Another Clark graduates Army basic

Douglas High School 2009 graduate Tanner Clark graduated from U.S. Army basic training on Aug. 20, 2009, at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.

The daughter of Gardnerville residents Toby and Tracy Clark, Tanner will be attending advanced training at Fort Huachuca in southern Arizona.

Toby's older son, Trevor, got back from a 15-month deployment in Iraq in July. The 2005 Douglas High graduate started out as an award-winning cook, but the Army needed him to guard prisoners. Trevor is stationed at Fort Sill, Okla.

Younger brother Travis is already signed up to join the Army when he graduates next year.

Oldest sister and 2004 Douglas grad Taylor graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno, and is working as a high school history teacher.

Sister Tristan is a 2006 graduate who is studying international studies at California Baptist College in Riverside.

The family moved to Carson Valley in 1990 after Toby retired from the U.S. Army where he was a medic and then an infantry first sergeant. If Toby goes to visit Tanner, he shouldn't have any trouble finding his way around. He ran the hospital in Fort Huachuca at one point.

I got an e-mail from Lucy Johnson, who said her apple trees have produced a lot of fruit. She's not on her own. With no frost in April to kill the blossoms, it appears we've all got pretty hefty apple crops to contend with in the Valley.

If I were the horticulturalist my grandfather was, I'd have the sense to thin the apples early in the season, so we'd have some nice fat ones now.

I shook the branch of the pear tree to try and knock loose what looked like a ripe one, and got pelted with hard green pears for my trouble. The seemingly ripe one was not among them.

Kurt Hildebrand is editor of The Record-Courier. Reach him at khildebrand@recordcourier.com or 782-5121, ext. 215.