Attention shoppers.....!

Big Gold Dog.Com, you've visited the website, perused the Blog, read the book and seen the movie. Now you too can own genuine Big Gold Dog© merchandise! Thanks to the inspiration of Eric's Wal-Mart of the web at
The Fireant Gazette I have opened the Gold Dog Goodies© online store. The store has been stocked and is ready for use, but new and exciting items from around the globe will be added constantly.

All proceeds from the sales of products will go towards our Jack's college fund. Well, much of the proceeds, OK, some of the proceeds may go to Jack's college fund. Bulk, discounted orders are welcome. All we need to do is to sell around 55,000 coffee mugs and Jack is off to school. Your business is appreciated! Stop in often at Gold Dog Goodies©

New Feature....

Tonight I preview, for your enjoyment, a new feature here at Streams....a series of animated features from WallyBall Films. Tonight's presentation is a short documentary film showing what actually goes on with "action figures" while their owners are away. The film is entitled GI Joe in action. For the future, I'm also working on a new concept featuring a jaunty clay figure that I've tentatively named, "Gumby". Enjoy the show.

Woody....the opening

The opening of Woody Gwyn's exhibit at the Museum of the Southwest has come and gone, but the memories linger. A grand time was had by all as admirers of Woody's works filled the hall at the museum. The artiste had no real time to mingle with the crowd as he was kept busy signing the finely done catalog that was produced for the event.

Woody was an hour late exiting the museum and arriving at the home of a local collector who hosted a reception for the artist. I arrived with my dates shortly before Woody, yes dates. Julie and I were accompanied by friends Suellen McCommon and Jeri Drozd who wanted to meet Woody. We enjoyed the fine foods, the girls sampled fine wines [OK, heavy sampling] and we had a grand time visiting with Woody and old friends.

We also had a great time getting to know Maria Hwang from Santa Fe who produced the catalog and Katie Leonard of Findlay Art in New York City, one of the galleries that represent Woody's work. The girls were truly impressed with life in Midland with Maria ready to move! Maria's doctor husband is a flying enthusiast and she promised he would be at our Air Show this year, she also invited us to tour Santa Fe's art galleries and lesser known eating establishments with her. Katie has offered us her studio condo in New York City while she and Julie see "Wicked" on Broadway.

Woody, humble artiste that he is, was truly overwhelmed by the support shown by his home town none more than these two adoring fans!

Woody Gwyn.....

Our art museum, the Museum of the Southwest, is featuring a "revisiting" of the work of our good friend, artist, Woody Gwyn. The exhibit opens this Friday and runs through March. Woody arrived today and I met him at the museum, along with his art dealer from New York/Santa Fe and his agent from Dallas. The display of his work looks wonderful; the picture at left was taken with Woody in front of the main wall of the exhibit.

The work behind him is one of his trademark pieces from an earlier period, a work of almost photo realism depicting a cut through a hill country section of I-10. Use the link to his website above to view the many splendid variations of his talent.

Woody grew up in Midland and in fact painted the mural that still hangs in one of the main stairwells at Midland High. We are going there tomorrow so that Woody can look into some much needed restoration. After high school Woody was going to go to the Chicago Art Institute, but instead on the advice of famed artist Peter Hurd, he enrolled in the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Painting the Southwest, Woody ended up in Santa Fe, later in California and now resides in an amazing hacienda in Galisteo New Mexico which was built in 1754. Julie and I have had the pleasure of visiting Woody there and have been invited back. Something we can't wait to do.

For those readers in Midland, try and find a day in the next month or two to visit the museum and view Woody's work. Woody's works hang in some of the most prestigous museums in the United States and in the private collections of major collectors and corporations.

The Harmonic Hum....

The Harmonic Hum, sounds like a 1960's band or perhaps a Perry Mason edisode as in "The Case of the Harmonic Hum". In my situation it is the noise I hear every time I step out of doors at the estate, or for that matter anywhere in the neighborhood.

To the best of my knowledge I'm not hearing things nor have I gone whacko. Others have heard it too, wishing they hadn't, for when I point it out to them they say, "you know I hadn't heard it until you mentioned it, now I do". Some even say later that since I called their attention to it, they can't not stop hearing it, which is the case with me.

