Dudleys Diary

a few years after getting married. It was a nice house on a little over four acres in the East Texas countryside. It was a great place and we lived there for about seven years. We moved from there when Frank was two years old. It was a three bedroom two bath house and was around 1600 square feet including the two car garage. We bought the home brand new from the builder. We got a good deal at the time and paid I think just over $50,000.00. You sure can't buy much of a house for that price any more. Dudley used to plant a cover crop at the bottom of the hill down by the creek and enjoyed watching deer from the 12 x 24 foot deck we built. The deck is still there with the porch swing on the end. In the evening we would sit out on the deck and when the weather was right we might be treated to see a weather balloon launch from the balloon base located about five miles to the east of the house. After Frank was born, we closed in the finished garage and put in a hardwood floor and a brick floor for a wood burning stove. We put paneling up that looked like distressed barn wood and Dudley's deer looked really cool on the wall. Dudley noticed the people that have the house now built a free standing two car garage where Dudley's dog pen used to be. If Dudley had stayed in the house, he would have built a carport off of the front of the old garage. When we had the house it was built in the middle of an old pasture in a clearing with trees down at the bottom of the hill and up the side of the country road that came to a point just off of the corner of the house. Who ever bought it has planted a bunch of pine trees all over the property. When we had the house it was painted a rich country blue with white trim. Now the house is painted all white and does not look nearly as nice as when Dudley lived there. The fifty foot television antenna tower Dudley put in is still there and Dudley also saw a satellite dish up on the roof. The home is located within a few miles of three maximum security men's prisons. I hope the new owners keep a loaded gun in the night stand. Dudley always did as escapes seem to happen on a fairly regular basis. It would not hurt to have a dog either come to think of it.