Doug Smith

Doug Smith was critically injured in a one-car rollover last Wednesday in Lubbock. He is paralyzed from the waist down. I don't know him personally, but he is a musician and recording artist who grew up in Kermit and now lives in Lubbock. Please keep Doug and his family in your prayers. http://www.dougsmith.com/

Hopabout!

This blog will be on hopabout, also known as a leap of absence, until sometime next week. My computer has picked up some adware which is causing some errors, and I'm taking it to have it exorcised. Thank you for your patience. I shall return!

People and Things I Miss

Ecclesiastes 7:10 "Do not say, 'Why were the old days better than these?' For it is not wise to ask such questions."

Okay...what is this? Type a Scripture and then proceed to violate it? How rude!

As I may have mentioned before, I'm sort of an old guy. Here are ten examples of people and things I miss from days gone by:

1. My parents. My brother. Other family members who have passed on.




2. Captain Kangaroo. Mr. Green Jeans. Bunny Rabbit. Mr. Moose. The Magic Drawing Board. Dancing Bear. Ping pong balls falling from the ceiling. Spongebob can't hold a jellyfish to this show.




3. Odessa, TX Permian High School Panthers football team in their glory days. (My apologies to OHS alumni.) See Friday Night Lights.
   
   
   
   
   
   



4. Horned toads.West Texas once had them everywhere. We could catch and release a dozen in an hour. They were easily caught and had no natural defense except to spit. My dog never killed them deliberately; she just viewed them as toys, flinging them around until they quit moving. She probably contributed to their near extinction. Or maybe they were driven off by loud music. Which reminds me of a question we've all asked ourselves many times.



5. The fragrance of roses, before genetic engineering.



6. Dr. Gene Scott (1929-2005) . Rated PG.



7. Life before some people had cell phones.



8. A coherent train of thought. (My own.)



9. The butterfly formation at Caverns of Sonora, Texas. The only one like it in the world, damaged by unknown persons.



10. 
    

E-mails

Hi!

Response to my calls for odd news has been overwhelming, meaning that one great friend has sent me about 20 links, most of which I am still sorting through. Please be patient. In the meantime, here are some things he reminded me of :

• Unusual church of Christ news. Yes, Fred Dalton Thompson, former Watergate lawyer turned actor turned former senator turned actor turned possible presidential candidate, is of church of Christ roots. Mark Elrod's excellent blog ran a satirical contest of sorts (which was totally misinterpreted by the media) as to whether Thompson still attends regularly. (Hey, Thompson's a busy man.)
• Favorite question: "Can he sing the Law & Order theme without instrumentation?"
  
  
• Heroes, the NBC/Sci Fi network drama, featured a story arc, not actually filmed here, in which some of its characters came to Frogtown in search of ... something. I've never seen the show, because in this house it's difficult to watch anything unless Spongebob is on it. Some Heroes fans even did a wiki in which they posted a fake story about Frogtown. Favorite quote:

• "Kermit -- why does that sound so familiar ?"
• "Cause of the frog?"



• Wide Open was actually filmed in Kermit and Midland. I didn't know it was ever finished. Our family, along with a hundred other people, went to an open casting call for extras a couple of years ago, in a less-than-air-conditioned room above the credit union, and listened to the film's director, Rick Owens, who had grown up here, speak for about an hour about how he intended to dress up one of Kermit's streets to look like a Miami street. The film's plot, if I remember it right, was about a couple of people in the Witness Protection Program who are relocated to the middle of nowhere -- Kermit! We (or anyone we know) were never contacted any more by the film company, and their website vanished, so we just assumed the production ran out of money. I would love to see this movie but I don't know where to find a copy -- but I continue to check the budget DVD rack at Wal-Mart!



• No one E-mailed me this, but as a public service, let's all do everything we can to put a stop to this sort of thing.

Blog Your Many Blessings

Hello again!

I want you to know that I am richly blest! Here are ten blessings I am thankful for (not always in order):

1. A wonderful Savior. Because I need saving. He always reaches out to love the unloveable (that would be me). He is constantly watching over me, even more so than the frog.
   

2. My loving and gracious wife, Liz. I could not have made the last 19 years without you. I love you so much.

3. Robert, my one and only son. What a treasure you are. You are the apple of my eye.

4. Our health. Liz went through surgery this year, and Robert has been hospitalized in the past. I thank God they're both doing well now. As for me, I feel great. 5. Our family and friends who support us and pray for us. You know who you are. You are appreciated and loved.

6. Our church family. Every Sunday I get to teach a class of around 6 elementary-age children about God. I get to lead worship in church on a regular basis. What a blessing!

7. Great jobs. My wife will be teaching second grade this coming year. And I get to travel around and audit stores, and I've only been threatened once in 19 years with death and dismemberment, but that's another story.

8. Great food. What a gift from God! He chose to make eating enjoyable! I probably enjoy it a little too much!

9. Living in America. Still the greatest nation on God's green earth.

10. Living in Frogtown. One of the earth's most beautiful places.

Hey!

Kermit Comes to Texas! by Robert Kirk

In the beginning, the city of Kermit was just dirt & ranches.








Then one day, the Disney company, the new owner of the Muppets, discovered that there was a little town in West Texas that shared the name of a famous frog.



What a coincidence! And what a place to launch the 50th birthday party and world tour of Kermit the Frog!

The first change we Kermit residents noticed was a new face on the water tower - painted by real Disney artists!

And wherever we went...

Kermit was watching us!

When Kermit arrived in town, Mayor Ted Westmoreland gave him the key to the city.Then things started happening. One of the streets was renamed "Kermit the Frog Boulevard''. IT WAS FUNNY! Then we started the parade...



It was great. And we were there to help. The Kirks, all three of us. We are in the picture below, right in the middle.

Kermit was the Grand Marshal of the parade.

Our finest cheerleaders.

At the pep rally afterwards, The Kermit band spelled out a big "50".

This balloon was flown in from Ontario, Canada, and it's the same one you see at the Macy's parade on New Year's.

This is the ''homecoming king'' and ''queen.'' m-m-w-a-h!

A moment they will never forget.

Text by Robert Kirk, NewsMan of KNN KPER-TV - DT KERMIT-ODESSA

Hello!

Hi! Glad you could join me for the launch of this blog.

Many blogs that I read are sources of great wisdom. This one is not.

This blog, for the moment anyway, will focus on
odd news.

I may from time to time post stories of offbeat religion news also.

I am especially interested in unusual church of Christ news , and I may post these if I can find any.

I may not attract any actual readers....

I will kick things off with a story about the 60th annual Roswell UFO celebration. I've never been to this event, but I have worked in Roswell on occasions, and I can say with certainty that alcohol was involved .

Next time, I will tell you about Kermit, TX, and how it came to be Frogtown.