Marietta Square 1909

West Park Square 1909, looking North.

Gene and his son Herman Talmadge

The Kurt Vonnegut book I am reading now, in the prefix has several pages talking about a strike against a large company in Indiana and the Indiana National Guard was called out to keep order. It reminds me of before I was even born the employees of Callaway Mills, near LaGrange, Georgia, went on strike and the Georgia National Guard was called out to keep order. My Daddy was in the Georgia National Guard. He was assigned to guard the Callaway Family mansion, the president of Callaway Mill. While Daddy was on duty an intruder did try to break in. Daddy disrupted the striker/intruder’s action and they got into a fight on the Callaway Family’ Mansion’s front porch. They had some sort of hold on each other and they rolled off the porch. The mansion was big and the porch was probably high up. When they rolled off Daddy landed on top o he striker. The Striker was instantly killed by Daddy’s forceful impact upon landing upon him. Daddy had to appear in front of Georgia Eugene Talmadge for killing the man. Gene gave Daddy a pardon. Another time Daddy, as a Georgia National Guard, was given guard duty to guard he Georgia Governor’s Mansion*. He was given a list of people to allow in, if hey should show up, and absolutely do not let any one else in. Then the Governor’s son Herman Talmadge approached the Guard House, drunk. Daddy recognized Herman, but he was not on the list so Daddy would not let him pass. The next day Daddy’s immediate up chain of command supervisor changed him to another job, saying he was right but thy needed someone on that pos that was ready to bend the rules for the immediate family. *Then the Governor's Mansion was off Piedmont Road, near Piedmont Park.

Give PRESERVATION HALL a Helping hand: clapping and donartion

This morning on CBS SUNDAY MORNING NEWSHOW They had a report on the PRESERVATION HALL in New Orleans. My mini -Google research tells me it was formed shortly after 1961. Well, I can vouch that is true. I visited it in 1965, and it was after 1961. I I have visited this at least two times, maybe three times over the years. Their music is devoted to keep Dixieland/New Orleans’ Blues alive. I think they primary monetary base is from donations. They do not over extend themselves on decoration and furniture. The few times I was there we sat on church pews. They do sell their music and other souvenirs. When you are in the Crescent City do yourself and them a favor and visit one of their live concers.

HERO & OUTLAW

The other night we were channel surfing, or scratching, for something and/or interesting to watch on TV. We came upon a Sam Elliott movie HERO. It is about an aged actor who was very popular in his prime, but in his 70s he is not. He makes radio commercials but keeps hoping to make another movie. Of course Sam Elliott does have a very many, very identifiable, western sincere deep voice. During this span of time he runs into a female who is about half his age and their ups and downs or on again, off again. Sam in the movie has a fragile ego, which his deep voice would say otherwise. A small movie fan club elected him for their annual award. He went, high on some kind drug and when he accepted the award instead of making short speech he kept saying he did not deserve that award, or if he did, so did his fans. He called a middle aged woman up and gave her the award, telling her she deserved this more than he. Insteresting, the middle aged lady he called up is an actress on the soap DAYS OF OUR LIVES, who at the moment is having problem with her husband, who is having an affair with a man, which she doesn’t know yet, but her daughter does. When I saw the name HERO I thought it a movie of a Howard Hughes-like character making a western movie. That he named OUTLAW. Interesting OUTLAW inspired producer Howard Hughes to create the strapless bra. He designed it for Jane Russell, who he wanted to show more boob in the movie.

SUNDAY FUNNIES!! MAD #12's FROM ETERNITY TO HEREE

Me and the Yellow Kid

A lot of people think they, at one time, looked alike a movie star or someone else of fame. Me too! In my case my look-alike is THE YELLOW KID. He was created by Richard Outcault in 1895 and is credited for being the first comic strip in a newspaper. Not only did we look alike we were both street kids at just slightly older than toddlers.

The advantage of growing old and Forgetfulness

The advantage of growing old and forgetful. I was looking for a book to read. I went to the basement to my books and dug out JAILBIRD by Kurt Vonnegutt. Just flipping though it I do not remember it But since it is mine and I am a Kurt Vonnegut fan I probably have read it. Butg since I wake up to a new world every day, I save money!

