The Templetons of Hobbs

- Templeton family, circa 1946 -

In this photo, from the left front, are Mickey, Haskell, Jimmy Don (Stapleton), Daisy (holding Jimmy Don), Les, then to the back, Johnny (Templeton) Stapleton, Imogene (Templeton) Taggart, and Barbara Taggart.

My grandparents, Daisy and Les, and their four children and the two grandchildren that existed at that time. All are now deceased.

I have this photo in my living room, where it will remind me of the people who came before me. I ponder their lives, and their deaths, and try to divine the meaning of life from their yester-selves. 

You can see that Dad, far left lower, and his niece, Barbara, upper right, were very close in age. Born the same year, in fact, and are only one name apart, alphabetically, on the list of births in Fisher county in 1940.

Dad told me that his mom was embarrassed that she was pregnant at the same time as her daughter, Imogene, and at the age of 38, how scandalous! The grands were given the nicknames Bitty Mother and Big Daddy in an effort to avoid confusion, I guess. I only referred to my grandmother as Daisy, but I saw cards and photos with Bitty Mother written on them. My grandfather died the year before I was born, but there was a lot of talk about Big Daddy when I was growing up.

I was going through my dad's baby book and found that he was called "Michael" when he was born. They referred to him as "Mickey" from the very beginning, but his birth name somehow migrated to "Mitchell". If Dad was here to tell me how that happened, I'm sure it would be a lively story.

Fall fake out

- Lizard with attitude -

Yesterday was the first day of fall, and it lived up to the hype. It was nice and cool. I even turned off the air conditioning and fans.

Today, though, the sun returned with gusto. I'm now sitting here with a sunburn and several mosquito bites after an all day mowing session. The mornings and nights are cooler, which is nice. I guess it's the same as every year, but I still like to comment on it. Safe small talk.

I saw a Texas Spiny Lizard as I was doing my rounds the other afternoon. He seemed to have a more severe expression than the usual lizard. Maybe I was in his path to somewhere.

El Capitan 63 has no equipment on it. No pump or tanks. It looks like no boom is imminent.

Relief from heat

- Well on the hill -

Or so I thought, until I went to mow my yard this afternoon. It's hot and humid and full of mosquitoes out there. There was a mosquito in my truck yesterday, so big I hit it with a stick! I wasn't going to fight hand to hand with that sucker.

They've been back on the hill, working El Capitan 63. It was pretty busy the other day, but now it looks lonely and abandoned. According to the Railroad Commission completion report, it's a shut-in producer. Now y'all go look at all that mess and tell me what it means.

I discovered last week that George Gantt died back in July. I talked to him in April or May and wondered why I hadn't heard back. Boy, that time is flying, ain't it. Another entity gone. Another page in the book of Hobbs dotted with a definite period,