Introducing Master Jensen Thomas Patterson

Jensen Thomas Patterson was born at 11:31 this morning. He weighed in at 8 pounds, 6 ounces, and was nearly 22 inches long. Initially, he does not look like his brothers, but he does have red hair like his father. Here are some pictures.

Of course, the Sheriff was on hand to supervise everything. He wanted to insure that everything was ready for his new deputy to enter the world. The doctor was a bit late, and the Sheriff berated him soundly.

The very first picture of Jensen, taken by Grandma Donna.

Jensen after he was cleaned up a bit.

Poppa Michael, the original red head, holding baby Jensen.

Donna holding her new grandson.

Bib brother Xander taking charge of another sibling. Note Jensen's red hair.

The Sheriff Has a Party

Our grandson Camden, aka "The Sheriff", celebrated his first birthday yesterday with a party in the home of his paternal grandparents near Big Spring. Donna and I went up to join in the festivities. Actually, the Sheriff doesn't turn one until the 24th, but Courtney is scheduled to be induced early tomorrow morning, so dates had to be shuffled a bit to accommodate Momma's schedule.

We enjoyed cake and other snacks during the day, and the Sheriff got numerous presents. Here are a few shots I took.

Camden getting into one of his presents.

As with most kids, he found the package more interesting than the present.

Camden's first birthday cake.

Camden really enjoyed the big balloons his mother got.

This is a "smash cake" which HEB provides complimentary for a baby's first birthday when a regular cake is purchased in their bakery. We stripped Camden down so he could really dig in, but he was quite restrained about the whole thing and only dipped his finger.

After the party, Donna and I brought Camden and big brother Xander home with us. Courtney will be induced early tomorrow morning, so we are keeping the boys. We'll drive up to Midland for the delivery in the morning, then return home with the boys for another couple of days while Courtney, Michael, and new baby Deputy Jensen recuperate. We'll return the boys to their family later in the week.

We would appreciate your prayers while we keep the little monsters for these few days.

Waiting for Bingo

You can tell by the few postings I've made lately that we're not doing too much. Mainly we are just keeping close to home waiting for Courtney to bingo and bring another little boy into the world. The Sheriff needs a deputy.

We really have some itchy feet right now and would like to take a trip, but we need to stay close in case we get the call. In fact, about a week ago Courtney called us about bedtime to say she was on her way to the hospital. She called a few hours later to say it was false labor and that the doctor was sending her home.

So, we're just sitting around twiddling our thumbs.

We've not done much lately except keep up the yard and go to some Colts baseball games. Frankly, I'm getting a bit bored.

But we should be traveling soon after the baby arrives. We do have a wedding to attend in Donna's hometown, and we would sure like to visit a casino or two.

I'll keep you posted on that new baby.

Some Blog Stats

I've been maintaining this blog since February 11, 2011, immediately following my retirement. Since then, I've posted 401 entries on various areas of our lives, from our travel adventures to things regarding our home.

This morning, I went back through all my entries and took a look at some stats.

The blog averages more than 1,300 hits per month. During those times when we are traveling to interesting places, I get as many as 2,000 hits per month. When we are traveling, I tend to post something about every two days or so, sometimes (but not often) even daily. When we aren't doing much, I try to post about twice each week.

Below is a table of all my entries that have received at least 150 hits. The "Date of Post" is when the entry was actually published, not when the event occurred. Without doubt, traveling and hiking are the most popular events; however, I was surprised at the number of hits my report regarding the Moody Blues received. I was also surprised at how many hits my entries on rain barrels and walking around my neighborhood received.

For what it's worth, here is the list. Titles are links to the articles in case you want to look at those entries.

