Gunfights Held at Old West Town in Burnet
This past week I had loads of fun during a visit from a long-time friend from Denton as well as my oldest grandson, Cameron.
Mary and I go way back to the early days of the FEMA call center in Denton, Texas. I started working there during the San Francisco earthquake in late 1989, and Mary came aboard in 1992. I opted out of the stressful environment after only five years, whereas Mary's strong constitution allowed her to withstand the many changes and the rigors of working for a government bureaucracy during disaster after disaster. Recently "retiring" after 18 years, Mary is now writing articles for the Internet. Writing is just one of Mary's many creative talents. She was editor of the FEMA Denton Call Center newsletter for several years.
In a much too short 24-hour period, we managed to do a lot of talking and catching up, eating, sightseeing, and we even watched a great Meryl Streep movie that Mary brought with her. Mary and I were Co-Team Managers of a Section of about 20 people on the telephones at FEMA during several disasters. We had such a good time working together that the people in our section always wanted to return to our section during each disaster. Once a week we even had a pot-luck lunch. Mary is an excellent cook, so these lunches were really appreciated and looked forward to. Because of the happy attitudes in our group, we were continually under scrutiny by upper management. They seemed to think that if we weren't cracking the whip that we couldn't possibly be doing the job expected of us. However, to their surprise, our Section continually produced a higher number of applications -- and applications with fewer mistakes than any other Section!
These photos of Mary were taken at the Old West Town where gunfights are held for the tourists who ride to Burnet on a train that comes from Cedar Park (an Austin suburb) on Saturdays. This old town replica is near the train depot, and both are a block or two from the historic downtown square. Goodnatured as always, Mary
posed for me in stifling heat, bellying up to the bar of the saloon, and pretending to play a ragtime tune on the ancient piano! As she came to visit in the middle of the week, we didn't get to witness a gunfight.
The visit wasn't long enough, but we promised not to wait so many years before doing it again. Mary's two terriers, Bingo and Lola, were happy to have her home!
In a much too short 24-hour period, we managed to do a lot of talking and catching up, eating, sightseeing, and we even watched a great Meryl Streep movie that Mary brought with her. Mary and I were Co-Team Managers of a Section of about 20 people on the telephones at FEMA during several disasters. We had such a good time working together that the people in our section always wanted to return to our section during each disaster. Once a week we even had a pot-luck lunch. Mary is an excellent cook, so these lunches were really appreciated and looked forward to. Because of the happy attitudes in our group, we were continually under scrutiny by upper management. They seemed to think that if we weren't cracking the whip that we couldn't possibly be doing the job expected of us. However, to their surprise, our Section continually produced a higher number of applications -- and applications with fewer mistakes than any other Section!
These photos of Mary were taken at the Old West Town where gunfights are held for the tourists who ride to Burnet on a train that comes from Cedar Park (an Austin suburb) on Saturdays. This old town replica is near the train depot, and both are a block or two from the historic downtown square. Goodnatured as always, Mary
posed for me in stifling heat, bellying up to the bar of the saloon, and pretending to play a ragtime tune on the ancient piano! As she came to visit in the middle of the week, we didn't get to witness a gunfight.The visit wasn't long enough, but we promised not to wait so many years before doing it again. Mary's two terriers, Bingo and Lola, were happy to have her home!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cameron's visit was way too brief. Like many young people with big talents, he gave in to the temptation to audition for American Idol, which was in Austin last week. Cameron's beautiful operatic bass voice was not what they were looking for at this time. I wish he had sung an aria for his audition, but then he might have been chosen for the next round and THAT would interfere with his return to LSU this fall. I was blessed to have him sing several songs for me while he was here. I told him I wanted to be around for his first performance at the Met! And I will. In the meantime, he remains MY American Idol! (Cameron said he joined in a protest against the Gulf oil spill.. thus, the t-shirt. He goes to school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.)
