Clarksons.org

The personal site of Wiley & Linda Clarkson

redesigned and updated 04/07/08

Photo galleries of my favorite photos each year with technical information and location info.

my oldest continuous hobby

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, TX

A description of our small rural town

Splash Page

email me

last updated on

02-28-28

About Us


About Me!
I am 59 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. I have been involved in photography for about 40 years as an advanced amateur and professional photographer. At the present time, I am no longer doing professional photography due to a severe lack of time. I switched to digital photography 1.5 years ago when I purchased an Olympus E1 system and stored my film equipment. 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 by film, hello digital! I am now saving for the Olympus E-3 which it the market in late 2007. I have many photos I have taken over the years and I am slowly uploading some in the Photo Galleries and Our Slide Shows sections of my web site. 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. My oldest daughter, Shannon, is a Technician Class license holder, KC5JGE, and my middle daughter, Kristie, is also a Technician class license holder, KC5QCC. My mother, Annabeth Clarkson, holds a Novice license holder, WB5REB. I am a Life Member of the ARRL, and I can be found on the 145.270 Chalk Mountain Repeater, the 147.080/442.575 repeaters from Granbury, the 147.360/444.775 repeaters in Stephenville, 146.520 simplex, and my favorite frequency of 50.125 MHz USB from the mobile. I am also licensed as WPQM280 in the GMRS radio service. 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.
I have a wonderful wife, Linda (age is top-secret, classified, but forever young!) to whom I have been happily married for over 34 years. Linda was employed by TXU for over four years as an Control Room Assistant and Office Rep 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 is still in the Operating System 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. She is close to expert level in MS Word. We have three beautiful daughters (The oldest is 31 and the youngest two are 29). My oldest daughter is Shannon C. Rains. 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, River Cadence, was born on 01/22/03. Shannon and David also sell Mannatech Products. Kristie Clarkson and Kathie Clarkson, our twin daughters, live in Abilene, TX, and work for Blue Cross Blue Shield in customer service. Kristie graduated from Abilene Christian University on Dec 15, 2006 with a BA in Busniess Administration, Organizational management and Kathie graduated from ACU on May 8, 2004, with a BA in in Business Administration, Human Resource Management. Linda and I are members of the Granbury Church of Christ where I am the web site administrator for the church web site and unofficial church photographer, and Linda is the teaching coordinator for the 2nd grade. We team teach in the 2nd grade. Kristie and Kathie are members of the Southern Hills Church of Christ in Abilene and are involved in teaching of the Children's Bible classes at Southern Hills. Kathie will marry Rob Swenson on Sept 27, 2008!

Our favorite 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 brand new Forrest River ROO 23B hybrid/expandable 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 20 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 also enjoy camping 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. Our favorite activity in Colorado is driving the 4WD roads in the areas in which we camp and taking pictures of the remote areas that we four-wheel drive into. Our newest place to camp on a regular basis is Galveston State Park here in Texas. We will be there on a regular basis this year with our grand daughter. With the price of gasoline almost reaching $4.00/gallon, this year will probably be the last year we can afford to go to Colorado camping until the price of gasoline comes back down---if that ever happens again. I suspect, starting next year, our camping will probably be confined to Texas.