NYC Post card (old)

click to made bigger.

CRACKED Magazine cover by Will Elder

After Will Elder left MAD magazine, he did some stuff for CRACKED Magazine

Osmo Petty and His Hat

I have been told that my uncle Osmo Petty loved to wear his hat.

Larry's Used Car and an Oncoming Truck

Throwback Thursday: One night when I was a teenager Larry Holcomb came by my family's home to show me a car he had just bought from Bobby McEntyre. It was a black Chevy, 1955 I think. The motor rumbled in deep breaths instead of purring. We drove it out to Varner’s Drive-In for him to show our friends his new purchase. I remember one friend wanted to shine a flashlight around the back seat, looking for Bobby’s “peter tracks”. After spending an hour or so at Varner’s we got back into Larry’s Chevvy for him to take me back home. My family and I lived on Richard Street, which ran into the 4-Lane across from the present parking lot of White Water Park. We were going down the hill, with the Richard Street turn off at the bottom of the hill when the car motor stopped running. The car settled to a stop at the bottom of the hill. We got out and tried to push it off the road, but it would not move. It was on level ground, either frontward or backwards we would be pushing it uphill, which was impossible for two teenagers. Then we heard the engine and groans of a big truck coming downhill, directly towards us. We ran over to the side of the road. Then I brilliantly remembered that if I put the brake pedal on the red taillights would light up and the truck driver would see it and pull into the other lane I ran over and jumped into the Chevvy about to save the day. Larry screamed at me, telling me to come back. The trucks headlights' light completely filled the inside of the car with light. I stepped on the brake pedal. The truck made a loud screeching sound, but whizzed by me. I told myself I was a fool. Larry told me I was a fool too, but thanked me anyway.

Petty Kids in Gillette, Wyoming, c 1918

918, Gillette, Wyoming, Petty Kids : These kids are my mother and her siblings in 1918. First on the left is Opal sitting on the ground with her baby sister Ethel America Petty (my mother). The two boys holding the prairie chicken are Tom (with hat) and Wallace. The next boy with a hat is Osmo and the girl is Georgia. Interesting both boys wearing hats at such a young age would be photographed throughout their lives with hats on.

That is my mother, the baby, sitting crying.

Government for the People

Click on to make bigger.

Will look at Cube for Food

WILL WORK RUBIK'S CUBE FOR FOOD. At Coscto today there were only two free samples tables. I think we might have been too early for the bulk of the free samples. 'Tis the season to gorge. One of the free samples a lady was preparing something with a cracker, cheese, and a red pepper sauce. She had one sample left on her present batch and the man ahead of me rightfully took it and ate it. The free sample lady said she would have some more in just a few minutes, it doesn't take long to prepare. The guy that just took her last one from the previous batch didn't move. As she ran a one-lady assembly line she did her selling speech. While she talked the man who took the last sample stood and worked on a Rubik's Cube. It probably took her 4 or 5 minutes to get the next batch ready to hand out. In those 4 to 5 minutes the guy proudly had the Rubik's Cube Puzzle solved. He proudly showed the free sample lady his perfect Rubik's Cube and said he thought that he deserved another sample and took it. Then he proudly put it in front of my face for me to examine. I said something like, "Yeah, that nice." and reached around him for my morsel of free sample food. Also, at Costco, you may have noticed, if you overhear people talking, it is an international community. You overhear Yankee accents, Spanish accents and language, European, Asian, and Arabic accents and language. But I never heard a Charlie Brown's parents' language. An apparent married couple sounded much like the adults on Charlie Brown specials. ... "Wan wan". I was close the couple in their 40s or 50s that carried on a long purchasing conversation saying nothing but "Wan wan." Some of the Wan wans had question marks and some ended in three dots, like very thoughtful statements....

