Valentine's Day 2011

We had lots of fun. Thanks to all the parents who helped with the party. We enjoyed playing Bingo, opening valentines, eating ice cream sundaes and making graphs with candy hearts.

GPS Training

Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci and others traveled great distances using few instruments and less than accurate maps. What do you think Columbus or Amerigo would say if they saw a GPS device? Where would Columbus have gone instead of the New World?

Early explores used their instruments and longitude and latitude coordinates to find their destination. Today we have the benefits of GPS to help us find our destination with much more accuracy. GPS was first developed by the United States government for military use.
We wanted to know where our enemies were hiding. But in 1978, President Ronald Regan signed a bill to make GPS available for all the public to use. Do you think that was a good law to pass?

GPS stands for Global Positioning System and consists of a constellation of 24 satellites circling Earth twice a day.

The basic principle of GPS is to determine with the best possible accuracy a point in space using 3 coordinates, latitude, longitude and elevation or height from sea level (measured from space).

The best tracking with a GPS occurs when a point is determined by at least 4 satellites at the same time.

The satellites continuously transmit information on specific radio frequencies to ground-based receivers.

How Are GPS devices used in Our Lives Everyday?

Which one do you think is the best use of the GPS?

In a shoe to track a human.

On your arm to track you path when jogging or perhaps hiking.

Finding our way to an unknown destination.

Used in cars, fire engines, police cars, ambulances, airplanes, boats, taxi, and other vehicles.

Used on a motorcycle or a bicycle.

Put on a pet or an animal to find them. Perhaps used by hunters and hunting dogs.

Useful for finding someone lost in a dangerous area.

Finding Our Way !!! Where is that restaurant, mall, baseball field, theater, store, address?

The Internet is also a good place to find GPS directions.

Look at GOOGLE MAPS to see lots of images, maps, and directions.

This map shows the coordinates for Dallas, Texas.

Geochaching: The Act of Hiding (And Finding) Hidden Treasures Using a GPS Device.

People all over the world have started Geocaching. You choose a place to hid a small treasure like a little toy or trinket. You post the coordinates on the Internet at the Geocaching site and then someone will use their GPS device and search out your treasure. If they take your treasure they have to leave a new one and also write you a message on the log book or on the computer.

Geocaching is lots of fun!

Let's Review

1. What does G stand for in the abbreviation GPS?

2. Why was GPS developed? Who used it first?

3. How many coordinates does GPS use for locating a destination?

4. Name one of those coordinates from this group of words:

equator, longitude, tropical, organic, latitude, groundbreaking, elevation

5. Name someone besides yourself or your parents who would use a GPS?

6. What is Geocaching?

Our Growing Garden Before the Storms Hit

These pictures were taken in January. We are observing the cabbage forming small heads.

This is a big broccoli plant. It has formed eadible parts.

We have several cauliflower plants with great big leaves. They are just now staring to produce a small head of cauliflower on each plant.

We're not sure why these plants haven't grown as big as the other ones.

This is another big cabbage plant. The leaves are enormous.

MLK Stories

Cultural and Historical Pictures of Azle 2011

What does the word culture mean? We are to identify the culture of our community of Azle.
Part of the meaning of culture is" a particular society at a particular time." You are a part of the culture of Azle right now. Where you live, what you wear, where you go to eat and play make up the culture of Azle. Another part of culture is the "tastes in art and manners favored by a group of people." So we are going to look at some examples of art in our community.
Also included, is the history of a community. How did it begin and how has it changed.?
This first picture was taken yesterday in front of the new Azle Memorial Library. The structure and beauty of the new library is a way of representing the current culture of Azle. One citizen, Janie Rector, donated the land and funds needed to build this beautiful building for the people of Azle. Mrs. Rector has influenced the present culture of Azle.


This home was once one of the important homes in Azle when Azle was a pioneer community. It sits on Stewart Street near Chicken Express. You have to imagine a community with horses, wagons and people dressed like pioneers.

This is another old house on Stewart Street. Look at the iron fence all around the house.

Another old house on Stewart Street. Most of the houses of "old Azle" have been torn down and replaced by other homes. Communities change as more people come and live there.

