Another noted visitor...

Saturday we heard one of the most preeminent aviators in the world speak. Tonight Midland hosted the most noted paleoanthropologist living today. Dr. Richard Leakey was in town to speak at our college's semi-annual lecture series, his topic being "Why our origins matter". Leakey led us through his adventure filled life including a stint at, in effect, running the government of Kenya and how he went from high school drop out to being listed as one of Time Magazines "100 Greatest Minds of the 20th Century".

He spoke, with some degree of aplomb, about why he believed in the theory of evolution and why in his opinion this did not conflict with his strict Anglican upbringing. He reminded us that although there are millions of species known to be living today, this is just a small fraction of the total that have ever existed and are now extinct and that man is not immune from the same fate. Skirting controversy he mentioned his concerns for the environment based on his work in the conservation field, but he also gave many examples of why we have reason to be very optimistic.

The man possesses a dry sense of humor which kept the audience chuckling. A question from the audience asked "do you think that even though the Neanderthal's had become extinct, did their DNA continue on with modern man"? Leakey's quick answer was priceless.

"The answer to that is Yes and No"
"When I am at home the answer is no"
"When I'm walking through Heathrow Airport, the answer is yes"

It was quite an evening. And I'm grateful to our friends, the Davidsons, for funding this lecture series which began in 1997 and several times a year since has brought such notables as David McCullough, Ken Burns, Shelby Foote, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, Mark Russell, Bill Moyers, David Brooks, Marvin Hamlish and Bob Newhart to regale and entertain us. The Davidson Family Charitable Foundation sponsors this lecture series which is available free to all citizens who wish to attend.

And coming next September........Ben Stein.

Update: Having never been shy about contacting people by email, I sent a short note off to Ben Stein telling him how excited we were about his upcoming visit, adding that appearing after the world's most formidable paleoanthropologist would be a tough act to follow. I shortly received a pleasant and humerous note back from Ben saying that this had been his lifelong fear but that he would do his best.

Fireball.....

It was a fairly quiet around the Craig household this weekend. Jack had a few little league practices, but no games, I caught up on some yard work, we went to the stimulating talk at the CAF on Saturday night and.......oh yeah, Julie was nearly blown up in a large propane explosion.

Those from our local area reading this no doubt are aware of the explosion and subsequent fire at the Old Sorehead Trade Days in the neighboring town of Stanton, but for those reading from distant locales let Julie tell you the story over at The Yellow Bug News......

We thank God that our little homemaker, Mother and wife is OK.

The Right Stuff......

One of the things I love about living in Midland is the advantage of the city being big enough to draw some pretty interesting people, but small enough to actually meet them when they come. Tonight at the CAF we got to say hel-lo to aviation legend Scott Crossfield. If you know aviation you'll know him. If you saw the movie The Right Stuff, you will remember his name. He and Chuck Yeager were in a friendly competition to see who would be the

first to break the sound barrier.Yeager won that round primarily because the government wanted a military man to be the record setter and Scott by then was a civilian.

But Scott took every other honor thereafter, being the first man through Mach 2 and then Mach 3. He had more flights in the experimental "X" planes of that era than any other pilot and in fact Scott actually helped design the X-15 and made the first 3 flights in it. Scott was generally accepted as the best test pilot in the business working alongside Chuck Yeager and training new test pilots like Neil Armstrong who would become famous himself one day. Being the best test pilot of that era undoubtedly qualifies him as one of the best of all times.

Scott is 84 years old now and flew into town [in his own plane of course] to reagale us with stories from the golden age of aircraft design and experimentation. Can you imagine flying an "X-1" at 800 miles per hour with the windshield iced up so badly that you have to have a chase plane guide you down? Scott did it several times, among other things that he also fascinated us with in his hour and a half talk tonight. You can tell that after 70 years of piloting aircraft the man still loves talking about aviation. After he took us back to those aviation glamour days of the late 50's and early 60's he asked if were interested in hearing about his recent experiences while consulting on the anniversary flight of the Wright Brothers aircraft. We were....and so we heard his 45 minute description of this enthralling story. Scott chose the pilot who was to fly the reproduction aircraft at Kitty Hawk in 2003 and taught him how to fly it.

As I told Jack on the way home...."I'm glad you got to see Mr. Crossfield, he's as an important man in the history of aviation as there is". And he is.

PS: The most interesting and amazing thing I learned from Scott was that in all the years of flying the most cutting edge experimental aircraft in the world.....he never was instrument rated. A fact he kept well guarded. He finally had to get "certified" in 1983 when he started flying general aviation aircraft!

One armed paper hanger...

I've been busy. Busy with actual oil field business. A project that had it's germination with an idea in June 2002 is finally getting nearer reality. Now for the negotiations. These should start next week. We hold most of the cards, so it should be fun.

This development has held my attention so work on meaningful blogging has been light, except that I spent some time today generating a new, mostly private, blog for my tight knit group of old fraternity brothers. I keep in fairly regular contact with 20 or so of these guys, so a blog to let them have their say online seemed a natural. Hope they can manage the technology.

And then, speaking of technology, I have to be honest and say that some good bit of my time this week was taken up with the new PlayStation2 racing system I bought. Gran Turismo3 is something I learned about on the web. It is sports car racing, where my other PS2 racing has been of the Formula I variety. There are things about GT3 that I love and some that could be improved upon but the graphics are simply stunning, some of the race venues being almost photographic in their realism. GT3 has now been superceded by GT4 but the "3" version was on sale so I thought I'd try it out before going with the just released GT4 with it's hefty price tag. It'll take about a year to complete all the variations in GT3 so perhaps by then, I'll upgrade. Speaking of which, I had to buy a new PS2 to run my new game.....the old one was just plain worn out.

In closing, an exciting bit of news came this week via an email from Cris Simmons, wife of Doobie Brother Pat Simmons. The Doobies will be back in West Texas on May 28th doing an outdoor concert in Lubbock. This, I believe, is the day that my bride and child leave for their European vacation so I suppose in my lonely state I'll accept Cris's invitation to go up and visit with them after the show. If you have never seen a Doobie's concert you might want to take it in......

Trickle down economics...

Last week Jeff at Archaeo Texture made the observation that from his "windshield" view, economic activity in the Permian Basin looks fairly strong. He noted that as he drives to work at the Channel 9 media center he is seeing an increased pace of truck traffic and many more happy workers at the coffee and burger joints along the way. Jeff is in the TeeVee news business and so he asked several of us with experience in the oil and gas business to confirm his observation.

To confirm his thoughts one needs to look no further than the statewide unemployment figures where, amazingly to me, Midland now has the lowest rate in Texas at around 4.4% unemployed. During periods of very low energy prices Midland has tended to be in the higher percentiles of the unemployed. Higher oil and gas prices do wonders for our economy.

When energy prices are higher things happen in the oil patch. People drill new wells, build infrastructure or like we have been doing lately, recomplete old wells to get more hydrocarbons out of well bores drilled years ago. Our operations are small potatoes compared to larger firms, but what we do illustrates how funds, cash money, are injected into the economy.

We recently recompleted the Linaka #2. For this project new money was raised and deposited in our local banks. A good portion of the funds for the work came from our partners outside the local area, some coming from Europe. This is new money for the region. As we started to work a variety of trades were employed on the well. Dirt contractors were needed to clear and level the site. Key Energy provided the rig and a crew usually numbering 5-6 "hands". Hands being paid much more than fast food wages. Fresh water trucks were needed to provide fluids for the drilling process. "Mud" specialists provided their goods to stabilize the fluids.

As we neared completion of the project specialists in varying fields were needed to insure success. People providing equipment such as "packers" and "bridge plugs", a perforating crew to blow holes from the casing into the rock and people like Ralph and Stringbean who provided us with the acid fracturing job to get the well flowing. A crew was employed to re-install the pumping unit. A steady stream of workers kept busy by this one project. We worked on the Linaka recompletion for over 3 months so probably we provided an income for 8-10 families during that period. If one factors in the support personnel [mechanics, bookkeepers, dispatchers etc.] necessary to keep these workers in the field for that period, the number is significantly higher. Multiple this times the 100's of ongoing jobs taking place in the oil field on any given day and the impact on the local ecomomy is impressive.

As Jeff noted in his windshield survey, these people are busy, so that when they left our job another was waiting...and then another. And unlike most national retail and fast food businesses who take local money and send it out of town....our "employees" spend their hard earned cash here.

The Pope......

God bless Pope John Paul II. I believe that he will be noted along with Ronald Reagan as one of the most influential leaders of the late 20th Century. A humble man but a moral giant. His influence helped bring down dictators and change governments in many places in the world. Though we may not believe in all the details of his religon, we can truly believe that he was divinely inspired.

John Paul II has been the Pope and a leader for quite a long time and in the future it will be hard for me to think of "the pope" and not have that person be Karol Jozef Wojtyla.

Play Ball.....again

More baseball action for Jack tonight, under the lights. Jack's team got beaten by a team who had some impressive hitters including the son of a former major leaguer. Jack got smacked in the lip by a one hopper in warm ups...but took an inning to recover and then made his mark at second base big lip and all.

