Today is World No-Tobacco Day

It used to look cool, manly, wise, and glamorous to smoke.  That is why many of us fools got addicted.  We wanted to look cool, or manly, or wise, or glamorous.  It appeared many of looked as if we got a deep insight into the subject at hand if we took a long draw off your choice of smokes, inhaled it, held it, then exhale it.  How could anyone argue with the logic of that?  It was all over the movies.

And many of us suffered with cancer and just plain dumbness.  And unfortunately, our loved ones suffered too with second hand smoke.

Those were the days!

Hack!

HUNTER REUNION in Union County, Sunday

click to enlarge

The above picture is of the caregiver of  Dora Hunter Spiva,  Franklin Hunter, Dora Hunter Spiva, and me.  In that picture Dora was 102 years old.  She didn't look it did she?  She died the following year.  Notice in the picture it looks like  Franklin Hunter is trying to figure me out.

These pictures were taken on the first Sunday of June 2008.  That was the last time I attended the Reunion of the Descendants of John Hunter near Blairsville, Georgia, at Track Rock Campgrounds.

I always said I think it is small world.  No matter where you go,  you will run into  someone closer to your than you might never even be aware of.   You just have to say the right  things to get the ball rolling.  Take the above man for instance.  I forgot his name, but he is a distant relative, we are both  descended from  John Hunter, or we wouldn't  have been there.  He had a Marine hat on which prompted me to ask was he in the Marines.  He said he was, and I said I was in the Navy.  He asked when and I told him.  He asked what ship I served on and I told him the funny little story where my first assignment the Navy sent me to a Naval Air Base, about fifteen miles inland to board the ship the USS J.K. TAUSSIG, and the personnel at the NAS Lakehurst , N.J. didn't know what to do with me.  He just looked at me, he didn't see the humor in it.   I told him then eventually I was assigned to a helicopter squadron at NAS Lakehurst.  Then I said, "But to answer your question I spent two weeks aboard the USS NEWPORT NEWS - we went down the coast , then across the Gulf, up the Mississippi and in New Orleans, met a British ship and reenacted The Battle of New Orleans."

He then told me he was also on the USS NEWPORT NEWS that same time.  He remembered our New Years Eve partying in Jacksonville, Florida, going up the Mississippi River and the reenactment.   Small world, I had a relative on the ship I didn't know about and  that day in 2008 I had a ex-shipmate looking a t me blankly that I didn't know existed.

This coming Sunday is again the  Reunion.   If you are a Descendant of John Hunter that died in Union County, Choestoe District, about 1848, they would love to see you.

Larry Miller

I received an email from Larry's wife Milly Miller.  Here is a portion of it:

Thank you for re-posting Larry’s fund raising letter so frequently. I wanted to let you know that we have been blessed to receive the maximum matching amount of $10,000. This gives us $20,000 with the matching funds and we believe it should be enough to pay for his prescription drugs as long as my insurance is as good as it is now. That’s a big question with the state of our current health care issues but we have reason to rejoice right now and thank everyone for their help.  PS: he is doing AWESOME. All of his bronchoscopy’s have shown, no infection, no rejection. That is the best you can get. His blood work continues to be very good also. Can’t wait to see everyone again, minus the oxygen tanks.

This has been posted many times. Everyday when I had a new post this one slides down more out of view. When it slides off the page it is time to repost. Hi!

Have you ever faced a life-threatening illness for which there is no treatment or cure?
Have you ever become overwhelmed by the costs of your illness?
Have you ever had to rely on your family and friends to make a life-saving difference on your behalf?

Larry faced these conditions all at once. Larry was diagnosed with Pulmonary Fibrosis, Emphysema, and Pulmonary Hypertension. There are no treatments for these diseases and there was no hope for him without a lung transplant.

Larry was evaluated and approved for a bi-lateral lung transplant at Emory University Hospital in April.

On May 14th Larry received the call from Emory saying they had lungs for him. His transplant was performed on the 15th with excellent results. Due to the generosity of the donor’s family, he received a very healthy set of young lungs (to use the surgeon’s words). Larry is recovering exceedingly well and was released to go home on the 31st of May. He is gaining strength each day by following his drug regimen very carefully and by following a vigorous program of Pulmonary Rehabilitation. 

His recovery is great news, but with it comes enormous annual costs for post-transplant treatments and medications. I have known Larry and been his friend since the 5th grade (1953) so I offered to head up his fundraising committee. We are working to help Larry raise money to cover some of these costs. Fortunately, Larry qualified for a matched account in the Georgia Transplant Foundation’s (GTF) Fundraising Program, GTF will match every dollar we raise up to a maximum of $10,000, and then they will hold the money and administer the distribution for Larry’s medication expenses.

We need Your Support to reach the $10,000 Goal! Please consider making a donation to help us raise the funds Larry will need to buy post-transplant medications which will support the maintenance of his transplant.

How to Donate:
Checks/money orders should be made payable to Georgia Transplant Foundation with Larry’s name in the memo section of your check. Please mail checks/money orders to Georgia Transplant Foundation, Attention: Transplant Fundraising Program, 500 Sugar Mill Road, Suite 107-A, Atlanta GA 30350. An envelope is enclosed for your convenience. Thank you for supporting this life-saving campaign.

The Georgia Transplant Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides financial, educational, and emotional assistance to Georgia’s transplant community, is assisting us in our fundraising efforts. If you have questions or want further verification, please see the Georgia Transplant Foundation website at www.gatransplant.org or email TFP@gatransplant.org.

If you have already made a donation, please accept our thanks.

