I showed you this photo to give you an idea of the grass on our front yard back when I was just a little guy and my sister was barely walking. Skipper is the same dog that was hit and killed by the fire marshal, after which my parents took us to see Old Yeller at the drive-in. Bad move by the parents.
Why show you the grass? Well, today while driving Mom around in 100 degree temps to see dogs, I heard a doctor on Sirius talking about it being the beginning of allergy season. He mentioned hay fever and my mind immediately went back to the late ’50′s and to me mowing the grass you see above. I had terrible hay fever. In order to mow the yard with our deluxe “manual” mower, I literally had to wear a bandanna around my nose like a bank robber. Otherwise, my eyes would puff up and close and I would look like I had been in a fight and took all the punches. I can vividly recall the image of me pushing that damn mower back and forth while people drove by and wondered what in the heck I was doing.
After that image passed I turned to Sirius 50′s on Five and began singing with the music. I belted out Cathy’s Clown by the Everly Brothers and Only The Lonely by Roy Orbison. Thankfully my Mom is very hard of hearing and did not have her hearing aids in so she never flinched. As I was singing away, I began to wonder if I am suppose to try and sing in the same key as the song or my own key, of which I have no idea what it is. It was hard to hit the high note Roy Orbison does in Only The Lonely. Try it sometime. Not easy. Cathy’s Clown was far easier. God bless the Everly Brothers for being more in my key. Ever listen to Fingertips Part 2 by Little Stevie Wonder? At the 2:26 mark of the song, a band member asked Stevie, “What key, what key.” That was me today. Don, Phil and Roy, what key?
Now go out and sing with the songs and be sure your lawn gets mowed, without looking like a bank robber.
I love baseball. I played in little league, high school, a little college and in adult leagues into my 50′s. I also coached in Little League tee-ball, caps, minors, majors, senior majors, in Pony League and Colt league, as well as in high school and adults leagues. I was on the board of directors for Little League, Pony League and Colt Leagues. While coaching, if our team was not playing I was there watching. After my son Jeff was born, we would hang out at the field all the time. He loves baseball as much as I do.
So, why this baseball history? Well, tonight I saw the movie 42 and it made me so proud to be a fan of the team responsible for bringing Jackie Robinson into baseball in 1947. It was Branch Ricky, co-owner of the Dodgers who scouted Jackie Robinson and picked Jackie as the first black player in all-white Major League Baseball.
It would be easy for me to suggest you see the movie 42 if you love baseball like I do. But it would be remiss of me not to recommend you see the movie 42 regardless of what you think of baseball. If you are a parent, take your children. If you are a grandparent, like me, take your grandchildren. After the movie, sit and talk to them about what they saw and how important the events of 1947 were to today. Teach the kids about having tolerance for others, regardless of their skin color or beliefs.
My good friend Loren grew up in So Calif but told me of a trip he took to Texas when he was approaching or in his early teens. He came across places where his race, some called them colored in those days, were not allowed to enter. Loren had not been subjected to those kinds of situations here and he told me they cut the trip short to come back home. When Loren came to our high school, he was the first and only African American for his first year. We didn’t care and Loren became very popular and a great friend. He remains one of my best friends, even though he is forever trying to get me on the TV show The Bachelor.
In the movie there are a few scenes where kids about 12 are at the games sitting next to their fathers who yell terrible things to Jackie. The other teams players and managers were also yelling vial things. One scene in particular made me emotional and reminded me that my own Dad would have been right there yelling with them. Thankfully he never took me to a baseball game because I would have not liked hearing what he had to say. That awful attitude is all my Dad knew growing up and he took it to his death.
Thanks to Jackie Robinson and Branch Ricky, I will be able to sit in my mini-season ticket seat at Dodger Stadium on Saturday and root for Matt Kemp, just like I did for Johnny Roseburo, Jim Gilliam, Willie Davis, Maury Wills and many others before Matt.
You don’t have to be a baseball fan to enjoy the following 3 minute summary about Jackie Robinson. Enjoy…
Last night I was stuck by something while writing emails on my Android phone. I was replying to emails from two females friends, one of whom was my first real girlfriend in 1962 and another who was my first wife in 1967. It dawned on me I was writing back-to-back to women who were very important in my life, but were both Ex’s. While I was doing this I received a text from my second (and last) wife. Now I had hit the trifecta.
