Years ago in 2005, I was dove hunting with Dad Sales and his good friend T.J. The doves were flying like never before. I was loading, shooting, picking up birds with no break. As it was going on, I thought "This is going to be a day that we talk about for a long time". It was and still is.
Yesterday, I went dove hunting again. It was different, but still a day that we'll remember. There was a lot of shooting for sure, but not much killing. We certainly missed more than we hit. But there was plenty of ammo, no rush to leave, the Auburn v. LSU game on the radio, shade from the truck, some snacks and drinks to pass the time, the sun lowering, and good company with Jaboney and Eric.
I came home with all of our 23 birds, with the job to clean them all. I did that and when done, I was tired, dirty and dehydrated. That's usually the sign of a good day outside. This should be another good day of hunting to remember.
Sunday, September 25, 2016
Tuesday, September 20, 2016
September 20 - a favorite day of mine
As you can expect, today is September 20. Why is that such a great day?
To start, its the equinox date from summer to fall (generally). Fall is coming. Now the weather does not change much in Texas now, but still.
My old friend from my first legal job who was Melinda her birthday is today. I recall her smile and she was always in a good mood for that special day. We both helped each other through a tough first job for both of us back in the 90s.
Today is also the opening day for the South Zone dove hunting season in Texas. Dad Sales introduced me to dove hunting and we looked forward to this date and usually got together about then. And then my friend Brent and I started hunting together. And we would usually meet up with our group for a weekend at this time.
And it just has a nice ring to it. Sarah and Joel's birthdays are on the 20th. A nice round number.
So... Have a great September 20! It only comes around once a year.
To start, its the equinox date from summer to fall (generally). Fall is coming. Now the weather does not change much in Texas now, but still.
My old friend from my first legal job who was Melinda her birthday is today. I recall her smile and she was always in a good mood for that special day. We both helped each other through a tough first job for both of us back in the 90s.
Today is also the opening day for the South Zone dove hunting season in Texas. Dad Sales introduced me to dove hunting and we looked forward to this date and usually got together about then. And then my friend Brent and I started hunting together. And we would usually meet up with our group for a weekend at this time.
And it just has a nice ring to it. Sarah and Joel's birthdays are on the 20th. A nice round number.
So... Have a great September 20! It only comes around once a year.
Monday, September 12, 2016
The Dunham Family
My friend Deanna was in the office today. She was telling me that when her son was born in the US Naval Base in Guam, her parents Glen and Marie Hill took "a trip of a lifetime" to Guam to see their grandson Bob in 1972.
On the way back to Kansas, they stopped by in Honolulu to see two old friends from Kansas. They visited Stanley and Madelyn Dunham when they were in Hawaii.
Little did they realize that Stanley and Madelyn were helping to raise their grandson, who would grow to be President Barack Obama.
Stanley Dunham on the left - Barack Obama on the right (Wikipedia)
They were also friends with Ralph Dunham, cousin to Stanley Dunham. Ralph travelled the world working for National Geographic.
As they always taught us, anyone can grow up to be President.
On the way back to Kansas, they stopped by in Honolulu to see two old friends from Kansas. They visited Stanley and Madelyn Dunham when they were in Hawaii.
Little did they realize that Stanley and Madelyn were helping to raise their grandson, who would grow to be President Barack Obama.
Stanley Dunham on the left - Barack Obama on the right (Wikipedia)
They were also friends with Ralph Dunham, cousin to Stanley Dunham. Ralph travelled the world working for National Geographic.
As they always taught us, anyone can grow up to be President.
Monday, September 5, 2016
End of the Trip
You know its time to end the trip and get home when you are anxious to get the airport early. That's what it is like today, Labor Day Monday, Sept. 5. I've been here in Madison and vicinity since last Monday and have seen a lot. I have been to two new states Wisconsin and Minnesota. This area of Southwest Wisconsin and SE Minnesota is interesting geography as noted in my earlier post.
