Monthly Archives: December 2008

Sports

High School Football – December 12, 2008

Sara keeps on cheering and the Copperas Cove Bulldawgs keep on winning. Cove shellacked Houston area, Klein Oak, 48-7 to move into the State’s Class 5A, semifinals. This week’s opponent will be Wylie, from the Dallas Metroplex area.

In the picture, scanned in from the ‘Killeen Daily Herald’, Sara is carrying the ‘D’ (of ‘D-fence’), leading the team off of the bus for their game last week in Corsicana against Klein Oak.

In the picture, scanned in from the ‘Killeen Daily Herald’, Sara is carrying the ‘D’ (of ‘D-fence’), leading the team off of the bus for their game last week in Corsicana against Klein Oak. A win this week would propel Cove into the state finals against the winner of the Katy-Smithson Valley game. Over the last 3 years, this would be Cove’s third straight state final game.

Katy High School consistently has one of the best high school football programs in the nation and, an interesting note, both Copperas Cove and Smithson Valley have tailored their football programs after Katy’s.
Meanwhile, this past Monday, Mikayla’s seventh grade, basketball team took on Comanche and lost 32-22, moving their record to 3-4. However, in this years opening game, Comanche thrashed the Eagleetts 42-19, so this last loss shows that the team is getting better. Mikayla scored 5 points and played outstanding defense!

Fishing

A Unique ‘Christmas Present’

Recently, my old friend, neighbor and fishing partner, Bill Priddy, was rummaging through pictures of his fishing exploits and came across one that he took of me shortly after I had caught a twelve pound, lunker, bass. The bass, a lifetime best for me, was caught in March, 1979, in Horseshoe Lake, just outside of Tifton, Ga. and the trip and catch were posted in “{A Really Big Bass}” on August 6, 2007.

My only picture of this giant, Bass was badly faded and over exposed. So, this one was a very unexpected and welcome Christmas present from Bill!

Weather

Road Closed

In December, 1972, during the second half of a boring NFL game, I looked over at Jake Schroder and said, “This isn’t much fun! Let’s go four wheelin’.” That’s all it took for our families to go on the most bizarre and dangerous four wheel, trip that we ever took.

Since it was mid afternoon, around 2:00 PM, we decided to drive up to Bartlett Damn on the Verde River, cross the river there and then take a four wheel drive only, road over to Punkin Center and back home. From our houses in Paradise Valley, Arizona, looking at the map, this appeared to be an uneventful two, plus hour trip, but we’d get to see some new country.

We loaded our wives and 3 kids (each) in, my 1968 Ford Bronco and Jake’s, brand new, 1972, Toyota Land Cruiser and headed out Scottsdale road to Carefree and then on to Bartlett Damn. We drove down the dirt road leading to the low water river crossing and to our surprise, water was being let out of Bartlett Lake and we didn’t know if we could cross or not. The low water crossing certainly didn’t look very low.

Locking our hubs and shifting into 4WD Low, the Bronco was first to cross and I thought we’d be swept away. Water came in under the doors and the steering pulled heavily to the right, down river, but we made the 100, foot crossing successfully. The kids thought this was “neat”! Jake followed and since his Land Cruiser was heavier he chugged right across.

Climbing up out of the river bottom we started out on the four, wheel drive only, road to Punkin Center. As we kept climbing up into the low hills, we noticed that it had become cloudy and gotten cooler but we thought nothing of it. We did notice that this road, even by four wheelin’ standards, was very bad.

Creeping slowly along, the road had turned rocky and on outside curves, it leaned dangerously, “down the hill”. We came to one stretch, that years back, had been filled in over a small, creek and the road was so narrow, Jake got out to scout and when he did he noticed the mist and called out, “Beech, it’s misting and it’s gotten much cooler”. He guided me across and then I got out in the mist and guided him across. There was no margin for error. We thought of turning around, but hadn’t found a place where this could be accomplished. This road was bad!

The clouds kept us from seeing, what we knew, was a beautiful sunset and the mist had turned into a light rain, and above the windshield wipers, I noticed an accumulation of ice! Everyone asked, “Where did this storm come from?” From the kids, “Daddy, will it snow?” Now, there’s rain, ice, no turn around and a terrible road, leaving us only one choice, soldier on!

Being 4 hours into our 2, plus, hour trip, where was Punkin Center? We continued creeping and came to another “fill”. Jake jumped out into the icy, rain, flashlight in hand, stuck his head inside my truck and said, laughingly, “Women and children out of the truck!” My family complied and he guided me over. I knew that I was going to slide off and I didn’t even know how far down, that down was! We made it but the wheelbase on Jake’s truck was slightly wider than the Bronco’s. His family jumped out and I guided him slowly over to safety. His big tires saved the day!

