Lucky Dog!

That's his collar around the main limb in my pear tree. Also a horseshoe I turned up in my garden. I stuck it there years ago. It has grown to the tree. Buddy was my lucky dog. I'll tell you about that story some other time.
Some of lucky dogs "luck" rubbed of on us apparently. This past weekend we had a storm come thru that did a lot of damage. Most was to the trees in town. However, many of the trees and limbs that fell did other damage. At first they said it was an 80 miles an hour straight line wind. Now they say it may have been a small tornado. My vote goes with the straight line wind. I've never known of a tornado that lasted for 16 minutes in one spot.
Any way we were lucky to only have minor damage. We did go without power for the last three days however. Kind of takes one back to the old days before electricity and internet and all them goodies. X.

Bluegrass in the Heartland

Our old threashers group here in Shelby County held their 1st annual bluegrass festival this past weekend. Seven different local bands showed up and played a lot of good music for those attending. They had a fish fry saturday night as a fund raiser, as the festival was free to the public.
I've always been a music lover. Bluegrass being one of the styles I like to listen to. I think this will get bigger each year. X.

Big Charlie!

That's what everyone called my grandad White, my dads father. He was 6' 5" and weighed about 260 in his prime. My mothers family were short in stature, so I ended up a little stunted at 6' 3".
I wasn't as close to him as my other grandad but was always in awe of him and had much respect for the man that he was.
He worked for the Missouri highway dept. most of his life. Dad likes to tell about how grandad spent his first winter pulling people out of mudholes on highway 36 that goes thru this area. That was in the 30's and the highway wasn't much more than a dirt and gravel road at the time.
Then there was the time Grandad had his state truck blocking the road. An Irate driver pulled up behind him and got out to give him a peice of his mind. As soon as Big Charlie stepped out of his truck, the guy just said "nevermind" and went back to his car.
He was a jolly character. Always had Milky Way candy bars and plenty of bottles of Coke on hand when any of us grandkids came to visit. I think that's where I got my addiction to both of those goodies.
As you can see he was a veteran. Fought in WW1. The White family has always been strong supporters of the United States. My ancestors fought in the Revolutionary War.
Big Charlie was always at the American Legion dances helping out on saturday nights. He even drug me along a few times. Provided some colorful entertainment for a young lad.
X.