SUNDAY FUNNIES!! TRUMP (not the) Magazine Rin-Tin-Tin

Story by editor Harvey Kurtzman; Art by Georgia's Jack Davis

Hunter Sister-In-Laws

Hunter sister-in-laws. They all are were married to Hunter brothers. The only one missing, is Willie Collins, who was Herbert Hunter’s wife , she died in 1973. From left to right: Sarah Frasure (wife of Stanley), Jeannette Quintal (wife of Dick) , Ruby Langley (wife of Jack),, Janie Petty (wife of Ed), Zelma Ogle (wife of Bus) , and Lola Jeanne (wife of Doug). Unlike their spouses they did not give a hoot about lining up and posing for pictures in age order.

Grandma Petty, her son Osmo, and her grandson me

Grandma Viola "Ola" Ridley Petty, her Navy son Osmo, and me posing in the Clay Homes, c1944.

Pettys in Varnell

Petty Clan: c1950*. This picture was taken in Varnell, Whitfield County, Ga. All Left to Right: 1st Row: LaVonne Petty in stroller (I think), Marybeth Petty (her dad Wallace's hands are on her shoulder), Georgia Petty Grant, Cecil Grant, Osmo Petty, and Eddie Hunter (me). 2nd Row: Jeannette Phillips Petty holding probably Billy Petty, Leonard Petty, Wallace Petty, Thelma Cox Petty, Opal Petty holding Anthony), Janie Petty Hunter, Viola Ridleyl Petty, Frances Hunter with arms around sisters Harriet and Ronda Petty. 3rd Row: Mary Jo Johns Petty, Tom Petty, Walt Ridley (brother of Viola), Ed Hunter, Roy Petty, and Sarah Petty. *The estimated time of the photo is based on the child Anthony being held by Opal. Anthony was born in Dec 1948.

Tade Tyson

Throwback Thursday: My great aunt Lela Octavia "Tade" Tyson Carr (1886-1957). She is my Grandma Hunter's sister. Aunt "Tade" married E.J. Carr 4 December 1928 in Cobb County. I know nothing else about the man and would not known about him if I had not came across his name in the book of Cobb County marriages and that he is listed in the Mars Hill Cemetery. Aunt Tade lived in Acworth, just a block or two from Main Street, across the corner from a school. Sometimes when I went to Acworth Beach, before I could drive I would drop by and visit her while waiting on Daddy to pick me up. The picture of the three women are sisters. The one on Tade's right is Anne Tyson Crowder and the one on her left, the one she is looking at disapprovingly or concerned is my Grandma Hunter.

Barry Goldwater said

Memories are made of this

We ate at Bubba-Q tonight. All were spellbound looking at the TV watching the Ga-Ala game. People were screaming in terror or screaming in terror. I never have been a big sports fan but admire people who are. It is just too much for me to keep up with. It reminds me of a time about a dozen years ago i was showing an out of state guest the mountains in north Georgia. Near Blairsville at a country store a young man, who worked there, came up to me asking what old so and so was going to do about the defense (or was it offense?). "What in the world is he talking about?" I wondered to myself. Then I remembered the big G on the front of my ballcap. I faked my answers being very vague and general. He said I changed his mind, he could see my point of view and he never looked at it that way before. What point of view? Maybe he knew even less than I did and was faking it too.

Dent Myers, Civil War expert, Has Died

We just heard Kennesaw's Dent "Wildman" Myers has died. He marched to the beat of his own drummer. Hew was an expert on facts of the Civil War in this area. He was consulted on the facts of several CW movies while they were being made. I took this picture of the late underground cartoonist Skip Williamson and Dent in November 2001.

Squabble Behind the Photo Counter (taken from my files)

This evening I went to a discount drugstore to buy some Christmas lights. I got my lights and stood in line at the cash register. A young lady in the photo section announced she could take some of the people checking out over at her counter. A couple of people went over and I did also, behind them. After all, they were in the other line ahead of me, I allowed them the same privilege. I didn't pay much attention to the cashier until she waited on the lady in front of me. She was all smiles, with a mouth full of teeth , some would say. When it came my time the man working behind her turned around and reminded her something she should do. She snapped at him, saying to leave her alone, she said he makes her nervous. Then she turned back around to me, all smiles so pleasantly. The man working behind her said he just wanted to remind her if anybody wanted 8 by 10's ... he didn't get to finish his sentence. She snapped at him again, saying she was waiting on a customer, for him to leave her alone! She turned around to me, all smiles, and finished my transaction, with the man standing behind her watching her to making sure she did it right.

