Drivels and Snivels

Monsters That We Draw

2012-02-01T12:57:00.000-08:00

When my daughter was very young, she was busy coloring and drawing when all of a sudden she started crying and screaming as if she was terrified. Her mother went running over to her and asked her what was wrong. My daughter answered, " I drew a picture of a monster, and that monster scared me, Mommy"

Her mother and I laughed and laughed about that later that night, and I still laugh when I think of that story . We so often draw, or invent our own monsters in our lives, and then scream in terror because we are scared of a monster that we made up. The world that we see is the world that we draw in our minds.

Al' Little Store.

2012-01-30T11:29:00.000-08:00

Convenience stores, humbug! We had a real one in Wallace long before there was a Circle K or a 7-11 or a Mini Mouse Mart, or any other mart. Yes, we had the real deal, and there is nothing like it now days.
I did a lot of bike riding in the summer in Wallace, and the best place to go to get a nice cool pop after a hot summer ride was , you got it, Al's Little Store.

Now, Al's was special for a lot of reasons. First of all, he was open until 10:00 PM, which was unheard of in those days. He cut his own meats, (imagine that in a convenience store in this day and age). and he loved the kids coming into his store to buy pop, candy, ice cream, and chips. Gosh darn, there was an ice cream bar called a "Nickel Stick", and seriously, it only cost a nickel to buy. Pop was ten cents, and a small bag of chips was only about ten cents. Al's was the place to go after basketball practice since it was only a block from the gym. Many nights during my sophomore year, the last year I played, we would stop by Al's and load up on pop and chips, or maybe pop and Twinkies. Ah those were the good old days.
I did a lot of bike riding in the summer in Wallace, and the best place to go to get a nice cool pop after a hot summer ride was , you got it, Al's Little Store.

Mr, Uhlman, you ran a great little store and you were way ahead of your time. I wish it were still there.

Happy Birthday to My Daughter

2012-01-29T14:30:00.000-08:00

Today is a special day, because it is my daughter's birthday. I love you, Sweetie, and now you are a parent, too. One year ago today, you found out that you were expecting.

Living History

2012-01-26T12:16:00.000-08:00

I love history, and one of the things that I have always wished was possible was to sit down and talk to those directly involved with the past. For instance, my great -grandfather is the great mystery in my family on Dad's side. Now, my father knew his grandfather, and I have pictures of him and a copy of his death certificate. This is all that we know.

1, He was a tough guy, and always packed a pistol wherever he went,
2,He was a lawyer.
3. He was a minister
4. He was an outlaw
Yes, he was all three.

One of his legs was shot off during a bank robbery.and it was replaced by a wooden one. My dad remembers the wooden leg. He is rumored to have been part of the James gang, but we have never been able to prove it. One old time minister in Joplin told my cousin, who was trying to track down some of the history, that he knew for sure that my great-grandfather hid the James boys out, and even took food and supplies to them. This minister was very old when he told my cousin about this, and of course, he passed away years ago.

My father was very vague when I would try to ask questions about his grandfather's past. All that I would get was "well. he was my grandpa,and I loved him" And that is as it should be.

Now, things get interesting. I knew that my great-grandmother died, and that my great-grandfather remarried and started a 2nd family, The two sides never met, the offspring of his first family and the offspring of his second family. They never met. That is, until now.

Enter Facebook. Yes, that social mega gathering place has brought together the half-sides of the family, Here is the real kicker. my great-grandfather fathered one last son at the tender age of 74 years old. Of course, Raymond, this last son, never really knew his father, and my great-grand father passes away when Raymond ws 2 years old. Raymond, too, passed away a few years ago.

This pat year, through Facebook, I met Raymond's wife, Irene, So, as weird as it sounds, the daughter-in-law of my great grandfather is alive , and is only a few years older than I am. Wow!
I asked here questions about the family history, but she knows even less that I do about it. But, here, is the kicker, My great-grandfather;s second wide, lived until 1979, and died in Joplin. i was sick TO my stomach when I found that out. Had I known that she existed, and that was still alive until 1979, I would have been in Joplin questioning her all about my mysterious great-grandfather.

