Return to the Index for 1995

As with the other years in this photo album, this page for 1995 will contain pictures for that year that are not associated with a particular trip or event, or pictures that Fred took that I wish to include in this album. The page will be divided into sections for each day on which these miscellaneous pictures were taken.

January 15: Fred's Cats

I went up to Fred's on the 13th to spend the weekend and help him do some chores around the house. He is always so good about coming down to Dallas that I thought it was taking him away from all the things that he wants to do around his own place, so I am happy to go up there whenever he will have me.

Fred and I did some stuff around the house- running speaker wire, putting up shelves, and so on.

I came away with a couple of pictures Fred took this weekend that he gave to me later on. The first one, at left, is his new kitten Calcitinas that he got from Frank and Joe down in the Hill Country.

Fred had another cat when I first met him; her name is Suzy, and she is a Manx (Fred is particular to Manx cats because they are unusual. I prefer my cats with a tail, but of course of the two I have, Dale has a tail and Chip just has a stub.)

Calcitinas and Suzy got off to a rocky start in December, as Suzy has "owned" that house for so long, and now here is an upstart kitten to share the area. Suzy does a lot of hissing and doesn't like to be around Calcitinas, but unfortunately, what Calcitinas likes to do is play, and the only cat to play with is Suzy.

Fred is a bit worried as to whether they will ever be able to coexist, but I think I can already see signs that Suzy will be able to tolerate Calcitinas if not get attached to her. The new kitten is very cute, as this picture attests.

Not to shortchange Suzy, Fred gave me a pictuure of her, also; that's her at right up in Fred's bedroom. She is the reigning queen of Downhill Run Acres, as Fred likes to call his eleven acres (because the whole plot runs downhill from his house to a pond at the property's east end.

Suzy is ten years old and quite "full-figured". Fred fights a constant battle to try to get her weight down, but has had little success. Suzy is a wonderful cat, although she takes her time to get used to you. I had to come up there quite a few times before she would let me approach her and pet her for any length of time. But she is really a very nice animal.

It was this weekend that we planned our upcoming trip to Florida. I have wanted Fred to see the place in Ft. Lauderdale for some time, so we planned to go down on February 17th.

January 29: Winter at Downhill Run Acres

Fred has brought a couple of panoramic pictures to me today; they show him and his pond which is full heading towards the end of winter.

March 12: Spring Arrives in Dallas

When I went home for Christmas, I did some shopping at Belks, and one of the gifts I got for Fred was a new shirt; I thought it was such a nice-looking shirt that I got one for myself as well, and today Fred thought it would be interesting to wear the same outfits and take our pictures on the patio in front of the Carolina jasmine, which, was already in full bloom.

I think this is probably the best shot of the lot.

Fred and I on my patio.

Fred and I are always having people ask us if we are twins or brothers, and while I can see a resemblance enough so that people might logically conclude we are related, for the life of me I cannot understand how anyone would think we are twins (although to be fair, people may be thinking of fraternal twins, not identical ones). However, in some of these pictures, where we are wearing identical outfits, I can almost see twins.

Me on my patio at home Fred does very well at composing pictures, I think. Not just this one, but all the pictures we have taken on all our trips.

Fred on my patio at home in Dallas This, I think is a particularly good picture of Fred, and not just because I took it. It seems that most of the time when I take a picture of Fred, and ask him to smile, it's hard for him to do that and look natural. But when you catch him off-guard, there is nobody with a nicer smile, or better looking, I think.

Fred set up his tripod to take the shots of both of us; perhaps I should have ironed my shirt since I had just taken it out of the pakage. Here is one more picture of the two of us:

March 26: Prudence and Fred

One Sunday late in March, Fred took Prudence to dinner for her birthday. Perhaps I might have gone with them, but I thought it would be awkward, so Fred went by himself.

He took this picture of the two of them in her kitchen, and I asked for a copy.

Fred's relationship with Prudence is a special one; they have known each other for over twenty years. While I admit that I wish I could be a part of that, I recognize that while I can be and am Prudence's acquaintance, the relationship they have doesn't admit of anyone else. I guess in some ways I'm jealous, but I think the relationship is good for both of them. Anyway, I wouldn't try to interfere even if I wanted to.

May 7: Fred Visits Frank and Joe

On the weekend of May 6-7, Fred went down to DeLeon to visit his mother, and Frank and Joe met him there on Sunday. I was not along on this trip, but Fred gave me these pictures, and I thought I would include them in this record, even though I hadn't actually been there.

