The Muse is Loose

You think that little creature is a hummer? Put your glasses on it and make sure. It just COULD be a hummingbird spy plane. If so, it is taking pictures or listening to your every word. Think you are safe from surveillance in your back yard? Think again. The hummingbird spy planes are now a reality.

The Pentagon shelled out some four million dollars about five years ago for a spy plane that looks like a bird. Aero-Vironment took on the project and came up with the "hummingbird". It is propelled by its wings and can fly at 11 mph. (A very slow hummingbird!). It has a tiny video camera mounted in it's underside. It can fly upward, downward and backward like a real hummer. It can rotate in the air. It can hover and even perch on a windowsill. Most importantly, it can take your picture and fly away with it, to put on Facebook or wherever. It holds great possibilities for war situations, with the secret information it can glean. Good news. The bad news is that the enemy will then shoot every bird they see out of the skies.

Can this little flying robot invade our privacy? Most certainly, if there is any room. Privacy is already a bit crowded.

Just felt, as a birder, you should know about this one. It is a "lifer" if you spot one. Get a photo to prove you saw it. You might even take an expensive speciman with your shotgun. As of right now there is no closed season or limit on these four million dollar birds. They are rather tasteless, however.

It was a South Texas landmark on Highway 77 at Robstown. Wednesday night a suspected electrical fire burned this eatery to the ground. Sixty customers still eating were quickly ushered out of the building. A crowd of people gathered to sadly watch the place burn to ashes.

Most of us have eaten there, on the butcher paper used for a plate. It was all good but the ribs were special. The rich and famous, unknown and near-broke, have made a Cotten's stop. They had been in business since 1947 when a beer joint was converted to a barbecue roadhouse. You got no printed menu in Cotten's. At one time they didn't take a check. Ann found herself begging them to take one as she got caught there without cash or a credit card. They relented so she avoided the kitchen duty. There wouldn't have been any dishes to wash.

Tour buses stopped regularly. Among the celebrity folks having eaten there were: Tony Romo, Roger Staubach, Hillary Clinton, Willie Nelson, Lyndon Johnson, and former Texas governor,
Bill Clements. I am sure many many more dropped in and out. At one time or another all of Ann's brothers ate there. It was a popular stop for folks in the oilfield business. At times helicopters would drop down in the highway median, allowing important passengers to go into Joe Cotten's.

I never failed to go there without seeing someone I knew. Some of them knew me. Today the barbecue is burned beyond use. The pickles are pickled. The beans are blackened. The relic penny and nickel machines have only melted coins in them. Cotten's is a blackened scar on 77, on the way to the Lower Rio Grande Valley. It was a one-of-a-kind place that will be missed.

Some of you will remember the ad many years ago showing the 97 pound weakling at the beach where the local musclemen would kick sand in his face in front of his girlfriend! He would then order the program (whatever it was) and would be the "kicker" next time at the beach. We didn't have any beaches in Arkansas so I was never worried about such an event. I think the ads were usually on the inside pages of a comic book like Superman or Captain America.

I mention all this to warn you NOT to kick sand in Dempsey Duprie's face at the beach. This 132 pound grandson of ours is competing tomorrow (Saturday) in Regional III, Division l, High School Powerlifting competition.He placed in the top ten in his district last week. There are three lifts he must do, Squat, Bench, and Deadlift. On one of these he has done 320 pounds. I am not sure of all the numbers. One number I will never forget is his birth weight. It was ONE POUND and THIRTEEN OUNCES! I held him in the palm of my hand with space to spare. For the first three months of his life he was in a hospital ICU for such preemie kids. He made it and more, though great medical care and answered prayer. This is Dempsey's first year in this competition. He is only a freshman. He is competing in the 130 weight division. However he places matters little. What matters is that this clean-cut, Christian young man is there. During Spring Break he will go with his church group from Midlothian and help rebuild homes in Galveston. His proud parents are James and Laura Duprie. Sister is Emily and little bro is Calvin. Go Dempsey!.

