Saturday, December 31, 2005


H . . . . . . H
H . . . . . . H
H . . . . . . H
H H H H H
H . . . . . . H
H . . . . . . H
H . . . . . . H P P Y
N E W
Y E A R ! ! ! !


LSU 40, MIAMI 3
.

” Tiger Eyes “

Artist: Jaubert
Fighting Tigers Artwork Signed Open Edition Sports Art Print

For Sale @ LSU

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LSU 40, MIAMI 3
LSU 40, MIAMI 3
LSU 40, MIAMI 3

LSU 40, MIAMI 3
LSU 40, MIAMI 3
LSU 40, MIAMI 3

LSU 40, MIAMI 3
LSU 40, MIAMI 3
LSU 40, MIAMI 3
LSU 40, MIAMI 3
LSU 40, MIAMI 3
LSU 40, MIAMI 3

Mrs. Jim is an L S U alumni and is very proud of her football team. Especially now!

GEAUX TIGERS ! !

.

GEAUX TIGERS ! !

.

GEAUX TIGERS ! !

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Friday, December 30, 2005

The Sixth Day of Christmas

The last big Christmas day. We think.

Jr.#4 and daughters, GC#2 and GC#3, are coming for an early supper and presents. Their plan is to get ahead of most of the Friday Houston exit traffic coming here and then leave after it is pretty well over to their home. Always have to go through Houston to access each other's homes.

The menu is ham, roast, mashed potatoes, green peas, Razzle-Dazzle berry pie with Blue Bell ice cream, and other food TBD later. I'm sure snacks when they get here and ??? later.

We as a family decided there wouldn't be any presents except for the little kids. The big kids were going for a charity, probably a Katrina victim family, but that has gelled as of yet. The girls presents will be fairly practical. I understand from Jr.#4 the girls also have presents for us. That probably doesn't break our family new rule.

When the kids leave we will either take down the tree so it will be gone for New Years Eve or go to Mrs. Jim's mothers community building to watch LSU win their bowl game. If Nebraska and Oklahoma could win theirs, surely LSU can whip up on Miami!

We can't watch the game at home because we don't have cable TV. There are only two families in Montgomery County who don't have cable. It will be on radio, local AM 740 and New Orleans WWL.

After yesterday's entry I did taxes. Finished them for the year really. I had to call another county as I had misplaced/lost their notice. Then a trip to Conroe to pay our house property taxes. Ouch!

While at Conroe I mailed, went to the bank, and stopped at the church and the library.

Mailing was: (1) return junk mail. I stuff non-identifying contents of my junk mail into the return envelopes and mail them back. We did get credit card apps stopped. Do this by calling 1-888-5-OPTOUT (1-888-567-8688), or go On-line at https://www.optoutprescreen.com/?rf=t. (2) the misplaced/lost tax notice's payment to Trinity County for our lot. Want to buy that lot cheap? One third wooded lot in gated lakeside and golf course community. Backs up to a Baptist conference center with access to camp amenities.

Banking was my required minimum withdrawal from my IRA there. It didn't make us rich but will pay a few bills. This has to happen when you get old. Like the old bumper sticker saying, all kinds of 's..t happens' when you get old.

The Church. Preparation for the New Years Eve party to be at our house tomorrow night. We are expecting thirty or more guests. So of course we don't have chairs for all those people and had to borrow some folding chairs. I will report on the party on January 2.


Since our New Years Eve party is a Baptist Sunday school function I probably won't have a hangover while making that report.

What was Mrs. Jim doing while I was gone? She cleaned up in the kitchen. Then she practiced her golf on holes 12, 13, 14, 15, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 in that order.

Thursday, December 29, 2005

Harry Husker



Harry Husker
vs.
Herbie Husker,
then
Lil' Red
.
Mom was a BIG Husker fan. A really big one. As far as I know she had only been to one game, at the one that LSU tied Nebraska at LSU with us . Mrs. Jim has two degrees from LSU so we all had a good time.