As we sat on the 3rd base sidelines we noticed the other team's third base coach looked familiar. It was none other than Randy Velarde who retired here to his hometown after a very successful career mainly with the Yankees and later with the Angels and Oakland A's. Randy is one of only 11 [I think] major league players ever to score a triple play single handedly.

More baseball action tomorrow and Sunday.

Play Ball.....

Play Ball.....

Evening update to story below: After staging a dramatic comback, Jack's team lost by one run. A good game....if you could see it. The dust was thick. Temperature with wind chill was in the 30's.
------------------------------------------
Well, today is the first day of play for Jack's regular Little League baseball team. This is not to be confused with his select baseball team which started back in January and culminates, we think, in May. Nor is it to be confused with his all star team play, assuming he makes it again, which starts immediately after the regular games and winds up probably in August.

I like the regular Little League. The games are generally at a field very close to our home as opposed to the select games which are in other cities and states. I also get a chance to interact with the "young" people. The "young" people to me being the parents, who are generally 15-20 years younger. I fit in with the young set...and we've met some nice folks over our time in Little League.

When I first started attending Little League games with Jack and Julie it was rather an ordeal. The players had a few problems with the basics of the game mostly in the pitching, fielding and batting areas. A goodly portion of the games was spent watching the catcher chase the wild pitches around the backstop and walks were the primary scoring vehicle. But now, the kids have gotten markedly better and the games have become interesting...more like real baseball.

It should be a perfect day for baseball....60° with blowing dust.

Surf City USA....

I've been surfing the web since 1998 and before the addition of a family and the advent of the world of blogs I had more time to actually peruse some interesting websites. Over the years I have added and culled hundreds. Here for your viewing pleasure are a few of the ones that have won a permanent place on my "favorites" list. I tend towards the quirky and photographic.

Roadside America: An adventure travelogue featuring points of interest discovered along America's highways. I was attracted to the site because an old friend and I trade postcards and snapshots of just this sort of thing..like the world's largest chest of drawers he found in North Carolina and the world's largest walleyed pike I viewed in Minnesota. Currently featured on this website is "Marsh's Free Museum--Home of Jake the Alligator Man, Long Beach, Washington". And don't miss the Muffler Man compendium. I've seen several of these.

On the Road: Join Matt Frondorf as he drives from the Statue of Liberty to the Golden Gate Bridge, his camera clicking at every mile. John installed a 35 mm. camera pointing out the side of his car and synchronized it to his odometer. A picture was automatically taken ever single mile as he drove from New York to California. Interesting stuff and frankly something I would like to try, perhaps in New Mexico.

The Ultimate Taxi: If you're a digital guru you'll love Jon Barnes and his "wired" taxi cab in Aspen. In the early days of his wired cab Jon had his laptop going and logged on to a chat message board so you could "talk" to him in real time as he drove. I did on several occasions. I think that became a little too distracting and so is probably not still functional. Check out some of the pictures of his fares. I once spotted a couple from Dallas I used to know.

Leave it to Beaver: Need I say more. Consistant readers will know that I'm a Beaver fan. I was exactly the same age as The Beav when the program originally aired, had an over achieving older brother and my Mom stayed at home and always had dinner ready on time. I was The Beav. Beaver is now on TV Land every night at 8:30 and is one of the few programs that the bride, child and I consistantly try and watch together.

Under Fire, Images from Vietnam: Catherine Leroy's tribute to the best of Vietnam combat photography. Catherine herself is in that category and was captured briefly by the North Vietnamese Army while getting some of her shots. I've had the privelage of corresponding with Catherine and sending her some of Joe Galloway's photos for future inclusion in her gallery.

Enjoy these....more forthcoming.

The Zen of Napoleon Dynamite...

We had a very nice Easter weekend and we hope that you did too.

My little sister and her family were in town from Pennsylvania to help us celebrate; we only get to see them, perhaps, once a year so it was good to be able to spend time catching up. It is always amazing to glimpse the yearly snapshot of my nephew, Dan, as he quickly grows up. It seems like another lifetime those 14 years ago in Dallas when I first saw him in the new baby viewing window at Presbyterian Hospital. He's now a "too cool teenager". Not too cool really, though he'd like you to think so. You can tell he still wants to do most anything...he just acts like he's too cool to want to do it. Things like watching Napoleon Dynamite. Dan opined that it was "childish" and "the worst movie he's ever seen". I noticed him holding in the laughs.

We are now the proud owners of Napoleon Dynamite on DVD. I have to admit that I knew nothing about Napoleon Dynamite and would never in a million years have gone to the movie theater to see it, but now I have seen it two nights out of three and I am a reluctant convert. Thursday evening, Jack, Julie and I watched it [to humor Jack] while having to restrain young Jack from uttering, "watch this, this is funny" at each new scene. His 11 year old glee was catching however and I, much to my chagrin, found myself stiffling a occasional chuckle...I'm rather too cool too.

Saturday, the entire family including my 82 year old parents were in attendance for dinner at our house and, of course, [thanks to Jack] the subject of Napoleon Dynamite came up. My Mother is somewhat of a movie buff so she became interested in the film that we were all talking about. In spite of much dissuasion from the younger crowd she was determined to see it and so we did.

If you have seen the movie you will perhaps identify with our comments. After the first 10 minutes my mother said, "we'll maybe it gets better". The consensual answer from us prior viewers was, "No not really". My Father said, "this is the dumbest thing I've ever seen". Our answer was, "yes just about". Adding further he said, "what's the plot?". The answer had to be, "there isn't any". But that is the brilliance of Napoleon Dynamite, the sum of nothing adds up to a magnificent whole.

The zen of the movie is that it is like life itself. Life, yours or mine, does not have a scripted plot. Mine is mostly just a series of bonehead incidents strung together in an array as mundane, strange and comical as Napoleon's. If there is a moral to the film it's that somehow in spite of all obstacles and strange relatives, we do manage to get by...even the dweebs of the world. And now life imitates art at our house. Not an hour goes by without a quote from the film being applied to the situation at hand. If you are in the neighborhood, stop by and hear Jack's renditions of all the major quotes from the movie. He knows them all and is really quite good with the dialects. Jack has a new "Vote for Pedro" T-shirt and I want Jack and his friend Hunter to go out and play "Uncle Rico" with me. This involves them riding their bikes past the house while I throw meat at them.

If things don't change we may go for counseling but for now I leave you with Kips Wedding Song

We met in a chatroom, now our love can fully bloom...
Sure the world wide web is great, but you, you make me salivate...
I love technology, but not as much as you, you see...
But I STILL love technology...

Easter wishes.....

Julie, Jack and Wallace wish you a happy and peaceful Easter......!

Cops finger bad chili....

In this age of so much bad, bizarre and just really sad news bombarding us from all directions it is easy to become jaded and simply pass over many of the stories, even those with some importance. But when I saw the headline, "Human finger found in Chili" I simply had to investigate further. This could have profound implications for me personally.

Thankfully I have never been a big fan of fast food joints, we'll not totally true, I'm a fan, I've just been somewhat protective of my health by not eating there often. Even more so now, after my recent cardiac capers. I have never eaten Wendy's chili and I pledge this to you now, "I ain't never eatin' no stinkin' chili at Wendy's..... ever and for eternity". In fact, I may have grave reservations about ever eating out anywhere again.

And if you're like me and have just a modicum of curiosity, you wonder just how a human finger can end up in a bowl of Wendy's chili in San Francisco. Authorities are launching an investigation.....well duh! What would be the alternative? Tell the finger eating customer that, "hey, you got your money back forget about it". You just have to ponder how someone up the food supply chain can lose a finger and not bother to tell anyone about it? And I thought fingernails in McDonalds hamburgers was disgusting.

Afternoon update: After I had deliberated on this strange case for several hours, a nagging feeling came over me. In yesterdays post I mentioned the Buddy's Drive-In owner who was missing and then located mysteriously in San Francisco. Buddy's is famous for it's steak fingers. And now also in San Francisco, a finger is mysteriously found in Wendy's chili. Coincidence? "Buddy's Steak Finger Drive-in owner mysteriously deposited in San Francisco. Finger mysteriously arrives in San Francisco chili...." You decide.

Anniversary....

It was three months ago today that I entered the hospital to undergo the rebuilding of my heart using spare parts from my leg. I'm doing well, walking a brisk 2 miles a day and grateful to God, family and a great team of doctors. I stopped by my surgeon's office, Dr. Patel, to check in and say thanks. The nurse says that I can stop wearing my stylish orthopedic hoisery and that my five large leg incisions have healed about as well as she has ever seen. Again gratitude for all involved and....

Hospital Bill: $xx,xxx, Dr. Patels bill: $x,xxx, Dr. Suckarieh's bill: $x,xxx, Dr. Browns bill: $x,xxx. Having these fine folks submit all the bills directly to the Veteran's Administration for payment: PRICELESS!

Steak Fingerless....

