An Arkies Musings

It has been a hectic week working for Relay For Life . Gina has been working almost nonstop this week on Relay Sponsorships and team recruitment. The deadline to get signed up on a team is March 1st. We want to get as many people signed up as possible. The Relay event is not until April 17, but we have a deadline to sign up so that we can get the t-shirts printed in time. As of February 27 we have 25 teams that have signed up with over 250 participants. We are still hoping for a few more teams to sign up this weekend. Fundraising has started in earnest. A number of teams will be having drawings at the Relay. Around town you can contribute to Relay For Life, and have a chance to win a Wii, A 32" LCD HDTV, A rifle, A deer stand, a BBQ smoker, or a tent. There is a most beautiful baby contest, bake sales, breakfasts, people going door to door, and even nursing home residents raising money for Relay For Life. Even in these tough economic times, I have seen that most people...

It's time again For ABC Wednesday . If you aren't participating in ABC Wednesday , you are missing out on a lot of fun. This week the letter is "F". F is for flag. ARKANSAS FLAG FLYING OVER WAL-MART CIVIL WAR RE-ENACTMENT ARKANSAS, LOUISIANA, AND PATHFINDER FLAG AT CAMPOREE CLOSE UP OF A LARGE AMERICAN FLAG PARK BENCH PAINTED LIKE AN AMERICAN FLAG YOUNG BOY IN VALLE HERMOSO MEXICO

This is my entry in a neat meme called I Heart Faces . Click on this button to check it out The theme for this weeks I love faces contest is Black and White. I took this photo at a friends barn. The natural light lit this young girl's face and left the interior of the barn dark. I thought that the dark background made the whole photo a good candidate for black and white. This is a shot of my friend Richie Owens playing at Big Bear's Saturday Night Opry. I like the Black and White treatment. It reminds me of early Rock and Roll photos.

James Marshal Hendrix was born in Seattle, Washington, on November 27, 1942; an American of African, European, Cherokee Indian and Mexican descent. An unsettled home environment made Jimi spend much of his early years living with his grandmother, a full-blooded Cherokee Indian, in Canada. His mother died when Jimi was 15, about the same time that Jimi began to take a serious interest in music and playing the guitar. When he was 12 he got his first electric guitar - the instrument which shaped the rest of his life. Jimi Hendrix is considered by many to be the most influential and talented electric guitarist in history. He achieved worldwide fame in 1967 playing at the Monterey Pop Festival, then headlined at Woodstock in 1969. Hendrix is widely known for and associated with the use of hallucinogenic drugs, most notably LSD. Various forms of sleeping pills and speed fueled his "stop and go" lifestyle throughout his career. The most controversial topic however, concerns his alle...

This is my entry in a neat meme called I Heart Faces . Click on this button to check it out The theme for this weeks I love faces contest is wonder. AUTUMN IS AMAZED When her sister Rebekah was born, Autumn and I spent a lot of time walking in the hospital. She liked to walk from her Momma's room out to the elevators. Next to the elevators there was a big picture window with a ledge big enough for her to sit on. She loved to be able to look out of the window and watch the world go by from such a high vantage point. This picture was taken while she was looking out of the window.

This weekend we made a fast trip to Southern Louisiana for Mardi Gras. We actually went to see our grand-daughters, but it sounds more exciting to some people to say that we went for Mardi Gras. Each year we try to get to Louisiana during Mardi Gras time to see a couple of parades. It is always interesting to see the reactions of people when you tell them you are going to Mardi Gras. Due to the way the news media has focused on the activities of those who "visit" and go the French Quarter "after" the parades, all many think about when they hear the words "Mardi Gras" are activities occurring in the French Quarter; i.e., flashing women, drunks, and crowd surges! MARDI GRAS PRINCESS WITH HER THROWS This is not Mardi Gras. It has nothing to do with most Mardi Gras celebration. Unfortunately, sleaze makes news, so every news camera visiting New Orleans for Mardi Gras heads for the spring break crowd on Bourbon Street, and does not give adequate coverage to t...

I have attended my first Chamber of Commerce Banquet. The Mena Chamber of Commerce put on a very nice banquet at the old historic armory building. There were a large number in attendance, many more than in the past. The meal was catered by a new Italian restaurant here in town called Spinelli's. The food was great, but they were a bit slow because of the large attendance. We were at County Judge Stanley's table with him and his wife Vicki and our good friends Lisa and Dalton Doughty. We had a great time visiting and laughing. Who knew a banquet could be so much fun. GINA WITH HER FRIENDS VICKI AND LISA I had mentioned going to the banquet a month ago, but Gina wasn't that excited about it. "Why do you want to go", she asked. I couldn't tell her the real reason. The Chamber had let me know that Gina was going to be receiving an award from the Governor, but they wanted it to be a surprise. She finally said she would go to the banquet if I wanted to. W...

I have been sick for almost a week now. I'm starting to feel some better, but I'm not back to normal yet. (I know many will say I have never been normal.) I started coming down with a cold and a terrible cough last Friday, and by Sunday morning I was running a fever and aching all over. Gina has been sick a couple of times recently, but I though I had bit the bullet and made it through cold and flu season without getting sick. Boy was I wrong. As the old saying goes, At first I was afraid I was going to die, and then I was afraid I wasn't. The last couple of days Gina has finally gotten back to feeling like herself again after her bouts with the flu. I hope I get to feeling like a new man soon. I'm sure tired of feeling like this old man who is sick. Here's to becoming a new man. I'm sure Gina is tired of this old whiny one. Being sick got me to thinking about how illness parallels our human nature. We are sick spiritually, and God wants to heal us s...

It's time again For ABC Wednesday . If you aren't participating in ABC Wednesday , you are missing out on a lot of fun. This week the letter is D. D is for Dock. There is just something about a dock that make a great photo. Water is always beautiful to photograph, but a dock just adds interest. WEATHERED OLD DOCK IN SAN PEDRO BELIZE MIKE TRIES OUT HIS NEW BOAT PELICANS HANG OUT WAITING FOR THE FISHERMEN TO RETURN RIGOBERTO CATCHING THE WATER TAXI A RASTA MAN CHILLIN ON THE DOCK SUNRISE OVER SAN PEDRO BELIZE ANOTHER SUNRISE OVER SAN PEDRO COX LAKE IN MENA ARKANSAS This cover of Otis Redding's Dock Of The Bay just gives me the feel of sitting on a dock in Belize without a care in the world.