View From the Balcony

click on any picture to make it larger than it deserves.


Not too long ago I talked about our hotel we stayed at in the French Quarters of New Orleans on our last trip there. I mumbled something about showing you the view from our balcony as soon as I found the pictures.

I didn’t find the pictures but I found the negatives while scanning.

As I mentioned across the street from us was a bar where Rocky had his first legal drink. I forgot about the dog always in the doorway – the dog adds a certain laid back charm to the place.

Remember the movie KING CREOLE with Elvis? It opened with a person pushing a pushcart shouting “Crawfish!! Crawfish!!” That scene would fit very well down this street.

From our balcony looking north.



Here from street level you can see our balcony. It is above another bar, which is across the street from the one we went to. There was something about the bar that our room was above that made me not want to go in. When we arrived a gang of men with ball bats, short wood planks stood outside and jeered trying to get the occupants to come out. Later I noticed one person inside that had the built of a male, but with some sort of ballet outfit or something on.



The front of our classy ghostly hotel.





Our hotel’s courtyard fountain.





As you can tell, we don’t get out often.

War On Poverty bill signed this date 1964

According to the History Channel’s Page A Day Calendar on this date in 1964 President Lyndon B. Johnson initiated his war on poverty by signing the War On Poverty bill. It was an idea that President Kennedy first introduced, but LBJ carried it out.

Now, get this: When the bill was signed Congress allocated $947,000, which funded various education, employment, and substance abuse programs.

Can you imagine just how for $947,000 will go to help create jobs and educate people about the dangers of drug after it is filtered through a bunch of appointed positions (the politicians’ kin and business partner’s kin) and advisors & consultants (chief income of retired military officers)?

I would not be surprised if the $947,000 ran out within the hour.

Movies Watched Recently

Our most recent rent-a-movie through the mail movies:

ACROSS THE UNIVERSE was a unique way to tell a story. It was a musical, kind of, all the songs sung were Beatles songs… and a lot of sentences referred to Beatles Songs or Beatles history or facts. For example in someone apartment a girl shows up and someone asks how she got in and someone else said, “She came in through the bathroom window”. The basic story line was that a Brit came to the United States to study in an ivy league college and find his father. At the college he makes friend with a typical rich kid who has a sister he falls for and they, it seemed on a whim, moved to New York City with no visible means of support. From then on it reminded me much of the musical HAIR, with Beatles music. A good deal of the movie deals with the kids protesting Vietnam in NYC. Needless to say, it had a good beat.

BEE MOVIE with Jerry Seinfield was well, a bee movie. It gave little bees human personalities and let them have a mama at home instead of the real mother, which was the queen bee. Jerry Seinfield’s voice was used with the main character, who in a way, thought like Jerry Seinfield, with a show about nothing. I liked what the bees did as far as telling some true bee habits, but other than that, it was amusing until I fell asleep.

DARWIN AWARDS, THE with Joseph Fiennes and Winona Ryder was at the beginning about the same DARWIN AWARDS that is forwarded to you… where real people were accidentally killed doing stupid things, therefore, their dumb genes have been eliminated from the gene pool thus making the human race smarter. Then, a romance sparkles and we more or less forget the title and follow their off again and on again romance – what does that have to do with DARWIN AWARDS?

JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB, THE is a movie about a group of women who created a small literally club who’s seemingly only purpose was to read and discuss Jane Austen books. A man was invited to join also, which was to add a little spice to the formula. Each woman had their own personal story or tragedy and the man was rich, for a young man, he invented some kind of soft ware that caught on. It was nice, it was also what one would call a “Chick Flick.”

LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA with Benjamin Bratt was a movie that took place in Columbia probably before 1900. Benjamin Bratt (Law & Order) was a gentleman doctor who dressed the part. He seemed to always wear a tall hat, which looked ridicules on the tall lean Benjamin Bratt. It would be like a tall woman wearing elevated shoes. As the movie is named, it is time of the Cholera epidemic but was rarely part of the plot. I thought it was pretty good.