Andrews Texas is just up the road from Midland, about 30 miles which is our next door neighbor in West Texas terms. Andrews County is one of the richest oil producing areas in the United States, so many of us find ourselves up there on business quite frequently. And when there for the day any oil field guy worth his salt eats at Buddy's Drive-In. It is well known, nay famous, for it's steak fingers, those luscious strips of deep fried meat that people like me can't eat. Oil folks from all over the state are familiar with Buddy's.

But mysterious things have been happening at Buddy's lately. One of the co-owners of the Drive-In recently went missing, simply disappeared, for a week or so, many fearing the worst. Then miracuously she was found in San Francisco claiming no knowledge of how and why she was there. I have not seen any follow-up story on the circumstances of this strange case.

And now today on the morning news the question is posed, "Has Buddy's served it's last steakfinger"? The Schiavo case, Iraq, Korea, Social Security....all important news items, but what inquiring minds in West Texas want to know is....."what's up at Buddy's"? Perhaps local newshawk and fellow blogger Jeff at Archaeo Texture can tell us. Some things are just to important not to know.

Ah Spring......

The first day of Spring has arrived in West Texas just as it should, warm and windy. And what better way to greet this first day of the new season than to have my 150 caladium bulbs arrive via FedEx from Mrs. G.K. Spauldings Caladium Farm in Sebring Florida.

Our yard is very shady in most spots so rather than trying to plant flowering varieties of flora as I usually do, and watch them slowly wither, this year we are opting for the caladiums that do wonderfully in the summer heat and shade. We were steered to Mrs. G.K. Spauldings Caladium Farm by my old childhood chum Bill Bynum and the brains behind the outfit....Carol Bynum. They've been ordering massive amounts of caladiums from Mrs. Spaulding for years. We ordered 100 white and 50 red of the species, the white to standout vibrantly in the garden in the front, and the red to compliment the Mexican tile patio in back.

Planting will come soon, when the nighttime temperatures consistantly start to moderate in the 60+ degree range. However there is a problem. Dr. Brown, ace cardiologist, has told me that I can do almost anything in my post operative condition except plant large amounts of caladiums. Therefore if you would let me know in the comments section when you might be available to come perform this chore, I would appreciate it. I have politely asked Carol and Bill Bynum if they would come to show me their tricks to caladium planting. They respectfully declined.

News Note: Sports car legend John DeLorean dead. DeLorean died late Saturday at Overlook Hospital in Summit, New Jersey, of complications from a recent stroke. More interesting to me than the fact that Delorean later developed his own sports car, was the fact that he was the father of the "muscle car" having developed the Pontiac GTO in 1964. One of my best friends, Ron Hunt, had one of the first '64 GTO's in West Texas in which we used to tool around town at the amazing driving age of 14 years old, legal back then. Coincidentally, my sister was born at Summit Overlook Hospital.

Tidbits and notes....

Light day of Blog reading and gonna' be the same for Blog writing. Julie took Jack to a baseball tournament in New Mexico so I've had a chance to catch up on the yard work and do a few things of interest. Like attending the local Boy Scout Jamboree. I've been wanting to get involved in scouting again...and after talking to some of the leaders today, I just might. Senior advisor to a troop was mentioned. Light on the "senior" please.

Also today, via the Speed Channel, I've been able to follow the live racing coverage of the 12 hours of Sebring, which I must get back to directly....as I write the conclusion will be in about 45 minutes. It was 40 years ago today that Chaparral Racing won the event. Coming directly on the heels of this all day coverage will be live coverage of the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang where it looks like the Renaults are doing well again after their surprise showing in Australia. A late night, as the coverage begins at 1 A.M. local time. [Sunday update: a late night indeed, to sleep at 2:45, but worth the effort. A good race with a Renault winning, for the second straight race, but a different car than Australia].

Of note today, I caught an interesting article concerning the volunteer army in Stars and Stripes by my old friend Gen. Dick Cody. Dick and I were 2Lt's together and have remained close friends. I'm proud to say that Dick was the first to phone me in the hospital during my recent cardiac capers.

So long.....it's back to racing.

Chaparral's at Laguna Seca....

This week I, somewhat belatedly, ran across this news release.....

MONTEREY, Calif. (January 22, 2005) - Chaparral, one of the truly great names in American racing history, will be the Featured Marque of the 32nd Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races presented by Chrysler August 19-21 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Steven J. Earle, founder of the event announced today. The legendary American marque will be part of the event's overall tribute to the "Great American Specials." While the major manufacturers have long been the dominant force in automobile racing, individual efforts in the American tradition of championing the underdog have produced special cars to challenge the "big guns" over the years. Perhaps, no one represented the ingenuity of this industry more than Jim Hall and Chaparral Cars.

Even though the Chaparrals are kept in top running condition at the Museum here in Midland, it will not be often that one gets a chance to see them running at such a premier venue. I'm hopeful that we will be there. It sure doesn't hurt that Julie has a cousin who owns a beautiful ranch in the hills above Monterrey...where we have been invited!

If you visit the website linked above, be sure and view the pictures presented in the 2003 and 2004 race reviews...impressive!

Pyote....

Last evening we wandered over to Julie's cousin Phil's house to eat birthday cake with his son Dan, visiting for the occasion from Gallup, New Mexico. As happens during these events the menfolk, including my Father-in-Law Don and his brother Leon, eventually wandered into the den to sit before the fire and see where the conversation meandered. I don't remember the trail but we somehow arrived at the topic of the old Pyote Army Air Force base located out near Pecos, Texas. It was fondly and informally known as "Rattlesnake Bomber Base". Don and Leon, were kids in Pyote in the mid to late 40's when their Dad was a civilian contractor at the base. Don graduated from Pyote High School where he was the "Salutatorian". There were 8 or so kids in the class.

When I was a kid we used to pass by Pyote while driving down to the Davis Mountains, the huge hangars appearing as ghostly spectors in the distance as we motored by on Highway 80. Mostly abandoned by the mid 1950's, the buildings now have either been torn down or fallen in due to disrepair. But during WWII Pyote was the largest bomber base in the country with two runways over 1½ miles in length, home to over 6,500 troops and the final staging area before the crews flew off to Europe...many to never return.

Don and Leon have talked about their experiences in Pyote before, rather fondly I might add. But last night they revealed more as we sat and talked. To earn a little spending money they had been "pin setters" at the base bowling alley, the officers bowling alley where the big money was. They were paid 10 cents a line to set pins and Don always adds that they tried to work the fighter pilot groups.....they were more fun and bigger tippers!

I learned that besides the U.S. air crews living in Pyote there was a sizeable population of German POW's who did construction and general work around the base. Don said they were mostly allowed to come and go rather freely, this for two reasons. One, where would one escape to in the vastness of West Texas and two, by the later stages of the war, most German POW's were probably very glad to be in a hospitable climate being treated rather well instead of fighting on the Eastern Front. Don remembered several things about the Germans; that they were great bakers and if there were any children around while they were loading watermelons from the fields they would always "accidentally" drop and damage several melons for the by-standers to enjoy.

After the war Pyote became one of the largest storage points for the aircraft that had won the war. At its peak in 1948 the base housed 2,042 stored planes, mostly B-29s and B-17s, including the Enola Gay, from which the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. The Dulin boys say that they had the opportunity to climb around this historic aircraft.

I enjoyed our conversation last night. Being interested in history, and especially the history of my home region, it was good to learn some new facts directly from those who experienced it. Here are some photos of the old Pyote Airfield [large images loading--scroll down for Pyote]

Ronny Hissom.....

Recently I have wondered if I should entitle this publication the Medical, Memorial and Obituary Blog. I won't but I would be remiss in not mentioning the passing of Ronny Hissom. Unless you are a sports car racing enthusiast Ronny's name will not be familiar to you. Even if you live in Midland you may not know of him, but Ronny has a special

place in my memory. Along with Jim Hall and Hap Sharp, he was one of the original partners and drivers in the Midland born and bred Chaparral Racing. Ronny passed away last Thursday at the age of 68. An age that sounds, comparatively, ever more young.

Ronny was an avid sports car enthusiast and a nationally ranked polo player, who driving along with Hall and Sharp, won the 1965 12 hour endurance race at Sebring, one of the first of a string of important racing victories for the Chaparrals. This was during the golden age of American sports car racing when a team comprised of very talented amateurs from a small West Texas town could compete on the world stage with the major entities in the sport like Ford and Ferrari.

As I've mentioned before, while growing up here these young men were idols to us teenage boys in Midland. We used to see them around town, our Dad's knew some of them and we followed their racing exploits around the world with utter fascination. It was a real pleasure to get to talk with Ronny last Spring at the opening of the Chaparral Museum. He is the gentleman in the center in my photo above, seated between other notable Chaparral drivers Phil Hill and Brian Redman. In fact, Ronny was standing right next to me when I took these photos of Jim Hall preparing to drive the Chaparral 2F out of the garage for the last time.

Another loss in the passing of an era.

Humorous update: I had lunch today with several people who knew Ronny Hissom very well. The subject of his passing arose and so did this verified story from some years back.

