Washoe signs "Seeya"...

This is from the Friends of Washoe Web site. Washoe was a chimpanzee, a very special one in age and signing ability, at Central Washington University’s Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute. CHCI is a sanctuary for a unique family of chimpanzees who have acquired the signs of American Sign Language (ASL) and use those signs in conversations with each other and their human companions.

Washoe is pictured here. (She is the one on the right.) I've highlighted like this some of the information I found most interesting.

www.friendsofwashoe.org
Our beloved friend Washoe passed away Tuesday evening, October 30, at 8:00, after a brief illness. At the time of her passing she was at home at CHCI, with her family and closest friends.

Washoe was 42 years old, a long life for a female chimpanzee. Most females in captivity live an average of 33.5 years.

Friends are invited to attend a memorial service for Washoe on Monday, November 12 at 10:00 a.m. (Ed. note: That is today. I should have posted this earlier. That’s on me.) The service will be held adjacent to CHCI in a tent.

Parking will be available in Lots P-8 (Library) and O-5, on the corner of 14th and D Streets.

ASL interpreters will be provided.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in Washoe’s name to Friends of Washoe, to continue supporting her family.

You can leave your remembrance of Washoe at our Tribute Page.

More from Friends of Washoe.
Washoe was born in Africa, around September of 1965. She is the only one of the four chimpanzees at CHCI to have been born in Africa. Her capture probably consisted of a hunter killing her mother and then taking her to market to be sold to a dealer. After she was brought to the United States for the Air Force, Drs. Allen and Beatrix Gardner adopted her for their research.

Washoe is the matriarch of this family and was the first chimpanzee to acquire a human language. Her name sign is formed with the fingers of a “W” hand flicking the ear on the same side. She was named for Washoe county Nevada where she lived with Drs. Allen and Beatrix Gardner until age five.

Full Name: Washoe Pan satyrus. Pan satyrus is an old taxonomic classification used for chimpanzees. She was named for Washoe county Nevada where she spent her early childhood with the Gardners. Washoe is a Native American word from the Washoe tribe meaning “people.”

Pronunciation: wa’ show

Name Sign: “W” flicked on ear. Refers to the large ears she had as an infant that she has since grown into.

Date of Birth: Unknown; estimated to be September, 1965. Washoe’s birthday is celebrated on June 21, 1966, the anniversary of “Project Washoe.”

Place of Birth: Washoe was born in West Africa, wild captured, and later used by the US Air Force.

Taxonomic Classification: Pan troglodytes troglodytes

Early Childhood/Rearing Conditions: Washoe was adopted by Drs. Beatrix T. and R. Allen Gardner on June 21, 1966. She was cross-fostered; that is, she was raised in the Gardners’ home as if she were a deaf human child. Washoe was the first non-human to acquire a human language -- American Sign Language. She moved with Roger and Deborah Fouts to the University of Oklahoma in 1970 and came with them to Central Washington University in 1980.

Personal: Washoe is the matriarch of the CHCI chimpanzees and can be described as maternal in her behavior toward the other chimpanzees. She is known for being fair and kind with both chimpanzee and human companions. Washoe is slow to invest herself, but with time, she becomes a loyal friend. She has a good sense of humor.

Favorite Activities: Washoe appears to enjoy spending time in her outdoor area. She spends her free time looking through books, magazines, and catalogs (especially shoe catalogs). She apparently likes to look at them by herself but doesn’t mind signing about the pictures with friends. Other activities she engages in are brushing her teeth, painting, coffee and tea parties, and checking out the shoes of her human companions.

Favorite Foods: Oatmeal with onions, pumpkin pudding, split pea soup, eggplant, gum, tea and coffee.

'A True Fisher of Men'

(ABOVE: From DallasCowboys.com ...The Cowboys achieved another milestone in building their $1 billion new stadium, completing the first of two structural steel arches that each will span a quarter-mile.)

Below is good stuff...


Mickey Spagnola - Email
DallasCowboys.com Columnist
November 6, 2007 8:11 PM

A True Fisher of Men

EULESS, Texas - Tuesday was an off day for the 7-1 Dallas Cowboys, tied for the best record in the NFC and second-best record in all of the NFL.