It seems a bit ludicrous to refer to ANY war as the "the great war". I did not confer that upon World War I. Newsmen did it many years ago. Some also called it "the war to end all wars". They missed it on both accounts.

Frank Buckles was a sixteen-year old growing up in Missouri. He lied about his age and managed to get in the service, and was soon sent to France with an ambulance outfit. A lot of those were needed. This was the last trench war, although trenches and foxholes were common in World War II. These men lived and died for months in a network of trenches. A giant shell coming in could bury the men in a trench if it hit close enough. I visited the battlefield at Verdun in France, while on leave from my unit in Germany. in the fifties.I saw there a scene that still haunts me. It was a trench where several large shells had direct hits. The men in that trench were buried standing up with their rifles still in their hands. The rifles were armed with bayonets. The men have never been removed and the tips and portions of bayonets still protrude from the ground. It was like those men still standing there are to remind us of the horror and awful cost of war.

Frank Buckles died last Sunday. He was the last living veteran of World War I at the age of 110.
This war introduced mustard gas to the element of warfare. It also brought the first planes dropping death and destruction from the skies. World War II would make the airplane and bombing a vital part of the war effort. I saw the remains of the great city of Mainz, in Germany, after one night of being bombed. About seventy percent of it was destroyed. It was in this old city along the Rhine that Gutenberg printed the first copy of a Bible.

It was from this war that we received the plaintive poem, "In Flanders Fields". It was this war which inspired such songs as "Over There". Many of those soldiers remained over there. There were 4.7 million American soldiers in that war. We were in it for less than two years.
Now they are all gone. When "taps" was played at Frank Buckles funeral it ended a time in history. We could wish it would end all wars, but it won't until the Prince of Peace makes his re-entry. Then, like the spiritual sings: "Ain't goin' to study war no more."

If you haven't been aware of an increased presence of our local men in blue you just haven't started on the end of the bypass driving toward Corpus. I saw THREE, count them...THREE of our distinctive cars with lights flashing. They were handing out "welcome to Rockport" certificates to whoever. I don't have a gripe. They only do it to those who are pushing the limits or simply texting down the highway. Any of us can get stopped if we unfocus the dangerous job of guiding a two-ton vehicle down the road.

What do you say when you get stopped? Better yet, what might the policeman say? Here are some statements taken from the car videos of South Carolina state troopers:

1. "You know, stop lights don't come any redder than the one you just went through."

2. "Relax, the handcuffs are tight because they're new. They'll stretch after you wear them awhile."

3. " If you run you'll only go to jail tired."

4. " You don't know how fast you were going? I guess that means I can write anything I want to on the ticket. Huh?"

5. "Warning! You want a warning? O.K., I'm warning you not to do that again or I'll give you another ticket!"

6. "I'm glad to hear that the Chief of Police is a personal friend of yours. So you know someone who can post your bail."

7. (This one was risky) "You didn't think we give pretty women tickets? You're right, we don't. Sign here."

There you have it. Responses to our pleas. Better not to get stopped, please!

If our government gurus can roll back and spring forward the nations clocks, how about doing it for each of us, to a favorite time of the past? Not an hour for me, but THIRTY-EIGHT years! In my work with young people in a church this was the most exciting day of my life. Let me explain.

In 1972 I took a bus load of young people to Glorieta, New Mexico for a Youth Celebration. It was there the musical, "Celebrate Life" would makes it premier performance. Seven of our kids from Wharton gave up their time to rehearse and then perform in this wonderful musical written by Ragan Courtney. The music was by Buryl Red. With our kids having seen it, and some of them performing in it, we decided to present "Celebrate Life" in Wharton. It took loads of work and rehearsals. Mrs. Ron Goelzer was our organist. We also had a tape to sing with. It called for four characters to play the roles of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. We had the perfect guys! Charles Ries played Matthew, Roger Roecker was Mark. Luke was Joe Cook and John was Ross Arth.

