Congrats POTUS 2017

It was hard fought and well deserved.
Now get out there and Make America Great Again!!!

Signing up for AdSense today

Today I am figuring out how to link my blog and youtube channel to google's AdSense.
Maybe I can get it behind me!

Found a great vocal remover site service for making traks!

Online Vocal Remover

I give it an A+

Ringgold, Texas Fire - January 1, 2006

Ringgold Texas January 1, 2006 Fire

The Ringgold TX Fire - Contrary to what you see on the news... the town is not "gone".

Hey i'm from Ringgold, Texas and its a pretty small place.  Nobodys online from there so i am the 1st.  The big fire didn't burn down the WHOLE place but 1/2 of Ringgold is gone.

The school is fine, ALL of the churchs are untouched and the telephone building did not burn and the water pump station and cell phone tower is ok, too.  The fire station is also unburned.

The post office is rubble and it is the only business that I know was lost.  The TV and radio and newspaper people got it wrong when they said grocery stores gas stations and cafes were destroyed.   That is because they ALL have been CLOSED for years.

However pretty many houses along both highways were burned to the ground... Since im from there, i will miss seeing them... They are like landmarks to me.

My parents and grandparents houses were spared -although they did have a huge SCARE - it did burn their yards - but the brave firefighters took a stand saved the houses.  However my great-grandmothers house went up in smoke.  My grandparents house is the one you saw on TV (still standing)  The tv crews set up next door by the burned house/chimney and behind it was an intact white/yellow brick house --  that is my grandparents old house.

The fire actually started about 5 miles West of town out in a pasture...  They didnt find any evidence of humans starting the blaze.  There were some overhead power lines and the only logical cause is that the strong winds caused the lines to touch - setting off sparks that fell to the ground.

Well, the town wil be rebuilt, i just know it will because the town is a pretty tough place with lots of red-blooded Texans living there.

I'll try to put up some pictures soon.

Photos of the Ringgold Fire - Taken on Monday January 2

I drove up the next day to see the aftermath and my parents.   Ok here are some photos that I took....

Friends, always remember Ringgold the way it USED to be, not the way that it is now.

Most fires leave black soot, but in most of the grass burned areas there was not any soot...  Just BROWN DIRT.  IT was SOO hot and dry (reportedly only 10% humidity) that even the soot vaporized.   It was weird and strange to walk around and for your shoes/boots to NOT be covered in soot...

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OK we'll start with overhead aerial shots from a friend's airplane  (by Ray Walker, Mike Storey and Suzanne Storey)...  They have a video posted here:
http://www.lakenoconayachtclub.com/montague_cty_fire.htm

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This is looking East along Hwy 82 toward Ringgold...  The bottom right quadrant is C. W. Chandler's place.



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Now this is closer up of town showing the school, churches, telephone building NOT touched!!  Thank the Lord for that.  The fire came from the right (west) and moved to the left (east).   It was between 1 to 2 miles wide..  It varied as it went along.

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Next is a closeup of the burn line... showing the Baptist church (right) and Methodist church (left) and Christian church (top).   You can see the baseball field top center and barely make out the light poles. The brave firefighters made a HUGE STAND here on this front and saved several more houses and the churches and the telephone building after the raging wall of fire had already moved east of town.
  

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Next is the view looking south over the old salvage yard... (i never knew it saw so big),  you can see the water pump station and water tank is ok.  The upper part shows several homes by the Y... Jim Franklin,  Harroll Parr.

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Here is an image I found online taken by a NASA satellite -- it shows the 20-25 mile burn area.

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Here are the ruins of the new post office (located where the old Katy Railroad Depot was)... The Salvation Army was there early the next day with a truck (right) handing out free drinks (no hard stuff) and bottled water...

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Here are some smoldering hay bales....  They could burn for weeks...

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Here is a shot taken of the cemetery...  All the flowers and decorations are gone but the
tombstones are pretty resilient.  Many of the old cedar trees burned up.  This is looking east.


I do have more photos and may put them up later...

More pix

I decided to go ahead and post more pix while i am doing it...

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Lets see... here is Geneva Stillwell's house that did not burn... Although, the flames were close enough that  it MELTED the siding...

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Here is the old Ezzell Gas Station/Grocery...  It has been closed for YEARS...

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And here is the cellphone tower located on the Y...  Residents lost water pressure during the fire and also electricity and land line phones...  The cell phones still worked the whole time...

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Here is a shot of a traffic jam in Ringgold!!

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Another view of the cars at a Stop Sign with a Deputy Sheriff directing traffic...
The Texaco is on the left and the Ewing's home is on the right.

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Another photo of the Post Office ruins...

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Here is the staging area for the TV and news crews... Governor Rick Perry flew in and did an interview.
oops it says i have used all of my upload capacity for now...
sorry.
ill post it later

Update on Saturday, January 07, 2006

Still Standing Here is a list of peoples homes that we lost...  The names i am using are the old names of families that lived there a long time ago... Some of the places have sold, but you might remember them by the old residents..  Some of these were vacant/abandoned.. Buck Leavelle Les/Sara Maxey Vernon Ezzell home and grocery/gas station Dyke Witt Sonny and Mary Lou Fenoglio/Doc Carlton Hoppy Stout house and station Virgil / Tim Horner Edna Durham Clyde Bigbee LaCarroll Parr Cora Lee Ash Bill Bonham Fina station on Hwy 81 Johnny/Bessie Blackmon Jerry Walkers cabinet shop/The Landing Strip/built by the Cason's in 70's along Y Jim Naylor Here are places that are still standing along the highway/survived... Bob Tipton gas station - vacant Texaco Gas station - now the fire dept. bldg. "Fudge" Thomas gas station - vacant Conoco Station and adjoining motor hotel Homes near the hwys. - survivors: Larry Joe Fenoglio Leonard Campbell Agnes Matthews Clyde / Mina Lowrie Jake Ewing Dana Leeper Bill Lawson Harroll Parr Jim Franklin/Patsy Duff Paul Wayne Shipley/Lee Lucas The "A" frame house just east of town Harles Hanson C.W. Chandler and rent house Dr. Cook ranch house Homes - surviving away from hwy: Jerry/Minnie Walker Fred Allen Dell Campbell 2nd Post Office (post-1983) - beside Campbell house Jimmy Mills Ruby Gray Ruth "Juicy" Hamilton Bennie Duff Jim Demoss Tom Stillwell Herman Hawkins Herb Woolsey Pat/Margaret Patterson Roxie Boyd Grady Lemons Mrs. Turner Rick Alexander All of the Blevins homes east of town Frank Leeper - south of town Arthur Johansen Here are places I do not know their status... Coy Fite house old York house south of town Chambers Other place long gone in years past. York's Gulf gas station Frank Allen home/barber shop/laundromat Barney Carson I know it as the "Original" Post Office (pre-1983) on Loop 19 Josie Yeager Cliff Thompson - next to Jake Ewing Dempsey place on the Y Kate Rich Sadie Roberson ---------------- Emergency Govt Services - already in place Today i found out about some govt services already in action... Folks can sign up for assistance with "clearing" their lot.   They are already bulldozing the remains / removing the debris. They have begun to clean up the "smoke damage" on the interiors of remaining homes and churches. FEMA has temporary mobile homes en-route to allow folks to get out of the shelters and into something more private and permanent.. The Post Office has already *delivered* a replacement building.  The one that burned was a pre-fab structure and was the 3rd Post Office site that I know of.  In the meantime, mail has been available for pickup in Bowie. Thats all i learned today.. Source: my original blog http://bigbigtex.xanga.com/