Sincerely,
Paul Roper
Committee Chairman

Jimmy Pat Rides Again, Rooting, Tooting, and Shooting Birds

I have no idea what publication this is out of.  If you are a reader of this blog you may noticed that I have many times recalled the mischievous and just plain criminal antics of my friend late friend Jimmy Pat.  Here he is on the 2nd row, about 4th from the left, shooting a bird in plain view which looks to be landing on the late Bubba Johnson's shoulder..

*

click to enlarge to read the names.

* Thanks to Ralph Harper and Paul Roper.

Visiting the Armed Fallen at the National Cemetery

Today we visited the Marietta National Cemetery.  There are thousands of dead people here who were in the service, and a large number of them gave their lives so we may speak, vote, and pray to whatever supreme being you choose.

Note- Click on each image to make it bigger and better.

This is a memorial for my late friend Sam Carsley's father who was lost at sea in WWII.  Sam died March of this year.  The red, white, and blue flowers are very new.  Sam's widow Lita probably is keeping his tradition going of faithfully putting flowers at loved ones graves.

The building in the center of the picture was the Coca Cola Bottling Company all through my formative years.  My father used to pull me up the hill from the Clay Homes in my wagon to this place, he bought a case of Cokes and I would walk back with him.

This marker has ALBERT BRAWNER on the side.  It said he was a medical officer.  I wonder if it is Doctor Brawner of Brawner's Sanitarium in Smyrna?

Above is a Medal of Honor receiver.  See the lady in the white tee-shirt below?  She walked up to the marker, patted it, and thanked him.  Then she randomly thanked other heroes.  I'm not sure she was aware of my presence of not.  Below she is sitting down chatting with a fallen hero, like comforting him.  She may see and understand more than I do.  I was tempted to make a video of her but I decided not to, I don't think it would be in good taste. 

Below and the rest of the pictures are the Cole family.  Henry Greene Cole, who was believed to be a Yankee spy, donated this land to bury Union Soldiers.  He reserved a little plot for his family.  Please excuse my shoes.  They sneaked right in the pictures.  Now, I see why some people call them "sneakers".

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!

National Cemetery, Marietta, Ga

Red Top Mountain, Lake Allatoona, Bluegrass, and a Full Moon

Yesterday evening we went to Red Top Mountain at Lake Allatoona to hear a bluegrass concert.  The bluegrass group was the Cedar Hill Band who were pretty good.

Of course, we got to the concert spot on Red Top Mountain about 90 minutes early and had time to kill.  We walked a little trail overlooking the lake and had a seat at a lookout point over the lake and sat a while.

Sitting there high up overlooking the lake and hearing lake sounds brought back many memories of back in the 1960s when I frequented this lake often, very often, almost  daily.  That was another time, another life.

While sitting at the overlook a lady with two giant white fluffy dogs walked by.  They were so big, rounded and fluffy they reminded me of two big polar bears.... they also reminded me of Tip O'Neil.  We had a long talk with the lady that owns them.  She loves her dogs, that is for sure.  She always has dogs, and she is about 50.  She said every time one of her dogs dies she goes into mourning or depression that lasts a week or two that she is unable to work or be sociable or anything.  She and her dogs live near Peachtree City, in Coweta County, which is a long way to take your dogs for a walk.  One of her dogs liked me so much he tried to sit on my lap.  Imagine a big white polar bear backing up to sit on you.  It wasn't as crunching as I expected.  He eased himself down.

Another lady came up with her big dog... actually, the 2nd lady and her dog scooted away the lady with the two dogs.  The first lady told us her two are very territorial and defensive in her behalf.  So, she avoids other dogs.  We had a long talk with the second lady too.  Her 22 year old daughter who moved out of the house had a similar dog and the lady was so attached to the dog she got her one like it.  She lives in Cartersville and had not heard of the huge sporting complex that was being built right  there in Emerson.

The first time I had went to Red Top was soon after they completed the 4-Lane that far, in the early 1950s.  It was on Labor Day.   A neighbor, with a reputation for being a draft dodger and a drunk, but at the time was in the Air Force and ran some kind of social club at Dobbins Air Force Base hired me me others to strategic places at the lake with ice cream carts.  He placed me by the lake at Red Top Mountain.  I don't remember much more except I discovered if you throw "hot ice" in the lake it bubbles like something evil.

The reason I was there, was the lake had just been completed also.  They were having a sailboat race just around the bend leaving from the the yacht club, they would sail by there and they expected a crowd to be lined at the shores to watch it.  The crowd never came.

The second time at Red Top was about a year later when our coach Romeo Huggins of our Little League team Southern Discount took us for a camp out by the lake.  I remember Daddy borrowing one of those tents from the Marietta City Works that are narrow and tall.  It wasn't for camping but for roadside work.  Everybody else had very nice tents and I had that - which I couldn't figure out to put it up, so I just crawled under it, and used it as a blanket.

Years later, maybe just 20 or so years ago Anna and I came and parked in the same parking lot to go to Red Top Mountain's Restaurant for breakfast one morning.  I was amazed at all the deer lounging around. and also lots of humming birds outside the windows.  The restaurant is closed now and has been changed into an office for the park.

From very high above Lake Allatoona looks like a Chinese Dragon... the length is folded or zig-zagged and it has many little coves.  In the late 50s and early 60s we mostly hung out on the other end, at Victoria Landing, many miles away, even as the crowfish swim.

The bluegrass band Cedar Hill was versatile and mixed in rock music.  They kept it lively.

Below are two video sampling:

On the way home we saw a full moon.  When arriving I got out my tripod, which I haven't used in ages.  

I have no idea why one has an orange tint and the other one doesn't.   Orange was more true to the color of the moon then.  Maybe Mr Moon realized I was taking his pictures and blushed.