NO RESERVATIONS with Catherine Zeta-Jones is about two top chefs having a romance…. Again, one of those on-again, off-again romances. I guess it would be boring if it was just a no fuss, no shouting, no screaming, no mix-ups or misunderstanding. I thought it was a little too formulated.

camp Ground Meeting

This week the Campground at Roswell and Sewell Mill Roads is having their annual campground meeting. Different preachers from different churches are invited to preach throughout the week.

Above is the Arbor where the preaching is done. This picture was taken by my mother-in-law in 1958. We carried her two years ago and I can't see that it has changed. I think someplace on the Arbor is a plaque of some kind that states it was erected before 1900, I forgot the exact year. And it has been going strong since, and as far as I know, without any structural change.

On the same grounds near the Arbor are cabins owned by old Marietta families that it is there tradition to come and spend the week for the preaching and fellowship, and I suppose to rough it. Back in the old days, the campground was considered far away, and that is why you camp, instead of going back and forth each day.

There is also a small school house that my mother attended as a girl. Each year the students hold a reunion... and each year the number of people attending shrink. But death is not always the reason someone didn't make it...sometimes, they just forgot - it is not always easy keeping up with dates when you are in your 80s.

camp

Off to WWII from Marietta

click on any clipping to see it better.

I think I flubbed up on this article. That is what happens when you work on something, but it aside for over a week and expect to pick up where you left off. All the articles are mixed up.

I came across this article and borrowed it and scanned the article.

Luckily, I transcribed the short story and all the names. I am not sure all the pictures are there and I know the newspaper printed story is not here, but you probably couldn't have read it anyway. I believe it was printed in August 1942, after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.

If I wasn't me and I had to grade this on presentation I would give Mr. Me a F. But since I am Me and I know how busy Mr. Me has been lately trying to celebrate his birthday, I give Mr. Me an A, not because he did such a good job, but because he is Me.

About the names. If you are a native of Marietta and or Cobb County, you might see some names and pictures you know. A couple of my uncles are in the pictures and the list. My uncle John S. Hunter and the Frasure next to him are listed in two different rows.

One name I recognized as a man who lived next door to us in the Clay Homes and I was told later in life that it was believed that this man was AWOL and hid in his wife and mother-in-law's apartment.

Now, on with the transcribed names of Marietta men going to war:

Members of Battery E 214th C.A. (A.A.) Marietta, Ga. Who was the first to leave Cobb County prior to The Outbreak of the War. These boys left December 5th, 1940, and are scattered on the Six Continents of the World.

Top Row, Left to Right: Pfc James T. WHITE, Newfoundland; Pfc Grady H. Blevins, Newfoundland; Pfc John A. Henson, Newfoundland; Ralph P. Barfield, Brecia, Cal; Sgt John S. Hunter, Newfoundland; Sgt. Herbert C. Frasure, Newfoundland; unidentified; 1st Sgt Parker M. Sanders, The Islands;
Row 2 – Cpl Jackson W. Dobbins, Newfoundland; Pfc Kermit C. Sanders, Newfoundland; Sgt James Howard Burton, 4th Service Command; Cpl Parris D. Hunter, MAAP; Sgt Robert H. Orr, The Islands; Sgt James B. Kirk, Newfoundland; Pvc Woodrow Hulsey, Newfoundland; Pfc Dallas E. Fowler, Newfoundland; Pfc David F. Scroggins, Newfoundland;
3rd Row- Staff Sgt Jack Arnett, Norfolk; Sgt Ralph P. Barfield, Benicia, Cal; Sgt John S. Hunter, Newfoundland;; Sgt Herbert C. Frasure, Newfoundland; Pvt Homer L. Prather, Newfoundland; Pvt Efford C. Brooks, Marietta, Ga.; Pfc “Speedy” Cantrell, Newfoundland;
4th Row – Sgt Cleveland S. Kirk, Newfoundland; Pfc William C. Blevins, ODRD; Pfc Wayne L. Turner, Newfoundland; Cpl Robert S. Wood, Richmond, Cal; Sgt Herman L. Hulsey, California; Tech Sgt Claude Hicks, OCS, Pvt Charles E. McBurnett, Newfoundland; Lt Glenn E. Bird, Australia; Pfc Clarence R. Pence, Camp Stewart;
5th Row – Pfc John E. Berry, Newfoundland; Pfc Frank V. Lewis, Florida; Cpl Verne E. Allgood, The Islands; Cpl William P. Dobbins, San Francisco, Cal; Sgt William C. Marler, Benecia, Cal; Pfc L.D. Poor, Newfoundland; Cpl James T. Upshaw, Newfoundland; James R. Ferrell, Newfoundland; Pfc Emory R. Parmenter, Unknown;
6th Row: Sgt Julius T. Blackwell, Benecia, Cal; Pvt William Harold Whitlock, Texas; Sgt Henry C. Farmer, Newfoundland; Cpl John P. Sewell, Newfoundland; Master Sgt Ebble T. Lance, Jr, enroute; Pfc D.C. Henden, Newfoundland; Cpl William H. Seabolt, The Islands, Pfc Ellis W. Haygood, Baltimore, Md; Paul J. Barnes, Newfoundland.

