“Watch it! Here they come”

Retirement does strange things to you and one of those things is thinking about your past. While searching my mental files I discovered an odd phenomenon. The more you dig around those memory files the more stacks seem to grow.

Much like my work files, the mental files are all neatly tagged, but incredibly disorganized. One is labeled Athletics(?); another, Loves and Crushes; and another School Days, etc., but standing guard over the stack is a large flashing sign that shouts Best Years of My Life. Taped to the bottom, was this note, with an asterisks:

* “When neighbors saw me coming, Mom told me they’d say, ‘Watch it! Here comes Bud.’” (Since my Dad was Allen Jr., making me Allen III, they called me Bud). We made growing up in Dallas a lot of fun.

My best friend Mike was also my uncle and this probably deserves an explanation. Mike was my mother’s baby brother (by a lot of years, but that’s another story, and he was only a year older than me. He lived on Mockingbird Lane in Highland Park near the Dallas Country Club. His mother, my grandmother, was not wealthy; she just happened to live in a bungalow surrounded by mansions. I lived three miles north of them, near what was later to become the North Park.

On a 14-inch TV with a white lighted frame around the screen, we watched Tom Corbett, Space Cadet, sang along with Miss Francis on Ding Dong School, and fell in love with the Mickey Mouse Club’s Annette. We had matching inflatable Dino the Sinclair dinosaur dolls, and later matching Daisy air rifles. Naturally, we harassed the neighborhood where we lived.

For the most part, Mike and I were reasonably tame until we got our first bikes and could explore new territories. One of our first escapades outside the neighbor got us thrown out of a shoe store in Preston Center because we were putting everything other than our feet in the shoe store’s fluoroscope. It was a machine that somehow imaged the bones in your foot and we were just experimenting to see what X-Ray Vision really look like. Actually, were really making a scientific experiment but the store manager didn’t see it that way.

Eventually we graduated from Schwinns to bus tokens, thus expanding our territory, and we’d catch the Park Cities bus to downtown Dallas. We’d wonder Main and Commerce Streets, sometimes bringing our swimsuits so we could sneak into the Dallas Athletic Club for a quick swim with the real members.

At Walgreen Drug Store, we’d lunch on club sandwiches for 40¢. Some kids had playhouses but we had downtown Dallas as our playground.

We saw our first dirty pictures at a (looking back on it now) pretty seedy arcade, but hormones know no bounds. In the arcade, we would drop a coin into a slot, look through a cardboard scope at dancing ladies as they flip charted through a semi-strip routine.. Their dances were pretty tame by today’s standards but it was pretty wild stuff to 11 and 12 year olds.

When we had the money, we would go to the Majestic Theater for the latest movie. Even if we arrived just before the movie started, it seemed like forever before we saw the organist rise out of the stage and play 10 minutes of music before Pathé or Movietone would officially start the show with a short newsreel. I’ll always remember Don (Red) Berry, Will Bill Elliott, Lady and the Tramp, and a few years later, we saw the Christmas Day premier of a new spy movie called Dr. No starring an unknown actor named Sean Connery. After the movies we’d generally walk east about a half mile to Deep Ellum to one of the pawn shop/used record stores to listen to Red Foxx and Rusty Warren’s forbidden comedy records (they talked about sex and used cuss words).

On one memorable occasion at the movie, we unraveled and emptied the powder from the fuse of a KKK firecracker (I remember them being shaped like a silver tub with the fuse sticking out of the middle. Because of their size they’ve been banned for years), found a couple necking in the balcony and lit it under their chair. Then downstairs we’d casually chat with the theater manager while the fuse slowly burned to the powder and EXPLODED.

It sounded like someone had set off dynamite. The manager went nuts, and we quickly caught the bus back home. I know it sounds like a crazy stunt, and it was, but we were boys, teenage boys at that - is that an excuse or a fact?.

We swam in Turtle Creek until we discovered Highland Park’s sewage overflow emptied upstream from our “swimming hole.” Sewer cooties were to be avoided you know.

By the time we graduated from high school, many had said, “Watch it! Here they come.”

Oh, we had our paper routes, played little league baseball, dated and pursued many other normal activities, but the file I happened to pick up today was labeled Mischief.

Best years of my life? You betcha. Mike now sells real estate -quite well, thank you- and I’m retired now so I have a lot of time for mischief.

