THE RSVP I AM SURE OF

For all the family and extended family today I am extending to you all the opportunity to be a part of History unsurpassed in all of our Family's colorful history. This opportunity could be further expanded to close friends as well. The most important thing for now is to get on the list ASAP don't wait for someone to read about this in the Baytown Sun and feel sorry you were left out. You are advised that the Royal Odds makers are now raising the odds on a "ROYAL WEDDING OF EPIC PROPORTIONS"

Thru our Great Grand Mother Mathis, who is our direct blood link to Her Majesty , Queen Elizabeth, we will have as FAMILY invitations sent directly from Buckingham Palace.

This Wedding WILL be much larger than Diana's and all the world will be beholden to the British Royal Court during this historic event across the pond.

HRH Prince William is soon to announce engagement to Kate Middleton and because of the Olympics being in England in 2012 details of a Royal Wedding are in the works but the logistics are extremely tight. It takes well over one year to plan such a Wedding not to mention the Olympics adding to the mix.

We all can begin making plans to attend this event , allocating resources, fashion shopping, and generally reviewing the modern British Culture scene we will be a part of soon. There are many volumes of publications available to review so don't panic if you don't currently know how to take your tea and what to order off the Royal Menu. We will learn all this together and at a later date. And it is OK to let them know we are from the Green Linage of Texas. This they know well and will have proper Credentials made in advance.

Sir William Green of Lancaster England or his Son Sir Richard Green of Lincolnshire, Rippingdale England also our direct Blood relation may be the source of routing for our place and pecking order in Royal Protocol? This is information that is unknown to us at this time but only adds to the excitement as to where we will all be seated at the Official Reception and Gala Ball and Wedding Festivities.

My advice is we may want to take out a couple of AMEX lines of credit convertible to the Pound and Euro but we don't need to get to far ahead of ourselves.

Just stay calm take a deep breath and hope the best for William and Kate.

DUST BOWL REVISITED

Our truck last Friday high tailing it across the Raton Pass/Texas Panhandle route back home. And for 18 non-stop hours the Ford kept ahead of what was once called "A Black Blizzard". At times one could not even be heard talking in the truck cab. It was a bucking loud blow of epic proportions for hours on end. The gas gauge steady dropped, the wind speed later reported above 60 mph and gusting . What a novelty to see tumbleweeds crossing in front of you every few minutes. One knew the worst was nearly over BUT not so it blew and blew nearly all the way to Fort Worth. Arriving in Amarillo before dark a brief rest stop was made at the Route 66 Steak Ranch. If you never heard of this one , it is a legendary stop for nearly 50 years to those who think they are hungry for a Texas Sized Steak? At $1.00 per ounce this 72 ounce steak is free to anyone who can eat it within 60 minutes. They said they get a sucker in there most every day to try and when he/she fails well they fork up $72.00 for the 59 minutes of fame and attention they get here at Big Tex. Knowing the Big Blow is catching up outside our 12 ounce steak was divided into 3 portions , one portion went for our dog, the other two was probably the best Prime West Texas Beef ever eaten. At least after all the Hype of the 50 year history from this place our sand parched taste buds were well pleased but the savory taste enhancements were short lived. There was a Dust Bowl blowing in and we had to get out of there FAST. *note..watch it live at http://www.bigtexan.com/

Back on the trail it was noticed that all the Truck rest areas were packed? You think a Baytown resident and experienced cross country traveler would have took note of the rest areas all being full? At least a dim light bulb could have lit up and told us just maybe the driving conditions were a tad bit hazardous??? That logic didn't enter into the plans because a dead line was looming. We had a meeting time set with a man who had been waiting for the last 25-30 years and we were not going to miss this no matter how hard the wind and dust kicked up. We had to make Estelline Texas before dark and the last 58 miles and sunset were closing fast.

Estelline is not much of a town these days with a population of 128 our meeting place had to be a easy find. Slowing at the City Limits there it was in bold green letters proudly displaying Estelline's main land mark "CEMETERY" pointing down a sand filled dirt road that ran in the middle of a long wheat field about 1.5 miles ahead. Our meeting place with Great Grand Paw Tom Tyner! The distance from the thumb and little finger placed just on the horizon showed just slightly more than 15 minutes of day light and there were at least 75-100 tomb stones all of which I am sure were Grand Paw Toms friends and relatives. Skidding in the sand to a full stop the door flew open and a huge puff of that Black Blizzard's leading edge wind gust sent my ball cap tumbling down the second row of graves to the far East end of the cemetery where .... you guessed it, lay, in the most peaceful setting one could imagine in this parched sandy blown land my loving long lost Great Grandfather Tom. The sun was casting it's last light on his tomb stone, all his family along side him were all smiling up at me as I snapped their pictures and the tears crept out as the full weight of the moment came down on me. You see I didn't find Great Grand Paw Tom, he found me 'cause I know without a doubt Tom and his family, there in that peaceful place, had caused that gust of wind to blow my ball cap right up to them. It would have taken hours on end to locate them without his help.

