Saturday, March 31, 2007

Indian Dance


While pursuing genealogy documenting facts, such as deeds and birth and death dates are most of the time relatively easy to do. Remembering to record your documents is not always easy to do. Well, it is easy to do, if you start off well organized and preached to how important documentation is. But is my case, I just wanted to leave my sons with their heritage, so when I first started genealogy research in the mid 1970s I had things coming at me from all directions – documentation was the least thing on my mind. Now, I am trying to go back decades and find out where I got such information.

Genealogy hunting become even more interesting adds when you come across a scandal or just some funny or sad family story. Some of these stories can’t be documented but should you include them in your genealogy compilations. Family researchers differ on this, but my instinct is that if it adds a some spice and juice and there is a good chance it is true go for it. It will make interesting reading – but ethically, I think it is should be noted that the story is not documented.

I received this email the other day, which I would consider undocumented as is, but juicy enough to include it (the funny juicy part is in bold):
Eddie,

Before I leave this family I wanted to send you these census records
On Caswell G Trammell as I have picked up three more children for him
And Nancy Wofford Trammell.

Tallulah H Trammell b 1851
William H Trammell b 1852
Ada S "Addie" Trammell b 1855. Ada Trammell married Nathaniel Wofford in
1876
And she died in 1881. He was the son of William Benton Wofford and Rachel
Dill.
William had been married prior to Rachel. "Rachel did not like William
Benton Wofford's first wife. She threatened to dance on her grave and she did.
Rachel Was a full Blooded Indian.
This was on the internet so thought you would find it Interesting. Rachel married William Wofford 2 months after the first wife died.

I am sending the Obit of Ada Trammell Wofford as it states that she was the Daughter of C G Trammell.

Talk later,

The Invisible Man In K-Mart

I would post a picture but as usual with The Invisible Man, there is nothing to see.

The Invisible Man and his spouse went to K-Mart and as usual once in the doors they went their separate ways. She went to the practical stuff and he went to the electronic stuff.

While walking down an aisle a clerk that worked there came walking towards him and she was talking on her cell phone. She had on a short top that showed off her bellybutton. Isn't it a bit cool for that style? Evidently not. As she got closer, still talking on the phone, with her other hand she reached under her top, causing the top to rise even higher and she adjusted one of her bra boobs cup to fit more comfortable, evidently, it wasn't cupping her right.

Well, at least she had the decency to adjust it when she thought no one was watching.

Friday, March 30, 2007

The Alley


This is an alley in Marietta. It looks like a typical downtown alley and it is. But it is lonely compared what it used to be like. On the opposite in at one time was a theater. One day a man, disturbed by a movie he just watched stepped outside in this alley and walked to the other end, about where this picture was taken and shot himself. The bullet scar onto the building is said to still be there, although I couldn’t find it.

Also, on this end was a door going into the distribution part of the local daily newspaper. Between 3 and 4 pm, the alley was covered with paper boys with their newspapers, inserting inserts, folding them and putting rubber bands on them and loading them into their satchels and getting ready to ride off to their routes on their bikes. Now, the newspaper office is about a mile away and the paper is delivered about 3am in the morning by car, usually by someone with an accent.

Time changes.

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Walk a Mile in his shoes


“You need to walk a mile in his shoes before you can pass judgment of a person”, so says somebody. I ran a Google search and there are several thoughts on who originated that thought and it seems nobody really knows. I’ll credit it will Joe South since I know he wrote a song with those words – wait! Maybe his song was “Walk a mile in MY shoes..” Anyway…

The idea of it all is a nice parable insinuating you shouldn’t be too harsh on somebody that you haven’t lived life through their eyes and their brains…. So, naturally, you don’t see things in they perspective as they would.

HOWEVER! Isn’t insisting walking a mile in their shoes a bit much before you can scorn them? What if a person is a very greedy unscrupulous businessman or serial killer or a mass murderer? Huh?

The Economic God


Yesterday someone I know received a nice bonus. Before the bonus had a chance to be spent or invested he had car trouble, which took big chunk of the bonus.

When I heard this it remind me of one time I received an unexpected check from our insurance company for $200. The letter that came with the check explained they had been charging the wrong rate for so many months so they were reimbursing us the amount we overpaid. Overjoyed by receiving an good lump of money when our family was young and struggling, that unexpected $200 was very welcomed, yes indeed. I got filled out my deposit slip, got into the car to go to the bank to deposit it. The car would not start, or if it did start, it didn’t say running long, I forgot, it has been so long. The water pump was kaplunked. I had to have the car towed away to a garage to be repaired. Total cost = $230. My dumbfoundedness = priceless!

Then I started noticing other people as well as ourselves. Just about every time us or our friends came into some money something would happen that it went out just as quickly as it came in.

Then, I decided, high up overlooking us people trying to scratch out a living, there must be a Economic God. He/She doesn’t want us little people get too carried away with any riches we might come across because we wouldn’t know what to do with it anyway except buy a outlandish house and decorate it in a gaudy fashion and do some crazy things.

The Economic God has devised a way to keep us at the bottom of the economic scale – after all, who is going to sweet the floors and do the other dirty work? And of course, the same system makes it easier for the rich to get richer … after all, the rich know to do wise things with their money, like buy Mercedes 3 or 4 homes, eat fine foods and drink nice expensive wine.

The tax cut for the wealthy is all part of the Economic God’s Master Plan.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

The Rich Get Richer


I heard earlier this evening on the news that Circuit City is laying off a very big chunk of its work force. Or I am not sure “laying off” is the right word. Could you call it “down sizing”?
No, I don’t think so. They still need approximately the same amount of employees as they have now.

They just don’t want to pay them as much as they are presently getting.

So, they are letting the employees go then turning around hiring people at a much lower rate. Employees that was let go will be welcome to fill out a new application – for a lower salary of course.

I bet the person who planned this gets a very nice bonus idea of saving money, and I bet the monetarily gratitude will roll in a snowball effect upwards all they way to the C.E.O.

That is the way the system works isn’t it?

Yesterday


Yesterday was a pleasant day. At daybreak I went for a bike ride, which was about 8.5 miles and took 61 minutes. This time of the year the Bartlett Pear trees in bloom is such a pleasure to the eye.

When you see the little trees in a row down a road or a driveway you might say, “Yes, there is a god!” Or you might say, “Yes, there is a landscaper!”

All those blooming trees with white or pink blooms are a pleasure to the eyes and do make life seem more pleasurable.

However!!! Those blooms and other blooms from other things in the plant world are actually making life miserable for many people at the moment. Here in Metro Atlanta the pollen count is up over 5000. A pollen count of 1000 would be considered high, but 5000. Choke!

You can tell the pollen count is way up because a yellowish greenish fuzz seems to cover everything, but more noticeable on cars. The pollen you can see is ok to your body – it cannot be inhaled… however, the pollen you can’t see is another story.

You can wear one of those masks you see doctors manicurists wear. Or, you can take a daily tablespoon of locally produced honey. The local honey will have the same pollen that causes the problems. The local honey is a type of vaccination. Or that is what I believe anyway.

While riding my bike I rode by a little road off a main thoroughfare that I have rode by many times. The little slim road is sort of a separated from a very nice subdivision and an office park. I decided to venture down the road.

When I ride my bike down a strange road I haven’t been before I proceed in a very cautionary manner. These types of lonely roads are where dogs have peed their perimeter to set up their legal property lines. I came upon an old rundown house with a several junky cars and trucks in the driveway and parked on the other side of the street. The front porch light was on; which tells me some people lived there. Curiously, one of the vehicles was yellow HERO pickup truck.

A HERO vehicle in Metro Atlanta travels the main highways, mainly the expressways looking for motorists with problems, whether with a flat tire, overheated radiator, or whatever. HERO helps them, for a price of course, you expect them to do it free? After all, it is private company.

Right past the house was a big loop that went around a few pine trees. I looped around and returned to the main road, with no dogs or HEROs chasing me.

Nearer noon I was out piddling in the yard picking up little branches and surveying what I need to do and Jim, my 85 year old neighbor materialized as he always does when I go out. He mentioned he hasn’t seen me for a couple of weeks and was I ok? I told him I was fine, I was “just being me.” Which was my way of saying I am a bit of a recluse.

