Bard Letsinger

Meeting the Chupacabra

Ever since I was in elementary school I have been fascinated with cryptozoology. Back then I had no idea what the study of creatures such as Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, and others was called, I just thought it was cool. Recently a creature that people are calling a Chupacabra, literally goat sucker, stared being spotted around Cuero, Texas. An area rancher, Dr. Phyllis Canion had seen one for several years on her ranch and when it was hit by a car she quickly retrieved the body for study. Since then Dr. Canion and her Chupacabra have appeared on the History Channel’s Monster Quest, Animal Planet, Discovery Channel, and soon on an upcoming NatGeo special…and now with a couple of crazy Renegade Pastors.

Like many people when I first saw a new story on this “chupacabra” I came to a conclusion on what I thought it was, but it was not until I got a firsthand, close up, look and quickly found out there was more to this creature than meets the eye. Here is the full interview with Dr. Canion. Check it out for yourself.

The Right Voice Makes All The Differance

I love distinct voices; it comes from my days in radio. The right voice can make or break a character. Take Darth Vader for example. Would he have been intimidating with a tenor type voice speaking in a Scottish or British West Country accent? I think not! He would have rivaled Dark Helmet in the intimidating department. Don’t believe me…see for yourself.

The right voice and tone is also important when it comes to communicating your message. The old joke rings true, people would pay good money to listen to James Earl Jones read out of the local phone book. Take look at these TV spots and see if you can figure out who is doing the voiceovers, and yes, it gives you the answers at the end so you do not go crazy or wake up in the middle of the night wondering “whose voice was that?”

Meeting Our Favroite Extreme Makeover Home Makeover Family

Back in August ABC TV aired an episode of Extreme Makeover Home Edition featuring the Woodhouse family of Colorado Springs, CO. and their daughter Kayla who has Hereditary Sensory Autonomic Neuropathy, a rare neurological disorder that lowers sensitivity to pain and temperature. In other words, Kayla's cooling functions -- sweating -- don't kick in until her body reaches a lethal high temperature she doesn't feel pain until it's 20 to 30 times the normal intensity. I blogged about show and Braiden being mesmerized by the story. He had a lot of questions and talked about it for weeks after the story aired.

Now fast forward to today.  They say there are not more than six degrees of separation between any two people on Earth, and it turned out there was only one degree of separation between my family and the Woodhouses. Unbeknownst to us when we watched the show, some good friends who are in our small group are good friends with Kim and Jeremy Woodhouse, AND it just so happened that Kim and the kids were coming to town for a visit. So this past weekend we got to meet the Woodhouse in person and spent some time just hanging out Kim, Josh and Kayla.

Right off the bat I expected Braiden to start firing questions at Kim or Kayla. Instead he was just a kid jumping in and playing like he was reconnecting with some old friends. Kim hung out with our small group and it was like she was one of the bunch.  It turns Kim out is a great speaker, singer, author with a book coming out next summer, and a great cook. One of the things that Kim told us about Extreme Makeover Home Edition is that it really is a surprise when they show up in front of the family’s home. Families are notified that they have been nominated and are being considered for the show; however they have no idea that they have been selected until Ty jumps out with the blow horn to announce the Extreme Makeover team’s arrival.

It is strange the twist life takes some times. When we saw the episode of Extreme Makeover Home Edition in August we never even thought that we would meet the family from our favorite episodes.

Jim “Angle of Death” Cantori Heads North, I put Geometry to use.

It was a relief late last night to see that The Weather Channels Jim Cantori was in Galveston which meant that is where the experts think Hurricane Ike will make landfall. For most of the past week the track of this storm was taking it right through Victoria, however the slow movement across the Gulf allowed it to move north up the Texas coast. We have relatives in The Woodlands north of Houston and up in East Texas that were worried about us, now it looks like they will have more wind and rain than we will.

