Where Do Cows Come From?

We ate at Texas Roadhouse today.  I forgot how good their ribs are.  Today was a nice reminder.

We have went to the Texas Road House two times in 2016.  Both times I noticed on the left as you walk in is a glass case displaying different cuts of beef steaks.  Some were labeled, like "Rib-eye" and whatever.

The hostess asked each time if we would like to order any on display.  We said no.

But I wondered what would happened if I said I would like to ask some questions about some of the cuts.  Surely the hostess would fetch a butcher or chef to answer some the question I might have, such as:

What was the cow fed?

Where does that cut (pointing) go on the cow?

and most of all:  What was the cow's name?

New Year Party for Old Farts

Rocky, Sabrina, and Benjamin live in a neighborhood of progressive young parents that do a lot to encourage their young to mingle and have a good time with their same-age neighbors. 

For example today is their NOON-YEARS PARTY for the young.  Because of course, they shouldn't be up at midnight anyway.

Which got me thinking.  It is not that I shouldn't be up at midnight,  but it is hard to stay awake that late.  Most nights I don't make it through JEOPARDY.  I think a lot of people in my age bracket  have the same challenge.

We elderly need a NOON-YEAR'S PARTY too!

Deaths in 2016

The people I know that moved on in 2016

(This is list is probably incomplete due to my oversights, administrative  errors and natural blunders ).

I hope next year's list will be shorter, but I am afraid it will be longer, we are all getting older.

Alma Copeland (Christine Jenkins mom),

Andra Powell Pearce, Anna's childhood friend

Ann Burgan (John's wife),, dogpark friend's wife

Bettis, Marie Nix,  Prance relative

Bill Kinney, family friend

Bill Spinks,  old family friend and Patsy Spinks Dupre's father

Cathy June Catham Waldrop, friend's daughter

Chong younger sister,  Rocky's mother-in-law's sister

Dottie Cannon, friend's mother

Doug Davis,  high school friend

Eddie Paul Johnson, high school friends' son

Evelyn Cash Crain, cousin

Fay Hunter,  cousin

Hunter, Joyce Bowles,  distant cousin

J.D. Hosea, former boss

Jack Davis, MAD artist

Judy Powell Trulove Willingham, Marie's God Child

Linda Hopkins (Cub Scouts leader),

Pete Poss,  famiky friend

Robert "Bob" Bagley (cousin-in-law's father

Rebecca Brim Hutcheson

Nature Doing Its Thilng

Nature is busy creating absolutely unique individuals, whereas culture has invented a single mold to which all must conform. It is grotesque.

KRISHNAMURTI

I got my TRUMP book yesterday.  It is not what you think.  I know the little blond guy is tooting his own horn and the name is TRUMP.  That is proof enough I am a Trump man, right?

Hold on!  TRUMP Magazine was created in the mid 1950s by Harvey Kurtzman, Hugh Hefner,  and the original MAD comic book artists.  It was published by PLAYBOY Publishing.

Donald Trump was not on the scene yet.  He was still having growing pains.

TRUMP Magazine was a sophisticated version of MAD magazine.  Its target audience   was hoped to be Kurtzman fans and intellectuals. 

It flopped after two issues.

Hugh Hefner is quoted as saying, "I gave Harvey Kurtzman an unlimited budget and he surpassed it."

Now, the two issues have been bounded into a book.  Just flipping through it, I see a lot of insights of why it failed... and also insights on why it is so good.

So, TRUMP TRUMPS again.

Throwback Thursday: Tom and Mary Jo Petty

L

Throwback Thursday:  My mother's oldest brother Thomas Jefferson "Tom" Petty (1908-1979) and his wife Mary Jo Johns Petty (1913-2000).

Tom was born in Murray County, Georgia, and Mary Jo was born in Gordon County, just down the road.

Tom was a cabinet maker and carpenter.  They lived at various places in and around Dalton, Georgia, and Cleveland, and Chattanooga, Tennessee.  They also lived in Marietta a year or two where we learned they were also gospel singers.

By most the pictures it appears that Tom was something of a ham in front of the camera.

They had no children. 

Tom at Chicamauga Battlefield

Tom and Osmo

Petty Brothers Wallae, Osmo, Leonard, Tom, Roy, and brother-in-law Ed Hunter

On Washington Avenue, Marietta:

?, Lois Carter, Mary Jo, Tom, Sarah, Viola, Herbert Hunter, Leonard, and Roy

I am so glad this year's election is over. 

Edwards' Pure Station n Marietta

 Prefix:  A couple of weeks ago Anna's niece sent me a picture of a logo of Edwards' Pure Station on Church Street (and in tiny print it may have said Extension), Marietta, Ga. and asked me if I know of this station.  All this garble below is a long way saying "No."

This isn't Edwards or Stewards Pure Station.  It is one I found on Google to show as an example.