I found this to be a neat thing. Sherry was my first girlfriend. We both watch American Idol and share our thoughts via email every Wednesday and Thursday night. Sherry is much more positive than I. She said this week all five remaining female singers gave her chills. Meanwhile, I gave one a grade of F on her first song and graded three others with grades of C. I am a hard grader. But the point of it is how fun it is to share these emails each week. Sherry is in West Virginia, but was a California girl most of her life. We attended our first prom together, although we still wonder how in the hell we got her dress inside my 1958 Volvo.
Tina was my first wife. We were married on May 20, 1967 and lived in San Diego while I was in the Navy. When I got out of the Navy we stayed in San Diego. Nine years later we divorced and both eventually remarried. Tina was a year behind me in high school and I had dated her sister before. While I played a lot of ping pong at Junior College, Tina went to class and paid attention. We both worked for Washington Inventory Services. I would get up at 4 am and meet at a grocery store and take the inventory. Then the tapes we made were taken back to the office where Tina would transcribe them. I used to make sure she got my tapes so she could fix any errors . At the 45th reunion I sat next to Tina and her sister and we had a great time. At our 50th Sherry intends on attending so we will all have to get together and share old times.
The text came from Maureen, my second wife. Together we had a son named Jeff and now have two grandchildren. There were times when we could not get along at all. But now we are good friends and share the joy of our grandchildren together. I am so glad the days of not getting along are well past. Maureen has remarried but I have decided twice was enough for me, in spite of my friend Loren trying to get me back in the saddle again.
I have great memories with Sherry, Tina and Maureen. We shared some of the most important times in my life. It is neat that so many years later I can sit down at a cell phone and write to or text them all. Who said Ex’s can’t get along? It must have been the lyrics to a country song…..
“Once very young hearts are breaking all over America today.”
I received this message from Johnny D. just minutes after it was announced Annette had passed away at the age of 70. Annette was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1987 and died because of complications of her MS. I had just heard the news myself and was thinking of how many of us grew up watching Annette on the Mickey Mouse Club. I told Johnny D. that losing Annette was like losing Dick Clark. We grew up with Dick and Annette, and now they are gone.
Annette was just 13 when she gained fame on TV’s “The Mickey Mouse Club.” She appeared from 1955 to 1959. Walt Disney himself discovered Annette at a dance recital. He put her in mouse ears, a pleated skirt and a turtleneck sweater with her name on the front. Annette became the most popular Mouseketeer. She received 8,000 fan letters a month, 10 times more than any of the other 23 Mouseketeers.
Many of us were really too old to watch The Mickey Mouse Club, or should I say we would not admit to it. There are also many of us who will not admit we watched Annette and Frankie Avalon in one or more of their Beach Movies. And there are not many who can say, like I can, that they own a 45 RPM copy of her hits “Tall Paul” or “Pineapple Princess.”
Annette’s recording career consisted of 15 albums and 10 charted songs on Billboard’s Hot 100. Tall Paul was her biggest hit, reaching #7 on the Hot 100. It was written for Annette because at the time she was dating Paul Anka. Anka actually wrote his hit Puppy Love for Annette. However, Walt Disney did not like her dating a rock and roll star and put an end to the relationship.
Here is Annette singing a song called “It’s Really Love,” and some photos of her life. The song, written by Paul Anka, became the theme for the Tonight Show for Johnny Carson.
Here is a neat clip showing Annette in her Mouse-Days.
Here is a brief, a minute and a half, clip about bird watching. This guy is an expert so give it a quick watch.
Now, tell me that wasn’t the most boring minute and a half you could imagine. And he didn’t once show us a real live bird. So, with the help of my new granddaughter, I will show you a bird.
Thank you MacKenna for starting Sunday off with a little levity.
Here is a blog assignment. Look over the list of names below and see how many you can identify. There are 55 names.
