Throwback Thursday: Donald Made Belching Artsy

with an older classman Donald E.  Donald had a way with wise cracks.   He had good delivery with his wit. He called friends “Slobber Butt” which just imagining a butthole slobbering sent me in spasms of laughter.  He had plenty of instant wise-cracks and deserves recognition. 

After we grew up Donald went to work for Atlanta Gas Light.  In time he made field supervisor.  I saw him at McDonald’s several often having breakfast with his underlings and handing out work assignments.  We never spoke at McDonald’s, I doubt if he remembers me.

Once  an Atlanta Gas Light employee came to our house to hook up our new stove top and I asked him if he knew Donald.  He did.  I told him some of Donald’s wise cracks, like calling people Slobber Butt and he said, “That’s Donald!”

When we were kids Donald could belch long and steady and even say belched words.  My buddy the late Van Callaway lived in the Latimer Apartments on Atlanta Street, next door to Donald’s family.

Van and I tried to do long belching and make belched words like Donald could but couldn’t.  We went to his apartment and asked him how did he do it.

“Eat a lot of olives” He said.

We tried, it did not work for us.

Hold On!

Before jumping with feet into February there is one more birthday that almost got overlooked:  POPEYE turned 90 on January 17, 1929.  He was created by Elzie Crisler Seger.  He was first in King Features comic strips and Thimble Theater.

Eat your Spinach Souffle today as a birthday cake.

Gadget

We were told by AT&;T if we had a Fiber-net system our on-line service would be much quicker.  So, we ordered Fiber to be installed, whatever that is.

AT&T installed it yesterday.  The technician had to run a line from the telephone pole at the end of our street all the way back to our house and to the basement.  I showed him the basement and I noticed  he was looking up at the ceiling figuring how to run his line so I thought why should he lug his huge ladder to the basement so I told him he should use our shorter step ladder.  His head was almost touching the basement ceiling rafters as he looked down at me and  said "Thank you, but I don't think I will have a problem."  Then I realized he was a very tall person.  I asked him how tall he is  and he said about 6'7"

A funny thing about the Fiber, it is a little gadget he attached to a board of the wood frame that hold the basement steps up.  It needs electricity, so he plugged it in a power strip which is where the ironing board, iron, and radio are plugged in.  He showed me three little lights on it and said if I have problems, come down to the basement and look at this gadget.  If the lights are not on or changed to red something is not right and I need to call them.  He gathered up his tools and left.

We soon discovered our TVs were down and our computers would not go on line.  I rushed downstairs and the little lights he told me about were not on.  We called him, he left us his card.  He said he'll come right back.  I turned on the lights in the basement so he could see better which included the lights over the ironing board which is connected to the same power strip as the gadget is plugged in too.  When I clicked on the power strip to turn on the lights, so did the gadget's lights.  AHAH!

He was pulling in our driveway when I made the discovery.  

AARRGGGG!!

Last week one day was "Dress Like a Pirate at Fernbank Science Center  just outside Atlanta.  Our grandson Benjamin.

Benjamin's photo by his mom Sabrina

Blizzard of '61

Our current weather condition reminds me of the Ice Storm of March 1961. When the storm came it was during the night. In March, we woke up to a frozen white Winter Wonder Land. I worked in Atlanta at the time and it was too dangerous to try to drive to work. So, I called in. So did all my friends that were not away at college. We went out to play on the frozen slippery terrain.

Larry Southern got a near worthless used car from his father's car lot and we rode around and learned a lot about the physics of driving on slippery ice. We went to Town & Country Shopping Center, which was empty of customers' cars because of the weather and used the wide open spaced parking lot as a training ground. We would spin, get speed up and slam on the brakes en enjoy the slide. Later we tried climbing a steep hill and I forgot what happened but it put an end to our riding that car. 

The steep hill was leading off Powder Springs Street across from Garrison Road. We were just a block or two from the Marietta Country Club. We got the idea of going up to the golf course and sliding down the big hill there on the green. When we walked up to the Country Club we realized we were not the first ones to think of sliding down the hill on the golf course. Many kids were there sliding. They had serving trays they were using that they slipped in and got from the dining or kitchen area of the club. Other kids had flattened big cardboard boxed, and even one group of kids brought a car hood they rode on. I tried a serving tray, a cardboard flat, but finally got the not so bright idea of riding down on a round red Coke sign, which the face of it was facing the ice. I started down the hill, picked up speed, and for some reason the Coke sign started to spin, or I should say the Coke sign and I started to spin faster and faster.

