Saturday, May 27, 2006
Our Newest High School Graduate
This is Jenna. Our granddaughter, GC#3. She graduated from her high school last night.
Everything was nice and pretty. Jenna was a Texas Scholar student from her class of 811. That was 11 less than sister Megan's class two years ago. I told Tim that the class was smaller maybe due to population control. He said not in his town.
Shown here is Dad (Tim), Jim, and Mrs. Jim.
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After the ceremony, her parents treated us all to dinner at the Olive Garden, Jenna's current favorite restaurant. Thanks guys.
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Jenna will be attending the University of Houston (my alma mater) with an undeclared major.
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Way to go Jenna! We are proud of you!
Adi Can . . .
yes, Adi can have allergies.
She can go (yesterday) to her doctor and get a shot, get her ears cleaned, and finally her nails trimmed. Before we do all that Adi is very nervous in anticipation. Smart dog here!
Dr. Hablinski told us that in the winter one of four dogs get allergies, but in the summer about half get them.
Some years Benadryl keeps her calm and not
Mema (link) thought maybe Adi had worms too. Dr. Hablinski said no, her heartworm medicine would kill three of the four common. After a short exam he said she didn't have the fourth either. And now I can check that for free, he showed me where they would show up.
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Now Adi is a lot happier dog.
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After checking around the vet's fire hydrant for traces of any friends, she enjoyed her ride home and is having a good nap now that she can rest peacefully. And the scratching has stopped.
Friday, May 26, 2006
Just another old post office? (Camilla, Texas)
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I don't really know if this building was a post office or not, Mrs. Jim and I have always thought it probably was. It could have been a jail.
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I would like readers to figure out a story to go with this building. I can't do much good that way. I might try another day if nothing real good comes up. If you write, you can put the picture on your blog and tell in a comment here that you have done it. If it will be a short idea, just put it in my comments.
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Rachel had a very nice story about an old post office on May 17, 2006 (link). Thanks, Rachel.
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The building is located in Camilla, Texas. There isn't much in Camilla anymore. It is just a crossroad of a couple of not so traveled Texas highways, State Highway 222 and Farm roads 3128 and 3278. Go on down FM 3278 about five miles north and you will come the modern town of Camilla. It caters mostly to people who live near Lake Livingston now, having a liquor store, a tavern, and a convenience store that sells gas.
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I tell people it is on the way from Cold Spring to Livingston, a short cut for us into East Texas. Back when I was telling people I was going to jail (actually, we went to Europe) this was the building I really wanted to say was my jail.
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Per the Handbook of Texas Online (link):
"Camilla received a post office in 1895, and though this office was subsequently discontinued, the area population, which largely earned its livelihood from locally grown cotton, was estimated to be 100 through the first half of the twentieth century.
"The community had three rated businesses as late as 1961. By the mid-1960s, however, the number of residents had fallen to about seventy, and the community no longer reported any businesses.
"The population of Camilla was still reported as seventy in 1990, though it had increased to 200 by 2000."
STATUS REPORT:
ToDo--Take Adi to the vet for her annual summer allergy attack
--watch Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon on Regis
--go to county seat (Conroe, Texas) to get out of jury duty next Tuesday (it is scheduled for 8:00, too early for me--no, that's no excuse, but my age (104) is, buy coke, bread and a card
--attend GC#3's--Jenna--high school graduation and then celebrate with family
--pack for family reunion Saturday.
Done Did That--Took the meat Mrs. Jim had cooked to North Louisiana (Farmerville) for her family reunion
--also took Mema--she is in charge of the reunion but her kids do the work
--came back last night in time for our neighborhood group 42 (dominoes) game--I was still at table # 1 when we stopped playing
--and in time for Mrs. Jim golf today and Adi for her doctor/vet appointment.
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Adi Can ...
. .Looks like lost luggage (LLLL, LOL),
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.Nowhere did it say
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Lady, are you going to stop?
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.. I know this guy, he will stop.
