Seeing the storm damage from Hurricane Harvey along the Texas coastline and further inline reminds me of one of the advantages to “Growing Up on Dump Ground Road.” My hometown of Rockdale was almost 200 miles from the Gulf of Mexico. Usually, a hurricane or tropical storm from the gulf would only result in some slight wind and rain for us. The only exception to that rule was Hurricane Carla that hit Texas in September of 1961. That hurricane spawned several tornadoes, includi

My family enjoyed a typical southern diet, when I was “Growing Up on Dump Ground Road.” In the summertime, we ate whatever we grew in the garden. We also canned vegetables to carry us over into the winter months. Mostly our meats were ground beef and chicken. My mother knew a thousand ways to disguise ground beef and to cook with chicken. However, Sunday lunch was always the same…fried chicken. There was never any question or doubt about it. Each member of the family had ou

I learned about death at an early age, while “Growing Up On Dump Ground Road.” My paternal grandfather died when I was an infant, so I only knew of him through pictures. My Great-Uncle Joe, who lived next door with my father’s mother, was the first person to die that I actually knew. I remember the ambulance coming to pick up the body, so he must have died before I started school. My maternal grandfather, Jack Muston, died when I was ten. His death impacted me greatly because