Jefferson Corner opens on Valentine Day. Today.

It was good to see Dot again. I met Robert Morse the new Manager.

Panoramic view from just inside the door. 15 tables have been ordered for the dance floor. If you look hard you can see Tommy in the last booth.

Robert Morse.

Dot hard at work.

Another trip to Arcadia bluegrass.

The North Louisiana Bluegrass Club has a bluegrass show of several bands every second Saturday at the old RR Station. It is a great show. A volunteer donation is the only cost to you. I have been going to the program for seven years. I do not miss very many.

Last week they had an article in the local newspaper and a picture of a band playing. The article really increased the attendance. I went last Saturday and there was a nice group to enjoy the music.

It is worth the trip to see Grassfire. There are usually three other bands.

It is a fun trip. You'll come!

Snow last night.

It is a hard snow, half ice. Layer of ice over much of it.

John finished his shed just in time.

I had to reach around the door and chop up ice with my hammer to get out.

John adds on to his workshop.

John's first week of retirement was spent building a lean to on the end of his workshop. There was a  shed about 6 by 10 feet left by the previous owner. John took it down and replaced it with a 12 by 20 foot lean to. John is a real builder. When I came home from Monroe today he was nailing shingles on the roof.

His new lean to will easily park his 4 by 4. And keep a lot of lumber dry.

How come I was born in California?

The picture above is probably the oldest family picture that I have. It is a picture of my mother and her family, the Edwin John Knowlton and Ermina Delphine (Haight) Knowlton family. My mother is the teen-age girl on the left side of the group. It was taken in Sterling, Kansas about 1905. When it came into my possession I was thrilled to see a picture of my mother when she was a girl. I do not have many pictures of my mother. When I was a child all of these uncles and Aunt Marjorie lived in California, and had for a long time. I believe that I met most of them. One was a lawyer, one was a streetcar conductor, one worked for the electric company, and several worked for California oil companies. Several lived in the San Francisco Bay area.

Sterling lies in the southern-central part of Kansas. It is somewhat half way between Wichita and Salina. It is close to the Santa Fe Trail. Christian missionaries reached this area from Mexico before Plymouth.

Wyatt Earp came from this area. It is good farmland. Sterling is a pretty little town. I bet a lot of it looks just like it did in 1905. Scenes for the movie “Picnic” were shot in Sterling. In particular the scenes that were around a lake. The lake is still there with a big swan on it.

My grandfather was from Michigan and my grandmother was from New York. Here they are farmers in Kansas in 1905. And from the looks of the clothes in the picture I would say that they were prosperous farmers. See the suits and ties, and the sailor suit on the youngest boy. They look so settled in Sterling, Kansas. One of my sisters said that Grandpa Knowlton was a gentleman farmer. He lived in town and would ride a fine horse out to his farm to oversee operations.

My Dad was Grandpa Knowlton’s hired man. In the 1900 Census my Dad is listed as living in the Knowlton household. In the 1910 Census he was a Ranch Foreman living in California. On the way to California he stopped at an Uncle’s (Monson) home in Oklahoma so my Mom could give birth to my oldest sister. Mom and Dad had been married in Sterling about 8 months before the birth.

Most of these folks moved to California soon after this picture. Why would they move to California when they looked so well off in Kansas? I never thought much about it until I started getting into genealogy recently. I have made two visits to Sterling.  The visits were a couple of days long. I would drive around the town and the surrounding farmland and think about my Mom and Dad

A Christian College was established in Sterling around 1880. It is still in operation. Sterling College has a few nice buildings and beautiful grounds. A train station that was built around then was built with his and her waiting rooms. You would not want men and women waiting for trains in the same room, would you?

In the 1910 Census all of the Knowltons, six sons and my Aunt Marjorie were living in Long Beach, California. My Mom and Dad and two oldest daughters were living in the Imperial Valley. They were to have nine children. I am number nine.

Here is my deduction from this data. Sterling and America in 1905 were very straitlaced. My Mother became pregnant. Dad and Mom were married and left town. The Knowltons sold their farm and moved to Long Beach, California soon after that. The Knowltons could not live in Sterling after the early pregnancy of my Mom. So they moved. Parents and seven children. It must have been a traumatic time for the Knowltons. And my Mom and Dad.

So that is how come I was born in California. It is because of romance in Sterling, Kansas.

I am proud of this Selfie!

Seven Louisiana Tech Lady Techster Softball Players were kind enough to join me. I sure wish them the best. I really like to watch them. I think it is a great game. So fast! I will be at many of the home games.

What a nice group. Aren't they good looking? There are 18 Louisiana Tech Lady Techster Softball players. One is from Louisiana, three are from California, one is from Alaska, and ten are from Texas. They all play and hit good.

I need a 12th man!

I need help in motivation. Last April I came home from brain surgery. It was a tough time for eating. I weighed in at 225 pounds. This was down 20 pounds from my normal. In the eight months since then I have gained three pounds per month. I am up to 252 pounds. That is the most that I have every weighed. It is a very unhealthy weight. I can barely reach the floor, I have lost much agility. I just do not feel good at this weight.

I need to make a big change in my lifestyle. Cut calories and exercise. Once a week I plan to report my weight and the steps that I made in the previous week.

I have followed this routine before. I believe that it helped. My blog will be my 12th man.

Cold weather softball tournament.

After Friday lunch at the Senior Center I went to the Lady Techster Softball Invitational. There are six teams and they will play 15 games Fri, Sat, and Sun. It was cold. At one pm it was just above 32 degrees. At least it was not snowing.

The Lady Techsters were playing Martin, Tennessee. It was pretty, other than being so cold! I was sitting right behind Mr and Mrs Right Ear. I thought that I will get a good ear picture now.

Would you look at that! He had his ears all wrapped up.

We were quite a bit ahead, so I went home to warm up.

(Army 26) Copy of Discharge and Purple Heart Award.

Front of Discharge

Back of Discharge

Purple Heart Award

Barely legible copies, but I wanted a copy here for possible reproduction in a booklet.

Bulldogs vs Tulsa. Most exciting basketball game of the season for me!

We were behind a basket or two almost the whole game. Then we caught up in the last 3 or 4 minutes.  A Bulldog made 5 out of six free throws in the last few minutes. The fans really loved the game and made a lot of noise. It was White Out Night and tee shirts were given out. A nice touch was that there was a picture of Mike White on the shirts. Mike White is the popular Head Coach of the Bulldogs.

Grandma and Grandpa Russell were out late.

The Bulldog danced with Band Director.

Our best fans were there.

I sat in a different place. This left ear is all I could get of old Right-ear!

We win. 66 to 61.

A four tuba game!