Home Town Marietta, Church Street

Home Town, Church Street in no order by date or address but a ton of memories.

Voting Responsibilities

I just read in a Uncle John's Bathroom Reader that an average of one in four Americans is not sure the Earth revolves around the Sun, or visa-versa.

These people have the right to vote.  And they vote for people they would like to have a beer with. (I heard that); and don't use big words (I heard that too).

This reminds of almost a flip-flop as things were at one time.  When I registered to vote at age 18, many years ago, after I filled out the request form the official handed me a printed sheet of paper.  He told me to read it aloud. It was the Gettysburg Address.

I started, "Four Scores and Seven years ago, our...."

He interrupted me saying that was good, I passed.

"Passed?"  I said.  I didn't even finish reading it.

He said, "You didn't say "Fo" instead of "Four". "  That was the key.

I got what he was saying.

He went on saying, "No telling what "they" would elect."  I think the guy really thought he was doing his patriotic duty, keeping the unfit(in his opinion) from elected public office positions.

Later, in the same time era,  I read that a resident of Cobb County, a  professor at Morehouse College failed his literacy test to vote.  I think I knew why:  Because it was the opinion of a snuff chewing illiterate  official in  Cobb County who passed the judgment.

I'm Back On Routine Now

I am back on routine now, maybe no more gaps until the next gap occurs.

But, I have to ask myself:  What is a routine for a 75 year old man?  

The only thing I can think of is a daily bowel movement. 

Explaining Myself

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I read once that every action, no matter how big or small, causes a chain or reactions, such as:

A couple of people have  emailed me wanting to know if I was OK because no chicken-fat blog in past couple of days.

The bottom line is that life keeps getting in the way:

Sunday both of us had an interview with Global IS (whatever)  which I think is U.S. Customs.   I think this is what some travelers elect to do, it prevents being in a long lines at the airport;  it boils down to you have already proven you are not a flight risk so you get to avoid the long lines of being scrutinized at the airport  by the authorities.

Our appointment was at a Global office in an office park near the Atlanta Airport at 11:00.  In looking over the fine print it said do not be early and do not be late, or your interview may be delayed. 

Well shoot!  I arrive at appointments early.  That is what I do.  I do that in case of traffic problems,  car problems, or any other unpreventable problem.  We don't know how to be late.

Sunday we learned how to be late.

We gave ourselves one hour and fifteen minutes to get there.  When a mile from home I felt in my pockets did not feel my cell-phone.   I turned the car around and went back home to get it.  When home I felt it in my pocket.  I just didn't feel around good enough. 

Back on the road again, now we had one hour to get to our appointment.

The last few times we were going south on the i-75 the traffic was backed up in a stop and go mode.  This time we were lucky, traffic was speeding along rather nicely.

We got to our destination, in the office park at 10:45. 

There was a note on the door.  It said the computer was down and come to their office at the International Airport and gave us the address.

We hopped into our car and fled to the mentioned airport.  Went to an hourly parking, went into the huge building and found their office at 11:15.

The interview went fine.  They took our pictures and finger prints and the finger prints passed.

The only snarl was that they do not mail to PO Boxes.  Our little approval package will be sent to our street address, which then, would not be delivered because there is no mailbox.  Duh.

Then,  we dropped by to visit Sabrina,  Benjamin, and Rocky and had lunch with them.  Very enjoyable to see our grandson and his parents.

The first thing after the dog park Monday morning I went to the post office and told them my dilemma and wanted to know if they could tell my route carrier to be on the lookout and hand it off to the box section.

There were a bunch of "Ahs" and "Errs" but the bottom line was no.  My name and street number wasn't even on the carriers' case.

By the way, the reason we do not have a mailbox, because my drunk/high neighbor knocked it down four or five time while backing out of this driveway.  Each time he fixed or replaced it but it was a hassle I did not want to deal with.

But he is dead now.

I decided we needed a mailbox in our yard.

I went to Home Depot and bought a mailbox.

Then I went back to the post office and gave them my address on a sheet of paper and requested they add my name to the carrier's case, I said I was going home and put it up now.

It wasn't that easy to "put it up now".  The problem was it has to be 30 inches in the ground.  I could not dig any deeper than 12 inches then I ran into rock.  I tried digging and pounding it just couldn't go any deeper.  I was getting very sweaty, dizzy, and nauseas.  The last time I had that combination I had a stroke.