Jim told me he walked across the street yesterday (now, the day before yesterday) to check on the new neighbors swimming pool they were having repaired and a dog from over at Bob and Joe’s house barked at him. He looked over, there were several boats in the back yard. At least they were not in the front yard, I complained to Bob about boats in the front yard before. Of course Bob is in the Big House now, but I suppose Joe is carrying out my wishes. Jim saw a dog with about a 15’ chain on under a boat. Jim walked over and looked closely, and the dog didn’t have water. There was a dry bowl there so he picked up the bowl and went over the water hydrant and the hydrant did not have a handle. He walked around the house to use the one in the front but it didn’t have a handle either. However, a hose was hooked up to it and it was on. The on and off was controlled by the hose faucet. So, the dog got water, which he seemed to appreciate Jim said.

Jim said he was going to give Joe a piece of his mind about leaving the dog without water when he saw him next. Jim is a good neighborhood constable.

Yesterday evening I went to the Cobb Genealogical Society meeting and all day I have been concerned with what I ate because I did not want to have gas. The last two meetings I attended I had gas and was in a state of silent (but deadly) flatulency. In fact, at the last meeting during my episode a woman seated in front of me turned around and briefly looked at me, but also looked around – was she looking for someone in the room or did she want to who was cooking the eggs. I have know the woman since she was an 8 year old brat. I ran around with her brother when we were teenagers, but apparently she has not recognized me, although we renewed our acquaintances a few years ago at a funeral… but I know I went in her mind and went right out.

Not wanting to have a reputation as “The Farter” I watched what I hate yesterday.

When you enter the room for the meeting you are to sign one of lists. One list is for members. One list is for visitors. And you are to put on a blue name tag if you are a visitor or a red name tag if you are a member. That woman was manning the table to make sure people signed the right list. When I reached for the members list to sign she said, “Sir, are you a member?” She didn’t know me from Jack.

Why am I not surprised?

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Don't Bogart That Joint!


(as usual, click on the pictures to be able to read the balloons.)

I have not figured out the system of the electronic brain in the Tevo our son gave us. He upgraded to an HD model and gave us his old model. He told us it checks on what you watch and from that copies things it thinks you will like. You can also let the machine know there are certain people or things to watch out for to copy. It can be on the watch out for certain stars, certain sport teams and so on, or you can program it like a VCR.

You probably know all this and it is nothing new to you, but to me it is still new and fascinating.

I suppose it figured out my son’s mind or he told it that he likes old movies with Humphrey Bogart in them because it copied The African Queen and after I finished watching it, it copied The Cain Mutiny, which I am watching now. I have about 30 minutes left.

I never considered Bogy much of an actor. I considered him one who played himself and got credit for being a good actor – for instance, like John Wayne.

But having the opportunity of watching two of his movies back to back (or is it back to front?) I have changed my mind. I think Humphrey Bogart was a good actor for his time. He plays almost completely opposite type of people in The African Queen and The Cain Mutiny. In the Queen he is a boorish drinking slob and in the Cain, a steely balls clicking nut, however, a strict follower of Naval regulations.

When watching The African Queen his character reminded me much of my neighbor Bob (who is temporally in the slammer) and in The Cain Mutiny he reminded me much of an assistant principal I once had.

The two pages – they are both illustrated by Wallace Wood. The color one is a lampoon of The Cain Mutiny from MAD comic book. The black and white is a lampoon by MAD’s sister publication, PANIC comic book. MAD and PANIC were both owned by EC Publishing Company.

It also copied High Noon and dropped in my lap like a proud cat killing a rat. So, that will be the next old movie I watch on the TeVo.

Another Murder in the Trammell Family


Here is Thomas Murray sitting with his wife Margaret Jane Trammell. Margaret Jane was the daughter of Thomas Rhodes Trammell, who was the son of Jacob B. Trammell.

Behind them are their three sons, Luther, James, and Bennie. I don’t know why their daughter Mattie wasn’t in it.

The middle son standing is James. James married Myrtle Emmaline Griffin. Myrtle was murdered in Indian Territory, Vinita, Craig Co, Ok, July 8 1908, after she filed for divorce. They had a daughter.

I don’t know anymore about the murder and was just told about it yesterday. As soon as the person finds out she told me she would email me and give me the juicy details.

Monday, March 26, 2007

Yard Sale



The other day on this blog was one-half page of my ancestor Jacob B. Trammell’s estate papers. There were nine and half pages you did not see.

I didn’t show you them because it was mostly dealing with legal jargon and listing all his heirs. The names would have meant nothing to you.

But there is one thing you might find interesting. Jacob B. Trammell owed more money than he had when he died, even though he was consider a wealthy business man of the time (1860). They had to have an estate sale to pay off his debtors. Above is a list of the items sold and who bought them. Click on the copy to be able to read it. You will see his daughter buying sentimental kinds of things, such as a bureau and a book.

His old business partner B.W. Bell was there buying things, which he probably had his eyes on for a long time.

Jonathan Ford was there buying things. Jonathan Ford had been sued for bastardy by Jacob’s daughter Zylpha Trammell. She had a son by him she named Jonathan Ford.

His son Jacob V. Trammell bought a rifle gun for $3.25 and an ax for 25¢ About six years later Jacob was wanted for murder for hitting Rufus Lambert over the head with a rifle or a big stick. I wonder if one of these is the same weapon he bought at his father’s estate sale? Now, that is sentimental!

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Big Decision To Make


I have a big decision to make which will effect the rest of my life. I need to decide what kind of doctor I want to be.

Do I want to have my PhD or do I want to a medical MD?

The MD will pay more but there are other things to consider, like I may have to rotate in the ER or something that would mess up my weekends and I might have to get some one else’s messy blood on me. But I do think I would look good in a Mercedes convertible.

On the other hand, if I decide to be a PhD I can get it in something I enjoy like history and do things history related.

And of course, I could also be an ordained minister or maybe even a real Priest. Then I could hear some spicy confessions – which could be a tool for an extra income, if you are not above reminding the confessed person how bad it would be for them if their confession was made public.

Who said I am not ambitious?

I received this email today:

Lazy to attend exam or classes?

We have Diplomas, Degrees, Masters' or Doctorate
to choose from any field of your interest.

Only 2 weeks require to delivers the prestigious non-accredited
universities paper to your doorstep.

Do not hesitate to give us a call today!
1-413-280-6792

Our Neighborhood



Yesterday morning the day looked so nice I went on a bike ride.

The bulldozer is a typical vehicle around here these days. They are scraping away two whole blocks and putting in fancier houses just four blocks away.

And these McMansions are just a block away on the same street we live on. I hope these people in these houses don't feel intimidated by our one level ranch style houses - hey! We have a double carport!



See my shadow? Remember the radio series and the paperback series The Shadow? "Only The Shadow knows HAHAHAHAHA!!!!" The Shadow was able to cloud men's minds and slip around among them as if he was invisible and hear their devious plots or anything else they wanted to talk about.

It just occurred to me, and this picture and me being invisible proves it, I am The Shawdow!!!! HAHAHAH HA HA HA

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Some Things Never Change


My neighbor's daughter-in-law is a lunch room monitor at a grammar school.

She said normally everything goes very smoothly and the kids are so well behaved she doesn't have to take any body names or correct anyone misbehaving.

But there are exceptions. The other day she saw several boys very closely together at their lunch table. They all were smiling and they were focused on something. The daughter-in-law casually walked over to their table to see what they were so focused on. Which was very evident, once she got behind them.

Then she went directly over to the little girl at the next table and told her to put her legs together.

Slopes BBQ again


Yesterday we went shopping in Roswell and rode by the original Slopes Barbecue. Cars were in the parking lot and they looked like they were doing a fine business. We went in and had dinner for old time sakes. And, if we could work it in, complain about the closing of their Woodstock restaurant.

