Separated at birth.....?

First of all let me say that we in Midland are proud of our homegrown talent, Eric Winston, who was taken in the 3rd round of the NFL draft by the Houston Texans. After a stellar career at Lee High School and the University of Miami it will be nice to see someone we are familiar with playing in the pro ranks. The Bride and Jack know Eric's little brother from various sporting events.

But did Eric's picture in today's sports section of the MRT remind anyone else of some other familiar characters?

An added benefit...

As far as volunteer activism goes I've never lived in a city where so many people give of their time, energy and assets as they do in Midland. I try to follow the example set by such friends as Pat and Joan Baskin and the late Dean Stoltz as well as my parents in giving something back. The people who give freely do it for several reasons I think. Foremost, they want to participate in something that may help someone else, they enjoy what they do and they enjoy the company of other like minded citizens. This truly is enough, but it does feel good to be noticed and honored with an award occasionally, even if one feels somewhat undeserving.

It was a day...

I don't feel like writing a long expose of the day today, perhaps some details later. But it was a busy and interesting day. I attended events at two organizations I love and support, the Sibley Nature Center and the Commemorative Air Force. An open house for patrons at The Sibley and a seminar at the CAF to hear Col. Joe Kittinger speak. I had dinner with the Colonel at a small affair last night, found him quite personable and didn't want to miss his talk today.

OK, so I'm going to write more than I intended but you'll want to know that Joe was the guy who tested most all of the high altitude ejection systems used to this day by NASA and modern military pilots. To do this he made many trips in balloons over the New Mexico desert in the late 50's and early 60's. No ordinary trips, most were over 75,000 ft. where Joe parachuted out until he hit 18,000 ft. were his main parachute opened. His most historic flight took him to the edge of space at an amazing altitude of 102,800 ft. where Joe bailed out in -100° temperatures. Because of the very limited air at this altitude he hit speeds approaching 700 mph, becoming the only person ever to break the sound barrier without a powered vehicle. His altitude and speed record still stands after 46 years. Use the link above to see the remarkable photo of Joe exiting the balloon on his final and highest jump. Joe joked that his commanders were very proud that he hit his ground targets within a quarter of a mile on most jumps. Joe says that this really didn't matter to him. His personal target was "anywhere in New Mexico, Earth".

As if this wasn't enough of a career, Joe later when on to fly threee combat tours in Vietnam, where on his last tour he shot down a MIG-21 and then sometime later he was shot down himself, landing in the infamous Hanoi Hilton for two years. Later Joe became the first man to solo a balloon across the Atlantic, going from Maine to Italy.

And remind me to relate to you at a later date the details of one of the funniest war stories I've ever heard. The one where Joe loaded up half a years supply of empty Pearl longneck beer bottles, over 10,000 by his count, into the bomb bay of his A-26 bomber, took off at night and flew over North Vietnam. Finding the biggest road he could locate he dropped down to under 100 ft. and opened the bomb doors. Having so much fun with this he did it 4 more times. He has always wondered what the hell the North Vietnamese must have thought, finding about a half mile of broken Pearl longnecks on their road.

And if this wasn't excitement enough for the day, when I arrived home from the CAF, there in my email box were not one, but two personal emails from Peter Noone. For those of younger ages, that is none other than Herman of Herman's Hermits. More on this later.....

What...the pond again?

One of the things I love about West Texas is the vastness of the interplay between the sky and land. Land of the High Sky is our old motto. And last night the sky was wide, high, vast and beautiful with thunderclouds made more beautiful by the setting sun. I'm a sucker for big thunderhead photos and since we live in a treescaped neighborhood I usually have to run down to the duck pond to capture the full sky in a photograph.

So.....please bear with me today's Picture of the Day is yet another view of clouds over the duck pond. And this time the limitations of my digital camera are evident, to me anyway. Being dusk I had to bring up the brightness and contrast thus losing some of the sharp clarity of the cloud features. I should have taken one of my 35mm cameras with the panoramic lenses.

Cheetah lives.....!

While browsing the blog of my web friend Neo-NeoCon, I was amazed to see that the original chimp star of the old 30's Tarzan films, Cheetah, is still alive at the age of 74! Not only alive but apparently doing quite well with an art career to boot! If you're like me you haven't thought of Cheetah in a very, very long time and one would have to assume that the chimp star would have died many decades ago. Finding and seeing the picture of Cheetah again was like finding an old friend.

Easter.....

Whether you are a devout Christian or just a person trying to do the best he can in life, Easter is a good time to reflect on becoming a better and more useful citizen of humanity. For some reason this morning as I thought about the day, some of the old sayings and proverbs that have meaning started to come back to me. Some from the Bible, some from Alcoholics Anonymous. Here are a variety in no particular order:

Gratitude is an attitude

First things first

Where there is hatred, let me sow love

Let go and let God

Yesterday is a cancelled cheque, tomorrow is a promissory note, only today is cash in the bank.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy

Grant that I may not so much seek to be understood as to understand

It is in giving that we receive

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

This too shall pass

Acceptance is the key to my serenity

If you desire many things, many things will be seem but a few

And from Mark Twain these gems....

