H.E.A.R.T.S.

In May, I visited the HEARTS Veterans Museum in Huntsville, Texas. HEARTS stands for "Helping Every American Remember Through Serving" and its mission is to honor the sacrifices of our veterans by educating future generations. The museum began in 1993 with a Veteran's Day display in a Huntsville antique shop and then became a traveling school exhibit. In 1999, a vacant space in the West Hill Mall became home to a collection of memorabilia, artifacts and a timeline of America's wars. Eventually land was donated for a permanent museum, which opened in September 2009. See the complete story at http://heartsmuseum.com/heartsstory.php.

The HEARTS Veterans Museum is located near the Texas Prison Museum, just off Interstate 45 (exit 118). The flag pole area in front of the museum consists of red, white and blue pavers in the shape of the Texas flag. The pavers may be "purchased" and personalized. There is also a wall of honor, across from the main entrance, where memorial plaques may be placed.

I highly recommend visiting this museum. It is filled with interesting artifacts and memorabilia from every war America has been engaged in, from the American Revolution to Operation Iraqi Freedom. A Timeline of Wars winds through the pentagon-shaped building and includes military artifacts and photographs, which were donated by veterans and their families. In addition, there is a section for each branch of the military where uniforms, weapons and photos of veterans are displayed. My dad's photo is on a wall in the Navy exhibit, while my uncle's photo and dress uniform are in the Marine Corp exhibit. There is also a room dedicated to Huntsville resident Colonel M.B. Etheredge, one of the most decorated soldiers in World War II. Colonel Etheredge served four years in Africa, Italy and France, receiving two battlefield promotions and advancing in rank from second lieutenant to captain in only six days. In addition, he received three Silver Star medals in a four-month span. Many of the tour guides at the meseum are veterans and many of them were in combat. We spent two hours on the tour but could easily have stayed longer.

One of the exhibits that fascinated me the most was the World War II island hopping campaign, led by Admiral Chester Nimitz and General Douglas MacArthur. I also learned that seebees are the Construction Battalions (CB's) of the Navy. There are two German lugers on display. One of them has a bullet-shaped indentation. An American soldier shot the luger out of the German soldier's hand before shooting him.

The HEARTS Veterans Museum seeks to remember and honor those who faithfully served our country. The museum also serves current servicemen by sending care packages to troops stationed overseas and to those recovering in military hospitals. I was very impressed by this museum and hope you will have an opportunity to visit and see for yourself.

A Baby (Wren) Story

We will finally be able to use the boat! We started to take the boat out on May 25th and discovered that wrens had built a nest between the nose of the boat and the trailer winch. Inside the nest were six nestlings. The six baby wrens fledged last Friday. We happened to be outside around one o'clock and saw them start popping out of the nest. We watched them through binoculars from underneath a shade tree (hmmm, is there any other kind?) The babies hopped and fluttered underneath the boat, as the parents flitted frantically about. The fledglings weren't quite able to fly, so when they got tired, they all huddled together in the grass next to the house. By evening, one of the stronger ones was able to make it into a tree. However, despite my best efforts, the rest of them managed to get into the backyard...not the best place to be, considering one of my hounds chases/kills any wildlife that invades his domain.

We locked the dogs up and hoped that by nightfall the wrens would be safely in the trees. Alas, that was not to be. Mark decided to help nature along by placing the babies on a tree limb. He chased wayward fledglings for thirty minutes. He'd get a couple in a tree, and as he was bringing the third, the first two flew out. This process repeated itself too many times to count. Finally he started placing them in a row on the fence. One by one, they hopped/flew until they reached an overhanging branch where Mama wren was waiting. They all quieted down for the night, and we were able to let the dogs back into their yard. That's the last I've seen of the baby wrens. I've heard some peeping and chirping, so I think they all survived. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

How Did That Happen?

My quick afternoon project, planting an iris next to the pond, turned into a comedy of errors. Isn't that the way of life? You set out to accomplish a small task, and it winds up taking waaay more time than you intended. Fortunately, I had one trusty beagle supervising my work (or not). His brother put in an appearance and then found something more interesting to do.

First, I assembled all my supplies.

Next, I started digging the hole for the iris. This part went rather slowly, since there were small rocks mixed in with the dirt, and I felt the need to separate the two. Then I hit a vein of sand, which is not particularly good for plants other than cactus. I excavated the sand and had a pretty nice size hole for my iris. As I was contemplating whether to dig more, I saw water start trickling down into the hole.