The cashier, a lady at the elderly lady at the cashier carefully listens to you as you give your order, then over her glasses she eyes balls you as she tells you how much money you owe her. As we were pulling out our money we asked her why they closed down the Slopes Barbecue in Woodstock. In so many words she said, “Wait a minute! That wasn’t us! That was a place we franchised out.” With us still in focused over with her glasses below her eyes. She sort of reminded me of the no-nonsense lady in the Office Max commercial.

I think she is the wife of the owner of Slopes Barbecue.

The owner was busy hawking samples out in the dinning room. He came by twice handing out tasty biscuits and once handing out ribs. The two sample ribs were delicious. I asked him did he have a store in Marietta (I heard that he did). He said no, he had one in Roswell, (where we were), Alpharetta, and they are building places in Cartersville and Cumming, and maybe Acworth.

Just to watch his expression I should have asked him how do you get to the one in Roswell.

Friday, March 23, 2007

The Invisible Man Strikes Again!

Or, more correctly, The Invisible Man is overlooked again.

The East Cobb Neighbor is a free paper published by the Marietta Journal weekly, made up mostly of stories that have already appeared in their paper. I think it is mostly to get a little more mileage out of their stories and the excuse for more advertising. It is delivered every Thursday.

For many years we received The East Cobb Neighbor, then about six months ago, we quit receiving it.

Yesterday evening while taking the garbage can to the street I saw that all five other houses had The East Cobb Neighbor sitting in their driveway that the delivery person had just rode by and tossed.

Five out of six houses on our street received the free paper. We didn’t.

Which only makes sense, how can you deliver a paper to a house if your mind blocks the house and its residents?

Changes! %&*#@*&%!!!!

When I entered on about an hour ago to do add a little more to an entry I was working on Google informed me I was working with a new system, as of NOW!

It is just tough if I am slow picking up new systems and habits.

I had it where one could wander off the street, so to speak, and put a comment on it. Now, I have no idea how to change that back like the way it was.

It is irritating when you get used to the habits and shortcuts of one system, then, you are being tossed in the middle of another system.

And the posting I was working on is gone. And worse of all, I forgot what I was working on.... getting old isn't fun.

Rebecca, The Person Who Never Was




There was a little girl who never was. She had a name, a mother (we don’t know who her father was). She lived in her grandparents house with her brother, grandparents, a bunch of cousins, uncles, and aunts. However, she didn’t exist. We created her and later cast her aside…. Poof!

We made a wrong turn in our research. Thelma, an elderly distance cousin had a reputation for always being right on family research. She lived in Franklin, North Carolina. One time she told me where my ancestor William Trammell, Revolutionary War soldier, was buried, or by all logic he had to buried in the Franklin First Methodist Church in one certain grave but she could not read the marker. I drove up and we managed to read the marker, Thelma was right. As she always was.

When she told me that my great grandfather William Trammell/Hunter, had a younger sister, named Rebecca, the same as their mother I believed her. She had a good track record. I even found little Rebecca on the 1850 Macon County Census, and was related to the head of household, Jacob B. Trammell, as granddaughter.

Thelma also told me little Rebecca Trammell, when she grew up married Posey C. Wild’s son. Again, it appeared she knew what she was talking about, Posey had a daughter-in-law named Rebecca that was about the same age as Rebecca Trammell, William’s sister.

Another Trammell researcher told me that was wrong, the Rebecca that married Posey’s son was Rebecca Bryson. I humored them – sure it was, I said. Then I found a marriage record that showed Rebecca Bryson marrying J.M. Wild, December 6, 1866. Whoops! By this time Thelma was dead.

Then I thought, “Now what?” What happened to little Rebecca Trammell, William’s sister. Hours of researched show that William’s sister never existed. Little Rebecca Trammell on the 1850 census was the illegitimate daughter of Zilpha Trammell, who was the daughter of Jacob B. Trammell.


Click on the above to enlarge it to be able to read it.

The above is the top half of page 3 of Jacob B. Trammell’s estate papers when he died in 1860. It lists all his heirs. The above reads, “… his grandson, William Trammell, who represents his daughter Rebecca, deceased, of North Carolina…” It took me almost 30 years to realize that if William had a sister named Rebecca she would be mentioned here, probably as “his granddaughter, who represents his daughter Rebecca, deceased…” The real living granddaughter Rebecca Trammell, was not mentioned because her mother was alive, thus the heir stopper in that flow… make sense?

Rebecca Trammell, sister of William Hunter/Hunter Trammell never was.

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Rally Around the Flag, Boys!


My friend El Postino has an excellent editorial on his blog about Loving America or Leaving It. According to some, if you love America then you should be against anybody saying anything against the U.S. of A. So, if you love America you are against Freedom of Speech? El Postino puts it in better perspective than I do.

I think people should have the right to try to make it better and still "Love It". Good post.

Another History Blog!


For quiet a while now I have been visiting Another History Blog by Professor David Parker daily. Out of pure laziness I did not have the professor’s blog listed as a favorite. The way I visited him was first visit the Elementary School Teacher’s Georgia On My Mind, who has his blog listed as one of her favorites, and jump over to his from there.

David Parker* has an excellent site. He is a history professor at Kennesaw University near Marietta. And by the name of the site it dwells on history. He is a very enjoyable read. He also brings up other thought provoking matters, but always falls back on history.

I always feel I am more of a learned person after I finish reading a new history entry from him. And the good part there are no finals or tuition. Of course, you don’t get credit hours either….



*Not to be confused with Spiderman's Peter Parker.

Do You Know Your Readers?


As a blogger have you ever wondered who make up your readers or audience? Do you have mythical characters that you conjured up that you write for or do you have certain humans in mind when you write? You probably want to please your audience or at least stimulate them to come back for more.

So what is your audience/readers comprised of? Right or left wing radicals? Gender? Average age? Income? The type of vehicle they have? I have don’t know and don’t want to know – I might feel intimidated.

I write for me. I am the only one I know I can please anyway, so why not charm myself?

I think about half my audience I know in one way or the other, as old friends, new friends, or immediate family who keep coming back for more.

The ones that I don’t are what I think as the ghosts. They are out there in cyberspace darkness watching in their own silent way. I get the trembles even thinking about them.

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

A Picture to Well Represent..


Recently Anna and I were discussing how people pick pictures for obituaries for the newspaper. They seem to always be much younger than the deceased was when he/she died. It may be an old man 79 years old and the picture of him shows a young dashing Navy officer. Or, maybe a lady that died might have died at age 91, but I bet the picture will look much younger.

We also discussed did we want a picture to represent us to be published in the paper with our obituary or not, and if so, which picture. I told her the one with me with Smiley "Frog Milhouse" Burnette (above) would be just fine.

A Changing Family


Me on the left and Tony H. on our first scout camping trip.

Yesterday I mentioned Mike. Mike was the one that fell through a floor at the construction First Methodist Annex and somehow got a nail or some kind of metal rod through his foot.

Mike was part of an interesting family. He was the oldest of three children. He had a brother named George that was about a year younger, and a sister named M who was about four or five years younger.

They lived in a old house next to the First Methodist Annex that was being built. They had recently moved there from Macon. They were sort of outsiders. They were Catholic which was not a very popular religion in Marietta, Georgia, in the early to mid 1940s.

They belonged to Saint Joseph Catholic Church.

My oldest sister was the same age a Mike and George was just about a year older than I, so we played a lot together and later when we graduated from playing we hung-out around a lot together.

When I was 7 we moved from living a block from them to Manget Street across from Larry Bell Park. Within a year the family of Mike and George moved to Glover Street, around the corner from us – still being about the same distance from us a before.

Their family was very religious. They did not believe in going to the movie on Sunday. One time Mike was about to hit George with the Bible in our living room and suddenly they realized what the weapon was and they did all kinds of crosses across the chest and I’m sure the priest heard about it the next time they were confessing.

The whole family had black hair. The father worked at Lockheed. I watched him transformed from a black headed man to a salt and pepper headed man to a white haired man. Sometime during the hair transformation he bought a horse. They kept it across the street, down a little dirt drive, about where the Cobb County Board of Education is now on Glover Street. We rode the horse a lot. Shortly after the horse the father bought a big tractor. After the horse and after the tractor I think the old man thought he needed some acreage to put his toys on. He bought a 100 acres in West Cobb, someplace near Macland Road, if I remember correctly.

