Jamie Wichita Miss

My in-laws used to own a ranch between Weatherford and Mineral Wells.  Geema had every type of fowl you can imagine.  I loved Mr. and Mrs. Peacock.  The Guinea Hens made me laugh the way they ran around like crazy birds.  They also had ducks and hens.  Goats and barbado sheep also inhabited the ranch.

In their younger days Papa and Geema showed Tennessee Walkers.  Walkers became the horse of choice at the ranch.  They were wonderful animals and have such a smooth gait; you could ride for hours without getting a sore bum.

Papa enjoyed raising Longhorns.  Papa’s herd had some sweet little calves and when it came time to register them Papa incorporated my, Char’s, and Chris’ name into the registered names of three of them.I ran across this in the piles of memorabilia that I kept over the years.

This is a copy of my certificate for Jamie Wichita Miss.

And here is a photo that Papa took of her with his trusty Polaroid Camera.

She’s the little white and red one in the foreground.  Her mama is standing behind her; her name was YO Waco Wichita Miss 115.

Although Longhorn cows can live up to thirty years, Jamie Wichita Miss is probably no longer living, but if she is she would be almost 25 years old.

Memories Re-Surfaced

Since we are having the hottest and most miserable summer since 1980, I have not been able to start any new landscaping for the house.  We put in an irrigation system for flower beds and amended the soil with rich soil, but the only thing planted in the garden is a small Japanese Maple.  It’s been too hot for anything else; 69+ days over 100°.  The grass out front is dead.  I did plant some Cannas that my brother gave me and lilies that my sister gave me but that was back before the 100° days began.

Since I can’t get out and dig in the dirt I have started on a couple of indoor projects that are turning out to be huge.  We have committed to “no more cardboard boxes”.  They wear out, become dust and bug infested and on and on.  Therefore, anything we have to store over the garage will be put in plastic bins.

A lot of our stuff is already stored this way but there are items that have been stored in cardboard boxes for years and years.   Firstly (is that a real word?), there are thousands of photographs and negatives dating back to the sixties.


Then there are cards and letters by the gazillions that I have kept.  I mean, I kept EVERYTHING!!! 

There are boxes and boxes of framed portraits, photos, pictures of the girls at all stages of their lives, family photos from both sides of our families and all sorts of special interest photos that, at the time, we felt compelled to frame in ridiculously large sizes.

It still cracks me up that Char actually spotted the photographer up in the trees and waved to him.



I’ll be putting a lot of these into albums but the really old family photos that are still in their original frames will be packed away once again, except in plastic bins.

The items I  have unearthed that make me smile the most are mementos from elementary school through the present; Playbills, ticket stubs from movies, concerts and the theater; newspapers from JFK’s assassination, Oswald’s death, Eisenhower’s death,  RFK’s assassination, MLK’s assassination, Princess Diana's death, among others.

I was obviously fascinated with the tragedy of lives ended too soon.  I look at all of this stuff and wonder what it was I was trying to hold on to;  or hoping not to forget.

I have no clue why I would want to keep this.  Was it that I wanted to remember that “Get Back /  Don’t Let Me Down” by The Beatles was number 1 on the KAKC Hit List during the week of May 7^th?

No.


See that little “star” I penciled in besides #21?  I was absolutely mad about the”Love Theme From Romeo & Juliet” by Henry Mancini. 

I was even crazier about the movie.  This is still one of my all time favorite, romantic movies.   And I still have this LP.

There was this.

 The program from the Tulsa Tennis Club’s Annual Invitational Tournament during the Spring of 1969.

 Take a look at this little guy who competed that year.  Although he lost in the 2^nd round to Bob McKinley I don't feel too sorry for him.  I’d say he ended up going places didn’t he?