Tidbits....

The weather could not be more perfect! In my younger days I used to welcome cold weather. Now, I relish the very perfect high 70's to lower 80's. It's great for my walk, performed religously every day now. I'm up to 3 miles some days.

Yesterday was a good day for seeing people I like to be around. First it was out to Chaparral Racing to see "the legend" himself, Jim Hall and to tell him some drilling cost numbers that we had promised him were being delayed. I also got to visit with Jim Edwards who runs Chaparral for Mr. Hall now. Edwards is one of those calm, serene type people whom I enjoy. Later in the day I had a meeting with Burr Williams of the Sibley Center along with noted web authority Eric Siegmund, two more calm and collected people who are a pleasure to be with. Eric is performing "pro bono" work on the Sibley Nature Center's dramatic new website which we hope will premier within the week. Thanks to Eric for all his hard work.

Johnny's Bar-B-Que, a Midland landmark since the 1950's was damaged by fire on Monday, but Johnny has pledged to reopen soon. Kudo's to Johnny, who is in his 80's, for not letting another old "spot" be lost.

I'm am generally feeling much better physically, which in turn enhances my mental outlook. My medical team, as well as I, suspected that the blood pressure medication I was taking was a likely culprit for my ills. I stopped taking it over a week ago and I am, as reported, doing much better.

The only sad news that I can report is that we will not be going to the 40th Anniversary of the Ia Drang Veterans being held this weekend in Washington, D.C. I've had tickets to the event for some time, but honestly, with major medical bills to be paid, home repairs awaiting and some smaller trips with the family I could not justify the expense to go the East Coast. However there is always next year and besides good friends Joe Galloway and Bruce Crandall, both major figures in the reunion, have promised to come to Midland for Memorial Day where they will be the featured speakers at the CAF observance.

One Small step for mankind....

Sometimes on the vast wasteland that is commercial television there are things that are worth watching. One of these comes Sunday evening on "60 Minutes".

My brother, whose career at NASA spanned 35 years, sent me an interesting note that he recieved from a contact at CBS News. It reads in part....

Below, as per our conversation, is a link to a short write-up about the story that 60 Minutes will be running on Neil Armstrong , the first television profile he's ever agreed to. The piece will air this Sunday ( Nov. 6, 7PM ET/PT on CBS) and offers a fascinating look at this American icon -- and a rare opportunity to hear his personal feelings about Apollo 11, his family, and the fame he shuns. As I told you, we're trying to get word out to as many people as possible who might have a particular interest in this story, so to that end, it would be great if you could post something on your website, and/or send out an email to your listserves alerting people about the piece. Further details will be posted on our website: CBS 60 Minutes the story itself will be posted there from Sunday on.

The story of the race to the moon is one that becomes more fascinating with time and the realization that even today we would have a hard time sending men to the moon safely. To have done so with the "primitive" technology of the 1960's is nothing short of phenomenal.

Living History....

Saturday was our first living history day at the Sibley Center and it came off very well. We had history reenactors from many of the old forts in West Texas including Forts Lancaster, Griffin, Concho and Chadbourne as well as groups representing the 9th Cavalry "Buffalo Soldiers" and cavalry troops of Confederate Army days. They were all dedicated volunteers and kept the crowds interested with displays, stories and firing drills.

The photo above is a three gun volley presented by the Fort Griffin battery made special for me as they invited me to join in by pulling the lanyard for several shots. We enjoyed meeting many of the participants as well as having dinner Friday with our special guest Montie Goodin from Goodnight, Texas who is restoring the panhandle home of famed cowman Charles Goodnight. Amazingly Montie's father was raised by Mr. Goodnight and later became the foreman of his ranch. Hard to believe, really, as the era of Charles Goodnight seems so long ago.

Especially interesting to me, as I spent some time getting to know them, were the Buffalo Soldiers who traveled all the way from San Antonio to participate in the event. These gentleman, years ago, had all been extras in a movie portraying black soldiers of the frontier era. They enjoyed the experience so much that they formed an organization to tell the story of black troopers of the 19th century. And they did so very well captivating both adults and children alike.

A very special thanks to Burr Williams and all the participants for staging this entertaining event. As word spreads of the fun and education we are hoping for a bigger and better showing next year.

Upload this....!

