Our Little Aggie

Today, April 21 is an important day to all Aggies. Today is known as Aggie Muster, a date set aside each year for Aggies to meet together, no matter where they are, to honor those Aggies that have passed away during the last year. The first muster was June 26, 1883 and later it evolved into a celebration of Texas Independence on San Jacinto Day, April 26. "Muster is the most solemn and sacred of all Aggie traditions, but it is a time of joy and happy remembrance. Those who have gone before us are those whose lives have touched ours. May we do the same for those who come after us. May we expect no less of our selves." Dr. E. Dean Gage '68.

Two of our children, Jennifer, class of '99, and Jeremy, class of '02, graduated from A&M. (Jordan, like his dad, chose to go to Tarleton, a part of the A&M System, as well) Jennifer was the true Aggie, loved every minute and every tradition (still has every Aggie T-shirt she got while there, and there are a lot of them) and has been active in Muster here. Tonight she was in charge of the local Muster ceremony. Therefore, we got to keep little Miss Presley! Taylor and his dad had T-ball practice. Jennifer brought Presley over dressed in her Aggie attire, and she looked really cute. Jennifer is set on her children being Aggies, too. Time will tell. There are lots of good schools out there but since I worked for the A&M system for 30 years and we have spent lots of money at the school, we hope they want to be Aggies, too. Gig 'em!

The Lizard Man

Spring is officially here. I found my first tree lizard the other day while mowing and he was a big one! We have always had an abundance of these old "rusty" tree lizards in the many post oak trees that surround our house. Our youngest, Jordan, seemed to get along well with these creatures and caught his share of them during his growing up days. He took great delight in frightening his mother with them which usually led to a knot on his head or a bruised spot on his arm where she pinched the fire out of him! Beverly never did have a sense of humor when it came to a lizard, a mouse or a rat. She was more inclined to take a BB gun and shoot them off the side of the tree, and she became a pretty good shot with practice. Now, however, it is our grandson's turn. Taylor isn't like Jordan in his complete love for lizards and insects, but I did convince him that this lizard was still just too cold to move very fast. I told him I wanted a picture of him with it to show Uncle Jordan and at first he was not really sure, but finally he agreed. His facial expressions tell it all. I'll have to share with Taylor and you the story of how we came to find a grown iguana in our yard one day and how he came to live with us, made his escape for six weeks before he was recaptured. Finding a two and a half foot iguana lurking in your flower bed can be quite disconcerting. It did, however, explain some of the unusual noises we heard on the roof during that time.