It seems that Ronny and some associates from Midland were in New York decades ago and were having lunch at the famed "21 Club". When Ronny visited the men's room, he found himself face to face with none other than the legendary Aristotle Onassis. Ronny approached Mr. Onassis and said, "Sir, I'm Ronny Hissom visiting from Texas with business associates and it would be a great honor and enhance my standing among these men if you would come to my table and act like you know me. My close friends call me "Hiss".

Sure enough several moments later Mr. Onassis arrived at the table and announced, "Hiss good to see you, where have you been....give me a call sometime soon". Whereupon "Hiss" said to Mr. Onassis, "Ari, dammit can't you see we're busy right now, please don't interrupt"!

My kinda' guy....

Hospital notes...

It was a good day at the hospital, as all turned out well. After a day of fasting, and drinking toxic liquid designed to put everything inside one's intestines outside....Julie was ready to get her "procedure" over. She was a brave soldier as we got her checked into the hospital, a place we've become quite accustomed to. At her wish I attended the funeral for our friend George O'Brien while she attended to business at the hospital.

At about the time I had finished up at the services for George, she too had finished with medical business and the news was very good. A growth found and removed, time taken: about one hour. A routine biopsy will be done to be on the safe side. After a reunion with the family and a short recap of her adventure, the next order of business for the bride was eating. Dinner at 4:45 tasted awfully good to her.

We are most appreciative, once again, for the great quality of medical care we have in our smallish burg. And I got to show my appreciation for the care I received two months ago during my cardiac capers. While we waited to check Julie in, I took the opportunity to track down and thank Dr. Rea. The head of the emergency room, Dr. Rea was very much on the ball last December in quickly diagosing my back ache and shortness of breath as a cardiac problem. His personal attention and care was extraordinary, even stopping by after my operation to check on my condition.

Julie and I both liked him very much, and now I have an inkling why I had an affinity for him. He's a Vietnam Veteran, having been an Air Force aircraft crew chief in his days before Med School. There is something about Vets of that era that binds us together in special ways. After Julie checked out, I dropped back by and saw the Doc and left a personal little memento of Vietnam that he seemed to appreciate.

George O'Brien, Medal of Honor......

I knew that George O'Brien had recently had some health problems, but frankly I was rather floored when I learned that he had passed away on Friday. George was a friend, a longtime neighbor of my folks and a Korean War Medal of Honor winner. Oops sorry George, I mean awardee. George never liked to be called a MOH winner. In fact he didn't really like to talk about "the award" all that much to begin with. He usually had to be persuaded to talk about "the award" in public as he did on Memorial Day 2002 in the picture I took of him at left.

There are now only three living MOH awardees in Texas.

As described in The Midland Reporter-Telegram by another friend, Frank Cahoon, George was an extremely humble guy. The type of person who lives up to the honor. In his office were mementoes from the Marine Corps and pictures from the oil business. Nothing about the Medal of Honor. He considered the award one for his entire unit not just himself.

I met George through his wife Sandy who is a member of an organization abbreviated by two letters that I belong to. I used to see them together and walk with them occasionally and it was some time before I knew that George was in fact a MOH awardee. I would stop in and see George in his office downtown from time to time to talk mainly about the oil business and the military in general. The only time he ever spoke of his MOH experience to me was several years ago when he finally returned to Korea for the first time since the war. He had been apprehensive about going, but after the fact was so glad he went with several other men from his unit.

George will be missed greatly, as a role model, but more importantly as a friend and great guy. In his honor the Commemorative Air Force is building a Texas Medal of Honor Hall at our headquarters.

Take a moment to read the citation awarding the Congressional Medal of Honor to George O'Brien.

Bloggers in the night....

As is sometimes our custom on Friday the Bride and I stepped out for a bite tonight. A simple, yet elegant dinner was our goal. We almost succumbed to custom and partook of the oriental delights at Kuo's Chinese, but we had been wanting to try the new Pizzeria Vente cafe almost next door, so there we were drawn.

I had ordered our salad and, as it turned out, a rather large pizza made with all natural ingredients from Italy including Italian water....or so they promise. Julie had secured our seating and as I walked from the ordering station back to the table my eye was met by a somewhat familiar eye....with face attached. It was none other than crosstown blogger of note Eric from the Fireant Gazette. Although I feel that I know Eric well, we had met in person only once previously while attempting to perform a little webpage community service. So I was appreciative that he stood up and made the connection tonight as well as inviting us to join his lovely bride and him at their table.

We had a great time catching up verbally rather than digitally for a change and both Julie and I hope we can connect with them more often. Like tomorrow Eric. We still have half that pizza!

Live from Afghanistan......

In case you haven't run across it yet there is a new Blog, billed as "The First Blog from Afghanistan". Afghan Warrior is written by a 20 y.o. young man working for the US Army as an interpreter. As he suggests the magnitude of change in that land is sigificant to say the least.

"During the Taliban we didn’t have internet system in Afghanistan but now there are about 25 net cafes in Kabul, and also some in Herat, Kandahar and Balkh provinces. People are really interested to use the internet"

Why not use your Internet and stop by to lend Waheed support.

Doctors out the kazoo...!

Just when we get good news about my post operative condition other pressing medical matters arise. I had a post ready about an interesting day yesterday talking to the Doobie Brothers manager about setting up a concert in Washington DC for Veterans Day. Somehow that lost it's meaning when Julie visited the doctor today. As she describes the situation in The Yellow Bug News

"It being National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month and all, I decided I'd check into a problem that presented itself Friday night. I won't mince words...there is a growth".

She is due to undergo an exploratory procedure next Monday, that hopefully will solve the problem. We ask your prayers as the day approaches.

As I learned on Wednesday, December the 22nd when Dr. Brown announced that he was going to "crack me open..pronto" acceptance is the key to one's serenity in cases like this. Acceptance that what is....is God's unfailing plan for us. I also learned that modern medicine is an amazing thing and if my experience is any indication we'll be looking back on these several months as just another of lifes trials that we must endure with as much grace as possible.

Good day at the Doc....

Today we visited Dr. Brown, my cardiologist, for my 2 months+ post-op check up. I was heartened by the results as the nurse did the initial checks.

NURSE: "Hmmm blood pressure, 127 over 73"
ME : "Is that good?"
NURSE: "That's good"
NURSE: "Let's see now, heart rate 62."
ME: "Is that good?"
NURSE: "That's really good".

And then the affable and dually degreed Dr. Brown arrived. Dr. Brown has both an M.D. and a PhD. in Immunology. Personally I like doctors fooling with my heart to be as well educated as possible so this is good. Dr. Brown asked me how I felt. "Really very good", I replied. Dr. Brown then listened to several points of interest on my chest with the stethoscope and pronounced...."Everything sounds very good".

Sounds good to me too!

Eleven [11]......

Today is March the 6th, the day that the Alamo fell. And so did I, but in my case a fall that was followed by a rise from the ashes. It was today, eleven years ago that I escaped the grips of alcohol and became a sober and somewhat sane individual. The anniversary of our sobriety is a big deal to many of us, though we usually celebrate it in a spirit of humble gratitude.

And so big deal that it is, I'll simply say that the victory did not come cheaply nor easily and that without the help of some very special family and friends I would not be here today...literally. On this my birthday, I cannot help remembering one of my closest childhood friends, Rufe, who in spite of our efforts did not make it out of the grips of alcohol and who drank himself to death at the age of 50. There but for the Grace of God go I, and I try not to forget that. My life depends upon it.

Newsworthy......?

Welcome to curious West Texas newspaper readers drawn here by Stewart Doreens riveting and hard hitting exposé on Web Logs.

For out of town and International readers the online version can be found here, at the Midland Reporter Telegram. Names are named including several local luminaries of dubious repute!

Thanks to Stewart for his hard work over several months........

A day late and a shilling short.....

The London Times has finally made it to Midland and reports in a somewhat condescending article about the home town that made the President what he is today. Although the article has a slightly different subject and tone I may have to write to inform them that their counterparts from the BBC were about two years ahead of them in their journalistic inquiry interviewing some other local luminaries in an April 8, 2003 article. Better late than never I suppose.

And by the way, Brits.....concerning your reference, "where nodding donkeys silently extract oil from the ground". We call them Pump Jacks. Don't get cute.

Thanks for the tip from alert reader Don Dulin.

$80 oil.....

An OPEC spokesman says he believes that there is a chance that oil prices may hit $80 a barrel sometime within the next two years. Which is why we've spent the last several months in Andrews Co. recompleting this well.

I took these photos on Tuesday as we injected 5000 gallons of acid into a well to fracture the geologic formation to allow oil to flow. The oil business is an exciting way to make a living...if you don't go broke first.

By the way, the OPEC ministers don't believe that oil would stay at $80/BBL. for long...it would probably drift back to the $50 range as higher prices brought on increased production.

Lebanon.....