Thanks for checking in and sorry for the lack of posts, but I haven't been feeling well. It's been an ongoing thing, with flu like symptoms that had been coming on just occasionally but now are a daily occurance. My crack medical staff has been doing yeoman work to try and figure this out with tests, more tests, antibiotics and other means. Part of the problem seems to be low blood pressure so we are cutting my blood pressure med's to see if that picks me up. So far the verdict's out on that.

Of concern, of course, is the heart operation last Christmas, though since I can walk three miles a day at a good pace and actually feel better, we are hopeful that there is no cardiac link to this illness. However, just to make sure I am now fitted with an amazing cardiac monitor which is the subject of this short post.

Modern medicine is amazing and has taken great strides with the digital revolution. My monitor is about the size of a pager or pack of playing cards. It is hooked to me with two wires which plug into leads pasted to my chest which are easily changeable by me when they wear out. The monitor is constantly on but is on an hourly override cycle which provides a continuous EKG. When I feel particularly ill I punch the "record" button and the device puts the previous 15 minutes thru the current time on the hard drive for storage until I can uplink it.

After the data is stored on the device I simply call an 800 number in Dallas that is permanently manned and tell them my name and that I'm ready to send data. I then put the monitor speaker up the the phone, hit the "send" button and the data is transferred to the centers EKG machine for reading by an on staff cardiac nurse. If there is an emergency type problem they call back and if not they fax the EKG data to my cardilogist in Midland for interpretation. So far, I haven't received any emergency phone calls. This is good.

We're hoping that when the blood pressure medication is completely out of my system I'll feel better. I sure hope so.

Tennis anyone...?

I'm not going to lecture here, but I am always amazed when I hear people in Midland say that the town is a great place to live but that there is nothing to do for entertainment. As I say, I'm not going to lecture, but......where were you folks this weekend at the NCAA tennis tournament? This was big league sports entertainment but I've seen larger crowds at St. Ann's School 5th grade basketball games.

The winning players all made statements that they loved to come to Midland for this tournament because of the friendly atmosphere and great fans. I can appreciate the first comment, but frankly I was somewhat embarassed by the second as the stands at the Racquet Club were only marginally filled even for the men's finals on Sunday. And the crowd for the women's? Well except for me, their coaches and a few others interested parties the seats were all but vacant.

I was interested in the women's finals on Sunday because during my visit on Saturday I had met and befriended the Pepperdine team and their coach Gualberto Escudero. As alert readers may recall I earned my MBA from Pepperdine and so they were my hometown favorite. And they didn't disappoint as Sylvia Kosakowski won the women's singles title fairly easily beating her opponent from UCLA. Interestingly enough Coach Escudero had played at Pepperdine in the mid to late 1960's, playing in tournaments against some of the people I knew from my undergrad days at Trinity University.

It was a grand tournament, fine weather [except for a shower late Sat.] fun and if you have any interest in tennis and didn't go, then try and make it next year. Several of the kids participating made a point of thanking me for being in attendance to watch them play. And.....Coach Escudero gave me his Pepperdine tennis hat and a T-Shirt. What more could one ask?

A Fair Weekend.....

It was grand to see Dallas again. I lived there for 15 years and truthfully, have only been back three times before this last weekend. And in those three short trips I really hadn't looked around town much. We looked around this trip, and boy have things changed!

Julie had been dreaming of this trip for months because, besides visiting with her old Midland friend Sandy, we were going to the State Fair Music Hall on Sunday to see the musical, "Wicked". Guys aren't supposed to like musicals, but I liked this one a lot. Having listened to the music from the show for 3 straight months now, I had grown to like most of the tunes and so to see them performed live was a thrill. The staging of the show is impressive and honestly whenever I go to a first class live performance I'm always a little shocked that some people can be so talented. The voices of this cast are simply stunning and powerful. Though this is the broadway touring show cast, nothing was lost and there were even some extra surprises for us in the cast such as wonderful actress Carol Kane, who many will remember as Latka's girlfriend in "Taxi".

We did and saw so much in our two days in Dallas that it is hard to describe briefly, but Saturday we spent the entire day at the State Fair of Texas. We covered every inch and saw it all including the pig races, the auto show, the Pioneer Mills flour display and the burro-cart driving finals. I hadn't been to the fair in years so it was a hoot. We toured the midway and mingled with the Texas/OU football crowd and in a moment of pure irony I got to take a picture of Julie surrounded by the family of Longhorns quarterback Vince Young. Julie and Vince's grandma, mother and brother all sporting #10 UT burnt orange jerseys. Julie hates strongly dislikes the University of Texas.

