September 6, 2019 - When a young man is about to propose marriage to his lady, it is important that the lady’s family is in agreement. That was the situation in which I found myself in 1956 at age twenty. I was attending Baylor University in Waco, Texas, but my love lived a four-hour drive away in Hemphill, Texas. Every other weekend I drove my 1950 Chevrolet to East Texas to be with Clara, my future wife. I certainly wanted her family, all of it, to approve of my being grafted into their family by marriage.

August 9, 2019 - It seems that the cost of going to elementary school in going up in a big way. I note that parents of these young students receive a list of necessary items the student will need from the school just to get started on day one of classes.

July 31, 2019 - Embarrassing situations can arise at any time. I am intimately aware of “Murphy’s Law,” being a Murphy myself, and no truer statement was ever made – “If anything can go wrong, it will, and at the most inopportune moment.”

July 1, 2019 - Harry Houdini was a Hungarian born magician, escapologist, and stunt performer in the early years of 1900. He was famous for somehow getting himself out of locked boxes, straitjackets, and handcuffs. In fact, in 1904 a locksmith named Nathaniel Hard spent seven years in making a special set of handcuffs that he felt would be impossible for any human to escape. In a sensational stunt, Houdini freed himself in one hour and ten minutes. No one knows how he accomplished this feat.

April 22, 2019 - The night of June 3, 2005 was hot, humid, and dry.  The drought conditions in deep East Texas had continued unabated all year.  Both man and beast were in search of cool air and wet water.