Trivia question of the day

(Try it without Google)

The answer will be in tomorrow’s blog.

Yesterday’s Question: What 47-year-old landmark decision by the Supreme Court is still being fought? Prayer in public schools is unconstitutional

Today’s Trivia: In 1950, 35 U.S. troops were sent to that country and thousands are still there. What country were they sent?

Thank You

Sometimes we need to say “Thanks” for some of the things that mean a great deal to us.

(1) Blessed is a clean sensor

(2) Blessed is a hug from my wife Tonda when things are not going right.

(3) Blessed is a gorgeous sunrise/sunset.

(4) Blessed are those who can cook a terrific chicken fried steak (my wife makes the best)

(5) Blessed are those who don’t call in the middle of my favorite TV show.

(6) Blessed are kittens and puppies.

(7) Blessed are the doctors who don’t keep you waiting.

(8) Blessed is the gas gauge that reads FULL

(9) Blessed are the seats and service in First Class.

(10) Blessed is having your back scratched.

(11) Blessed are my grand kids’ smiles.

(12) Blessed is your dog who greets you every time you arrive.

(13) Blessed is good news.

(14) Blessed is peace.

(15) Blessed is the Rockies Mountains in Colorado

(16) Blessed is having a profession you are passionate about

(17) Blessed is good health

(18) Blessed are great books

(19)

(20)

Trivia question of the day

(Try it without Google)

The answer will be in tomorrow’s blog.

Yesterday’s Question: According to statistics, what country has the lowest incidence of heart attacks even though 65 percent of the adult population smokes? Japan

Today’s Trivia: What 47 year old landmark decision by the Supreme Court is still being argued about today?

Was famous war photo staged?

Part of my teaching college/high school photojournalism courses was a history section and Robert Capa’s career was always one of my favorite lessons. He epitomized the combat photographer. Now, his famous 1936 Life magazine photograph of “Loyalist Militiaman at the Moment of Death, Cerro Muriano, September 5, 1936” is again under attack.

As noted, this was not the first time. Researchers believe it may have been staged. They’re saying the photograph was taken 34 miles away from Cerro Muriano on the Cordobo front where no fighting was recorded to have taking place. The added scrutiny of Capa’s contact sheets place the whole scenerio in doubt.

Not to be making excuses, but maybe it was just an impulsive stunt by a 23-year-old aspiring journalist trying to make a name for himself. Maybe the rewriters of history are wrong. It’s hard not to forget that this happened 73 years ago in the Spanish Civil War, but the accumulation of evidence is certainly marring the image of who has been described as “The First Photo Journalist” and hero of mine.

His credentials following 1936 are impeccable. He documented the course of World War II, the Second Sino-Japanese War, the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the first Indochina War, and died during combat at age 40 at Thai Binh in Vietnam. His photographs portrayed the violence of war with “unique impact.” He is famous to all photo journalist for saying, “If your picture isn’t good enough, you’re not close enough.” The Overseas Press Club created an award in his honor, The Robert Capa Gold Medal, that is given annually to “the best published photographic reporting from abroad, requiring exceptional courage and enterprise.”

He was born Endre Friedmann in Austria-Hungary. He fled to France because of the rise of Nazism (he was Jewish) and changed his name to Robert Capa. Interestingly, the Hungarian word for cápa is Shark.

Hopefully the debunking of his actions surrounding his Spanish Civil War photograph is just junk research.

Trivia question of the day

(Try it without Google)

The answer will be in tomorrow’s blog.

Yesterday’s Question: From what bicycle shop did Lance Armstrong’s mother purchase his first bike? Richardson Bike Mart

Today’s Trivia: According to statistics, what country has the lowest incidence of heart attacks even though 65 percent of the adult population smokes?

Terrific Apollo 11 Photographs

Great photographs. http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/07/remembering_apollo_11.html

In 1970, I worked for a company, McDonald Photo Products, that made different products and services related to the professional photography industry. One of them being a process of mounting and lacquering photographs to artist canvas and wrapping around stretcher frames. At the time, it was a pretty cool service. One day we received an order from NASA for a dozen 20x24 mounted on canvas pictures of "Earth Rise". I had the honor of mounting the original for NASA. Little did I realize it would be one of the most important photographs ever taken and the inspiration for Earth Day and the Whole Earth Catalog. Thank you Sandy

Randy Newman, Eat your hear out

Several months ago I photographed a BMX championship race. (Bicycle Motocross or BMX is a name of a cycling sport in which the main goal is extreme racing on bicycles in Motocross style on tracks with in line start and expressive obstacles). This was a first time for me and I was really impressed with the speed, agility and outright guts of the kids (as young as five) and adults (as young as 55) who were racing. It looked like fun so I decided to get a bike. It had only been 50 years since I’d ridden but you know what they say about riding a bike.

