Jones Valley

Larry has a good point that we're not hearing much about the family members and I like everyone else am guilty of that. So, here's a bit of news.

First of all, your Board met some weeks ago by telephone conference with all board members attending. I talked them into trying something new and we were able to confer for over an HOUR, FREE! Using Skype from my computer I was able to call each board member's phone number and link all of us. The connection was quite good except for one period where some (ahem) "operator error" disconnected everyone temporarily.

About Gil and Jennifer -- we've been busy since late summer. I was elected as judge of the 33rd Judicial District of Texas in 1996 for a term beginning 1/1/97. I was re-elected without an opponent twice again to successive 4-year terms and am presently finishing my 11th year on the bench. Then suddenly an opponent appeared on the scene so Jen and I had to get to work. He would be running in the Republican Primary.

I had been preparing for a while just in case, but now it was to work for real. I rolled out the campaign website that was already in progress, had my dentist volunteer to put together a fund-raiser for me (a better than average visit to the dentist!), and eventually had a fund-raiser in Burnet and later one in San Saba. We were in parades, went to two different "heritage days" events, attended a couple of POA meetings, went to Republican Party gatherings even more than usual, put our push-card on all eight screens running every day at the local theatre, sent emails, called people, and so on. We even set up the campaign site to take Pay-Pal and credit card contributions.

We had the Marble Falls Lakeside Pavilion reserved for an event on January 10 where we hoped to have a gathering of 200-300 people. Obviously a big fund-raiser and volunteer event.

Then, lo and behold, my opponent Mr. Blackmon withdrew his candidacy. Unfortunately he withdrawal was due to serious medical problems that indeed may be life-threatening. Willie called me the night before making the public announcement and after I hung up the phone and turned to tell Jennifer of the news, we just sat there stunned and asked ourselves "are we supposed to be happy about this?" Certainly we were happy to suddenly be unopposed in the race but grieve for Willie.

So, life is back to sort of normal -- whatever that is. We will continue raising money (I intend to run again after this time) and appearing every time there is an opportunity. The filing deadline is January 2 and while I'm not hearing anything about other potential opponents, we are taking nothing for granted. I have formally filed and the press release is attached to this blog entry.

Meanwhile, we will be headed to my youngest daughter's house in Georgetown, Texas on the 22nd for a quick Christmas celebration with both daughters and all four grandchildren, then to Jennifer's mom's in Tolar, near Granbury, Texas. On the 26th and through about January 3rd or 4th we'll be at Goose Island State Park on the Texas coast near Rockport. The length of the stay will depend on the weather -- and if the weather has turned to a real winter we will likely punt that adventure altogether as we will be in our Fleetwood-Niagara camping trailer. That's the one I had at the Valley this summer.

There you have it ... all the current doings for Jen and Gil.

Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year to all.