I first started hearing the hum many months ago while out in the backyard on a quiet and still night. It seemed to be a long way off and I thought that surely it was some machine abberation somewhere that would be fixed directly. I was wrong. The harmonious hum is there 24/7 every single day and night, Christmas included. I now sometimes even hear it indoors while awaiting sleep at night.

To acquaint you with the experience, imagine yourself in a large very quiet house late at night. The hum sounds as if someone in a room far away from you has just taken the phone off the hook.....a dial tone muted, a midrange audio background noise. This is what I hear constantly, especially when the wind is lightly blowing from the southwest. Even at the stadium where I walk everyday I can hear the hum and it still sounds fairly distant. The stadium is well over a quarter of a mile from our house.

I can pinpoint the direction of the hum within 10° or so, my compass tells me it's coming from roughly a direction of 220°. I haven't done a map recon yet drawing a line from my house out in a direction of 220° but I can tell you that such a line would pass nearly through the First Baptist Church about a half a mile away. I had suspected that this might be the source of the hum and logically it seems like it is probably some sort of electric motor powering a heating or cooling system.

But I've come to wonder. A mysterious hum coming from the Baptist Church. Is this some sort of mind control device. After all I do remember that they used to have speakers high up in their bell tower. Surely the Baptists wouldn't be after my brain would they? Well, no, not my brain but perhaps my soul!

Whatever the harmonic hum is and where ever it originates I'm really tired of it and will soon go down to the zoning commission, which controls such annoyances, and try to get action. Perhaps before the Baptists capture my brain!

How's that.........?

Today, of course, is Martin Luther King day and with Jack out of school and many offices closed [including Julie's] the holiday was on my mind as I started the day.

As I opened the front page of the "Midland Reporter-Telegram" I first noticed the picture of Dr. King and then directly above, the lead headline......."Experts say race to be entertaining". Wow, I thought, that's a pretty bold and provocative statement and frankly not too much in the spirit of the day. I would call the last 200 years of racial relations interesting, but entertaining is perhaps not the word I would use.

But, oh those wags, at the newspaper. Upon further reading of the headline article I discovered that they were referring to the Governors race, not relations among our ethnic groups. Sometimes I do wonder whether editor Gary Ott is poking a little satarical barb at us on purpose.

Boyz......

Today's picture of the day captures one of the events this evening as our Jack has three amigos over to spend the night. Did I ever act this way? Undoubtedly, there were just no cameras around to capture the action.

Mama......

Julie, Jack and I wish to express our heartfelt sympathy to Midland writer and fellow blogger Jimmy Patterson and his family on the loss of his Mother today. Jimmy's personal and touching account of his Mother's last weeks relates how he and his family faced this moment of deep and painful sadness with diginity. It's a chronicle worth reading....

Announcing.......

The picture above is of my brother Mark[r] and Me[l] with Speaker of the Texas House Tom Craddick who was in town to announce legislation proclaiming the Craig boys as "Texans of the Decade".

Well not really, that may come later. What Tom was in town for was to announce our Blakemore Planetarium renovation program for which he was instrumental in getting the funding. Our planetarium is a great civic asset but has become worn and dated over the years. That is about to change with the complete renovation of the present building, construction of a new education building and the installation of a digital projection system to give us IMAX type experiences.

We will also focus on distance learning to serve the very large geographic area that we cover which will include data links to the McDonald Observatory which will enable us to view real time projections of what they see on their world class telescopes. In fact McDonald is so excited about the possibilities that Dr. David L. Lambert, head of astronomy at the University of Texas and director of the McDonald was in attendance today and will have lunch with several of us tomorrow to chart our course.

Interest in the project was gratifying. In attendance at the press announcement this morning were the Mayor and a former mayor, two county commissioners, a city councilman, Dr. David Daniels the President of Midland College and two senior representatives from the University of Texas, Permian Basin. Brother Mark, a recently retired Deputy Director of NASA is our honorary chairman and flew in from Houston to deliver the keynote address. We thank all those who help make the two years of work on this project come to fruition.

The Sky's, and Stars, are the limit in Midland Texas.

The Soiree....

Creative writing [if that's what you call this?] at Streams came to a standstill these last several days as we entertained our semi-annual visitors Bruce Crandall and his lovely wife Arlene. Bruce was portrayed in the movie, "We Were Soldiers" by Greg Kinnear and was the aviation advisor for the film, so he always is a crowd pleaser. And so we always try and provide a crowd.