Things are changing rapidly in the Middle East, due in no small part to an aggessive policy on the part of our present government that has gotten things off of center at long last. The 3000+ deaths in our country on 9/11 and the 1000's more casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan will have a positive legacy if democracy spreads in the region. And today it is, this time in Lebanon where the Syrian backed government has resigned under pressure and citizens are taking to the streets to show support for democratic reforms.

I have had a soft spot for the Lebanese for decades now...since 1976 actually. In that year, having just returned from the army, I had taken a job as a stock broker with Bache&Co. in Dallas. After months of "in office" training I was on my way to the headquarters in New York City for three months to acquire further skills and to take the test to gain my NYSE license.

By chance we had a commodities broker visiting from the Beirut office who would be in Dallas for a few months, the same months that I would be absent, so we worked an arrangement whereby he and his wife would sublet my apartment while I was gone. Rafic Hassam and his wife were lovely, gentle, kind and well educated people and I learned much about life in Beirut from them. The city at the time was known as the "Paris of the Middle East" a beautiful seaside cosmopolitan place as charming and economically well off as any city in the world.

When I returned from New York early in 1977 the Hassam's had already gone back to Beirut so I never saw nor heard from them again. But what they had left in my apartment stunned me. They had completely stocked my usually vacant refrigerator with all manner of delicacies. My cupboards were stocked with canned goods which were arranged like a supermarket...by category, type and size of cans. All my clothes had been washed and pressed and neatly arranged in the closets, socks folded and arranged by color in the chest of drawers. Likewise in my bathroom the guylike stock of 2 towels had been added to greatly and folded neatly away on the newly added shelf paper.

Of course what happened to Beirut in subsequent years is one of the great travesties of the century, ground into dust by warring factions, sects and governments. I often wonder what happened to Rafic Hassam and his wife. I may never know, but if they are still alive and in Lebanon, now perhaps they'll have a chance at a better life.

A distinguished visitor....

Though very much a spiritual person I'm not as strong a church goer as some in my life would like. Namely my spouse and my mother. I actually enjoy the experience and like the people who attend church very much. I suppose I've just never felt the strong compunction for the organized aspects of religion as much as some regular attendees. I'm not judging them, or me, as right or wrong that is just where I feel I fit in. Actually over the years I've had just as strong a spirtitual experience while attending AA meetings where, in fact, the concept of God or more particularly a higher power is quite prominent. I suppose that in AA I can see God's works first hand and directly in action versus the concept of God in action while seated in a church service.

But today, Julie, Jack and I did suit up and show up at The First United Methodist Church in Midland, where coincidently the President and Laura Bush got married and where the First Mother-in-Law,, Mrs. Welch, still attends. And I'm glad that I attended for today, once again, we had a special guest in attendance.

The FUMC, not by design I know but none-the-less, has a mainly white upper middle class congregation and so I did happen to notice a very distinguished black couple and younger woman walk past me and be seated several aisles ahead. Not knowing them my first thought was that it was good to see a more diverse group attending the FUMC. Little did we know that the distinguished gentleman was in fact far more distinguished than we could have realized.

As mentioned a year or more ago, a non-denominational church group in Midland has found itself in the unique position of trying to assist in brokering peace in the Sudan bringing with it some degree of national attention. As the service progressed our friend Rev. Jan Reed made the daily announcements including a wish that we all pay our humble respects to visitor General Lazaro Sumbeiywo and his family of Kenya. General Sumbeiywo was the chief mediator of the Sudanese peace accords and was in town to show his gratitude to all the local people of faith who had helped make this possible. He is leaving tomorrow to make a personal report to the U.N.

Julie, Jack and I took time after the service to shake the General's hand and tell him thank you for all his efforts. A handshake with a unique piece of important world history.

I owe our sour grapes...!

Last evening the answer to another of life's important mysteries was revealed to me. I found out what the last stanza of "Those Were the Days", the theme song to All in the Family, actually says. While relaxing with some nostalgia TeeVee shows I made a vow to myself to consult Google and finally learn the lyrical truth about "Those Were The Days". Although you personally may have had the ear to discern the words as Edith and Archie sang the last lines of the show's opening tune, for 30+ years I did not. As hard as I would listen the last two lines of verse always sounded like "Gee I owe our sour grapes....those were the days". Now being somewhat astute I could not image that I was hearing correctly, "I owe our sour grapes" just didn't make sense. But once an idea finds it's way into my limited brain space there it stays, so I could not overwrite this data with something more sensible. Every time I've seen All in the Family for the last three decades I've heard "....I owe our sour grapes" knowing full well it was a bogus interpretation. I had no problems with the first 3 verses.....

Boy the way Glen Miller played
Songs that made the hit parade.
Guys like us we had it made,
Those were the days.

OK this verse is easy to understand and has meaning in the context of the show, the good ol' days when music was oh so tuneful and easy to listen to, not like the raucous rock n' roll of the early '70's when the show aired.

And you knew who you were then,
Girls were girls and men were men,
Mister we could use a man like Herbert Hoover again.

Again social commentary ala Archie Bunker...."We don't need no faggots here Meathead", things were simpler in the days of the Bunkers youth. People, places and things were straightforward and better. I can dig it.

Didn’t need no welfare state.
Everybody pulled his weight.

Here, the start of the final verse, is something that makes great sense and is in some ways the crux of Archie Bunkerism, the Commie Pinko Fag Hippies taking advantage of the American dream. But at this point, for decades, my brain lapsed into "stuck". Stuck on "Gee I owe our sour grapes". When in fact the actual lyrics are...... are you ready!

Gee our old LaSalle ran great.
Those were the days.

"Gee our old LaSalle ran great". That's it? Well no wonder I never connected up ear to brain and understood. That's lame, it has no contectual meaning to the show. Unfortunately now that I know the real words my brain will be stuck with them, but I think I'd rather still be hearing "Gee I owe our sour grapes". It's just as relevant. The songwriters, Lee Adams and Charles Strouse must have had a major work planned for this song and the producers cut them off just as they was getting going. "Sorry Lee, Charlie you're running long with this thing, it's a stinkin' sitcom theme song not a symphony". So Lee and Charlie just threw in some wordy rhyming drivel to complete the song and that was that. Leaving me stuck for 30+ years trying to figure out just what the hell they were singing. Thanks Lee, thanks Chuck.

Long time passing...

Late Friday evening I received a call from my old fraternity brother John Stephens. John lives in Houston, works in Pasadena California, but was calling from Bangs, Texas where he was visiting his folks. His Dad was the country doctor there for well over half a century. John was calling to see if I knew of the Iwo Jima 60th anniversary memorial and re-enactment being held at The National Musuem of the Pacific War a.k.a The Nimitz Museum in Fredericksburg, Texas and to see if we might consider meeting him there.

In fact it had not dawned on me that this weekend was the anniversary of the landings on Iwo Jima, and I think that if we had had just a little more notice we might have gone to Fredericksburg and met John for the event. Julie and I have been fairly regular visitors to the town and specifically the Nimitz Museum. Our friend, author Joe Galloway of We Were Soldiers fame has been a speaker there several times in the last years.

John's call Friday night did,however, get me thinking about the sacrifice those who fought not only at Iwo Jima, but all over the Pacific made all those years ago. And more particularly I started to think of all those men I have known over my lifetime who did participate in that fierce fighting but are now sadly gone from our midst. Men like my old scoutmaster and former Marine Bill Bosworth who just passed away 2 or 3 years ago. I'm not sure Bill was at Iwo Jima, but I know that he landed at Tarawa...I remember him telling us.

Bill was a big man, had a deep booming voice, and looked quite like Robert Mitchum at least to an 11 year old boy scout. He was the epitome of a Marine and like any good Marine he told things like they were. When boys sitting around a campfire tended to make South Pacific island combat a glamorous thing....Bill told us by his facial expressions that it was not. The only time I remember him telling us directly about his experiences it seemed that this big burly guy was about to cry....

We got to hear many stories sitting around a campfire and when I look back on those days growing up with Bill and other veterans of my father's age as my role models I still can see them all as were then, young men in their late 30's. When I was in scouts and these men talked about their combat experiences this was only 17 or 18 years after they had occured. It is now 60 years, or more, hence and so many of the combat veterans of World War II are gone. That's what I remember most about this Iwo Jima anniversary weekend.....I miss the old guys who made that history.

Update: Courtesy of reader, Ms. Durst, in Fredericksburg catch the story from onsite here.. Iwo Jimo Salute

Media Star.....

A very nice article in our newspaper, The Midland Reporter-Telegram, today about crosstown blogger and friend Eric Siegmund and his FireAnt Gazette......with color photo!

I'm just wondering if Eric has really sold out to the MMSM [minor mainstream media] and if he realizes just how many acres of trees in the rain forest had to be felled to print this article. And to think of the toxic inks used.......

Coober Coverage.....

A couple of days ago I made mention of the latest news from Coober Pedy. Among the recent items outlined by Coober Pedy News editor Gary Adkins was the formation of a new "football" team in CP. Sensing that this was big news in the outback I emailed Tim Blair and alerted him. My hunch was correct. I quickly got a note back from Tim....