Madison is a pretty big town - larger that I expected. The isthmus between the lakes is the original settlement as the Americans chased the natives back through this area. Now all that is left are a few places names and a few casinos. Like other college towns, it is a liberal oasis in an otherwise conservative rural area (e.g. Boulder, Austin). It also seems that those towns are small enough to not have the urban problems but close enough driving distance to the amenities of a larger area. So no wonder there's a high demand to live here.
I enjoyed seeing cousin Emily and her husband Thane. For not seeing her since since 2004, we had a nice easy meeting up again. She's in a Ph. D program and so they will be living her another 5 or 6 years, then moving wherever the job might be. She seemed pleased that her husband was willing to go wherever her career might bring her. He was a easygoing sort - my kind of person.
There's lots of outdoor activities in the warm months here. We went biking around Lake Monona and then today I went running on the Ice Age Trail which looks like it goes all the way up north through Wisconsin. You'd need a full week or probably 3 to do it all but I bet it would be something.
A highlight of the trip was watching the Texas/Notre Dame game last night at Sarah and Travis's apartment. Not only was it fun to be around them, but we won! We'll remember that overtime win for a long time. I think it was first overtime game I've watched, as UT has not been in one that I remember. And watching someone else continue playing is not my cup of tea. Being a Tea Sipper and all!
More cousin love coming up: all the cousins on my mother's side are coming to visit me at South Padre Island this weekend. I'll look forward to hosting on the home field after visiting all week.
Glad to see Sarah's new job and apartment and town. Now it's time to let her live her life and I'm off to continue living mine. Today is the first day of the rest of your life!
Happy Labor Day!
Madison is a pretty big town - larger that I expected. The isthmus between the lakes is the original settlement as the Americans chased the natives back through this area. Now all that is left are a few places names and a few casinos. Like other college towns, it is a liberal oasis in an otherwise conservative rural area (e.g. Boulder, Austin). It also seems that those towns are small enough to not have the urban problems but close enough driving distance to the amenities of a larger area. So no wonder there's a high demand to live here.
I enjoyed seeing cousin Emily and her husband Thane. For not seeing her since since 2004, we had a nice easy meeting up again. She's in a Ph. D program and so they will be living her another 5 or 6 years, then moving wherever the job might be. She seemed pleased that her husband was willing to go wherever her career might bring her. He was a easygoing sort - my kind of person.
There's lots of outdoor activities in the warm months here. We went biking around Lake Monona and then today I went running on the Ice Age Trail which looks like it goes all the way up north through Wisconsin. You'd need a full week or probably 3 to do it all but I bet it would be something.
A highlight of the trip was watching the Texas/Notre Dame game last night at Sarah and Travis's apartment. Not only was it fun to be around them, but we won! We'll remember that overtime win for a long time. I think it was first overtime game I've watched, as UT has not been in one that I remember. And watching someone else continue playing is not my cup of tea. Being a Tea Sipper and all!
More cousin love coming up: all the cousins on my mother's side are coming to visit me at South Padre Island this weekend. I'll look forward to hosting on the home field after visiting all week.
Glad to see Sarah's new job and apartment and town. Now it's time to let her live her life and I'm off to continue living mine. Today is the first day of the rest of your life!
Happy Labor Day!
Sunday, September 4, 2016
Madison, WI
I arrived back in Madison late Thursday night. I had such a good golf round going at the Soldier's Memorial Field golf course in Rochester, MN that I figured that it would be worth it to keep playing and to drive at night. The golf was a good idea, even if driving until 11:30 p.m. is no fun. I shot 37-43 and just missed breaking 80. Which doesn't happen but every few years.
That area of Interstate 90 east of Rochester is a lonely place. Not much traffic and 14 miles between exits until you intersect Interstate 94 which runs from Minneapolis to Madison and there is much more activity.