Therefore, I dropped the shovel and sat in the shade wishing for it to be finished.

Wishing doesn't work.

Anna looked up  a handy man company, on line, locally, and found a company with good reviews.

Today, I was on lookout for the mail person to drive by.  I planned to rush out, flag her down, and explain I had planned for someone to put up a mailbox today so please be on the lookout for letters for me.

Then, I took my mind and eyes off the street and the mail lady went by.  I ran out but before I could get into my truck she was turning on another road.  I  road down our street and turn on the street the mail vehicle  turned.  There it was three or four houses down.  She got out of her postal vehicle and ran up the street to the next mail box.  I parked behind her mail vehicle and watch her take the mail out of another box and carry it to the next box, and looking at what she put in.  Apparently she caught herself  being one address off, all the way down the street.  I don't know if she figured it out but I think I know what happened:  After I turned in my request to add my address to the carrier's case I think they did, without notifying the carrier.  Then, when she lined up the mail in order of delivery she placed mail as her memory remembered how it went.  So after my address she was one off  until she caught herself.

I introduced myself to her and told her I was her new addition, even though we have lived in the same house for over 40 years.  She looked puzzled.  I probably did not explain myself well.

And also  Two men came from the handy man service  and did an excellent  job and kept me entertained as they did so.   They were full of down-to-earth wit. 

I can find a silver lining in any thing.

BBQ and Jesus

Last night we visited Willie Jewell's Old School BBQ for the 4th time.  It was packed again:  people waiting on a table to be available. 

Lately BBQ joints having been popping up here and there.  We read that there is a new one on the corner of Glover and Atlanta (was Butler) Streets, replacing another one that did not make it.

It seems that the South should be noted for their barbecue.  But until recently there just wasn't that many.  I think until recently there were more of either  Mexican or  Asian restaurants  than barbecue restaurants. 

I noticed the crowd at Willie Jewell's last night.  I was wondering if they transferred professionals that recently moved to the area and decided to check out the local cuisine or they were natives just checking the new restaurant in town.  I informal survey of just studying the people, I think it was  a mixture of both.

I have always liked to pop in bbq roadside stands or a bbq restaurant on some lonely road.  It seems there is always something interesting.

What comes to mind is one time my son Adam and I went to a junk yard in White, Georgia, looking for a certain truck part (I think a rockaarm, whatever that is).  About a half mile down the road from the junk yard was a bbq joint with homemade signs. It was lunch time so we decided to try them out.

The food was good enough.  Their decorations were Jesus hanging on the cross hanging here and there.  When we sat down I noticed behind my son was almost a full size Jesus hanging on a cross, and the cross was leaning forward, hanging directly over my son's head.  Red plastic blood realistically seemed to be oozing from Christ's wounds.  Adam had not noticed the big crucifixion hanging above his plate and I said, "Watch out! and motioned for him to look up behind his head.

He looked up and it took him by surprised.  He did a double take.  

Checking Out WISHIN AND HOPIN

We saw the movie WISHIN AND HOPIN yesterday.  It was pretty good.

It was written by Wally Lamb.  I have read two, maybe three books by Wally Lamb and he has the ability of making ordinary people's lives interesting and funny.

He also has a thing about twin boys. In one book the protagonist  had a insane twin and in this movie there were twin students in the class that lived on a farm, but not so much in-your-face types.

I would have probably liked WISHIN AND HOPIN more  if in some cases it seemed to be copying Jean Sheperd's CHRISTMAS  STORY.

I liked it because it took me back.  I almost had the chilling feeling that Wally Lamb has been getting ideas from this blog Chicken-fat:

I had a similar incident that happened in the movie that the teacher took up a poo-poo (or Whoopie) cushion that the boys were having fun with, and then slipping it out of Mr. Cox's office; student demanding being the center of attention; hanging around the Bus Station's cafe;  causing a bat to get loose in school which cause the Nun-teacher to have a nervous breakdown; butting heads with the class's top brown-noser;  having to write on the blackboard the offense I vowed not to do a number of times;  and others that all blend in now, but they sparked me into remembering the moment I saw them and forgot them just as quickly.

