A Dallas Icon is Dead

Many will never recognize the name Wilford Jones, but you would recognize the outfit and the name if you ever watched the Dallas Cowboys for any length of time. Wilford Jones is also known in Dallas as "Crazy Ray." He was the unofficial mascot of the Cowboys for 44 years. He was never paid by the Cowboys though he was provided a parking space and pretty much all access to the stadium.

Today he died of congestive heart failure after battling diabetes, strokes and many other problems for the past several years. Here is the Dallas Morning News article about Crazy Ray's death. Here is the Dallas Cowboys.com article about Ray. Here is a site dedicated to helping Crazy Ray and his wife through financial difficulties from his life and illness. The site was created by Crazy Ray's neighbor Wayne Walker who is the director of video production at Dallas Theological Seminary.

Crazy Ray will be missed for his antics, passion and love of the Dallas Cowboys over the years. If you ever attended a Dallas game you will never forget Crazy Ray's famous whistle and sparring with the Washington Redskins mascot in Dallas and Washington.

I still remember my first game when I was 8 or 9 years old against the St. Louis Cardinals and Ray down on the field doing his thing.

Remember the Alamo!

That's right men and women, boys and girls, today is the day to "Remember the Alamo." On this date back in 1836 at San Antonio de Béxar General Antonio de Padua María Severino López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón or Santa Anna and his 5000 soldier Mexican Army overthrew the 187 men of Texas that had been held up in the old Spanish Mission after a 13 day siege. The final battle on March 6th lasted less than an hour. There were 15 women and children spared and two slaves. One slave named Sam who was owned by Jim Bowie and another slave, Joe, who was owned by William Barrett Travis.

Great men of American and Texas history fought in this battle, men like William Barrett Travis, Juan Seguin, Dave Crockett, and Jim Bowie, allowing the Texian Army under the leadership of Sam Houston gain strength at San Jacinto and eventually defeat Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836 in less than twenty minutes.

There are many myths and mysteries surrounding the Battle of the Alamo, such as the infamous line in the sand that was supposedly drawn by Travis and anyone who wanted to stay had to cross the line.

So, today go rent "The Alamo" with John Wayne, yes I own it, and watch the Bracketville School Bus go across one battle scene in the background behind the Mexican Army

Announcement

Well, I can finally announce it on my blog. Michelle is pregnant and due in September. Some people have known for a while, but we were waiting to tell Riley. While we were at my parents for C3 we told her. She is very excited to be a big sister again. She also is excited because she thinks she gets to show Carson what it means to be a big brother.

Please keep us in your prayers, that God would grant Michelle good health and strengthen for the next 7 months, that God would helps us prepare our kids for a new sibling, and that God would help us keep our sanity.

With that I will leave you with a picture of the newest Walls. The picture is only at 12 weeks. We will have another ultra sound in a few weeks and hopefully find out the sex of the baby.