Here's Wyndham Smith's new BBQ rig.  The good news is that we are having our Christmas party at his house!!!

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It is hard to believe it is August already.  We've had a busy year, and normally slow down somewhat in our stifling Houston heat.  Well, this weekend, we having our Hurricane Evacuation Cruise, leaving after our monthly meeting.  In an effort to catch some cooler cruising weather, our meeting will be moved from lunch time to dinner time, this Sunday only.  Plan to arrive at the Steak & Ale on Hwy 290 at Mangum around 6:00pm.  We'll order, then eat, and the meeting will begin around 7:00pm.  As has been the case with all my meetings, it will be short.  We should be on the road by 7:30pm.  We'll do our cruise, and end up at the Sonic at 1815 Mangum Road.  I hope you can join in on the fun.

Until next month, keep on Birding...

--Hugh Jackson

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The Jamboree this year was the best one yet.  And not just because I got to be a pie judge.  The weather was warm, but not too incredibly hot, and there was a breeze.  There were no walkers in the parade, so it moved pretty quickly.  Following is a write-up that I sent to the local newspaper, the Moulton Eagle:

My Rookie Pie-Judging Adventure at the Moulton Jamboree

I've been in the Moulton Jamboree Grand Parade for 3 years now.  I have a classic Thunderbird, and the first year I won 2^nd place in the classic car division in the parade.  Last year, I won 1^st place with my 56 T-Bird, and we got to carry dignitaries-the pie judges.  Well, this year, I got the grand prize-I was promoted to pie judge!  Promoted is probably a strong word for what actually happened.  It's a long story, and here goes:

In the 2001 parade, we had 12 Thunderbirds from our Houston club that carried the pie judges.  At the end of that parade, as I dropped off the pie judge that rode in my car, I was surprised to see Donna and Susan in the pie judging building.  "What are you doing here?" I asked.  They told me they helped Estalee with the pie contest.  (My wife teaches in the same Houston-area school district with Richard and Estalee Bullis' daughter, Donna.  We see Donna fairly regularly at school functions, and Susan teaches on the same campus with my wife.)  Well, pie judging seemed like the perfect job for me.  I like pie.  What else does it take?  So, every time I saw Donna or Susan after the 2001 Jamboree, I would have some comment about how qualified I was for pie judging, or what a great thing it would be to put on my resume.  So it happened.  Estalee called and asked if I would mind being a pie judge.  Mind? I thought.  I've been in training for this for years.  Of course I would do it.  I talked it up at the club meetings in Houston; I bragged to my family; I tried to convince my wife that she needed to bake pies so I could practice judging.  (That never happened, by the way.) 

After months of anticipation, Pie Day finally arrived.  We carried the pie judges again in our TBirds, but this year, I didn't just drop off my rider-I got to go inside the Pie Building.  The room had an air about it-it smelled really good.  Estalee was in full motion, Susan was sitting at a computer, and Donna was making sure everything was just right.  There were linen tablecloths on the tables, crystal wine glasses, and pies everywhere.  Computer?  Linen? Crystal?  Just get me a fork, I thought.  Going in, I figured I would just pick a couple of pies that I wanted to taste, and that would be it.  Well, that's not how it works.

There were four judging tables set up in the middle of the room.  Each table had 3 judges, and each table judged a different category of pie baker.  The categories were Women 60+, Women 59-, Men, and Students.  Our team, Tom, Dana and I, had the student category.  We sat down, and soon our pie server, Cindy, brought pie S-1 over.  Student Pie #1 and the name of the pie on the judging sheet is all we had.  We knew anything about the baker.  The judging sheet is much more formal than I thought it would be.  We judged general appearance of the pie.  We watched as Cindy cut a 1½-inch sliver of the pie.  We noted if the filling stayed in place.  How did the pie look as it sat on the plate?  Was the crust flaky?  Did the filling look good?  Cindy handed the small plate to Tom, our head judge.  He picked at the crust.  He cut the sliver into three pieces.  We watched in anticipation.  And then we got to taste!  How was the crust?  How was the filling?  How was it overall?  Each pie could score a possible 100 points, split between the above items.  We took our job very seriously.  We anxiously awaited the arrival of the next pie.  We munched on saltine crackers and cheese between pies to cleanse our palette.  We were a machine-a pie-eating machine.  We took a short break after pie S-20.  Yes, we had tasted 20 pies.  The table beside us, judging Women 60+ had finished.  I went over to Susan on the computer and asked how many students pies there were.  After checking, she politely responded, "47".  What?  47 pies to taste.  We had just finished #20.  I began to doubt myself.  Maybe Estalee had sent in a boy to do a man's job.  How could we get through 47 pies?  Well, we did it.  It took us more than 3 hours, but I think we gave pie S-47 the same critique that we gave pie S-1.