Cameron's visit was way too brief. Like many young people with big talents, he gave in to the temptation to audition for American Idol, which was in Austin last week. Cameron's beautiful operatic bass voice was not what they were looking for at this time. I wish he had sung an aria for his audition, but then he might have been chosen for the next round and THAT would interfere with his return to LSU this fall. I was blessed to have him sing several songs for me while he was here. I told him I wanted to be around for his first performance at the Met! And I will. In the meantime, he remains MY American Idol! (Cameron said he joined in a protest against the Gulf oil spill.. thus, the t-shirt. He goes to school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Our mission to catch the rogue raccoon who was eating my neighbor's garden, then using my front yard for his latrine, has been on hold for over a week now. The second night the trap was set we caught a feral cat that I had seen around the neighborhood. I moved the cage out of the hot sun until it could be picked up, and the cat went wild and was hissing so I thought it would tear through the cage and get me! Unless the cat had taken to eating lantana berries and birdseed, it was not the culprit that left the scat in my yard! However, since its capture there has been no evidence of a visit by the raccoon. I search diligently every day. My neighbor and the Animal Control Officer both told me that the vacant lots behind my backyard have deer visit them in the fall and winter. I didn't see them last year, but will be on the lookout this year. It's a shame, too, as the deer cross the busy Highway 281 to get here, and some of the fawns inevitably get hit by a car. If this keeps up, I'll name my home place "Animal Kingdom".
These four lots were covered in wildflowers and lantanas in the spring and early
summer, when two very tall crape myrtles burst into glorious blooms. We had a lot of rain last winter that produced the abundant wildflowers this year. However, we are having an extremely hot and dry summer. I don't know what kind of food there will be to attract deer.
There has been nothing "normal" about the weather since I moved to Burnet.
These four lots were covered in wildflowers and lantanas in the spring and early
summer, when two very tall crape myrtles burst into glorious blooms. We had a lot of rain last winter that produced the abundant wildflowers this year. However, we are having an extremely hot and dry summer. I don't know what kind of food there will be to attract deer.There has been nothing "normal" about the weather since I moved to Burnet.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peace and love,
Marilyn
Working at Hope's Closet during the sweltering heat causes some of us to get a little delirious, and we are absolutely giggling stupidly by the end of 3 hours! 
There is only one man who helps out on a regular basis. Melvin is somewhere between 60 and 70 -- it's hard to tell. He's a happy fellow and always cracking silly jokes. Sometimes he and I break into a chorus or two of an old song. Recently it was Zippity Doo Dah. One of the women nicknamed him "Zip" - because he moves so slowly! At the last garage sale, a customer (who was obviously an antique dealer) was confusing a couple of us with a lot of double talk about what he thought one of us had promised him in the way of a "good deal". After a minute or two of back and forth, I threw up my hands and said, "Who's on first??" At which point, we broke into laughter, the dealer paid a fair price, and we all were happy. Later I heard Melvin mumbling "Who's on first? No, he's on second!" Then he went on to say, "I'm a baaaad boy!" No one but he and I knew what he was talking about. How many of you know? Last Saturday he had us just about rolling in the floor. A young teen had found a beautiful sandal and asked if we would help her find the mate. Melvin is in charge of the donated shoes, so we located him and asked if he would find the mate for the teen. He shook his head. "There's not a mate." We asked him why he put it out. "Wel-l-l-l, it's a nice shoe..." he drawled. We're still looking for a customer who needs only one sandal, Size 6! The joys of volunteer work are many and varied.
I have more to say about "good news" I've heard about the "billionaire's club", and an update on the Gulf sea turtles, but it's getting late so I'll save it for next time.
There is only one man who helps out on a regular basis. Melvin is somewhere between 60 and 70 -- it's hard to tell. He's a happy fellow and always cracking silly jokes. Sometimes he and I break into a chorus or two of an old song. Recently it was Zippity Doo Dah. One of the women nicknamed him "Zip" - because he moves so slowly! At the last garage sale, a customer (who was obviously an antique dealer) was confusing a couple of us with a lot of double talk about what he thought one of us had promised him in the way of a "good deal". After a minute or two of back and forth, I threw up my hands and said, "Who's on first??" At which point, we broke into laughter, the dealer paid a fair price, and we all were happy. Later I heard Melvin mumbling "Who's on first? No, he's on second!" Then he went on to say, "I'm a baaaad boy!" No one but he and I knew what he was talking about. How many of you know? Last Saturday he had us just about rolling in the floor. A young teen had found a beautiful sandal and asked if we would help her find the mate. Melvin is in charge of the donated shoes, so we located him and asked if he would find the mate for the teen. He shook his head. "There's not a mate." We asked him why he put it out. "Wel-l-l-l, it's a nice shoe..." he drawled. We're still looking for a customer who needs only one sandal, Size 6! The joys of volunteer work are many and varied.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peace and love,
Marilyn
No comments:
Post a Comment