Overwhelming Excuses

Our niece’s son’s wife had a baby boy this morning. They now have 3 sons. They can readily say “My 3 Sons.” I think it was over a dozen years ago the young couple held an engagement announcement party. We were seated with the future wife’s grandmother and grandfather. They were educators, professors, as a matter of fact. Making conversation the professor grandmother told us of a project she asked her students to do. Each was to ask parents and/or other married couples how well did they communicate. It was almost a total overwhelming common response that when a wife talks to her husband the husband will remember the first sentence and the last sentence. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!

Old Folks

My left back cheek started aching from sitting too long in one spot. I got up and walked for circulation, to get the blood flowing. I sat down in the lobby and watched the people. In ten or so minutes a lady gracefully walked by using a walker. Really, gracefully. She held her head high and her body was on good posture mode. Behind her was a little old man with his torso bent over struggling moving his wheels. The graceful lady in front of him stopped at the nurses station and rifled through an opened box. She pulled out a package of peanutbutter and crackers and handed to the old man in the wheelchair. He humbly thanked her. I thought he felt intimidated allowing the lady to help him. She started walking with her walker again with him following her rear. Of course I am invisible so they did not see me. She stopped right in front of me and bent over and told him to wait, "There. Until I make sure no one is in my room." He nodded happily. The only thing I can think, "GO FOR IT!!"

Petty family again

Petty clan, many years ago, Left to right, first row: Leonard (b1924), Opal (b1913), Sarah (b1927),. Second row: Janie (b1918), Viola (b1885), Osmo (b1915), Roy (b1921), MaryJo Johns (bb1913)(wife of Tom), Tom (b1908), and Wallace (b1910). Notes: Their "Red Hills" house is behind them which means the house was taken near Cohutta, in Murray County, Georgia.. The oldest sibling, Georgianne is missing. Maybe she took the picture. Their father William Elijah Joseph Petty died in November, 1935, the picture was probably taken shortly after his death. Why is Osmo is wearing a hat?

SUNDAY FUNNIES (early)!! THE TODAY SHOW, 70 YEARS!

This Friday, THE TODAY SHOW announced they will be celenbrating 70 years. Please slow down so I can hop on the bandwagon. I am 80 years old and have been watching THE TODAY SHOW all my life. Back in the early days of MAD Magazine they did a spoof on THE TODAY SHOW, which keep reading: art by the late Jack Davis; story by the late Harvey Kurtzman.

Tom, Osmo, and probably Viola Petty

Petty Brothers Tom and Osmo Petty. I am not sure if that is Tom's wife Mary Jo or Osmo's wife Viola standing beside Osmo.

Post Office Window Service Business

I thought about the Post Office today. Here is a true event I experienced while working as a window clerk: When I was a Postal Window clerk I from time to time would wait on a nut. I guess that is to be expected. There are nuts out wandering around and they do business and social activities where they have to interact with people, which the people they interact with know before the interaction gets too involved, they are dealing with a nut an back off. But is rare to be talking with two nuts at the same time. Once, when I was a window clerk an elderly couple were next. I asked them to come up to my window, which they did, in an unsure manner. They looked to be in their late 60s or 70s. The man wore worn overalls and the woman had on a flowerily dress. They had a serious look of their face. Somebody knocked down their mailbox the man said. They didn’t even stop the woman said. The man added if he had knocked down someone mailbox he said it would have been an accident and he would stop and offer to replace it. The woman told me whoever hit their mailbox and knocked it down didn’t stop. They said they would like to see some examples of regulation mailboxes. I had a Postal issued publication that illustrated different types of mailboxes and had the legal dimensions, minimum and maximum, and showed an illustration how long the post should be from ground to the box. Of course, that would be about the right height for a carrier to be able to deliver the mail from his car window and move on. Some of the illustrations had big red X’s on them which was saying that was the WRONG way. The elderly couple studied each picture and talked among themselves and finally focused on one standard looking mailbox and the man pulled out his wallet and said, “We’ll take that one.” I said we didn’t sell mailboxes you would have to buy them at a hardware store or someplace that sold mailboxes. He said, “Well how come you have a catalog?” Are they real or are they joking? Maybe they both are getting to be senile about the same time. I explained that it wasn’t a catalog it was just showing Postal regulations on the requirements for a mailbox. They looked at me like the didn’t believe me, but if I didn’t want to sell them a mailbox that was my right, it was a free country. Then, the man said if they go down to the hardware store and buy a mailbox and a pole how long would it be until we sent someone out to put it up. Again – are they serious? We don’t put up mailboxes, that is your responsibility I told them. He said he could put it up, he had dug many of a hole for a post for fences in his time, so he didn’t mind. They walked away talking about their next approach to the problem of no mailbox. I wonder if they ever came up with the proper chain of solutions.

