Merle Haggard: From Prison to Country Music Hall of Fame







Left Home At Eleven







A more recent photo of Merle Haggard.

Merle Haggard’s Music







Personal Life



Entered Country Music Hall of Fame






Cancer Surgery: A Year Later

Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center in Houston, Texas












The Surgery














Returning Home









CT Scan in May in Houston



Thank You





















Blast From The Past: RC Cola and Moon Pie

Royal Crown Cola and Double Decker Moon Pie.







Nehi Orange Soda.







History of Moon PIes






Mini moon pies which debuted in 1998.




World’s Largest Moon Pie






Blast From the Past: Burger Chef

Burger Chef was founded in 1954.


















Duck Dynasty: Is This The Way To Run A Business?

Kay, Phillip, Willie, Si, Jase and Korie Robertson stars of Duck Dynasty.


The Season 3 finale of Duck Dynasty, which featured their trip to Hawaii attracted an amazing 9.6 million viewers. It was the most watched program in the history of the A&E cable network. An even bigger shock was that it had a higher rating than American Idol in the key 18-49 demographic.

When a program about a family making duck calls has a higher rating, than the ratings blockbuster American Idol there has to be some real concern right now by American Idol producers.

Phil Robertson who started the Duck Commander business of making duck calls, that captured the same sound as actual ducks was starting quarterback at Louisiana Tech in Ruston, Louisiana. The second string quarterback was a guy named Terry Bradshaw, who went on to fame as the quarterback, of the Pittsburgh Steelers and would win Super Bowls for the Steelers. Robertson said Terry went after the bucks, while he went after the ducks, but Phil went after the bucks too and is worth $5 million today.

His wife Kay is also worth $5 million according to Celebrity Net Worth website, but since all the wives are shown with the same worth as their husbands among the Robertson sons it could mean they are both worth the same $5 million and not $10 million total.

The website lists the wives with the same worth, so will just quote the worth of the sons.

Alan Robertson is the oldest of the Robertson sons and can be easily identified since he is the unbearded Robertson and doesn’t seem to belong with the others.


Oldest son Alan Robertson has never been seen on the show to my knowledge and is a senior pastor of a West Monroe, Louisiana church. His net worth is $3 million, so he still shares in the wealth with the rest of the family.

Willie is the CEO of the company and is worth $10 million, while his brother Jase is worth $4 million and younger brother Jeptha is worth $8 million.

Their Uncle Si is worth $2 million and although he is married don’t think his wife has ever been shown.

The duck call company Duck Commander is based in West Monroe, Louisiana where we lived in 1974 and 1975 before moving across the Ouachita River to Monroe, while working for the local Monroe Morning World newspaper.


Phil Chose Right Son For CEO

Phil was smart to designate Willie as CEO, since he is the only son that seems to have a modicum of ability to run the company. His brother Jase  and uncle Si are apt to leave work without notice, to go duck hunting or do whatever they want, with no regard for how it affects the business.

One of the programs this morning showed Willie trying to get the brothers and other workers to wear uniforms. They all decided to wear the uniforms, except Jase who refused to wear the new uniforms and rallied the others to go on strike. So they left the room where they make duck calls, to go outside and made signs to picket Duck Commander.

Meanwhile Kay Robertson, who is selling boudin from a truck passes by and puts a stop to the nonsense, by serving the brothers and co-workers boudin and managed to convince the strikers to leave the picket line and return to work.


Si Wakes Up In The Woods

On another program this morning Si and other workers had a hankering for donuts and descended on the donut shop and proceeded to have a contest to see who could eat the most donuts. Si won the contest and used his winnings to buy some tickets for a drawing for a camper.

By the time they returned to work Si later found out he had won the drawing, when the camper was delivered to Duck Commander headquarters. Si decided to cook something in his new camper and later fell asleep in the camper. The other workers were not happy campers, when Si was sleeping and they needed him to make reeds for the duck calls.

So Jase hooked up the camper to a truck and hauled the camper with Si sleeping on the bed to the woods. They left Si sleeping in the camper and drove off. It was a funny sight to see Si open the camper door and find out he was in the middle of nowhere in the woods.


Willie Gets No Respect

Willie gets absolutely no respect from his brothers and their co-workers. Willie is so serious about getting the work done, while the brothers would rather goof off, than actually make any duck calls. Work comes to a standstill often, when the guys are not in the mood to work.

It is a miracle any work is ever done in the duck call shop, with this group of characters. They are sometimes more intent on exacting revenge on Willie for his latest show of force, to increase their productivity.

Willie has a camera installed in the duck call room, so he can witness for himself how little work is being done. Jase, who is not happy with this development has one of the other workers steal the monitor for the camera out of Willie’s office, then give Willie a taste of his own medicine. The guys are watching Willie line up his shot in his office, with golf putter and then Jase says something over the speaker about Willie needed to adjust his grip. Willie puts away his putting green and golf club and goes to duck call room to demand the monitor is returned.

Jase and Willie argue about the camera being in the duck call room, then work out a compromise and Willie is given his monitor back.

Willie has a quandary in that he can’t fire family members, so he has to tolerate their antics in the duck call room. If any of these guys were working for another company they would have been fired years ago, but they have the job security of working for the family business.

This is no way to run a business, but their business is picking up since the show has become so popular. These guys especially Jase and Si may be a train wreck, but they are keeping millions of us entertained.

Latest news is that family is asking for more money to film Season 4, but they are dealing from a position of strength as A&E is not going to battle with them over salary, since they will probably raise advertising rates to recoup the money and make even more money in the long run. Latest word is that Season 4 filming will start soon and that we will see those episodes later this year.




Magazine Ads From the Past










