A Geography Lesson - At 32,000 Feet

When I book flights, I really try to get a window seat for myself.  Tami is not really keen about looking out the window the entire trip so it is a win-win situation for us.  On our Delta flight to Sacramento, with my phone in "Airplane" mode, I was able to keep track of our progress cross country.  I don't know why, but the GPS signal worked from St. Louis to Minneapolis but somewhere going west over South Dakota, I lost it.

So...being the "old school surveyor" that I am, I started trying to match landmarks with the map on my phone.  All I could see on the Google Maps was major highways, rivers, lakes and national forests (all with no names).  The pilot would keep us up to date about every hour so I could check my accuracy.  I was purty proud of myself!  I only took two pictures because at least two of the sites the pilot pointed out were on the south (left) side of the plane (thankfully I was on the right side).  These two sites on the south side were Mount Rushmore and Lake Tahoe.  Below are the two pictures that I did get.

Looking north toward the Little Bighorn Mountains in north central Wyoming.  The Little Bighorn Battlefield is just north of this range in Montana.

Looking north toward the Grand Teton Range.  On the horizon, partially blocked by the wing, is Yellowstone National Park.

We Found Your Luggage.....

It's at the Sacramento Airport baggage claim!  Luckily ours arrived just fine....

Heroes...

In 1980 Willie Nelson recorded a hit single that went to number one on the country charts.  This song, "My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys" struck a chord (no pun intended) with the listening audience and stayed at number one for two weeks and on the country charts for fourteen weeks.  I remember the song (probably could sing a little of it) and at the time, agreed with the jest of the lyrics.  It is truly amazing how becoming a believer in Christ changes your entire perspective on life.  It is truly a "Born Again" experience!  It also changes your choice of heroes....

When I was a little boy, we would visit the Midway Church in Thayer, Missouri for youth rallys and revivals.  It was the old  church on the corner of Gilbert Avenue and 7th Street in "Green Town", which was "midway" between Thayer, Missouri and Mammoth Spring, Arkansas. There were a lot of interesting characters in that old church but the Pastor always had my attention.

He was a big, tall, black-headed man with a deep, gruff, booming voice, whose words had a peculiar "twang".  His wife was a lady with an truly meek spirit and a quiet demeanor.  Brother Wendell Pitman and Sister Jewel Pitman are true heroes of the Holiness Pentecostal Fellowship.

I have an image etched on my mind of Brother Pitman preaching and when he made a particular point in his sermon, he would cup his hand behind ear and stare out into the congregation as if to ask "Did you hear what I just said"?  It took me years to figure out some of his phrases...such as "een-much" - in as much (Kinda like Brother Clifton Galiher saying "she poured out the oral" - (oil)!  I just LOVE these older ministers!!!

However...at this young age, I was terrified of Brother Pitman.  To a little sprout like myself, he was broad-shouldered, had huge hands and was Tall with a capital T!  His voice was deep, kinda gruff and when he got to preaching it seemed like the windows would rattle.  You can just bet I wouldn't be cuttin' no shines while Brother Wendell was apreachin'!!

I related all this to Brother Pitman a few years ago and he really got a laugh out of it.  But then I added the kicker and said "Now Brother Pitman, I used to be so scared of you...but I AIN'T SCARED OF YOU NO MORE!"  It kinda took him by surprise and then he had another good laugh!  Now when I see him the first thing he says is "I just HATE people that are taller than me" and then it's "You still scared of me???"

God Bless the Pitmans and reward them richly for their faithfulness...These my friends, are true HEROES!

A recent picture of Brother Wendell Pitman

A recent picture of Brother Wendell and Sister Jewell Pitman

An Epic Deer Tail

 The Riggs Family had a great opening day of deer season.  No, we didn't kill any deer but we had LOTS of good food and family time.  All in all there were eight of us; Ralph, Regan, Claire, Kimberly, Jaden and Ray (all Riggs), my Son-in-law Anson Miller and his twin brother from Illinois, Bryce Miller.  Half of us were scattered out over eighty acres and the other half (Ralph, Claire, Kimberly and Jaden) were in the luxury suite with a heater, individual recliners, computer with wifi, drinks and snacks.  I was on my regular stand at the northwest corner of the eighty and took the picture below just a few minutes after I got in my stand.