After many hours of rehearsals our Youth Choir arrived at their first performance. It was MARCH 11, 1973!!! Thirty-eight years ago tomorrow! The presentation was great! They brought "Celebrate Life" from the printed page and breathed life into it! I was never so proud of the group. Later that spring we presented it at First Baptist Church, Bay City.

I know where those four guys are today. They are like my sons. I love each one dearly. That's where I would wish to return if that were possible. I know it isn't. We cannot go back except in our memories. This is a great one for me. One number that came from "Celebrate Life" was "In Remembrance Of Me". It is in The Baptist Hymnal, and often used when celebrating The Lord's Supper.

Sorry, guys, but "We Are Three Kings" didn't make the cut.

We have all watched with shock as a wall of water higher than our homes tore into the shores of Japan, leaving death and destruction everywhere. They have a sophisticated tsunami warning system, but the quake was so close to them that it only left FIVE MINUTES in which to flee.

Were you in that situation, knowing five minutes is all the time you have before it strikes, where would you go...what would you try to grab to take with you? That could be a tough call. If one's timing is off a few seconds it will not matter what you have found to take with you. It will be gone with your own self in that destruction.

In the story of Lot fleeing the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah an angel told Lot to hurry to leave or they would be destroyed when those wicked cities are destroyed. The Lord told Lot "Escape for your life. Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains lest you be destroyed."

You remember Lot's wife delayed and looked back at the cities they were fleeing from. She paid with her life. "The Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah". Lot's most precious possessions to save were his family. Some he lost in spite of his efforts. His two daughters were saved. There is no indication that he left with loads of possessions on camels or donkeys.

Photos, possessions, and papers would quickly become unimportant in our lives. Life itself would become our most valuable possession. That would include family. At least I would hope so.

I thought about it a lot, especially after going to Corpus Christi and seeing the crowds of people on the highways and beaches,eateries,etc.. Spring Break deserves a BLOG.......BLOOOOOOOOGGGGGG!!!

I had wondered why I couldn't remember Spring Breaks when I was a student. Thought I was surely losing the last vestige of a memory....then it dawned upon me in full clarity. I didn't remember Spring Breaks because.... they didn't exist! We began school after Labor Day and let out by June 1. There was a break at Christmas and a small one at Easter. That was it as far as I can remember.

Why no spring breaks and trapsing off to some far off exotic place? First of all, there was only a single car in most families, plus maybe a mule. Secondly, there was little money for such a trip. Thirdly, gasoline was not expensive like today, but it was rationed. You could only get enough to go to work and church and buy groceries. The break one looked longingly forward to was "School's out, school's out. Teacher let the fools out.". The scariest words were "summer school"!
We did take a spring break in High School. It was really called "cut class". It was unexcused and forbidden by school and parents. Most of us did it anyway. In Fort Smith our spring break place was Rockaway Beach in far off Missouri. It was just a few miles down the highway from a little town few people had ever heard of.....Branson.

So with gasoline $3.50 a gallon and motels 125.00 a day and meals at 10.00 a clip how do students afford a Spring Break? Most of them can't. Just like the cell phones they carry and text like crazy. Spring Break? BLLLLOOOOOGGG!!!

March Madness, college style, is here. The teams who will participate in it have been decided. Some of them will make one wonder how they made it there. Some better teams did not squeeze in. It is "wait till next year" for them. That is always the case. I will share with you ahead of time some of my picks in immediate games. The Final Four I will announce at a later date. They have been chosen on paper already. Here are some early-round picks. That is when the most upsets occur.
Kansas over Boston U; UNLV over Illinois; Vandy over Richmond; Louisville over Morehead State; Georgetown over USC; Purdue over St Peters; Tex A&M over Fl. State; Notre Dame over Akron; Pitt over UNC; Old Dom over Butler; U State over K State; Wisconsin over Belmont; St Johns over Gonzaga; BYU over Wofford; UCLA over Mich State; Florida over UC-SB

That's all for now. I will give you the East and West a little later. Please do not place bets on these picks. Spend your money more safely like on lottery tickets! (Kidding of course)

The madness of March Madness struck hard. I will now confess my pick to "win it all" was a once powerful Eastern power named St John's. They left me stranded yesterday as Gonzaga sent them packing. Gonzaga? You never know. Maybe Gonzaga will win it all. For sure St John's won't. My son-in-law played it safe. His pick was Louisville with Rick Pitino as coach. These guys are always good. Not yesterday. They were beaten by an instate team called Morehead State! My son, Lee Pogue, really played it safe. He picked North Carolina. They have not yet lost, for they haven't yet played.