2nd page:

Left to right: Top Row: St. Sgt Benjamin F. McLemore, Newfoundland; Pfc Frank H. Barnes, Newfoundland; Cpl Harold C. Hicks, Portland, Or; Tech Sgt Thomas Austin, Newfoundland; 1st Sgt Walter F. Sutton, in school; Pfc Millard E. Whitlock, Capt William J. Black, Jr, Jackson, Miss; Pvt Roy Lee Evans, Newfoundland; Pvc Robert P. Stokes, Newfoundland;
2nd Row – Sgt Jimmy Barfield, Newfoundland; Pfc James H. Prince, Newfoundland; Pvt Wilburn r. Kirkendoll, Newfoundland; Pvt Warren A. Pace, Fort Dix, N.J.; Pfc Major Doghouse Gentry, Newfoundland; Pvt James Owen, U.S. Army, Egypt; Pvt Marcelle A. Cantrell, Brunswick; Pvt Edwin r. Smith, Newfoundland; Lt James ‘Red” Presley, The Islands;
3rd Row – Cpl Thomas Clay, Newfoundland; Pvt Fred R. Matthews, Newfoundland; 1st Sgt James E. Franklin, Benecia, Cal; Pvt Lewis Poor, Atlanta; Pvt Millard owen, Trion; Pfc Thomas A. Wright, Newfoundland; Sgt Robert H. Orr, The Islands; Cpl Oliver K. Wallace, Newfoundland; Cpl James E. Whitten, Newfoundland;
4th Row-Unidentified; Cpl Jackson W. Dobbins, Newfoundland; Pvt Russell Holey, ODRD; Cpl James L. Pierce, Benecia, Cal; Pfc Boze Lee Dobbs, Newfoundland; Tech Sgt James H. Burton, 4th Service Command; Pfc Kermit C. Sanders, Newfoundland; Pfc James Dawson, Australia; Sgt james B. Kirk, Newfoundland;
5th Row – Lt Herbert Reynolds, Canal Zone; Pvt Guy Wilbanks, Newfoundland; Pvt Arthur S. Thompson, Newfoundland; Pvc Ray C. Robertson, Newfoundland; 1st Sgt Parker M. Sanders, The island; Pfc George D. Rakestraw, Newfoundland; Cpl Arthur T. Bacon, Newfoundland; Pfc Grady H. Blevins, Newfoundland; Pfc Alfred L. Ferrell, Australia.
6th Row- Unidentified; Pvt Thomas H. Dobbins, Newfoundland; 1st Sgt Harold E. Wallace, Newfoundland; Pvt Richard Dobbins, ODRD: Sgt Joseph E. Butler, Newfoundland; Cpl Everett W. Wilson, Newfoundland; Pfc Clifton W. Phagan, Lawson General Hospital; Capt William V. Crowley, Jr. Benecia, Cal.

Darlling and Toy

This is Anna's mother's aunt Lena (1877-1939) and her husband Darling (1855-1955). Really, his first name was Darling. And, they had a son named Toy.... really. His name was Toy. He worked at the same post office I worked at.

Master of my Own Domain

I now have a domain on my site. The middle man or the middle gizmo has eliminated.

