Had a Dr. friend in Texas who had me over to his small garden in front of his house one night. He had a cactus that bloomed only at night. Real pretty white flowers. For years I made jelly from the prickly pear cactus. It is a light red color jelly. Real good too. Another thing is, eating the pad, (leaf), cut in strips. They are pickled in vinegar and hot peppers. You can eat them raw or drain them and cook. Either fried or mixed with beans and other green stuff. Real good eatin. Another thing is mesquite. We had honey mesquite where I lived. You could grind the beans and make a flour with it. Or cook the green beans. All kinds of stuff you can eat out there in the western states

When a kid in Texas, a cousin of mine shot a big mule deer and decided to cut its neck. He did not check to make sure it was truly dead. He crossed over the deer and pulled back on his antlers to cut it and the darned thing got up and took off. The boy bout lost it before he could get off. He told me the best thing to do is make sure it was dead and don’t do what he did. The boy weighed about two hundred pounds and had a tough ride.

One last reply. Have you ever thought about writing stories about when growing up. I started a few years back but never finished. They were short stories I thought some of my kids or grand kids would like. I remember seeing a picture of my dad and two of his brothers standing on the wooden steps of their old share cropper house in Texas. They had on suspenders with bib knee pants. No shoes. All dirty and sad looking. A lot of poor kids today have more than that. Cell phones, etc.

Gee, I think it was a 67. Some of the cars I had back then are a loss to my memory. I just remembered one that was a 67 Ford heavy half, oil field truck. It had a 290 engine and I changed it to a 352. Then in 79 I moved to N. O., LA.

You ever pick up a penny and look to see if it still has, “In God We Trust”? I do. I had one guy tell me he was not going to pick up penny’s. He said they were not worth the trouble. Well, maybe not to him, but they do add up.

I remember back in 1951, an across the street friend in El Paso, Texas and I ran away from home going up the Franklin Mountain headed to California to see Roy Rogers. Never made it. My dad and his dad were in the Air Force and found us up past Scenic Drive. Never forgot that trip. We were punished by staying home. We still played by throwing a ball back and forth across the street. We had no TV, computers or any of the modern things. Just an old erector set, model train and lots of dirt, mud and sticks to play with. Kids today don’t know how to make up games. My grand daughter several years ago got mad at me because I turned off the TV and told her to go outside and play. She said with what? I told her what she could do and she said that was boring. Gee, what fun we had. Today you would get arrested for a lot of the things we did back then.

I had a lot of cars back then. 27 T roadster, 39 Chevy, 2 39 Fords, 50 Chrysler, 61 Chevy 2 door hardtop with a 348 ci, engine. Several more including a Chevy Malibu. I now have a 30 Ford 5 window Coup. and. 1955 GMC pickup.

Cisco Kid. I remember him. He came to our town, Cisco, Texas in the 1950’s for the “Diamond Jubilee.” Cisco, Texas 75 anniversary. He and Poncho Villa. Had great fun back then.

Mr. Robert, I live at the end of a 1/4 mile lane in the country where the woods surround me. At 77 years young, I have a DP-12, 12 gauge, several other shotguns, several 30-30 lever actions, homemade 22-250 on a Mouser action, 22 rifles, and some 17 HMR. My favorite pistol I have is my Colt 45, Roger 44 mag, 38 Air-weight, and one 223. I have several more plus my reloading equipment. Trouble is, I ain’t as fast as I used to be. All except one is in the gun safes. Oh yea, one is a 1853, 58 cal. Enfield that was used in the Civil War. I use that in re-enactments. I am the 1st. Lt. Commander in our Sons of the Confederate Veterans, here in MS. Hope I never am challenged, but at my age I don’t think I will stand down. Just keep close watch and see what happens. I don’t sleep much at night so I am aware of my surroundings. My hearing getting bad but my sight is still good. Plus you can see the reactions of the wildlife. Oh yea, my night vision is good too. Good luck guys and stay active.

Mr. Robert, glad to hear the story about the duck hunt. I remember the drought in Texas back in the fifty’s. Later on the the sixty’s a friend of mine invited me over to him farm place outside of Cisco (Red Gap), Texas. We walked about a mile or so across the pastures and crossed a fence onto the other place. In a field there was a good bit of mesquite trees and an old barn. Outside was a big pit half full of dead roosters. Inside I saw a lot of men in old clothes, bib overalls, and big slouch hats. They watched us like a hawk. A money table in the back with guys passing around money, 100 dollar bills. I never saw so much money. The fighting was in a big pit, with a guy down there running the show. Those roosters had big long knives strapped to their legs. Blood everywhere. Anyway, we finally left and went home. The next day I heard on the news that a chicken fight had been raided out where we had been. A lot of local men were arrested. I thought, boy was I glad we went home when we did. Just some of the things that went on that I never got caught up in. I never did much to be getting in trouble with but sure learned a lot by living in the country. Now the big cities were not too much different. Trouble is trouble wherever you are. Just have to avoid it if you can. Have a good day Mr. Robert.

I went to the golf course one day to see a friend of mine. He was on the last hole and made his shot. I was sitting on a bench watching. The ball sailed over to where I was and came on to me. I jumped up and moved over a good bit. The ball hit the bench right where I was sitting and bounced oven on the green, then rolled in the hole. I went to talk to my friend and he just ignored me and jumped up and down hollering I made a hole in one. I never did get to speak to him, he was so excited. I decided that that damned golf stuff was for the birds.

We have those little black bears where I live. My brother in law sees them all the time on his place at Silver Springs, Mississippi. Also alligators. He feeds his catfish everyday too. It is fun watching him feed the catfish as they come to the top of the water just boiling away fighting to eat.

I know what you guys are talking about. I quit smoking 3 packs of Camels about 25 years ago. Still want one though. Two years ago I was told I had lung cancer. They opened me up and took 1/3 of my left lung out. I did not have cancer. The spot they thought was cancer proved out to be scar tissue from having three bouts of pneumonia in my left lung. Gees, that cost me a lot to find out but I guess it was worth it now knowing I did not have cancer. I am now 77 and hope to go on for awhile. One broken foot, one broken knee, one broken leg (with SS plate and six screws), lung surgery, three hernia surgeries, and now my knee needs to be replaced. Am I gonna make it. I still wanna be able to drive my 1930 Model A five window coupe around some more.

Yes, I remember them on old Hwy. 80 between Abilene and Ft Worth, Texas in the 1950’s. I always looked for them and my dad would read them out loud. My dad was a fanatic about traffic safety too. When I was learning to drive he watched my speed. If I was going too fast he would say. “Aren’t you going a little too fast? If you don’t slow down to the speed limit, I will take over.”

Hey WH, I used to live in Cisco about 28 years and my sister lives in Abilene. I go back every now and then to look around. I have been to Lake Fort Phantom and used to fish a lot at Lake Cisco and old Lake Bernie. I like to go eat fish at Buffalo Gap, Texas. Keep up keeping them up and catch a bunch of them fish, ya hear!