So, on to major league baseball. My pick is that the Astros will end up in second division again, barring a miracle of major proportions. Their no-name team that played in the Fall with nothing to lose will discover playing in the spring with everything on their shoulders much more difficult. Do not buy World Series tickets just yet. Remember, you heard it from the guy who picked St. John's to win in March Madness. It sounded SO religious!

Good friend and high school classmate, Dr Eddie Coffman, sent me a reminder; and then Ann ORDERED me outside to see it last night. I took my camera. It was definitely a BIG and BRIGHT moon. It was so bright I could not get a good close-up picture. I finally shrunk it and got a pretty good one.

Why was the moon so bright? I guess because it was so close. It was only 211, 600 miles away. That is like six trips across Texas! It was close! The moon was also brighter than it has been for twenty years for our eyes. The last full moon this large was in March 1993. If it is another twenty years in doing this again I could possibly have a much better view from a different angle.

Did you realize this? We have many,many romantic moon songs. We have no religious ones. Someone please write a moon song for Christians to sing. (No, not a Lottie Moon song!). Well that's it for now..... "I remember that night in the summer moonlight..........."

Let's not try to gloss it over or blame someone. We don't like change. That's why us guys wear the same clothes every time we can get a chance. That is why we avoid the cute little tea places our mates tell us about. That is the reason we go back to the same cars or trucks or brand-name appliance. (Sometimes price wins over nostalgia!). We like to have the same doctor and HATE the new process of men and women stethescoping our chests when we can't even pronounce their names. They do that in hospitals now, you know. Your long-time doc just isn't going to be over there any more. Everything about you is on a computer anyway. They can all read the screen. Even if it is in several languages.

We like to sit at the same place in church. There are no reserved seats, but there ought to be. "Hey buddy! You're in my place! I have sat there for twenty years! Look at all those empty places down front. Move along now, so I can settle in to worship, and then smilingly greet you when the time is right."

Stay with me now..... recall those days and years of the past when you were excited about change? You maybe changed your name. You changed cities and jobs and schools, and never minded a bit. Your church changed pastors. They got a young guy that your mother said "Looks like my grandson!". He wanted to change things. He had the offering taken at the END of the service. Who ever heard of that? They started singing CHORUSES! The Young People sat at the front. Your dad had always been on the back row when he was a teen. The church sold the old school bus and bought vans! Change! We loved it back then.

I thought of a hymn as I wrote this essay. It is rarely sung except at a funeral. There is one verse I will close with. "Swift to it's close ebbs out life's little day
Earth's joys grow dim, it's glories pass away.
Change and decay in all around I see:
O Thou who changest, not....abide with me."

Things will be quiet here until Saturday night as Ann and I, along with Bob and Jimmy Box, will be visiting the Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge in the lower Rio Grande Valley. This refuge is about 2,000 acres of riverbotton property bordering the Rio Grande. That is the river separating the US from Mexico. This small refuge is one of the few remaining properties along this fertile valley just like it has always been. Over 400 species of birds have been seen there. The rare Ocelot and Jaguarundi live there but are seldom seen. There can also be two-legged migrants from Mexico seen in the brush on occasion. We will have a sharp eye out for them.

Spring birding in South Texas can be great. It depends of many things. We may see a few birds or a lot. It will be fun with these dear friends. Planning to stay in a B&B right by the refuge.

