Another Sign

I've discovered another sign that I might be getting *ahem* older.  The week before last Sue went to California to visit her Mom and we took advantage of the opportunity to put my car in the shop for a few days and I drove hers.  During that time I didn't have my music with me, so I had to listen to her radio and I realized just how much commercial radio really does suck!  Pop is a combination of rap and people who sound like they all came off American Idol, the Eagles of the early 70s were closer to country than most of the stuff played on country stations these days, jazz and easy listening are almost nonexistent and the old rock they do play is cut up and truncated so as not to displace too many of their precious commercials.

Okay, one of the rules I made for myself when I post things here is that I would not climb on too many soapboxes, so I'll leave it at that for now.  I'll just say that I'm more and more of an oldies man, the music that starts in the 50s and goes through the early 80s.  I'm more comfortable with it.

There was a time we joked about the oldie goldie moldies, or what we used to call "skatin' rink" music... the bee bop stuff of the 50s, but now it sounds pretty darned good, and so does the 60s or 70s, the music we listened to.  Besides, a lot of it reminds me of you guys.  :)

Answers

I had a dumb idea today. I thought it might be fun to answer some of the things people wrote in my yearbook. Did we all write the same things when we signed? Special things to those we felt close to and short little greeting card type things for those we were at a loss for something to say to? Okay, so maybe I was the only one who did that. :)

So here goes. Let's see if this works.

Jane,
Nope, I haven't forgotten riding sleds down the hill and how could I forget the fun in History with you and Bonnie and Kenny and Steve?

Freddy,
Yeah, it did seem like we knew each other forever, although 500 years would be a bit of an exaggeration. I'll see you on the other side buddy.

Daniel,
You sang better than I did in the library. Mostly all I did was whistle.

John,
You are right. The four years went by way too quickly and they weren't bad at all. In fact they were great The almost 40 years since have passed a little too fast also.

Barbara,
Thanks for complimenting my drawing, even to the point of defending it. Even Picasso had his detractors :)

Peggy,
Yes, I know I managed to tick you off more than once, but I was never really more than a little irritated with you, and yes I changed my mind about being a bachelor all my life. That pledge lasted a whole two years. :)

Kaye,
Little did you know when you said keep in touch that I would show up on your doorstep in Memphis 20 years later! You had hardly changed a bit and I bet you still haven't changed all that much.

Wayne M,
I wasn't lazy. I was conserving energy. Later Bro.

Allen,
You were a fair "brother" too. It's hard to believe that both of you are gone way, way too soon.


That's obviously not all of them, but I'll stop there. I don't know about you, but I think they read a little differently when you read them like you were going to answer them. They brought back more than a few great memories, a belly laugh or two and more than enough tears.

Poked and Prodded

Yesterday was my annual physical and I acquired a new pill --- other than that he said everything was hunky dory. My blood pressure, pulse, and EKG were all good. I jokingly asked him if he had anything he could give me for my looks and he said he couldn't perform miracles and could only offer blinders for the people around me to wear. Such a funny doctor I have.

Anyway, as I was driving home I had the strangest thought, and I hope it’s not too depressing. It occurred to me that since we are all now in the 55-57 year old range, we are most likely in the same age neighborhood as Mrs. Watkins, Mrs. Arp, Miss Mize, Mr. Alexander, and some of the other “older” teachers were when we were in school. I don’t mean this as a slam against them, everyone ages, it’s just that when you’re 17, 57 seems light years away.

If I close my eyes, and forget about the graying hair and god awfully deep wrinkles I have from the years I smoked, I honestly don’t feel any different now than I did then. Sometimes I’m a little stiff when I wake up some mornings, and I get a little short of breath quicker than before, but my mind sometimes thinks I’m still 17. I’m not in any danger of going bungee jumping or anything like that, but I refuse to act “old”, and I can better understand why Mrs. McCall seemd to have a bad day every now and again.

Loudon Has Been Googled!