I could have told you that it was not going to come in at Victoria. Why? Because I have spent the last two days boarding up houses, mainly mine and my parents. Boarding Up is a coastal thing. It involves standing in line at your local building supply store to purchase plywood then hauling it home, cutting it and putting it over your windows. As a hurricane approaches the sound of skill saws echo throughout neighborhoods up and down the coast. The other thing it involves is geometry. In junior high and high school I always ask my teachers “why do I have to take algebra, I will never use this in real life”. And they told me “oh yes you will”. THEY LIED!!!  I have never been walking down the street, or in a store, or cutting boards for my home preparing for a Hurricane and went “a + b = ab to the third power of xy squared”. Geometry, now that I used out the wazoo the past two days. Look that window has an arch at the top, how are we going to cut that the right size? GEOMETRY!!! Measure the total height of the window and mark on the plywood. Measure the height to where the arch starts and mark it on the plywood. Measure the width of the window which gives you the diameter of the arch, divide the width by 2 to find the radius of arch, tie a piece of string to your pencil and cut the string the same length as the radius, mark the center point at the bottom of arch, hold the bottom of the string on the center point and with the pencil tied to the string draw the top of the arch of the window on the wood, cut that sucker out keeping all your fingers and slap it on the window with your Plylocx Clips. High School Geometry put to use in the real world.  

Tonight the sunset was as beautiful as I have seen in a long time as the light reflected off the clouds in the southwest corner of Ike. The storm is moving ashore tonight about 90 miles north of us and we are still waiting to feel the effects.  

 

 

Not how I want to meet Jim Cantori (Preping for Ike)

We are preparing to batten down the hatches as Hurricane Ike roll off Cuba as a Cat. 1 with nothing but warm open water between where he is and the Texas coast. I love weather, tracking storms, etc. My wife jokes that if I was not a pastor that I would be doing what Jim Cantori does at the Weather Channel. Cantori is the man, reporting from a blizzard in Colorado one day, and on the Gulf Coast staring down the eye wall of a Cat 3 hurricane the next. He has covered so many hurricanes on the coast that you don't want to see him reporting anywhere near where you live when there is a storm in the Gulf.

On Sunday I was on line studying the Gulf of Mexico, the highs and lows, Ike’s track over Cuba and got a bad feeling about this storm. Sure enough come Monday most of the computer models had Ike making landfall in our vicinity. The middle of the "cone" takes it right through Victoria. After my softball game Monday evening I gassed up both cars and the motorcycle, filled the spare propane tank and had Mollie make a list for a trip to the store first thing Tuesday morning. The goal is to secure the house and get everything we need before it gets too squirrelly as people scramble for plywood, water, caned good, generators, gas, etc.

We lived less than half a mile from I-45 in The Woodlands north of Houston in 2005 when Rita prompted the voluntary evacuation of what seemed like all of North Texas and turned every Interstate Hwy and freeway into a parking lot. Now that we are in Victoria I am not sure if we will stay or leave, just waiting to see what the forecasted track is tomorrow and when they expect Ike to make landfall. I will post as often as I can and keep everyone updated.

I would like to meet Jim "The Angle of Death" Cantori, but not this weekend. In situation like this if Jim Cantori is in your area then you probably should have evacuated.

Meeting the Extreme Home Makeover Family

A few weeks ago I told you about the Woodhouse family of Colorado Springs who was on Extreme Makeover Home Edition. Their daughter Kayla has a rare medical condition, Hereditary Sensory Autonomic Neuropathy, where she can not sweat or regulate her body temperature and her pain threshold is 20 times greater than yours or mine. The Woodhouse’s were days away from being homeless due to all of Kayla’s medical bills when Ty and the Extreme Makeover team arrived to build them a new home, tailored specifically to their family’s needs. You can see the entire episode of EMHE with theWoodhouse family on YouTube.

Now the Woodhouse’s and Kayla’s story will be featured on a episode of Mystery ER titled Painful Truth airing Monday September 8, on theDiscoveryHealth Channel, at 8:00 and 11:00 PM CST (Channel 279 Direct TV, 885 Dish Network, 105 Suddenlink in Victoria), also September 14 at 1:00 & 3:00 PM. Check you local listings for showings in your area.

