69	8.5
1/10/12	248	50.1	96.8	136	63	67	7.6
1/17/12	247.4	50.3	96.2	135	62	74	7.5
1/24/12	252.4	50.9	96.4	141	70	66	8
1/31/12	248.2	50.3	96.3	134	61	68	10.7
2/7/12	243.8	50.1	96.5	130	64	64	11.1
2/14/12	241.2	50.9	96.6	133	66	75	9.5
2/21/12	240.2	50.5	96.6	121	62	70	6.3
2/28/12	239.2	50.5	96.5	140	61	62	11.6
3/6/12	234.8	49.7	96.2	128	60	62	11.8
3/13/12	233	49.6	96.2	126	58	63	14.3
3/20/12	232.8	50.3	96.2	125	61	63	16
3/27/12	229	49.8	96.7	116	59	62	14

Monday, March 26, 2012

Primitive Camping way out at the Lincoln Parish Park.

Kerry, John and I went out to visit Joy, David, Ethan, Ross, and Ethan yesterday. They left home in West Monroe after Church and drove some 40 miles to the Primitive Camping Area at the Lincoln Parish Park in Ruston.

It sure is rugged country. There was fishing, walking, and chess playing.

The Newberrys are rugged. When we left them, they were starting a fire to cook hot dogs on!

My niche in the Blogosphere.

My blog is about me, my family, my interests, my opinions, and my daily activities. My name is Chuck Monson. I am a native born Californian. I worked in the oil exploration and production business and am now retired and living in Ruston, Louisiana. I am a 91 year old widower. I blog because I really enjoy it. Posting gives me a schedule and is a wonderful make work project. I like pictures, both the taking and looking at them. I really like old historic pictures. I enjoy a good photograph. I like putting pictures and text together in a way that is hopefully interesting to others and that will be interesting to me in the future. I like to be silly now and then. It is also putting my memories down on paper. My blog serves as a diary. I have used it for a reference quite a few times.

I do mix it up. Some of my blogs are “what I had for breakfast”, some are just pictures, some are items of genealogical nature, and there are items from my family history. I have a history of the Munson/Monsons in America. The study of this history has led me to the discovery of much American history that had previously been unknown by me.

I have had a lifelong interest in history, archeology, philosophy, religion, politics, architecture, technical subjects, music, food, and sports. I spend time every day reading blogs and posting to my blog. I do not pontificate on religion or politics because I do not consider myself wise enough to try to persuade others to my beliefs. My beliefs are quite nebulous anyway.

I was started on blogging by my late son, Christopher David Monson. Chris wrote the blog "snaggletoothie of the Loyal Opposition" There is a link to his blog above. I look at Chris's blog often. I have read most of his posts.

My adult years.

I married Jackie Lois Ireton in 1944 in San Luis Obispo, California. I met her on a blind date when I was taking amphibious training at Moro Bay. We have been blessed with four children, nine grand children, and nine great grandchildren. They are an exceptional group. I love them and I am proud of them.

I was an army combat engineer (infantry with shovels) during World War II. I served in the Pacific. I was wounded on Peleliu Island helping the marines on Bloody Nose Ridge. I was shot in both legs just above the knees. The wound locations indicate that I was not running away.

I received a BSME in 1950 from Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, California. Jackie received a PHT. (pushing husband through.) I retired from oilfield work in 1985. Jackie and I moved into a fifth wheel trailer and enjoyed the RV lifestyle until Jackie's health failed. We traveled across the continent 3 1/2 times. We spent a summer as volunteers at Acadia National Park. For 17 years we helped build an Escapee RV park in Chimacum, Washington. Jackie passed away in 2007. We had been married 63 years. We were married on June 3, 1944. I still live in our fifth wheel trailer. It is parked in the yard of my daughter Kerry's home in Ruston, Louisiana. It is by far the nicest RV park that I have ever lived in.

My teen age years.

I was born in 1925 in Pomona, California. Pomona is on the east edge of Los Angeles County. It is halfway between Los Angeles and San Bernardino and halfway between the mountains and the beach. I thought that it was great to be an hour from snow covered mountains and an hour from the ocean surf.

In my days of growing up, Pomona was completely surrounded by orchards and truck farms. Oranges, lemons, grapefruit, peaches, apricots, olives, persimmons, and walnuts. Watermelons and strawberries. During the depression I had many meals from the orchards.

They say that you cannot go back home. That is true of the Pomona Valley of my youth. Because it is no longer there. Most of it is now covered with asphalt and stucco buildings.

My ancestors.

I am getting more and more into genealogy. I have a trove of information on the Munsons/Monsons. My father is buried in California. His father by adoption (He was an uncle.) is buried in Kansas. His natural father is buried in Kentucky. So I have two grandfathers. I have a grandfather and four great grandfathers buried in Kentucky, one great buried in New Jersey, and three greats buried in Connecticut. I have two greats buried in Rattlesden, Suffolk, England. I have been led to believe that my ancestors before that came from Denmark and Normandy.

Captain Thomas Munson was the first Munson to move to America. He was baptized in Rattlesden, England in 1612. The baptismal font is still in use. He served in the militia in the Pequot Indian Wars in 1637. He served in the militia all his life and reached the status of Captain. His signature is on the founding document for New Haven, Connecticut.

In 2011 I visited New Haven and took pictures of his gravestone. In May 2012 my oldest daughter Nancy Ann escorted me to England and France. We visited Rattlesden and I took some pictures of the Captain's baptismal font.

Why is the old prune picker living in Ruston, Louisiana?

In 2006 my wife Jackie was in poor health. Jackie had kidney failure and was on dialysis. She had heart problems for some time with A-fib. She had fallen and broken her hip. She had broken ribs and vertebra just moving around normally. My family thought that I needed help caring for Jackie. My daughter Kerry and her husband John offered to park our trailer in their backyard in Ruston and help. Jackie and I accepted their kind offer. My daughter Nancy accompanied Jackie in an airplane flight from the Olympic Peninsula in Washington to Ruston. My son Mike took time off to help me pull our trailer for five long days to our new home. We were and are grateful. We enjoyed our new home very much.

Unfortunately and sadly, Jackie passed away in six months. I had sold our truck and was permanently parked. I was ready to give up full time RVing anyway. It is very pleasant in Ruston and I am close to family. So that is why I have been living in Ruston, Louisiana since October 2006.