Our little soiree was Friday evening and The Bride outdid herself with a festive occasion and grand gourmet treats. We had a fine time and I'm sure that some of the people meeting Bruce for the first time enjoyed his stories as we always do.

Faces seen in the crowd included Judge John Hyde, Doc Dodson, Bill Coombes who is a board member of the CAF and Jim Edwards, manager of Chaparral Racing. Also Julie's Dad, Don, my cousin David Donnell and Suellen McCommon, one of Julie's best friends recently relocated to Midland.

National Champs......

If you missed the Rose Bowl game tonight you missed one of the best college football games in history, in my humble opinion, and one of the most amazing performances by a single player ever. Vince Young beat the USC Trojans and two Heisman award winners.

Honestly I thought it was over with six minutes to go, but I should not have counted Vince out. Truly amazing. The photo above is Julie, in the hat at center, surrounded by Vince Youngs family at the Texas/OU game in October. I had just talked to Vince's mother and congratulated her on that triumph for her son.

Congratulations Longhorns, it means a lot to the State of Texas to beat the boys from Hollywood!

Tradition: Adios, good-bye, so long...

Did anyone else notice something strange about this New Year's Day? As far as I can discern there is not one college bowl game being played today. Not one. For those under the age of 20 I will relate to you that all the major bowl games used to be played on New Year's Day. It was an orgiastic football feast lasting from 10 a.m. till after 10 p.m. A time for male bonding of the highest order and for the women to sit in the other room cooking and gabbing. In other words quality family time. At the end of New Year's Day you would know [most likely] who was the National Champion and the next day the holiday's were over and it was back to work.

Now? The bowl games began two weeks ago with the Avocado Bowl, Jell-0 Mold Bowl, Roto-Rooter Bowl....ad infinitum. If your team finished the regular season with a 6-5 record, no problem you were bowl bound. This is in some ways humerous to those of us who have been watching college football for 46 years. But mostly it is very sad. Crass commercialism has finally sacked the tradition in college football. This trend continues and in fact gets worse. I heard several days ago that The Peach Bowl, after all these years, will now be known only as the Chick-fil-A® Bowl. How catchy, will the bowl championship ring have a drumstick on it? A fowl wind blows in Georgia and in the tradition of college sports.

A New Start....

It's always good to start out the new year with something brand new. One something brand new of which we are very proud is our new website at The Sibley Nature Center.

Thanks to the very hard work and creative ingenuity of web designer Eric Siegmund the website has an all new look and many more areas of interest to enthrall those of us who are interested in all aspects of our life here on the lower Llano Estacado. Of particular interest to me [I am also the moderator] is the new photo section where the public can upload their photographic images that pertain to our biosphere and those who inhabit it. Also we have added a message board so that anyone can comment on or ask questions about areas of interest to them.

The website is only one aspect of change at the Sibley Center where we have rededicated our efforts in order to become a regional learning center for both school age children and adults. In the future look for a lecture series, special speakers and events...like our new annual "living history day". I hope you'll take a peek at the website.

A Big Day....

Today is a very big day for us and a day when a special blessing was bestowed upon me. A day when life changed for the better with the addition of two special people [and a dog!] in my life.

Please view our big day card!

"Hey" Mr. Speaker.....

So I'm at the Ace Hardware this afternoon shopping for carpentry brackets when I hear a voice behind me ask, "Hi Wallace, how are you doing?" When one turns around at the Ace Hardware, one hardly expects to find the Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives asking how you are. But this is Midland and one never knows who he will see, from cabinet members to first families.

Mr. Speaker, Tom Craddick, is someone I've known for decades and he and I have always hit it off for some reason. Or.....maybe that's why he has been an elected official for so long, he gets along well with everyone. I originally met him because his sister Bonnie set in front of me in "home room" for four years in high school, we sat in alphabetical order and in those days had home room every single day. Cowden, Craddick, Craig, I got to know Bonnie very well.

