Along the Riverwalk.

I walk for about 30 minutes from my hotel to the Convention Center. I walk along the Riverwalk all the way. Lots of beautiful scenery. Boat after boat full of people. Every so often a taxi boat comes along. For five bucks they will carry me to the Center.

It is quiet along the Riverwalk in the morning. There are many full-time ducks, pigeons, and sparrows.

It is busy in the evening.

This band played pretty plaintive music featuring pipes.

This band played traditional Mexican music. I like it.

This duck will eat out of your hand.

This boat is set up for a white linen supper for bunch of people.

The Riverwalk is really a busy lively place. Great place for people watching. It makes for a really interesting walk to the Conference,

I hope Skip checks my blog.

Learning how little I know about genealogy.

Having a great time at the Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference in San Antonio. I have told my family that the one thing I have really learned so far was how little I knew about genealogy. I have been inspired to dig in and learn.

Entrance to the Convention Center.

Register.

450 page syllabus.

Notice below the title of the lecture "How to properly clean a tombstone"

Not many technical meetings have a lecture on how to clean tombstones!

Jim Spaulding. Sweet man. Good Friend.

My friend Jim Spaulding passed away on the 20th. He left his mark. He painted the Evergreen Coho Resort several times.. He spent many hours blessing my life with his company. Meals, walks and work parties. God Bless You, Jim. RIP.

This is a picture of Jim that I took in 2013 when I visited him in Eureka.

Two-thirds of the old waling buddies of Chimacum.

All three of the walking buddies of Chimacum.

Prune picker, Bill Friel, and Jim Spaulding. What happy days! We walked together for a dozen years or more. I cherish the memory.

Stopped for lunch on my way to San Antonio today.

I had lunch at the oldest barbecue restaurant in Texas. It is in the town of Lockhart. The restaurant has always been in the hands of the Black Family. The sign on the front says 82 years!

Every thing was good. I had the brisket.

This couple are from the Hill Country. We had a great visit.

There is a toll road going south from Lockhart. The speed limit is 85. If you allow ten per cent over you can set the cruise control on 94 and really make time!

Prune picker blog going from one/day to one/week.

My first blog post was on April 11, 2010. I have been blogging for 1595 days (4 plus years). I have posted to my blog 2,322 times. My blog has been viewed 239,993 times.

My average posts per day has been almost 1 1/2. The averaged number of views per day is 150. I thank you for reading. I hope you have enjoyed my blog. It has been a source of inspiration for me and fun to do. My memory has been jogged so many times. I am pleased to have so many memories available now in print (digital).

I have two things that I feel that I must do. They are going to require time and my attention. I have to give something up. (I only have so much attention) So I am going to reduce my blog posts from one per day to one or two a week. I have felt driven to do a post each day. It is going to be hard to give it up.

The two things that I want to do are 1) write my life story and 2) complete as near as I can, some family trees. At the very least I want to do a tree for me and one for Jackie. My tree is not that interesting. Just a bunch of Munson/Monsons and Knowlton's back to England. But Jackie's tree will really be something. Irish, Swiss, Scottish, and Choctaw.

I think that I will take tomorrow off.

Gourmet Restaurant in Swartz, Louisiana.

A group went for a plate lunch at the swankiest restaurant in Swartz on Thursday. The gracious hostess escorted us to our table.

The entree was  Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti. Delicious, spiced just right.

The meal was topped off with a piece of Rhonda's Buttermilk pie. Hmm Hmm good!

The dining room now has nine chairs and three tables. Lots of room for the distinguished diners.

This gourmet restaurant is inside the Hart's Corner Convenience Store in Swartz, Louisiana. Plate lunch served five days a week. The best part of the place is the staff. Rosa Lee Blakley and Rhonda Michelle Blakley Ray.

This Munson cousin bought his land from Stephen F Austin, the Father of Texas.

Henry William Munson was born in Natchez, Mississippi and owned land in the Alexandria, Louisiana area for a time and then joined the people who were answering the call of Stephen Austin for settlers to settle a huge body of land in Texas.