And what of the picture above? To peak my interest in the trip, Julie had previewed the performance program at the fair and found that R. Lee Ermey, "The Gunney" on the History Channel's Mail Call was going to be speaking at the fair on Saturday. Not more than 5 minutes after we had entered the fair grounds I noticed someone exiting one of the exhibit hall doors. In a moment of pure coincidence it was none other that the Gunney himself. My good friend Joe Galloway had recently appeared in a segment of "Mail Call" so it was easy to introduce myself to R. Lee and we had a pleasant conversation along with a good photo op.

Though worn out, I enjoyed spending time in Dallas with my beloved seeing her friend Sandy again and meeting her new husband Marvin. Marvin grew up in Dallas and we had fun remembering some of the old places around town that are now long gone. Good trip..glad to be back.

Jim Hall.....

My cell phone rang on Monday and it was Jim Hall asking me if I'd be interested in meeting with him about a gas project my partner and I have been working on. It's not often that one gets invited to go to lunch with one of his all time idols. This is the equivalent of a football fan getting a phone call from Joe Montana.

Jim, of course, was the creator of Chaparral racing which dominated much of the sports car racing scene in the 1960's and later found acclaim on the Indy Car circuit, winning the Indy 500 in 1980. And so this morning, partner Del Sloan and I met with Jim in his offices at Chaparral Racing, which really have changed very little since their heyday. I had been down there many times before to see my friend Jim Edwards who runs the day to day affairs of Chaparral, but I had never been in Jim Hall's private office.

And I had never sat down for a couple of hours with one of racings all time legends and talked. Del and I layed out our plans for the gas project which Mr. Hall quickly grasped being an experienced engineer and oil man and then we talked in detail about Chaparral Cars. Jim, like many of us I think, likes to talk about his interests and successes with people who are knowledgeable about the subject as Del and I certainly are. At several times during our meeting I found myself having to remind myself that I was really sitting with Jim Hall asking personal questions about his experiences.

Jim volunteered several stories about how the cars were constructed and about the role that General Motors had had in assisting him including ideas on molding the brand new composite fiber bodies. I had always wondered which of his many Chaparral's he really had the most emotional attachment for. He didn't have to think long to tell me that the Chaparral 2E was his all time favorite, the reason being that it embodied all the aspects of a sports car that he was trying to achieve, and unlike the 2F, it was open cockpit. He likes the 2E so much that he and a partner are currently constructing the first, of hopefully many, reproduction 2E models which will be on the market for purchase within a year. If the gas deal works out....I'd like to own one!

Jim is an interesting, intense, smart and most importantly a very nice man. He is also very interested in participating in our gas project, so that it looks like I'll soon be able to visit with him again...!

Air Sho...Day I

It was a good day at the CAF Air Sho 2005, strange, yet good. I had good volunteer help in the form of two oil partners, an oil partner's future son-in-law, Julie's Uncle Leon and a very enjoyable high school volunteer. It was strange because, normally, we have many acts up and flying as the crowd streams in starting at around 10:30 am and today we had none in the air until

the main show started just before 2 pm. I can attribute this only to the high cost of aviation fuel keeping some of the smaller individual fliers away.

While the volunteers were driving, I got to visit at length with my friend Greg Baiano and take a good look at his newly rebuilt Huey, pictured above. Greg has purchased two of the Vietnam vintage helicopters and has gone to considerable expense in restoring them to their former glory. I'll be flying with Greg soon on one of his weekly training flights to the Crane Co. airport, a flying experience I have not had in decades. While attending a private ceremony honoring another friend, Medal of Honor recepient George O'Brien, I met up with Midland Mayor Mike Canon and had the opportunity to give him a lift so that he could see the Huey too. Unexpectedly while we were driving down the flight line we ran into an old high school classmate of his, George Johns. I had never met George in person but know him well for he is none other than the proprietor of the popular Blog, Sleepless In Midland.

More flying tomorrow, with a more promising start around noon. Hope to see you there.

Air Sho.......

It's that time of year again. Time for the CAF Air Sho! And also time for me to get back to work as the "Transportation Chairman". A high sounding title and a necessary function but actually I come far down in the pecking order of important personages. Things are a little hectic this year as some of my more regular workers have will be out of town or otherwise engaged. But I still have lot's of good help and it should be fun.

Midland...1926

The latest image of Midland's past is up on my pictures of Old Midland From Above. This photo is actually from not very far above...shot from the top of the old red stone Midland County Courthouse which is what makes this image so memorable.

