Random Collection of Pictures June 2026

June was all about surgery and recovery, so not too many original pictures here.

Pixel celebrated her 6th rodeo!

Celebrated Dad on Father's Day with this picture posted on Facebook.

We had a colorful June display at the library with some rather cool buttons to wear.

The following states have sales tax on groceries - one of which is Tennessee.

Willa Cather described the Solomon River in Kansas very accurately.

Four Facebook pop up memories. The first one is me at the old Tennessee PTA office and the Tree of  Honor display.

The second one was from National PTA convention in 2022 and me walking across the stage as I was recognized as a state president. Just a few days from that picture I became very sick with Covid.

The band, Set It Off, actually came to my father in law's house to perform in the living room. Last I heard they are still an active band with national tours.

My bittersweet goodbye to the Vice President of Advocacy position in 2019. Wow - Cheryl and I and the board did some great work. I used that picture for my presidential portrait at the state office.

A big supporter of Rail to Trails and even Rails With Trails. I think letting old railbeds fall into disuse is not serving the community trust and deprives the use of them by communities. Here is a beautiful rail to trail in nearby Athens, TN.

Pictures I collected. First, someone caught this brewing storm at the Walnut Street bridge in Chattanooga. 

A beautiful capture of a train crossing the bridge near the Chattanooga State campus.

The gypsum red hills found in Kansas. Nothing flat about that region of Kansas. I still remember my first time discovering this area - beautiful and the ancestral home to many Native American tribes.

G took this picture of me the day before surgery. Probably not discernible from a picture but I was in quite a bit of pain.

Random Collection of Pictures May 2026

The month of May will be a two-parter with one blog on blogger and one blog on WordPress. First random collections on blogger.

G and I visited downtown Ringgold GA to eat at Aunt Effie's home cookin cafe. We walked around the corner to take a picture with the Dolly Parton mural in the background. Dolly married in Ringgold. There will be more pictures of Ringgold in part two when grand-dog Pixel came down to visit.

Alright - three maps I collected. First are counties that have less than 10 percent evangelicals per capital population. Found it interesting that a metro area like Chicago - Cook County is not but a neighboring county, McHenry County, is. Also three counties in Kansas were a surprise considering the red hue of politics: Ness, Hodgeman, and Russell counties. Notice the lack of purple counties in the Southeast - a lot of evangelicals here.

And another religion-based map. A lot of Baptists in Tennessee, a mix of Catholic and Methodists in Kansas. I believe both are accurate depictions.

Next map - I love to look at geology maps. Interesting that Tennessee has Coastal Plain in the west and Interior Low Plateaus in the middle.

Speaking of geology - I read a book that stated that nowhere in the United States than in Kansas that what is beneath the soil is seen above the ground in almost every town. A fair statement. A cool tour of Catholic churches built from limestone found beneath the ground in Kansas.

During Mother's Day weekend, Beorn stayed at the kennel for us to leave town. The kennel gave us a cute card made during the visit.

I remembered my Dad who passed away 10 years ago in May by reposting this 2016 blog post on Facebook.

Our favorite Italian restaurant, Stevarinos, for some reason decided to close. Had some good times there.

Now for a few flashbacks courtesy of Facebook memories. So cool that a memory of Dad popped up during this month. Re-plumbing the kitchen and building yard fence - so thankful for my talented Dad - love him forever.

A strong tornado hit the town of Trenton, GA hard 15 years ago. We drove there a few days afterwards for our daughter to take her SATs for college entrance. Back in the days where you had to drive a long ways to take college entrance exams.

All of the traveling I did during the month of May 2014 was just absolutely crazy! Not sure how I did it.

A big hooray in the saga of moving the office to a new temporary location. Very pleased that the office is now located back in Nashville.

I haven't crossed over it yet but there is a new bridge on campus completing the pond walk around.

A painting of the Wernli fishbowl - a place of gatherings, conversations, amusement and a whole lot of growing up by one naïve college undergraduate Dwight Hunter. The building may be gone but the memories and lessons learned are not.

I'm not an obsessed at railfanning, but I do enjoy finding unique rail way locations. Imagine the amount of work it took for this cut.

Random Collection of Pictures April 2026

April 2026: two conventions, two presentations. The busiest month for academic library marketing. The month of April is usually an annual whirl of the many things in my work and volunteer life.

It was interesting to read the 90 years ago column in the newspaper about a great-uncle, W.H. Burton, and the Drotts family.

A picture of the Webster store (in new Webster). I still have memories of visiting the store, driving past the store for 4-H meetings, and the smell inside the store.

I'm a big fan converting abandoned railways to trails. This one, Flint Hills Trail, received national recognition.

Another unusual map discovery -- the number of Waffle Houses by state.

The first convention in April was the Tennessee PTA convention held in Memphis. I presented about 501c3 nonprofits (PTAs) and election/civics activities that can be legally performed. 

And two Facebook memories from previous TN PTA conventions held in April. 

The next convention was the Tennessee Library Association held in Knoxville. I presented on marketing library activities.

A nephew graduated - congrats Dill!

Stark black and white pictures of two Ellis County Catholic churches. I was able to visit one again, St. Fidelis, in September 2026.

Cherry blossoms in Chicago!

A prescribed burn pictured at Quivira wetlands (Kansas).

At my local bar wearing a western shirt and my Red Clay Cherokee t-shirt.

Someone's incredible storm picture near a Kansas ranch gate.