All stressed out...

Today was a big day. A stressful day....by design. The occasion was my "almost one year from the big operation cardiac stress test". Not to keep you in suspense, all the studying for the test that I did paid off. I passed with flying colors, flying so high that I was in the top category. Whew! The stress passed away with that diagnosis.

I have been walking without fail every day, working my way up from stumbling just up the block a week after the operation last Christmas to three fast miles a day recently. My ace cardiologist Dr. Steve Brown, besides being a fine guy, is a great cardiologist full of useful knowledge and facts. He tells me that my "exercise quotient" is very high and that being in that category, studies show that my risk of a heart attack in the next 5 years is low to nil. I asked for a guarantee a little further out, but could not get him to commit to that. But he did say, that all indications are that I'm doing well.

For those who haven't been through this proceedure it is interesting and another example of amazing technology. First a measure of heart activity is done while resting including a sonogram of the heart. It's quite interesting seeing your heart functioning on the monitor. Besides the pictures, of course, the numerous electronic leads attached are recording a continuous EKG. Next it's on to the treadmill where the speed and angle of incline increases every two minutes. The biggest problem for me was not respiratory or cardiovascular, but the fact that my legs are not used to running uphill so after twelve minutes I had to call a halt due to cramps.

Immediately upon quiting the treadmill it's back to the sonogram to get pictures of the heart in this physically active state. Dr. Brown showed me the TiVo reruns while pointing out items of interest including no blockages and extremely good muscle function [picture above]. And that was that, except I asked if I might have a Donut from the box I saw at the front desk. The answer was........NO!

Fall's Glory.....

It has been a glorious fall season in West Texas with the trees in their best autumn colors even days after Thanksgiving. The sunlight, high clouds and gentle warmth have been a true blessing. Captured last evening as the sun was just below the horizon is today's Picture of the Day. A photo rendered just a pleasant memory today as 220 mph winds have shredded most of the leaves and filled the air with dust. Well, OK, maybe not 220 mph winds, but gusts are hitting 50 mph. Good bye sweet autumn.

On ye bulldogs.....next year

The football season for the Midland High Bulldogs came, sadly, to an end this afternoon. The 'Dawgs fell to the Plano Wildcats in a disappointing 20-7 game. Disappointing because it was not the Bulldogs best game and they gave away two turnovers that resulted in Plano scores.

Still...it was a magnificent season, especially if you are a bulldog alum and remember 50+ seasons of not going to the playoffs.....at all! The 'Dawgs have now been in post season play in 3 of the last 4 seasons, having played in the state championship game several years ago. Today was a sad end for the kids and fans but being among the last 8 teams in the state playing at the end of the year is not a bad season at all.

Personally, I'll miss watching the team practicing while I walk around the track at the old Midland Memorial Stadium every afternoon. It was an up close and personal experience with them practicing only yards away and gave me the occasional opportunity to talk with some of the players and coaches. Thanksgiving evening the team practiced at 6 p.m. and as I walked I noticed two kids arrive early and begin to work out before anyone else was on the field so I stopped to chat with them. It turned out to be Baron and Brandon Batch. Baron was the key player on the team and now has the single season MHS rushing record.

Besides the obvious work ethic of being first on the field, Baron and his brother Brandon impressed me with their articlulate conversation and polite manners, "yes sir, no sir". For local fans Baron tells me that he is leaning towards playing at Texas Tech but recently he is being courted hard by Miami, Tennessee and Florida State. These facts caused much chagrin to The Bride, who is a dyed in the wool Red Raider fan.

Great season Bulldogs........

Thanksgiving.......

A day for remembering all the blessings bestowed upon us. Even in rough times we have things that we should be grateful for. We hope your day will be a great one. Here's a little card for you on Thanksgiving Day.

A Special Day......

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, an important day to show our gratitude for all that we have. But today is a very special day too. In fact, there is speculation that the 23rd of November gave rise to Thanksgiving. They say it's your birthday........ da da da.

