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Photo Galleries
Photo galleries of my favorite photos
each year with technical information and location info.
Amateur
Radio
my oldest continuous hobby
Where
the Spirit Leads
Gender Equality in the Churches
of Christ: the role of women
in the Churches of Christ. This is a hot issue in our generation and
the info and links on my web page will hopefully be informative to those
who are interested in this topic and positive change in the church.
Cross Current
articles by Rick Gamble and the weekly
church bulletin for "Followers of Christ"
The North Bosque Barnett Shale
Cheers and Jeers
Our
Misc Links
mostly relates to the churches of Christ,
my personal interests and a few select other links I think my be
interesting some of my site visitors.
Walnut
Springs, Texas
A description of our small rural town
Splash Page
email
me
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About Me and My Family
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About Me and My Family
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About Me!
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I am 61 years young and have been
employed by Securitas Security Services
at the Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant since August 26, 1983 as a Central Alarm Station operator and
an Armed Security Officer. Comanche Peak is a nuclear powered high
pressure reactor electric
generating facility owned by Luminant. I occasionally sell and repair
computer systems and land mobile, CB, and Amateur two-way radios to help
support my addiction to high tech hobbies. I have been involved in
agriculture off and on for about 35 years and I have been involved in
photography for about 40 years as professional photographer and an advanced amateur.
There's really not much difference except that as an advanced amateur,
I no longer try to compete in the market place and I am free to voluntarily
give my time and skills rather than sell them and worry about making a
profit! I switched to digital
photography three years ago when I purchased an Olympus E1 system and stored
my Olympus 35mm and Mamiya
role film cameras. I
am now using the Olympus E-3 which I carry everywhere! I
don't think I will ever be able to part with my trusted Olympus OM2n and my Mamiya
M645 but they will probably not see much use in the future. Good
bye film, hello digital! I have many photos I have taken over the
years and I am very slowly uploading some I that I like into the
Photo Galleries
and
Our Slide Shows
sections
of my web site. However, time to do website work is scarce! My wife, Linda, uses an Olympus E510. My oldest
daughter and her husband now own my Olympus E-1. My middle daughter,
Kristie, uses an Olympus E-300 and my youngest daughter, Kathie and her
husband, are now the owners of my wife's first digital camera, the Olympus
E-20.
About My Family
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I have a wonderful wife, Linda, who is
a very beautiful woman at 55 years on this Earth, to whom I have been happily married for over
35 years. Linda was employed
by TXU for over four years as
an Control Room Assistant and Office Assistant at Comanche Peak in the Operating System Group, a group that
is geared to efficiency in production at Comanche Peak. However,
on May 1, 2006, she was
outsourced to
The
SHAW Group, inc., along with about 300 other TXU (now Luminant)
clerical and contractor personnel at Comanche Peak. She remained in
the Operating System Group until around November of 2009 when she
transferred to the Engineering Group. Linda has also been self-employed as a computer
graphics artist producing high resolution color drawings for training
departments in the nuclear power generating industry using Deneba "Canvas,"
Microsoft Visio, and Corel Draw. She has written Computer Based Training programs using MS Power Point, and small business
web sites using Microsoft Front Page and DreamWeaver, along with being close to
expert level in MS Word. We have three beautiful
daughters (The oldest is 33 and the youngest two are 31). My oldest daughter is Shannon. She graduated in May 1998 from
Abilene Christian University with a BS in Agriculture Range
Agronomy. She earned her Master's Degree in Christian Ministry, emphasis on children's
ministry/education, in Dec 2001
from ACU. Shannon's husband is David
Rains, who is employed by AdminiStaff in Kingwood, TX, which is on
the northern edge of Houston. Shannon is the Children's Minister
for the Kingwood Church of Christ. Their daughter
and our first grand child,
River
Cadence, was born on 01/22/03. Their son, Reese Alexander, was born on
Feb 4, 2009. Shannon and David also sell
Mannatech Products.
Kristie is our oldest twin daughter. She is presently employed by Shaw
at Comanche Peak in the Maintenance Group. Kristie graduated from Abilene Christian
University on Dec 15, 2006 with a BA in Busniess Administration,
Organizational management. Kristie is engaged to Robert (Bobby) Wade of
Lubbock, TX and is planning a May 1, 2010 wedding. Kathie, Kristie's twin
sister and our youngest daughter, is married to Rob Swenson, of Roswell, New Mexico. Kathie
and Rob presently live in San Angelo, TX. Kathie
graduated from ACU on May 8, 2004, with a BA in in Business Administration, Human Resource Management.