Yet Tuesday was a hard day for the Dallas Cowboys. Not just the players. Not just the coaches. Not just members of the front office. And not just the staff members who walk The Ranch hallways.

This tough day included the many people who simply work with the Dallas Cowboys, not for, and those who once played for the Dallas Cowboys, but no longer.

They came here Tuesday afternoon to the First Baptist Church of Euless in respect and to honor the best way they could a man who had passed away.

JohnWeber.

That is not a misprint for those of us who have known JohnWeber over the past three decades. Few just called him John. There are lots of Johns in the world. No one called him Weber. That just didn’t seem right, not respectful enough.

To us, he was always a run-together, JohnWeber, the team chaplain for some 20 years, the team photo runner at away games, the team baggage helper in the locker room at road games. You name it, JohnWeber would do it.

Most of all, though, his official title should have included team friend, and evidently after sitting in this church for some 90 minutes, this was not unique to us out here at The Ranch. Listening to speaker after speaker after speaker, JohnWeber was everyone’s “best friend.”

Problem was, some of us probably didn’t realize it, because this 59-year-old man made everyone he met seem as if his best friend.

I mean look, JohnWeber knew I grew up in Chicago. He’s always asked me about the city, and just this season when we were staying downtown for the Bears game, told me what I great city I was from. But when he died of a heart attack last Thursday, it occurred to me I had never asked where he was from (South Dakota).

He knew I went to the University of Missouri, and would give me one of his trademark “ahhhs” while telling me what a great journalism school it was and would go on to ask my why I thought it was so good. I had no idea he went to Dakota Wesleyan University.

JohnWeber knew I had worked at the Dallas Times Herald. I never knew he worked as a graduate student at Florida State University, nor that he was on the board of Athletes in Action or that he toiled for Camp Crusade.

He knew I had a daughter who recently had gotten married. I never knew he had five children - son Tim, and daughters Sarah, Elizabeth, Hannah and Rebekah - nor that his wife was Carol or that she had a grander smile than his.

What I did know about JohnWeber, and he about me, is that we had shared a common interest in our younger days, both having wrestled, although John was able to do so in college, me just a few years in high school. He asked me where I had gone to high school, and he acted as if he knew Bloom Township High School’s wrestling program. His sincerity was so convincing I never once even remotely doubted he might have just been trying to be nice.

All these thoughts flashed-flooded forward last Thursday, not only that day JohnWeber died, but, as I would learn Tuesday, the very day, after 27 years of working toward this goal, he was supposed to hand in his dissertation at Dallas Seminary for his long-awaited doctorate degree.

And I felt inadequate. He knew so much about me, but me so little as it turned out about him.

I knew why, too, even before his son Tim pointed out, “He was the best listener I ever met.”

So good, when you talked to JohnWeber, he made you feel as if you were the most important person he had ever met, so no wonder each of his daughters claimed they were his “favorite daughter,” or that Elizabeth would say “He had the greatest way of making people feel important.”

She knew better than the rest of us, and why, after looking over the hundreds who took time out of their day to attend the service, said, “This is a room full of all his favorite people.”

See, Team Chaplain was his title, but inaccurate. He was Franchise Chaplain. Team Chaplain makes you think he only dealt with the players. That would be wrong, and if you were here Tuesday you would have understood.

There were players in attendance for sure, JohnWeber having conducted the pregame chapels and Bible studies for years and years, having made a defined impression on these young men. But that’s not all. There were members of the front office in attendance; trainers and equipment guys; members of the TV and radio departments; Internet and video; media and community relations; player development; football operations; Dallas Cowboys Star Magazine and security; Desperados players and coaches.

Still, that’s not all. The guy who takes care of the team’s game-day sideline communication systems was here. One of the lunch caterers was here. The recently retired American Airlines pilot who flew the team charter flights for so many years. Guys from American’s ground crew. Members of the local media - writers and TV guys. Amazing.

Even more so, there were former Cowboys players, guys like Chad Hennings and Billy Cundiff and Tim Seder and Mike Saxon, and those were just the ones I saw among the maybe more than some 500 people at the memorial. And even defensive lineman Kenyon Coleman, now playing for the New York Jets but who saw fit to spend part of his bye week attending this service.