Just returned from the Rio Grande Valley and a birding trip with the Box's. We stayed about a mile from the river but felt safe. No shooting or action. Saw about 75 different kinds of birds and had a great time.

Yesterday morning Bob was anticipating that first cup of coffee. He only puts one package of a sweetener in his cup. He did it differently....put the sweetener on the bottom of his cup which he hadn't turned over! We had no mercy on him. He just automatically went through the process, but forgot to turn his cup over. It was not his cup from home. This one had birds on it.

Sunday morning I arose early, as usual. I needed to study more for preaching. There was a need for some alertness so I started my coffee maker. Couldn't help but think about Bob and his episode Saturday morning. I measured the water and turned "on". I got my favorite cup and decided to put my creamer and sweetener in first. Putting the cup under the spigot I filled it to the brim. The cream was bubbling......but something wasn't right. The color was not there! After just a moment it came to me what had happened. I had failed to put ANY coffee in the machine! It had perked my water beautifully, but I really did not want a cup of HOT WATER with cream and sweetener. I emptied out and started over. Losing my mind? Probably, but this wasn't a sign of it. I had automatically tried to make my morning java. At this point in time automatic is not always dependable. We have to think just a bit about most everything we do. Right Bob? I am heading back to the kitchen for my first cup of COFFEE for the day!

I watched, as many others did, the battle between Baylor women and a virtually unknown team for us down here, the Wisconsin-Green Bay team. I think they were the Packers in disguise. It was incredibly rough out there on the court. Bodies collided with force. The Baylor giant, Brittney Griner, has finally learned to defend herself. After socking a Red Raider last year she had a hard time getting physical again. She is back, scoring an incredible 40 points.

So it is set up again...a battle between the Bears and Aggies in Dallas Tuesday night. The stars that night will be big and bright, deep in the heart of Texas. The Aggies have a powerful team. They are big and strong and know how to win. We know what Baylor does. It is a great match-up, but would be better if they were playing for the national championship. Only one of them might get to do that. After the game Tuesday the winner may be burnt out for the semis. I will make my pick late Tuesday night. I have followed and pulled for both teams. It is a hard call. I won't be real disappointed with the winner, whoever it be.

Over in the men's arena, the big mouths from Kansas had their say. Virginia Commonwealth had their day. The Morris twins are well equipped for the pros, with big talk and egos. We will see how that goes. The FINAL FOUR consists of KENTUCKY, BUTLER, VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH, and CONNECTICUT. I wish I could recall my final four. It hit the trash many days ago. It was none of these, I am sure. From tradition I would have to pick Kentucky. Do any of you recall the scandal in the late forties when a great Kentucky team smeared themselves with a point-shaving incident? I can even remember some of the players being Ralph Beard, and Lou Groza. (I think) Lou Groza went on to be a great kicker and player in pro football. (I think) Why do we remember things like that and forget to put coffee in the pot before we perk it? You tell me.

With the South Texas landmark called Cotten's burning to the ground there is now no other place of historic interest where one can enjoy a special meal....WRONG! Off of the same Highway 77, and about 23 miles south of Kingsville, is a seafood delight that has been dishing out food since the thirties. It is called Kings Inn. Bob Box treated us to a meal there Saturday.

Kings Inn is on Baffin Bay at Rivera Beach. None of that will help you get there. Follow the signs. Bring an appetite for shrimp, oysters, fish, crabs, onion rings or whatever. They will meet it. There is no menu to hand out. Your waiter will explain it all. You order by the pound and not the dozen. One eats on clean white tablecloths in a huge banquet-like room. They can seat over 300 and even with that will have lines of waiting diners, at times.

How does a place so far from the beaten path do so well? They deliver. They make the offering of delicious food worth the miles, and any wait. It is the "better mousetrap" story. This applies to more than places to eat. It is even so with churches. Folks will return to a place of worship when they know they will be fed well in things spiritual. It is not necessary to follow all the trends to reach people. It is necessary to have a good menu presented by happy people who love what they are doing. I think it would be nice for us to think of the church we attend as The King's Inn. The menu is still the same. You will leave satisfied and ready to share the experience with others. The one at Rivera Beach is closed Sunday and Monday. We are open seven days a week, including holidays.