I like it because, unlike the other aerials in the series, this shot gives a pigeons eye view of downtown letting us see citizens of the day going about their business. People coming and going from the buildings and even several workers perched atop an office building being newly constructed. We can see the automobiles parked and in action, which always gives a flavor of the time period to me. The building under construction, the Leggett Building, is actually the first "high rise" building in Midland. This photo was provided to me by long time native Midlander Wilbur Yeager. While talking about the photo and town of the times, Wilbur amazed me by telling me that he was actually born in the Leggett Building not long after this photo was taken. There was no real hospital in town at the time and so he came into this world in his doctor's office in the building. Wilbur's family were among the first tenants in the "new" Petroleum Building, built in 1928. They still maintain offices there today, 77 years later.

The Scharbauer Hotel, which was old and decaying when it was razed in the mid 1970's is just being built. The Scharbauer was the hub of Midland for nearly half a century and was where I attended my first dance as a teenager. I love this upclose and personal view of the town.

Ben Stein....

Ben Stein is a true renaissance man. Jack of all trades and a master of most. Scholar, author, economist, teacher, presidential speech writer, actor, Visine spokesman and game show host are but a few of the lives that Ben has led. It was a pleasure to have seen Ben in Midland last night. Ben was well received as he is a

vocal supporter of free market capitalism and a vocal critic of his neighbors in Hollywood. Ben was effusive in his praise for Midland and it's citizens, a feeling that seemed genuine as he described how the people he met here are not the typical stressed out more angry American he runs into all too often in the larger cities where he speaks.

The two underlying points that Ben made repeatedly were that 1] it is not the Jimmy Carter's and UN's of the world that bring freedom and democracy to downtrodden peoples, it is the example of a free people set in the U.S., backed up by a strong military and that 2] it is not the Bono's and Bob Geldorf's who bring prosperity to the third world, but free market economics. Points well taken. Thanks Ben.....

Hurricane Lemonade.......

As they say, you should try and make the best of things, make lemonade out of the lemons that you are dealt. And it looks as if we're going to be dealt some serious hurricanes for awhile. So we're cashing in. Rooms for rent, refugees wanted, reasonable prices for room and board. I'm going to need the income.

This afternoon we were called by Duke Energy, our natural gas buyer, and told that due to the hurricane, they would shutting their Houston processing plant down. Which in turn means a back up of natural gas supply all the way into West Texas, thus meaning that we have no gas buyer, thus meaning that we had to "shut-in" our wells. I suppose this is somewhat akin to the theory of the butterfly fluttering his wings in China and creating a tornado in Texas. The energy markets are all interrelated. My advice to you, at this moment, is this. Go right now and fill up your car's gas tank. If Duke Energy is shutting down their gas plants on the Texas coast, the gasoline refiners can't be far behind.

Old Midland Update.....

Most Bloggers spend the time on their Internet journals for personal reasons and would probably make the effort to dispense their wit, wisdom and items of interest no matter what. Still......it's nice to know that someone is out there reading the fruits of their efforts. As you know doubt recall I'm working on a website dedicated to Midland past, which features some places of interest to me personally and more so now old photos of Midland as it grew. This week I received an email from Andrew Custer in Seattle who wandered across the site and had this to add about "The 007 Room" as featured on the site.

Hello Wallace,

I grew up in Midland from ’67 to the late 80’s. Thoroughly enjoyed your photo essay on “places long gone.” During my trips to visit my father and stepmother, I still enjoy driving my wife around, pointing places out from my childhood, and telling stories. Pity her!

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that the 007 was previously called The Egyptian Room. There used to be a back room where the regulars would play dominos and cards. They still had a lot of the original Egyptian-ish paintings. Mummies, pharaohs, etc. When I heard they were shutting down, friends and I went in for a ‘lil’ drank’ and asked about them, but they were given out as keepsakes to some of the good old customers. I remember they had the tabs tallied up on a piece of poster board on the wall. Some of the amounts were in the thousands of dollars. I can’t say I didn’t recognize a few names. Also, it appeared in the movie Waltz Across Texas, which I forced my wife to watch with me a couple of weeks ago.

As for Peyton’s, I always remember on my birthdays careening over to the red and white, candy-striped packages, knowing exactly where they came from.

Enjoy your sites. Visit them regularly. Keep it up.

Andrew Custer
Seattle, WA

Thanks Andrew glad you enjoyed the visit!

