According to Wikipedia, on this date, Kurt Schuschnigg appointed two pro-Nazi members to his cabinet. One as Minister of the Interior, and the other as Minister of Justice.

History tells us what the Nazi party grew up to become.

Around the world on a poor farm in Runnels County, Texas, another appointment of sorts was made. Some say it was a necessary birth to balance Hitler’s evil; some say it was not a counterpoint but rather a toe-to-toe match. Evil for evil. The jury is still out.

It’s my big brother Roy’s birthday.

If the family history is to be believed, the doctor slapped Mom, and on that very day, Dad took the worm medicine from his plow mule, Twitch, figuring his new son would need it more.

In from milking cows.

Records are hard to come by for the next two and half years. It was a dismal time for the small farming community of Wingate and a Dust Bowl type exodus cleared the area of civilized folks although no one blamed the weather.

People are resilient, though, and the remaining farmers (I think they were probably hog farmers) gave Roy a welcoming place in the district. And he excelled!

I don’t think I’ve ever seen Roy study a book but he was, and is, a straight A student of anything that catches his fancy: art, mathematics, music (trumpet), animal husbandry, engineering, and his current conquest – writing novels.

To be sure, there have been lapses. I saw him grab an electrified fence timed perfectly to when an Australian Shepard licked his bare toe. For some reason, Roy thought that only the dog, being “the last in line”, would get the shock. Roy and dog launched like fireworks.

How many guys would be so thoughtful as to give their little brothers such a happy memory that’s lasted so many years?

And there are many happy memories.

A long history with dogs.

Roy is now the patriarch of our family. There could be no one better. Happy birthday, big brother. I hope you enjoy many more.