Observations

[W. Gray]

I never saw a color TV until about 1960 when I was able to catch a glimpse of a few minutes of a football game in which the red pants of the players were alternately pink and then red. Turns out red was the color the broadcasters were always having trouble with.

My folks did not get a color TV until 1970 or so. Nowadays, I don't know if you can even buy a B&W.

In '96, the wife and I purchased a 36-inch cathode ray TV, which weighed a ton and then some. I mentioned to her that it would be the last TV we would ever own. Then several years later came the flat screens and then digital broadcasting, chuckle.

The Jackie Gleason show began broadcasting on the then fourth network, DuMont Television Network. It was their most popular show. Gleason helped cause the death of DuMont when he jumped to CBS.

[larryJ]

When I was about 13 my mother got a teaching job in a lumber camp in the mountains of Wyoming west of Laramie.  The TV went with us in the move.  At that time only the owner of the lumber mill had a TV.  We lived in a rented cabin with no running water and used firewood for cooking and heating.  However, somehow someone came along and put up a 50 foot antenna on the cabin so we could watch TV.  I don't remember spending a lot of time watching it while living there.  The nearest station was in Cheyenne 50 miles away.  Sometimes when the conditions were right you could actually get a channel from Denver but that was rare.  I do remember that reception was poor.  Even the nicer TV that the lumber mill owner had wasn't all that clear. 

Memory dims here but I do remember that in my second year of college in Greeley, Colorado, I was living in a house with other students and the landlord had a really nice color TV.  I remember this because we all sat and watched it for hours on the day JFK was assassinated. 

After that I moved to California in 1965 and started dated what turned out to be my first wife.  She had a RCA color TV console.  My mother came to live with me after I had been here two months.  I don't think we had a TV then.  Thinking about it though we must have had one.  I was working in a store that sold them!

Larryj

[larryJ]

In all the years I have lived here Halloween has always been a fun time.  As I have said before I live on a dead end street.........one way and one way out.  There are 135 houses in this development.  Many are occupied by older folks.  I was always amazed that in the past I handed out anywhere from sixty to ninety pieces of candy on Halloween knowing that there was not that many children in the tract.  Where did they all come from?

Getting older and slower I debated about giving out candy this year because I didn't think I could handle getting up and down that many times for trick or treaters.  However, my wife's cousin asked about it and she said she would hand out the candy.  I told her to get two bags anticipating anywhere from sixty kids or more.  Halloween came and it came on Tuesday........the night of the World Series being played in Los Angeles and it was misting outside off and on.  These two factors coupled with more and more churches and other facilities having Halloween programs basically designed to keep kids off the streets and still let them have the fun of dressing up in their costumes put a damper on home visits.  I didn't keep count this year but I think we had less than 30 kids. 

Strangely all that left over candy keeps disappearing.  I have noticed that there seems to be less after my wife has gone into the kitchen for something.  I think it is all gone now.  I remember one year I hid the left over candy where she couldn't find it just so I could have some.  I think I ate three pieces this year.

Larryj

[larryJ]

Today is Veteran's Day.  I'm a Veteran.

It used to be my least favorite holiday.  When I was working I never had the day off unless it fell on my actual day off.  I never received extra holiday pay like with other holidays.  Millions of non-veterans got the day off with pay.  I used to think "what did they sacrifice to earn such a privilege?"  Did they give up years away from their families and years of their life to serve their country?  Sometimes I was just disgusted with the whole thing.

Then my son married a wonderful Chinese girl.  She made it a point to take me out to lunch or dinner or just bring food to the house to honor me on Veterans Day.  She does this every year.  So I once told her how I felt about Veteran's Day and she told me that all those people had the day off so they could do what she does for me.  Honor a Veteran............... 

Duh.

She came up from the beach yesterday with my grandkids and my daughter came over with the other two and we had a nice chat for a few hours.  Then my four-year-old grandson sat next to me just before they left and hugged me and said, "Happy Veterans Day, Papa."  He doesn't have a clue what Veteran's Day is and was probably coached by his mother to tell me that.  But it felt good.

Maybe Veteran's Day is not so bad after all.

Larryj

[Diane Amberg]

Our vets all had free meals offered at our local restaurants ( We went to the Greene Turtle) and lots of discounts at our stores. Lots of flags everywhere including thousands on the UD Green. Very moving. I couldn't find anyone selling poppies this year. It felt odd without one.

[larryJ]

A story or two....

Many years ago we purchased a three seat swing that sat in our driveway facing west and we enjoyed many sunsets while sitting out there.  Over the years it began to fall apart.  We had the cushions recovered.  The top shade over the swing where it connected to the frame broke and was held together with wire.  But it was still usable.  The cushions began to wear.  But it was still usable.  I bring this up because..........

