A Wedding in Dubach.

Here is a picture of the delightful and fortunate newlyweds. Mr and Mrs Randy Roberson.

A good looking couple! Randy is such a dedicated and valued member of the Jefferson Corner Liars Club that the Prunepicker had to cover the Wedding. I wish them a long and happy married life.

Here are a few pictures taken at the Wedding Reception. January 27, 2018.

Hello Spouse.

A Ride around the Delta.

My friend, Richard Maxwell had some business at his farm and timber land in Arkansas and invited me to come along for the ride. I went and had a grand tour. Saw several landmarks. Richard's farm and timber land. University of Arkansas at Monticello. The town of Gould the childhood home of the famous John Roebuck. And the monument at Jerome, Arkansas which marks the location of a WW II Japanese Relocation Camp.  I wonder if my friend from Pomona was incarcerated there.

This is Maxwell dorm at UAM. Named in memory of a Maxwell relation of Richard, my driver. Richard's roots run deep in the Delta.

The Student Union at UAM.

Maxwell Highway into the Maxwell timber.

Gould, Arkansas is the center of the Universe for a person that I know. (John Roebuck)

View into downtown Gould.

Some prime Gould Real Estate. (Just kidding, trying to get John's goat)

The Monument at Jerome, Arkansas. The WWII location of a Japanese Relocation Camp.

This is a pic of Richard Maxwell, my stalwart driver. He worked hard all day.

An evening with the Carpenters.

In the late 1960s Jackie and I lived about ten miles from Long Beach State. One evening we attended a program put on by the college music department. We had friends who had a child in the program. The program had performances by Richard and Karen Carpenter. They later gained great fame as the Carpenters. Last night the local library hosted a program of Carpenter music.

Lisa Rock sang so beautifully like Karen Carpenter. She was accompanied by two talented musicians on the drums and piano.

Here is a short video of Lisa singing.

Rosa has moved!

I had a nice visit with Rosa today. She has moved from Monroe to West Monroe and is living with her daughter Tina. Needless to say, they are both happy about the move. (I know that I am) See them smile in the selfie. Why am I in the selfie.? I must be a ham.

I thought that Tina and her grandson made a nice picture. The baby is named River and is also Rosa's great grandson. Isn't he a good looking redhead? Five months old.

Rosa asked me to tell the gang at Jefferson Corner that she misses them very much.

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The hard freeze of 2018.

I am still in the hard freeze of 2018. It is 20 degrees at eleven am. My water line is frozen and the water pump to use the trailer on board water supply is kaput. I brushed my teeth (and made coffee) from a water bottle this morning. The temperature is supposed to go above freezing for a couple of hours at 2 pm. I hope it warms up enough to thaw my frozen water line.

I was doing fine keeping my water line open (a low flow into the sink) until 3 this morning. I had checked the water at 2 am and it was fine. At three the water was frozen regardless of the small flow. At five I tried to pump water from my tank and the lines inside the trailer were freezing up. The temperature dropped quite a bit at three am. (to 9 degrees!) I sleep in the bedroom with the door closed. (keep it warm with electric heater) When I checked the temperature in the front room it was 35 degrees. Must have been below freezing in the compartment where the indoor water lines are. I should have kept the front room warm and the cupboard doors open. Live and learn!

Pictures of the snow yesterday morning.

100 million baskets of dirt.

I attended a meeting of the Northeast Louisiana Genealogical and Historical Society last Sunday. Dr Diana M Greenlee gave a fascinating lecture on "The Monumental Earthworks of Poverty Point". Poverty Point is a group of earth mounds that were built over thousands of years starting 3500 years ago.

Poverty Point might have been the first city in North America. Dr Greenlee said it was the New York City of the day. It would have been something to see.

 I found the subject very interesting. Ancient people built mounds and stone formations all over the world. Why this all powerful urge to move dirt? It is estimated that the construction at Poverty Point required 100 million baskets of dirt to be carried to the site.

Happy 97th Birthday, Tommy Ledford

What a lovely party! Almost the whole town was there to show Tommy their respect and love. Even the Mayor come to the party. He is the middle white head in the picture below. Tommy is in his recliner.

Tommy has great grand children. These three entertained. See the short video at the bottom of this post.

The old Prunepicker insisted on a dual selfie with Tommy. I have  several meals a month (for ten plus years) with Tommy. At the VFW and at the Council on Aging. We discovered that 74 years ago we were both in the Army and stationed at Camp Cooke near Santa Maria, California. It is a small world, huh?

Don't they play and sing great?

Moving dirt.

In my lifetime I have seen tremendous progress (a tipping point) in man's ability to move dirt. When I was four years old (1929) I watched my Dad excavating dirt for the basement of a large church. He was using a team of horses to pull a metal excavator (a Fresno) full of dirt up a sloping bank out of the hole for the basement.

It was an impressive sight. My Dad was an impressive figure in the many men involved. The Fresno scraper (called a Fresno) was invented around 1775 in Fresno, California. Prior to this time most of man's earth scraping and dirt moving was done using many men and shovels. (Even the 400 mile long Erie Canal. 40 foot wide and four foot deep. Later deepened to 12 feet.)

This is a picture of an early Fresno.

Here is a model showing the addition of wheels. Some early Fresnos were large enough to require more than a single team of horses.

Take a look at the latest Fresnos. Now called excavators. I drive through the construction site for a freeway interchange several times a week. It will take cost 23 million dollars and take five years to build. It is interesting to see the earth moving that is taking place. They are using several of these behemoths.

You must agree that the change from men with shovels to the huge machines of today is a great change. My Dad (and the Egyptian Pharaohs.) would be very impressed.

The picture above is of my Dad taken in the 1920s. At that time he was doing contract work with his team of horses (Bert and Beck) in Pomona. California. I remember visiting the team in the barn.