This may be old news to some of you, but I thought it was a hoot. Google ran its camera truck up and down the narrow streets of Loudon, and now you can take a street tour of the whole town. If you don't know how, go to Google, then Maps and type in Loudon, TN. Zoom in to where you can see the city streets and click on the button at the top labeled "Street View", then just put the little guy where you want to look and, voila! there's my home town!

You can even see Donna's porch. :)

It's Funny What You Can Find on the Internet

I found these pictures without really trying. It's a new site for me called http://www.waymarking.com/, and it describes itself like this, "Waymarking.com will provide you with the tools to share and discover unique and interesting locations on the planet." Of course, after checking out unique places like the Grand Canyon, Wrigley Field, and other worldly locations, I had to get a little closer to home. Look familiar?

We Went to School 40 Years Too Early

We just got the kid's school schedule for next year. It is a bit different than ours. We went from August to May/June with time off at Thanksgiving, Christmas/New Years, Washington's/Lincoln's Birthday (or had it changed to President's day by then?) Did I forget any? If I did it couldn't have been more than a day or two.

Their schedule this year:
August 14 - School starts
October 7 - Faculty meeting (2-hour delay)
October 17 - Teacher's conference (no school)
October 23,24 - Fall Break
November 12 - Teacher work day (no school)
November 26 - 11:00 dismissal
November 27, 28 - Thanksgiving Break
December 2 - Faculty meeting (2-hour delay)
December 22 - Jan 4 - Christmas Break
January 16 - 12:40 dismissal
January 19 - MLK Day (no school)
February 3 - Faculty meeting (2-hour delay)
February 13 - No School <--- Doesn't say why
February 16 - President's Day (no school)
February 26 - Teacher workday (no school)
March 27 - Flex Day (If there are no lost days due to snow, no school this day)
March 30 - April 5 Spring Break
April 10 - Good Friday (flex day) (again, no snow days, no school)
April 14 - Faculty meeting (2-hour delay)
May 15 - Pro Dev (early dismissal)
May 25 - Memorial Day (no school)
June 5 - School ends

The flex days are not used as often as you might think in Indiana. So far in 7 years we've been up they have used the flex days 2 or 3 times. That adds up to 33 days off and 8 partial days.

With a schedule like that we wouldn't have had to cut near as much. :)

Frogs

Listening to all the stink the past few weeks about the government FEMA trailers being full of formaldehyde (pardon the pun), has gotten me thinking about biology.

Is that the same formaldehyde they used to preserve the worms and frogs we cut up in biology? Funny about some of the stuff they have discovered in the last 40 years that is bad for you. According to what they're saying on CNN it's a major health risk, so we really got a healthy dose of it when we were sticking the jar under other people's noses and saying, "Here, smell this!" Not to mention getting it on our hands.

I didn't mind doing it, even if the frogs were a little slimy. Besides, anybody who has ever been frog gigging knows what the inside of a frog looks like. It was one of the few A's I got in high school.

But that being said, anything that smells that bad and isn't used as catfish bait, shouldn't be left laying around anyway.

An Old Favorite

I used to have this taped to the inside of my locker. I "borrowed" it from one of the books in the library.

THREE ROOMS AND A PATH

In Nashville, every family boasts
Of five rooms and a bath.
But in my youth I never had
But three rooms and a path.

They built the outhouse on the brink
Of Tumblin Creek, and then
Each time I passed I had an urge
To push the outhouse in.

For weeks I fought this powerful urge,
And one day I was weak
I slipped out to the outhouse and
I pushed it in the creek.

That night my Dad called me aside
And all he had to say
Was "Do you know who pushed the house
Into the creek today?"

I told my Dad that it was I
He didn’t even chide
But then and there with a leather belt
Prepared to tan my hide.

"But Daddy" I said, "George Washington
Cut down the cherry tree
He told the truth and so his Pa
Let little George go free".

"But let me ask you something son"
My Dad said with a frown
"Was his Pa in the cherry tree
When little George cut it down?"

with apologies to Pek Gunn