We saw it on a pay-per-movie channel.  Good movie!  We got our money's worth.

Coca Color Wall Sign at Young Brothers Pharmay

This is a Coca Cola wall advertisement in downtown Cartersville, Georgia.  I read that it is the very first Coca Cola wall advertisement.  And it still looks bright and bold!

I wonder what kind of paint they used?

I am not sure you could get a prescription filled at Young Brothers Pharmacy or not.  But if you wanted an ideal Coke or UGA Dawg icon gift they probably have it.

HAPPY SOLSTICE

The X-Ray Guy Did It!

While at the vet's office yesterday afternoon I heard  the two ladies behind the counter having to explain a lot to customers  that their computer system was down, they would have to hand write receipts and whatever else.

When all customers, but me (the invisible one), were out of the room one lady said, "You know who messed up the system don't you?"

The other lady said, "The x-ray guy!"

The other lady said, "Yeah!  He was typing something and then said, "Your computer needs updating!"   And proceeded to update it and everything went wrong".

I have experienced  that myself.

I would have butted in and told them that has happened to me too, where someone or something starts updating my computer when I am happy the way it is and everything goes wrong.  But I might have scared them, they didn't know I was eavesdropping.   

Jeannette's 90th Redoux

Last July (2016), my aunt Jeannette Quintal Hunter's children threw her a 90th Birthday Bash.

We went and I took pictures, and the same pictures here, and I put them on Facebook.

Also in July 2016 MS forced fed my computer the upgrade Windows 10, which knocked my Movie Maker program out of whack.  I went eleven months without publishing a video through Youtube.  But, I finally figured out how to sidestep the problems Windows 10.  During this time I didn't stop recording videos.

So, to make the visit of Jeanette Hunter's 90th Birthday, here the pictures again, this time with videos

Roadside Wood Products

Having  a household of company to soon to arrive?   It may be too late to have your bathroom enlarged but maybe just a plain simple outhouse in your backyard is all you need.

Sudden death and need a coffin quickly?

At the same roadside shop* near Cleveland, Georgia, you could buy both, coffin and outhouse.  All you need is a pickup truck.

*at least they were there several years ago.

SUNDAY FUNNIES!! Crumb's METRO

We all know Robert Crumb.  We know he is the one that came out with the cartoon of a guy taking  big steps, I mean giant steps, and above his head ae the words

KEEP ON TRUCKING!

Which is a widely known cartoon, it has been reprinted many times.  The last I heard he has not received the first dime of royalties on it.

He also was at one time the assistant at the magazine HELP!  He was to send me a check for two cartoons by me that the editor Harvey Kurtzman accepted.  But he didn't.  It wasn't his fault HELP folded before he could.  True.

The last I heard Robert Crumb and his wife are living in the country in France.  About a year or so ago the Tuba Skinny Band paid him a surprised visit and he pulled out his banjo and they jammed.  Another true story.

Robert Crumb is also a social and trends critic, which brings up today 's Sunday Funnies:  METRO. 

click on picture to enlarge it and understandable.  It is the same spot on earth that has been photographed through the years and of course the photos are arranged in sequence, which tells a story without words.

HAPPY FATHERS' DAY!

HAPPY FATHERS' DAY!!

The OLD MILL ROAD BAND of Cartersville, at Red Top, July 2016

I am still trying to catch up with my videos I made that I did not get to put on Facebook  because of technical problems or technical dumbness or a combination of the two.

This is the Old Mill Road Band out of Cartersville, Georgia.  It was recorded at Red Top Mountain Bluegrass series July last year.

I think the band members consist of more than one school teacher.  Don't let that ruff and tuff around the edges of their overalls fool you.  They have a way with words, witty double entree meanings.... I got confused just listening to them.

They not only played bluegrass but also time-proven popular music, and some they themselves originated.  Googling the name of the band the only human name I found was Brad Payne, who apparently  wrote some of their music.

How's Your Chicken-fat Hanging?

A Chicken-fat blog reader in Victoria, Canada wrote and asked me why did I named  Chicken-fat " Chicken-fat"?

I responded that I named it in honor or in the memory of the late Will "Chicken-fat" Elder.  A person I admire.

Will was one of the original four artists for MAD comicbook.  He was a genius for putting little absurd details in the background that had nothing to do with the plot of the story, but they didn't hurt it either.