Belinda, 

In downtown Marietta Church Street and Cherokee Streets run parallel to each other.  Church Street is one way South and Cherokee Street is one way North.

As far as I know there has never been a Pure Station on Church Street.  On the corner of Cherokee and Lemon Streets was a Pure Station owned by the Hardage Family. Incidentally the Hardge  had two sons, Mike and Jim Jr.  Mike was in my class and Jim Jr. was a year or two older. They both were red headed.  I don't know what happened to Mike but Jim moved to Dalton, Georgia, and he and a former boss of mine were co-leaders of a country and western band.  Jim, Jr. was married to Joyce and they had a daughter.   They divorced and Joyce remarried a guy named Omar.  They live about two blocks away from us, and have for the past 40 years.

But,  I don't think that is the right Pure Station.

On Church Street Ext., near Kennesaw Mountain, was a Pure Station.  One time in high school, before we were old enough to have  drivers licenses a few of us walked to Kennesaw Mountain one Saturday.  We went inside the Pure Station to buy Cokes and our math teacher waited on us.  Mr. Dallas Stewart's parents owned the Pure Station and he was helping them out.  Dallas and his wife lived in the basement of the Pure Station.

Incidentally, Dallas had a sister named Barbara Tilley.  Barbara was in my mother-in-law Marie's Sunday School class mate and also my supervisor when I worked as an election poll worker two times.  Barbara, before she went to a nursing home, also lived in our neighborhood about four houses from Omar and Joyce.

Small World.
Also Jim's country and western band partner was Stanley.  Stanley was a carrier at the Marietta Post Office and later my supervisor.  Stanley was also a part time auto body and paint man.  He had his garage lit naturally, which was a benefit painting cars.  The natural night was also an idea artist's studio situation, which was probably a selling point to underground comicbook artist Skip Williamson.  He bought the house.

Where were we?  Oh yes, ahem! I suspect where the Stewart Pure Station is also where Edwards Pure Station was.  But I do not think it is Church Street or Church Street Extension, that is the Old 41.

For the past five or six years that building has been the home of Kennesaw Mountain Biscuit Company but we read their building has been bought and will be bulldozed away for something new.  Which is kind of sad, because the Old 41 is a.k.a. The Dixie Highway, and the kind of design of the Pure Station would have been there as a business on the Dixie Highway

The Hunter Sexton Family and Tree 2016

Benjamin putting his Bait Out

Photo by Sabrina Sexton

Christmas Morning Notes

By the way, the above is another Christmas illustration by the late Jack Davis.

If you have seen my postings on Facebook or the blog Chicken-fat.com you might have noticed sometime near Christmas every year I mention the show on "MAMA" which was a sitcom of a poor Swedish immigrant family trying to adjust to living in America, one episode was the old mother country's wives' tales that animals could talk at midnight on Christmas Eve.

Last night Willow did not talk in human words at midnight, or at least not words  in the Young People's Dictionary:  They were all curse words.  She was cursing (and trembling) of those out in the darkness shooting firecrackers.

Which reminds me of another old country wives' tale:  Shooting guns and firecrackers on Christmas Eve to scare off evil spirits.  I think they have it in reverse:  The shooting off guns and firecrackers scare away the good spirits.

We watched the CHRISTMAS STORY last night, written by Jean Shepherd.  I remember, in the Navy, late into the night listening to Jean ramble on on his radio show.  He would talk about his memories in growing up.  If he ran out of things coming to mind he would take a break and play his kazoo until he remembered something else.

I have seen on TV the CHRISTMAS STORY many times.  It is played on several local TV stations back to back all day Christmas day.

One little scene in the CHRISTMAS STORY I think of year around.  It is so simple lit is profound.  And that is the little boy standing beside the star in the Santa line.  The little kid turns around to him one time and says, "I like Santa."  Not knowing what to say, the star say, "Un-huh".

Then minutes later the kid makes another simple statement saying, "I like blabla")  which takes the star off balance because he was running in his mind another problem... he again, focused in on the kid and said, "Un-huh."

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Probably written by Albert Fedstein and illustrated by Will Elder.  For what its worth, this story was banned in Boston when in first came out in the 1950s.  Click on each page to be able to read and make sense of it all.

Jack Davis and UGA

Jack Davis died July 27th this year.  He was one of the original four MAD comicbook artists.  He was also a UGA DAWG artist, being a part of the alumni booster club. 

*It is unclear if he actually graduated from the University of Georgia or not.  He left his studies and joined the Navy during wartime, I don't know if he came back and completed his studies or not. 

Christmas Card Reminded Me of Something Funny

Today we received a Christmas Card from one of my genealogy buddies Gloria and her husband in Franklin, North Carolina.

As soon as I saw it was from her I immediately was reminded of something funny she told me when I was having gall bladder problems.

A few years earlier she had gall bladder problems.  Gall bladder removal was the only solution, but she put it off, going to the hospital for a couple of days, there is no good time.

