Polka Festival - page one

For those who do not have a built-in generic map of Texas, let me give you a quick geography lesson. We live outside of Corsicana, to the east of town to be exact, on the Richland - Chambers Lake. This lake is a reservoir for Tarrant County (Ft Worth) and is the 3rd largest lake in Texas. If we took off in the boat to drive to the dam (prefer to say Darn - but didn't want to confuse anyone right now). If we boat to the Darn, it takes about 2+ hours to arrive. It might take longer, don't know, never made the trip by boat...prolly never will.

Corsicana is on I-45 between Houston and Dallas; I can drive to downtown D. in one easy hour. Now 20 miles up the road on that trip to big d, is Ennis in Ellis County. Ennis is a nice size town (4A UIL I think- as well as is Corsicana).

One of Cor's claim to fame is the first oil well drilled west of the Mississippi. They were digging a water well and hit oil - made em mad. Ennis' claim to fame is they are the home of the National Polka Festival, Memorial Day weekend. All towns have things to claim, not to get bogged down in little stuff cause is has nothing to do with this stone, my hometown, Levelland, 30 miles west of Lubbock in Hockley County has had 2 claims to fame: they had an episode of flying saucers some years back - I am sure this can be googled if you crave that sorta thing &&&&& the 2nd thing is that Hockley County once was in Ripley's Believe It or Not for having any bridges. But, I digress, back to Corsicana.

We have been seeing things in the newspaper about a Polka Festival in Ennis for a couple of years. Store that away till later.
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2nd Part: My 3 kids, spouses, & 3 grandkidders all came here for Memorial Day weekend. Daughter Laura & hubby Tom showed first on Friday early. They love to fish & tried to catch something of value since arriving. Nothing worked this trip.

Son Roger & wife Penney + the 3 grandwonders came in on Sat afternoon. Daughter Christine is preparing for an Iron Man race in Austin - so she spent Sat morning swimming, riding the bike, and running - all in practice.

Some might find this next bit to be fun. Rog/Pen drove down from Lubbock Thursday after their kids got out of school. They had a hotel room in Arlington in prep for a 6 Flags outing all day Friday; but, alas ado, they have 4 dogs, all lovely dachshunds. Dogs don't do 6 Flags, more flags, more fun, less dogs.
They dumped their children in the hotel and drove south to meet us at a Love's gas station where we took in the dogs - lovingly. Their pups are sweet and cause less problems than ours. The following is a short essay about their dogs:
Sparky is their big boy, just as loveable a red doxie as you can find. Trilby, a long hair is their oldest female. She seems to be hard of hearing so you have to warn her of your existence or she will be startled and might wake up fighting. Katie Bell is the smallest of the crop. We think she is part Chihuahua and shows the temper if pushed. She is so cute walking around growling at the bigger dogs. They ignore her completely. Their final pup is Max, a yr old black & gray piebald who is still quite active. Let's change his name to Go-Go.
We made it home about 11:30 or so, put the dogs in bed, & followed suit. Friday came, Lar & Tom came up with their one dog, a white peke named Susie who was adopted from the pound in Kentucky [ and (I think) still shows mental scars from the previous owners ].
Counting my 5 wire-hair doxies, we had 10 dogs in the backyard. Continuing with this line of chatter, Christine showed Sat. afternoon with her 3 dogs; yes, that would be 13 dogs running amuck in my backyard. Her dogs: Buddy. adopted, mixed medium breed with short tail and boss attitude. Wesley. adopted, mixed too, who so much wants to please everyone. And Ollie who adopted Christine one day. A small red dachshund that was turned loose by neighbors until Chr. took her in to keep. Fiery little mutt; wants to be dominant.
It may seem that I have lost my my way regarding the Polka Festival. Nope. That will unfold in Polka Festival - maybe you will hang in for page 2.