This is a picture of a cementery where only Africian-Americans or black people are buried. It sits over by the Azle Junior High School. The other old cemetaries are off of North Azle Street. Why did the black citizens of Azle have their own cementery?

This is a picture of an old church that was established in 1871. It may have been a church used by the African Americans or black people back in the time when black citizens and white citizens didn't go to the same church building. Nowdays it is used by both blacks and white citizens.

This is an abandoned building. You can see how it was built up on blocks. Who lived there or when was it built is unknown.

This is a store on Main Street. It looks very old. It must have been used for many years and now it is empty. There are other old buildings on Main Street in Azle, but there are lots of new buildings too. That is an example of how communities change.

This is another building in Azle that is used now for a beauty salon, but has had many different businesses housed there. Perhaps it was someone's home before it was a business. Notice the two front doors. That was common in pioneer times. One door opened into the parlor or livingroom and the other door opened into the kitchen.

This marker by the Azle Christian Church gives some history of how people gathered to have church in the community of Azle. Now we have lots of different churches in Azle.

This marker explaines that in 1881 when the first post office opened the community was named O'Bar, after the person who filled out the forms to have a post office. The name was changed in 1883 and named Azle after Dr. Azle Steward who earlier had given the community land for a township. Just think, you could now be living in the town of O'Bar, instead of Azle.

This marker explains about James Azle Steward, who came to Texas in 1860, from Tenneese. He was a well respected pioneer physican that lived in the settlement. Settlement means the beginnings of a community, when people first came to "settle" and live here. Notice that his name was Azle Steward, not Stewart. Somehow the spelling of his last named got changed when Stewart Street was named after him.

This is the marker that shows where the Azle Historical Museum is located on Main Street. You can go inside that building and see many examples of things used in the past. Some citizens of Azle worked hard to make this musem and now help to preserve the past history of the Azle community.

This is the Azle Historical Museum building on Main Street. It is one of the few stone constructed buildings in Azle.

In front of the Azle Memorial Library on Main Street there are some sculptures. This one shows a girl reading a book. An artist made this sculpture to add to the culture of Azle.

This is another sculpture by the library. How does this sculpture represent the community of Azle?

Inside the library there is this piece of artwork made by an artist to tell a story. Do you think the artist did a good job?

A beautiful painting sits inside a glass shelf. This is also an example of artwork which is displayed for others to enjoy.
When you enter the Azle Memorial Library, you see pictures etched on glass. These pictures didn't take well with a camera, but they are beatiful pictures of the history of Azle. One of the pictures is a the Plains Indians, mainly the Kiowa and Comanche tribes. They were the earliest inhabitants of the area.

Another picture is of early hunters and trappers. Settlers began to arrive here in 1830. Among the earliest arrivals who remained in the area was John Giles Reynolds. He came with his wife in 1854 and built a home on 160 acres of land.

There is another picture of Dr. James Azle Steward, who came to the area in the early 1840's. Caring for patients, this country doctor made his rounds riding a mule on the narrow trails which served as roads.

Other etchings include a blacksmith shop which was important to the farmers who owned horses and mules. The John Parker Blacksmith Shop was located a few blocks to the west of the present Azle Memorial Library.

The first McDonalds, was not a eating place, but rather a country store. Around 1897, William McDonald opened his first mercantile business. This store supplied early residents with groceries, hardware, and sewing supplies.

Inside the library you will see this sculpture of "Molly," the cat who used to roam around the old Azle Library.

The Great Oak Tree repesents the idea of trees, water and animals that are among the things around the Azle area. The artist is Don Young.

This is a picture of the cover of the Azle Historical Book, that was written and published in 1985. A group of citizens who wanted to help preserve the history and culture of Azle gathered old pictures and wrote a long history for others to read. They also invited many members of the Azle community to write histories of their own families, so others could know how things were when they lived in Azle. The book covers the time period from before 1840 until 1985. It is avalible to read and look at if you ask for it at the Azle Memorial Library.

This is a page that my daughter wrote when she was in 5th Grade at the Rock School in 1985. It is about our family. We have lived in the Azle area since 1978. All the children in this picture are grown and have children of their own.

Finally, I took this picture of some empty land near the Azle Post Office. This may be what land looked like years ago. I wondered what would be built on this land someday. What do you think?