Then one day she was in so much pain she could not stand it any longer.  She went to the hospital in Franklin and told the lady at the desk that she had to have her gall bladder removed right then.

The lady asked if she had a doctor preference.

Gloria said, "You'll do if you have a knife!"

Loophole

Now that I am recuperating and licking my wounds (don't take that literally) I feel I am on my way to recovery.

Anna and I agree that I am too old to run gracefully.  My balancing body-gadget just isn't what it used to be.

Anna asked me not to run anymore.  I said I wouldn't, but left room (or loophole) for a future unknown situation that might come up:

Like, what if I suddenly have a lady's purse in my possession and a policeman is in hot pursuit?

Lots of Milk and Cookies

How is it possible? To consume  that much milk and cookies at the billion plus stops in one night?

Ho Ho Ho

Ho Ho?

Like a Roach!

Thank you all who shown concern and wished me well on my crash landing yesterday.

Donald Wood theorized the reason Willow did not run because she could plainly see that was not able to chase her.  And it is just not fun to run if I can't chase her.

Today I feel much better than I thought I would.  The cuts on my hand has scabbed over so it is not so sensitive to touch things.

I still cannot lift my left arm without pain, but it too will unbruise itself in time.  However, if it was my right arm that hurt I would be highly upset, after all, that is the arm I lift my fork with.

Us humans are highly resilient and in due time I will spring back into normalcy just like a wasp or roach would do if you stepped it.

But, I am seriously considering giving up running.  I just don't have the agility to keep my balance in situations like this as I should.

DOWN! I went

I took a tumble while running this morning.  It hurts when I laugh - no, change that to "when I cry".  My latest exercise routine is to walk about 1.25 mile then run about  a half mile.  This morning about 4:15, things were going routinely when Willow and I saw a black cat in a neighbor's yard licking itself.  Willow was having a fit to pounce on it and turn it inside out.  I held her leash tightly.  The black cat watched with amusement. 

Just about a half yard-width away I saw a pickup truck run through a intersection that had a stop signs.  I have seen this same truck run the stop sign without any hint of even slowing down a bunch of times.  I don't know the guy's name but one time a couple years ago he and I helped save a house on fire.  About a block away one morning before daylight I saw flames in the back of a house.  I ran and banged on the door to wake up the mother and her teenage daughter that lived there.  No one came to the door.  Then, down the street along came the same guy that runs the stop signs.  I waved him down, he is middle age to elderly man.  I told him about the back of the house burning and asked him did he have a cell phone.  He did, he called 911 and in a few short minutes the fire department arrived and put out the fire.  LP gas was leaking from a line and flames were around it.

Back to the present:  In my running mode, I ran my 4 tenths of a mile and just had about a tenth of mile away, and I would be home, I tripped on a blue reflector little block embedded in the pavement.

I ran forward trying to keep from falling but down I went.   I landed on my right side with a thud and a skid.

I was down for a few moments trying to decide if my left arm or leg was broken.  After all I am 75, bones get brittle at my age. 

I knew my left hand was skinned and bloody.  So was my knee.

I thought about the man in the pickup truck flying through the stop sign every morning.  I was lying in his path in front of the opposing corner.  It is a good thing, I thought, he has already flew by.

Willow was standing a safe distance studying me.  Then I realized I had let go of her leash during my fall.  Willow is a run-free dog.  Every time that she realized she was not on a leash she always ran like a freed bird.  This time she didn't.  I reached and got her leach and petted her.  She was trembling.

I pulled myself up and realized both my left limbs were in pain with every movement.  I could move my fingers and toes and decided nothing was broken.

I started walking towards home.  After about 30 to 40 feet the music in my earphones became statically.  They are bluetooth ear phones.  It depends on my phone for a music source.  I realized my iphone was sitting in the accident spot.  I went back and retrieved it and my keys. 

I hobbled home with Willow.

I take blood thinner.  Therefore I am a self-induced free bleeder.  Everything I touched got loose blood on it.

It was near time for Anna to get up and we go to the Aquatic Center pool for exercise.  I thought what the lifeguard told us once, if you have any open sores, stay away, many people don't shower or even wipe their asses before they get into the pool, so you could very well get infected.

I told Anna about my ordeal  and I think I shouldn't go into the pool.  She promptly doctored me up.

Willow keeps following me around licking me.  I'm nor sure if she is trying to nurse me or I remind her of a rare steak.

I wonder if that black cat had anything to do with my luck this morning?  

1st Day of Winter, the Solstice, and Shortest Day of Year

Welcome to the flip of the Solstice!  It is also the first day of Winter and the shortest (in daylight hours) day of the year!

Ho Ho!

And Away into Winterland we go!

National Cemetery in Marietta, Christmas Time, 2010

I heard on the news this past weekend of volunteers putting reefs on military graves locally.  It reminded me of our ride through the National Cemetery in Marietta in 2010.

Benjamin at the Georgia Aquarium

December 18, 2016