PrunePicker: November 2015

Saturday, November 28, 2015

Bulldog Basketball vs North Carolina Central University. 11.27.2015.

This game was nip and tuck for the first half. Tech was behind three points at the half. But the Dawgs really went ahead in the second half and won 71 to 50.

Two of the most loyal fans.

The Dawgs are backed by a group of young players.

Poor Skip sat all alone. He is related to half of the people in Ruston, but did not have anyone to sit with him.

Champ has a good looking dance partner.

Five tuba game.

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Johnny Lynn Miller zips through the trees. She and her cousins love John's zip line.

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Is seven kittens enough? (A visit to Patches's two boys)

I visited Patches's two boys the other day. I sat on the porch of the Skip and Carolyn utility building. They both seem to know me and will let me pick them up and hold them. I had a bag of cat goodies and fed them. Soon there were many cats around me. I counted six. Then I counted seven. A fun visit.

The yellow kitten (one of Patches kittens) seems to be the boss of all seven cats.

Monday, November 23, 2015

Vital Signs

I stopped taking Lisonopril last February. The cough that I have had for years is gone. Good bye Lisonopril cough! It is nice without it.

My only blood pressure medicine now is Atenolol. My blood pressure is up some so I have doubled my Atenolol a month ago. My BP is above the recommended 120/80. My BP (taken after a three minute rest) recently has been around 135/75. A higher BP is tolerated in older people. I have recently became an older person.

I expect to have an appointment with my Doctor pretty soon. I am looking forward to her thoughts..

Date	BP before rest	BP after rest	Temp	Weight	Steps
10/6/2015	155/73	134/64-70	97.8	246.5	2600
10/7/2015	147/99	145/67-71	97.8	245.5	4100
10/8/2015	161/77	133/60-71	97.9	245.5	6000
10/9/2015	156/64	142/67-77	98.3	245.3	4400
10/10/2015	167/69	134/68-71	98.1	244.3	3200
10/11/2015	167/84	142/75-67	97.7	244.3	2000
10/12/2015	150/77	124/69-76	98.2	246.1	1500
10/13/2015	162/76	139/72-69	97.8	246.1	2700
10/14/2015	169/82	140/73-72	97.8	247.5	2000
10/15/2015	170/74	155/76-77	98.0	248.3	2100
10/16/2015	176/74	135/76-77	98.0	248.3	2300
10/17/2015	190/83	138/73-71	98.1	247.3	2900
10/18/2015	146/89	141/70-70	97.7	245.9	3100
10/19/2015	179/99	159/74-69	97.6	247.3	1900
10/20/2015	154/75	142/62-70	97.6	246.6	3400
10/21/2015	146/69	130/68-75	97.8	248.1	1300
10/22/2015	138/66	125/57-71	98.1	248.7	2400
10/23/2015	160/74	128/67-71	98.0	248.0	2300
10/24/2015	143/62	122/60-73	98.5	248.0	3100
10/25/2015	147/75	122/63-69	98.3	249.2	1100
10/26/2015	161/77	138/68-67	97.8	250.6	1200
10/27/2015	154/74	133/72-65	97.9	250.5	2600
10/28/2015	158/74	142/73-64	97.72	250.0	2000
10/29/2015	168/81	145/72-67	97.7	249.5	3600
10/30/2015	165/83	127/65-65	98.0	250.3	900
10/31/2015	156/72	121/62-64	97.8	250.1	3100
11/1/2015	174/79	154/72-67	97.8	249.6	2200
11/2/2015	171/76	129/70-64	98.1	247.9	1900
11/3/2015	155/69	113/59-64	98.0	248.9	2800
11/4/2015	145/71	140/65-65	98.0	249.5	2100
11/5/2015	144/79	145/69-65	98.1	250.3	4500
11/6/2015	142/73	133/65-61	97.9	250.3	2900
11/7/2015	158/79	126/66-63	97.9	247.9	4900
11/8/2015	168/96	133/67-63	97.8	248.3	2000
11/9/2015	161/82	148/78-68	97.7	250.2	2800
11/10/2015	145/70	140/63-61	97.8	250.9	2300
11/11/2015	155/75	147/75-67	97.8	251.8	2100
11/12/2015	161/75	144/77-69	97.7	250.7	2900
11/13/2015	170/85	140/69-62	97.7	251.1	3100
11/14/2015	189/81	135/84-65	97.6	250.2	3300
11/15/2015	168/75	139/89-68	97.9	250.4	3200
11/16/2015	148/79	124/65-67	97,8	251.2	2800
11/17/2015	152/74	140/68-68	98,4	251.2	2900
11/18/2015	145/76	125/58-65	97.7	252.4	1400
11/19/2015	165/77	142/74-63	97.7	253.4	3000
11/20/2015	1679/71	137/67-67	97.9	250.9	1000
11/21/2015	163/77	135/73-66	97.9	249.9	1900
11//22/2015	156/71	132/72-64	97.7	248.9	1800
11/23/2015	167/77	128/68-69	97.7	249.2	1400

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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.