Now, it is too late, and all of the new cousins that I have met on Facebook all ask each other the same questions, Who really was Roy G , and was it true that he changed the family name from James ?
I guess I may never know . Maybe I should be content like my father was and say."All that I know was that he was my grandfather, and I loved him" Sometimes, it is better not to know.

Thought for The Day

2012-01-25T13:43:00.000-08:00

If we cannot see God in everyone, then we cannot see Him in anyone. -Paraphrased from Wayne Dyer's lecture on Inspiration.

Fun With Headlines

2012-01-19T05:54:00.000-08:00

Here is one that I read this morning. It is sad and hysterical at the same time.

"Kodak to file for bankruptcy -then there was a sub heading that said -Pictures of Kodak's bankruptcy filing

So, I made up my own for television news

"Kodak to file for bankruptcy--Film at 11"

The Voice of the People or Silence of the Lambs?

2012-01-18T14:35:00.000-08:00

Once again I wonder why we talk about "democracy" when we don't even have it in our country.
Yes, call me what you want to, but I believe in actual democracy. Now, if the so called "representatives" elected by the people, heeded the will of the people who elected them, then and only them would I say representative democracy works.

Why am I babbling about this again? Well, a certain lady mayor in a certain Idaho city once again spurned the will of the people, as did several other so called council persons, elected to do the will of the people. What would have been wrong with an advisory vote on a certain project concerning "public" lands? Yes, the people own McEuen, not the mayor and not the council. Voters, take notice, and remember this when election time comes again.

Snow!

2012-01-17T13:21:00.000-08:00

Well, what a surprise. It finally snowed in Northern Idaho. Wow. now, we can redo Christmas. Ho, Ho, Ho

My Budding Genius Grandson at Three Months Old

2012-01-16T10:59:00.000-08:00

But, I can breathe

2012-01-13T11:52:00.000-08:00

I take what my doctor calls " the miracle drug from hell", and that is precisely what prednisone is. I am on it all of the time now. I used to be take a small round once a year or so, but now it is 20-40 mg a day everyday. Yes, prednisone reduces the swelling in my lungs so that I can breathe, but the side effects are brutal. it is the drug that keeps on giving-10 pounds , 30 pounds 40 pounds-wow, I now weigh more by far than I have ever weighed.Oh well, I can breathe. My lung doctor says that we will worry about the side effects later. Well, one of the side effects is loss of bone density, and in October I fractured a vertebrae without even doing anything, But, I can breathe. Breathing is good. My doctor also said that I will ,not maybe, develop diabetes sometime from the prednisone. But, I can breathe,and breathing is good. Prednisone, the miracle drug from hell. Oh well, every life has to have a little hell in it, right? But, I can breathe, and breathing is good, and I am thankful.

Whoa, What was that again?

2012-01-12T08:52:00.000-08:00

Here is my new favorite line from an old television show, "The Beverly Hillbillies".
In this episode, Jethro is in a psychiatrist office, although he thinks that he is in an MD's office. The psychiatrist is asking him questions about his family members and then says " Do you have any brothers?',to which Jethro replies, " No, sir, but I have a sister who has one."

My Other Blog

2012-01-10T17:34:00.000-08:00

For those who do not know, Pineapple Upside Down Cake is mine, too, It is a totally different type of Blog than this one is. It is more spiritual, positive thinking, short commentary type of thing Please feel free to visit it. It is listed under my blogging buddies

Bottoms Up

2012-01-10T07:48:00.000-08:00

HOUSTON -- Investigators say a woman caused her husband's death by giving him a sherry enema, leading to alcohol poisoning.
The enema caused his blood alcohol level to soar to 0.47 percent -- almost six times the legal intoxication limit in Texas, a toxicology report showed.
Tammy Jean Warner, 42, was indicted on a charge of negligent homicide. She is also charged with burning the will of her husband, Michael Warner, a month before his death on May 21.
Michael Warner, a 58-year-old machine shop owner, had a long history of alcoholism but couldn't ingest alcohol by mouth because of painful medical problems with his throat, said Lake Jackson, Texas, police detective Robert Turner. The enema was a way he could become intoxicated without drinking alcohol, Turner said.