Bindi Irwin, Zoe Saldana, Rebecca Hall, Jessica Chastain, Jake Owen, Siva Kaneswaran, Dan Heder, Danielle Fishel, Chrissy Tiegen, Dr. Jennifer Arnold, Bill Klein, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Gilles Bensimon, Lisa Ling, King GustafVIAdolf
Noomi Repace, Rory Cochrane, Deena Martin, Joey Lauren Adams, Alice Englert, Michelle Williams, Rachel Weisz, Vera Farmiga, Freddie Highmore, Lisa Vanderpump, Kevin Hart, Kendra Wilkinson, David Wenham, Lena Durham, Colin Egglesfield, Roma Downey, Clive Standen, The Replacements, Mindless Behavior, Megan Hilty, Bettye LaVette, D’Angelo
Sheryl Sandberg, Mary Coin, Lauren Drain, Charles Dubow, Catherine Giudici, Desiree Hartsock, Jim McCloskey
Dr. Michael Mosley, Giada De Laurnetiis, Mario Batali, Cat Cora, Sofia Vergara, Elizabeth Olsen, Ginnifer Goodwin
Lily Collin, Jada Pinkettsmith, Miranda Kerr, Christina Hendricks.
Now that you have a number, I hope it is very low….actually zero would be a good number. For you see, this list of names are those in the most recent issue of People Magazine that I had no idea of who the heck they were. Some of their pictures look vaguely familiar but just seeing the name, as above, meant nothing to me. This happened to be exactly 50% of the total people mentioned in the magazine. At least I hit the 50/50 mark.
I have a subscription for People Magazine for my Mom. She likes to look through it looking for photos of Jennifer Aniston, her favorite actress. I can only imagine how many people she knows as she looks through the magazine. It has to be less than 10%.
What this tells me is I am losing my “Pop Culture” edge. Back in the day, I had an edge. But as I age, and you readers age, the stars of my/our day are being replaced by the young names on this list. I have not seen a good article or photo of Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, John Wayne, Marilyn Monroe, Paul Newman etc in ages. Did I miss a couple of decades?
Another example of losing the Pop Culture edge is when I watch American Idol. The singers keep singing songs I have never heard. How can I tell how well they are singing the songs if I have no idea how the song is suppose to sound? I keep waiting for them to sing the “oldies but goodies.” This week they had to sing Beatles songs and most of the contestants had hardly heard of the Beatles. Many of the contestants sang Beatles songs they had never heard before. You could tell too. They butchered the songs. I guess I am not in the demographic Idol is trying to reach.
Thank goodness for CBS, who continue to lead the way in programs for us “old fogies.” NCIS, Vegas, Criminal Minds, The Good Wife and Hawaii Five-O are on my must watch list. Then there is TCM and AMC for the really good movies of the past.
I have to run now. Lawrence Welk is coming on and I don’t want to miss it!
Okay, I will admit to still owning a bowling ball, and shoes. I bought the ball in 1965. That allows me to use this line when I see someone younger than 45…”I have a bowling ball older than you.”
Why talk about bowling? I don’t know. It just crossed my mind while driving today and I actually remembered the thought when I got home. Before starting this I had to go pick up my ball, which I have considered throwing away many times but just can’t do it. You see, that ball has seen lots of action and rolled some damn good scores. I followed such greats as Dick Weber and Earl Anthony. I always rooted for Weber, since he was right handed like me. And Earl had this crew cut going and looked like a nerd.
I took up bowling in 1965 while at RCC. I took a PE class called Bowling 101. My soon to be mother-in-law bowled in a league so I had to fit in. Easiest A I received at RCC, maybe my only one actually. Marge (the soon to mother-in-law) bowled at Magnolia Lanes. For RCC we bowled at Tava Lanes. Isn’t it neat how I can remember each bowling alley but can’t remember where I parked my car today at the grocery.
Buying a bowling ball is stressful. You want to make sure you get the correct fit because once they drill the holes, you are stuck. I out-foxed them. I found a ball I had used at Chicago Lanes (yet another one I remember), ball number 202. When it came time to buy a ball and get it drilled, I walked in with ball #202 and said, drill mine just like this one. They added those three white dots on my ball and put my initials, TWA. Boy was I hot.