In the 90s some time, Mrs. Jim and I got my mom a hand-painted plywood Harry Husker like you see all over Tekamah during football season. The craft place just south of the hardware store was selling them.

Mom would put her Harry out in the yard every game day. The rest of the time Harry lived on her front porch. When Mom died Harry became mine. He lives in our office room and sometimes gets to come out for football games.

Harry did get us a ticket. Well, not a real ticket, but a letter from the Properties Owner's Association telling us we were in violation for having an unauthorzed sign in our garage window. We have more Oklahoma State people in our subdivision than Husker fans. I think one of these other team fans turned us in.

That time he had been in the window for a couple of weeks. He is in our dining room window as of this morning and will stay at least until January something.

I missed out somehow on Herbie. Maybe I was behind the door when he was announced. For sure I was in Texas. I have heard people calling our Harry by the wrong name and until today I just figured he was going by another name. But I googled 'Harry Husker' and found out these guys were different in time.

Besides Bob's below, another site with pretty good info is on the Husker News at the Husker Press Site. Read it for a better rundown about Harry's demise. They did a cute interview today with Harry. Harry was quoted as willing to return to Lincoln to help the team.
.

The guys here are from the Web site of Bob's Gridiron Grille and the Pigskin Pub, located at 4200 South 27th Street, Bishop Heights Shopping Center, Lincoln, Nebraska. At 27th and Hwy 2. The information about the mascots is also courtesey of them. SEE NOTE BELOW!!


Harry Husker--"The 1960's Harry HuskerWhen Bob Devaney arrived in Nebraska in 1962, he felt Nebraska needed a new image and a new mascot. He finally found that mascot in 1964 when he was reading an article in the NEBRASKA FARMER MAGAZINE. Inside was a mascot drawn by Bill Goggins, the magazine's art director. Nebraska asked for permission to use the mascot and in 1965, Harry Husker was adopted as the official Nebraska mascot."
.
.


Herbie Husker--"The 1970's Herbie Husker When Tom Osborne took over the head coaching duties in 1973, it was felt that a new mascot was needed for the new era of Nebraska football. At the end of Coach Osborne's 1st year, the team traveled to the Cotton Bowl to play the University of Texas. While at the Cotton Bowl, the Lubbock, Texas artist Dirk West had created a caricature to hang in the Cotton Bowl headquarters. Nebraska officials saw the caricature and commissioned Dirk West to perfect the mascot. In 1974, the revised mascot was officially adopted as Nebraska's new mascot." [Herbie courtesy of Capital One All Mascot Team ].

.
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Lil' Red--"As the Osborne Era was starting to wind down, after 25 glorious years, it was felt that Nebraska needed a new image. Although Herbie Husker remained as an official mascot, a new mascot was adopted in the early 1990's. At present, Nebraska has two mascots, a new looking Herbie Husker, and Lil' Red."


Closed before I even knew it was there!
.
The latest info on Bob's Web site reads:
.


Thank you for your past patronage! Bob's Gridiron Grille and the Pigskin Pub
is closed!
We will miss our valued employees and faithful customers!
Thanks for all the good times! Our trouble started with the City of Lincoln's smoking ban, and ended with a serious disagreement with the landlord.
.
We like our Harry and will just keep him for all our time.
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p.s. You can see him also on my September 15 post (link) as well as links to the Husker fight songs, etc.
...
.......While you're there, check all my blog at
http://jimmiehov.blogspot.com/



The Fifth Day of Christmas
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We had an additional guest for the Nebraska game. I had taken Harry Husker with us for good luck. He stayed awake for the whole game.
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I was dressed in my birthday shirt, a red Husker one and a Nebraska hat. I had a couple more hats out for the Alabama boys to wear but somehow they got left at our house. And they heckled a little bit when Michigan would get ahead. I'll work on them before next year.
.
GC#4 helped a lot in the cheering duties. She was wearing her Santa Clause Nebraska Cheerleader outfit. She might have been the tipping balance as she was really ready for the game.
.
Nebraksa's win is getting less press here than the last play of the game. We needed some luck there. Really! I think the Nebraska papers and TV would be more for the win.