Will called these little bits of humor "chicken-fat" because, of course, the fat is bad for you, but it is tasty too.

I used for example the lampoon in MAD of MANDRAKE THE MAGICIAN named MANDUCK THE MAGICIAN.  See below.

On the second page see the middle two panels.  While Manduck and Luther put on a little show to draw a crowd to see their snake-oil, in the crowd is a pickpocketer with his hand in a man's hip pocket.  The next picture shows the victim falling and the dumbfounded pickpocketer holding a prosthesis leg.

click on picture to  enlarge to make sense of it.

So long, Ralph Hood

I'm sorry to read that another old friend has died.  Ralph Hood died Monday, June 12, 2017.  I knew him, his late brother Jimmy and his sister Betty.  I used to see Betty at the Bell Reunions.

If anybody had any claim or deserve- ability to attend the Bell Reunion it would be the Hood family.  Their father was the maintenance caretaker of Larry Bell Park.  I think it was a 24 hour, 7 day week job because they were the only people that actually resided on Larry Bell Park grounds.

I remember Ralph well in the the 8th grade.  He came from Park Street and I came from Waterman Street.  Hood and Hunter, we were alphabetized to be student neighbors in many classes.  We had similar taste, I think we both thought we were there to play, not to study.  To me, he resembled the young Jerry Lewis back then.

The last time I saw Ralph at Orville Carruth's funeral, another friend in the 8th grade who was  also there to play.

Ralph's sister Betty

His obituary from the Marietta Daily Journal:

Ralph E. Hood, 76, of Smyrna passed away on Monday, June 12, 2017. A Funeral Service will be held Thursday at 11:00 a.m. in the Chapel of Mayes Ward-Dobbins Funeral Home in Marietta with Rev. Bobby Moore officiating. Interment will take place at Mountain View Park Cemetery in Marietta. Ralph is preceded in death by his wife, Linda Hood and brother, Jimmy. He is survived by his son, Gary Hood of Smyrna; sister, Betty of Mableton; brothers, Johnny of Rockmart and Dennis of Dallas. The family will receive friends on Wednesday from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. at the funeral home. 770-428-1511 www.mayeswarddobbins.com

Throwback Thursday: Hunter and in-laws in the Mountains of N. Ga

Gnome Front of Sautee Store 

Throwback Thursday.  On December the 9th, 1967, we stopped here at the Sautee Country Store.  We were on our way to Unicoi State Park for our honeymoon.  We told the proprietor we were just married and gave us a unique copper  candelabra.  She told us she also had a store nearer to us in Vinnings, drop by and see her sometime.

I did not know it at the time but the Sautee Valley, just a few miles outside of Helen was rich with Hunter DNA history.

Just down the road a mile or two is the Stovall Covered Bridge.  It served as a prop and backdrop in the movie, I'D CLIMB THE HIGHEST MOUNTAIN, which hired many extras locally, which included some Hunters.

Stovall Covered Bridge

On back up the road, heading back to the Sautee store was the Stovall Bed and Breakfast.  I do not know if it had changed names or not since we were there about ten years ago.

The Stovall House's claim to fame is that it was once owned by Moses Harshaw, who was given the nickname "The Meanest Man in Georgia". 

He earned that nickname by how he treated his slaves.  When they became too old to be productive  and became liability he simply  snuffed their lives out by pushing them off nearby Lynch Mountain or shooting them by the grave he just made them dig for themselves.  Moses also would not allow a slave to ride in the same buggy.  He would harness their head in leather and they had to run behind the buggy.  Heaven help them if they tripped.

Moses was also a lawyer, and was charged with man slaughter, regarding his slaves a number of time.  I think he was probably his number one client.

My g-g-g grandfather John Hunter's son William Johnson Hunter married Margaret England.  His sister Harriet Hunter married Margaret's brother Daniel England.  Margaret and Daniel England's aunt is Nancy England.  Nancy was Mrs. Moses Harshaw.

Harriet Hunter and Daniel England

Speaking of the England family of that area, they are the founding family of Helen, Georgia.

Neighbor of Moses and Nancy England Harshaw was Leander Newton Trammell (1830-1900) is my 1st cousin, 4 times removed.