Wallace,

This is fantastic! I assigned a reporter to this story about 30 seconds after reading your email -- photograph and article will appear in next week's Bulletin. Give me an address, and I'll forward a copy.

Cheers,

Tim

You have to hand it to Tim, he's been on the job as an editor at The Bulletin for less than one month and he's already gotten himself a major scoop! Hopefully we can look forward to a major story in Australia's leading newspaper......!

Listen to the music....

A sad note today, longtime Doobie Brothers drummer Keith Knudsen has died of pneumonia at the age of 56. Keith had had a long bout with cancer over the years which had depleted his strength. Though not an "original" Doobie, Keith joined the band in 1974 when it was decided that a second drummer would add to the groups need for a driving rhythm section. He played on six albums with hits such as "Taking It to the Streets" and "Black Water." Knowing some of the Doobies, I'm sure that this is a very sad day for them. Having been together for so long it is like a death in the family. My sad best wishes to them all.....

A PS: In the accompanying Rolling Stone web report....the picture shown is actually my friend Mike Hossack, the Doobies other primary drummer and orginal group member.

Update PS: don't know if it was my doing or perhaps others....but I emailed Rolling Stone Magazine online about the incorrect picture accompanying Keith Knudsons obituary.....and now it's changed to a generic Doobies group photo.

Travel getaway...!

Always on the alert for an interesting out of the ordinary vacation destination I've recently come across a real getaway spot courtesy of my friend Gary Adkins in Coober Pedy, Australia. Deep in the Australian outback and a mere 140 km. from Coober Pedy is Woomera Station, the world's largest rocket test range.

Once a restricted area Woomera is now open to the public and has all any traveler would want...a golf course, swimming pool, fitness centre, theatre, ten pin bowling alley, lawn bowling greens, tennis courts, squash courts, a 270 room 3-star hotel and a variety of fine dining establishments. A veritable oasis perched at the edge of the outback. Check out the ammenities on their website. This could be the perfect vacation experience for you!

Extravaganza bonanza......!

Last night was one of our big social events of the year, the St. Ann's School Mardi Gras Gala. The Gala is the big fund raising event of the year for our little Jack's school and quite the social venue! Julie looked beautiful in red and I was, I offer humbly, quite stunning in my new Tuxedo. A tuxedo purchased yesterday for $129 [including a suberb Italian closed tab Tux shirt]. We found this bargain at our formerly worn [i.e. used] consignment clothing store, Gentleman's Agreement. I had gone into G.A. to try and find an outlandish sports jacket to wear...and did so, until it was vetoed by Julie. She, however, made an amazing find. The only Tux available in the store and surprisingly it was just my size. It fit perfectly and was virtually brand new. As we were considering this purchase, the owner said, "by the way, if you wear a 16½ shirt, I have a custon made Italian shirt that just came in from Dallas to go with it". I do wear a 16½ shirt...and it was gorgeous. I'll be attending more formal events in the future.

The fund raising at the Mardi Gras Gala is through a live auction and a concurrent silent auction where items are bid upon from tables scattered all about the Petroleum Club. I have to say that I'm proud of Julie who, for our donation, put together a great trip to Santa Fe. Airfare for two, two nights at the LaPosada hotel, dinner at the Pink Adobe, train trip on the historic Santa Fe domeliner and a special treatment at an exclusive day spa. It went for $2550....a generous donatation to the school.

And what we came home with will certainly be beyond our little Texas Tech fan, Jack's, wildest dreams. As pictured above Julie bid on and won a huge basket of Texas Tech sports fan memorablia. It's stuffed full of TT booster banners, hat's T-shirts and even a street sign. But the real story is the autographed balls, one from each sport that the school participates in. Autographed by all the coaches of each sport. The highlight is, of course, the signed Bobby Knight basketball and the Mike Leach football. I won't divulge what this package went for but it was just slightly less than the similar University of Texas sports basket that contained a football autographed by the entire Longhorn team...the recent Rose Bowl victors. Jack won't see his new collection until Monday evening, but we're looking forward to seeing an 11 year old boy faint dead away!

Senior '68.....

Growing up in Midland I had two very best friends, Bill and Ronnie, with whom I did everything. Bill lived directly behind us, across the alley, and Ronnie [now Ron] lived a block or so away. I've known them now for almost 45 years. Both Bill and Ron have lived in Houston for most of their adult lives and we don't see nearly enough of each other.

For a decade or so in the 90's and somewhat beyond, we didn't do nearly enough to stay in touch even by phone or email. Recently, and I suppose because of my recent flirtation with mortality, we have been communicating more. In fact I'm even emailing Bill's mom, Betty, who was like a second mother to me.

I don't dwell in the past but I do like to keep in touch with those great times we had all those years ago. Great times in a simpler life. In fact, as a side note, I'm gratified that my adorable step-son Jack even likes to watch "Leave it to Beaver" each night with me. I was the same age as The Beav when it originally aired, had a big brother like Wally and my Mom was the stay at home kind who was there like June when we came home from school. So, Jack gets to see the kind of life I used to lead when I was his age.

One of the things I'm doing for Bill, Ronnie and Betty is taking pictures of the old neighborhood and of their houses so that they can see what the old homestead looks like. Bill's house has not changed a lick in 40 years. It's rather scary sometimes when I drive by...I expect to see the '64 red 4-door Valiant and the big finned Chrysler Imperial to still be sitting out front. Bill and I did some major league "cruising" in that Valiant, embarrased as we were to be seen in the family car.

As I was in the alley today taking some photos of the Stalling's house from the rear, I ran across the image depicted above. This graffiti is on my parents alley wall [they still live there] and was put there by me 40 years ago in 1965! I apparently was quite proud to be graduating from Midland High School in 1968.

The only problem was that I actually graduated in 1967! Mathematics never was my strong suit.

Proud of Casey.....

Perhaps you have run across this picture which has been prominently displayed in print media and around the Internet. A proud Marine saluting the Commander-in-Chief on his inauguration day. Well we're very proud of this particular Marine for it is our friend Mary Kelley's nephew Cpl. Casey Owens whom I wrote about months ago when he was wounded in Iraq. Casey lost both of his legs and suffered extensive injuries when his vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb...one of Casey's buddies was killed. Casey has been in the news several times as a demonstration of great courage and the will to move on with his life and continue his service to his country. Casey has met President Bush and was acknowledged

by him during the inauguration. We're so very proud of Casey and his comrades in arms. America has none better. Oh and....Mary tells us that Casey is accomplishing one of his recovery goals this weekend. He's going skiing! This time on "bucket skis"....but hopefully soon it will be on the real things with his new legs.

Photo History....

With a population of about 100 thousand friendly souls, I don't know if Midland is a small city or more of a very large town. But I do know that for our size our arts and culture venues and events are amazing. This Saturday Julie, Jack and I will be attending a talk by and later having dinner with, Adrian Cronauer, of "Good Morning Vietnam" fame and then early next month we'll be attending a talk by world history maker, former Defense

Secretary Robert McNamara. But last night I attended a lecture and exhibit featuring two of my favorite subjects, history and photography.

One of our facilities, the Haley Ranching Heritage Library and Museum is currently featuring an exhibit of daguerreotype photos by Santa Fe artist Robert Shlaer which recreate the 1853 final trip west of historic explorer John C. Fremont. Mr. Shlaer was in town last night to give an indepth discussion of this work.

As the Amon Carter Museum describes the exhibit...."In 1853, explorer John C. Frémont led an expedition from Missouri to California in an attempt to locate a route for the proposed transcontinental railway. Tragically, the work of the expedition's original photographer, Solomon Nunes Carvalho, was lost to fire not long after the trek's culmination.

In this exhibition, Robert Shlaer, who from 1994 to 1998 retraced Frémont's route, recaptures the journey using one of the most beautiful and demanding of all photographic processes. By referring to engraved illustrations, period maps, and an account of Frémont's expedition written by Carvalho, Shlaer magnificently reconstructed Carvalho's lost work."

The time and attention to detail that Robert put into these works is stunning. Based on his studies, each shot was taken from as near to the exact original location as possible and the use of the daguerreotype process made the accomplishment of this feat all the more difficult. Though Robert had a leg up on the chemical systems necessary for this antique photo process.....he is a former Bio Chemical engineer. I enjoyed meeting Robert, bought a beautiful limited edition book of his journey [which he signed] and he invited us by his studio in Santa Fe the next time we were in town.

One Amazing Month.....

I've just returned from my now daily 1.5 mile walk around the small lake a block or so from our house. Today's walk was filled with gratitude for I was thinking that precisely one month ago at that exact time I was waking up at Midland Memorial Hospital with 4 "locks" in my arms discharging intravenous fluids into my body. I had a trach tube stuck down my throat to aid my recently collapsed lungs in pumping oxygen and I had 3 large tubes protruding out of my thorax draining large amounts of fluids from my lungs and surrounding environs. Not to mention that my rib cage had been cracked and my chest had been cut completely open exposing my heart which had been stopped to perform the by-passes. And this was just my upper body.