Henry William Munson bought land that was located next to land owned by Austin. He moved on to the land in 1824. He paid one dollar per acre, payable in a year. It was prime land picked out by his friend Austin. It was located inland from Freeport, Texas in what is now Brazoria County. This is close to what is considered to be the birthplace of Texas.

With 20 slaves Henry built a successful cotton and cattle ranch. He named it the Oakland Plantation.

He had lived near Oakland Plantations in Mississippi and Louisiana. He lived an active life and fought in the Texas Revolution. He die at age forty in a cholera plague in 1833. I have a great grand father who died that same year in Kentucky from a cholera plague.

The family still has the ranch. In recent years they have donated 10 acres for the establishment of a historic park. It is in Angleton and is named the Henry William Munson Park. A 70 foot concrete statue of Austin has been placed in the park.

There is a lake that is shaped like the map of Texas. I guess that I will have to go see the park. You do not see a lake shaped like Texas every day.

Henry lived a busy 40 years. Lived in three states, fought in several battles, and established a ranch. He found time to father eight children. His death bed request was "educate my children". They were.

My cousin was a Senator of The Republic of Texas.

When Texas was annexed by the United States in 1846 a Munson was there. In Volume II of the five volume set of The Munson Record on page 871 the following is written.

Henry J Munson b 26 Jun 1807 d 11 Aug 1863.
Received a Medical degree from Fairfield Medical College,
He practiced in several cities. The last was in Caldwell, Texas.
He was a Senator in the The Republic of Texas when Texas became part of the United States.

The citizens of The Republic of Texas were called Texians. Henry was one. Caldwell is close to College Station. I will be driving through College Station on the way to San Antonio next week.

Gone To Texas.

Have you ever heard that old expression? Starting early in the 19th century many people moved from the East and the North to settle in Texas. They would paint "Gone To Texas" on their abandoned homes and fences so people would know where they were.

Well next week I will be writing that phrase on my trailer and blog. But it is only temporary. I will be back the following week. I did enjoy my ten years of living in Texas and am excitedly looking forward to my visit to San Antonio.

Between walks to the Alamo I will be attending lectures at the FGS Conference. The Conference will be held at the Henry B Gonzalez Convention Center.

In 1985 (my last year of working) I attended an oilfield convention in this building. It will be interesting to see it 30 years later. My how time flies! I will ride a river boat again.

(Widower 35) My corkscrewed esophagus caused my brain to bleed.

Let me explain. Hard swallowing caused by the corkscrewed esophagus caused me to pass out and hit the floor hard with my head. This hitting the floor damaged my brain and started it bleeding. This incident and the recovery took up most of the first half of 2013. And a good part of my recent widowerhood.

On January 25, 2013 I had trouble swallowing (almost the first swallow of the day).  I was standing and held on to the counter. I thought that as usual the feeling of passing out soon would go away. I was wrong. I passed out and awoke laying on my back. I did not feel any concern because there was no feeling of pain like a severe blow to the head should have caused. My brain was damaged and was slowly bleeding until I had a slight stroke two months later on March 24. John took me to the emergency room. An x-ray showed the bleeding. The next day a surgeon opened my skull and stopped the bleeding.

A couple of weeks later in rehab two nurses removed 38 staples and one stitch.

I spent about two weeks in rehab plus some time at home. I was a star at rehab.

It was good to get home. A year and a half later I feel completely recovered from the head trauma. I still have trouble swallowing. It seems to be getting worse. I may have to go and have my esophagus stretched. I am careful about swallowing and try to eat sitting down. 

Well that almost brings my notes on my life story up to date. I have covered various stories from birth to now. I hope to pull these notes from my blog archives, edit, and combine them into one volume. 

Chickens eat flowers and flower plants!

I was reading the paper in the gazeba. As usual the six chickens came to visit. They do not linger, however.

I noticed a group feeding on a flower.

This what they left of the flower plant.

This picture was taken a day later. The chickens really like that plant. They may dig it out and eat the roots!