I am excited that next month it looks like I am actually going to meet the Woodhouse family. It turns out they are friends of some good friends of ours and they are coming to Texas for a visit. I am looking to hearing more about this families story personally and sharing it with you. I am also working on some opportunities for those of you in the Victoria area to meet them. You can read more about the Woodhouse family on Kim Woodhouse's website/blog.

Olympicotic Sleep Deprivation.

The closing ceremonies of the Olympics can not come soon enough for me. It is not that I don’t enjoy the Olympics, just the opposite, but with the games being held in China there is an 11 hour time difference between where they are and where I am. In reality we are watching them live…tomorrow. China is not just 11 hours ahead, but a whole day ahead of the States so much of the action happens between 10:00 PM and 6:00 AM CST. Result, millions of Americans, like me, about to pass out at work from lack of sleep.

Of course like all of you I stayed up watching Phelps win all eight of his gold medals (celebrated like the Cowboy’s won the Super Bowl when our relay team beat the smack talking French) but also found myself watching Women’s basketball, Softball, Gymnastics, Soccer, sports that I would normally channel surf by. I have even got caught up in fringe sports…things like ping pong, badminton, synchronized swimming. Like a moth to a flame I just…can’t… look….away. I stayed up till 1:30 AM mesmerized by Women’s Speed Walking…I mean COME ON, how can you move that fast while keeping one foot on the ground at all times…some of those women look like they have a second knee on each leg…it is just freaky!!!

However the other night things just went too far. At a social event I found myself sitting around with a group of guys watching Men’s Synchronized Diving. I have now crossed over from being an Olympic fan to an Olympic junkie. The women were sort of making fun of us and we all had to start making jokes about the competitors doing cannonballs and can openers just to save face.

This is the last weekend for the 2008 Olympic games and I am looking forward to catching up on my sleep next week. I am also already looking forward to the 2012 games. Better start resting up now however, according the way the Chinese Gymnastic Counsel calculates a person's age I will be 85 years old when the next Olympic games begin.

Extreme Makeover Inspiration Edition the Woodhouse Family

One of my families favorite shows is ABC’s Extreme Home Makeover. If you saw the move Wild Hogs in the credits at the end of the movie the Extreme Home Makeover team rebuild the DelFuagos bar. This is a great paridoy of the show.

 

A few weeks ago they did a show on the Woodhouse family of Colorado Springs, Co. They have a little girl named Kayla who when she was 14 months was diagnosed with Hereditary Sensory Autonomic Neuropathy, a rare neurological disorder that lowers sensitivity to pain and temperature. In other words, Kayla's cooling functions -- sweating -- don't kick in until her body reaches a lethal high temperature so they have to keep the thermostat in the house set at 62 degrees. Also, Kayla doesn't feel pain until it's 20 to 30 times the normal intensity. With all the medical bills the family had lost their home and was staying at a friends house but was only days away from having to vacate with no place to go when Ty and the Extreme Home Makeover team showed up to build them a new home.

This is a three hanky show. Yes, this 6'2" 215lb biker admits that I cried like a baby at this program. I cried when they told the story and showed up to build Kayla and her family a new home, I cried when “They moved the bus” and the Woodhouse’s saw their new home for the first time, I cried when they toured their new house and could see how grateful the family was.

Braiden, my son, was fascinated by Kayla, her condition and the Woodhouse family. He talked about them and continued to ask questions. For some reason this family just made a big impression on ours.

You can watch the whole episode of Extreme Home Makeover with the Woodhouse family by following this link to YouTube. (Side note for Skip M. there is a Bigfoot Crossing sign in the first few seconds of the first segment) It is broken down into five segments so I challenge you to at least watch the first segment with this families’ story. If you want to read more about the family and their story see Kimberley Woodhouse's blog. Their courage and dedication to each other should be an inspiration to all of us. Few of us have had to deal with or overcome anything close to what this family has. It is families like this that are my heroes.

