PrunePicker: July 2012

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Evergreen Coho Liars Club.

This sign on the wall says it all. This is my last week here. I have enjoyed morning coffee with all these nice people.

What a great bunch of guys. These pictures only show a few of the Liars.

Tomorrow is the annual meeting of the coop. You can feel the excitement building. You know that some are studying Roberts Rules of Order

Tuesday weigh in. 7/31/12

Oh oh! Weight is slipping up. I walked a little more, but I am still not really walking. I was born lazy!

Date	Weight	Waist	Temp	BP High	BP Low	Pulse	Miles	Avg MPD
1/3/12	252	50.8	96.9	134	66	69	8.5
2/7/12	243.8	50.1	96.5	130	64	64	11.1
3/6/12	234.8	49.7	96.2	128	60	62	11.8
4/3/12	227.2	49.2	96.3	122	58	61	15.7
5/1/12	221.8	47.4	96.7	118	58	62	18.9
6/5/12	221.4	48.2	96.8	139	69	70	35.1	5
7/3/12	221.2	48.2	96.1	139	70	67	14.3	2
7/10/12	220.6	47.3	95.9	147	74	74	14.1	2
7/17/12	222	47.6	96.4	138	61	66	11.5	1.6
7/24/12	221.8	47.1	96.5	135	64	62	10.6	1.5
7/31/12	223.2	48.7	96.4	121	52	69	12.1	1.7

Monday, July 30, 2012

The Wrocks came over to Port Ludlow on Saturday to attend the Festival By The Bay. They stayed overnight and spent Sunday with the Old Prunepicker. The day started with breakfast at the world famous Chimacum Cafe.

Matt, Holly, Janelle, and Winter ready for breakfast.

Winter poses by the well.

Holly is happy with her bouquet of Chimacum Cafe lollypops.

A few hours at the Fort Worden Matitime Center

The Center has great fish tanks. You can touch the shellfish with one finger.

Then a romp on the beach.

Barely visible in the upper left. Two ferries passing.

Dusty kept cool in the truck.

Chow at Dogs-A-Foot.

Spicy kraut dog. My favorite.

It was a nice day. A great visit. Spending time with the Wrocks was a tremendous part of my Final Tour of the West Coast. I know Winter and Holly so much better. I love all my great grand daughters! I miss Johnny Lynn Miller.

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Port Ludlow "Festival By The Bay".

I had a great time yesterday at the Festival by the Bay. This is Port Ludlow's annual community celebration. Walked four miles, saw a Coast Guard helicopter rescue at sea, saw dancing girls, saw four bands, saw an art show, booths selling crafts, saw a fireworks show, and was visited by the Wrock Family from Woodenville. Grandson Matt, wife Janelle, and girls Winter and Holly. Did not get to bed until midnight.

Long busy day for the Old Prunepicker. It started early with a pancake breakfast in Chimacum.

The Coast Guard rescue helicopter did a good job.

This Lady's vehicle only has two wheels.

Beautiful dancing girls.

The Dukes of Dabob, my favorite dixieland band.

For a large part of the show I was joined by Kevin Crawford, a good friend from the Liars Club at the Escapee Park in Chimacum.

The Delta Rays. A great band. Did some good cajun along with rock and roll.

View of Olympic Mountains from the Festival.

At last! Fireworks.

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Coho Days--Pancake Breakfast.

Went over to the Escapee Park this morning for the Pancake Breakfast. Really good.

The pancakes are fried on the grill in the Gazebo outside the Clubhouse.

Every man on the crew has a job. Carl's job is to carry the pancakes into the Clubhouse. One man carries the batter from the Clubhouse to the grill. Others flip.

Two flippers! They are a little behind the demand.

In line for breakfast.

Good turn out for the delicious food. I enjoyed my breakfast.

Friday, July 27, 2012

2012 Coho Days. First Event.

Every year the Evergreen Coho Resort in Chimacum, Washington has a week of activities (fun and games) that spans the day of the coop annual meeting. It begins with a play or entertainment on a Friday evening and ends with a nice supper on Saturday of the following week.

Tonight was the play. It was a thrilling presentation of two old radio programs. Easy Aces and Phillip Marlowe. The programs were broadcast over station WSKP from downtown Chimacum.

Free Fridays at the Fort--Again.

As the school at the Fort this week is on jazz, the Free Friday Show was a student jazz orchestra. One student was 14, several were 15. They were good.

Concert on the Dock--Again.

I attended the Port Townsend Thursday evening Concert on the Dock last night. The band was "Locust Street Taxi". They really had the dancers jumping.

The lead singer writes songs, sings, plays the keyboard, and plays a trombone real good. The other three members of the band are very talented too.

This was the only man wearing a kilt.

He really had it swinging !

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.