This morning after breakfast and some nice farewells, our company left for Louisiana. We also sang Happy Birthday to Tammy as today is her big day. (She had already been sung to by the Mexican wait staff at Pancho's the other night.) They would stop in Conroe for a goodbye to Velma's and Mrs. Jim's mother . Velma and Royce will return for the mother's birthday in mid February.

Well, yesterday didn't start like we thought. We opted for the Houston Museum of Natural Science instead of Galveston. We did end up at Karen and Billy's for supper and the Nebraska bowl game.

Our Houston Museum of Natural Science [http://www.hmns.org/museum_info/visit.asp] has more to do than we could in one afternoon. The place was busy. We were lucky to park in the museum garage but the others had to go over--a whole block and a half away--to the Childrens' Museum to park. Mrs. Jim couldn't even find a handicap place to help her mother with getting in and out easier.
.
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GC#4 came with Billy. She opted for the IMAX showing of Mystery of the Nile




.
and the museum together with the Mummy: the inside story 3D movie and exhibit. Billy and I did that, Mrs. Jim and Mother did just the IMAX and the museum. Mrs. Jim had seen enough mummies in London a few weeks ago.
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The others, the Louisiana and Alabama people, saw the museum and the Star of Bethlehem at the planetarium.

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Wednesday, December 28, 2005

The Fourth Day of Christmas

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"Four Calling Birds"
by Johnny Karwan


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.

We are going looking for the calling birds. We think they are in Galveston and that is where we are headed. Company from Louisiana and Alabama is still here.

In Galveston we hope to have seafood for lunch. After that?? We might ride the ferry. We might go to Moody Gardens. We might go the Air Museum. We might walk around the Strand and shop. Mrs. Jim’s mother has an artist in residence there; we will probably go to his shop if he still has it.

On the way back we want to tour Reliant Stadium, home our famous losing Houston Texans. Then we go to Karen and Billy’s for supper. Mrs. Jim is bringing a spiral ham and so other food to help.

After the meal or seven, whichever comes first, what next? The Alamo game with Nebraska/Michigan.

GO HUSKERS!! GO BIG RED!!

That should mean another night not getting home before midnight. It is 12:38 and we are going strong, though some are now in their P.J.s.

Will report later on what we actually did.



Fire destroys local home

From:
Midwest Messenger

Burt County: News
Fire destroys local home
Tuesday, December 27, 2005 12:40 PM CST

Tekamah Fire Department got an early wake-up Dec. 18 when summoned at approximately 3:30 a.m. to a blaze at the Micky Capalite home, 803 K Street in Tekamah. The fire was reported by a newspaper delivery man making his normal route. No one was home when the fire broke out.

According to Fire Chief Ron Tobin, the fire had a big head start by the time the department arrived. He said the fire, which is believed to have started in an electrical fixture in the basement or a closet, had burned through the floor by the time firemen arrived. Although the frame is still structurally sound, Tobin said, the contents of the home were completely destroyed.

Craig Fire Department provided mutual aid. Firemen were on the scene until approximately 9 a.m.

Tuesday, December 27, 2005


DOG TIRED
.



AND

ON THE GO AGAIN

This is the third day of Christmas (celebrations) for us.

Yesterday Mrs. Jim's sister, Velma, husbandRoyce, Daughter Tammy, husband J.B, son Justin, and son Phillip came to visit.

Velma and family are from North Louisiana. Tammy is Mrs. Jim's niece, their family live in Alabama.

Last night we feasted at Pancho's Mexican Buffet, an all you can eat place. We all ate every bit we could eat.

Now we are headed off to the Conroe/Houston area for sight seeing.

So more later.

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.

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Monday, December 26, 2005

Not really a Scrooge

I might have sounded like Scrooge earlier when the Christmas day was related.

But that isn't the end of the story. After church we ate a snack--at home, most restaurants were closed--and went on to Karen and Billy's at three.

Karen and Billy were celebrating their first wedding anniversary and would be home from the Bahamas around nine. GC#4 had been staying with her other grandmother and came to their parents' home at three. So we were there and got to play and visit with GC#4 for a nice long time.