Title	Date of Post	Hits
Eagle Mountain Park: January 14, 2012	1/19/2012	1,427
Moody Blues Concert	3/12/2013	1,156
Day Trip: Caverns of Sonora	3/22/2012	821
Trip Report: Laughlin, Nevada, September 18 - 22, 2011	9/23/2013	617
Hike Report: Caprock Canyons SP	8/26/2012	315
Good Reads: Elmer Kelton's Texas Ranger Series	2/5/2012	281
LBJ Tours: Part 2, the LBJ Ranch	3/20/2012	274
Sam's Town, Las Vegas	3/3/2013	240
A Stroll Around the Neighborhood	7/21/2013	224
On the Road: Laughlin, NV, to Las Vegas, NV	3/1/2013	220
San Angelo SP: January 23, 2012	1/27/2012	219
Day Trip: Fort Lancaster State Historic Site	1/25/2014	207
Lake Livingston State Park	8/7/2012	202
Texas RV Park, Big Spring, Texas	8/19/2012	200
San Angelo SP: January 20, 2012	1/22/2014	193
Day Trip: Sante Fe to Taos	9/1/2012	193
Lake Whitney State Park	5/26/2012	187
Day Hike: Pedernales Falls State park	3/21/2012	180
Back Roads: Sherwood, Texas	2/9/2012	179
Bastrop State Park	2/1/2013	168
Dinosaur Valley State Park	8/16/2012	167
Caprock Canyons State Park	8/25/2012	166
San Angelo SP: December 30, 2011	1/1/2012	163
Palemetto SP: Hike Report - Day 1	4/3/2013	155
Big Bend Motor Inn RV Park	1/12/2013	153
Rain Barrels	10/6/2011	152
Big Bend: Sam Nail Ranch	1/8/2013	152
Palo Duro State Park	8/28/2012	152
On the Road: Cortez, CO, to Moab, UT	9/16/2012	151
Hiking Bastrop State Park, January 26, 2013	2/2/2013	150

Harvesting Onions and Other Things

I spent some time in the yard yesterday harvesting my onions. Back in January I planted a bed of red onions and another bed of Texas 1015 onions.  Later, I interplanted some Yukon Gold potatoes in with the onions. Although some of the onions probably could have stayed in the ground a bit longer, I needed to give the spreading potatoes more room, so I harvested the onions yesterday.

Red onions on the left and Texas 1015 onions on the right. Both onion beds share their space with Yukon Gold potatoes. In restricted space, you have to make every inch count.

I've never had much luck growing red onions, but my 1015s normally do well. We've been eating both types for the past 2 months or so, but we still had quite a few in the ground continuing to mature.

A batch of the 1015s I harvested.

I place a layer of newspaper, top it with some soil (sand would be even better), and then place onions so that they are not touching. I repeat the process as needed. The soil keeps the onions from shifting about. Onions store well this way when kept in a cool, dry area.

Our cucumbers are also doing well, and we have started picking them recently. I have them along the back of the house, and they are climbing up some poles I have leaned against the house.

I patched together some poles as a makeshift trellis for the cucumber vines to climb up. This batch is now producing and should give us more than enough for our needs.

A cucumber on the vine.

We also have tomatoes and peppers. Even though the plants are healthy, we do not see any fruit on the vines yet. Hopefully they will begin producing soon.

Tomatoes and peppers in the bed along the house.

In the picture above, note how lush and green the grass is. I continue to be impressed with this Celebration Bermuda that Donna and I put in last year. I have not watered our yard yet this year, but you can't tell that from the picture above. Yes, we've had some good rain in the past month or more, but even prior to that, the grass was still green, though not as lush as it is now.

Images of Big Spring, Texas

Brother Larry and his wife Nancy came for a visit this past weekend. They have not spent a great deal of time in West Texas, so we decided to drive up to Big Spring one day. We would tour the town, then meet daughter Courtney and her brood for lunch.

We started our tour of Big Spring at Big Spring State Park, located in the southwest part of the city. Big Spring SP is not your typical state park. There is no camping, for example, and the park is rather small by Texas state park standards, consisting of only  382 acres. What is impressive about the park are the great views. A one-way loop road twists to the top of Scenic Mountain, which rises about 200 feet above the surrounding countryside. From the top, there are numerous dramatic views of the West Texas landscape, especially to the north and west. Restrooms, playground equipment, and picnic tables are available atop the bluff. The park is popular with locals who like to walk and jog the loop road, especially in early morning.