When I got to San Diego a few years later, thanks to the U.S. Navy, I brought my ball with me. In 1970, after my illustriousness naval career, the company for which I worked had a bowling league and guess who signed up? It was a mixed league so there were men and women on teams of five. It was a handicap league so, depending on your average, you got so many pins compared to your opponents. The team with the highest net score, after adding in or giving away pins over three games, wins.
Now, if you have or have not bowled, you probably have had some experience trying to learn the scoring system. It is like a high school calculus class…….the following is from a “how to keep score” manual.
There are several symbols used when keeping score: an “X” signifies a “strike” in which all ten pins have been knocked down by the first roll of the ball in a frame; a “/” signifies a “spare” in which the remainder of the pins left standing after the first roll are knocked down on the second roll in a frame; a “-” indicates that no pins were knocked down on that roll, called a “miss”; an”F” indicates a “foul” where a part of the bowler’s body went past the foul line, which marks the boundry of the approach (the part of the lane where we walk and release the ball) and the lane itself, where the oil is placed and the ball rolls towards the pins; and a “O” around a number indicates that the pins left standing after the first roll are in a formation known as a “split.” Some scorers use an “S” in front of the number to indicate a split. Splits occur when the headpin (the foremost pin) is knocked down, and there is a gap of at least one pin between all the others left standing. The terms “wide” and “washout” are used to define this situation except that the headpin was left standing. Sometimes, a “W” is used to indicate this situation, but that has generally gone out of use.
For the most part, you keep score by adding the number of pins knocked down in each frame. Special bonuses are awarded for strikes and spares. When a strike is bowled, the bowler is awarded the score of 10 (for knocking down all ten pins), plus he gets to add the total of his next two rolls to that frame. For a spare, the bowler gets the 10, plus the total number of pins knocked down on the next roll only. In the examples above, you can see that the bowler rolled a strike in the 1st frame, so he gets 10 for that frame, plus gets to add whatever he knocks down on his next two rolls. In 2nd frame, he knocked down seven pins on his first roll, indicated by the number 7. On his second roll, he knocked down the remaining three pins standing, so he gets a spare in that frame, and adds 10 more pins to his score in the 1st frame, indicated by the number 20. He also gets the bonus for the spare, so must wait to roll another ball before adding the score for the 2nd frame. His first roll of the 3rd frame knocks down all but one pin, so he gets to add 19 pins to his total score in the 2nd frame, making the score for two frames 39. The bowler misses the pin on his second roll, so only gets a total of 9 for the 3rd frame, and that is immediately added to the total score, which becomes 48 for the first three frames.
Oh my. No wonder they invented automatic scoring machines. But there was a problem with them. It used to be, in the old days, you could pay your 25 cents and then “practice a few frames” before starting a game. When the automatic scoring machines came around, the game started with the first ball you rolled. What happened to warming up for pete’s sake? Automatic scoring machines ruined the game….lol.
After getting my feet wet in the mixed league, I found my competitive juices were engaged. I began to want to bowl with the big boys in an all male league. One of my co-workers was an excellent bowler. He often bowled in leagues with high level bowlers. I was soon to join his team with my 170 “book” average. Yes, they keep a book of all your scores and keep your league average for the purpose of determining who got pins or who gave pins. My 170 book average was pretty good since the average male bowler at the time averaged 156. When I joined the male team they placed me as the anchor man.
“The Anchor man?” I bellowed. I quickly pointed to my friend, who carried a 185 average and said, “Why isn’t he the anchor man?” I was told he was better off as our lead-off bowler. I cried BS but lost the discussion and became our teams anchor man. Do you have any idea of the pressure on the anchor man when it is the last frame of the third game and you need two strikes to win it? Incredible. There were many times when my ball would be shaking like crazy as I took my approach. Meanwhile smug Chuck, the 185 guy, would just smile at me. Thankfully I was able to do more good than bad in those spots.