Wow, I would hate to see how this guy gave a toast!

The Lights of God

2012-01-09T17:32:00.001-08:00

I love Christmas lights, and Coeur D Alene does it up like no other place that I have lived in. It is a treat for the senses. However, this morning as I was driving my wife to work, the lights of man had to take a distant second place finish to the sight that we beheld. The Moon was as beautiful as I have ever seen it this morning. The lights of God or nature certainly can outdo the best that mankind can ever imagine. I was simply in awe. What a treat, and what a great way to start the week.

Happy Birthday, Son

2012-01-05T06:29:00.000-08:00

There was never a dull moment that year. I was a student at Northwest University, worked full time swing shift in a hotel 20 miles away, and my ex was due any minute with our first child. The load in school was brutal, money was tighter than a drum skin, and Christmas had just passed. I am sure every college student who has gone through similar things can certainly relate. Life was stressful, but it was also pregnant with promise and hope for a bright future.

It was snowing that night, January 4th, and it was cold. I was working in Tacoma and living in Kirkland,usually a very easy freeway drive at night, but with it snowing, well, let's just say it made the journey an adventure.

I finished my shift at midnight in Tacoma, went out to my car, unburied it, and headed through town to the freeway. Let's just say that that it was a wild, slick, spinning, adventure, but eventfully, I pulled safely into the parking lot of our apartment in Kirkland. I entered our little place, and to my surprise, my ex was pacing back and forth in the living room. I asked her what was wrong, and she said that she had eaten a large piece of pecan pie and was having indigestion. OK, we were a little naive. OK, we were a lot naive! I was so tired from school and work that I figured I would just go to bed and everything would be all right. Well, about two hours later she woke me up and said" I don't think that it is indigestion."

Off to Overlake Hospital we went, and sure enough, about 6 hours later, I was a father, and my son, who is named after me, was born.

How time does fly. That was 40 years ago today. I was 20. That makes me 39 year old now, Wow, my son is older than I am.

Happy birthday, Son I love you.

Morrows and More

2012-01-04T13:35:00.000-08:00

Mrs. Castle scared the dickens out of me. There is no other way to put it. I had been hired to sweep the floors in Morrows starting after school from 3 -5 PM, and then again on Saturdays. Once a month I was suppose to wash the outside display windows, which was no easy job. I was a freshman at the time, and this would be the first of two times that I would work at Morrows.

Mrs Castle was the bookkeeper for the store, and her offices were at the top of the staircase . Part of my job description was to sweep her office each day and empty her trash as well as to mop her office as needed. She was one of those angular older women who looked and talked tough. You sometimes wondered if they had a secret in their pants. She was stern with me from the very moment that we were introduced, but I thought that I also detected a twinkle behind those thick glasses.

I brought up Mrs. Castle, not to pick on her, we actually became quite good friends over the next several years., but rather to one again emphasize how different it was back in the late sixties and early seventies as far as work ethic goes. Mrs. Castle not only made one fearful of her, she also made one want to please here by doing one's job in a professional and complete manner. I wanted her praise, and over time, I earned it. All of the store owners in Wallace, and most of the employees were proud people, and it showed in their work ethic. Ah yes, those were good days.

Fun with Headlines

2012-01-03T08:52:00.000-08:00

Here are some headlines from he world of sports. They can be very humorous , well, at least of you have a weird sense of humor like I do.

Cards sweep Columbia Basin-wow, that must have taken a long time to do, and I wonder how many brooms they used in doing it

Report: Dolphins to interview Fisher-OK, that would be an interesting interview to hear. I did not know that Dolphins cold talk Fish talk.

Here is a new one from the local paper today

Viks Walk Past Lewiston. How did they miss it? The smell should have tipped them off, right?

More Morrows

2012-01-01T07:45:00.000-08:00

Stores were so different back in the sixties and seventies than they are today, and I believe that comes down to the simple element of pride of ownership. Merchants were no that much unlike artists when it came to their wares. They were creative in the displays, inspired by color, moved by patterns and shapes, and fussed over their display racks like a mother over her newborn. Everything had to be perfect, and that was all part of the overall packaged experience of shopping.