Fred, Frank Robert and Joe Wells at the original entrance to the farm of Fred's grandfather Hanson.

Joe, Fred, and Frank at the Hanson farm. The Hanson's were Fred's maternal grandparents.

Fred, Frank and Joe at grandfather Hanson's farm. This building was an old car shed, or garage. Note the interesting stonework.

Frank, Joe and Fred at grandfather Hanson's farm.

June 7: Fred and Prudence in Washington, D.C.

Early in June, Fred and Prudence went to Washington to visit their mutual friend Joe Buchanan, who lives there now with his wife. I took them to the airport, and was going to pick them up when they returned. While they were gone, I was supposed to have a back and forth trip to Cleveland for work, but the trip ran long and they had to find their own way home. Although I was not along on Fred's trip, he gave me this series of pictures from it.

Fred and Prudence in front of the Smithsonian Museum, Washington, D.C. Fred and Prudence do have quite a unique friendship, and I am happy that it continues even as my own friendship with Fred grows.

Fred in front of the White House, Washington, D.C. Were I to see Fred for the first time just now, walking down the street, I know that I'd probably turn around and follow him, he is so physically attractive. But, more than that, he is a stable, hard-working, interesting guy who has a life of his own and shares it with me.

Fred at the Confederate War Memorial in Washington, D.C.

June 15: Fred at the Crump's Garden Greenhouses

Fred has given me some pictures that he took when he finished off a film roll after returning from Washington; these show where he works in McKinney, and I want to include them here.

Here are some of the greenhouses at Crump's; you can see the huge fans that keep the air moving through the houses both in summer and winter. If the air is ever still for very long, in summer the plants will dehydrate and in winter they might freeze. The greenhouses are on a series of small hills.

Outside some of the houses, you can see some of the mechanical devices that open and close the vents that help control the temperature and humidity within the greenhouses.

Fred has spent about 15 years at the greenhouses. While he likes his work very much, he often worries about two things. The first is the lack of normal employment benefits, such as those people at big companies get. The Crumps treat Fred like family, but only the family participate in a benefit plan. Fred worries that should something happen to him that required large expenditures, that he could be financially drained. He has his own insurance for the catastrophic things, but sometimes it’s the little things that drain you. Secondly, Fred worries that with the Crump offspring coming along, the time might come when the greenhouses would have no room for him, assuming that the Crumps favor hiring family. Fred and Bill Warden are in the same boat. On this score, I think that Fred’s history with the operation will keep him safe, at least as far as his job goes. But still, he wishes he could get into something that pays better and has benefits, but still lets him follow his passion- horticulture.

These are the large "houses" where various plants, seasonal and continual, are grown. Each one of these houses contains thousands of plants. For example, in the fall, when poinsettias are grown, there are over one hundred thousand of them.

July 15: Calcitinas and Fred

I have two pictures for today, one of which Fred brought to me and one of which I took at the local Wolf Camera store.

Here is Fred's new kitten, Calcitinas, at his house in Van Alstyne. Fred got her earlier in the year when Frank and Joe brought her up to him at his mother's house in DeLeon. The cat's name is loosely translated as "white feet" in Spanish. She is a calico, as is Suzy, and at first they didn't get along very well, but they have since grown on each other, and now seem to get along quite well.

Fred is down at my house this weekend, and we have gone by the Wolf camera store so he can have the lens that is giving him problems checked out. The store owner used his camera to take a couple of test shots, and this was one of them that I thought was quite good.

August 6: Fred and Prudence

Here are Fred and Prudence at his birthday dinner in early August, which was out at Prudences apartment in Irving.

One of the bad things about my being away on my vacation to North Carolina and Florida was that I missed Fred's birthday. I did remedy that on Wednesday, August 16th, when I left Jeffie, who was staying with me after her move here to Dallas, to her own devices and went up to Van Alstyne to see him. I had a bunch of little birthday gifts for him, and we spent a great evening together, as we always do when I am up there.

He gave me a copy of this picture he had taken on August 6th, when he was out at Prudence's house for his birthday dinner. I have commented before on the special relationship that they have, one that I think is just great.

On another note, Jeffie has moved to her first Dallas apartment, sharing it with Tom Page, owner of two coffee shops downtown. It is on San Jacinto, near where Bob Merrill used to live. By the time we return from our upcoming trip to Southern Decadence in New Orleans, she should be firmly situated there.