To me, that is the greatest tribute to a man’s 59 years on this earth. JohnWeber cast a wide net, a true fisher of men.

Now a lot of speaker-types had something to say about him after his five children so eloquently summed up their father, including Pat Summerall, who called this guy who had a way of staying in the background yet having such a profound affect on so many “a man’s man.”

But leave it to Greg Ellis to get to the bottom of JohnWeber. And this was not just some afterthought for Ellis. As you might have read on DallasCowboys.com after the Philadelphia game, Ellis would follow Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips’ awarding Terrell Owens a game ball for his performance in Sunday night’s 38-17 victory by grabbing one of the actual footballs used in the game, standing up in the middle of the group with the ball held high and saying this would be JohnWeber’s game ball. The players all nodded.

This had been on Ellis’ mind.

So Ellis strode to the lectern, ball in hand again to eventually present to Carol Weber, saying, “It really hit me how important John was to the world.” Ellis remembered a few of JohnWeber’s pregame chapel talks, one this year at Buffalo and one a few years ago. He had taken notes, recalling JohnWeber once saying, “Integrity is doing what is right even when it’s hard” and then this, too, about faith and freedom, Ellis quoting, “Freedom is doing what you ought to do, not what you want to do.”

Geesh, leave it to Ellis. He kept saying all the things I was thinking of saying about JohnWeber. So did his kids. So did his friends. So just maybe JohnWeber was all this to everybody, seemingly an exhausting task to be that consistent, that caring to so many for so long.

There are too shames to all this:

In my books, 59 years then is not long enough for such a unique man, and, sometimes you never realize what you got until it’s gone, those very thoughts racing through my head on the charter flight to Philadelphia when the charter coordinator stopped by to chat about JohnWeber, then telling me what I didn’t want to know: That I was sitting in what would have been his seat.

How I wished I could ask JohnWeber just one question . . . just one.

A lesson learned for sure, one about being more aware and more grateful of those people we meet, because in the end, well, let Ellis so appropriately and fittingly sum up JohnWeber far better than I ever could:

“Sometimes you don’t realize when you have greatness with you.”

Dawgs vs. Tigers

The late Mike the Tiger went wild whenever a dog was around, so much so that they quit letting dogs come around. I wonder if that's what killed him.

As seen here, the new Mike is more docile. When you're a 35-point favorite, you can afford to be. We'll see...

Louisiana Tech meets LSU Satuday night in Tiger Stadium, 7 p.m.

Hank Thompson gets a six-pack to go...I mean, REALLY to go

Former Louisiana Hayrider Hank Thompson dies of lung cancer at his Texas home at the age of 82

By MATT CURRY
Associated Press Writer

DALLAS (AP) — Hank Thompson has died of lung cancer just days after canceling his tour. The country singer was 82.
Thompson died late Tuesday at his home in the Fort Worth suburb of Keller, said spokesman, Tracy Pitcox, who is also president of Heart of Texas Records.
“He was battling aggressive lung cancer,” Pitcox said Wednesday in a statement. “He remained conscious until the last couple of hours and passed away peacefully at about 10:45 p.m. on Tuesday night surrounded by his friends and family.”
The last show Thompson played was Oct. 8 in his native Waco. That day was declared “Hank Thompson Day” by Gov. Rick Perry and Waco Mayor Virginia DuPuy.
Fans loved Thompson’s distinctive gravelly voice and his musical style, a mix of honky-tonk and Western swing. He was named to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1989.
His first recording was “Whoa, Sailor” in 1946. That year, he started a band called the Brazos Valley Boys, which won Billboard magazine’s touring band of the year award 14 consecutive times.
Thompson had 29 hits reach the top 10 between 1948 and 1975. Some of his most famous songs include “Humpty Dumpty Heart” and “A Six Pack to Go.”
His album “The Wild Side of Life” reached No. 1 in 1952. It inspired a famous “answer song” written by J.D. Miller, “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels.” Recorded by Kitty Wells, the song was the first No. 1 hit by a woman soloist on the country music charts and made Wells a star.
Thompson’s song was about a guy who’d lost his wife when she left him “and went back to the wild side of life.” The song says, “I didn’t know God made honky-tonk angels.”
“It wasn’t God who made honky-tonk angels, as you said in the words of your song,” sang Wells, who worked with Thompson for many years. “Too many times married men think they’re still single, that has caused many married girl to go wrong.”
Wells said Wednesday she never took Thompson’s tune personally and didn’t record the response for personal reasons.
“It was just a song,” she said from her Nashville home.
The two hits were both on the charts at the same time.
“I think mine kind of helped his record, and his helped mine,” she said.
Thompson grew up a fan of Gene Autry, which fueled his love of the guitar. By the time he finished high school, he was playing on a local radio show, where he was featured as “Hank the Hired Hand.”
He served in the Navy, and studied electrical engineering at Southern Methodist University, the University of Texas and Princeton.
Thompson considered a career in engineering, but remained in show business. He caught the attention of Tex Ritter, who helped him get a contract with Capitol Records.
Pitcox said Thompson requested that no funeral be held.
A “celebration of life,” open to fans and friends, will be held Nov. 14 at Billy Bob’s Texas, a Fort Worth honky-tonk.
Survivors include his wife, Ann. He had no children.