Aisles were kept clean and clutter free. Clerks were expected to be busy at all times. If they were not busy selling or providing customer service, then they were busy straightening up shelves, arranging merchandise, matching dress shirt with ties that actually matched. Imagine that! Heck, even the overalls and jeans were kept neatly on shelves.

Yes, it was a different time and age, but it would not hurt us to go back to taking pride in our work, and great customer service seem to be a thing of the past.

More on Morrows tomorrow. Have a great New Year , everyone..

Growing Up On Cedar-THE NEW MORROWS

2011-12-30T08:42:00.000-08:00

Downtown Cedar Street! Wow, it was exciting to grow up during some of the great eras of Wallace. It wasn't "Historic Wallace" back then, We weren't historic, infamous, yes, but historic? Nope. History was one of my loves in subject matter, and to me history was Rome, Greece, the East Coast, San Francisco, and Lewis/Clark, but not little old Wallace,Idaho. Nope, Wallace was simply a hard working town where the good folks worked and played hard, really hard.

Amazingly, Wallace, for being such a small city, was gifted with a downtown core more like one wold find in a much larger place, like Spokane or Seattle. Each one of these fine merchants were very individualized, unlike the box trap stores of today. Lat week, I talked about Gene's Radio Shop, which was one of my favorite stores, especially around Christmas time. Today, I want to start a few days of stories about different businesses in Wallace.

Our family home was 218 Cedar, and so, we were just a few blocks away from the downtown core of business, Now some of these were establishments that well, let's just say, my mother did not approve of some of them,but most of them were just good, hard working merchants trying to make a living.

Walking towards downtown from my home on Cedar, the first real business that one came to was the fine department store THE NEW MORROWS. Yes, Wallace hd a department store, and it was a very good one. Morrows was owned at that time by a husband and wife, the Thompson s, Gus and Minn.
My first real job was in Morrows, but more about that later. I know that it must be hard to believe for those young people growing up today in Wallace, or for those transplants who moved to Wallace in recent years, that Wallace was a real town, but it was. Morrows actually had three floors of shopping for ahwile, and included Anthony's , an fine jewelry store, and Morrow's Lunch Counter.

There was a men's wear department, full of ties, dress shirts, work shirts, work pants, dress ants, boots, tennis shoes, dress shoes, and mining shoes. It had everything a man or young man could need. There was a women's clothing department, a lingerie department, an infant's department, suitcases, bags, accessories, and of course fabrics and sewing items. Upstairs there was a really nice women's dress department, and the accounting and business office. It was quite a store, and one that I remember very fondly. I wish that it was still there.

I TOLD YOU THAT THEY LAST FOREVER

2011-12-25T11:13:00.000-08:00

You’re probably not going eat that fruitcake, but instead of using it as a doorstop or throwing it away, just shove it in your closet — it might pay for a lot of Christmas presents one day.
An Arizona man shelled out $525 for a 70-year-old fruitcake in an online auction Thursday. The proceeds of the sale in Ohio will go to helping the homeless.
The cake was made by The Kroger Co. in 1941 and sold at a Cincinnati area store, and returned by its original owner unopened, complete with an explanatory note, to a Kroger shop 30 years later.
The manager of the store kept it in his home until this year, when he decided to auction it off through the Elite Estate Group in Cincinnati.
"The cake is still in its original tin, never been opened and has the original label on the box," Larry Chaney, owner of auction house, told ABC News.
The auction site advertised the cake as "one of those items everyone talks about and now you can own."
An even older Christmas cake just celebrated its 100th birthday in Minnesota. Baked in 1911 and discovered in a closet in 1992, the spice cake's frosting had disintegrated and the nuts sprinkled on top had become petrified, the Star Tribune reported.
Both cakes were most likely soaked in brandy or rum, which helped preserve them.
With News Wire Services

Some Picutres from my past Christmas blogs.

2011-12-24T06:32:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas, Everyone. Enjoy the most wonderful day of the year. Be kind to each other.