Down below, on my left leg, I had five sutured wounds where a foot or more of veins had been removed to be used on my heart I remember waking up in no small amount of pain and discomfort primarily due to the way my back and shoulders had been stretched for hours while I was on the operating table. Then I was told to try and not move for the next two days. The discomfort of all that was something I can't describe but the reason for the operation as outlined by my cardiac team was that the blockages I had and especially the blood clot in my cardiac artery could be fatal.

So as I walked around the lake today in the bright warm sunshine and admired the rafts of wild ducks as they winter over in West Texas, I could not have had more gratitude for the outcome of my ordeal and especially for all those who made it bearable. And as I walked at a goodly pace just 30 days after this operation I still am amazed, truly astounded, by the miracles of modern medicine.

The Convention...

As I've mentioned previously, I'm a dedicated member of Alcoholics Anonymous. Dedicated not only because it literally saved my life, but also because I like the precepts outlined in our program of recovery and probably most importantly, I just like the people. They're my kinda' people. We're all mostly alike even though some don't have high school eductions and some of us have advanced college degrees. We're still alike.

Like my Army friends, we people in AA have a common set of experiences that are unique to only people like us. Tragic experiences, touching experiences and quite often side splittingly funny experiences. If you have ever known a full fledge drunk then you'll appreciate the situations that only they [we] can get into. You can't make this stuff up.

And so for the last two nights Julie and I have been in attendance at our annual Midland "Mid-Winter AA Conference". We had 800 chairs set up at the Holiday Inn, and the two nights we attended the 8 o'clock speaker meeting......most all of the seats were taken. We invite speakers from all over the country to share their "experience, strenght and hope". That is, their story. The story of what it was like for them to be addicted to alcohol and/or other substances and the story of how they found their way out of this living hell. These are some amazing stories, and like me, many of these speakers count themselves lucky to be alive, much less have bountiful lives today. I don't make it through any one speaker without a tear coming to my eye. A tear of remembrance of how it was for me, how similar parts of my own story are with the speakers, and mainly because of the gratitude I have for AA and the people seated around me...the two things that saved my life and gave me a second chance at things.

I love to go to the conference every year to see people I haven't seen in years, people who are instrumental in my recovery and people who I just like alot. And I/We like to laugh and there is much of that. In fact I recommend that even if you don't have a problem with alcohol that you go to an AA conference some time. You'll learn a little something and you will hear some of the funniest stuff imaginable.

In the AA "Big Book" our real problem is defined as this...."Selfishness and self-centeredness, that we think is the root of our problem". Tonight I got to enjoy a little AA approved self-centeredness, I got to stand up with the "old timers". An old timer being one with more than 10 years of sobriety. We count down by decades. "All those with over 50 years, please stand up"....and believe it or not there are some. Then comes, "all those with between 30 and 40 years.....all those with between 20 and 30 years". And then came my group....."all those with between 10 and 20 years, please stand".

I'll have to confess, it does make me awfully proud to stand up with the old timers. But what it really does is shock the hell out of me to be doing so. Years ago I remember thinking that if I ever got one year completely sober it would be a miracle. If you could have seen what I was like 12 or 13 years ago, you would not have bet a plug nickel that I would even be alive much less clean, sober and happily productive for almost 11 years now. Such is the power of the program of AA and why I love to be among my kind at the convention.

A Kinky Governor.....

In an interesting move, one guaranteed to make Slatts in Geelong Australia happy, it looks as if Kinky Friedman will throw his Texas Jewboy hat into the ring as a candidate for Governor of the State of Texas. Following in the footsteps of luminary governors Arnold in California and Jessie Ventura in Minnesota, Kinky just may have a chance, though in Texas an independent is a long shot to be sure. I think he might be worth a try and it would certainly be an interesting experience! I would have to consider giving Kinky my vote...after all any man that has his own large scale dog rescue program is far more qualified than the typical professional politician in my books.

Kinky is seeking the governorship for several reasons including, as he says "I want to be governor because I need the closet space." And he wants "to fight the wussification of Texas." I consider these to be two very valid reasons. Good luck Kinky.....and I'm hoping that high on his platform will be state funding of rescue ranches for dogs like his very own Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch.

Update: Address Book....

Thanks for all the helpful hints and comments about restoring a wayward address book. I ended up making a .csv [text, comma delimited] copy of the address book residing on my office computer then installing it on my home computer and "importiing" this text file as a new Outlook address book. It worked fine, except that I had so much personal information on my home address book that won't be replicated by using the office version. Oh well....at least I'm back emailing.

As a thought...there has been some good TeeVee programming on at the start of this new year. Last night I watched the History Channel's presentation of "The French Revolution", a good summary of that long and tortured event. Don't ever listen to the French say that we in the U.S. are bloodthirsty maniacs. The founding of their republic was run by some really murderous whackos....and I don't think that they've ever gotten over it.

Simply vanished.....

Well it seems to happen about every 3 years on this computer. Outlook 98, my email program, just simply malfunctions and I lose everything to include my address book.

This happens while I'm not even actively on the computer. I come back into the room, turn the monitor on and there is an "fault" message big as day staring at me. One always seems to have a plethora of choices in these cases to try and save some data, and I usually make the wrong ones. Apparently, because everything has just simply vanished. I had close to 300 names, addresses and phone numbers, not to mention email addresses. Frankly I have most of these duplicated on my machine at the office, but some I do not and will have to wait for the vanished parties to contact me in order to get their information again.

The last time this happened I was able to recover much of the missing information but quite honestly I cannot remember how I did that. After 3 hours of searching the Internet trying to refresh my memory I'm about to give up and just say "screw it". I'll manually recreate most of the email addresses from my office computer and not worry about the rest. However if anyone has a down and dirty secret about restoring an old address book I'd love to hear your comments. I have both .pab and .wab files, the problem is reconnecting them to functionality. I hate it when crap like this happens.

Shiver me timbers....!

I think that my circulation has not come back up to snuff since the operation three weeks ago. Except for a couple of days when the temps were in the 70's, I've been terminally cold since I've been home. It has been chilly outside, in the mid to low 50's and today falling into the 40's, but I used to love cold weather. Age has mitigated that feeling and so now I'm longing for the pleasure of strong sunshine and the high 70's to warm up these old hands and feet. Posts to the Blog have been lacking.....it's hard to type when your hands are "froze up"!

Not much interesting going on anyhow. Except, that I heard from one of my old 25th Infantry Division soldiers.... circa 1972. Mike, "Andy" Anderson found me through one of my old websites and left a message in my Guestbook almost exactly one year ago. While visiting the old website I noticed his post with his enclosed email address. Luckily he had not changed e-addresses in the last year, so that when I emailed him I heard back from him several hours later. Andy sent a recent photo of himself which is really strange. A very familiar face, but one that has 33 years added on since the last time I saw it. I remember Andy as a 19 or 20 year old, he's now probably 52 or 53. Andy had some very kind things to say about his time in my [our] platoon which made me feel good. Good to know that as a young 22 year old Lieutenant, perhaps I was not as much a goofball as I remember. Andy has done well with his life since the army and has been a law enforcement officer, teacher, newspaper editor and mentor in Bisbee Arizona. Really nice to hear from someone I spent so much time with so long ago.

Excuse me now while I go warm my hands.......

Good Company....!

The other day I was over at Hugh Hewitt's place on the web where Hugh was talking about the interesting possibilities that Blogs offer for all sorts of real time communications assignments. If you have read Hugh's book, "Blog",

you know that he spends some time espousing the corporate use of the medium. One of the examples that Hugh gave was the ingenious use of "buzz" that Blogs can create in marketing such things as upcoming films. And as a current example he named the forward thinking firm of Grace Hill Media that was in fact using this technique to promote the film "In Good Company".

Grace Hill Media is offering free tickets to screenings of the film to those Bloggers who emailed and asked for them. Like me. Unfortunately, Universal Pictures decided that far West Texas is not a hot enough market to test the movie and so I won't be attending. However, and just as interesting to me, today I recieved a surprise package from Jonathon Bock, the President of Grace Hill Media.....a really nice "In Good Company" movie hat and "T" Shirt. A high quality hat and "T" shirt I might add. I won't be attending the screening, but I have to say that the movie trailers on TeeVee look interesting, and now that I have a personal connection to the film, I'll be much more likely to see it. Grace Hill Media is on the Blog ball....

A brighter day....

The funk of mild depression seems to be waning the last several days as I start to feel better and stronger and as I am able to reassimilate into the more active world. I've been at the office for several hours each of the last days and this afternoon Julie, Jack and I took a trip to our public library. The more I'm out in public, the more normal I feel and thusly my spirits are lifted.