Hunter Clan of Marietta 1940s

The Hunter Clan of Marietta, c 1944* before they multiplied and multiplied: all left to right: Kids up front: Probably Jerry Hunter and Jimmy Crain in front of W.C. Hunter; Bobby Crain in front of Jack Hunter; Me (Eddie Hunter) in front of Ed Hunter; Frances Hunter in front of Frank Hunter. 1st row: Tom Crowder, W.C. Hunter, Jack Hunter, Ed Hunter, and Frank Paris Hunter. 2nd row: Minnie Tyson Hunter (behind Frank Paris Hunter), Janie Petty Hunter. 3rd row: Sarah Frasure Hunter, Bee Hunter Crain, ? , ?, Doug Hunter holding probably Sandra Hunter, Octavia "Tade" Tyson, Carr, probably Elizabeth "Jo" Hunter Stewart. ? 4th row:?, ?, Lolagene Turner Hunter, Last row: Stanley Hunter, Bus Hunter, Herbert Hunter, and ? . This last person looks like Jimmy Crain but appears to be older than Jimmy would be in about 1944. Ones that are probably in the picture but I can't pick them out: Zelma Ogle Hunter, Fay Hunter Rogers, Anne Tyson Crowder, Evelyn Crowder, Ed Tyson, Ann Tyson Brown, Will Tyson, Dalton Tyson, Lacy Powers Tyson, and Belle Kuykendall Tyson. If you can help, please don't be shy. * I estimate the year 1944 by looking at me in the picture. I am the kid closest to the camera. I look about 3, and I was born in 1941, so there you have it.

Venus on the HALF-SHELL by Kilgoe Trout (no such person)?

OK, Kurt Vonnegut fans. If you are big fans of Kurt Vonnegut you have studied a lot of writings and asked yourself a lot of question. Here is one I have: As you know in a few of his books there is a fictional science fiction writer named Kilgore Trout. To supplement his income he is over a some young newspapers deliverers. Kilgore has to browbeat and threaten his paperboys not to quit on him. When I was about 13 years old I had the same kind of boss when I delivered the Atlanta Journal. Wait! I wondered off. Over 20 years ago I bought VENUS ON THE HALF-SHELL by Kilgore Trout. It is solid paperback book 204 pages. But Kilgore Trout is a fictionalized character. I haven’t read it yet. I hate to wait another 20 years. Does anybody know who really wrote this book?

SUNDAY FUNNIES!! Robert Crumb METRO CHANGES

This is by Underground self stylish, Robert Crumb. I think he and Harvey Kurtzman started the Underground Movement and politely stepped out. Robert is his own self. click on image to make it bigger and understandandabl (maybe).

