Methane Production in Dalhart, Texas

Driving through Dalhart, TX, is not very exciting. This is Texas Panhandle country, and the important adjective is flat. However, roads are good, straight, and the other drivers follow the Texas motto of DRIVE FRIENDLY. Near the city of Dalhart are at least two very large feed lots for beef cows. Several miles before you get to the feed lots your nose tells you that many cows seem to be in the neighborhood. When you actually see the animals, they seem to go on for ever and be uncountable. The ozone hole over this area must be very large, which is a byproduct of methane production. I am sure that global warming is affected, also.

In either Nebraska or Iowa there is an ethanol production plant that utilizes methane gas produced by the local animals as an energy source in the production of the ethanol. How clever! The local farmers grow the necessary corn, feed some to their animals, and use the manure produced to help in the ethanol production. Seems very biodegradable to me and very GREEN, a key word these days in the concern about global warming. Although the only GREEN might be the person who had to deliver the manure to the ethanol
plant. Now you know why I did not become a farmer.

To further confound you, there is concern in Norway over having too many Mooses or is it Moose? I do know the answer to this important question. Apparently, Moose produce immense clouds of methane either in manure or ,and one moose in a year has been calculated to cause more global warming that a two thousand mile car trip. Perhaps if Norway cut down on Moose production, global warming would be a thing of the past. So, having solved this important problem, my only advice to you is, when in Dalhart Texas, drive fast, do not open any windows, and hold your breath. Happy travels.

Kait, Granddaughter

If you want to know how the stained glass trip to Albuquerque went, then please read HW2's blog for today. She did a great job of bringing you all up to date.

It was great fun to help Jerry and Marlene with their Fantasy Football party tonight. We helped barbecue the chicken and later on cleaned up in rapid order. We seem to be able to clean after lots of years of practice. Kaitie, our granddaughter, was a terrific help and helped entertain the kids at the party, watching them while they went swimming. She also made the most delicious brownies, and her grandad has probably gained five pounds from them alone. Several years ago in a class project, Kaitie made a Scotty stuffed animal, which was very well made, and later given to her Grammy as a present. We have it to this day, and it will likely accompany us on our happy wanderings.

Many years ago when Kait was in elementary school, her mom called and wanted to know if she could spend the day with us, since she was not feeling well. She came supplied with school work and started the day on the couch. By lunch time, however, she was feeling better, and we decided to take her out to lunch at her favorite restaurant, which turned out to be Macaroni Grill. On the way home we had to stop at an estate sale, and she found a doll bed that she just had to have. All in all, it was a great day. When her mother came to pick her up and asked how the day went, we happily related the day's activities. Somehow, her homework never got done, though. We three had a great time and still remember it fondly all these years later. It is such fun to spoil a grandchild!

Grandson James

We had to wait awhile for James to appear. He is the fifth grandchild of our thirteen and was proceeded by four wonderful girls. He is quite interested in sports and particularly likes the Seattle Mariners, having lived in Washington State near Bremerton while his dad was doing his submarine duty as a weapons officer. His mom took him to a Mariners' game, and he has followed them ever since. Ichiro, who plays in center field, is his favorite player. Now I am a Yankees fan, and guess what? James does not like the Yankees. I do not know why not. However. he can tell you who is first in each league and reads the sports section of the paper to keep up on his statistics. Having been transplanted to Nebraska, you would think that he would get interested in the Huskers and be another Big Red fan. But NO, not James. He will sit and watch a game and CHEER FOR THE OTHER TEAM. So, it is great fun to wear red shirts and hats. His Grammy has a special sweater with lots of Nebraska logos on it, and James goes on and on about how awful that sweater is, and how can she wear it , etc. On Saturday I remembered that I had my red Nebraska Stetson hat, purchased at an estate sale for $5 stored in a hat box in my closet and had to go get it and wear it, only to see the look on James's face. It was a "Oh No, Not The Red Hat Look." Great fun, of course, and his sisters immediately wanted to wear the hat, and, of course, I let them. The neat thing is that he does make up his own mind and is willing to stick to his point of view, even if everyone else thinks otherwise.
Last year we all went to our baseball farm team that is based in Omaha to watch a game of the Royals. They are housed in a wonderful park that seats 25,000 people and is the home of the College World Series each year . James caught one of the foul balls and was just delighted. Miss Nebraska came by during the game, wearing her tiara, and announced that she would love to give autographs. Grammy took James's newly acquired base ball and took it up to get her Miss Nebraska's autograph. James was appalled and said to me, "Why would Grammy do that?" She thought he would be embarrassed to get the autograph. I responded, "Because, she is Grammy, and she does things like that." He had no response but did no longer want that ball that had been ruined by the autograph. A rumor that I am spreading is that he has now sold the ball to his sister Sarah for a dollar, since everyone in the family knows that she wants to be a princess someday, if she secretly isn't, already.