That house behind me is for sale.
Mrs. Jim and I are pretty nice neigbhors.
Jim can get cranky sometimes.
Adi Can . . . can read signs - II- (remember, she is a reading dog) is coming to your neighborhood soon. Watch for it.
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Wednesday, May 24, 2006
A morning with Daughter-in-law
She graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Mass Media/Speech Communications. That is a mouthful and we are real proud of her.
Where else, but a Christian school graduation would the choir and the congregation be singing Lead On Oh King Eternal? This graduation was held at the First Baptist Church of Houston. A place this large was certainly needed to accomodate all the attendees.
I asked Carmen if she had a job now? The answer was no, not yet. She had been offered a couple of co-anchor jobs in towns to the west and east of Houston. Mitch said she might think about getting an appartment and coming home for her days off. Carmen said not a good idea.
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I worked at NASA with a friend whose son had a degree in journalism. He said communications people have to 'pay their dues' most of the time by working in a minor market before getting to a large one like Houston.
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After the graduation, Mitch treated us all to lunch at the la Madeleine (link) restaurant on West Gray and Shepherd. Thanks very much, Mitch.
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btw:
Houston was supposed to have seven Spanish-language TV stations today, but the newest one, KCVH Channel 30, 'missed its debut.' [The Houston Chronicle, Business Section, May 23, 2006]
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The fault lies with the FCC, Federal Communications Commission, who didn't get all the paperwork processed by their promised date. Where is Michael Powell when we need him? [Michael is Colon Powell's son who resigned as Chairman of the FCC in March of 2005.]
Labels: Family, graduation, Kids
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Beverly Hillbillies' truck trivia question: Winners and Answers
It was made by George Barris,
. . . .answers first:
(this picture is of a toy 1922 Oldsmobile touring sedan)
- George Barris is a famous Los Angeles customizer (link);
- original car was a 1922 Oldsmobile sedan** (link);
- and the Beverly Hillbillies Hotrod was a 21 Oldsmobile Roadster with a '69 Olds 442 engine (link)
Winners:
- Rachel (blog), 1st place because first in time (she said "1921 Oldsmobile??? )
- Billy, son-in-law (he said "1921 Oldsmobile, but there were two of these, one for the movie)
- Cheyenne (blog), (she said "a 1921 Oldsmobile)
That's about it. I started with the Tim Spell, Houston Chronicle article below and didn't do as much research as several readers. So you might be more right than I am, but "It's my blog and this is the way it will be," you see, I don't like to argue.
Should my next one might be more fun or more controversial?
Thanks too, to the rest of you who commented, and maybe some who already knew but didn't want to tell because you researched the answer.
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"For instance, Barris' quest to locate a jalopy for the The Beverly Hillbillies, jibing with Ozark family's roots, was answered as Barris was cruising along Interstate 10, passing a feed store in Fontana, Calif.
"All of a sudden I saw an old car," he said. "I whipped off the freeway and went back into the feed store and there was an old 1922 Oldsmobile — it was a sedan, the guy had cut the back off of it and he was using it to haul hay." He photographed it and took the images to the show's producer and writer Paul Henning.
Henning was delighted with the relic, but added a small modification to Barris' plans — "We have to put a rocking chair in the back for old granny to sit on." "
[From the Houston Chronicle, Sunday, May 14, 2006--Link ]
Ice, the Ice Fairy
This is a remarkable site
with fabulous pictures!
The author, Ice Fairy, has a grant to study climate change effects. She has gone to Barrow, Alaska, and beyond to do her investigations.
Her blog, Ice (link), is
"A personal travelogue investigating the impact of climate change in a small Arctic town. We'll hopefully see whales and polar bears and we'll hear about what the ice melting means to people who live here."
She has set up camp with a group, visited in depth with the Eskimos, and now is involved in a whale hunt.
Visit it, I think you will like what you see. It will take a while to check it all out. I started about a month ago and am still not caught up entirely.