Here are three addresses to take you to my blog. They are easy to remember:

www.chicken-fat.com
www.ET-Hunter.com
www.Eddie-Hunter.com

Or, you can still go by the previous link to this site, just like before.

You may ask why is the addressed not a link, so that you can just click on it? Well, I tried that that, and it doesn't work for some strange reason. I tried all three addresses, one at a time as a link... maybe it had something to do with being on the same site you are linking to.... it is sort of having your blog play "Fetch" with itself... and evidently, my blog said, "Chicken Fat don't play that game."

However, if you copy and paste it, it works fine.

What is next in this ever changing world of technology?

K-9 Perfume

Willow and I were on our daily walk and suddenly I felt a tug on leash. I turned around and saw Willow lying on the pavement on her back. I lifted her by her chest and shoulder area – wondering if she collapsed or legs gave out or what and before we got started walking she fell again and was laying on her back making some kind of body movement.

I thought immediately that her mind had somehow snapped and her brain no longer sent a message to legs to tell them what to do next.

I picked her up again and when I got her lifted I saw some a small black mass of organic matter with fur on it. She was just doing what her instinct called her to do, roll in decaying meat.

I remember my super dog Skipper used to come back from the woods near our house reeking in rotted meat small. Daddy would say Skipper had just rolled in some carn, that was all…dogs like to do that, he added. He said it was something they like to smell.

Like perfume?

I try looking up carn in an Internet on-line dictionary and it was no such word, according to them. And MS Word concurs: when I type it a red line appears under the word.

However, our big old red Webster New Collegiate Dictionary, published in 1979 does how the word carn in it. It defines it as Caernavonshire, which is not listed. Hah! I like that...they used a word that is not in the dictionary to describe define word in the dictionary.

However, beneath the dictionary beneath the word Carn is the word Carnage which says: The flesh of slain animals or men. That is close, but still doesn’t say it stinks.

The Fire Chief Almost Gets His Postal

On July the 16th when we rode down Roswell Road in Atlanta we went through Sandy Springs. Sandy Springs was part of Atlanta until the past year of so. Most of the people there decided through an election they could self govern themselves better. But that is another story.

This story deals with a postal carrier nicknamed “Fire Chief”.

On our drive the other day we passed a store front that used to be a lounge about a dozen years ago. I forgot the name of the place, but I bet Fire Chief hasn’t. More about the lounge in proper sequence.

Fire Chief is medium height and has a wiry built. He is red headed with a red beard. He has blue eyes that seemed to have a blaze in them and he is hyper. We nicknamed “Fire Chief” because he used to be a Marietta Fireman. I think his real name is Jim.

Fire Chief was always laughing and carrying on, mostly with new female employees. It appeared that he was trying to put the make on them. He reminded me of the typical small horny dog that was always looking for fresh leg to hump… and I told him that, he thought that was funny.

One time he took off for Madi Gras and went to Louisiana. He didn’t go to New Orleans, where I suspected he would, having the image of a party animal and all. He went to the back country of Louisiana to a little town in the north part of the state. There, he said, in this little one horse town they had one of the wildest Madi Gras he had ever been to. They drunk, paraded, played music, cooked, ate, flashed for beads, just like in New Orleans but only better… he said he was going back there the next year.

One day Fire Chief was on his route and he did like he always did, his route was to deliver at one business on a main thoroughfare, then leave that establishment and take a left onto three lanes of traffic, go one business down and turn left again, through the six lanes of traffic again. He found it more efficient and less of a chance to have a wreck if he drove through the automated car-wash lot and come in the back of the next business. One day he was taking his modified route and BLAM!!! The manager of the automated carwash shot at him, putting a bullet hole into his LLV Postal vehicle.

Fire Chief had to report that and in turn the Postal Service took out a warrant the manager of the automated carwash, and Fire Chief also got into some trouble for going an unauthorized way on his route.

He also asked to be taken off that route. He didn’t want to deal with the shooter anymore. I can’t say I blame him.

A year or more went by and one day Fire Chief was on somebody’s front porch ringing the doorbell… he had a certified letter he was to deliver to the resident of the house. Suddenly, he found himself staring down the barrel of a shotgun. The resident of the house told him to get off his porch, go back to his vehicle and get the hell off his property.

