This past weekend, Howardians made their annual pilgrimage to Cross Plains. The emphasis this year was on Howard’s fans.

I was afraid the weather was going to be horrendous.  The temperatures were forecast to be around 105F.  Fortunately, things didn’t get that bad, although on Saturday they got close.  The thunderstorms that rolled in Thursday night helped to cool things off.

The highlight of the weekend for me was meeting some folks I’ve been friends with online but not met in person. I knew David J. West was going to be there, but I hadn’t know Jason M. Waltz and Ty Johnston would be attending.  Jason is the editor and publisher of Rogue Blades Entertainment. He’s recently retired and plans to reinvigorate RBE.  Ty is an author who has written some terrific fantasy (start here). They all had a great time and want to come back. These are some great guys who fit right in. (Jason moved to Texas earlier this year, so I expect out paths will cross again soon.)

Friday was the usual day for postal cancellations, hot dog lunch, and panels.  The banquet Friday night was held in the gymnasium of First Baptist Church.  We’d outgrown the Community Center.  The Staghorn Cafe catered the chicken fried steak dinner. As usual, it was delicious. I only spent $15 dollars at the silent auction this year.  For the last few years I’ve been spending less money, probably because I’ve either gotten everything I want or I can’t afford it.  Bill “Indy” Cavalier was the GoH. His speech was entitled “Robert E. Howard Saved My Life”, and was about the impact REH had on his life during some rocky times.

One of the big items of interest this year was the excavation of the cellar.  Jeff Shanks is an archaeologist with the National Park Service. The Howard House in on the National Register of Historic Places, which places it under National Park jurisdiction.  The cellar was excavated earlier this spring.

Jeff gave a tour of the cellar, meaning he stood outside the tape along with everyone else and discussed the process of the excavation. The plan as I understand it is to preserve the cellar and try to figure out a way to keep it visible for future visitors. Until that happens, it will be covered back up.  Volunteers filled in the cellar Sunday.  You could see where the pressure from the dirt was causing the walls to begin to curve inward.

The photo on the right shows some of the items recovered from the cellar.  The helmet is a baseball helmet. The jar in the front left still has its content intact. A number of jars were recovered that survived being buried.  Jeff was asking us what we thought.  The most popular response was pinto beans.  I thought it looked more like some type of vegetable soup.  There were some things in the jar that looked to me like corn.  Jeff said they also had jars with peach pits, so he knew whoever had stored the jars had been canning peaches.  The contents of the cellar will be discussed in a report for the Parks Service.  Jeff joked that it will probably be the most read archaeological report from the Service.

This year marked the 90th anniversary of Solomon Kane.  I was eating lunch at the Stag Horn on Friday and missed the birthday cake. But I had a great time with friends old and new and wouldn’t trade it for the cake.  (I didn’t need the sugar anyway.)

The panels, both the fan oriented and the academic papers were good.  I missed part of the Foundation Awards.  I stepped out of the room for a few minutes to return a call from my wife.  Congratulations to the winners.

The barbeque on the grounds of the Howard House was excellent as always. It was followed by the poetry reading. People said goodnight and in many cases goodbye.  The usual informal breakfast was Sunday and the 2018 Howard Days came to a close. From what I understand, it was a success, with a higher than usual attendance.

I’m looking forward to next year.