Today I visited Dr. Patel, the genius surgeon, who took me apart and five hours later put me back together again two and a half weeks ago. He inspected my numerous incisions and pronounced all healing properly. The leg wounds especially are amazing. Some of these deep cuts are now just little more than red scars whereas just weeks ago they were ragged gashes. The human body and it's healing properties is amazing. We had a long chat with Dr. Patel who appologized for having to delay my surgery on Christmas Eve, but as it turned out God needed the good Doc in another place that night more than I and today we were elated because the final result of that drama was realized. My surgery was delayed for hours because Dr. Patel had been called to an emergency case in Odessa, a heart attack victim younger than I who had come into the hospital clinically dead. Dr. Patel brought him back to life and today the man awoke from an induced coma and will survive to thank Dr. Patel himself. We thanked Dr. Patel also, and I continue my prayers of thanks for all the people who took such good care of me and for all those friends and family who continue to offer their best wishes.

It's hard to be depressed when you're grateful.......!

Official medical update....

Dr. Brown the cardiologist this morning gave me a thumbs up and all systems go for further normal activities. Thankfully, he wants me to walk as much as I feel up to, so this means I'll be able to take, at least, the Big Gold Dog on his regular walking schedule. The small wild dog will have to wait to resume her walking schedule as I don't want to chance her pulling my arms from my newly knitted together rib cage.

The Doc says that everything looks good and he has faith that I know what kind of diet to follow and the sort of aerobic exercise program to pursue, which I do. I have decades of running and bicycling under my belt and I look forward to pursuing that course again. I also look forward to driving again and Julie gave me back my keys today so I am now typing this note from the office. It was somewhat odd to drive again after a two week hiatus, but it's only one mile from home to our building, so no major traffic to negotiate. Don't tell Julie, but it does hurt a little to turn the steering wheel, especially while parking. But it sure does feel good to hit the open road again!

Medical update.......

Not wanting to bore the readership with my medical condition I have been mute for the last several days, but since the condition dominates my activities and I do get a few emails asking about said condition, I thought I might add a note concerning my recovery.

In a word, it's going fairly well, although after two weeks of being hospitalized and/or a semi-invalid I'm ready to start back into a completely normal active life. But that's not to be for now. I go to the cardiologist tomorrow morning where I'll be given further marching orders about what I can and cannot do......like drive.

However, I am generally feeling much better and somewhat stronger on a daily basis and my lungs appear to be coming back to capacity with much less coughing and shortness of breath. My stamina is also more long lived and I'm walking with the Big Gold Dog a little further each day. It will help when the weather warms up as it is supposed to over the next several days. Julie dropped me off at my office yesterday afternoon for about an hour so I was able to have a change of scenery and to catch up on things with my partner Del who had just returned from Christmas in England. Otherwise I try and keep as active as I'm allowed, watch some TeeVee, catch a short nap each day and try and keep myself from thinking depressive thoughts about the long road back to good health. But, I feel I've turned the corner on feeling excessively bad and so things are indeed looking up! I guess it's time to go run my three miles and knock out those 150 push-ups so I'll report back later.........

Happy New Year.....

Happy New Year indeed. That's about all I can muster up today in the form of witty bon mots. I've been in rather a vegetative state for the last two days, not so much in pain really as just a post operative illness that renders me rather ineffectual at most anything useful at all. Such as thinking. Which is sad really since all physical activities have been banned for the next week, thinking was all I had. But I suppose that yesterday and today was custom made for someone with a lack of cognative skills due to illness and pain medication. Football on TeeVee for twelve straight hours was custom made for someone in my condtition and I have taken full advantange of it though I have slept through a few key plays.

I got up from the TeeVee to write this short note and to see if my legs still work. Now with both accomplished, I must get back to the television and to whatever bowl is being featured now.......

Anniversary.....

If today is December 30th, and I think it is, then that means it is our 1st wedding anniverary. One year of mostly all fun and joy with Julie...and Jack. We've all had some rough lessons to learn about each other, but love does overcome and so today we are all closer than we have ever been, genuinely close.

But what a let down once again this week for a major holiday. The happy couple's [plus one] big day of the year felled by my recovery from the major surgery. And unfortunately I didn't even feel as good today as I did yesterday. Not hurting, so much, as just feeling rather ill and perhaps with a touch of fever. I finally even had to ask Julie to go and purchase my Christmas gift to her, the romantic Dyson Vacuum cleaner. One happy spot of the day though....I can tell she really loves it, she put it together and is now vacuuming each room in the house, stopping by the office to show the amazing amount of dirt and dog hair it has picked up in excess of our old Hoover. Glad to she likes it, but sad that our big day is so dull. We'll let loose on our second anniversary.

Home again.....!

Never did one piece of real estate look so good as did 1207 Bedford when we pulled up to the house before noon today....my weeklong ordeal at the hospital complete.

Considering that my chest was ripped open and my heart rearranged with pieces hewn from 5 large slits cut deep into my left leg......I feel remarkably good. I do need to rest though so I just wanted to stop by and thank all those friends who supported us in this unexpected time of trouble. Friends from the Army, from high school, from college, from AA, from the business world and those close friends of the digital world, who, in fact, I have never really met in person at all. Julie printed each and every comment and email and brought them in a large stack to me in the hospital. I read them all several times. Thank you so much.

And, of course, the largest thank you is to Julie for keeping all my/our friends abreast of my situation. I guarantee you that she had more than enough to do in running the house, looking after Jack and two dogs and then trying to spend hours with me. I will write more on the experience however now Julie is giving me the "Quit what you're doing and rest" look, so I'm out of here

DRAINAGE, THE LACK THEREOF...

Unfortunately, the big needle was brought out today. About a quart or so of liquid was drained from the casing on the left side of W's chest, not the lung, via the big needle and even though it was a bit stressful, Wallace is feeling better. I'm continually amazed at his resiliance (I'd be in a massive heap under the covers with the shades drawn). The human body is amazing, it truly is. He's convinced he will come home tomorrow and he may be right this time. As of Wednesday, he will have been in the hospital a week. For someone who won't even take an aspirin, a week in the hospital is a life time. There's only so much History Channel to watch, you know? Keep your fingers crossed that the next post you read will be from the Blogmaster himself.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME...

Our Big Guy is ready to come home. He's up and walking the fourth floor of Midland Memorial, threatening to stroll over to the Walgreen's across the street. He wants a bowl of chili (not from Walgreen's) and is bored. Dr. Brown, the cardiologist took an x-ray of his lungs today as one of them still sounds like it isn't getting a lot of oxygen, but as of 9:30 tonight, we didn't know what the result was of that x-ray. He thinks he might come home tomorrow. That's his professional opinion though, not the doctor's. We'll see. His color is good, his left leg is healing well. If he can just get those last few bags of anti-biotics finished and walk more, I think he'll be able to head home in the next few days. Am I ready for that? I kept the arm restraints Nurse Helen used on him last Thursday night. Let's hope I don't have to use them any time soon.

SITTIN' PRETTY...

When I got to the hospital today, Wallace was sitting in a chair! That's progress folks. He stayed there a while and was helped back to the bed and tucked in all snuggly by saucy Shelia, who's warmed up a bit, it being Christmas and all. He's trying his hardest to do the breathing exercises, they're tough right now, but he's being very obedient. If his breathing levels get too low, Shelia bursts through the door and puts a big oxygen mask on him and makes him "take a treatment", so he has plenty of incentive to breathe and cough, even if it is rather unpleasant.

The shift changed this evening and Helen is at the helm again. She is Wallace's favorite nurse. She dotes on him and he loves it. He feels comfortable telling her his troubles and letting her tend to all those unfortunate things that come up when you're unable to go to the bathroom on your own. I draw the line at the bodily function stuff. I didn't even like changing diapers, so, I'm grateful Helen will handle all that for him.

He'll be moved to a real room tomorrow...One that has a telephone, so everyone be prepared. He's got a big story brewing and since he hasn't been able to post here at Streams, he could get windy.

He's doing just fine, really.

SHOW'S OVER...

Nurse Helen had to restrain Wallace last night. I knew if he figured out what had happened he'd be mad. She had to use the arm restraints. She said it was minor. Yeah, right. Oh, and...he did figure it out.

The real surgery began at 6:30 this morning. Upon opening the chest, one of the arteries blocked off completely, so Dr. Patel got right to work. The blood clot is believed to be by-passed now...thank goodness. I'm happy to report all three grafts were successful. The vein used for the grafting was taken from his left leg. There's a big I.V. in his neck and a monstrous chest tube I haven't had the courage to look at yet. I haven't seen the incision either. I'll be looking at that for a while, no need to get up close and personal just yet. His breathing tube was removed around 4 this afternoon and not 60 seconds ticked off the clock when Mr. Impatient Patient started giving Shelia the business...Shelia being the CCU recovery nurse. She looks tough. I think she smiled once today, at least I think that was a smile. I'm scared shitless of her, so I haven't made much eye contact. When I left, Wallace had a temperature of 101 and Shelia was about to get even with His Royal Highness. In her left hand she held an injection of sleep...in her right hand was a suppository. I thought it best to vacate room 109 for a couple of hours.

This isn't how we wanted to spend Christmas, but I'll take it. Thank you all for your calls, e-mail, visits and mostly, your prayers. I'm forever grateful for your friendships and Wallace will be extremely touched when I let him know you've been thinking of him. Merry Christmas!

Keep reading for updates.