Cuero and South Texas Chupacabra on the History Channel

My friend Skip is big into cryptozoology, from the Greek word

κρυπτός, kruptos, meaning "hidden" + zoology, literally,  the "study of hidden animals". He is into Bigfoot, which is better than my friend Paul who I understand has a unrealistic fear of Bigfoot. (Bigfoots comming, gona get ya gona get ya). I remember hearing that song on the radio at our ranch in Kenedy back in the 70's and being a litte freaked out. Googled the song and the lyrics but could not find it. I guess everthing is "not" on the web yet.

Anyway, over the past couple of years the cryptozoologist have been all over Cuero, Texas where they have found a strange creature that they think may be the legendary Chupacabra. It has been a big deal with stories in the Victoria Advocate and on KENS TV in San Antonio, and if it KENS 5 in SA runs a story from the Victoria area you know it must be true.

Chupacabra is Spanish for “Goat Sucker” and for a full definition and traditional description see the Wikipedia entry.

Tonight I am watching MonsterQuest on The History Channel. On the left is a picture of one of the animals that some ranchers killed. Another one like it was hit on highway 87 and a rancher got it and froze it because she thought it might be the animal killing her chickens. Parts of that animal were sent to a lab for DNA testing. In the MonsterQuest program a couple of guys are running around on Canion Ranch in Cuero, baiting traps with old HEB chicken and traipsing around he woods at night trying to trap, film or get a picture of a real live Chupacabra. If these guys are getting paid to do this then I think me and Skip are in the wrong line of work. If you get a chance check out the program, especially if you use to live in South Texas. It will make you feel at home, and at the same time a little creepy.

Survived Season 16

Most of my TV viewing is erratic. Oh, I watch a little TV every evening and on the weekends. I love my 1080i LCD HD, especially for sports. However most of my viewing is channel surfing. I will check ESPN, Food Network, History, National Geographic and TLC for some useless information or to see some guy playing with snakes. Check TNT or TBS for a movie, hit Fox News or the Weather Channel for some curent events. Never got into American Idol. Like CSI, Mythbusters, American Chopper, Good Eats, Iron Chef (Opening Sequence)and the new Iron Chef America, but I could not tell you the day and time they air. If I am home and I come across one I will stop and watch. I do not have what the networks or Arbitron would call “appointment shows”, you know, TV shows that you know the date and time they come on and you schedule you day, or you TiVO accordingly. No shows I have to watch…except one...Survivor.

Unless you have been on a deserted island for the past eight years I don’t have to explain to you what Survivor is. And if you have been on a deserted island for the past eight years then you need to try out for this show because you would have a great shot at winning the $1,000,000 prize.

I did not catch the shows first season but heard so much about it I tuned in to the first episode of season two, Survivor: The Australian Outback. There was one contestant from Texas named Colby Donaldson who brought a big Texas Flag with him as his luxury item from home. Being a fellow Texan, and really homesick going to school in Phoenix , I decided to watch the show until he was voted off. Well Colby made it all the way to the final two and I have been hooked on the show ever since.

Survivor: Micronesia was the best season yet,  just about every vote off got blindsided (i.e. thought someone else was going home). Two guys had hidden immunity idols that they could have play but thought they were safe and got voted out. One guy won an immunity challenge and got talked into giving his immunity to another person and then they voted him out. One person could not take it any more and quit. Two more of the contestants got injured and had to be pulled from the game. Even the person who should have won, and everyone expected to win, came up one vote short.

I love the show so much I have decided to fill out an application to be a contestant. With my personality and background I think I have a pretty good shot at making it. The game is part outdoor skills, part human interactions and team building and part poker. I figure if I can survive in ministry as long as I have then 39 days stranded with 15-20 people should be a piece of cake. I just need to pin my friend Skip down and in his spare time get him to help me make the required video you have to send in with the application. It is too late to get my application in for season 17, they start shooting in June in Africa. Maybe I can be part of season 18 where ever that may happen to be. Don’t know if anything will ever come of this but it will give me something to write about.