Alvin Ridley

while listening to NPR's WABE I heard the story of Alvin Ridley of Ringgold, Georgia. Alvin was accused of keeping his wife Virginia in captivity for 30 or so years before strangling her to death. My mother's mother's maiden name is Ridley and she is from the same part of Georgia, about 25 miles away. I heard Alvin's story several times before. While doing family research I have came across Alvin's murdering headlines several times but I have yet to find just how he is related . It appears nobody wants to claim him. He was found innocent in the Catoosa County Court by a jury, but he was about as eccentric as one could get. Here is interesting Ridley genealogy that might help explain why Alvin Ridley family connection is hard to get information on. Alvin's and My ancestor William Ridley was a native of England. He lived in Boston where he was a cobbler and a teacher. The Revolutionary War came and he fought for America in the King's Mountain, North and South Carolinas area (the state line). There William married Kings Mountain native Jane Pulsey. They had five sons and one daughter. One of the sons was Matthew Ridley, which was my ancestor and the Ridleys of Murray County, Georgia and middle north Georgia.. Another son was William Ridley who is the ancestor of the Ridleys of Eastern Alabama and the hills of west North Georgia. Both brothers had descendents in the middle north Georgia area. Now, just to make genealogy interesting and almost a Grimm fable: The brother William married Mary Ann Smith. They had five sons and one daughter. One son died at birth, and Mary Ann did also. William remarried Margaret Maxell. William and Margaret had one son. Then William died. That left Margaret the step mother of four sons, one daughter, and real mother to one son. She sold her step sons into servitude. The step sons, who were young man ran away. They settled in eastern Northern Alabama. I think one of these Ridley brothers is the ancestor of Alvin Ridley. A couple of Google briefs: A Murder Mystery Solved By Hypergraphia IN 1997, ALVIN Ridley of Ringgold, Georgia — widely known as the village eccentric — was charged by the city of imprisoning his wife Virginia for almost 30 years and suffocating her while she slept in bed. This article has been reproduced in a new format and may be missing content or contain faulty links. Contact wiredlabs@wired.com to report an issue. The trial was filled with odd characters. For example, Dr. Frederick Hellman, “the suave and darkly handsome GBI pathologist who performed the autopsy on Virginia Ridley”, who would respond to every question by swinging his chair to face the jury and deliver a lecture usually irrelevant to the question he’d been asked. Or Ben McGaha, otherwise known as “Salesman Sam”, who was Ridley’s court adviser and claimed to have a flawless memory… but was frequently caught explaining errors with the claim that he’d forgotten some details. Or even the cockroaches that infested Ridley’s house, which he brought to trial in a jar every day. Yet, at the end of the day, Ridley was acquitted, not simply because the evidence against him murdering his wife was scanty at best, but Virginia Ridley was a hypergraphiac, and had compulsively scribbled a 10,000 page diary over the years which made clear that she was a paranoiac and an epileptic who had become a shut-in voluntarily. Ridley brought the journal with him to court every day in a garbage bag. The Village Eccentric On Trial [Jack Warner] Virginia Radley [Wikipedia] Wikipedia, Virginia Ridley: Virginia Ridley (April 18, 1948 – October 4, 1997) was a woman from Ringgold, Georgia, whose death made headlines when her husband, Alvin, was arrested and charged with imprisoning her for almost three decades, then killing her. Alvin and Virginia lived on the outskirts of Ringgold in a dilapidated, cockroach-infested house. He maintained that the reason why no one in Ringgold knew of her existence was because her family's opposition to their marriage led to her decision to live as a hermit. Virginia's family claimed that Alvin prevented all attempts by them to contact her. At trial, Ridley maintained he and Virginia were happy and that he never harmed her. He produced what he claimed was her journal, consisting of 10,000 pages. His attorney theorized that Virginia—who suffered from agoraphobia, hypergraphia and epilepsy—died of an epileptic seizure, as had Florence Griffith-Joyner, whose autopsy he submitted as evidence. The prosecution maintained that Ridley suffocated her. After the jury deliberated for 2 hours and 14 minutes, he was acquitted. Alvin Ridley was represented throughout the case by Georgia criminal defense lawyer McCracken Poston, who discovered the evidentiary treasure trove of a three decade journal by Virginia Ridley and presented parts of it at trial. The case was featured on the A&E program American Justice[1] and Forensic Files. The radio storytelling program Snap Judgmenthad Poston explaining how he defended Alvin and discovered Virginia's documents in the Nov 27, 2015 episode "Dirty Work".[2]