Christmas activities started at nine with the opening of Santa presents, then family presents. GC#4 did quite well for herself. Of course we all liked the Nebraska cheerleading outfit--GO BIG RED!!!!! Santa was very nice to her just in time for the big game this Wednesday.

Susie and Anthony came for about an hour but had to leave because Anthony was pooped. He is the son-in-law [husband of Susie, Jr.#3] who had heart surgery less than two weeks ago. The others were invited too but they couldn't make it.

After dropping Mrs. Jim's mother off at her apartment in Conroe, we got home just at two in the morning. It had been a nice family day.


Happy Honukkah

What is Honukkauh?
Why celebrate Honukkah?



The History Channel Web site has a very readable explaination [link].


I will copy portions here but if you like reading history I would recommend you read the entire article. It's not a long one.

First two paragraphs:

"Hanukkah is celebrated for eight days and nights, starting on the 25th of Kislev on the Hebrew calendar (which is November-December on the Gregorian calendar). In Hebrew, the word "Hanukkah" means "dedication."

"The holiday commemorates the rededication of the holy Temple in Jerusalem after the Jews' 165 B.C.E. victory over the Hellenist Syrians. Antiochus, the Greek King of Syria, outlawed Jewish rituals and ordered the Jews to worship Greek gods."


Last paragraph:

[after defeating these Greek Syrians]
"Judah Maccabee and his soldiers went to the holy Temple, and were saddened that many things were missing or broken, including the golden menorah. They cleaned and repaired the Temple, and when they were finished, they decided to have a big dedication ceremony. For the celebration, the Maccabees wanted to light the menorah. They looked everywhere for oil, and found a small flask that contained only enough oil to light the menorah for one day. Miraculously, the oil lasted for eight days. This gave them enough time to obtain new oil to keep the menorah lit. Today Jews celebrate Hanukkah for eight days by lighting candles in a menorah every night, thus commemorating the eight-day miracle."




A Different Kind of Christmas
this year


Well, it was different.
[the blog is different today too, an editorial of sorts]

Nobody came to our house to celebrate.
We didn't go to any of the kid's houses to celebrate.

We did go to church to celebrate.
No Sunday school, just church.
I kept hearing a lot of churches didn't even celebrate.
They were closed this Sunday,
Everybody wanted to stay at home to celebrate.
That's what they said.

Not enough people would come.
They must have churches for the throngs,
Cater to the trend, mega church or bust.
We had two services, not three.
That service was fairly full.

Two pre-teen girls came forward with their parents.
They had decided to follow Jesus and be baptized.
I'm glad for them they decided this way.
Of course they wouldn't have to done this on Christmas day.
They could have come another day.

A twenty plus young man also came.
He too could have come another day.
But we had church on Christmas day.
After all, who do Christians worship?
Jesus, of course.
What better way to worship,
To make public a decision to follow Him
On Christmas day.

These young folk could have done this at homes.
Or like the masses everyday,
Worship on the golf course.
But not on Christmas day?

Not church.
Not golf.
With their families, that's what they say.

Sunday, December 25, 2005


MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
If you weren't ready yet, it's too late now. Christmas came anyway.

http://st-takla.org/Gallery/Gallery-Manger--Mezwad_2005.html

Away In a Manger
.
Away in a manger
No crib for a bed
The little Lord Jesus
Lay down his sweet head
The stars in the sky
Look down where lay
The little Lord Jesus
Asleep in the hay
.
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
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Hark! The herald angels sing,
Glory to the newborn King
Peace on earth and mercy mild
Go and sinners reconciled
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Go Tell It on the Mountain
.
Go tell it on the mountain,
Over the hills and every where;
Go tell it on the mountain,
That Jesus Christ is born
.
O, Come all Ye Faithful
.
O come, all ye faithful, joyful and
triumphant,
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem;
Come and behold him, born the King
of angels;
.
O come, let us adore him,
O come, let us adore him,
O come, let us adore him
Christ the Lord

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