They had a barn in the back of their yard. For a while they kept the horse in it until they made arrangements to rent the pasture. The barn was just a few feet from the fence on the side of their yard. And on the other side of the fence was a Baptist Church which was facing Manget Street - the get down and roll and holler kind of church. For a while on Sunday nights in the summer we enjoyed climbing up on the barn and sit on the roof, slanting down, where we had almost a birds eye view of the Church services and their activities. We got a big kick out of watching them and I got to see my uncle and his wife do some gospel singing.

Mike never joined the scouts but George did. He joined Troop 132, which was Saint Joseph’s Catholic Church’s troop. A year or so later I joined the same troop.

On a Boy Scout camping trip out to his family’s land in West Cobb George, one of the “old salts” of the troop by then, took my sleeping bag and hoisted it up on the flag pole and shot it full of shotgun buckshot – I just remembered that, with a grimace.

I'm 3rd from the left. I think the pole between me and Tony H. is the pole my sleeping bag was sent up and shot full of holes.

Their mother caught their father having an affair with a woman he worked with. She kicked him out of the house. But as strongly religious as they were, they didn’t get a divorce, he and the woman just lived in sin in a trailer on the property hr bought out in the country, with nothing but woods, not even running water.

As years past we all changed.

Mike owned an antique shop and had male friend that lived with him. Presently there is some secrecy about his health and even if he is alive or dead.

Their sweet innocent little sister M became a Playboy Bunny waitress at the Playboy Club in Atlanta. The last I heard (two years ago) she was a cashier at a convenience store.

George became a deputy sheriff. One day while on jury duty I saw him transporting a prisoner from the county jail to a courtroom outside between the buildings. We stopped and talked a few minutes and caught each other up. The prisoner asked George did he mind if he smoked and George told him go ahead and continued talking. George had gained weight and his hair was white – he looked like a clone of his father.

When George died my sister went to pay her respects at the funeral home. She asked how Mike was doing and somebody in George’s family said, “We don’t speak.”

That is a shame. They were very close brothers as pre-teens. Time marches on.


Charles, who is a contractor now, James who worked for Ford Motor Co and probably got laid off (the plant was closed last year), and the Invisible Man.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

HAPPY SPRING TIME!!


MAD cover #28, July 1956

My Dad the Witch Doctor


Side view of the old 1st Methodist Annex/Barnes Building, where the accident happened.

My father was something of a doctor. He seemed to have known all the old fashion cures and remedies. He applied his knowledge frequently. Once when I was 4 or 5 years old my legs were covered with pus filled bumps, or risons. My father went to his parents’ house, they had a big black walnut tree in the back, he got a good load of black walnut pod-shells which had a black gooey substance. He rubbed my legs with that, and whamo! All cured.

Near our home, in about 1945 or 46, the First Methodist Church of Marietta Annex* was being built. When the workers went home and on weekends the partial complete building was an excellent dangerous play ground. It had endless corridors and rooms to play in. My memory might be playing tricks on me, but I think I remember one boy, named Mike, a couple of years older than me, fell through an opening on the second floor and landed on the first level on a nail. He didn’t break any bones but the nail went through his foot. He was afraid to tell his parents because they forbidden him to play in the building. He went to my father for medical attention. Daddy cleaned the wound not with alcohol but with kerosene. He is still alive, as far as I know, and his foot healed fine.

Many times I saw Daddy at the stove sticking a needle into the blue flame. He was sterilizing his instrument to operate. He was good at pricking wounds full of pus and extracting little objects off the inside of eye-lids.

He could even stop my hiccups. He would sat me down, look me in the eye and tell me he wanted to hear my hiccups for to hiccup for him. I couldn’t. I was cured.

I saw him do other tricks to cure, but forgot in time what. As children we just didn’t go to the doctor unless we had a broken arm or a deep gash in our flesh – which both happened.

I wondered if he ever thought of the fact that he was a law enforcer and he was breaking the law practicing medicine without a license. Heck, he wasn’t dealing with any kind of medicine; he was just practicing, successfully, home remedies.

I saw him apply do other tricks to cure, but forgot in time what. As children we just didn’t go to the doctor unless we had a broken arm or a deep gash in our flesh – which both happened.



*Later the First Methodist would move across the Square and their beautiful church was torn down and became a parking lot. Office Sales and Service took over the Annex and used it for years and years. Office Sales and Service eventually went out of business and in time after Roy Barnes left the Governor’s office bought the building and transformed it in his law corporation office building with a gaudy front.

Monday, March 19, 2007

Martha Malcom Rollins (1951-2007)

My first cousin Anthony's wife Martha died Friday. Lately, it seems that this blog has had more than its share of deaths.

We went to the funeral home and the funeral. Martha was a grammar school teacher and an active church member. For several weeks she knew her time was ending soon.

She planned her own funeral. She had one of her sons play the piano at the service. The son is on musical scholarship in Rome and is to graduate soon. His music was beautiful. She died of ovarian cancer that should have been caught, if they knew the symptoms. She requested the symptoms be printed on her Memory card the funeral home hands out. She also requested that Anthony give tell the symptoms to the people attending the funeral, which Anthony did, with tears in his eyes.

In Martha's memory, here are the things to look out for:

Vague abdominal and pelvic discomfort.
Bloating.
Feeling of pressure in pelvic area.
Unexplained changes in bowel habits.
Unexplained weight gain or loss.
Feeling of fullness, even after a small meal.
Fatigue.
Pain during intercours.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

We Want Slopes Barbecue Back!!


I met Anna and her mother at Slopes Barbecue in Woodstock. They had been to a wedding shower and the plan was to meet and have dinner at Slopes, a place we have probably went on the average of once a month for the past four or five years. We drove up about the same time. Slopes Barbecue was closed. A sign was on the window they were very sorry, but they were now closed for good. Oh no! Another change in our lives!

We were stumped as to where to go eat then. I said it was not our last meal we did not have to put so much thought into it. We should have. We went to Captain D’s.

Captain D’s was messy, the help disorganized, and the food lousy. Two of our foods were served maybe five or ten minutes before the final plate was served. Two of the people that worked there argued in front of every one about the regular coffee and the decaffeinated coffee…. One of the them have been switching them. They just didn’t know any better.

We want Slopes back!

People Die or Change


A couple of years ago Anna gave me for Christmas a Arcadia Press book of pictures of Cobb County of days gone by. The above picture came from the book. It is a picture of Fisherman’s Grill Little League Team. The other day I was looking at it. The second kid on the left is/was Perry Parham. His father is the adult coach on the far right. Perry was about as good as you can get baseball player for his age. Perry played the first two seasons the Little League organization was in Marietta. So, did I, if you call sitting on the bench playing. I was on Southern Discount Team.

Perry was ran over and killed by a car. It was just at sundown. The accident was not far from where I lived and I remember seeing his blood all over the street after he was rushed to the hospital. Later, at the funeral home I came a little before other people came and sat with Perry alone. It was the first time I had to deal with someone my old age being dead and laid out in front of me.

The Little League field was named The Perry Parham Memorial Field.

After Perry’s older brother graduated from high school the family split up and they went their separate ways.

Yesterday, while emailing Marietta old trivia back and forth with an old friend John that I have known since the 8th grade in one he told me he was on Fisherman Grill Team with Perry Parham and his father.

I got out the picture and could not recognize John at such a young age, and sent him a copy of the picture asked which one was he… and he told me he was in the front center sitting next to Harry H. Harry was very easily recognizable and looks almost the same as he does today. And once John pointed himself out he looked just like the John I know, only a miniature version.

Saturday, March 17, 2007

HAPPY SAINT PATRICK'S DAY!


To me Saint Patrick’s Day is a day to wear green, pinch those who don’t and eat corn beef and cabbage.

Others have a far deeper relationship with Saint Patrick’s Day: To drink themselves into oblivion.

I did my corn beef and cabbage thing yesterday with a Rueben sandwich which had sauerkraut on it. And I don’t think the deli we were at served green Diet Coke, so I had to settle for a straw that hat tiny little green stripes on it.