On Rattlesnake Raceway....

It's not often that as an adult one gets to meet, know, and even associate with the sports legends of his youth. I'm one of the lucky ones. The legends I've gotten to know are both mechanical and human.....the Chaparral Racing machines and their creator Jim Hall and his team. When I was a teenager I thrilled to the exploits of Jim and his innovative cars. The newly created James Bond

and Jim Hall were our heroes, we wanted to be like them, dashing and sophisticated men of action.

It has been my pleasure in the last several years to get to know and become good friends with Jim Edwards, who runs Chaparral Racing and Jim Hall's Midland operations. Through Jim I've learned the inside story of the Chaparral's and more about the cars than I ever thought I'd know. Today I had the pleasure of getting to know Rattlesnake Raceway, the track where the Chaparrals were tested all those decades ago. What a thrill!

I had mentioned to Jim Edwards that I'd like to see the track and so he kindly offered to let me take my 2 mile daily walk there today...and anytime I wanted. I also wanted to inspect the track to see what would be needed to get it back in shape for high speed driving. The track is not in good shape with weeds growing through cracks in the asphalt and the small stones of the pavement coming lose. Edwards tells me that when Chaparral started testing Indy Cars on the track the condition worsened. Indy Cars sit very low to the ground and create a suction effect when run at high speeds...literally sucking the pavement apart.

I had seen pictures of Rattlesnake but was surprised at the narrowness of the track. It must have been quite a thrill running at high speeds through the mesquite! And high speeds were possible there. Jim told me that in the back "dog-leg" straight, 200 miles an hour was not out of the question. This section of the track, at the gentle curve, is seen in the photo above. It is easy to see why Jim Hall was not thrilled about full blown racing at his track.

Walking the 2 mile course by myself with only the wind whistling through the mesquite scrub was quite an experience. I could just imagine, just almost see and feel, the Chaparral 2E screaming down the long straight at 180 mph. The history associated with this track is amazing and I'm one of the few in town who has been lucky enough to see and stand upon it.

And next week it gets even better. I'm meeting with Jim Hall himself. Not, mainly, about cars but about the oil business. Who, all those years ago, would have thought that I'd be sitting down to talk business with my boyhood legendary hero.

Midland, 1928....

And now for your comparison, Midland in 1928. 1928 was a pivotal year in the growth of Midland, with the Scharbauer Hotel just nearing completion and the start of construction on The Petroleum Building, both assuring Midland's future as the hub of the Permian Basin oil business. Work on the Petroleum Building would begin later in the year on the block just to the north and across the street from the court house.

Midland, 1947.....

I'm a lover of old photos, maps and history. As you may recall over the last year or so I've started a website to chronicle some of the photographic history of our hometown, Midland, Texas.

JoJo's cafe in our office building is a hub of old time Midland oil folks and a few not so old but who also have an interest in the way Midland was in the past. While eating at JoJo's on Friday the conversation turned to old buildings and one of the participants, attorney David Lindemood, invited me up to see his collection of maps, plats and photos. He has some great ones and has kindly consented to assist me in bringing these to digital form.

Here is the first photo of David's that I've scanned. Midland, 1947 is an amazing photo showing the town as it was after WWII, just gearing up for the energy boom that followed. It shows some interesting features including the original First Baptist Church and the railroad station, thoughtlessly destroyed in the 1970's. More photos and maps from Davids' collection will be added as well as some really historic images provided by Mr. Wilbur Yeager whose family has resided in Midland from it's earliest days.

Rick Rescorla...

Who is a hero? What makes a hero?

Honestly I can't answer those questions, but I know that sometimes in our day and age the term is too loosely applied. I do know that many of the fire fighters and other emergency personnel at the World Trade Center acted in heroic fashion four years ago. True heroes, some who are with us today but many who perished in the catastrophe.

Another hero at the Trade Center that day was Rick Rescorla, a man who actually had earned hero status to many of us almost exactly four decades earlier, in Vietnam in November of 1965. A man who so exemplified what a leader should be that he was chosen to appear on the cover of the best seller, "We Were Soldiers Once.....and Young". You can read a short synopsis of his amazing life in the this tribute I posted not long after 9/11. In two months we will be attending the 40th anniversary of the battles at LZ XRay and Albany from which the book and film "We Were Soliders" were drawn. Susan Rescorla will be an honored guest and we will remember Rick, talk about Rick, wish Rick was with us still, but most importantly we will remember what kind of a man he was.

