Shredded Tire

Hit a rough shoulder. Right front tire went flat. I mean flat.

A tow truck and $255 fixed it like new.

Stan Pody cleaned my fifth wheel trailer.

Was so dirty. It is so clean now. Stan does such a good job.

After.

Before.

After.

Before.

Stan at work. Reasonable rates too.

First Home Softball Game of the Year.

I sat on the lawn just off first base. Stephan F Austin came to town and won a tight game 2 to 0. I saw something unusual. A call by a referee was reversed.

There was a big long discussion. A called out was reversed and the runner returned to the field.

Baseball and Softball time.

I watched some of the Dawg vs University of Arkansas at Little Rock game last night. Small crowd-- only three fans on tight wad hill. We won.

It was nice to see the Colemans at the game. They are home from the basketball finals in Vegas.

Starting this evening, March 20 and continuing through Sunday, the 31st there will be 14 baseball and softball games  played at Louisiana Tech. That is right. There will 14 games in 12 days. Can I do it?

Is there such a thing as sports fan fatigue?

Vital Signs. Tuesday morning VFW breakfast kaput!

My social life has blips now and then. Drove up to the VFW Post at 6:30 am this morning and only four of us were there. No cook. Where was JD?

Vitals

Date	Weight	Waist	Temp	BP Hi	BP Lo	Pulse	Miles	MPD
1/1/2013	241.6	50.7	96.9	137	65	78	6.5	1.0
1/8/2013	243.6	50.8	96.3	128	61	64	6.8	1.0
1/15/2013	244.4	50.7	96.5	126	59	67	11.0	1.6
1/22/2013	245.2	51.1	96.6	127	60	70	8.8	1.3
1/29/2013	244.6	50.5	97.1	147	67	69	9.5	1.4
2/5/2013	244.2	50.6	97.0	146	69	70	11.0	1.6
2/12/2013	244.8	51.3	97.0	135	63	64	11.5	1.6
2/19/2013	245.4	51.1	95.4	140	66	74	8.7	1.2
2/26/2013	243.9	50.9	97.2	136	66	69	9.2	1.3
3/5/2013	244.7	51.5	97.8	144	64	76	9.7	1.4
3/12/2013	246.1	51.1	96.3	149	68	80	5.6	.8
3/19/2013	245.5	51.5	96.3	139	60	70	8.6	1,2

Last week end was pretty busy.

Three  baseball games, one soccer game with a soccer camp, and a track meet. I even worked in a couple of lethargic moments.

Baseball games with Stephan F Austin, Friday evening and Saturday and Sunday afternoons. We lost on Friday but won the other two games. It was great shirtsleeve weather and I enjoyed the games. Stayed for an hour of the Friday game, 2 hour of the Saturday game, and 2 1/2 hour of the Sunday game. John mentions how slow baseball is. One game I thought was over but it was just the first inning that was over!

When I left my car to go to baseball game I saw the soccer field and the track area was busy. I did not feel up to going over to them to get better picture. Took several log shots. Either event would have made a blog post.

Soccer game.

Long shot of the track meet.

Soccer bleachers.

Track meet bleachers.

Pretty baseball scene during the National Anthem.

Lethargy

I am in a lethargic state quite often. I mean really lethargic.

Quite often in the car but not always. I will sit (usually have the radio on) and sit and sit. With no interest in anything. I usually go to sleep. I often spend 1 1/2 to 2 hours doing this. Not every day but sometimes twice in a day. I will pull up to Walmart or Super-one and just sit.

It is not healthy and I should stop it. It is part of feeling blue.  I need to make myself an exercise schedule. Have I mentioned that before?

Saint Patrick's Day.

Saint Patrick's Day has special significance to me. Six years ago today my wife Jackie passed away. It seems like a long time.

Jackie's paternal ancestors, the Iretons came from Ireland. Jackie's Father, Payne was half Choctaw. He was raised in the Indian Territory in Oklahoma. Payne worked in the well drilling industry most of his life.

I like this picture of Payne and Jackie.

I am planning a genealogy trip to Ireton country in Oklahoma this summer.

Why are there so many Munson//Monsons in America?

My 8th grand father Thomas Munson only had one son, Samuel. Thomas was busy founding Hew Haven and fighting in Indian Wars.

My 7th grand father Samuel founded a smaller city Wallingford. He took time out to have nine sons. But wait, those nine had 23 sons! No wonder the Thomas Munson heirs had to move west. Currently the Munson are divided into 23 Clans named after the 23 great-grandsons of Thomas. Can you imagine having 23 great grandsons? I have six.

We all know that the good bloodlines come down from women. There is a lot of attention paid to the feminine Munsons in the The Munson Record.  The Munson Record is a five volume set of Munson genealogy. I was thrilled to find my Father mentioned in Volume 3.

My family is in the Solomon Clan. They started in Connecticut, stopped in New Jersey, had a long stop in Kentucky, a short stop in Kansas, and then on to California. 

I am sure each ancestor is worthy of a blog post or two.

Spent a pretty hour at the ball game this evening.

It was good game between the Dawgs and Stephan Austin. 3 to 2 when I left to go home in the 7th.

Claire Lynch Band.

The Claire Lynch Band played good old bluegrass last night in downtown Ruston at the Dixie.

Claire sang real good.

The bass player is clogging and playing his legs.

A good show.

Guayule.

Guayule is a shrub in the aster family that is native to the Southwestern United States and Northern Mexico. It is a source for latex or natural rubber. The US was cut off from latex after Pearl Harbor. A government project to produce latex from guayule shrubs was started. I worked on a surveying crew in Kern County, California that was involved in guayule production.

I was a chain-man in a surveying crew. I must have been 16. I learned how to "throw" a hundred foot chain. A chain was a metal measuring tape. At the end of the day the tape would be coiled up in one hand. At this time you had a coil of metal tape with about a 2 to 3 foot diameter. If you knew how, you could grasp the tape in two opposite places on the coil and twist in a way that gave you a coil of half the previous diameter  This made it easier to store the tape. It took some experience, but I mastered the skill. You did not know that the old prune picker could "throw" a steel surveying tape did you?

I would venture to say that this is an obsolete skill.

After I got the government started on a solution to the natural rubber shortage I went into the Army.

I do not ever recall meeting a person who worked in Guayule. Some 10,000 people worked on the project during WW II. 

Vital Signs. Green cast picture March 12.

I am going to take a series of pictures taken from my trailer into the woods. I want to document the leafing of my space. Might be interesting. This picture taken March 12.

Vital Signs.

Date	Weight	Waist	Temp	BP Hi	BP Lo	Pulse	Miles	MPD
1/1/2013	241.6	50.7	96.9	137	65	78	6.5	1.0
1/8/2013	243.6	50.8	96.3	128	61	64	6.8	1.0
1/15/2013	244.4	50.7	96.5	126	59	67	11.0	1.6
1/22/2013	245.2	51.1	96.6	127	60	70	8.8	1.3
1/29/2013	244.6	50.5	97.1	147	67	69	9.5	1.4
2/5/2013	244.2	50.6	97.0	146	69	70	11.0	1.6
2/12/2013	244.8	51.3	97.0	135	63	64	11.5	1.6
2/19/2013	245.4	51.1	95.4	140	66	74	8.7	1.2
2/26/2013	243.9	50.9	97.2	136	66	69	9.2	1.3
3/5/2013	244.7	51.5	97.8	144	64	76	9.7	1.4
3/12/2013	246.1	51.1	96.3	149	68	80	5.6	.8