Incidently, from Barrow, her plans (from her blog number two) back in April are "I'm planning to fly from Edmunton to Inuvik and from there hoping to get to Resolute Bay, Banks Island or Ellesmere Island. But we'll see how it goes! I'll probably fly back from Edmunton on 31st May."
Monday, May 22, 2006
An Afternoon with Granddaughter
Here they are,
The Mad Potter calls it 
GC#4 decorated a nice plate for her collection,
This is the store front, in a strip mall
There is a similar pottery painting
Mrs. Jim worked hard on painting
We didn't get to meet the owner, but she had a really nice write-up
in the Houston Business Journal.
So far she has opened at three
Houston locations.
Her Web site is (link).
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. The Mad Potter brochure
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And St. Remy's Biscuit & Biscuit
(front and back sides).
At Biscuit & Biscuit there are all kinds of
nice drinks. Our favorite is to have
coffee or tea with cookies.
I had a nice current scone with my coffee.
And used the Internet for a very
economical price.
When you go to Saint Remy in Provence, France,
please visit the Biscuit & Biscuit;
say hello to the owner/operators, Jill and Joy.
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That was just about a day in itself. But not with they younger set.
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Next was and the Alamo Drafthouse. That is a movie house where the chair rows are separated by tables in front of each seat. The menu had drinks (even beer), pizza, and sandwiches. I had a 'western' chicken sandwich, Mrs. Jim shared a pizza with Karen.
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GC#4? She and her friend who came along had French fries and Cokes. The two girls and Billy shared two pitchers of Coke. We forgot about that or the three of us could have had at least one pitcher of Diet Coke for about the same price as the two glasses we had.
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I forgot, there was a movie. It was Over the Hedge, an atrocious animated animal action film. If it wins an Oscar it will be for the animation, not the script. Famous actors did the voice track. William Schatner (alias Denny Crane-link), high on my list, did the Possum character script.
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The Houston Chronicle critique, Amy Briancolli, disagreed. She gave it three and a half stars out of five [The best thing from DreamWorks since Shrek--link]. Besides Shatner, there were Bruce Willis, Garry Shandling, Nick Nolte, Avril Lavigne, and a host of others doing the voice work.
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After the movie we visited for a while. Yesterday they had birthday cake at their home. Karen said GC#4 "made her own chocolate cake with buttercream frosting and then lots of chocolate frosting for decorations.... A great sugar rush! She decorated it all by herself!"
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This blog is running a little late today, sorry midwesterners. You must be hiding from the rains and doing blogging. I will have a lot to read. Blogger was slow this morning doing pictures, that didn't help.
DAILY STATUS REPORT:
Health check--blood pressure/heart rate 127/64/57 . . . . 1:55 P.M.
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To Do--Pay bills, blog, work on cleanup from taxes, vacation, etc
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**The game's formal name is forty-two. This game is played with double six dominoes, it is very common in Texas.
For the rules and playing strategy, buy the book, Texas 42. The rules and order information are on-line at (link). We play the for points version.
Update (July, 2009): Biscuit and Biscuit has moved from St. Remy to Marseille, France. This was probably a good move as Marseille is a bigger city so they should have a broader customer base. I wish them the very best with the new facility.
They do have the same Web site, http://biscuitbiscuit.canalblog.com/#go
Labels: BP, France, Grandchildren, Houston, On My List
Sunday, May 21, 2006
Neighbors
Who is my neighbor?**
And what are these people doing?
You will hear more about these Monday.
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**Luke 10:25-37 [New King James Version]
25 And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"
26 He said to him, "What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?"
27 So he answered and said, " 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,' and 'your neighbor as yourself.'"
28 And He said to him, "You have answered rightly; do this and you will live."
29 But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
30 Then Jesus answered and said: "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
31 "Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
32 "Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side.
33 "But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion.
34 "So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
35 "On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.'
36 "So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?"
37 And he said, "He who showed mercy on him." Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."
