PrunePicker

Sunday, February 15, 2015

Men's basketball vs FIU. Won big 75 to 42.

The band played "Oh Lord, it is hard to be humble". 26 straight home game wins. 20 League wins this season. We are in the lead!

Four tubas and half a band.

Family of fans.

There is a pair to draw to!

Friday, February 13, 2015

Men's basketball game vs Florida Atlantic University. 2/12/2015.

Fun game to watch. We won 65 to 54. 25 straight home game wins. Undisputed league lead.

You have heard of a selfie? Well here is a stealthy. It is of Larry and Patti Hendricks. I sat with them at the game.

Here is a different shot of the tubas.

It started out an six tuba game.

They were joined by one more. Seven tuba game!

Is that a horse playing a horn? Might have something to do with Mardi Gras?

Speedy on the ball.

Easy shot of Rightear's right ear.

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Is barium milkshake good for your beard?

It does not taste too good.

The barium swallow test today looked a lot like the previous test. (Two years ago) The x-ray movie of my swallow indicates a corkscrew appearance. This is the signature of a DES or diffuse esophageal spasm. However, I am swallowing better since the Botox injection. (A month ago) We will see how long this improvement lasts.

I am going to eat carefully.

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Barium milkshake at 8 am tomorrow in Shreveport.

Oh Boy! I can hardly wait.

A nice man is going to take motion pictures of the milkshake going to my stomach.

A name for this procedure is an upper gastrointestinal (GI) barium study. Another name is a barium swallow test.

Sounds like fun, huh? I have had the procedure twice. It is not that much fun.

Techsters basketball team played Middle Tennessee State last Saturday.

They were very poor. Two of their starters could not play. It was like they were half a team. We lost 68 to 44.

I am doing this post to show how pretty the Regal Blues looked (in pink) and to show John visiting with Skip and Carolyn Russell.

They sure are pretty.

Only a three tuba game.

Watch those guys in the blue shirts!

Going home.

Sunday, February 8, 2015

Northeast Louisiana Genealogical and Historical Society. 2-8-2015

Gay G Brantley gave an interesting and informative talk on Wildlife Reserves in the United States with particular emphasis on those in the State of Louisiana.

Gay is retired after a long career with the National Wildlife Refuge System. She inspired me to go see the Refuges in this area.

Saturday, February 7, 2015

Unionville General Store, Louisiana est 1853.

There has been a Saturday morning coffee club meeting in the store for some time. Lately they have been cooking breakfast. Eggs, grits, pancakes, etc all on a wood stove. That is a real challenge. I had breakfast there this morning. They are meeting the challenge. Good food. The breakfast is attended by all the local pundits.

Entrance back into store from restroom.

Big breakfast.

George Campbell.

Pretty election signs. Very decorative.

Busy. Swim, visit Swartz, two softball games, and one basketball game. (Thursday and Friday)

There is a softball tournament at Tech. Six teams for four days. Each team plays six games. There is two Techster basketball games, Went to swim class Friday morning and drove to Swartz for lunch Friday noon. Softball games Thursday and Friday afternoon.Went to bed with the lights off last night. (TV off too)

Saturday and Sunday will also be busy. When do I get to blog and do genealogy?

Here are some pictures from the last two days.

I fed my two Jefferson Corner kitties.

Tommy is growing a mustache.

Our young coach will soon have gray hair!

He has an able assistant.

It was a challenge getting this ear photo!

Farley rode to Liars Club in a pretty new (to him) car. 2003 Thunderbird.

Visit to Swartz.

The Nolan Coleman's at the Friday softball game.

Next team waiting to go on the field.

I hate to report this. The Techsters lost two softball games and one basketball game. Meanwhile in Alabama the Bulldawgs were losing a basketball game! I hope that we do better Saturday and Sunday.

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.