Moses Harshaw House, more recently Stovall Bread and Brealfast

Leander went on to law school, earned his degree, and became a state representative.  As a state legislator he and others  certain lawmakers tried to keep the blacks subservient.  Also as a state representative, technically he was governor of Georgia for one day, between an outgoing governor and an incoming governor.  The Trammell House on Trammell Street was his.

Leander N. Trammell

Below are some genealogical notes I made on Leander Newton Trammell:

Leander Newton Trammell was raised in the Nacoochee Valley in northst Georgia.    At age 15  he attended a boarding school at Bates Creek in the Tennessee mountains..  It eventually became Hiwassee College.  Upon finishing his studies, Trammell settled in Mississippi, where he built a schoolhouse and begin instructing children of plantation owners.  In 1856 he married Zenobia Barclay and enrolled in the school of law at Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee.  He was prcticing law in Ringgold, Georgia, when he was elected to the state House of Represenatives and Georiga succeeded form the Union.  He joined the 39th Regiment of the Georgia Volunteer Infantry as a captain in the Quatermaster Corps.

- MARIETTA, THE GEM CITY OF GEORGIA, by Douglas Frey, p179.

/In the book LIVING ON THE UNICOI ROAD by Matt GEDNEY a L. N. TRAMMELL is mentioned that would fit about the same time and area for Leander:

     In 1887, Mrs. Maria A. Jacqness of London, England, bought the "Trammell Place"  from L. N. TRAMMELL.  600 acres for $7000 in the Helen Valley (now know as Helen, Ga.).  L. N. moved near Dalton, in Whitfield County, Georgia.

     The unanimous choice of this gentlemen to preside over this body of the Senate of Georgia, whilst a just cause of pride and gratification to the numerous friends of Mr. Trammell, is at the same timea compliment paid to his integrity, high character and ability rarely if ever converred on any one before.  We tender our congratuations, and frankly express our conviction that the confidence envinced in Mr. Trammell by so dignafied a body as the Senate of Georgia is an earnest of his future usefulness and advancement. - THE ATLANTA SUN, January 9, 1873.

     Part of article signed "Coosa" from ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, May 1874:

     If ambition is a fault, if to want political postion is a fault, these are not faults which can be laid at the door of Colonel Trammell. That Colonel Trammell has a proper appreciation of official promotion, and fully understands the honor that flows to one who discharges a public trust with fidelity, I have no doubt.  But what I say is, that if he still an example of public men.  I regret it is a calamity when public men of high position suffer themselves to doubt the truth, and avow their doubts in the presence of young men.  My revered friend was fixed in his faith, openly profession the same and ended life holding to the saving truth of the Gospel.

     As a public servant of the State his career in the duties of war and peace was so varied, so continiuous, so faithful to duty, and so intelligent, that it may be truy said the history of Georgia for forty years past could be gathered about the thread of his individual life. His latest service in the very responsible position of Chairman of the State Railroad Commission was distinquished by such ability, such wisdom, and such conservatism that he left behind and almost perfected system of State control of railroad interests.  I can not speak of the particulars of his useful life at this hour.  I know that he has a high place in the esteem of his people, and has secured an enduring name in his State's history.  Let me commend the consolation of our holy relition to the bereaved family.  At last, after all the eulogy on a well-spent life, the best that can be said is, "He died in peace with God, and has his great reward in heaven."

     Colonel Trammell was reared on a farm.  His boyhood and youth were passed in working and going to school alternately.  When nineteen years old, he entered a boardingschool at Bates' Creek, now Hiwassee College, Tenn.  After spending fifteen months there, he taught school for awhile, and then read law under Simpson Reid at Blairsville, Ga.

     When he was married in 1856, he took his young wife to Lebanon, Tenn.,a and was the first year of his marriage life was spent at Law school.

     Being admitted to the bar, he located at Ringgold, Catoosta County, Ga., entering the practice as the junior member of the firm McConnell & Trammell.

     In 1861he was elected to the Legislature from Catoosa and re-elected without opposition.  In March, 1862, he entered the Confederate service as quartermaster, with the rank of captain.  The auditor complimented him in a personal letter on the excellence of his reports and stated that this was the only letter of the kind he had the pleasure of writing.

     In 1866, Colonel Trammell resumed the practice of law at Calhoun, Gordon County.