Suggestion

For those of you who are new to this whole subject of blogging and who are calling us, leaving us emails, and even SOME times, leaving comments, both of us are appreciating everything you tell us! We never know what our random thoughts will cause others to think! BUT... did you know that you can and should read the comments, too? Some of the comments are as good as the blogs, or even better in some cases! You are not invading any privacy! Indeed, is there any on the web? So, please feel free to leave your anonymous and/ or signed comments, but also please feel free to read the comments!
1HW and HW2

On The Road Again and Nebraska Football

We are in Texas, having left Omaha about five am. So 600 miles later, we are in Dalhart, TX, on our way to Albuquerque. We think that our house is finally selling, and we may need to be out by September 19. So a quick trip to Albuquerque was in order since Weems Gallery has agreed to take a consignment of my stained glass, hopefully for future sales in this wonderful Albuquerque gallery. We have known Ms. Weems for years and are so pleased that she is going to take a risk on my work and sell it. We'll see her tomorrow afternoon and will find out what items she thinks will work. I'll keep you posted on the results of our meeting.

Yesterday we had a football party at our house for the kids and grands and friends from church. Needless to say, Nebraska won 52 to 10 against Nevada. A wonderful result and a great way to open the season. We have become ardent Nebraska fans and wear the requisite red shirt, hat, and other stuff which we mostly get at either bargain rates or garage sales. The bean bag Nebraska chair was a real find and only $5. Last year doing antique or glass sales we would take our portable television along and get joined by other dealers who wanted to know the score of The Game. Nebraska did not always win, but when they did, the whole convention center knew it. At the game yesterday, we could see the people in the stands, about 90,000 or more, and it was a sea of red.

People's Names

We had a discussion of crazy names that some folks give their children. Now if your last name was Poole, would you name your son Gene? In college I met and worked with a great guy, Harry Pitts. Then there was the girl named Cellah Doah, think about it. Famous in Texas is the Hogg sisters, Ima and Ura, True.. If you know of others please leave leave some sample funny names on this blog. I would really like to collect a list of crazy names. Thanks!!

Blog Comments and Feedback

Yesterday I was working on a piece of glass at the soldering stage when the phone rang. I answered and had a wonderful visit with Barbara, a favorite cousin. We grew up next door to another farm which belonged to Barbara's family. Barbara is a beautiful person inside and out, and has the singing voice of an angel. She sang at Maurice and Anne's wedding 50 years ago and several years later, at mine. Barbara was very encouraging about keeping this blog going and wanted to leave feedback but needed help to do so. Since she could not make the comment thing work, she called. It made my day.

So, I researched the comment process with HW2, resident geek. HW2 says, "Select the comment word under the blog and a box will appear where you can leave your thoughts." Then if you select the button for anonymous, it will be published after the article on the blog. Apparently you can also select the button that is "other" and it will lead you through the process of signing up with Google. There is no charge for signing up and you can select a pen name you would like to use. I use 1HW and others use the first initial of their name or another pen name like Sperlonga which is meaningful to them. This allows the commentator to leave messages but not reveal his identity. In these days of identity theft, this is a good precaution.