Fire Chief quickly obliged him.

Again he filed a report and again the Postal service got a warrant out for the man.

That is twice he came near meeting a bullet with his name on it.

Remember, Fire Chief was during all this time trying to put the make on any female employee and I suppose other females away from work.

One morning I heard on the news that in a lounge in Sandy Springs, the same one I pointed out earlier, a man walked up to a man and woman at a booth and shot the man dead, pointed the gun on himself and killed himself. The news said it was a love-triangle, the shooter was the husband.

That same morning a carrier, with a French name, did not show up for work. The supervisor was asking around if anybody knew why this certain supervisor had not showed up. Then the telephone rang and it was the carrier’s wife. She said the carrier would not be in, he killed himself in a lounge in Sandy Springs the night before. The supervisor said she didn’t sound upset at all.

Fire Chief flipped out. He looked panic-stricken. I learned later that morning that not only was the wife having an affair with the man who was killed by her husband, but she was also having an affair with Fire Chief. He told his closest friends about it.

It wasn’t a love-triangle, it was a love-square, or maybe even a love-pentagon.

All that morning his face was red and it looked like he was sick.

I think I saw him not long ago when Willow and I were running on Sandy Plains Road. He tooted his horn and waved. I wonder if he changed his habits?
.

A Day of Gallivanting.

Yesterday Anna and I went to Atlanta, down Roswell Road, near the Tuxedo area to eat at the Pig N Chick Barbecue. We read some good things about the eatery and decided to try it ourselves.

We were not sure where on Roswell Road it was. We thought it was just before you cross the Chattahoochee River into Roswell. We were wrong - it wasn't there. We called Rocky on our cell phone and he went on-line and told us the street address and telephone number... modern technology! It was closer to Buckhead, which I suppose is considered midtown Atlanta. It is near Chastain Park and the Tuxedo & Wieuca Roads area. It was a nice enjoyable ride. We have not road down that way in many years, it was a ride down memory land. We kept saying, “”See that? Remember the time…”.

The Pig N Chick is a very neat place with blue checkered table cloths. The food, I thought was delicious. The place did good business. A lot of people were there. One time during our meal I told Anna that in my view, which was most the room every male was wearing a shirt with a collar… they all looked like young professionals and all worked in a manner their hands didn’t get dirty. It was a barbecue place for yuppies! But, it was good never-the-less.

There were no hard blues music playing, on an old black man playing a harmonica on a wooden porch which wasn’t there, no fights in the parking lot – as a mater fact, the place were in a double-decker horseshoe shape shopping center, and took up no more room than a laundry store would take up. The only two motorcycles belonged to the two Atlanta police officers enjoying their barbecue.

I guess good food does not necessarily have to be served with a rough-type kind of background….. a little preset notion of mine.

After we ate we drove back to Cobb County to see the latest Indiana Jones movie…. Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull or something like that. Two people, my son Adam and my friend Pappy, have seen the movie and they both more or less said it was lame.

Well, yes it was lame… but it was good action packed lameness. A few good swinging on vines and bullwhip scenes, and a good long hand-to-hand combat fight on a couple of military vehicles driving high speed on a dangerous road – which no self-respecting Indiana Jones movie would be without. It was just a good old-fashioned action packed movie… the kind you walk away afterwards and picturing yourself swinging on a vine or making a long leap to grab somebody’s arm before they fall into the jaws of a sure death.

I think Stephen Spielberg and George Lucas (the creator of the story) must have read The Chariots of the Gods by Erich von Däniken and were deeply impressed by it.

We have an AMC Theater card which gives you bonus points that will build towards a free ticket and sometimes they toss you a bone, such as free popcorn or a Coke or something. Yesterday it gave us two little tickets for small-size popcorns, which we redeemed at the concession counter. The same concession that was on the news a few months ago for being held up by a robber, who afterwards fled to one of the many theaters in the building and never was caught. Not only did he rob the place but he got to see a free movie…. No wait, he had to get in, unnoticed, so I think he probably had to pay to in, therefore, he paid to see the movie – work expense related, he can deduct that!