I thought I’d inch my way into it. Instead of buying a bike, I borrowed my 5’10” sister-in-law’s bicycle. She and my brother were serious cyclist at one time but she’d hung-up her spokes several years ago. I’m glad it wasn’t a girly bike, but it wasn’t a Tour de Francer either.

Since it had been piled in the garage for several years, I took it to the Richardson Bike Mart to be overhauled. Sixty bucks later I wedged it into the back of Tonda’s (my wife) station wagon and headed home anxious for my first ride in the aforementioned five decades.

I arrived home about mid-afternoon - mid-afternoon in Texas translates to approximately 100º. I dug through my clothes drawer, found my shorts, sweat socks and a presentable T-shirts. Tonda is watching all this with a slight smirk of her face. I wheeled the bike out to our driveway and prepared to ride the two wheeled recreational vehicle.

How do I get on? Did I say it had been 50 years? I thought back to how I used to do it. It’s kind of like mounting a horse but no stirrups right? Okay, you back the left pedal around to the bottom, place your left foot on it and swing your right leg over the seat and onto the right pedal and ride. Right? Did I mention that I’m out of shape, a bit under 5’5” and 70 pounds heavier than I was in high school, well that presented a problem. Diane was 5’10” so her bicycle’s seat was much higher than I expected it to be and my mounting was not a pretty picture. The bicycle seat must be lowered, a lot. I hadn’t ridden an inch and already had a scuffed knee.

I lowered the seat and was again ready to begin my initial bicycle tour around the greenbelt. I mentally reviewed my mounting technique, got on and peddled somewhat shakily off. I could see my wife out of the corner of my eye holding her cell phone. Later she confessed she’d already dialed 91.

The bike had 18 gears or speeds, some for the front and some for the rear. I had no idea how to change them so as I rode I changed them at random. There are no real hills (actually they were slopes and someone from W. Virginia would probably say it was flat). When I came to my first “hill” the bike was in the gear/speed you should normally use on truly flat terrain. The pedals almost came to a complete stop as I strained to make them cycle. So, to make a short story longer, the bike fell over, luckily, onto the grass. Do you remember Artie Johnson from Laugh-In when he’d ride the tricycle and fall over? This was very similar except he was wearing a raincoat.

That was six weeks ago and I’m doing much better. The biggest problem came when I had to situate my, err, physical equipment in a comfortable manner on the sadistically designed bicycle seat. I spent most of each ride situating myself.

Back to the bike shop where I whispered my situation to the salesman. He laughed and said you need to get a different seat. We found one that looked obscenely like what was causing the problem. As I was leaving, he mentioned, while motioning toward the clothing section, that I ought to get male riding pants to replace my shorts. You know, the ones like Lance Armstrong and the boys wear while cycling through the hills.

I found a large black nylon/spandex one with a padded crotch pad. New seat and a padded crotch pad, that ought to do it. So for 4-5 mornings a week I peddle off at dawn to do battle with the joggers, walkers, dog exercisers, serious bikers and old fogies like me.

After a while, I realized that even with the seat lowered the bike was too large, so yesterday I shopped for a new bike, a bicycle made for me.

Bikes come in many sizes but the “standard” for adults is 26”. I looked at a sporting goods store and they had a lot of bikes but they were either cross country type, girly bikes (Why do they have that big dip on the frame when you’d think boys needed it more), or too small. The price was right, but they didn’t have anything that would be better than what I was already riding. So I returned to the Richardson Bike Mart where they had literally thousands of bikes.

I was met by Doug, who looked fit enough to train Navy Seals, as I walked into the store. I explained what I needed and he decided a 19” bike was my size- gad no wonder I was having problems.