Snippets....

A couple of quick notes just to let you know I'm still here....

Oh the irony of it all! The Texas Christian Athletic League high school football championship game between Midland's Trinity School and Pasadena South Shaver school was cancelled yesterday after fights broke out in the 2nd quarter. Apparently these were some serious scuffles as the police were called and fans from the two schools had to be led out of seperate gates. Yes, that's the Christian Athletic League!

Midland is an interesting town. On Thursday I went to the funeral of a fine lady who was the mother of one of my high school friends and a church member whom Julie called on periodically. While in the line to sign the guest book I noticed that behind me was Don Evans, recently the Secretary of Commerce. Though I don't really know Don, he is married to the sister of another high school chum, so I introduced myself and caught up on what the chum had been up to all these years. And today, as the bride and I were in line to be served at the First United Methodist Church Thanksgiving lunch, we offered to let a group of older women preceed us in the line. They thanked us and appreciated our gesture. I hope this was noticed in Washington as the group included the President's Mother-in-Law, Mrs. Welch. Acutally it is not unusual to see her at church and social events around town, but I always want to ask her, "How are George and Laura?", thankfully I never have.

Back among us......

My Mother has been an avid and active pursuer of our family's past for many decades now. Her skills in geneology have allowed us to trace our family tree back several centuries and to several European countries. She has researched both her side of the family as well as my Dads.

Doing research into my Dad's family past they have journeyed to Darmstadt Germany and found records about the family before they migrated to the U.S. in the 1870's. They have visited Scotland where she found my namesakes, in the Wallace and the Craig families. They made two trips to County Antrim, Northern Ireland where the name Craig is as common as Patel in India. From here my Dad's grandfather Craig came to America, while his brother, Sir James Craig, stayed and ended up becoming the first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland.

On her side of the family, the King clan, she has traced the lineage all the way back to North Carolina in the 1700's and then mapped out the family over the centuries as it moved west into Tennessee and then into Missouri. One of her great aunt's was even named Missouri Gordon to honor their arrival in that state. Over this long period of time, many family names appear in our line of descendants. One of those is Judkins, my Mother's Great, Great Grandparents.

Some years ago, she and my Dad had heard that there might be a Judkins family cemetery plot somewhere in soutwestern Tennessee and so on a trip to the area they searched for it, coming up empty. I have to add here, that for most of her geneological career she has done her research the old fashioned way, by visiting courthouses, libraries, farmhouses and by writing letters and making phone calls. Apparently she would leave her name and phone number at some of these places should anyone find any pertinent information. And apparently people do save this information.....for last week my Mom got a call from a woman in southwest Tennessee. Her family had recently purchased land in Giles Co. and had found....yes you guessed it, a cemetery deep within the woods and covered with brush.

These fine folks took the time and very great effort to clean up the grave sites and photograph the markers. One of which faintly reads "Robert B. Judkins"......my Great, Great, Great Grandfather, born 1807 in North Carolina , married in Giles Co. Tenn. in 1830 and died there in 1890. A rather amazing story, I think, highlighting a direct link to our past and probably the most gratifying experience of my Mothers long career in geneology.

Veterans Day....

Honestly, I can't remember when I've been so touched at an event for Veterans as I was on Thursday when I attended the annual Rusk Elementary salute to Vets. I admit to shedding a tear.....ok, several tears.

Rusk Elementary School has been holding this event since 1998, I found out today, but this is the first time I have attended on the advice of a friend who helps put it together. The tribute originally started out in the school auditorium as a way to honor Veterans and to teach the elementary school kids what others have sacrificed for their freedom. So successful has it been that it now must be held in the Commemorative Air Force's largest hangar...and it is packed by 100's of Veterans, their families, well wishers and over 300 kids who put on the show.