I would go into what all the drinking and celebrating is about but I would just have to copy from two already excellent essays on Saint Patrick by Bill Reichart at his Provocative Church* and Sister Mary Martha.

*I already stole the Provocative Church’s St. Paddy’s stained glass window (above), that was enough.

Friday, March 16, 2007

How Low Can They Go?


The Georgia Carnival #6 is scrapping the bottom!

Just kidding, just kidding.

I have a posting in the latest issue – if that is what each time is called. In case you don’t know, the Georgia Carnival comes out twice a month (I think) and it has several interesting postings by different submitters of things from Georgia’s past or things that make Georgia unique. To be honest, I have not yet had a chance to read any this time – I just found out about my own. But based on The Georgia Carnival’s history I know the postings this time are as rich as ever. Check it out, you will glad you did because you will gain knowledge, wealth, and happiness (but you also have to some more requirements not mentioned here).

James Leslie "Pepper" Martin

James “Pepper” Martin of Marietta died Tuesday. He was age 84.

I did not realize it until I read his obituary this morning that we are possibly related. His mother was Annie Kuykendall. In my genealogy records I have Annie Kuykendall the daughter of Abraham and Martha Walker Kuykendall. Annie living dates were 1900 to 1961, so her dates would probably fit as the same as Pepper's mother would fit.

Pepper co-coached the Little League team I was on (Southern Discount) for two years with Romeo Hudgins.

Pepper seemed to be laid back, casual and soft spoken. He seemed happy to be in the background and let Romeo do all the shouting and threatening to fight aggressive parents and in general be the loudmouth of the team.

Pepper was also the sports announcer, aka “Voice of the Devils” for the Marietta High Football games for a many years on WFOM-AM radio.

Pepper also had a musical radio program on WFOM that he played mellow instrumentals. I think the name of that was “Candlelight Music With Pepper” or something similar. He also worked for Lockheed Aircraft.

His son was my son Rocky’s music director in the Sprayberry Band. Marietta is a small town among the natives.

Invest Now!


Our CEO – me.
(notice the authoritarian look? Not unlike Dick Chaney)

I am thinking about starting a new company with a branch in every major city. The product of this new company will be a school to teach professional people some bedside manners while promoting their services in a casual low-pressure manner.

The You-Might –Want-To- Consider School will be for dentists, chiropractors, doctors, and veterinarians. We will be opening up branches in all major cities.

This unique school will teach the independent professional business man how to casually submit to a customer/patient a situation that could be very serious and act nonchalant about it, for example the mechanic will tell his customer :”I noticed your brake lining is just about worn to the metal – you might want to consider having a brake job before your next mountain trip or even going down a hill… but if you don’t have to ever stop for red lights or stop signs it shouldn’t be a problem”.

Or, the dentist might say, “I noticed your crown is getting just a leeeetle bit lose. As long as you eat baby food and not smile you should be fine… but you might want to consider having it re-crowned.”.

The vet might say, “I can feel a big tumor deep inside your Collie’s ear. It might be okay, but to be on the safe side I think I would have a bucket dangle around her neck in case that thing should burst and all that blood and pus get all over your furniture… but some day you might want to consider letting us lance it for you – it would make her disposition much better too – but of course it is your decision.”

Also, included in the 6 week course is two full weeks of creative financing. Remember, you can make even more money if you get your patients/customers to sign up with a credit card with your picture on it!

So, why wait? be on the ground floor of this new company. I am thinking of having the pyramid system of investing. That way, you can even make more money by getting people under you to invest. If you don’t have the money to invest borrow it! If you have bad credit and can not qualify for a loan, then move along kid, you bother me.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Granny Foster


This is Anna’s grandmother Irene. She was born in Milton County* in 1895 and died in 1991 at age 95. She married Paul. Paul was a Singer Sewing Machine Salesman and repairman.

Paul died at the young age of 40, leaving Irene, age 39, to care for their four children. She worked in various ways to raise her children. Irene was a practical nurse, cared for children, and even picked up her husband’s tools and repaired Singer Sewing Machines. She made house calls.

They rented. During school year months she always found them a place to rent in downtown Marietta. In the summer months she would rent a place for her family out in the country so they could grow a big garden. Many times as we ride by an old house Irene’s daughter Marie (Anna’s mother) would say they used to live there, spots all over Marietta in and out of the city limits.

She got her children through hard times of the Depression and all four grew up and to be successful in their own fields of work, but frugal.

*Milton County is no more. It was absorbed by north Fulton, south Forsyth, and east Cherokee Counties.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

It's All About Me


Today was one of those days I hit the floor running. Well, maybe just walking to the coffee pot and then I sat in a stupor until the coffee kicked in – then the action started.

After Anna left for work I walked about 45 minutes and ran 18 minutes. It was great morning for it. It was a nice 50º with a slight breeze.

Then I cleaned up and put on my banker’s suit (I wore clean underwear). I also did not wear my ball cap. I noticed at one of the credit unions I go to there is a sign in the lobby to please remove your sun glasses and hats or caps before transacting business. That is so the monitor can get a better look at you.

Last week Anna and I both ordered glasses that is supposed to change to a darker shade if exposed to a well-lit situation. If you go out in the sun the glasses should turn dark and when you come inside they should lighten up. They haven’t came yet, but what if mine does just the reverse than it is suppose to in the bank. Are they going to wrestle me to the ground because my prescription glasses didn’t work?

My bank trip was to visit two credit unions we belong to and compare their interest rates on their Roth IRA CDs. And the winner would get my Roth IRA business for this year… well, actually last year, I am contributing to last year’s Roth IRA and have until April the 15th, but thought I better get it out of the way.

The second credit union paid 1% more than the first one. Duh! I picked the second one. The teller gave me some forms to fill out, so I went over to a table and filled them out. One of the blanks sort of stumped me. It said “Consent of Spouse and signature”. So, I left it blank.

I went back to the window. There were a row of about six tellers and this time a different one told me to step to her window. She told me my wife had to sign there. I looked confused, I said, “Really?” and in her authoritative firm voice she said, “Really.”

I thought I would carry the form home and get Anna to sign it and return the next day – about ten miles from home = 20 miles round trip.

I dropped by the library to drop off some books and some lady with a double carriage with a baby in each one, and three stair step children tagged along behind her, the first one holding the back of her pants and the next one smaller was holding on to the his sibling, and a little one, slightly older than a toddler was loose like the tip of a whip. I wish I had my camera.

After I left the library and walking back to the car, I thought why not call Anna and ask her to meet me outside where she works and get the form signed. I called and it worked out. It was lunch time, so I bought us some sandwiches and we ate at a cement table in the shade in her park-like office park.

I went back to the credit union and this time a third teller told me to come up. I told her if this keeps us I would get to meet all them before the day was over. She nodded but didn’t burst into giggles or anything.

She told me, “Just so you will know” she said, she was going to deposit the check I wrote her and put it into my savings and tomorrow the main office will take the money out of my savings and put it into the 2006 Roth IRA. I said, “Like rob Peter to pay Paul.” She nodded, without giggling.

I could say that I had already robbed Peter because the check I wrote her was our checking account with the other credit union, but I didn’t…. I didn’t want to hit her too much with my wit, she might not could have taken it.

Today is Wednesday and senior discount day at Krogers and Publix. Publix was more on the way home, I decided to go to Publix for a change.

There is a carry-out-little-man at this Publix that is challenged. After you talk to him a few minutes you realize he is challenged. He is always very nice and polite and it seems mostly talks about himself…. Like the whole world is waiting to hear the latest about how he hurt his arm, or how far he has to ride his bike to work, or about helping his father do something…. It is always about him….. doesn’t he know, IT is all about me? Hasn’t he read my blog?

The last time I was at that Publix when I was in the parking lot going back to my car I overheard a young man chew the challenged person out. He was so embarrassed he just looked down while the man fussed at him. The only thing I heard was, “First of all, you don’t tell me what I need to do!!! Understand?” I was afraid the challenged person would quit out of embarrassment or even get fired. I was glad to see he was still there.

