prune picker

This is the blog of a prune picker. (Native born Californian) Retired oilfield. I am an old man. I blog a lot about my body and getting old. As I approach death life gets more interesting. More interesting is not good. I still drive. I attend sports, music, and civic events. I am writing my memoirs. I attend swim class three times a week. Some of my blogs might be interesting. A lot of my blogs are silly and trivial. None are very long.

Monday, December 31, 2012

Christian Steven Newberry four years old!

Another party at the Adams's. My next to youngest great grandchild, Christian, had his fourth birthday party yesterday. December 30 is also the birthday of my wife Jackie. She would have been 87 years old.



Christian and his two brothers visit Fort Cerjl before the party.


Christian is impressed with turning 4.


Christian holds a $50 bill birthday present.


Nice Superman shirt.




A loving Mother made a birthday cake in the shape of a four.


Sunday, December 30, 2012

Basketball. Latech Bulldogs vs Denver.

Saw a good basketball game last night. It was a zero tuba game. (Band on vacation.) But there were thirteen pairs of cheerleaders and the Regal Blue. The game was close all the way but we won.


Denver won the tip but I sensed that they were in trouble...


as our coach had six suits behind him and ...


their coach only had four suits behind him.


Little lady with a big camera.


Good old right ear. It was good to see him at the game.



The Regal Blues were helped by some younger girls.


Looks dangerous to me.



Good game.


Our coach Michael White keeps his eye on the ball.



We won 68 to 60.



Saturday, December 29, 2012

My porch was repaired today.

I spoke to my Maintenance Superintendent about my broken porch and he got right on it and it is now in first class condition. My Maintenance Superintendent is John Morgan Adams. He lives in the big house across the driveway from my trailer with my daughter Kerry Lee.


There were several boards in the porch that were in bad shape They were only in service for six years. Seems like a short life. If they had been painted they might not have rotted so fast. 






The pieces are built for steps and porches. 2 by 10 by four feet long. Cost eleven bucks each. John replaced six of them and added some 2 by 6 pieces for strength Cost $85 total. The labor was no charge. The porch looks better than new. Thank you, John. As John said we do not want the old Prune Picker to fall off a broken porch at four in the morning!

Jewette Farley, Master Fisherman!

The other day a package came to Jefferson Corner. It was addressed to:

Jewette Farley, President
Spit and Whittle Club

We decided the package was for Jewette Farley who is the Treasurer of the Jefferson Corner Liars Club. The package was placed at his seat.









Now Jewette can pull out his Certificate from the Medley Fishing School and verify that he is indeed a Master Fisherman. I understand that Jewette had to undergo extensive instruction and on the job training and testing to qualify for this rating.




Friday, December 28, 2012

My porch broke!

My porch in better days.


I stepped out on my porch at 4:15 this morning. I turned to close the door and suddenly I was standing on the ground. A 2x8 board had given away. I was not hurt but was very surprised. I had a little problem getting up out of the hole. I can picture myself yelling for help. John Roebuck said that I could have called him on my cell phone. There is always 911. By the way, it was raining.



I will have to talk to my maintenance superintendent.

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Thomas Munson and the Great Puritan Migration.

Thomas Munson is my 8th great grandfather and he was in the Great Migration. There have been many Great Migrations in history but I am writing about the one that took place from 1620 to 1640 when 20,000 Puritans moved from England to New England. The Winthrop Fleet of 1630 consisted of eleven ships carrying 1000 people. The 20,000 consisted mostly of whole families, men, women, and children. The descendants of that original 20,000 now number 16 million Americans.

These were troubled times in England that led to the First English Civil War. Some New England Puritans returned to England to fight in that War.


The Puritans have had and are still having a very large effect on the country that we call the USA. They believed that they were a chosen people and had a manifest destiny to create a great country in America. This made it justified and necessary to vanquish the native population. They thought that every person had to reach salvation by reading the Bible, therefore a public school system was soon established to teach all people to read.

Thomas had a very interesting and historic life. Born in England in 1612, moved to New England as a young man, fought in Indian Wars, served in many civic duties in the establishment of Connecticut, and died in 1685.

It is hard to get through with Thomas and move on to my 7th and subsequent great grandfathers. Thomas and two other great grandfathers are buried in Connecticut, one is buried in New Jersey, and four are buried in Kentucky. I have much more data on Thomas than I have on my other great grandfathers.

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Two parties on Christmas Eve and two parties on Christmas Day.

I thought that we were going to have one present opening party. But the cousins had flu signs and the Miller family and the Newberry family thought it would be better to have separate present opening affairs. They did not want the flu to spread. That was a shame because it is so enjoyable to see the four cousins together. The first opening party early Christmas morning was for Johnny Lynn.






JL liked her new tea set and cart!





Johnny Lynn's new outfit with tutu has a Christmas theme.


JL is looking at the cookie plate and milk cup that Santa emptied during the night.


After the Millers had left on their four drive to Franklinton the Newberrys came to Ruston from West Monroe and proceeded to put wrapping paper all over the Adams's living room.





Christian got a new cowboy hat.



My Christmas dinner. Delicious crawfish pasta. Cooked by my daughter, Kerry Lee Adams. Served by my grand daughter Joy Newberry. I had a wonderful Christmas this year!





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