Let us not be too particular; it is better to have old secondhand diamonds than none at all.

The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up.

If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.

Wildflowers...

Today's picture of the day reflects Spring in West Texas. I have been intending to photograph this spectacular field of wildflowers every time I am at the Sibley Nature Center on business but have not had my camera with me when there. Today I made a special trip just to get the shot. Not entirely what I want as one day last week there was a beautiful thundercloud to the south which would have added a wonderful backdrop to the image, but the photographers life is never idyllic so I will settle on this early morning shot for now.

It is always nice when a family returns to Midland to visit their old home, a home were they lived as a young family just starting out on life's journey. Nice for the family and especially nice for the community when the family includes two Presidents of the United States and two state governors [don't forget Jeb].

President George H.W. Bush, wife Barbara and First Lady Laura Bush were all in attendance this afternoon when their newly restored home on Ohio St. in Midland was officially dedicated as The Bush Childhood Home. The Bush home has been restored to look much like it did in the later 1950's when they lived there for several years while President Dubya Bush was in elementary school. Much work and even more money has gone into refurbishing the home through funds raised privately within the community to honor not only the current President but also the senior Bush's for their service to community and country.

The dedication ceremony was nice with the Bush's and a few of their old friends from those days relating stories of the warmth and friendliness that Midland is reknowned for. A pleasant event. However here's a word for the organizers of the dedication. Next time you have an event don't put the raised media platform in front of the entire crowd. No one could see the speakers.

The Bush Childhood Home is only about one half a mile from the Bedford estate so we're hoping a few tourist drop by and notice our new roof repairs which, God willing, will take place next week.

Memories....

I mentioned a month or so ago that through the Internet I had found and contacted the two families who now occupy the homes in St. Louis where my grandparents lived and where my parents grew up. The current owners were nice enough and had promised to send photos of the homes that held so many memories for me. But, people are people, and to date I have received no images from them.

But coincidence does sometimes have a way of helping us along. While on my fraternity fishing trip last month I was reminded that of all things, one of my fishing buddies grew up in Webster Groves, Mo. Webster is the small township in St. Louis where my Mom grew up and is next to Kirkwood, home of my Dad. I asked my buddy if he still knew anyone in Webster who might take a picture or two for me. "No problem", Phil said, his sister Molly still lived there and he would put me in contact with her. And that he did.

Even more coincidentally Molly lives just one block over from the old home of my cousins and is a board member of the Webster Groves historical society. Stranger still she was born in the same hospital as my sister.....in Summit, New Jersey. Molly was more than kind in offering information about Webster Groves and Kirkwood, and was even familiar with my great grandfather's old homestead which is now an exclusive development known as Craig Woods. She said that she would love to take the photos, and that she did.

Here at 35 S. Rock Hill Road is the beautiful old home where my mother spent her high school days. And I suppose the front porch is where my Dad used to show up to take her down the street to the soda fountain. My parents met and started dating in high school. Met through my Dad's cousin Pat, who lived one block over from where Molly lives today. Strange.

Worth the effort.....

Like most photographers, I take pictures just for the pleasure of doing so, or to record moments I don't want to forget. The vast majority of photos never make it beyond my computer, a website or hanging on the walls of our home or my office, but sometimes things happen to make the effort all the more special.

Today I received an email from the secretrary of automotive racing legend Dan Gurney. Legend is a word too often thrown around in sports circles, but is the only word to describe Gurney, who for the last 50 years has driven sports cars, Formula One cars, NASCAR and Indy Cars with great success, in addition to designing and building cars and owning premier racing teams. He remains the only US citizen to win a Grand Prix in a car of his own construction. Dan is the first driver ever to win races in the four major categories of motorsports: Grand Prix, Indy Car, NASCAR and Sports Car. To this day he is one of only two drivers in history (the other being Mario Andretti) who have ever accomplished that.

What Kathy, Mr. Gurney's assistant, wanted to know in her email was whether I would sell them a photograph I had taken of Dan and the other luminary drivers that had attended the Chaparral Museum opening in 2004 here in Midland. A good shot of 7 of the sports premier figures such as Phil Hill and Gil de Ferran seated together on the panel with Gurney honoring Jim Hall. Apparently my Chaparral website had drawn their attention and Kathy got my email address therein.

I had to write back and tell Kathy that I was sorry that I could not sell the photograph to Mr. Gurney but that it would be my great privelage and honor to have one printed to give to him. And indeed it is just that......