     He was elected to the Constitution Convention of 1867-1868, where he died the State good service.  He was the recognized leader of the patriotic little band of fourteen in that body known as the "Hancock Democracy".  It was through their tireless efforts that white supremacy was secured to Georgia in those dark days.  At the next election succeeding, Colonel Trammell was tendered the nomination for State Senator, but declined it.

     In 1870, he was elected to the State Senate and made the president of that body.

     When in 1871, Governor Rufus B. Bullock resigned and left the State, Colonel Trammell was by right Governor pro tem., but Benjamin Conley, the former president, claimed the right to perform the duties of Governor during the interregnum.  Serious consequences were narrowly averted. Leading Democrats urged Colonel Trammell to assert his rights, but forseeing that it would lead to disorder, he declined to do so.

     He was re-elected to the Senate in 1873, without opposition.  In 1876 he was made he was made a Tilden elector.

     It was in 1876 that the Seventh Congressional district was thrown into the furor of excitment by the first of a series of memorable campaigns, in which the lurid eloquence of Dr. Willam H. Felton lighted up that picturesque region like a series of bonfires.

     Colonel Trammell was nominated for Congress by the Democratic Convention and Dr. Felton, who became and independent candidate, attacked him with much acrimony and vigor.

     This sort of a campaign was not to Colonel Trammell's liking, and he soon retired, giving place to Hon. W.H. Dabney, of Rome, who made a stoud defence of the organized Democracy, but was defeated.

     He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1877, serving on the Committee of Revision.

     In 1881, he was President of the State Democratic Convention, and in 1882-1883 served as Chairman of the State Democratic Executive Committee.

     On the fifteenth of October, 1881, Governor Colquit appointed Colonel Trammell a member of the Railroad Commission to succeed Samuel Barnett, who term expired.

     The appointment was confirmed by the Legislature of 1882, and Governor Alexander H. Stephens issued a commission to Colonel Trammell on November 7th of that year.  The term was for six years.

     In March 1890, Colonel Trammell was made Chairman.

Marietta Daily Journal, Nov 22, 2005:

Built on 4½ acres, it originally faced Powder Springs Street with a road leading to the home. In 1927, R.H. Hutcheson purchased and subdivided the property and reoriented the home by moving it on logs pulled by mules. It now faces north, 100 feet from its original location. The City of Marietta then extended Trammell Street to Wright Street. When Rachel and Douglas Frey purchased the house in 1998, it had been divided into three apartments. They have recently completed a five-year renovation, transforming it back to its original configuration. A portrait of Col. Trammell, hangs in the State Capitol, but will be on loan exclusively for the tour, courtesy of the Georgia Capitol Museum, Office of Secretary of State Cathy Cox.

In the spring of 1887, Colonel Trammell began construction on a $4000   "magnificent structure of 13 rooms" on land he purchased from J.R. Winters.  Modeled after his previous residence in Dalton and built in the exuberent Queen Anne style, the Trammell House was designed by Atlanta's preeminent architects, Bruce and Morgan.  In a little more than 5 months local contractors L. Black and Son completed the home, and the Trammell family took up residence.

After he moved to Marietta it wasn't long before he was soon elected to the board of directors of the newly established First National Bank and the Brumby Chair Company.

Leander N. Newton with family,  Trammell House

Trammell House in 2012, present owners Doug and Rachel Frye.  The people shown are friends, they were giving a party the day I took tis.

We Are Sorry Willow

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I'm sorry Willow!  This evening while doing a dumb electronic political phone survey and playing with the keyboard the same time, under dates reminder  I came across "Willow's Birthday June 10".

Oh no!  We forgot!

I thought she was lying around  sad looking.  Now I know why.   She was depressed!

She is 11 years old now.  That is 77 in dog years.  She is now two years my senior.  I am going to have to start addressing  her as "Mam'".

We will make it up to her.  We will cook out two big juicy steaks and let her have all any tough bristle and burned parts.

We will eat a birhday cake in her honor (she is a diabetic so we need to protect her against sweets).

Seriously,  she will be groomed tomorrow.  That should make her feel special.

HAPPY blelated  BIRTHDAY WILLOW!

HAPPY FLAG DAY!!

Click on each picture to make it bigger, more dramatic and prettier.