The Speaker was in Ace Hardware to get a key made and to buy some assorted hardware. He, like me, was dressed in his Ace Hardware attire, a sweatshirt and shorts. As we shopped we had a nice chat and I had the opportunity to thank him for the funding for our planetarium renovation which he arranged and to put a bug in his ear about several other projects I'm involved in. He was interested to know about the Chaparral raceway project [he is a good friend of Jim Hall] and also said he would check into help from UTPB with the large broadband connection we need to link the planetarium to McDonald Observatory for live shots of what they are seeing down there. I'll see the Speaker again on January 11th for our planetarium renovation announcement party.

As I said above, if your timing is right you can run into some interesting folks in Midland. As an example, we are planning a reunion for Midland and Lee High Schools this summer, for the classes that graduated in the 1960's. On the invitation list are.... the Speaker, the former Secretary of Commerce [his wife and he actually], Gen. Tommy Franks and the First Lady and her husband, what's his name.

Christmas Day.....

I'll make today's post a short and sweet synopsis of our Christmas season so far. You are busy with your family and I with mine. We hope your Christmas day is as wonderful as ours. Compared to the last two years we are in Yuletide paradise.

Two years ago we were moving Julie and preparing for our wedding to be held five days after Christmas. Last year, of course, I was lying in Cardiac Recovery.

Since Wednesday and as of almost noon today we have been to Ruidoso, New Mexico, attended late night Christmas Eve church, opened Julie, Jack's and Wallace's presents and are preparing to host my folks for their gift opening and Christmas lunch.

Julie and Jack went to see her folks newly finished home in New Mexico and her Dad and I went up on Friday. It's a lovely home located in the pines about 7,500 feet up in the Sangre de Christo Mountains. On the way up Don and I stopped at artist Peter Hurd's Ranch at San Patricio where we had a nice visit with Peter's son, Michael [at right above]and Mike was able to finally identify and give a name to a Peter Hurd seriograph that I have. While in Ruidoso Jack, Don and I played miniature golf and rode go-karts, the weather being extremely warm for the season and the mountains mostly bare of snow which nixed Jack's skiing opportunities. We also went furniture shopping.....something for the new house and a new front bench for the Bedford Dr. estate.

Julie, Jack and I drove back Saturday afternoon and after a brief respite and finishing up our gift wrapping it was off to late church where Jack had acolyte duties. Once home Jack and I listened to some rousing Doobie Brothers music and then off to bed while dreaming of sugar plums dancing in our heads. Santa also had his duties putting Jack's new bike out under the tree.

Jack, of course, was up at dawn ready for the days treat and thrilled with his new bike.....complete with "double pegs". I received very nice workout/walking outfits which I needed, a cool multiple DVD set of the early Andy Griffith TV series and a stocking full of life's essentials! Fool that I was I thought that I could buy Julie's gift last week, an IPod. There was not one to be found in Midland [except at Sam's Julie tells me now!] so she had to settle for the gift card version.

This morning we have been enjoying our gifts, cleaning up and preparing for my folks. Jack and I had the first annual "poop n' hoops" contest. The first one to make a basketball hook shot got out of the big pooper scooper duties for the day. I was a shoo-in, but Jack surprised even himself by making the first hook. I've just completed the poop patrol.

Have a great Christmas........!

We wish you the merriest of Christmases and the most Happy New Year. A time to rejoice in all that we have to be grateful for. Click on the Christmas image above for the Craig family digital holiday card.....and a short movie of the crew!

Deck the halls.....or maybe an old lady!

I decided to get an early start on my Christmas shopping, so I began today. You laugh, I usually start in earnest on the 23rd. Frankly it has gotten easier as members of my family get older and less interested in the gift than the thought involved. Gotten much easier with a Bride who is very interested in shopping and doesn't mind picking up things, especially for my nieces. I've never really developed a knack for shopping for 6 and 8 y.o. girls. She also suggests things that I can get for other family members.

Modern technology has made it much easier too. Gift cards are not too emotional but they are very handy and a card bought here at a major retailer is good at any city in the land and the recepient can chose what he likes. My parents love a Luby's card, my nephew prefers Best Buy. My Mom likes Barnes and Nobles and the bride likes Talbot's [note: for prying eyes, not this year].

The Internet has matured into a great way to shop also. I first tried to order online in 1998 and I'll have to say it was a disappointing experience. Busy webservers, poor personal contact if need be and the agony of going through the shopping basket only to have an "out of stock" appear at the end of the ordeal. Today the poorly run sites have gone out of business or been purchased by the people who know what they're doing. I surf up my gift choice and then choose to use the 800 number to make the order. My preference the last several years has been the Stockyards. A great high end meat purveyor in Chicago that has not disappointed.

