Homecoming 2018 at Louisiana Tech.

This is an account of my Friday Night and Saturday at the 2018 Louisiana Tech Homecoming. I started at a softball game and a volley ball game on Friday evening. Saturday I had lunch at the football game tail gate festivities and attended the first half of the Homecoming football game.

I was so pooped that last night I had the best nights sleep in a long time. I need to go to more homecomings.

A pic at the softball game.  Tech played Northwest.

The volley ball game.

Hooray! The cheer leaders were there. They add a lot to the game. We won one game against UTEP and were competitive in the others.

Seven year Coach Adriano de Souza hard at work.

Tail gate party at Bulldog Village.

Mrs Smiley Reeves found me in the crowd and put me in line for a College of Education tail gate meal. What a nice lady. She has been my swimming class instructor for eleven years. (She was a teen ager when I started the class). I have been taking 3 units per quarter. Have not missed a quarter in the eleven years. I am scheduled to graduate with a degree in swimming in seven years.

Beans, rice, brisket, and sausage. Good!

On to the football game.

We won the game against UTEP.  31 to 24.

Ethan is 18!!!

Ethan Charles Newberry is my oldest great grandson. We joined him and his Mom Joy for lunch in honor of his birthday on Thursday October 18. Joy shot this photo. L to R, the old Prune Picker (great grandpa), Ethan Charles Newberry, Kerry Lee Adams (grandma), and John Morgan Adams (grandpa).

On his homecoming Ethan had a lovely date.

In the midst of all these good tines Ethan found time to open a "letter of acceptance" to enrollment next fall at Louisiana Tech.

That is grand! Congratulations Ethan. I am looking forward to watching you in your college years. I am so proud of you.

All States Picnic.

I was raised in an interesting time in an interesting place. I am thinking 1930 to 1940 in Pomona, California. It was the crest of the Great Depression. Hard times. People were leaving the Dust Bowl and the harder times in the Mid-West and moving to California. Many came to Pomona. I was raised with their children. Many were Okies (my older brothers married into this group, great sisters in law), many were from Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, and other states in that area.

We had an disparaging nickname for anyone who had been born in California. This minority were called Prune Pickers. I was and am a Prune Picker. (native born Californian) I was at many a gathering of friends where I was the only Prune Picker present. I heard lots of stories about life in the Mid-West.

These people were homesick. They got together and started having an All States Picnic once year in Ontario. (next town east of Pomona). Euclid Avenue in Ontario was an ideal spot for such an affair. A straight main drag with a landscaped strip down the middle. Each state had a marked section of a picnic table placed down the middle of Euclid Avenue. Thousands attended. The picnic table reached two miles in length. The table was mentioned in "Believe it or not by Ripley". It was an exciting affair to me. The following photos bring back many memories to me.

Terry Bradshaw could not make it.

Fifty years ago the Louisiana Tech football team won a national championship. My son in law John Adams and Terry Bradshaw were on the team. That team is being honored at the football game at Tech this evening. Wouldn't you know it, Terry can not be here. The poor guy is in Hawaii to cover a football game on the Fox network. His ex team mates really feel sorry for him, having to be in Hawaii.

Last night the 1968 team enjoyed a fish fry. John took me as his date.

Here is a close up of John.

Fifty years ago these guys were all big, loaded with muscles, and mean. Now they are all nice old men. Fifty years can make a big change.

The fish fry was great. Tonight John is taking ten of his family to the Tech/UAB game. I am looking forward to it.

Vital Signs for September 2018

I had an esophagus stretch. It was really stretched. I had terrible pain spasms. Went to the emergency room and had an xray, ekg, and a catscan. After several days the spams went away. Doing good now. Do not eat for an hour or two in the morning. When I do eat I eat very slowly and try to feel every swallow before eating more. So far, so good.

Lost five pounds. 225 to 220. Hope to be 215 at the end of September. I have lost 30 pounds since the first of May.

My first volley ball game of the season.

Tech played Marshall from West Virginia. They soundly beat us. It was nice to watch tall pretty girls run around.

Coach DeSousa coaching.

The old PrunePicker changed his phone number.

I hated to do it. It is going to cause a lot of trouble. But a while ago I had an encounter with a scammer. Since then I have changed my passwords. But I still get phone calls from crooks, scammers, and hackers. I block the numbers but they still keep calling. It gives me the creeps to know that the crook is still out there with my phone number. I am afraid that he has told all of his fellow crooks that I am a possible mark and to give me a call.

I get several hacker calls a week, sometimes two in one day. It is very unnerving and inconvenient. My new number is unlisted and unpublished. I hope that the crooks do not get it. If you wish to contact me or wish to have my new phone number please contact me through the Facebook message service or by email (chuck.monson@gmail.com)

The change of my phone number may not help but I thought that it was worth a try. I am sorry for any bother this might cause you.

Esophagus stretch. 20 plus hours of pain spasms!

I had a medical procedure yesterday morning (9.21.2018) to have my esophagus stretched. This is the seventh time since 2002 that I have had this procedure done to help me swallow.

About two hours after the procedure I started having pain from my esophagus. They were spasmodic and lasted one four of five minutes. The pain was bad, up to a 8 or 9. I yelled, swore, and prayed. I called the clinic. They inferred my stretch job had been substantial and my esophagus may have been damaged and recommended that I go to the emergency room and get an Xray.

Wonderfull John drove me to the hospital. I had an Xray, EKG, and a cat scan. I was laying there thinking about surgery to repair a torn esophagus. Bad vision!

I also had hope that the doctor would give me some pills and tell me to go home and take them. THAT IS WHAT HAPPENED1 The pills were an anti spasm pill. I am glad that I had the tests. We now know that there is nothing torn or bleeding.

This morning I am still having pain spasms. However they are 30 plus minutes apart and usually only one or two on the pain scale, One or two times the pain has reached 3 or 4.

It has been 22 hours since the procedure. The pain spasms have decreased dramatically. I slept for five hours straight last night, I have not done that for years. John and I got in bed late.

I lost one pound yesterday. That is a hard way to lose weight.

I should have listened to David!

aaaa

The picture above illustrates what happened to me when I did not listen to David. (David Newberry, my grand son in law.

I was stepping down some steps at a football game Monday night. I was right by David when he said do not go that way. I thought that I was stepping down on a step. but the step was not there! There should have been but there was not/ I am blind in the middle of my left eye and do not have very good (none?) depth perception. When I let my foot down. no step, I fell! I thought that there was a scratch on the back of my left arm. I could not see it. My family could see a bloody wound and gathered around. Got me bandaged and John drove me to the emergency room. Another bandage and  a tetanus shot.

I was thrilled by the tender loving care that I received, both from my family and the Ruston Hospital. I only wish that I had listened to David. Next time I will. (So soon old, so late smart!)

75 years changes your photo!

The photo on the left was taken in 1943 when I was in basic training to be a Combat Engineer. (WW II)

The right photo was taken seventy five later in 2018  when I was in advanced training for my "Golden Years".