Now for a little bragging. You bowlers will relate to these numbers. My high game was 268. I did once roll a 700+ series (out of my mind that night). I once bowled 11 strikes in 12 frames, missing the perfect game by one roll. I started with 5 strikes then left the “5 – 7 baby-split” but missed the spare (I never missed that spare). Then I rolled 6 more strikes to end with a 266. If I had made the spare in the 6th frame, my score would have been 288. Woulda, coulda, shoulda.
That is my bowling story. I hope I have not bored you to death. Next time I will perhaps give you a golf story or two.
Isn’t this future LPGA golf star just adorable!! She is MacKenna and is my second grandchild. Before MacKenna was born on Friday I only had one grandchild, Noah. So MacKenna made it two. This photo was taken within an hour of her arrival. Grandpa won the pool (which had no money in it) by guessing her weight within an ounce. She weighed 7 lbs 4 ounces and I guessed 7 lb 3 oz. Lucky guess…
One of the many discussions we had as we began to admire MacKenna turned to what famous people share her birthday of March 1st. Unfortunately, one name seem to top all the list, Justin Bieber. That did not make anyone happy. Being more venerable I liked Ron Howard (Opie) or Glenn Miller for MacKenna. There were no sports stars born on March 1st that I have even heard of. Bad day for sports births.
So, of course the conversation turned to each of our birthdays. I proudly claimed Stan (The Man) Musial and Goldie Hawn for my birthday. Stan was born in 1920, Goldie in 1945. More currently, I share birthdays with Troy Aikman and Ken Griffey Jr. My sister has a tough time matching up since she was born on February 29th, a leap-year baby. She matched MacKenna’s Glenn Miller with her Jimmy Dorsey. She also claims Tony Robbins. My son, Jeff, did pretty well for himself. He claims Robin Williams, Don Knotts, Ernest Hemingway and Jon Lovitz.
What birthday do you share with someone famous? There are lots of web sites to check. Give it a go and share.
It is Friday night and I have two shows I DVR on Friday nights. During the week I have more than a dozen shows I regularly DVR. As you can tell, I love watching TV. My range of interest goes from NCIS to The Bachelor. The first is a great show about Naval Criminal Investigative Services. The second is about some good looking dude who is looking for a wife on TV. It sounds corny but 9 million people and I watch it every week. More watch NCIS so I guess that is something good to say about American viewing habits.
The reason I bring all this up is I find myself talking to the TV during shows. I am single and usually watch TV alone. So there is no one to ask me to shut up. The characters on the screen never talk back to me so I can say anything I want to them. And belief me, I have been known to say some very bad things to them. You ever notice how characters on TV shows do some of the stupidest things? Even the cops do stupid things. Example, in the new show, The Following (great show by the way with Kevin Bacon) the main character often “goes in” without waiting for backup. As the last episode ended… SPOILER ALERT IF YOU HAVE DVR’D IT BUT HAVE NOT WATCHED YET…Kevin Bacon goes in alone and now has a gun up against the back of his head. He is toast? No, he is the star so he will get out of it next week. By the way, I yelled at him for this dumb move.
I thought of this post while having a great conversation with Johnny D. today. You see, he too talks to the TV. He is happily married (46 years) so I now know married husbands do the same thing I do. We were discussing the show called Person of Interest. Johnny D. has been luke-warm on this show but is still hanging in there watching. However, he loves to tell the TV how stupid some situations are in this show. His wife, Kathy, has to tell him to be quiet because he interrupts her ability to hear the dialogue.
Do you talk back to the TV? I bet women do not have this particular idiosyncrasy. Maybe it is a man thing. You should hear me during an USC football game. There were USC games in my younger days when I spent the entire football game standing in front of the TV talking back the entire time. I have matured some and the Trojans are currently not so damn good, so I don’t have the same urges I used to while watching their games.
So it is off the the living room to watch CSI New York and Blue Bloods. I don’t usually talk to them much….
Today began like most Sundays, except I was having a dream and woke up a bit later than normal. Can’t remember the dream, although just moments before it was so life-like. I shook off the lack of memory (seem to be doing that more and more these days) and checking in on Mom. She was perched in her favorite position, a powered reclining chair next to the front windows. She had her binoculars to see things more clearly (I think she is a closet stalker) and was in her favorite night gown.