With our two bags of popcorn we went into the theater that was on our tickets. There were on seven people in the audience. An elderly couple, us, and three women. When we sat down we accidentally dropped one of the popcorn sacks, looking almost half of it contents on the floor. When the movie was over we were laughing about all the popcorn on the floor at our seat and we imagine the people that had to cleanup after each show said, “Kids!” We can they might have to get a larger vacuum cleaner to sweep all the popcorn up… and I said, “or a blower.”

Late yesterday evening we went to a Mexican restaurant and sat by a family that the older kids seemed to chase each other around the table, and the baby sat in its mama’s lap and screamed blood curdling screeching noises.. I can honestly say the parents did not let the kids disturb their meal – but I can’t say the same for the others around them.

It was a nice fun day.

below is the first page of Will Elder's art art work on Annie Fannie and her Indiana Jones adventure that originally appeared in PLAYBOY. Click on the picture to make it larger for details - and I am not going to say what kind of details.

July the 16th

Ginger Rogers was born on this day. So was Desmond Dekker a Jamaican Reggae singer - they are both dead now.

Happy Birthday to those who are still living who were born on this day and I hope each and every one of you acquire a fortune in material wealth is the very near future.

Willie B., the King Kong of the Atlanta Zoo

Above - Willie B. and baby.

I am still scanning old 35mm negatives of pictures that I have long ago gave away, misplaced, or sorted the prints into nothingness.

Today, most of the pictures were at the Atlanta Zoo. I came across a bunch I had taken of the Lowland gorilla Willie B., in the outside section of the primate compound of the Atlanta Zoo. It was in the spring time when I took these pictures, I know, because on the same negative group are pictures of Rocky and Adam opening looking at their Easter Baskets on Easter morning.

I did a quick mini-Google-mini research on Willie B. I already knew he was named after the Mayor of Atlanta, William B. Hartsfield, who was a driving force of getting Willie B. to the Zoo Atlanta.

Before the primates had an outside area I remember seeing Willie B. sitting in his large cage, looking terribly bored and discontent with only a tire swing and a TV to keep him pacified. I saw him pound his mighty fist on the floor while sitting on the floor. I also saw him look disgustingly at gawking humans. It was a sad sight.

Willie B. (c1959 – 2000). I think Willie B. was born in the wild but captured and taken from his parents when he was just a little thing. He lived by himself, so to speak, with no other of his same specie for 27 years.

If I remember correctly, the zoo landscaped him a huge area where he could sit in a natural sitting and muse all day, with occasionally eating an apple or some other fruit. He made eating an apple look so delicious the way he would bite into it and you could here the crunch and the juice fly.

In time the zoo acquired two female adult gorillas. I think the two females had two distinct personalities… one was timid and the other was aggressive that would chase Willie B. around, looking for a little “action”, so to speak.

Willie B. did the gentlemanly thing and mated with both females. And between the three of them, five baby gorillas were born, four females and one male.

At that time, he sat a record for the being the oldest male gorilla in captivity to father children.

Did anybody see two young men with white shirts and black ties pedal their bikes up by the primate area and throw some literature pamphlets over the fence?

The one male was named Kidogo, who’s name was changed to Willie B., Jr. after his father’s death.

Below are the pictures that I took of Willie B. and his family. Above notice that Willie B. lovingly holds his offspring with no problem

Willie B. was destined to be a family man.














I don't know gorilla talk but I do know a little about Universal Body Language - The picture above Willie B. is definitely saying, "Up Yours!"

Today In History - Christians Warriors Win

From the History Channel Page-a-Day Calendar. On this date in 1099 Christian Knights Capture Jerusalem in the First Crusade.

They did this because in 1095, Pope Urban II had called upon Christians to reclaim the holy lands. It did not say, but I would not doubt after they captured Jerusalem the Pope said in Latin, “Mission Accomplished.”

Their victory was short-lived – a few weeks later, the Egyptians seized Jerusalem from the Christian army.

A Bunch of Hunter Brothers Pictures Found

above – My uncle Doug Hunter some time in his early manhood.