But today there were a few items I needed that caused me to visit some real life stores. My Mom, who says she wants nothing, actually needs a new Boom Box. Her current model has a defective CD player. So to Best Buy I went. I picked up the gift cards for the nephew, the Boom Box and something for Jack. Though crowded the shopping and checkout was actually not too bad. But on the drive out of the parking lot it happened. One of the reasons I prefer to shop online if possible.

To my way of thinking there are two classes of drivers at Christmas time. Those who consider the season and are extra polite and their opposite, those who consider the season a time to act out their worst behavior. I ran into one of those this morning.

Driving down the main internal road of the shopping center where Best Buy is located a 60'ish woman in an Expedition [i.e. land monster] was exiting one of the side parking areas and decided that she didn't need to stop for the flow of traffic. Turning at a goodly speed into the line of cars she had the nerve to honk at me and gesticulate wildly, I could see her mouthing something. Merry Christmas, I'm sure.

I wanted to stop and ask her what the cop who gave me a speeding ticket some weeks ago said, snidely I might add. "Lady is there some kind of medical emergency that's causing you to drive this way". Or is it just the Christmas spirit. I don't and won't ever understand some people.

Blizzard.....!

Blizzard may be a little melodramatic, but we did awaken to a heavy and beautiful snowfall this morning. I like our regularly occasional snowfalls and this is the first of the season, but my initial thought was, Uh Oh! I was nervous because of several activities occuring early today. The most important of which is my Dad's

release from rehab today for which my Mom will have to drive across town.

Aha, bad son you say to make your Mom do this alone. Well, the other event occuring today is the cleaning of our carpets by "Sonny" and his Mom for which I need to be at home because the Bride is at the dentist. "Sonny" is about 68 y.o. so you do the math on how old "Mom" is. But she's a worker and they are great carpet cleaners and so cheap we almost feel like we're guilty of elder abuse for what we pay them. I would heartily recommend them and will provide their number for local residents.

{.....Time passes}

Now.....Sonny is here, alone, and is busily cleaning the carpets, the snow is tapering off and all is well at the estate. I'll be off now to check on my Dad and then possibly arrive at the office just in time for lunch. This snow is beautiful especially because it is not bitterly cold out and it should be melted and gone by tomorrow when the temperature will reach the 50's.

{Update....yet more time passes}

My Dad is safely home from rehab and when asked if the roads were any problem my Mom's answer was, "It's nothing. I used to drive in real blizzards in Missouri". As I type Sonny is loading his equipment and the carpets look immaculate! Now I hate to walk on them they look so fresh. As noted above Sonny came without Mom this time and when I asked why he said that though she hated to she had to give up work when she turned 90! And on a sad note due to poor circulation she had to have a leg amputated. She's been to rehab and is now home learning to walk on her new artifical limb.......at the age of 92. The will to go on burns brightly in some people.....

Twelve [12].......

Our little Jack, not so little anymore, is 12 today! Since he will be gone tonight we had his little family birthday party at 7:30 this morning complete with cards, cake and one present. Not that he is deprived and only received one gift, but he discovered several more yesterday and got them then. This included a new jacket for knocking around in and a spectacular flat screen video monitor capable of carrying feeds from computer, TV, DVD and PlayStation. I hope that We He enjoys it!

Several nights ago while his Mother was out at another of her "girl" Christmas parties, Jack and I had a nice bedside chat about growing up and the responsibilities involved. A heart to heart talk where I described some of the pitfalls I had encountered and the talk where I warned him that if he tried any of the things I used to do he would be grounded until he left for college. He is truly a gem and I couldn't have asked for a better step-son, I love him dearly.

In addition to his little party this morning we took him out to the newly reopened Johnnie's Bar-B-Que last night. Johnnies, as I've written before, is a Midland legend that recently caught fire and just reopened on Monday. For local folks, it has not changed a whit except that now it looks and smells clean, but this did not ruin our dining experience. The only sad part of the fire was that Johnnie lost all of the mementoes that been hung on the walls over the decades. I asked the manager if we might bring some new memories in to hang, and he said he would be most appreciatative.