That Black Blizzard was a way of life of those pioneers and while it didn't stop them from living out their lives there is no way they were going to let it stop a Great Grand Son from making a brief visit to see where they had lived, loved and died so many years ago.

THANKS for the help GREAT GREAT PAPA you are not forgotten.

UNCOVERED TREASURE IN BAYTOWN

The last day of Income Tax filing proved to be a surprising day and Treasure find of Historic proportions. One wayward traveler on North Main was really down on his luck searching for employment. The 2010 Shrimping Season in the near Gulf not due to open for several more months left our Traveler heading East to Florida where mountains of Shrimp are being harvested NOW. Well the Baytown Finest don't take to kindly for certain Hitchhiking and after providing a meal and night stay over, our Traveler , now is forced to walk the several mile trek north from the Police Station on North Main to I-10.
That is where this story began as I , feeling kinda sorry for this poor soul, offered to lend a ride and learned the story of the previous night in Jail and need to get "out of town" fast. I obliged and after learning of his misfortune on the Shrimp Boat with low/no pay in Freeport Texas, this traveler generously offered as a good faith reward a cachet of Treasure , some of which is in the Pic above.
Yep these Barber Silver Half Dollars from 1902 - 1910 were alleged to have been found on the side of the road near Freeport Texas and for a slick $ 20.00 a sale was made and the Happy traveler headed East and "out of Baytown".
Now I know one shouldn't pick up hitch-hikers as a rule , and I don't but something about this one , well he really needed helping a lot more than Baytown's Finest could provide.
What began as a total of 9 -100% Silver Half Dollars was quickly reduced to the four above after the Office Staff of the local CPA Firm Davis & Ass. really wanted souvenirs. They, the Staff , were celebrating the end of another Huge Tax filing season and had decided to celebrate the end of the rush with Food and Drink at the local El Torro's Mexican place. After trying for almost a full hour to put a value on these Silver Treasure's my patrons, I had wore down to the best price of $10.00 each, enjoyed their addition to one Historic Collection of Lady Liberty silver as their bounty too.
Were some of these worth thousands? Are these pictured above worth $ thousands? Probably to someone with bad judgement and a lot of money to spend. But we know one out of work shrimper is a little better off and the shared bounty of historic value has one more story to add to it's travels. If only those coins could talk ? Oh well we can all now tell the newest Story in their Silver Lined Travels...........

Boat Ride 1973 ?

As a young Samuel Clements once said there is a strong pull to the Big River!
Hence this Houston Bayou Lad caught the fever and away I went. The old boat "Virginia-K" probably isn't floating anymore but it looked a lot like the one pictured here. We had 27 sleeping rooms , 32 hundred HP , twin screw's and a huge walk in freezer. My favorite co-worker was Mildred Hogg the cook. She was kin to the Hogg Family but man could she be mean to us lowly deckhands.She was up at 3 am every day and made home made biscuits EVERY morning. If she got mad at me she would pour hot grease in the garbage can bag and .....she did this once when I replaced her stove light bulb and it vibrated loose and hit her on the head one morning. I never admitted I did it but paid the price of another melted garbage bag. My job to replace daily.
From Houston to St Paul to Nashville , St Louis and back I have the many memories of seeing the Great Mississippi, Ohio and Tennessee Rivers and a few more in between.
Once in Debuke Iowa , because the river was out of it's banks and flooding we were tied up for 27 day's. Got to know most everyone in that little town because the Captain let me take the skiff to town daily. I was never so proud when I told the town folks we were nearly out of drinking water and they insisted we pull up to their Fire plug near the river and fill up . What a grand sight all the town folk gathered up as we pulled that big boat up practically up Main Street to take on water from a fire plug. The local news paper was there taking pictures as I held the fire hose and acted important.
There are literally hundred of Riverboats like this one you can see at Dick's Towboat Gallery http://www.towboatgallery.com/The_Towboat_Gallery.php?pic=96&tnc=64 and if you have ever rode one it may be listed.
Sadly for the History Buff the Virginia-K is not there?
It was a really old converted steam ship from the 1930's I think and was the pride of Houston Barge Lines in the 70's along with it's sister ship the Texas.
Those "DEADLIEST CATCH" crabbing boats don't have nothing on the River Boats except a very popular TV show and expensive cameras and all.
After learning to play the fiddle, throw a 2" rope , braid a bumper and paint red lead,earning my US Coast Guards Merchant Mariners Document I had to retire. At 18 when you get a serious girlfriend back home it makes it impossible to stay gone for 30-45 days at a time.
What a ride that was for nearly 1.5 years of my youth. What really keeps me interested is how this History is so close to my own family's travels in the 1800's when they too got off a River Boat, in Jefferson Texas. We hope to one day learn exactly which boat they rode into Jefferson from Alabama.
We have found the boat they got here on from England and that was in the 1600's so this Jefferson docking has got to be in a document somewhere?