For you pie bakers out there, this event is well-organized and completely impartial.  There is an incredible amount of work that goes into running the contest.  All we judges did was walk in, sit down, and eat.  Of course, the contest is for a very worthy cause, and the students who benefit from the scholarships are very fortunate to have Estalee and her hard working pie people on their side.  Would I judge again next year?  I was questioning that as I staggered out of the pie building on Sunday.  Basically, I had eaten a large bite of 47 different pies!  It's not everyday that you get to do that!  I'll be back next year.

--Hugh Jackson

So our Sunday evening cruise on August 18 will be the Aggie Hurricane Evacuation Route.  We'll leave the Steak & Ale after the meeting, around 7:30pm, and head around the loop.  Assuming we don't get lost or make a wrong turn (again, I'm an Aggie, so there is that chance), we will make our way back to the area around the Steak & Ale and stop for an ice cream cone at the Sonic on Mangum.  I've been on all parts of the loop, but have never driven the whole thing at once.  We'll go clock-wise, since it's shorter, you know.  It ought to be fun, and how many Houstonians have ever driven the loop all at once? 

A couple lived near the ocean and used to walk the beach a lot. One summer they noticed a girl who was at the beach pretty much every day.

She wasn't unusual, nor was the travel bag she carried, except for one thing; she would approach people who were sitting on the beach, glance around furtively, then speak to them.

Generally the people would respond negatively and she would wander off, but occasionally someone would nod and there would be a quick exchange of money and something she carried in her bag. The couple assumed she was selling drugs, and debated calling
the cops, but since they didn't know for sure they just continued to watch her.

After a couple of weeks the wife said, "Honey, have you ever noticed that she only goes up to people with boom boxes and other electronic devices?"  He hadn't and said so.

Then she said, "Tomorrow, I want you to get a towel and our big radio and go lie out on the beach. Then we can find out what she's really doing."

Well, the plan went off without a hitch and the wife was almost hopping up and down with anticipation when she saw the girl talk to her husband and then leave. The man walked up the beach and met
his wife at the road.

"Well, is she selling drugs?" she asked excitedly.

"No, she's not," he said, enjoying this probably more than he should have.

"Well, what is it, then? What does she do?" his wife fairly shrieked.

The man grinned and said, "She's a battery salesperson."

"Batteries?" cried the wife.

"Yes," he replied.

"She sells C cells by the sea shore ."

August 18, 2002--

Monthly meeting and Hurricane Evacuation Cruise.  The meeting is at 6:00pm, and the cruise is after that.

September 7, 2002--

Anheuser Busch Car Show at Houston Budweiser Brewery, 9am - 3pm.  It is a fundraiser for the United Way, so the show entry fee is $20.

September 19-22, 2002--

Rosanky Swap Meet, held at the Central Texas Museum of Automotive History.  See www.ctmah.org for more information.

October 19-20, 2002-

Conroe Fall Swap Meet

December 6, 2002-

Annual CTOH Holiday Party at Wyndham & Nancy Smith's home

Dime Box Christmas Parade and Chili Cookoff

June 12-16, 2003-- 

Ford's 100th Birthday Celebration, Ford World Headquarters, Dearborn, Michigan.  Make your own hotel reservations at the Red Roof Inn, Dearborn.  Phone 313-278-9732 or online at www.redroof.com 

The only time a woman really succeeds in changing a man is when he's a baby.

Bumper Sticker of the Day:

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HONK if you VOTED FOR GORE.....

IT'S the BIG BUTTON in the MIDDLE of YOUR STEERING WHEEL!