Then, at home and the groceries unloaded I tried again to get my prescription renewed or represcribed. My prescription for one of my heart medicines is about to run out. I have about 23 more pills. When you consider that I do mine by Blue Cross mail order the time is closing in. Once I get the prescription I have to mail it to BC/BS and they in turn have to mail it back. I went a week ago to the doctor’s office and asked to speak to the nurse but the receptionist took all the information and said the nurse would gladly mail me a new prescription. That was a week ago. So, today, when I checked on the mail and it wasn’t there I tried calling the nurse only to get her voice mail, so I left a message, which I doubt if she will respond, she never has before. Maybe the nurse is doing a state-of-the-art stress test on me.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

The Moravians in Murray County, Ga.

I generally have several county history books that I rotate around reading (you don’t want to hear of my book reading system). One of the county history books I am reading is Murray County (Ga) Heritage.

My Petty, Pullen, Ridley, and Bookout ancestors arrived in Murray County in the middle of the 19th century just when the country was getting settled by white men. In fact, one of my ancestors, Jesse Bookout arrived before most white men of the county and worked for Chief Joseph Vann. I think that caused some kind of ruckus because then, by Georgia law, no white man could work for an Indian.

Chief Joseph Vann was wealthy. He had a large plantation and slaves. He made a deal with the Moravian to start a mission in the nearby community of Spring Place. Chief Vann put up the initial money and land for the mission and the Moravians would educate the local Indians and give medical aid to the slaves. And the Moravians would get to try to turn the Cherokee Indians into Christians.

The Moravian Mission building still exists today. But now it looks like a private residence, with laundry hanging on a clothes line, the best I can tell by riding by.

The head Moravian Missionary and his wife, the Rev. John and Anna Rosel Kleist Gambold kept a journal. There are some interesting entries: Most the dates were not written, only the year. By the fact the that the Trail of Tears is mentioned in the journal tells me it was either added or the whole journal was created by going through the records at a much later date.

Also, if you the read the journal below keep in mind there are more than one generations of Chief Vann’s; and God’s Acre is a cemetery the Moravians started.

I did not even list as much as a quarter of the entries, only the ones that I thought were interesting:

1806: Many Indians coming for food, 8 pupils living at mission and 5 at Vann’s.

1808: Rev. Gambold’s brother Joseph (born 1753) sent to help with farming. Missionaries held in great esteem by Cherokees.

1810: The widowed Margaret Vann, a year after her husband’s murder, becomes the first Christian convert of among the Cherokees.

1811: June: grain scare, no mills operating.

1812: Margaret Vann married Joseph Crutchfield. One of the students, Dawnee age 11 dies.

1813: Mrs. Littlefield, daughter of Revolutionary War General Nathaniel Greene and Mrs. Greenbold’s former student visited.

1815: June: A big ballgame was held at Spring Place. There was such a rush of Indians we could not have service…. It resembled a battleground…. Around 30 drunk and injured left behind.

1816: Oct. 15: The child of Churchields’ Negress died of whooping cough and was buried beside the grave of little Dawnee.

1818: April 11: Had a talk with Joseph Vann about card playing. July: Mounted postman stopped here the first time. March 14: Wawli who had earlier caused trouble, joined followed soon by her husband, Cement Vann. Given the Christian name Mary Christiana, “Mother Vann” later went on the Trail of Tears and is said to have lived to be 130 years old. Also in March, then secretary of War John C. Calhoun sent a $100 donation.

1825: Bible was translated into Cherokee along with Moravian hymnal and liturgies. June: Many visit Mineral Springs at Sumach. October: Big ballgame about two miles from here, a certain sorcerer, who was accused of having brought on rain was tried and thrashed.

1828: Jan 1: Joseph Vann arranged a race in his field near God’s Acre. Many Indians have gathered with the usual amount of Whiskey. Aug 15: Ballgame in neighborhood and for all things for Indian women. Their conduct was not decent.

1829: Dec. 29: Vann’s overseer Nicholson requested a plot in God’s Acre for his wife. Also buried there was our own Negro Brother Christian Jacob.

1830: July: Horse race! Indians rummage through cabins and stripped fruit trees. Indians are working gold mines, but the relations between whites and Indians were deteriorating.

Lifestyle Changes for Wild Critters


Yesterday morning I was taking my son’s dog for a walk. We are her keeping for a couple of days while my son is out of town.

At a corner in the neighborhood a car stopped and the window rolled down. It was a lady I have known for many years. Our paths kept crossing. Years ago my neighbor kept her children when she was a flight attendant and she is the ex-sister-in-law of Joe, my deaf ex-co-worker, whose dog was mauled by a bear while he slept undisturbed up in the mountains, and worse of all, his all his three children were killed in a single car wreck because his wife tried made a wrong choice in turning. Which was a turning point in their lives.

There is a post someplace on this blog about poor deaf Joe.

She asked me had I seen any coyotes. I told her no.
She told me saw a coyote eat her cat in her backyard the other day.

You would think coyotes are creatures of the western plains. Maybe that used to be, but they have expanded their business I guess. About six or seven years ago James Bentley complained about all the coyotes on Blackjack Mountain. He and his siblings owned a good portion of the mountain and he used it for farming cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs. I think the coyotes killed some of his livestock more than several times.

A friend of mine saw a coyote two days ago on his daily walk in south Cobb near the only covered bridge in the county.

I think this is a new life-change we will have to adjust to. The more wilderness we humans bulldoze away and build shopping centers and subdivisions we are driving the wild life out in the open. This county is seeing more foxes and coyotes than ever before and last year even a few black bear found themselves in neighborhoods. The wildlife is having to make habitat adjustments and so do we.

The lady sitting in her car asked me did I see the picture of the cat on the telephone pole down the street. I said I did. She said that looked just like the cat the saw the coyote eating on anther day, also in her back yard.

The said she called the number under the picture and told the people there were wild coyotes roaming around and they might have eaten their cat. She said of course she didn’t tell them she saw the coyotes eat a cat that looked like their cat. Never the less, I bet that was received as a strange telephone call.

Monday, March 12, 2007

Roller Skating Rink

On the CBS Sunday Morning News program they had an article about a skating rink in New Jersey closing. A certain week night, Tuesday – I think, is a night for the elderly to come to the rink and skate. They have been skating there since it opened in 1964. Many of the old men and women with their crutches and walkers turned into graceful swans once they were in their roller-skate shoes and in the rink.

That brought back memories.

Back in high school, on Roswell Road, across from Varner’s Drive-In was a skating rink. We didn’t frequent it much but did a few times. I think maybe one reason we were shy in that area because Marietta High School students were the dominant ones there. It was in the area of Sprayberry High School, so their students probably ruled.

Once one friend of mine saw some cutesy girls, probably Sprayberry students and he tried to skate by them to impress them with his turns… things didn’t work out like that, he could not turn and plowed directly into the rinks railing.

After we had kids a rink not far from us had a skating party for the grade school Rocky attended on a certain afternoon every so often.

The kids had fun and it was enjoyable to watch and the parents mingled with each other in the seats. Of course the seats were in the form of small tables by a small snack bar. It was a win-win situation to allow the parents in.

Rocky and Adam got pretty good. There were also a few fights by the bullies, so we had to keep a hawk’s eye on all the kids mingling and ready to pounce.

A couple of times I skated, which I haven’t skated for many years, I was amazed how easy I could skate and glide along, making the curves, and go around and around, like the little rats in a race in the movie “Stalag 17”.

This was in the mid 80s. The rink played rock and roll from the 60s. I think they played that kind of music because it is has that rhythm to spunk things up and also because the parents probably preferred that kind of music in a place like that and we were the spenders.

I think on any night the skating rink was opened to anyone who wanted to skate but on certain nights they called it a certain school night, for instance Kincaid School Night…. That would insure that you would get plenty of kids from that school, and the next night another school, and so on.

I noticed that every time I was there a man came that looked to be between 25 and 30 years of age. He had a conservative haircut, tall, long and long legged. He was great skating to the rock and roll music. If Chubby Checker was singing “The Twist” this guy would be out skating a twisting, sometimes raising on leg high and twisting that one leg back and forth with the music as he sped by the sitting area. He did other dances while spinning around on his skates. He was a one-man show.