She works for Blue Cross Blue Shield in the San Angelo claims
processing center. Rob is also working for Blue Cross Blue Shield in
the San Angelo claims processing center. Linda and I are members of the
Granbury
Church of Christ I am the unofficial church photographer with the goal of
preserving a little history of our congregation in digital format. Linda is the teaching
coordinator for the 2nd grade. Linda and Kristie are the present 2nd
Grade teachers for the Fall and Spring quarters, and I am the helper,
go-fer, etc. Kathie and Rob split their time between the Johnson Street Church
of Christ and the United Methodist Church in San Angelo.
My whole family is politically
conservative and we identify with the Republican Party and conservative
economics. I have been a Republican since I was 10 years old and don't
plan to change--EVER! In my opinion, the Democratic Party and its official political
platform is the biggest single threat to the security of our wonderful
country that has ever existed. I believe ultra liberalism has got to
be stopped before it becomes causes the death of our country and the
freedoms we enjoy.
Our Favorite Family Activity
Linda and I enjoy fishing and camping in the Rocky Mountains during the summer and in
Texas during the Spring and Fall. In 2004, we discovered the beauty of a
fall vacation in the Pagosa Springs area when the aspens are turning.
We use our 2005 Nissan Titan Crew Cab 4x4 (see our
2005 vacation report
in the Photo gallery) and a Forrest River ROO 23B hybrid
trailer. The 1995 Nissan KingCab, along with our old Starcraft, have been
permanently retired after logging many thousands of miles in Colorado. Bear Lake, which is at apx 10,500 ft near Cuchara, has been a
favorite for over 25 years. In the last several years, Williams Reservoir, 25 miles north of Pagosa Springs near the
Weminuche Wilderness Area at approximately 9,000 ft elevation, has been
added to that all time favorites list. We have also enjoyed camping a
number of times at Silver
Jack Reservoir south of the Gunnison River. It was at Owl Creek Pass to
the west of Silver Jack that we saw our first Colorado grizzly bear, something
that is quite rare in Colorado. Unfortunately, we couldn't get our cameras
out in time to take pictures. Our
favorite activity in Colorado has been driving the 4WD roads in the areas in which we camp and
taking pictures of the remote areas that we four-wheel drive into.
Unfortunately, when the little Nissan King Cab blew its engine on top of Raton
Pass, that pretty much ended trips on the really rough 4X roads. The Titan
we now drive, even though it is a tough truck, is just too big to drive a lot of
those roads we used to drive. Our
newest place to camp on a regular basis is Galveston State Park here in Texas.
We are there with our grand daughter on a regular basis during the late Spring,
Summer, and early Fall.
Some More About Me!
My oldest hobby is Amateur Radio. I hold an Advanced Class
amateur radio license, WA5OTR, and have been continuously licensed for more than
40 years. I am presently waiting on a new call sign, WC5WC. To read more about my Amateur Radio hobby, click on the link to
my Amateur Radio pages. My oldest daughter, Shannon, is a Technician Class license
holder, KC5JGE, and my middle daughter, Kristie,
is also a Technician class license holder, KC5QCC. She is waiting on the
issue of K5KCW. My mother, Annabeth Clarkson,
holds a Novice license holder, WB5REB, and at 87 years old, she is probably the
oldest novice license holder in the U.S.A. I am a Life Member of the ARRL, and I can be found on 146.550, the 147.360 Stephenville repeater, the 147.080 and 442.025 repeaters from Granbury.
On HF, I can usually be found listening or chasing DX between 14.180 and 14.220
MHz and close to 1.9MHz in the early morning. I am also
licensed as WPQM280 in the GMRS radio service. We use 462.550 79.7 PL as
our primary frequency.
I am a Life Member of the NRA and actively support the right of the
individual to own and use firearms for both sporting use and self defense.
I received my
Texas Concealed Handgun License (CHL) about one month after the program was
initiated. I enjoy bird hunting in the fall and have dove, ducks, quail, and
turkey on my property. I also enjoy bow and pistol hunting when time permits for whitetail deer
and turkey. Other native wildlife that we have seen on our
property include mountain lions, bobcats, red and gray fox, coyote, raccoons,
possums, porcupine, skunks, and beaver, along with numerous smaller mammals and
reptiles of both the deadly (Western Diamondback Rattlesnake, Cottonmouth Water
Moccasin, Copperhead, and Coral Snake) and numerous non-deadly varieties.
It is really nice to live in the country!
We have year round fishing on our small cattle ranch from our stock tanks
(ponds or lakes to the rest of the world!) which are about two surface acres
each and produce bass and catfish with weights up to eight pounds.
Information for those interested in the
previous generations and additional family members
The following pages are presently under
construction
Wiley's mother and father:
Annabeth I. Clarkson and Wiley G. Clarkson Jr.
(deceased)
Linda's mother and father:
Pauline and Roland Bishop
Linda's brothers, sister, and families
Wiley's brother and his family
Wiley's Grand Parents
Linda's Grand Parents
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