New home for Tauch's plates By Jane Howard Lee Baytown Sun

Two plates painted by famous Baytown artist Albert Tauch found a new home at Baytown Historical Museum this week.

The plates, decorated with paintings by Albert Tauch (1904-1998) were given by the artist to a woman who helped care for him during his later years. That woman passed on and a relative of hers, Wanda Anderson, took the time and effort to find someone who could take the plates and find a place for them where they will be appreciated.

Terry Presley accepts plates decorated with paintings by the late great Baytown artist Albert Tauch from Bert Marshall. Rather than keep them for himself, Bert stated he wanted to share them with the community. The plates will be included in a display at Baytown Historical Museum, where Presley is the museum director.

Plate photos copyright Baytown Bert

Carl from Slingblade goes Geocaching in Baytown

Connie - Deadhorse Alaska!

An UpDate From Connie - Deadhorse Alaska!

It is very cold here right now; with the chill factor it has been around 60 below zero most of the last two days…..ever since I arrived on the slope. We are currently in phase II conditions, which means we don’t travel except by convoy.

I have been moved to my new room at the Aurora Hotel and it is cold in my room even with Central Heat. I would be miserable if I was still in one of the other rooms I had before. My room is the very end room on the first floor of the wing in the foreground of the attached picture. The cafeteria is at the exact opposite end of this giant building.

My room is great! Of course, if this was my bedroom at home, I would not be so happy…….but for here, it is first class. This building is so big that a round trip walk from my room to the cafeteria is right at a third of a mile. So, just going to eat and back three times a day, I’ll get a one mile walk.

I turned in my truck today and will ride a shuttle from here to my office and back until my new office down the hall from my room is complete. I am so happy about this, and ecstatic that soon I won’t be going outside at all except to and from the airport.

My last R&R was 26 days; it was really hard to come back after that. LOL! I arrived yesterday, and I’m quickly getting back in the groove……..I really have a great job for which I am thankful to God. It keeps getting better, but no closer to home. 

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Connie

*Note:  Connie is my sister and she lives on the Mont Belvieu side of Dayton, Texas

 Levi McAllister - Baytown, Texas Guitarist!
My friend from Baytown, serving our country in the US Navy, Levi McAllister.

W.L. Jenkins Park/Cary Bayou Bridge Replacement

Red arrows mark locations of new bridges.

W. L. Jenkins Park on Crosby Cedar Bayou Road in Baytown, Texas has a new pair of beautiful green bridges spanning Cary Bayou.  Earlier this year, the 2 old bridges were removed and the many people who use the trails, and there are many, have used the lone Harris county bridge to cross Cary Bayou.

On Wednesday, December 20, 2011, I arrived at the park at 10 am on a tip from the Parks Department, as I was wont to photograph the installation.  The temperature was perfect at 57 degrees F. and I brought my mountain bike so I could rapidly drive around the park to get the best angle.  Park Planner Dustin Schubert was in attendance the whole day and we talked about the progress.

The crane and the support vehicles arrived right on time and the bridges, all 88 feet and 48,000 pounds per bridge arrived about 11:30.  In the meantime, I rode my bike close to 3 miles passing the time as the temperature slowly rose into the 60's and the clouds came and went. 

The tractor trailer rigs were so long, they couldn't get inside the park road without the back hoe tractor carrying pad after pad to the front of the park, so they could widen the road temporarily.  This took about 4 hours.  I must say the backhoe driver was a real expert throughout the long ordeal.

Now that the bridges, loaded on the long 18-wheeler trailers were inside the park, it was finally time to set up the large motor-crane.  I watched and I rode more laps with my son in law Michael Sievers and nephew Lance Marshall.

Michael Sievers and Lance Marshall

It rained the day before and the ground was soft enough that later in the day, the first 18-wheeler would have to be pulled, pushed, and cajoled into position by the expert driver of the backhoe tractor.  This looked like an impossible situation as the truck driver had to pull into the field, turn around then back up to the bayou and the truck, trailer, and bridge weighed close to 80,000 pounds, but just as the sun set, they finally had the first bridge in position.

The crane operator knew exactly what he was doing - his mother Maria told me he did, as she was there earlier and we chatted.  When the lift, which appeared to be almost impossible, began, He placed it flawlessly on the cement stanchions in less than 10 minutes.

This was at 6:55 pm and as the Parks planner and I shook hands, he told me if it didn't rain, which it most certainly will, they should have the second bridge in by 2:30am.   Update!  They did it!

Second bride added late at night.