Later, near the concession stand I was getting something to drink and so was he. I believe in complementing people when I feel they did something good so I complemented the innovative skate-dancer. He looked directly through me and went on as if I had not said anything.

Is this another case of being invisible? Or he might be challenged and his mother told him not to talk to strangers. Either way, he did not need my complements.

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Rules and Regulations


I hate to be a stickler for rules. Vampires have guild lines they must follow, for instance they are deeply offended by a cross, another rule you can not see them in a mirror, they are allergic to garlic and/or sunshine, and the there are more regulations they strictly adhere to.

And the same about Werewolves. They have their rules and regulations also. One is if you shoot one with a silver bullet it will kill them. Another one is that they only sprout hair and turn into werewolves during a full moon.

And I think this transformation happens at midnight. Now, this is what I am wondering about: If the midnight rule applies what happens when Daylight Savings time shifts the time an hour? Do they go by the old time or the Daylight time. I know it is just a technicality but still, it would be nice to know.

Spring Forward for Forward Critters

Have you leaped forward? You got your clocks, watches, recording devices, and whatever else upped one hour? Good for you!

Now, I think, some of your electronic things, like recording devices and computers you will have to go back in a few weeks and fall backwards one hour. When the old programmed daylight savings time and date arrives these gadgets should leap forward another hour. Then, we will have to correct it. Thanks congress for confusing things life even more.

I suppose it is for the best… to make hay in the sunshine so to speak. To squeeze more workable hours in the day.

I remember when I was a time keeper for the post office every time change there were many people late. Some were one hour late and some were two hours late (they set their time pieces the opposite way).

As I typed the above an aggressive squirrel had just made the most of daylight savings time slogan of "Leap Forward". I mentioned in a previous blog I now have a bird feeder on a den window that by logic only birds should be able to get to. It is two floors up, with no first floor below. In order to get to the feeder a squirrel would have to "leap forward" in the air from our deck to a window ledge then jump to another window ledge then another one then he will be where at his target point. And the sunflower seed is already shelled for the little rodent bastard.

I heard a noise and not knowing what it was continued to type. Then it occurred to me. A squirrel had made that leap. I jumped up and ran into the den and just as I was hoping not, greedy smart squirrel was enjoying himself on those shelled sunflower seeds. I knocked on the window and made a face at him and he leaped to the ground and scampered off. I am hoping I will see him limping around with his arm in a sling or leg in a cast or using crutches or something. But I know he will be back.



I think I am going to add spice to the seed. Hot peppers! The experts say the birds can’t taste it but the squirrels can’t stand the spicy seeds. I’ll show the little self-centered fur-ball!

Saturday, March 10, 2007

The Clermont and the Entertainer April March



Here is an old post card of the Clermont Hotel on Ponce de Leon Avenue in Atlanta. The Clermont was up the hill eastward from the Sears building.

On the ground floor of the Clermont was a lounge. Which was uniquely named The Clermont Lounge.

I also found a newspaper ad for the Clermont Lounge in 1968, which was 3 years after out visit.

In 1965 my friend Rueben visited me. We were stationed together in Lakehurst, New Jersey. He had just got out of the Navy and he stayed with my family and me for a week or so to check out the job market. He went back into the Navy and made a career of it. He is now an English teacher and reads this blog in Bangkok.

Hi Rueben!

One night when he was visiting he and I went night clubbing. We went to the Clermont Lounge. There, a lady singer sung sultry songs. I don’t remember the details but do remember she was a good entertainer and good singer. Her name was April March.
I think at the time she was fairly well known as a singer… or at least the man who introduced her said so… said she sung for the best, he might have she entertained kings and queens in Europe, maybe even the Pope.

After she sung a few songs she took a break. Reuben asked our waiter to ask Ms March to join us, we would like to buy her a drink.

I thought, “What the shit?”

Now what? What if she wants the most expensive drink in the place? Who pays for the next round? I thought there was no need in worrying about it, she wouldn’t come anyway.

Then there she was standing in front of us. She sat down and she ordered a drink. We chit chatted about nothing in particular and she probably saw this was getting nowhere, thanked us for the drink and in her own way, said, “Break time over – thanks!” and went back entertaining.

I ran a google image search on April March and discovered there is a lady by the name of April March, who is evidently a popular singer, but this is was born April 1965. She would have been two about 5 or 6 months old, so I don’t think this is the one we bought a drink for. However, there was another April March with only one picture shown, she was a well-known exotic dancer and/or a stripper. This may or may not have been the April March we had a drink with. Now that I remember it she did dance sole and may have belted out a few erotic songs – but I’m not sure.

Bob Up The River Again


Bob, Here Yesterday, Gone Today

Just the other day while Bob was clanging on something metal in his yard as I rode by him on my bike. I didn’t know and he didn’t know he was again, about to be somebody’s bitch.

That was Wednesday.

Thursday evening my 85 year old neighbor called me and asked me what was new and I told him nothing I knew of. Then, satisfied he had the news cinched he poured it on.

He said he was talking to Joe earlier that day (Thursday). They were discussing important things in life such as Golden Coral’s food bar and giving their personal opinions what was good and what sucked. Joe told Jim he was going to be a father in 5 weeks. We knew he was going to be a father, now, we knew the time.

Joe also told Jim that the law came and got Bob Wednesday for parole violation. He would be in the big house for 9 months.

I asked Jim what kind of parole violation and Jim said he forgot to ask.

That means he will return home around Christmas time. That is good! That will be good material for a heart warming Christmas blog posting!

Friday, March 09, 2007

Pssst! Wanna Buy a Book?

Today was 11 hours of gallivanting and shopping.

The most fun and interesting thing we did were to go the library book sale at a big building at the Cobb County Fairgrounds. We spent over two hours there. It is interesting to watch the people who came to this book sale. They were a quiet bunch… no fights or anything, like a one day sale at Macy’s. Many people filled big boxes of books they bought. The hardbound books were a buck each.

We bought ten or eleven books. I got LINCOLN and 1876 by Gore Vidal; LIES AND THE LYING LIARS WHO TELL THEM by Al Franklin; and THE GIRL WHO LOVED TOM GORDON by Stephen King. I also gathered up about 20 comic books that I thought would probably be a quarter each (paperbacks were a quarter and 50¢) but they were a buck each so I put them back.

Anna will have the books she bought read in no time. As slow as I read I will even have less hair (but more gray) when I finish. For now, I guess I’ll just add them to my stack of unread books in the basement.

Goodness Is Bad For The Neighborhood


Every time I drive by this house I always look at it as good as I can while whizzing by. A day or two ago while riding my bike I stopped in front of the house and looked as long as I wanted and even took a picture (it will last longer).

A couple of years ago there was an article in the paper about the house. The house is a haven for the homeless and drifters. The owner inherited a few millions dollars and the house. He opened the doors for anybody who has no place to go.

He has a heart of gold.

I remember the article said it has a large number of bedrooms, maybe something like 30. And you can tell, if you get close enough, the house has many add-ons.

The house is painted yellow and at night is usually lit up, like a beacon for the homeless.

If this house was in the center of Marietta you would probably hear nothing but good about the man who owns and runs it. The house is not in downtown Marietta. It is out in the rolling hills rural area with expensive upper middle class houses near by. The house is on the edge of a lake. Sharing the lake front property, across the way, are the upper income houses. They are not real happy with the situation and have tried to prevent the man doing good and sharing his wealth.

So far the man is winning. But someday, I think the commissioners or a judge will be bought off and shoo away the man and his establishment. Money talks.

Thursday, March 08, 2007

My Oldest Sister and Me


Technically, because my other sister was about twelve years away from existing, that was my only sister - then.

That was a long long time ago when I was a blond.

The Royal Peacock and Ike & Tina Turner


I got of the Navy in July 1965.

We haven’t seen the movie “Dream Girls” but from the trailers Eddie Murphy reminds me of a little outing back in July 1965.

I was only back at my parents home about two weeks when two of my old friends, *Monty and John came by. They wanted to go to Atlanta to The Royal Peacock Club.