Then from Wisconsin Dells to Madison you take the back road of Highway 12 which is generally 55-60 mph and you've got a recipe for a not-in-a-hurry drive.
Friday was my lunch at Epic Systems. What an interesting place. There's a large dining area with multiple choices, everything from packaged shrimp salad to go, to steak, green beans and broccoli. We ate with Shane and it was fun. You actually sit at picnic tables inside.
Each of the buildings has a theme to the common area. E.G. Dungeons, New York City, Old West, Space. One of the architects had worked with Disney and their motto was "Creativity before Functionality" which looks like they had a field day. Two more themed campuses (multiple buildings) are under construction: Wizards and Authors.
Then I headed toward downtown Madison. I thought I would see the University of Wisonsin. I did and it was a lot of walking. The signature building Bascom Hall is on a large hill - a hard walk up although I did see a triathlete doing hill repeats running up. Tough person. I hear that the hill was an Indian burial mound. All too American to build a state university on top of a Native burial mound.
There's also an area called the Terrace which is the student union right on Lake Medota. There are docks where the students were sunning themselves in shorts and bikinis. Looked like too much fun! I guess we did our share of that back in the day. Cold weather and finals will take that place soon enough, so Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May.
Saturday I met up with Cousin Emily and her husband Thane and we went for a bike ride around Lake Monona - the sister lake. Weather was great and it was not an easy ride. They were active cyclists so they appreciated the opportunity to do that with a visitor. We stopped at the Chocolate Moose and had ice cream. A great afternoon!
That area of Interstate 90 east of Rochester is a lonely place. Not much traffic and 14 miles between exits until you intersect Interstate 94 which runs from Minneapolis to Madison and there is much more activity.
Then from Wisconsin Dells to Madison you take the back road of Highway 12 which is generally 55-60 mph and you've got a recipe for a not-in-a-hurry drive.
Friday was my lunch at Epic Systems. What an interesting place. There's a large dining area with multiple choices, everything from packaged shrimp salad to go, to steak, green beans and broccoli. We ate with Shane and it was fun. You actually sit at picnic tables inside.
Each of the buildings has a theme to the common area. E.G. Dungeons, New York City, Old West, Space. One of the architects had worked with Disney and their motto was "Creativity before Functionality" which looks like they had a field day. Two more themed campuses (multiple buildings) are under construction: Wizards and Authors.
Then I headed toward downtown Madison. I thought I would see the University of Wisonsin. I did and it was a lot of walking. The signature building Bascom Hall is on a large hill - a hard walk up although I did see a triathlete doing hill repeats running up. Tough person. I hear that the hill was an Indian burial mound. All too American to build a state university on top of a Native burial mound.
There's also an area called the Terrace which is the student union right on Lake Medota. There are docks where the students were sunning themselves in shorts and bikinis. Looked like too much fun! I guess we did our share of that back in the day. Cold weather and finals will take that place soon enough, so Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May.
Saturday I met up with Cousin Emily and her husband Thane and we went for a bike ride around Lake Monona - the sister lake. Weather was great and it was not an easy ride. They were active cyclists so they appreciated the opportunity to do that with a visitor. We stopped at the Chocolate Moose and had ice cream. A great afternoon!
Thursday, September 1, 2016
Take an Ol' Back Road
Justin Moore has a song with the lyrics "Does he drive the Interstate? Or take an ol' back road?" So I decided to take the back road from Madison WI to Rochester MN. I left about 3 p.m from the Verona WI Subway and headed west on US 18 to Dodgeville. It was pretty smooth 2 lanes on my side to Dodgeville. I had hoped to see the home of Land's End after reading their catalog over the years. But the Land's End store was pretty small. Small town hours, 11 to 5 p.m.
Continuing west the road got to one lane on each side. This is not Texas and the speeds were not 75 but more like 60-65. No one was in too much of a hurry and so neither was I.
