The way that I heard it, during those 1970 two weeks I edited the Edna Herald…. The railroad financier Joseph Telfener, along with John W. Mackay, built 91 miles of track from Rosenburg Junction to Victoria Texas in 1882. In the middle was Ganado, that translates as “cattle”. Other depots were named for Telfener’s two daughters Inez and Edna, and Mackay’s wife Louise. Don’t know who wrote the poem: A man bound for Laredo,
Martha’s Vineyard
Remember times we sailed our 36-foot sloop into Martha’s Vineyard. Many memories: — when 12-year-old Grandson Travis Darwin ate his first lobster. — when the lady in the nearby sailboat yelled “I want to see you get that big dog (85 -pound Golden Retriever named Captain Jack) into that dinghy.” — when by telephone Doyle Guthrie asked “just where are you?” I answered by describing an auto ferry coming
Memory Bane
We old folks worry about our memory. That’s why I paid attention to Wall Street Journal story about zapping the brain with weak electrical currents: The new research, conducted on people over age 65, adds to the growing evidence that noninvasive stimulation mimicking the rhythmic brain activity that supports cognition can improve memory. Too late. When I was in my forty years, I sometimes got excited and started calling my children by our dog’s name.
What Ben Said
It’s a Republic, if you can keep it. That’s what historians–and a musical drama 1776–said Benjamin Franklin answered. The question to Ben was “What did we get from the Constitutional Convention?” A Republic concept calls for a Democratic vote–only one vote per citizen–to elect someone to represent your neck-of-the-woods and help make those ‘there-oughta-be-a-law’ proposals. The idea was to prevent rule by an agitated mob. By all means, let’s keep Democracy. Elect our representatives. Charge
Fit to Print
Associated Press story “High school newspaper axed over content” caught my attention. Attention you could expect from a fellow who edited his junior high, high school, and university student newspapers. Grand Islands, Nebraska high school administrators swung the axe. News story says they ”shuttered the school’s award-winning student newspaper just days after its last edition that included articles and editorials about LGBTQ issues…” My high school principal wanted to stop newspaper stories about high school
Smoky
Back in my 1940s days at Abilene High School, the English teachers assigned you to write a book review. If you were a West Texas guy who wanted to write about Smoky the Cow Horse, most often you would find the book was already checked out of the library. Here’s a review a professional wrote of Will James novel: Smoky knows only one way of life: freedom. Living on the open range, he is free
Zeroed Out
At my boarding house, you’re a young one when the lady next door says she is 98 years old and her sister down the hall is 102. You’re a youngster, if only in your early 90s. The three 80-year-olds who dine with me haven’t said much about me being a decade older. After all, as they say, age is relative. And sure enough, I’m the oldest relative in my family. All three of my daughters
All Shook Up
Daughter and daughter-in-law bought me—with my credit card—a new bed for my boarding house apartment. Came with an IPhone-size remote control unit. This old man can now push a button to access an adjustable full motion motorized bed base with massage. Anti-snore, stress management and I can raise the mattress when I want to get up. Mattress 3 speed massage function reminded me of my Dad’s many business locations: a yard for his oilfield trucks, warehouses
Simulators
If you bought an airline ticket recently, you should be pleased to know “this is your Captain” required to train often in a flight simulator. To keep up to snuff, the pilot must ‘fly’ from a computerized replica of his cockpit with video showing results of his choices. Simulated emergency decisions often confront the pilot. Invited to fly two military jet simulators, this old single-engine, high-wing pilot created his own problems. At the airbase outside
Trophy Hunter
Employing sailboat racing lingo, a ‘trophy hunter’ would include a son who crewed better than the Old Man in a race to determine which team would represent Hawaii on the Mainland. Happened when I was visiting professor at University of Hawaii and Kelson was a freshman. Finals. Sailors from yacht club versus three members of the UH sailing team. The student team won the trophy, a necklace with the Hawaiian state motto Ua Mau ke