She showed me two bags of goodies she wanted to take to the thrift store associated with a dog rescue center here in Riverside. Seemed like a nice day for a ride so I told her to get dressed and we’d go. We packed the goodies and her walker in my car and off we went.
We have a routine when we go to the dog rescue dog center thrift store (all thrift stores for that matter). She shops while I take my Nook and read. Usually I can find a nice sofa upon which to sit but today there were no sofas for sale. Bummer. I decided to sit in the car with a clear view into the store to be ready to come in and pay for Mom’s purchases. However, she came out empty handed. Nothing caught her attention today.
Now that was a nice enough story but it was not the reason for this post. The heading mentioned teachers so let me get to the really cool part of the morning.
On the way home we stopped at a local restaurant called Flo’s to get Mom some gravy. She loves gravy and Flo’s has great gravy. I left Mom in the car with the radio on and headed to the front door. When I arrived someone was holding the door open and he motioned me in. However, there was a gentleman on my left headed for the door so I extended my right hand and said, “After you.” As this gentleman passed by me I realized it was a former teacher and the coach of our CIF high school baseball team from 1964. It was Coach John. A woman was behind him and I heard her tell Coach John the owner is the one in the blue shirt. It seems Coach John was going back in Flo’s to give the owner his regards.
I waited until he had done so before putting out my right hand and saying hi. The woman with him was his sister-in-law, Jan. She was down from Boise, ID. She is also the twin sister of John’s recently deceased wife, Jean, who was a former librarian at our high school. Coach John also taught World Geography, Sociology and World History. I had him for World History in addition to playing left field and shortstop for the baseball team.
I had seen Coach John last October at the reunion for the class of ’67 but that is the first time I had seen him in many many years. I did not get much time with him that night so I was keen to catch up, one-on-one, plus Jan. We spent about 10 minutes near the front door (I now realize we were probably blocking the entrance to the disdain of incoming customers). Coach John is in his mid 80′s and looks terrific. Talk of course turned to baseball as I began to relive moments from the wonderful times I had on the baseball field. Players of any age will always have certain memories of their playing days and I have many I often remember. Yes, I started telling Coach John everyone of them….lol.
To his credit he listened and actually added to them. His memory is way better than mine. Example…I told him about the CIF game we won 1-0. I remember coming to bat after the pitcher had walked two in a row to load the bases with two outs. Now that I am more mature, I know a good hitter woud have waited for the “wild” pitcher to throw a strike before swinging. Being young and dumb, I swung at the first pitch and hit a very weak grounder to second. Easy play to end the inning? Right? Nope. The ball rolled right through his legs for an error and the only run of the game scored. Coach John immediately said, “The last out of that game was a double play. Ball hit to Mike at first who touched the bag for the first out and threw to our shortstop, John, who tagged the runner for the double play. Coach John spoke of it like it happened yesterday. I, of course, did not remember that part at all.
I will not bore you with the other stories I finally got off my chest to Coach John (like the time I ran full speed from third base on a bases loaded, full-count situation…that is a no-no). It was the most enjoyable time with Coach John and Jan. Bless her heart, she laughed at my stories but admitted she is a football and basketball fan and not much for baseball. I told Coach John we were already planning for our 50th class reunion. Then we all told lies about our age and wondered how we could be having a 50th reunion when we were in our late 40′s and early 50′s. I invited
Coach John and suggested Jan come as well. Note to Margaret….Jan lives in Boise. You should look her up.
I started this with a pronouncement that teachers make lasting impressions. Coach John did that for me. He was always the gentleman, even when teaching his classes. He was firm but fair. He cared about his students and players greatly. Our shortstop went on to play in the major leagues with Cleveland and Baltimore. He had other players drafted after 1964 because he taught us how to play the right way.
Coach John looked so good, healthy and debonair. His warm smile brightened my day and the afterglow has lasted long into the evening. I am sure glad Mom wanted to visit the thrift store today, even if they didn’t have a sofa for sale.
. At the 45th reunion I sat next to Tina and her sister and we had a great time. At our 50th Sherry intends on attending so we will all have to get together and share old times.