The Coke sign became a runaway out of control Coke sign. I couldn't get off or guild it. At the bottom of the hill is normally a pretty little pond. That day it was partially frozen . I hit the pond, it may have skidded to put me more in the middle, then sunk. 

It was thigh deep in cold icy water. I walked out. The fun was over.

I needed dry pants. My pants were sloshing and about to get stiff with ice. I was walking.
Sometimes I can be resourceful when it comes to surviving. I sloshed and crinkled my way across town to Colonial Circle, where Mrs. Latimer lived. My friend Gene "Jenky" Latimer was killed in a drag race the previous May or early June. I knocked on Mrs. Latimer's door. She was happy to see an old friend of Jenky's. I told her my pants were wet, could I borrow a pair of Gene's pants. She gladly gave me a pair, which I went to the back and changed into. Then Mrs. Latimer baked us some banana-nut bread, which we had with hot apple cider. 

Still, each time I ride by Colonial Circle off Fairground Street, or eat banana bread I think of that day.

Lena the Hyena Beauty

click on image to enlarge

In the 1940s Al Capp’s LI’L ABNER comic strip ran a beauty contest, or Ugly contest.  Al Capp invited artists to submit their hand-drawn contestants.  Basil Wolverton’s Lena the Hyena won. (1^st picture).

The second picture was on MAD Comicbook cover, #11.  And the 3^rd picture was on a PANIC comicbook cover.

SUNDAY FUNNIES!! The Implied Wall

Speaking of Walls (isn't everyone?) there is an implied Wall in the Will Elder cartoon ripped from the pages of HELP Magazine #5

Red Eyed Mule's new location

The Red Eyed Mule has mjoved

Yep, they have moved to the corner of Manget Street and South Marietta Parkway.  Here are some visits I had at the old location that I put on my blog:

for Red Eyed Mule, click here

Great Work Team

Last week we bought a refrigerator from Lowe’s.  They delivered it yesterday.   The delivery company was J.B. Hunt, a nation-wide outfit.

The two men who delivered it were very positive and went beyond their job description.  Afterwards, when hooked up, placed, and we signed for it they helped me put the furniture back in place, that I moved before they got there to give them wide un-obstructed swath or path.

While the youngest was unloading the frig off the truck the oldest wanted to see the layout what doors they would have to deal with and the path and all that.  He asked how I was and said good and I asked how he was and he said “Great, I’m always great!”  And later the youngest said the same thing, word for word.  They are on the same brain wave.

Near the end the oldest one told me they are a father son team.  Maybe more companies should hire father son teams.  The father wants to set a good example and the son wants to impress his dad.  They worked great  together.

NYC Light Tour Crooks

Above: Lights of New York City that I Googled. 

We went to New York City about a week before this past Christmas.   The reason we picked mid-December was for the Christmas lights.

Somewhere we saw an ad for a New York City tour at night to see the Lights.  We got reservations for a certain night. 

We were a little concerned after we got the reservations (which we paid for with a credit card) because of the weather.  It was cold and stormy for two days before the night we chose, but that night it was perfect.  It wasn’t rainy, windy, snowy, or cold.  Lucky us!

We had instructions where to meet the group.  It was at a bar directly across from the Ed Sullivan Theater (STEPHEN COLBERT SHOW).   It was just a couple of blocks away from our hotel.  We decided to walk to the bar.  We did.  But there was no bar.  It was a large coffee shop with “natural bean”.  However, when you key the name of the bar onto the system, they gave you the exact address we were standing in front of, but also added it is no longer there.  The bar used to be there, but not now.  Their directions were out of date, that should have been a clue.

Anna called the number and talked to the person she talked to before.  He said that tour was cancelled and they called and left a message.  We checked our messages, and that is true, he did call to cancel the tour.  We are just not savvy enough on texting to have seen the message.  The person also said credit would be issued to our credit card.

They didn’t.  It has been a month and still no credit.  I think it was a scam.

Yesterday we went to the credit union that manages the credit card used and formally filled out a form to dispute the charges.

I think that is part of the scheme:  To make reservations, accept a credit card payment, then cancel it and probably a lot of people don’t want to go to the trouble of disputing it. 

Crookes!

Benjamin and Rocky Came Yesterdy

Such a treat!

Progress

SUNDAY FUNNIES!! TODAY SHOW Birthday is not TODAY

THE TODAY SHOW's 67th year birthday was early this previous week.  So, about five days behind and a dollar short  here is a lampoon of the show, done in MAD #26, drawn by Jack Davis and written by editor Harvey Kurtzman.

click on each page to be able to read it.