Shopping Downtown Marietta

Herbert Goldstein died Tuesday, November 28th, just three days before his 94th birthday. He was one of downtown Marietta's most interesting person, if not the wealthiest. He was a retail merchant and property investor. We saw him in a doctors' waiting room with his daughter probably less than a year ago and he did not look well. I have two Herbert Goldstein encounters to tell: First: Years ago, we took our boys to Chattanooga to the Railroad Museum. At the gift shop we bought our sons gray striped railroad engineers hats. After we were back home, I decided I wanted on too. I called around to various local clothing stores asking if they had the hats. Goldstein's had them. Of course. Goldstein's Department Store was in the place the old McLlellan's 5₵ and 10₵ store was. When I called and Herbert said they had them I asked how much and he instantly said something like $4.99. The next day I went to Goldstein's to buy the railroad hat. I heard that price tags were not visible. You had to ask Mr. Goldstein the price and he looked at you not the item when he said the price. I selected my hat and asked Mrs. Goldstein the price, who you think was a clerk there, not the owner's wife. She said she would check. Herbert was a good 30 feet away, she held up the hat and called out, "Mr. Goldstein, how much is this hat?" And sure'nuff, he looked at me, not the hat, and said $3.99. That was a dollar cheaper than he told me on the phone. He either judged me to be a wise shopper or was too poor to pay more. I did not know whether to feel insulted or complemented. Encounter two: My sister gave me an overcoat as a gift. I think she included the sales receipt in case it did not fit. It did not fit. It came from Goldstein's. Then, Goldstein's Department Store was in the lobby of the old First National Bank Building, which he owned the building. He was also the only employee there. Mr. Goldstein was very cordial and hinted strongly that I should pick out something I liked and swap evenly. He hustled around picking out shirts, ties, gloves, handkerchiefs, and whatever else he had a hand-held calculator that he kept a running total. He came within 25€. He opened his cash register. I thought he was going to hand me a quarter. I was wrong. He handed me a Wendy's coupon with a 25 cent value.

What Me Worry & Quack Quack Worry.

Playing in the Ice & Visiting

Our current weather condition reminds me of the Ice Storm of March 1961. When the storm came it was during the night. In March 1961, 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 got a near worthless used car from his father's used 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 flattened, 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 almost 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. I lived on Richard Street which was about 2 or miles away, one block from the 4-Lane, across the highway from the future White Water Amusement Park. Sometimes I can be resourceful when it comes to surviving. I sloshed and crinkled my way across town, about halfway home 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.

Rural Route Carrier and the handsome Brute at Krogers

Then there was a rural route carrier who picked up a hansome brute at Krogers. Wait! The big brute is me. Just joking.

Jobs, Easy Come, Easy Go

During my 30 plus years with the Postal Service as carrier trainee (2 days), Time Keeper, Data Collection Clerk, Distribution Clerk, Scheme Examiner, and Nixie Clerk more than once I was tempted to pull off my apron, throw it away and run off with my shirt off holding it waving at everybody as I exit for good. You go Antonio!

This picture is first cousins Stanley and Osmo Petty, before 1941, in Detroit. Siblings Osmo and Opal Petty went to Detroit to find employment, they heard it was easy to get a job in Detroit. Their first cousin Stanley Petty went with them. I think they had no trouble finding jobs, also no trouble getting into fights. Opal told me Osmo loved to go to bars and get into fights.

Laughter & Wise-Cracking is he Best Medicine

I went to physical therapy today. It was the first session of a bunch that will go into 2018. I damaged my left shoulder and cannot raise my arm without enduring sharp pain. Today she gave me several arm tasks to do and groped my arm some and took notes on her electronic note pad. One time when she put down a lot of words after groping my shoulder muscle I said, "It would be easier just to put down "Flabby"". She laughed. Another time she asked me where was I born. I said "Here, Marietta. One block from the Square,". She said she never met a Marietta native before. I said, "Yep, I'm a sight to behold". That cracked her up. She laughed at a lot of my wise-ass cracks. I was thinking I have good insurance and mental health is also important. It is good therapy for someone to appreciate your wit. After my arm gets well I wonder if I can continue to go to the sweet therapist just to wise crack. I think it would help me.

SUNDAY FUNNIES!! The Fabulous Freak Brothers

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