And a special thanks to the guys at Powerline who noted Rick's story here and were kind enough to publish my personal note to them [scroll down].

Leadership.......

There has been a dearth of posts here at Streams. Sorry but I've just felt dearthful. In real life I've been busy but also just rather burnt out on the news of disaster and the tasteless rancor it has created.

With the recall of FEMA head Michael Brown and his less than honest resume, a resume that was rather shallow padded or not, I have one piece of advice for future Presidents. Here it is. When filling important positions like FEMA, get a military man. A qualified General Officer, or hell, a good Colonel or Command Sergeant Major. Preferably Army or Marine Corps. Instilled in these people are the principals set forth as, Plan, Organize, Lead and Control. You don't need a bureaucrat, you need a leader.

Even Geraldo realized this. While watching the news last weekend in New Mexico we witnessed Senõr Rivera actually overcome with tears at the sight of the military moving in to take over what had been a cluster jerk. Geraldo summed it up: "The only people who can actually do something have arrived....the U.S. Army, Navy, Marines and Coast Guard". For once, he was entirely correct.

Home from the mountain......

We're back from a short vacation to the mountains of New Mexico. Julie's folks are building a house at about 7,800 ft. in elvation in the Alto area of Ruidoso and so we accompanied them to check construction progress and to enjoy the cool mountain air and just to relax. With the day time temps reaching only into the 70's and the 50's at night we had a good break from the late summer heat of West Texas.

Besides checking with the builder, we mainly just bummed around during the days and constructed a monster crossword puzzle at night. A great way to relax. The highlight Saturday was a trip over to the Inn of the Mountain Gods the Apache Indian resort that I have not visited in over 20 years. And what change in those years. The resort is now nothing short of amazing, having grown in scope and quality since my last visit. I think that the Apache's are raking it in.

Sunday was a big race day at the horse track in Ruidoso and so we had to try our luck and just enjoy the race crowd, an interesting crowd to say the least. Somewhat a combination of a NASCAR and State Fair of Texas group but well behaved and fun to be around, except for the cowboy at the end of our row who talked non-stop for the entire 5 hours we were there. I think he used to be a woman. Julie's Dad befriended the young hispanic couple sitting next to him [from Midland no less] and the young woman helped Don plan his betting and come out ahead.

Coming back on Monday we, or rather I, had to stop at La Rinconada, which is the Ranch and gallery of artist Peter Hurd. Since I had taken three cameras on the trip I thought I had better be getting some photo shooting accomplished and my fellow travelers were kind enough to allow me this stop. The photo above is of the Hurds polo field in front of their old house, which is now the gallery.

A pleasant long weekend with family and some great vistas. Additionally we got to see the gamut in wildlife along the way including antelope between Hobbs and Artesia New Mexico, mule deer camped out right below our balacony in Alto and most interestingly several groups of wild turkey, one of which almost flew into our car while driving very high up in the mountains.

New Orleans...Update

Thanks to Jimmy Patterson of the Midland Reporter-Telegram for asking me to expound upon my thoughts about my childhood home in New Orleans. The story online can be found here at My West Texas. Also I received an email from my brother Mark who used to live in Slidell, La. and Picayune, Mississippi while Deputy Director of NASA's Stennis facility. He relates that his old home in Slidell was probably destroyed but that his antique home in Mississippi survived.

We, the Bride and I, will be in New Mexico for the Labor Day weekend to enjoy the 70 degree temps and mountain scenery. Not to sound self centered but I hope that we don't see a TV while we're gone. The news is exceedingly depressing.


New Orleans..
It's hard to fathom the magnitude of the disaster in New Orleans. Can you image every single structure in your hometown affected to some degree, large or small, by floodwaters? It is incomprehensible to me and thus very hard to watch the news reports from New Orleans.

Very hard since I spent over three years of my childhood there. We lived at 6017 Perlita St. which is pinpointed on the map above. As you will notice the house is located between two canals and just south of the lake. Our house used to flood with 1-2 inches of water covering the floor with only heavy rains as the cause. I would suspect now that it is mostly under water. The waterway to the left of our old home is the Bayou St. John where I would fish almost everyday I could. I recall having to climb a 15 or 20 ft. levee, up and down, to reach the water. The canal pictured to the right of our house had levees as well and it is one of these that failed, probably not more than a mile from 6017 Perlita.

I pray for the best for all those in distress in New Orleans.