Let me explain about my stand...it is not in a tree.  Technically it is a "blind" but I'm the one telling this yarn.  I do not do "stands" (as in fifty feet up in a tree with a two by two platform to stand on) anymore.  I have mild acrophobia and being on anything higher than me gives me the heebe-jeebes.  Also, I'm not as sure on my feet as I was as a young man so...I leave the trees to squirrels!

A few minutes after daylight...just west of my stand....KA-BOOM!!.....and in a few seconds a deer comes running flat out, right across in front of me.  When it is about forty yards from me it does a nose-dive, flips end over end and just lays there.  I keep watching and in a little bit I see a hunter orange hat bobbing around north of where the deer is laying.  I whistle...no response...whistle again...no response.  I finally get up and walk down to where the deer is and get the guys attention..."Hey!  It's right over here".  I introduce myself and find out his name is Kevin and he is really apologetic that he messed up my morning hunt.  I tell him to forget it because it couldn't be helped and I'm glad he got one.  The deer is nice buck except it has one horn broken off (which doesn't make Kevin happy!)  He drags the deer back across the fence and I go back to my stand and back to SLEEP!

In the picture below, the deer fell about fifty feet past the quad-black oak tree in center picture.

You have to be very careful while you are in the woods.  This is why they have hunter-safety courses, to tell about these hazards.  In these courses they tell you about paparazzi squirrels.  They sneak through the woods, jumping from tree to tree, scampering here and there, trying to take pictures of hunters in awkward situations (such as when nature calls).  I had 3,793 of these little buggers around my stand and it seems that one of them stole my phone and took the picture below.... 

Veterans Day Salute

SSgt Leamon Harold Riggs

U.S. Air Force

Korea 1951-1953

1932-1985

Uh huh...Guess you'll do that again!!

My Mom(L) with her best friend, Shirley Von Allmen.

My Mom loved to have fun and tease people....but one time...it got her in a real pickle!  She was a chip off the old block" because my Grandma Fox (her mother) would rather scare somebody than eat.  Maybe I'll tell a story about her in a future post.

My Dad was a Real Estate Broker and he had a lot of business calls that came to our house after hours.  Mom got to know most of the regulars that would call just by their voice (remember, this was the party line days...before caller ID).  When this particular call came in it was a real twangy, drawling, whiny female voice that Mom SHOULD have recognized as the wife of one of the business men Dad had a lot of dealings with.  She didn't!!  Mom thought it was her sister, Freda Cook and that my Aunt Freda was just talking that way to fool her.  So...Mom started talking back to her in the same twangy, drawling, whiny voice!!  It took several seconds but it was soon evident that she wasn't conversing with Aunt Freda!!  Well, rather than just start talking in her regular voice, she decides that to save face, she will just keep talking in the same twangy, drawling, whiny voice.  The conversation goes on for a couple of minutes while they exchange pleasantries (I bet it wasn't pleasant for Mom!!) and then Mom hands the phone to Dad.  Dad takes the phone, finishes the business with this lady and hangs up.  He has figured out the sequence of events and being the man of few words that he was, he just said "Uuuh Huh...Guess you'll do THAT again!"

The Little Cantaloupe That Could

Toward the end of the growing season, I just basically let my garden "Go to pot."  "Go to pot" was another of my Dad's expressions and I'm really not sure the origin but it means I just let my garden grow up and didn't maintain it  (and No, I was not growing marijuana!).  There was some kind of vine that started in my tomatoes and started growing and climbing on my baskets.  After awhile, little gourds appeared and by the time the killing frost came they were about the size of baseballs.  I didn't know what they were but one day I picked one and (like any normal Riggs does) I smelled of it.  Low and behold, they were CANTALOUPES!!  Who knew!  I sliced one up to eat and it was very tasty!  Today we had Pastor Galiher and his family over for dinner and Sister Brenda inspired me to post some pictures of my miniature cantaloupes - The Little Cataloupes that Could!!