LOW HANGING FRUIT...... Continued

Low Hanging Fruit....Continued

The Queen has put a tracer on these words and as we speak they are monitoring every detail of this post. We discovered this fact in a veiled hit last Thursday where mysteriously a GMT contact , that I will not expose made a request under Ancestry.com. This post Greenwich Mean Time arrived in the middle of the night GMT. That's , in case you don't know, is the central time zone for London England!
Elizabeth and I , you see , have the same Great Grand Mother X 7 in common. Her name is Mary Warner and it goes like this :
From my Great Grand Father link - Mathis,Duncan X 2, Bryan X 3, Smith then MARY WARNER also her X 7 Great Grand Mother.
Elizabeth link from her Great Grand Father-
Bowers X 2, Smith, Mildred, Hudgson, Porteus X 2 then our common Great Grand Mother MARY WARNER.
Notice this is not Uncles, Aunts and extended brothers and sisters removed! It is direct BLOOD LINE.All Grand Mothers and Grand Fathers!
Now all my followers and Family who may have thought we are the Fruit's can think again. It is an established Fact that the Direct Linage of Elizabeth of Buckingham Palace has living kinfolks right here in Baytown Texas.
This will surely put Baytown on the World New's feed. The BBC will probably want to be the first to expose this but as it was last posted we are not about to let them break the story and have decided to only give the Exclusive to our friends at the Baytown Sun.
We do have pride in our Family , don't get it wrong, but we also have pride in our immediate Family here in Baytown as first priority. Fame is not always what it may first seem to be. Not for us and when it is no longer in our control to remain in this simple life style , well we'll just take it one step at a time and hopefully never forget how we once were, all happy and cozy, here at our Humble home in our wonderful town.
No longer LOW HANGING FRUIT CAKES.......

Low Hanging Fruit

For the last several months I have developed a passion for this endless search of Who Am I Anyway? (You can see it on NBC friday evenings) It has attached itself to the stem cells of my brain for some reason. It must have been laying idle in my memory bank because the more I tickle it the more it itches.
I have realized that most people don't have the TIME to even process all the Questions "Who Am I" asks. I know not to long ago I didn't either . Seems we all live at break neck speed in our daily lives going along like bumper cars sometimes.
My therapist encourages me to keep it up so this is about what has recently came to the top or as described the easy low hanging fruit of who I am.
I have really been blessed to have my best friend handy to aide in the endless search. He , kinda like me, has the same itch in his brain stems but I don't think he knows it's there. I say this because the only way to get him to scratch anything out of there one has to really coax it out. The more you pry the more you get and I don't think it is intentional it just is how his brain stems function.
I too am that away except my recall really only comes out in little bits and then only occasionally for reasons only one could guess as to why. The key I think is that now that I have slowed down in my bumper car it pops out all on it's own.
OK back to the LOW HANGING FRUIT.....
Deep down inside I know that I am related to Queen Elizabeth and this I know from a long lost John Wesley Green who died mysteriously in San Patricio county at the turn of the century abt 1900. He is the key to Buckingham Palace because he was married to one lady Susan Mathis and my friend did know her personally she lived to be very very old 92 years to be exact.
Many contacts have been made to me about this John Wesley Green and it became evident as to why all of a sudden people, researchers and the likes want to know the info only me and my friend know about him! It starts to all add up because I know the folks in Buckingham Palace have been assigned by Her Majesty to find out this kinda thing. They don't have a thousand year history documented in their vault because they have idle time to waste. No it is , to them , resources necessary to what we have all been taught in the USA called a BLOOD LINE. Blue Bloods they are referred to. They do have a full DNA vault with this information in it.
Since this to us was easy picking's it has been decided to just wait them out . We know they really want to find us and because they have a large staff with unlimited resources....well they are just gonna have to wait our lips are sealed their questions won't get answered until we are ready and that invite to the humble abode in England is in hand at least.
This is a tease because I know they are this very minute doing a Google word search on all 4 million blogs and will hit this as soon as it is posted in cyberspace.
To them we say " take the bait" we are not LOW HANGING FRUIT............

Today in the life of ME

We sometimes get to talk about what we are up to and where we are going and today we talk about the newest format to expand our minds thoughts...a BLOG.
Interesting we create these and with little or no thought it is put in process and saved into cyberspace viewed by , who cares , yet one day discovered by others with nothing to do except read mindless ramblings. It's gotta change or else why do it?
So this is the start of a process to get to one day to a enjoyable read by anyone out there interested in the same thing I get interested in????
SEE YA SOON