After the Veterans signed in, we were then directed to walk in front of the stage to greet the kids. I wasn't prepared for the reception. Hordes of smiling, cheering, waving kids all wanted to reach out to shake hands and offer their thanks for our service. It was especially heartfelt to those of us in the Vietnam age group who had missed this type of gratitude 30+ years ago. Bout of tears number 1.

Over an hour of good old fashioned kid generated entertainment followed based around a USO show, entertainment that had obviously taken many hours to put together and rehearse. The crowd of us "old timers" enjoyed seeing kids having a great time. After the show, each and every Vet was presented with a packet of parchment replica documents of the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and the Gettysburg Address. But the special gift was another similar parchment document especially printed and framed for the event. A declaration from the kids to us Vets proclaiming that they would never forget our sacrifice. All the Vets were asked to stand, 100's of us, and we were each presented with this precious document, hand delivered by a child from the school. Bout of tears number 2.

This was a special day and so many thanks go out to the students and teachers who spend so much time working on the event and to sponsors such as Southwest Airlines who lend support to the endeavor. I'll remember this for a long time to come. Some images of the event can be found at: Rusk Veterans Tribute

Tidbits....

The weather could not be more perfect! In my younger days I used to welcome cold weather. Now, I relish the very perfect high 70's to lower 80's. It's great for my walk, performed religously every day now. I'm up to 3 miles some days.

Yesterday was a good day for seeing people I like to be around. First it was out to Chaparral Racing to see "the legend" himself, Jim Hall and to tell him some drilling cost numbers that we had promised him were being delayed. I also got to visit with Jim Edwards who runs Chaparral for Mr. Hall now. Edwards is one of those calm, serene type people whom I enjoy. Later in the day I had a meeting with Burr Williams of the Sibley Center along with noted web authority Eric Siegmund, two more calm and collected people who are a pleasure to be with. Eric is performing "pro bono" work on the Sibley Nature Center's dramatic new website which we hope will premier within the week. Thanks to Eric for all his hard work.

Johnny's Bar-B-Que, a Midland landmark since the 1950's was damaged by fire on Monday, but Johnny has pledged to reopen soon. Kudo's to Johnny, who is in his 80's, for not letting another old "spot" be lost.

I'm am generally feeling much better physically, which in turn enhances my mental outlook. My medical team, as well as I, suspected that the blood pressure medication I was taking was a likely culprit for my ills. I stopped taking it over a week ago and I am, as reported, doing much better.

The only sad news that I can report is that we will not be going to the 40th Anniversary of the Ia Drang Veterans being held this weekend in Washington, D.C. I've had tickets to the event for some time, but honestly, with major medical bills to be paid, home repairs awaiting and some smaller trips with the family I could not justify the expense to go the East Coast. However there is always next year and besides good friends Joe Galloway and Bruce Crandall, both major figures in the reunion, have promised to come to Midland for Memorial Day where they will be the featured speakers at the CAF observance.

One Small step for mankind....

Sometimes on the vast wasteland that is commercial television there are things that are worth watching. One of these comes Sunday evening on "60 Minutes".

My brother, whose career at NASA spanned 35 years, sent me an interesting note that he recieved from a contact at CBS News. It reads in part....

Below, as per our conversation, is a link to a short write-up about the story that 60 Minutes will be running on Neil Armstrong , the first television profile he's ever agreed to. The piece will air this Sunday ( Nov. 6, 7PM ET/PT on CBS) and offers a fascinating look at this American icon -- and a rare opportunity to hear his personal feelings about Apollo 11, his family, and the fame he shuns. As I told you, we're trying to get word out to as many people as possible who might have a particular interest in this story, so to that end, it would be great if you could post something on your website, and/or send out an email to your listserves alerting people about the piece. Further details will be posted on our website: CBS 60 Minutes the story itself will be posted there from Sunday on.

The story of the race to the moon is one that becomes more fascinating with time and the realization that even today we would have a hard time sending men to the moon safely. To have done so with the "primitive" technology of the 1960's is nothing short of phenomenal.