I think one of THE TODAY SHOW’s hostesses, Sheinelle Jones,  has a fresh positive smile  that just makes you want to smile back

Yesterday  morning I was walking through the dining room and THE TODAY SHOW was on.  As I looked at the screen two or three women were setting talking.  As I  made walking  noises Sheinelle looked up, as if she heard my footsteps, broke into a big smile and waved.    I don’t know what they were talking about that caused her to wave, but she did.

And  by reflex, I waved back.

Common Fear

What common fear do these people have?

Answer:

Dandruff

   

Throwback Thursday, On Aisle 4

Throwback Thursday.  I recently came across this picture that I took a few years ago across Hwy 400 in Dawsonville.

We had lunch there when on the way to Dahlonega.

The same spot the BBQ place is in was a service station/convenience store.

At the post office I worked at was a carrier who liked to talk about the mountains with me.   He and his girlfriend bought a large area of land, all wooded, near Dawsonville.  There were no buildings.  Just woods and a creek running through their property.

I have put this story up before, so just leap away If you remember it.

Gold was discovered within ten miles from there in the early 1830s.  Ken knew about that and tried gold mining in his creek.  He found a few little tiny pebbles of gold.  He made himself a gold mining machine.  It was a 2 cycle Bridge and Stratton type.  It was sort of like a Ferris Wheel.  It had a rotation system set up for scoops.  The machine would chugalug and go down and scoop up sand in the creek bottom and rotate upwards.  At a point, probably the highest peak the scoop would flip over and dump the contents into a metal pan with a tiny screened bottom that was always shifting back and forth.  It shits the sand out, and leaving heavier thicker items like hopefully gold nuggets… but  mostly tiny gold pebbles. 

He invited me, Anna, and our boys up one Saturday so Adam and Rocky could get the thrill of maybe finding some gold (which I think they did find a small amount).

He suggested we meet at the service station/convenience store and we could follow them down the dirt roads to his land.

We met him as suggested and his girlfriend/fellow church member was with him.

He suggested he and I go in the store and buy some hotdogs, charcoal, buns, Cokes, potato chips and have a little picnic too.

Great!  We said.

Ken and I went in the store and walked around and could found everything but the catsup and mustard.

He walked up to the counter and spoke to the lady behind it, She was a nice looking middle age woman.  He asked her, “Where is the condiments?”

She said, “Aisle four.”

We went to aisle four and there were no condiments.

We went to the counter, “Did you say, ‘aisle four?’”

“Yessir.”

“We looked and didn’t see them.”

“They are there, look again, I stocked it this morning.”

We went back and looked again.  Not there.

Back at the counter.  Ken said, “We looked from all over they are not on Aisle four!”

She came out from around the counter in a huff and almost ruefully said, “Come!  I’ll show you!”

We fell instep behind her.

In aisle four she jerked her hand and forefinger pointing, and said, “There!  The condiments!”

She was pointing at packs of condoms.

We all had an embarrassing laugh over that, and for a while every time Ken was  in there they had a good laugh.  

Why Now?

Why the Green Book?

I have not heard of The Green Book until the weekend.  The Green Book was a book made by a postal employee with the last name Green.  In pre 1964 or so it was required reading for blacks planning a trip south in the United States, land of the free

Back then blacks were turned away from most motels and restaurants in the south.  It could be dangerous without The Green Book.  It game listings of places and bed and breakfasts that accepted people of color.

Now, it is a movie, which is now being plugged on news shows.   Before writing this I googled Green Book and couldn’t find out anything.  There were a lot about the movie but not about he book or the Jim Crow environment that made The Green Book a necessity.

Is this what some people have in mind when they hear “Make America great again!.”?

One positive thought about this is that common people got to meet well known musicians and other celebrities such as Nat King Cole, Count Base, and so on.  Musicians had to go where there as a fresh audience so they had to go south and instead of staying at a top notch hotel they had to stay at B&B’ and probably got to meet some great people that otherwise wouldn’t have met.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY THE TODAYI SHOW!! 67 Years!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY THE TODAY SHOW. 67 years old today!

J. Fred Muggs, one of the first stars of THE TODAY SHOW by Jack Davis.

Working for Greatmess

Here is an interesting quote I heard  on PBS while watching a story about Winston Churchill:

Greatness is achieved at a great price.  But normally not at their expense.

SUNDAY FUNNIES!! Broadway Musical from HELP Magazine

We still have the BROADWAY bug.  I feel like singing and dancing around a NYC light pole using my umbrella guide my leaping flight or.. or..not.

This take of behind the scenes, or backstage of a Broadway musical was torn from the pages of HELP #7 (1960s).  It was drawn by Paul Coker and supposedly also wrote the article, but I bet the editor Harvey Kurtzman added his twist to it too.