'War Fair' tales...

Mr. Albert McKee called me from Ruston after reading yesterday’s column about the old State Fair Classic, NSU vs. Tech series. In the late 1960s, NSU students hired a pilot to drop WRECK TECH leaflets on the Ruston campus the day before the Saturday game. The pilot accidentally -- nor not, who really knows? -- dropped them two miles west, on the Grambling State campus, instead.

McKee was a Tech student in 1946 (right after WWII, you’ll recall) when a Tech student in the Army Air Corp flew over Natchitoches and dropped sacks of flour all over Demon land on the Friday before Saturday’s game in Shreveport. But, McKee said the student had low fuel and had to land near the river by the NSU campus. Demon students “captured” the pilot, shaved his head, painted a purple “N” on it, caged him, kept him overnight, and during halftime of the game the next day, let him out of the cage -- on the 50 yard line, something you’d surely get arrested for today.
“Yep, that was back in the good ol’ days,” McKee said.

Another pilot, a former NSU student who preferred not to be mentioned -- he’s a professor at a local university which may or may not be LSUS -- also dropped WRECK TECH leaflets from a plane in the 1960s -- “but I hit the campus,” he said. “I know where Ruston is.”

The NSU Student Government Association had hired him for the prank. His cousin was a “bigwig” with the SGA. He borrowed the plane from a friend in Springhill, dropped the leaflets early on the Friday morning of State Fair weekend, flew back to Springhill, then drove back to Natchitoches. He went to his cousin for his money, “about $30,” he said, “maybe $50.”

She said she needed an invoice.

An invoice? He didn’t want to sign his name to a bill that would basically be a confession. “So,” he said, “I never got paid.”

Which is how it goes at the fair. You pays your money, you takes your chances.

One more, this one from the T-Mail files...
Hi,
I liked your article this morning about the State Fair Game. I was a student at Northwestern State College,
(1946-1950) We never won during those years. After the game we would walk down the Midway with our friends, and big corsages on. The workers would ask "who won"? Needless to say, we were not happy campers.We had no wins while I was there.
One year, I think I was a freshman, I rode the train to Shreveport from Natchitoches for the game. I decided to ride back with friends. We were late, and the Dean of Women was not very understanding. It was not even midnight. We were campused, and my Mother threatened to come to Natchitoches. I lived through it though.

I remember Henry Burns and the leaflet incident. Even though I am somewhat older than Henry, I agree, "we lost a great tradition."
Sincerely,
Mildred

Pea Festival arrives, hits the big time!

The following missive is from my favorite Pea-R guy, Bill Dailey, in Emerson, Ark...

Emerson’s Tiller Race in 2008 Old Farmer’s Almanac


One of the Ark-La-Tex's most unusual sporting events is currently featured in a national publication.

Emerson’s World Championship Rotary Tiller Race has made it into the 2008 Old Farmer’s Almanac.

The race of souped-up garden tillers, the marquee event of the annual Emerson PurpleHull Pea Festival, is featured in a section of the almanac highlighting unusual or “quirky” competitions in the United States and Canada.