We celebrated Christmas on the 24th allowing my daughter to spend Christmas Day with her in-laws.  I don't get out much and I made the effort to go to her house for the holiday.  Although they only live five miles away I had not seen the new pool they had put in......only in pictures.  Both of our kids were there along with all the grandchildren.   The food theme this year was Mexican and there were enchiladas both regular chicken and gluten free for me.  Presents were exchanged and then our kids proceeded to show us our gift from them..........a brand new three seat swing!  It was brought over yesterday and the old one was hauled away.  I have yet to sit on it, maybe today. 

Another note about the old swing.  I may have mentioned this before.  When my parents moved to New Mexico in 1937 my father built a small house.  A few years ago I did a Google Earth search of that area and the house was still there.  In front of the house was the exact same swing that we had in front of our house.  How weird is that?

Another story..........

As you know I do a lot of genealogy research and my Ancestry tree has grown way too big.  I began to go through it to eliminate some relatives that were so distant I deemed it necessary to delete them.  My relationship to them was just way too distant.  That said.........I live near a street named Lark Ellen.  There is a school nearby where my kids went that is also named Lark Ellen.  The name Lark Ellen comes from an opera singer who lived in this town until she passed in 1947.  Her actual name was Ellen Beach Yaw.  She was a niece of Lara Yaw who married a Hemenway.  He is in my tree as a 7th cousin who I would have deleted except for Ellen Beach Yaw....Lark Ellen.  How weird is that?

And one more genealogy note.......just this morning in working on the tree I found a guy listed in the 1890 census whose residence was a state prison.  A black sheep!  Then the very next person I looked at was also listed as being in jail during a census.  Two black sheep!  How weird is that!

Larryj

[Dignified Redneck]

So glad to hear that you all are doing fine. What a wonderful present, something that will get you outside and "blow the stink off you" (as we rednecks say). There's always a black sheep or two in the family. I grinned at the black sheep comment because Bill always tried to convince everyone that he was the black sheep in our family tree. I find myself missing him more and more these days, who knew! Fact is always stranger than fiction and it seems you are finding good examples.

Our son and family came out yesterday afternoon for our celebration. The grands are growing way too fast. Carl and I keep looking at each other and wondering how we got to be this age, cause it's not old!!!!
Take care you all !!!!!! 

[larryJ]

Too many health issues have kept me away from the computer lately.  In mid-January I was in the hospital for three days with pneumonia and it took three days at home before I could actually get out of bed, but not well enough to get to the computer.  Then two weeks later I relapsed and spent four days in the hospital and this time it took a whole week before I became able to move around.  This last two weeks I have managed to get back to walking using a walker so things are getting better.  My insurance (Kaiser) has what they call a Pallative Care Program.  Under this program they send a home health nurse to the house once a week to check on me and take my vitals, etc.  There is also a Doctor on call if I need one.  They also provide a Physical Therapist once a week to show me exercises and to evaluate on how I am doing.  Then there is the bath lady that visits once a week for a sponge bath.  I may not need her anymore as I feel I can start using the shower again with the shower chair.  The idea behind this is to cut down on emergency room visits.  My family arranged for a hospital bed which is in the living room in front of my new 65" TV.  My wife bought one of those Keurig coffee makers which sits next to my bed so I can make my coffee when I wake up.  I thought that was really sweet of her until I realized that after two days of waiting for her to wake up to bring me coffee she bought this thing because she doesn't want to be disturbed so early in the morning.  Now she comes to the living room to make her coffee in the new coffee maker, also.  It is pretty neat.  So there are my excuses for not signing on to the Forum and making comments.  I can see I didn't miss much.  That's a shame.

Larryj

[sixdogsmom]

Happy you are operative again Larry, get on with getting on as they say! God bless,

[larryJ]

Frustration abounds in this household this week.  Last Tuesday there was a howling sound in the house. A sound that was more like moaning fading in and out.  It would get loud and then fade out.  Our daughter came over and discovered that the water heater which is located in a closet off the hallway was leaking.  She shut off the intake valve and I turned the thing off.  The sound stopped. 

Two years ago I had purchased a home warranty policy from Sears.  They guaranteed repairs to any appliance in the house.  This covered water heaters.  There is a $100 deductible but repairing or replacing a major appliance would cost a lot more.  So Tuesday night I called them.  They have 24/7 service.  They said the earliest they could come would be Friday morning.  What?  Three days without hot water?  Are you nuts?  Could you live three days without hot water?  So I said Okay,,,,, Friday.

Now my wife is a persistent soul bless her heart.  She got on the horn on Wednesday and moaned and complained telling them that we were old and disabled and going without hot water was injurious to our health.  They finally said okay we will come out Thursday afternoon.  Yesterday two guys showed up and looked things over and said all they could do is drain the rest of the water in the unit because they had no repair order from Sears yet and to call on Friday morning to see if a repair order had come.  This morning my wife called and the first two times the call went into voice mail.  She finally got ahold of a live person who said that they would process the repair order. 

Here is the kicker.............Nagging can help in certain situations.  They are so aware of our plight and aware of my wife's persistence that they asked her not to call back for a least four hours!

Life goes on............without hot water for the time being.

Larryj