PrunePicker

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

13th Leg of My Farewell Tour of the West Coast. Corona, California to Maricopa, Arizona.

About 350 miles today. I will drive by Palm Springs and Indio. I am going to visit Sharon Lee Jordan in Maricopa, Arizona. She is a friend from the early nineties in Chimacum. She forwards to me many emails every week which I appreciate.

She called me yesterday and advised me to look out for flash floods in the Maricopa area.

Last day at the Shafai's in Eastvale.

Yesterday was my last full day at the Shafai's. Their address used to be Corona but their section of the area incorporated as a new California city, Eastvale. So they changed their city but stayed in the same house!

Our last supper together was at the famous Bob's Big Boy. In front of Bob is Annie, Max, Jack, and Charlie. The boy's grand mother Nancy and their great grandfather the Old Prunepicker joined the Shafai's for supper.

Charlie and Max did some chalk art on the patio cement.

Charlie got some chalk on his hands.

So did Max.

Mittens and Hunter shared a bowl of dog food. Both heads were in the dish at the same time.

Paymaan and his cousin Ali were able to stop by for a visit.

Paymaan instructed his son to be a "sweet boy" while he was gone. "Sweet Boy" is a Southern Admonition. If only we knew what a sweet boy is.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

I arrive at Paymaan and Annie Shafai's in Eastvale, California.

It was exciting. I had not seen These folks for two years. In the case of Max, the four year old, it had been half of his life.

Max 4

Charlie 5

Jack 9

The beautiful redhead Annie kissing red headed Jack, would not tell her age.

It was good to see Hunter again.

And Mittens.

Brave Annie walks her two oldest boys to school. Because of foot surgery her left leg is in a cast almost to her knee.

Charlie and his friend are looking forward to the day in school with great joy.

Grandma Nancy and her three gransons share a moment of mirth. Nancy is at Annie's to help out while Paymaan is out of town on business.

Monday, August 20, 2012

Sunday Morning at Coast Hills Community Church.

This is Bob Wright's Church. Bob and I went there for the Sunday Service yesterday. I have been to this Church before and enjoy the place. They play a lot of music and have outstanding visual effects. They have a large and enthusiastic attendance at two Sunday morning services. The Church is up in the Coast Hills overlooking the Pacific Coast.

I think that the Preacher was casually dressed.

These young folks had just just made a missionary trip up the coast to as far as Seattle.

Notice the ever present Saddleback Mountain in the background.

A Seagull, a Pelican, a Fisherman, and nine Paddle boarders.

And then he is joined by nine young lady paddle boarders!

One of the paddle boarders looked to be 8 1/2 months pregnant!

Visitors from Pomona to Dana Point.

Dan and Diana Butcher visited the Wrights in Dana Point. Dan is my sister Jean's son. He is my nephew and cousin of Nancy Ann. Dan is retired from a lifetime of service in the Los Angeles Fire Department. Diana is retired from a lifetime of service in the Pomona School System. She is a Librarian.

They made the trip in their new yellow Jeep.

It was so good to see the Butchers. I am so glad that they made a visit to Dana Point. Diana and Nancy talked quilts for an hour or two. Some time was devoted to discussing politics.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

A Summer Picnic.

The WFY Company held a picnic for employees and friends in a park in Irvine. Bob Wright invited me. It was a nice picnic.

A contractor conducted the picnic.

Food again.

Bob has a beautiful delivery of the water bomb. But he did not win. I am sorry to say that he blamed the loss on his partner.

Hula hoop.

Train.

A walk in Dana Point with Dennis and Bob.

These guys invited me on a walk in Dana Point. My car had been strategically placed where I could drop out of the walk when the walk ran into hills.

A couple of rugged guys!

The lots marked by the retaining walls in the background are valued at 2 to 3 million dollars. I believe that there is a view of the ocean from the lots.

Very faint in the background you can see Saddleback in the Santa Ana Mountains. It was a hazy morning.

Always on the phone.

Another view of Dana Point Harbor.

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.