The Royal Peacock Club was a black owned and controlled club. I have never been there but heard of it many times. The all-black club allowed teenagers there. We were no longer teenagers, but I suppose we still had that teenager frame of mind.

Monty said The Royal Peacock had Ike and Tina Turner there for a week. I asked who were Ike and Tina Turner.

“You are kidding – right?” Monty said and sung a few words of their recent top 40 hit. Now, I remembered. M used to do a good job with his renditions of top 40 songs, you should have heard his “Mona Lisa”.

We drove to Atlanta to the all black area of the downtown area. Monty had been there before and knew where it was at. Before we went in we went into a whiskey store and bought some bourbon. We then went upstairs to the famous night club. We were the only white people there.

The Royal Peacock did not have a liquor pouring license. They had a covered charge, sold set-ups along with a big bowl of ice, and food from the restaurant next door.

So! That is why they waited on teenagers I knew so openly several years ago. They didn’t sell them booze, they sold them set ups.

Ike and Tina Turner and the Ikettes came into the spotlight and put on a fantastic high energy show. I sat there transfixed on the action. Tina Turner and the Ikettes were dressed in very revealing and clinging sparkling clothes. The show they put on had the house rocking.

As I remember there was not stage and we were fairly close to them – they were right up in our face.

The Royal Peacock had no dancing license. You had to sit in your chair and rock and beat on the table as they took us higher.

The Ikettes reminded me of the Supremes, only sexier, and the backup singers in the movie “Ray”, and I suppose also like the singettes in "Dream Girls".
they were sexy, but not as sexy and bountiful as the lead singer Tina Turner. She dominated the show.

Ike Turner had his on special talents also. He played an electric guitar and handled it in a very erotic fashion. He also did some wicked tongue work with the each loud strum of his guitar.

They put on a good show.


I found this picture on Google of the interior of The Royal Peacock. It looked about right.

*You might remember Monty from a previous blogs on March 29 2006 and August 27 2006. That is when we found ourselves with one heck of a problem at The Golden Horn Coffee House (Beaniks) about 6 years before. To read it, if you haven't read it before go to the top bar and type in "Golden Horn" in the "search this blog" blank.

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Caution: SCAM IN PROGRESS


I must have sucker written all over me. I received both of these baited scam hooks the same day (Joyce & Rachel: If they are any “takers” remember, I get 10% finder’s fee):

(email address here)

Dear Attn:,
It is my pleasure to write you after much consideration since telephone communication can not be suitable enough to communicate to you at first.
Being the only Daughter of my father, late Michael Atomu from LIBERIA, My father was limited liability Cocoa and Gold merchant in LIBERIA before his untimely death.
After his business trip to GHANA ,to negotiate on a cocoa and Gold business he wanted to invest in Ghana.
A Week after he came back from GHANA, he was attacked with my mother by unknown assassins, which my mother died instantly but my father died after five days in a private hospital on that faithful afternoon.
I didn't know that my father was going to leave me after I had lost my mother.
But before he DIED, it was as if he knew he was going to die. my father, MAY HIS SOUL REST IN PERFECT PEACE he disclosed to me that he deposited the sum of $18,000,000,00 US Dollars (EIGHTEEN MILLION DOLLARS) IN GHANA .
That the money was ment for his cocoa and Gold company he wanted to establish in Ghana.
Though, according to my father he deposited the money in security company and handed to me all the relevant documents of the deposited Box and instructed me to seek for a reliable and trust worthy partner for a life time investment abroad.
Now I have succeeded in locating the security company here in Ghana. The name of the security company is Coastal Security and Finance Company in GHANA .
Therefore, I am soliciting for your assistance to help me get this Box out from the security company. If possible you can come over here in Ghana and transfer the fund to your account so that we can invest it in any meaningful/lucrative business in your country because this is my only hope and source of livelihood.
I am anxiously waiting to hear from you so that we can discuss the modalities of this transaction.
All informations needed is your personal telephone / fax number , your home address and your personal photo .
Please kindly contact me through the above email address: joyce_4luv2007@yahoo.com immediately for more discussion .
Thanks for your kind attention.
Yours sincerely
Joyce Atomu.



DEAR BELOVED IN CHRIST ,

CALVARY GREETINGS IN THE NAME OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. I AM MRS EVANGELIST REACHEL MIKE , A WIDOW TO LATE JOSEPH MIKE. I AM 56 YEARS OLD, I AM NOW A NEW CHRISTAIN CONVERT, SUFFERING FROM LONG TIME CANCER OF THE BREAST, FROM ALL NDICATION MY CONDITIONS IS REALLY DETERIORATING AND IT IS QUITE OBVIOUS THAT I WONT LIVE MORE THAN 3 MONTHS, ACCORDING TO MY DOCTORS, THIS IS BECAUSE THE CANCER STAGE HAS GOTTEN TO A VERY BAD STAGE. MY LATE HUSBAND KILLED DURING THE U.S RAID AGAINST TERRORISM IN AFGHANISTAN, AND DURING THE PERIOD OF OUR MARRIAGE WE CULDNT PRODUCE ANY CHILD.MY LATE HUSBAND WAS VERY WEALTHY AND AFTER HIS DEATH, I INHERITED ALL HIS BUSINESS AND WEALTHE THE DOCTORS HAS ADVISED ME THAT I MAY NOT LIVE FOR MORE THAN 3 MONTHS, SO I NOW DECIDED TO DEVIDE THE PART OF THIS WEALTH, TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHURCH IN AFRICA, AMERICA, ASIA, AND EUROPE.

I AM WILLING TO DONATE THE SUM OF ($8.5,000.000.00 MD U.S DOLLARS), TO THE LESS PRIVILEGED.SO I WILL LIKE YOU TO GET THIS FUND AND USE IT TO HELP THE POOR AND THE LESS PRIVILEGED ALL OVER THE WORLD.

I HONESTLY PRAY THAT THIS MONEY WHEN TRANSFERRED WILL BE SURE FOR THE SAID PURPOSE, BECAUSE I HAVE COME TO FIND OUT THAT WEALTH ACQUISITION WITHOUT CHRIST IS VANITY. MAY THE GRACE OF OUR LORD JESUS THE LOVE OF GOD AND THE FELLOWSHIP OF GOD BE WITH YOU AND YOUR FAMILY I AWAIT YOUR URGENT REPLY SOON ON MY PRIVET EMAIL ADD,(evangelist_email address here).

YOURS IN CHRIST.

EVANGELIST REACHEL MIKE.

Three and half people Walking Up the Street


Picture this: The time is about 3:30pm and you are looking down our street. The back drop is a cluster of McMansions.

Walking up the street are three people walking. Two of the people walking are male. The one trying to keep up is a pregnant female. The two males are talking busily. They pay no attention to the pregnant female struggling to keep up. She gives up and falls back where a good distance is between her and the two males.

One of the males looks to be twice the size of the other male. Ahhh – Now they are closer and they are recognizable. The small one that looks much like Cheech when Cheech was part of the Cheech and Chong duo, is Bob. The bigger one is his lug of a son, Joe. They are fussing about something.

I suspect their car broke down on the way someplace, like their autos often do, and they are blaming each other for the break down.

Because Joe is home schooled by Professor Bob (phd-Hard Knocks) you can give Bob credit for everything trick Joe knows. One of the tricks is to always blame someone else. So whatever went wrong it looks like Joe was blaming Bob and Bob was blaming Joe. It is kind of like the Master and the Grasshopper having a face-off.

A unrelated story about Joe is that he has approached at least one man in the neighborhood and apologized for all the trouble he caused him. When I heard this, I thought he is one of the Anonymous 12 step programs that you have to make amends to whomever you caused harm. He has caused us some problems throughout the years but he didn’t apologize to us (further proof I am either invisible or ignored).

Back to them walking up the street: And what makes it worse is that they had no cell phone to call to get a ride or auto help. Bob’s ex-wife Anne took up their cell phones, including Melissa’s, who is away at college. Why did she take up all the cell phones? Because Joe ran up a $1500 bill.

No cell phone? Life can be a living Hell!