“You know the sport has arrived when it makes it into the Old Farmer’s Almanac,” says Bill Dailey, spokesman for the festival. “I was wondering why the festival was suddenly getting emails from all over the country asking about tiller racing.”

The World Championship Rotary Tiller Race began in 1990, the first year of the festival’s existence. At the time, it was thought a race of garden tillers would be an appropriate, quaint side event, given tillers were widely used to grow purple hull peas in local backyard gardens.

Since then, it’s grown into a monster.

In the very first race, 16-year-old Jason Hines surprised event organizers when he showed up with a tiller that he and his grandfather had modified for speed. In following years, racers arrived with tillers using various combinations of engines and homemade tiller tines.

“We went through a period when alcohol burning engines were all the rage,” said Dailey. “We’ve even had electric tillers there. Now it’s mostly back to gasoline.”

The current world record is held by Shane Waller of Junction City, Arkansas, who in 2005 tilled the 200-foot track of plowed ground in 5.72 seconds, an average speed of almost 24 miles-per-hour.

The Emerson PurpleHull Pea Festival & World Championship Rotary Tiller Race is held annually on the last weekend in June. The 2008 event will be June 27-28.

Brad Paisley's Top 10 Songs...

...according to this grab-bag of loyal fans. My list is in the paper today and at the bottom of this blog, but that's just if you want a list that's entirely accurate.

JIMMY WATSON

1. “Whiskey Lullaby” -- features Alison Krauss - ‘nough said. Has the whole cheatin' leading to drinkin’ leading to dyin’ thing going.
2. “Online” -- Inspired the best comical video ever shown on CMT -- it features Taylor Swift - ‘nough said.
3. “When I get where I’m going” -- I’m goin’ there too, although hopefully not today. Features Dolly Parton -- ‘nough said.
4. “I’m gonna miss her” a.k.a. “The Fishin’ Song” -- got to interview Bradley for a story on this song.
5. “Ticks” -- One of the most romantic tunes ever penned. Everybody ought to experience a co-tick-picking campout.
6. “Celebrity” -- makes fun of himself and others of his lofty ilk.
7. “He didn’t have to be” -- The kind of song that makes your woman swoon.
8. “We Danced” -- a song about something that never happens in real life, but it’ll make your bartender smile.
9. “Little Moments” -- we all like ‘moments’ whether they’re little or big.
10. “She’s Everything” -- We’re all waitin’ for a woman like that.

ADAM BATCHELOR (he just did 5 because it's a weekday and he can't do 10 because of "union rules," he said.)
5. Online
4. Ticks
3. Alcohol (Mr. Batchelor likes his titles short)
2. Whiskey Lullaby
1. The Fishin' Song

JOSHUA KERRY
10. Online
9. The Fishin' Song
8. Alcohol
7. Half the Man He Didn't Have to Be
6. Little Moments
5. Celebrity
4. Mud on the Tires
3. Whiskey Lullaby
2. Two People Fell in Love
1. She's Everything

JARED SATTLER
10. Online
9. Fifth Gear
8. Celebrity
7. Whiskey Lullaby
6. The Fishin' Song
5. Mud on the Tires
4. Little Moments
3. Alcohol
2. She's Everything
1. I'm Still a Guy

CASEY ALLEN
10. Wrapped Around
9. Time Well Wasted
8. The Cigar Song
7. I’m Still a Guy
6. Letter to Me: “I’m sure it’ll be Song of the Year or something.”
5. The Best Thing I Had Going: “Most of the rest of these are off ‘Mud on the Tires,’ which is only the greatest CD in the history of country music.”
4. Ain’t Nothin’ Like
3. Come on Over Tonight
2. Mud on the Tires
1. Famous People

TEDDY LIST
10. Cornography: Paisley and James Burton trade guitar licks.
9. Santa Looked a Lot Like Daddy: Paisley respects his country forefathers. Listen for the Don Rich lick. Rich played guitar for the Buckaroos, as you know -- Buck Owens and the Buckaroos had a huge hit with this tune.
8. Letter to Me
7. Time Well Wasted
6. Mud on the Tires
5. Long Sermon
4. She’s Everything
3. I’ve Been Better
2. Better Than This
1. Waitin’ on a Woman