He spotted one on the third tier up from the floor, scampered up the ladder like a young squirrel, grabbed a pole, stuck it in something on the bike and lifted it out like a feather. He placed it on the floor and guided me to the alley which I’m sure they call the Le Test Track.

I loved it and cost only $500 (they had bikes approaching $3000, while my first car only cost $750). The first thing I did upon getting home was to take it for a spin around the greenbelt. It was great and I wished I had a yellow jersey to pull on after I swung into the driveway. By the way, I’ve lost five pounds and the knee scab has practically disappeared.

Famous Short People

Alexander Pope, English poet - 4’6”

Olga Korbet, Olympic gymnast 4’11”

Dolly Parton - 5’

John Keats, English poet - 5’

Debbie Reynolds, singer/actress - 5’1”

Prince, singer composer - 5’2”

Your Gagarin, Russian and first human in outer space - 5’2”

Nikita Khruschev, Premier of the Soviet Union - 5’3”

Mickey Rooney - 5’3”

James Madison, President of the United States - 5’4”

Baby Face Nelson, gangster - 5’4”

Barbara Streisand 5’4”

Claire Danes, actress - 5’5”

Tom Cruise - 5’7”

Trivia question of the day

(Try it without Google)

The answer will be in tomorrow’s blog.

Yesterday’s Question: Who was the first hitter to hit a home run in the Astrodome?

Mickey Mantle - 1965

Today’s Trivia: From what bicycle shop did Lance Armstrong’s mother purchase his first bike?

A Great Idea?

Sometimes great ideas are just that . . .Great Ideas. Once upon a time, Bill Gates had a great idea and with it he turned the computer industry into, well, an industry worth a gazillion dollars. Since that time he and his fellow engineers have created applications that revolutionized the way we gather and use data. However, like baseball players, sometimes they don’t hit home runs they just strike out, nobody’s perfect, look at Vista.

Bill and his cohorts have invented a way to stop hurricanes. They’ve even filed a series of patent applications. Their filings describe a way of using “large fleets of vessels to suppress hurricanes through various methods of mixing warm water from the surface of the ocean with cold water from the ocean depths.” The purpose of this activity is to decrease the surface temperature that fuels those great storms that periodically ravage our coast.

“Every couple of years there’s a news story concerning some hurricane-suppression idea,” said David Nolan, an associate professor of physical oceanography at The University of Miami. “They’re all kooky in their own way, some are more plausible than others, but they all face an enormous problem of scale. You would have to cover an incredible area to reduce the temperature of the ocean by a significant amount.”

But Dr. Nolan didn’t take into account that the proposal comes from one of the richest geeks in the world. Covering his bases, Gates didn’t become a billionaire by being shy. Within the patents is a description of how the cost would be covered and the cost would be monumental because tens of thousands of his “vessels" would be needed. Gates proposes funding by selling insurance policies in hurricane-prone areas. Plus, of course, funding from local, state and national agencies.

Great idea, maybe. Maybe not. Fiddling with Mother Nature? Assuming this works, couldn’t this cause an ecological disaster by unbalancing the ocean temperatures? There’s an old saying, “Throwing the baby out with the bath water” that seems appropriate. Great cause but probably a bad idea. I’m not a geek, oceanographer or meteorologist, so my opinion is not worth much. However, if anyone can do it it probably would be Bill Gates.

Trivia question of the day

(Try it without Google)

The answer will be in tomorrow’s blog.

Yesterday’s Question: Sticking with the musical theme, for a period of two years, what singer reported ate nothing but meat loaf, mashed potatoes and tomatoes? Elvis again

Today’s Trivia: Who was the first hitter to hit a home run in the Astrodome.

Big Time Decisions

I have a theory that the Republicans lost the last Presidential race on purpose because they knew there was really no plausible way of immediately solving the financial crisis so they’d simply let the Democrats look bad, blame it all on them and they’d clean-up during the next election. In 2012 -if they win- they’ll get to roll-out their “trickle-down” theory once again.

As you may expect, the implementing is always much more difficult than the planning. I suggest they look at it based upon the average American household’s planning for their budget, in fact, it should be a carbon copy of the annual Crenshaw family budget process.

Every year we set an absolute deadline for setting our budget for the year. At some point, dangerously near deadline, we caucus around the dining room table and begin making great plans. Nothing definite yet, but terrific plans.