It had been dark for over an hour and we hadn’t seen a single light, only our headlights, reflecting on the rain/sleet. The kids were wet and cold now, “Daddy, I’m wet and cold,” they echoed, as I turned the heat/defrost up higher. We creeped on around a hill, with the truck tilting dangerously to the left and when we reached the top we could see the car lights on Beeline Highway and we knew that Punkin Center was close by.

Inching down the hill, as we neared the highway, we noticed a sign beside our, what may be called, road, that read “Road Closed”. That explained a lot! We crept on into the small hamlet of Punkin Center and the one store, was closed, so we cranked up and drove on down Beeline to Shea and turned right and headed home. Six hours from our start, I pulled into our cul de sac and the kids were all sound asleep.

I still wonder why there was no “Road Closed” sign at the Bartlett Damn end of the road?

Ancestry

Rear Guard

Another of my family stories follows and I believe it’s ‘neat’ to have these passed down, even 144 years after they happened.
Rear Guard
During our country’s Civil War, in December 1864, Gen. John Bell Hood commanded the Confederate Army of Tennessee and after their disastrous, and loosing, battles at Franklin and Nashville, Tennessee, as the long, arduous retreat from Nashville back across the Tennessee River began, Gen. Hood ordered Lt. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest to command the rear guard

Among the units Forrest had in his Cavalry Corps that he selected for this defense, was the Texas Cavalry Brigade, commanded by Brig. Gen. Sul Ross and, in which one of my maternal Great Grandfathers, Levi Sanders’, unit was part. Forrest also asked Hood for at least an infantry brigade, hopefully 4,000 men, to also be assigned to him.

An infantry brigade, numbering 1500 men, mostly barefooted, was quickly cobbled together from the remnants of four brigades. Included in this group was Ector’s Brigade and what was left of the 10th Texas Cavalry Regiment (Dismounted).

Another Great Grandfather, (paternal), Brinson Bryan, was in this unit. By that stage of the war, most regiments that had begun the war with over 1,000 men on their rolls, were down now to less that 200!

One picture remains of Brinson Bryan, taken around 1846, after the Mexican War. Thanks to several house fires, no picture remains of Levi Sanders.

Both men fought side by side from December 17 to the 27th, 1864, and it is not known if they ever met, but the rear guard that included these 2 of my Great Grandfather’s, performed its duty flawlessly and saved what was left of the Confederate Army of Tennessee.

The rear guard was in constant contact with Union troops the entire retreat, winning each battle and skirmish. Federal General Thomas said, “Hood’s Army on the retreat from Tennessee was a bunch of disorganized rabble. But the rear guard, however, was undaunted and firm, and did its work bravely to the last.”
After the war ended both men were active in the same veteran reunion groups and I’m sure their paths crossed.

My family strives to keep this heritage intact and something to treasure. These men fought for four years for something they believed in – states rights. They lost the war, but we’ll always remember their sacrifice!

Hunting

All Smiles

Warren Blesh’s Daughter, Jen, is all smiles showing off this fine buck she shot over the Thanksgiving Holidays on her Dad’s,{ RRR Ranch,} southeast of Goldthwaite. The 130 point, B&C, deer was taken at 100 yards with her Dad’s trusty 25.06.
Don’t you just love our Texas women!

 

Sports

High School Football, Dec. 3 2008

The highlight of this past week’s action was my Grandson, Colton Mitchell, being named by the District 25-A coaches as the District’s Newcomer of the year.
Colton started every game and excelled as middle linebacker on a 10 and 2 team, registering over 120 tackles. Last spring in a March 10, post,{Early Spring Bass,} Colton hoped that he would make the varsity the coming football season. He made it with a BANG!
Meanwhile, Sara cheered as her Copperas Cove Bulldawgs scored on a pass play with 9 seconds left to beat Cypress Ridge, from the Houston metro area, 55-48. Cove had built a comfortable lead but Cy Ridge’s, LSU bound quarterback, Russell Shepard, probably the best high school quarterback in this quarterback rich state, brought his team back to tie with a minute left. Needless to say, Sara (and the coaches) were breathless!

Mikayla’s Goldthwaite Middle School, Lady Eagles won three straight games over De Leon, San Saba and Dublin. The win over Dublin, 20-18, erased the memories of a 7 point, opening game loss. The Eagleettes, my name for them, now have a 3 and 3 mark and are playing very good basketball.
Here Mikayla looks beaten to the hoop, but in two steps, caught up with her opponent and deflected the pass.