Traditions

2011-12-18T21:08:00.001-08:00

A daughter was watching her mom prepare the turkey for their Thanksgiving dinner. The daughter noticed that her mom had cut one of the turkey’s legs off before placing it in the oven…when the daughter examined the turkey leg, it seemingly looked normal. This was something that her mom did every year, and always puzzled the daughter…so this time the daughter asked her mom, “why do you always cut off the turkey leg? is there something wrong with it?” The mom responded, “Actually, I’m not sure…it was something that my mother always did, and I guess it just stuck with me. Why don’t you ask grandma later tonight”. So that is what the daughter did, when her grandma arrived later that evening she asked her, “grandma, why do you cut off the turkey leg before placing it in the oven?”, but she got the exact same answer, the grandma did not know why and told her she should ask her great grandma once she got here. So when her great grandmother arrived she asked her, ”great grandma? why do you cut the turkey leg off of the turkey before placing it in the oven? Both mom and grandma do it too, but they don’t know why…”, the great grandmother chuckled and said, “honey, I cut it off because our oven was too small to fit the entire turkey inside”.

Now, that is another way traditions get started. This is an old story, first told in Jewish traditions, but very applicable to all walks of life.

Remembering Christmas and Gene's Radio Shop in Wallace

2011-12-16T12:37:00.000-08:00

I was reading an obituary the other day about the passing of a Wallace lady whom I remember quite well as a clerk in several Wallace retail shops. One of the shops was Gene's Radio, later on it became a Gambles. When I reflect on Christmas memories of my childhood, Gene's Radio Shop is always the first store to come to mind.

Gene's was first located up by the Wilma Theater, and was not much more than a hole in the wall, but it was stocked full of wonderful merchandise. My brother and I bought our first airplane models to put together from Gene's Radio. Then, expansion came, and Gene's Radio moved down Cedar Street to the middle of town. It was here that my more vivid memories take shape. For, it was here, that the latest 45 and 33 1/3 PRM albums could be found.Gene's Gambles, as it was now called, was very well stocked with records for being in a small town like Wallace.

Records were not the only types of merchandise that Gene's carried. Gene's Gambles was loaded with toys, furniture, washer and dryers, televisions, model trains, and thousands of other items. I loved going into that store during the Christmas shopping season. Most of the gifts, other than clothes, that I got in my early years came from that store.

One of the coolest things about Gene's was that on New Year's Day, Gene would open the store up so that the locals could come in and watch the Rose Bowel on color television. What a treat that was! My brother and I would had down there every year to watch a game in "living color".

Well, this was not an exciting blog today, but I just wanted to share my memories of Gene's Radio Shop. I wish that it was still there.

Weapon of Mass Destruction Found at local Post Office.

2011-12-14T07:06:00.000-08:00

This weapon of mass destruction was found in my post office box yesterday. It is being investigated by the proper authorities.

Authorities say that this is truly frightening, and said that they tried to blow it up, but, it appears to be constructed to last hundreds of years. endangering future generations.

Deer Oh Deer

2011-12-12T07:56:00.000-08:00

I never get tired of seeing them no irregardless of how many that I have seen over the years. Growing up in Wallace we were certainly not strangers to deer. However, it is different now,and I have never been more in awe.

This morning at 6:20 as I was taking my wife to work, we rounded the corner from our apartment, and standing right in the middle of the street was a beautiful, fully grown doe. I stopped the car as the doe did the deer thing of freezing in the head lights. After giving us the once over, she gracefully moved over to the side of the street , and we proceeded on our way.This is the third such incident this Fall.

One of our favorite thing to so is to drive over to Fernan Village in middle of the afternoon and drive around the circle of houses, and most of the time, we will see four to five deer in the yards. Last weekend we drove over there to see the Christmas lights, and even at a much later hour, we passed a house that had two deer sleeping in the yard.

We do, though, miss seeing elk here. Since we moved to CDA, we have not seen even one elk, At my parents home in Osburn, we saw elk all of the time. However, we are content to see the deer for now, and we still marvel about how blessed we are to live where animals roam so freely.