Coming into the town of Fennimore, WI, it was a place that Norman Rockwell would like. Clapboard houses, nice trees, no cell service. This is where you could head north to the Interstate or continue west. I stayed on the western trail. In the town, I saw young boys riding bikes, older boys going to football practice, the bowling alley in the middle of town. From what I saw, it didn't look like much real estate for a bowling alley but there was a long extension built in the back.
Down the street was the historical marker showing that Fennimore was on the narrow gauge RR tracks system in the 1800's Three feet wide instead of the "standard" 4 foot 8 inch. It was called the Dinky. Traffic stopped for me crossing the street on foot. As if on cue, an Amish horse-drawn wagon with two women dressed in black went by.
Westward to Prairie Du Chien WI, which is the crossing of the Misssissippi River. The French name refers to this as a former French colonial area first explored by Europeans in 1673. A early frontier Fort Crawford was on this site. The trees and bluffs on this area were very scenic. It was a much different look than the Moline IL/Daventport IA Transcontinental railroad crossing. Turns out that much of Wisconsin and Minnesota was covered by glaciers thousands of years ago. As they melted the runoff carved these bluffs out resulting in the Mississippi River.
Once into Iowa, the area turned quite rural. This area of Northeast Iowa was the land of silos, corn fields, cattle, small towns (at most) and generally no towns. Interesting to think that this is the state that elects our Presidents. A strong Native American heritage here - the counties were called Winneshiek and Allamakee. Effigy Mounds National Monument was in the area to the east.
On into Minnesota and the Root River Valley. The towns got a bit larger as I got into the big town of SE Minnesota, Rochester. The sun hung tough on me and stayed up until after 8 p.m. lighting my way. It was a tiring drive and reminded me of driving from Phoenix to Las Vegas as the sun was setting. But like Vegas I had a good Brinner - breakfast for dinner at Perkin's which is a 24 hour place. It's a good day Hazel Grace.
Continuing west the road got to one lane on each side. This is not Texas and the speeds were not 75 but more like 60-65. No one was in too much of a hurry and so neither was I.
Coming into the town of Fennimore, WI, it was a place that Norman Rockwell would like. Clapboard houses, nice trees, no cell service. This is where you could head north to the Interstate or continue west. I stayed on the western trail. In the town, I saw young boys riding bikes, older boys going to football practice, the bowling alley in the middle of town. From what I saw, it didn't look like much real estate for a bowling alley but there was a long extension built in the back.
Down the street was the historical marker showing that Fennimore was on the narrow gauge RR tracks system in the 1800's Three feet wide instead of the "standard" 4 foot 8 inch. It was called the Dinky. Traffic stopped for me crossing the street on foot. As if on cue, an Amish horse-drawn wagon with two women dressed in black went by.
Westward to Prairie Du Chien WI, which is the crossing of the Misssissippi River. The French name refers to this as a former French colonial area first explored by Europeans in 1673. A early frontier Fort Crawford was on this site. The trees and bluffs on this area were very scenic. It was a much different look than the Moline IL/Daventport IA Transcontinental railroad crossing. Turns out that much of Wisconsin and Minnesota was covered by glaciers thousands of years ago. As they melted the runoff carved these bluffs out resulting in the Mississippi River.
Once into Iowa, the area turned quite rural. This area of Northeast Iowa was the land of silos, corn fields, cattle, small towns (at most) and generally no towns. Interesting to think that this is the state that elects our Presidents. A strong Native American heritage here - the counties were called Winneshiek and Allamakee. Effigy Mounds National Monument was in the area to the east.
On into Minnesota and the Root River Valley. The towns got a bit larger as I got into the big town of SE Minnesota, Rochester. The sun hung tough on me and stayed up until after 8 p.m. lighting my way. It was a tiring drive and reminded me of driving from Phoenix to Las Vegas as the sun was setting. But like Vegas I had a good Brinner - breakfast for dinner at Perkin's which is a 24 hour place. It's a good day Hazel Grace.
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