We birders are a sadistic lot. O, I know we appear to be tree-huggers and avian protectors and environmental gurus, but there is a deep-seated nature about us that is not so nice. Let me explain: In the spring of the year here in Rockport, birds by the millions come through this area. They are not bent on staying in Rockport. They are heading for many of the places our RV'ers are pointed to. They are flying North and East. When the birds arrive in our area they have flown for hundreds of miles, often across portions of the Gulf of Mexico. They are tired and hungry, but given a brisk tailwind, they will often simply keep flying on by us to some inland woods for their respite. They have had the tailwinds of late...maybe galewinds would better describe it.

Last evening a "wet" norther came blowing in. "Damp" might better describe it. It did not leave much water but the wind is brisk and from the north this morning. That builds the exciting possibility for we sadistic birders of a "fallout". We are hoping,(me included), that the winds in their tiny faces were such that these little travelers will STOP and get their R&R in Rockport. We do not wish them badly. That is not the idea. We do secretly wish for them to run out of gas when they reach the shoreline and decide to spend a few days, building back their strength.

We are not unlike the folks who pay big bucks to see NASCAR races. They don't go just to see fancy painted cars and famous drivers. They do not go hoping for people to be killed or maimed, but they DO GO for the crashes. When the crashes stop, the people stop going. That is a bit sadistic, don't you think? It carries over to our viewing pro ball. We like the "heavy" hits and the bodies crashing against each other. It even goes to our shopping sprees on "black Friday" after Thanksgiving. Pushing and screaming and fighting for the last marked down item brings out the worst in us.

Perhaps it even carries over in our religious pilgrimage as we kinda' like to hear about all the "bad" things that may happen before the Return. We are secure in that it won't happen to us for we will be whisked away. I wonder.

Anyway, birders will scan the trees and yards in hours ahead looking for colorful warblers who may have been traveling last night until they hit a stiff north wind. My binos are at ready.

I have been trying to sort through all the events happening about. There are too many to focus on one.

Charles Fake sent an E-Mail telling me to ignore a message that might come to "join something". He had nothing to do with it. That is quickly resolved....I will not join anything today. Don't even ask.

Nell Reed is retiring after 45 years of meaningful service to FBC Rockport. She had even been bestowed a new and fancy title. To no avail. Forty-five years is enough for her. I had the privilege of being on staff at FBC with her. She is a great worker for the Lord, and a special friend to many. One question Nell: "Why are you retiring after only forty-five short years? Charles and I are still working and we have several years on you in age. Is it early retirement? We love you!"

No secure jobs anymore. Teaching was thought of as a secure job. With low salaries and long hours there were no long lines of others wanting one's job. Today INSECURITY reigns from top to bottom in school work. Our own close friends and family are on the "bubble", as a search for monies continue on state and national levels. Firings are becoming the norm among school folks. It is not only there but everywhere. Shaky times.

The FEDS are doing it again. They came into downtown Corpus Christi to build a beautiful and imposing water-view Federal building. Now they are planning to tear down the Chamber of Commerce building on their (our) property to build.....places to park cars! Why in the world did they ever come there in the first place? Did they not recognize parking as a problem? Hand it to those folks. They are all heart. Send the Chamber packing. We already had a Court House within walking distance of this new one. Needed a touch-up or two, but it could have worked.Ha!

Aggie women to the FINAL FOUR! It wasn't a pretty game. Baylor failed to show up for it, but the final score is all that counts. Gig-em, Aggies!

It is still LEGAL to buy a pipe, though not for long. Shades of Mammy Yoakum! Where will a gal have to go to get a pipe? And what about Popeye? Is it something about what they might be putting in pipes today? Are corn cob ones exempt? Times have changed, for sure.

Those are my ramblings. Tomorrow is April Fools day and your shoelaces are already untied.