This past weekend I found in a old hardbound collection of comics I found stuck in between the pages a letter addressed to me from a Martha Todd of Orlando, Florida. It was postmarked November 1994. It was opened, apparently I opened it when I received it but sat it aside to read later and somehow got lost in the shuffle of my endless notes and paper trails of genealogy.

I do not remember the letter or the pictures inside at all.

Martha Todd was Martha Hunter. She was the daughter of Arthur and Gwen Westmoreland Hunter. Arthur Riley Hunter ( 1884-1967) was a younger brother to my grandfather Franklin Paris Hunter.

The pictures:




2 Unknown men. I have the least idea who these men are. They are probably related. The man on the right looks like he may be my uncle Stanley Hunter. Is it Johnny?


This is Paris Doug Hunter that looks like it was probably taken in a photo booth. I think in this picture Doug is a teenager.


Doug poses in a suit. Note the dog in the background checking Doug out. On the back it says : “From Douglas Hunter to a lovely little sweet heart, Martha Hunter.” Martha was Doug’s first cousin.



This is a picture of Doug after he rode a motorcycle from Marietta to Oklahoma. I know of a another picture with Doug and his motorcycle in Oklahoma. Which reminds me of another Hunter motorcycle and Oklahoma. I owned a Honda CL350 motorcycle and put it for sale. A man came to look at it and wrote me a check. He explained he had to predate the check for the following Friday, because the money would not be in his checking account until then (payday). I deposited the check the Monday after the requested Friday and it bounced. I went looking for the man at his house on Park Street in Marietta and found out they moved out the day after I sold him the motorbike. I went to see a DA assistant Sam Huff*, who was still new at prosecuting and he told me when I accepted a predated check it was no longer a criminal matter, when I accepted that predated date, I was accepting his credit, so it was a civil matter.

Shoot! On to the next picture.

You may not be able to see this picture very well. It has faded and not all that strong to begin with.
On the back of this picture it says “Two great big he-men out in the steel town, Ed – Doug.”


Ed is the one on the left, which is my father. Doug is on the right.


Herbert Hunter. Here my uncle who was a barber, dressed up. Someplace there is a posting about Herbert and his barber shop.



Brothers Jack and Doug Hunter with cousin Martha Hunter in the middle. I would have guessed that was Jack on the left.


Here is another picture of Jack when he was a sailor. He made a career of the Navy, retiring as a Chief Petty Officer. He was at Pearl Harbor, when the Japanese invaded it.


My uncle W.C. Hunter, who his drinking cronies nicknamed “Peanut”. The back says” The One and Only W.C. Hunter.” And that is right, after that they threw away the pattern. He was a WWII casualty that never fully recovered.


above – My uncle Doug Hunter some time in his early manhood.
When I first saw this picture I thought it was my uncle Bus Hunter, but on the back it says, “W.A.or W.H. Hunter”. Martha Hunter Todd had a brother named William Allen Hunter (1911-1982), which fits the time frame of the other pictures in this envelope.

*Sam Huff went on to become a well known attorney in Marietta and also the Sam of Sam And Dave's BBQ.

Kennesaw Opry - Jamming About the Jam Session

Friday Night we went to the Kennesaw Opry.

July is a hard month to book any bluegrass players. The once-a-month opry concerts we have been attending had 3 to 4 groups a night. This night there was only one group, the “Jot ‘Em Down Boys”, and one of their founding members owns the Kennesaw Opry operation.

During the concert a lady that brought her bass guitar and her friend or husband joined them for a few songs. She had a beautiful voice and I could tell put feelings into her music, but like I said, they only played a few songs and went back to sit with the audience.

The players are mostly people who pick as a hobby when they can find time away from their job and families. They are not professionals but have a love for playing bluegrass. They explained it was a bad month to book bands – non paying bands- school is out, vacation time, yada yada.

We have seen the Jot’em Down Boys play many times through the year and just about got to know their personality and their relation to each other (two brothers are the founders). Jot’em Down Boys is named after a road that leads off Highway 400, a few miles north of Dawsonville, Georgia.

I counted 21 paying guests … at $5 a head – they took in a whopping $105 which probably was paid to the Kennesaw Recreation Department for the use of the room at Adams Park.