We know we’re going to spend some money next year and we aren’t sure yet what all we’ll spend it on, but... that hasn’t stopped us in the past.

We do know that we’ll have to make some spending cuts, but since various hardheaded family members can’t agree on whether to cut prescriptions, fix the old car or get a new one, continue retirement, unplug the high speed internet hook-up, getting a better camera or selling the dog, we generally decide, not to decide. We generally agree to raise revenues but unfortunately, we haven’t decided how to do that either. But in order to avoid a household shutdown, we’ve decided to go ahead and pay this month’s bills and worry about the details later. However, we do decide that personally printing more money is out of the question.

Scary isn’t it?

Trivia question of the day

(Try it without Google)

The answer will be in tomorrow’s blog.

Yesterday’s Question: What singer memorized every line of dialog in the movie Patton? Elvis

Today’s Trivia: Sticking with the musical theme, for a period of two years, what singer reported ate nothing but meat loaf, mashed potatoes and tomatoes?

Father Knows Best

Television has rattled the perception of most people concerning Dads. We’ve grown-up watching Jim Anderson of Father Knows Best and Jason Seaver on Growing Pains to Tim Taylor on Tool Time to Reverend Eric Camden on Gilmore Girls. They are fathers who sometimes had starring roles in the chronicles of their family life.

However, in real life fathers play a much more important role. My dad who is now in his mid-90s was a dedicated physician -remember Marcus Welby, MD, that was my Dad. I grew through adolescence and leaving home with him being there but being at work most of the time. We share the same name and luckily I inherited many of his good traits both through DNA and association. I’m fortunate to assist him in his waning years. He broke his femur several years ago and uses a walker and can’t hear much of anything. He’s always been technically inept and guess what, so am I with many things. At one point, I was planning to follow in his footsteps but changed my mind, but that’s another tale.

The author Leo Buscaglia tells the story of a teacher reading a book to a class of first graders. It was about a fatherless little duck. As with all good children’s books, this one was filled with repetitive phrases. The refrain was always, “But the little duck had no father.”

The teacher was sitting on a foot stool with the kids gathered around her. When she completed the story, she asked Martha, a cute little blond sitting at her feet, “Did the little duck have a father?” Martha answered without hesitation, “Yes!”

The teacher paused a moment, slightly taken aback. She read the passage again repeating the question to Martha. The entire class had now fallen into a tense silence while Martha considered the question. After several moments, Martha responded rather matter-of-factly, “Yes!”

The teacher’s frustration was beginning to show, but she repeated the exercise with Martha again answering, “Yes.” At this point, the teacher totally lost control, “Martha you disappoint me. You’re simply not paying attention. It says again and again that the little duck had NO father.”

Now the tears in Martha’s eyes overflowed and ran in streams down her cheeks. “But teacher,” Martha sobbed, “Everybody’s gots a father.”

Call him Pa, Father, Dad, Papa, Daddy, Pop or Padre, it’s all the same, “Everybody gots a father.”

The late John Ritter told the story of the last time he and his father Tex were together. They were in the car with Tex driving and wearing his cowboy hat and coat.

“I was suddenly, deeply moved,” John recounted as he watched his Dad chewing on his pipe. “I had to say what was in my heart. It took a lot of nerve for me to speak-up because Dad was so reserved, but I said ‘I just want to thank you for being my father. I think you’re the greatest man I ever met and I love you.””

Tex smiled slowly before he said, “Yes son, that’s very nice.”

“Dad, I’d like to hear you say it, too, “ John replied.

“Well. . .I love you, “Tex mumbled. Then John said, “Let me hear it.” And he finally said it so John could hear it.

Three weeks later Tex was gone.

As I said earlier, my father was not home as much as I would have liked but his strong personality and presence was always there. I hope I gained an ounce of his love, sacrifice and humanity. There are many times I’d like to tell him how sorry I am for the troubles I caused while growing up. He’s a man I’m proud to call Pop.

Maybe the best gift we can give our father -on any day other than Father’s Day- is that simple sentence “I love you Dad,” punctuated with a good hug.

Trivia question of the day

(Try it without Google)

The answer will be in tomorrow’s blog.

Yesterday’s Question: This watch was the sponsor of the first television commercial on July 1, 1941. The watch sold for $9. Name the company? Bulova

Today’s Trivia: What singer memorized every line of dialog in the movie Patton?