Below are some photos taken from atop Scenic Mountain.

Brother Larry looking west from the bluff. Directly below (the mounted planes) is the Vietnam Memorial. Also in view is the Big Spring federal correctional institute as well as the local airport, among other things.

This view is to the northeast. The large building lower left is Scenic Mountain Medical Center. The tall building center right is the historic Hotel Settles, located in downtown Big Spring. The road in front of the hospital is FM 700.

Looking north/northwest, over miles and miles of Texas. I'm not sure what the water is near top center, but I suspect it is a "lake" formed on Beall's Creek.

From the state park, we drove to nearby Comanche Trail Park. This is a well-developed city park, with numerous amenities, such as amphitheater, water park, frisbee golf, regular golf, a small lake, playgrounds, etc. However, the park is in need of maintenance in various areas. The city of Big Spring probably exists today because of the big spring located in the park. This historic spring was a life source, and made the area a crossroads of early Texas. It was a major stop on the historic Comanche War Trail, and it later served as a major stop for emigrants on the Gold Rush Trail.

Today, the spring no longer gushes water; it was depleted from overuse first by the railroad and later by the city. Today, it pulls water from neighboring Comanche Trail Lake so that visitors can get an idea of what the spring looked like when it was a vital part of the area. Below are some pictures of the spring.

Sign indicating the spring. Spring itself is below rock ledge in center-right of the picture.

The historic big spring in Big Spring, Texas

Wife Donna, brother Larry, and sister-in-law Nancy on the overlook above the spring.

Comanche Trail Lake, which is just a few feet to the east of the spring.

Another view of the spring.

And to close this post, one picture of my wife standing on a bridge on a trail near the spring. Donna always complains that she takes bad pictures, but I disagree. I don't think she takes a bad picture; she's quite photogenic.

Donna on a foot bridge in the park.

2014 U.S. Open Golf Championship

I enjoy watching golf on television, especially the major championships. This past week, I immersed myself in the 2014 U.S. Open, held at Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina.

It's always enjoyable for me to watch the best golfers in the world compete against one another. There is always a lot of drama in these championship tournaments; the personal struggles of these golfers as they strive for golf's greatest wins is always fun to watch. And as usual, there were several great stories this year. There was the story of Martin Kaymer, the German who led the tournament the entire 4 days, eventually winning by 8 strokes. His game was almost machine-like, and he made few errors on this challenging course. He ended at -9, and only 2 other golfers were able to score below par for the tournament.

One of these other golfers was Erik Compton, and his strong finish was another major story of the tournament. Compton, who tied with Ricky Fowler for second at -1, is on his third heart. Diagnosed with viral cardiomyopathy at age 9, Compton had his first heart transplant at age 12 and the second 16 years later. Talk about overcoming odds in your life.

But this year, the real story for me was the course itself. The Pinehurst course today does not look like the same course of a few years ago. It has recently been redesigned to return it to a more natural setting. Gone are the roughs most people are familiar with at U.S. Opens; the second and third cut roughs have been replaced by hardpan, natural bunker edges, and native wire grasses. From my perspective, this makes the roughs today true roughs.

And many of the greens are like upside-down saucers or, as one announcer stated, turtle shells. If you do not hit to safe green locations, your ball can easily roll off the green, even if you hit only a few feet from the hole. In fact, there were many instances of a golfer on the green putting and then watching as the putt actually rolled off the green.

But what I have really enjoyed seeing is the reduction in the watered portions of the course. 650 sprinklers were removed by the design firm of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw in their attempt to revert Pinehurst to the way the course looked back in the 1930s. Today, sprinklers run only down the middle of the fairways, leaving the edges of the fairway brown. In fact, the course has been described in terms of brown being the new green. Water use has been reduced by up to 70%.

This is great news, and I can only hope that other courses around the nation will wake up and learn from this redesign. Golf courses have long been heavy users of water resources, and its time water use on courses is reevaluated.

I like the new design of Pinehurst. It gives the course the appearance of the "links" style course on many courses in the British Open rotation. For me, it is sort of a return to the roots of golf, and I think it makes the game more interesting.