August 19: A Bike Ride Around White Rock Lake

On Saturday, August 26th, Fred and I prevailed on Mike Racke, a friend of ours, to come and go bike riding with us. He drove over about noon time and we headed over to the lake with all three bikes in his truck. His is a larger truck than Fred's, and it held all the bikes comfortably.

On the way to the lake, we had to stop and get Mike's tire fixed, and then we also stopped for some lunch. Fred brought his camera and tripod so we could take a picture or two.

After we got the bikes unloaded and were about to set off on our ride around the lake, Fred set up his tripod and took a couple of pictures of us. This is the best of the two or three pictures that Fred took of Mike Racke, myself, and himself getting ready for our bike ride at White Rock Lake in Dallas.

We took our usual trip up north to where the bike trail meets Hillcrest Road, and then back again, and after that biked around the lake. The distance for both trips is about 25 miles all told. On the way home, we stopped at TCBY for some shaved ice.

Ron Mathis and Chris Young had invited us up to their house for dinner that night, and had graciously offered to have us bring Mike with us. Ron has met Mike at The Hidden Door, although until he saw him he didn't remember. Ron made some burgers, and we spent most of the evening playing pool.

September 18: Chip and Dale

Today, I have a good picture of the two cats that share my home with me.

I rarely get the opportunity to take a photo of both of my cats at the same time, so when I found them both together in the living room this evening, I thought I should take advantage of it. That's Chip in the chair and Dale on the ottoman. I was lucky that I had the flash already attached to my camera; if I'd had to go get it, the cats probably would have moved.

The picture turned out to be even better than I expected.

On Friday, September 22, I went up to spend the night at Fred's house, and we worked around the house on Saturday, spending Saturday night with Chris and Ron. Fred had to work that weekend.

Bob Barbour had made plans to come out to Dallas and bring some of Jeffie's belongings, now that she has moved to the apartment on San Jacinto Street that she will share with Tom Page. Bob made the trip in two days, and stayed Saturday night in Vicksburg, Mississippi. He had told Judy that he would arrive in Dallas late in the afternoon on Sunday, so I returned from Fred's about 11 o'clock in the morning to clean the house up.

Bob actually arrived about one o'clock in the afternoon (before I was entirely ready for him), but Jeffie came over right away and spent the afternoon. I had made plans with Mike Racke to go to the Gay Pride parade, and thought I would be back before Bob arrived, but instead I had to leave Bob and Jeffie to do some of the moving while I was at the parade.

November 14: Fred's Annual Poinsettia Picture

Every fall season, Crump's Garden Greenhouses, where Fred works, cultivates its biggest crop of the year. Actually, the first cuttings for their annual poinsettia crop are taken in late July, and the family and Fred continue taking cuttings through the end of the summer, and by mid-September have a hundred thousand or more of them in pots.

House after house gets filled with these pots of poinsettias- maybe 20,000 per house in six or eight houses. Then it is just a matter of keeping them in good shape as the time changes throughout the fall and into November. By the middle of November, the first of them are ready to send out to florists and wholesalers. And after Thanksgiving, Crump's starts sending them out by the truckload. Two weeks later, by mid-December, many of the houses have nothing left but nostalgia- kind of like college when you are the last person to head home for the holidays and everything is empty.

Each year, though, while the houses are still full and a riot of color, Fred will come in on a Saturday so that he can dress nicely and take a picture or two. He then usually has prints made and sends a picture with each of his Christmas cards. This was one of those pictures.

This year, the cap he is wearing was one of my birthday gifts to him. It was made at Brad's SuperStitch store in Six Flags Mall, and says "Downhill Run Acres" on it.

December 21: Fred and the Lucas Family

I was away in North Carolina for Christmas this year, so Fred spent his Christmas holidays, and the days before, with Prudence and her family, with his mother down in DeLeon, and with his stepmother and his brother Troy.

Shortly before Christmas, he was at the Lucas home in Arlington, and I presume he set up his tripod to take a picture of the family. You haven't seen most of these people before, so let me tell you who they are.

Let's begin at the left. That's Sam Bott, who is Prudence and Nancy's cousin. His parents are next- Cecil and Leah Bott. Next, we have Nancy Lucas, Prudence's sister, and next to her Mr. Lucas, their father. Leah is Mr. Lucas's sister. Next is Pru Lucas, Nancy and Prudence's mother, then Prudence, then Fred.

(As of 2015, the only people in this picture who are still with us are Nancy, Prudence and Fred.)

That's the last entry in the Miscellaneous Section for this year, so you can use the link below to return to the Index for 1995.

Return to the Index for 1995