A couple years ago when the opry was held as “The Acworth Opry” many people came when it was at a barn at a city park that used to be a farm. They didn’t charge admission but passed a bucket for donations. But then they moved to a theater in downtown Acworth and started charging admission. The size of the audience declined. I think they made a mistake when they started charging. I think most of the people did not mind donating but one had to pay for the same thing, well, then it becomes a reluctant thing to do… when it was a pleasure to help the cause by donating. I hope that makes sense.

The ticket seller and ticket taker was a very nice lady that we deducted was the two brothers’ mother. Every time one of the band members would say something witty she would turn to us, or maybe the people near us, and say in a laughing way, “they are crazy!”

They played good. Most of it was sort of an informal jamming session. It was enjoyable.

They are men with respected kind of professions who get together and share their expertise on music. One of the players said he was a visual art teacher, one, I think has an interest in golf, and something tells me one is an engineer – still there are a couple more I haven’t figured out yet.

But sitting there, listening to the man put their heart and soul into the music they were playing I thought only at the moment are the musicians. They use the music for a release or maybe an temporarily escape from the real world – and playing fine tunes while doing it.

It reminded me of three well known people who belong to not-so-well known bands, that play just for their own enjoyment, and they are Robert Crumb, Gary Larson, and Woody Allen.

Everybody needs some kind of fun-interest…. And I guess ours is listening to music. Artists must have art appreciators, or they would be performing for a blank nothingness…. I can tap my foot almost as well as anyone there…. But most importantly, clap.

My New Image to get Free Coffee

This morning we went to Home Depot to buy a few items.

When we got ready to check out we went to an available automatic checkout counter and on the monitor said, “Out of Order”.

We went to the next available automatic checkout counter and on the monitor said, “Sub Total, $86.87”. So, we moved on.

The next place available was the counter that is kind contractor-friendly. It is where the contractors go through. After we paid the cashier I saw by the contractor’s exit door a coffee machine, with a stack of Styrofoam cups. Contractors got free coffee! Ahah!!

I love free coffee. Every time I go to Publix Supermarket I go by next to the service counter and pour me a cup of free coffee. Now, I know I can do it at Home Depot.

But, first, I think I would feel better about taking their free coffee if they thought I was a contractor.

I need to change my image to a contractor’s image with shorts; ankle high work shoes; a two-day beard old stylish beard, a shaved head; a clipboard; a blue tooth; a laser measurer, and a calculator hooked on to my belt.

Free coffee, here I come!

That is What Friends Are For

My late little friend, the evil Jimmy Pat Presley, in early high school had several people who made it a point to sit close to him every day in class.

The teachers, or at least I know, thought it was just pure greed that boys would actually push and shove and almost fight to sit in a desk within arm’s reach of Jimmy Pat.

Every school morning several pre-driving age teenagers would meet either at Atherton’s Drug Store or Dupres and socialize before school.

Dupres was probably the closest to a country general store that downtown Marietta had to offer. Dupres sold furniture, TVs, Purina seed, farming supplies, sporting supplies, hardwire goods, and a small grocery store. Now, like other stores in the downtown area is an antique store.

In either Athertons’ or Dupres’ Jimmy Pat would buy him a Coke and he and his friends walked around the store and handled the merchandise.

Jimmy Pat was an expert shoplifter.

I have seen this happen more than a few times: Later in the morning, maybe first or second period over the PA system the principal’s office would call our class room and ask the teacher if Jimmy Pat Presley was there today. The teacher would say yes and the principal or the assistant would tell the teacher to send him to the office.

Sometimes when a request for Jimmy Pat’s presence at the office was made you could see out the classroom window and see a police car parked in front.

Then the action started – the reason it paid to sit next to Jimmy Pat. He would start pulling knives, candy, and other items he shoplifted just an hour or so earlier and start giving them to the people sitting close to him.

I remember watching one lean tall lady teacher just look at the giving away and the frenzy of taking and slowly and sadly shook her head.

She could have probably stirred the soup some telling of his famous give-a-ways before reporting to the office, but for whatever reason, she didn’t.