As I watched, the hole continued filling with water. I thought, "Why would water be oozing from the foundation?" and, "I know I didn't hit a water pipe." I dug around a little more, which only increased the flow of water. I decided to go check the water meter to see if it was running. As I took off down the sidewalk, I discovered the culprit.

Earlier, (how much, I don't know) I had left the hose running (just barely!) to water this nandina. The water filled up the flowerbed...

and ran under the sidewalk, finding its exit in the hole I had dug.


A more alert supervisor would have been helpful!

When the water stopped draining into the hole, I used this

red cup to remove it.

Then I remembered that I could have used this
siphon hose.

After making a muddy mess, I finally got the iris planted. I hope it's happy in its new home!

Priceless!

Well, I finally have my own "priceless" story!

Two tickets to the River Oaks Clay Court Championships...$40

One night in a hotel...$120

One autographed tennis ball...Priceless!

Let me start at the beginning. We celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary in March with the usual dinner out.

Part two of our celebration took place this past weekend. On Sunday, we drove to Houston, visited my mom and brother, played a little tennis, and ate dinner at the original, newly refurbished, Pappadeaux's on Westheimer.

Afterward, we drove by the site of my first childhood home on Skyline Drive.

The house is gone.

Standing in its place is this very nice, modern apartment complex.

And a very large radio tower.

Then we drove by my second childhood home, also on Skyline Drive, just a few blocks west. It still looks the same as it did when we moved 40 years ago. Thankfully, someone has finally replaced my "flower power" half curtains with some wood blinds!

Monday morning we did a quick tour of the Galleria, (including Niemann Marcus) before heading over to River Oaks Country Club. Once there, we strolled around the outer courts, watching some final round qualifying matches and a number of players on the practice courts. Shortly before noon we went to our seats in the West Grandstand.

There were fewer than 50 people in the arena at that time, and the M.C. (the man in the red shirt at the net post) was welcoming the spectators. He asked, "Who's here for the whole week?" and a few people clapped. Then he asked, "Who's here just for the day?" Thinking that Mark would also clap, I clapped.

Immediately, the man pointed to me and said he was going to hit me a tennis ball. A few minutes earlier I had seen him hit a ball to a man, who wasn't able to catch it. The M.C. hit the ball from his position at the net post right to me! And I caught it! It was a brand new ball with the US Open logo (but not autographed).

Then the players were introduced. We watched a doubles match featuring Xavier "X-Man" Malisse (left, below) and Michael Russell versus Ryan Harrison and Donald Young. Malisse and Russell won the first set fairly easily, then Harrison and Young found their game. The match went to a third set, which was a 10-point super tiebreaker. Harrison and Young prevailed.

During the match, I skimmed through the tournament program and discovered that the M.C. was Wayne Bryan, father of twins Bob and Mike Bryan. Bob and Mike are the top-ranked doubles team in the world. They played college tennis at Stanford for two years before turning pro. In their second year at Stanford, Stanford won the national team title, Bob won the singles title, and the twins won the doubles title. They represent the US in Davis Cup and have won 8 Grand Slam doubles titles.


After the doubles match, we decided to visit the practice courts again, hoping to see some "big name" players. We struck gold!

On the first court we visited, Bob and Mike Bryan were playing practice games against another doubles team. We enjoyed watching them practice for 30 or 40 minutes.

Mark watching the Bryan Brothers (above)

Mike (left) and Bob Bryan

The next player we saw was 6'9" John Isner.

He was pretty easy to spot! Isner earned All-American honors playing at the University of Georgia and is currently the number two ranked American, behind Andy Roddick. He seemed to be having an off day, so we didn't watch him very long.

Next, we spotted 6'6" Sam Querry. Querry is the third-highest ranked American player and has a huge serve. He holds the record for the most consecutive aces in a match...ten, against James Blake. Querry was practicing with another up and coming American, Ryan Harrison. Harrison is only 17 and has already won one ATP tournament. While Mark watched them practice, I observed two women who appeared to be talking about Mark. He was up close to the court, while I was farther back, in the shade. After the practice was over, one of the women asked Mark if he knew who the players were. Mark said, "One of them is Sam Querry." Then the woman said, "Are you his dad?" Mark said no, and a man standing nearby said, "Wrong answer! You should've said yes and that you'd give her an autograph for fifty bucks!" We all got a big laugh out of that one!

And now, about that autographed ball...on our way around the grandstand, I spotted Wayne Bryan in one of the walkways under the grandstand. I asked Mark if I should ask him to autograph the ball he hit to me earlier in the day. He said go for it.

We had a great time!!