I turn 71 today ... Gasp!

Campground Methodist's 175th Year Do Dah!

(click on any picture to make it larger)

The Arbor

The Marietta Methodist Campground Arbor is a famous landmark of Marietta and Cobb County.  For OM's I think it even has more of home feeling than the other famous landmark The BigChicken.  See more Arbor pictures at the end.

This is the 175th Anniversary celebration of the Campground Church which is now named East Cobb Methodist.  It is a ten day celebration.  We carried my mother-in-law Marie there on Saturday.  She will soon be 92.  She grew up practically in the shadow of Arbor.  Well, she was actually born in the parsonage there August 1920.   True!

Years ago she attended the Camground annual meeting.  This year she returned to see her items she donated to the Campground HistoryMuseum, which are housed in the old schoolhouse she attended many years.

We attended the morning service.  The music was  led enthusiastically by Sheryl Smith Lassiter.  The preaching was done by Dr. Dwight "Ike" Reighard, the pastor of Piedmont Church.  He talked about Bible vs science and said the Bible claimed the earth was round long before it was popular.  As a comic relief he talked about the smell of barbecue they were cookling just feet away and  Varsity Hot Dogs, in fact he mentioned both several times. - He knew how to get an "amen" out of me.

While we were sitting in the pews listening to the energized music, a sermon, and food I studied the huge exposed rafters.  They are well over a hundred years old.  Then I noticed the little mud-huts of the dirt dobbers.  Each rafter was lined with many dirt dobber nests. It was like a little well-planned sub-division.  Humans only come around ever so often, maybe a week in the summer and an occassional wedding - but these dirt dobbers carried on daily routines - it was their city.  We humans were only visitors, soon to leave.

This is the museum on the campground grounds.  It used to be a school house called The Academy.  Marie attended school there for years.  Years later the alumni  formed an organization to meet annually and keep up with each other.  Marie was the archivist for the group.  She kept old newspaper clippings, newsletters, pictures, and other materials, which she donated to the museum about a year ago.

James Walker Gaines.

To me and other old class-mates he is Walker Gaines.  To others he is Jim Gaines.  I was in school with him since at least the 2nd grade, maybe the 1st grade too.  On Waterman Street he lived directly across the street from the East Playground of Waterman Street School.  He and his family owns a "tent"* at the Campground.    There are two that was handed down in the Gaines Family.  His household owns one and his sister Grace's family owns the other one.  When we got to the Campgrounds I asked around and found out his "Tent" number and hunted him down.  It was the first time I have seen Walker since about 1960.  Once my eyes adjusted to him and my mind calculated the age factor, I came to the conclusion that he hasn't changed a bit since the last time I saw him 52 years ago, except the hair of course, and he told me the same thing, including the hair difference.

* They are called tents because they actually used to be tents when people came from miles around.  Now, they are cabins - two story cabins with front porches, swings, and probably all the comfortss of home inside.

Walker and his wife lovely Darlene were the catalyst that brought all of Marie's archives collection of the church and the Academy to the museum.  We renewed our friendship because he saw this blog and through email converstions I told him Marie wanted to donate it to someone who would care and he knew just the right party - his church's history committee.

The Mars Hill Back Porch Pickers

The above bluegrass band entertained the people at the picnic.  We have heard them play several times at the Acworth Opry and the Red Top Mountain Bluegrass Concert.  They have a good bluegrass reputation because they are good.  In between songs when the leader introduced the members of the band, he introduced the banjo player as being from Franklin, North Carolina, which got my attention, because of family research.  Between the next few song sets I wouldn't leave him alone, pumping him with questions with who he was related to.

Thelma, Belinda, Marie, & Tammy

Rex, Angle, Drew, & Jessica

The above two pictures are some of Marie's family who attended the event also.

J. Walker Gaines and his wife Darlene.  He met her in Maine while in the service.

Darlene Gaines and Marie standing by the antique old store display case that had some of the stuff she donated.

Speaking of the Marietta Methodist Campground History Committee, here he is:  Ron Phillips.  I remember Ron and his brother Gene.  They lived on Waterman Street just down the street from Walker - in fact they they are first cousins.  A lot of the members of this Methodist church are related, cousins and once and second removed cousins, when they say welcome to our family, they mean it.

Below.  I try not to let anything go to waste.  Here are some more pictures of the much photographed Marietta Campground Arbor that I took from different angles - remember to click on each picture to get the most out of them.

SUNDAY FUNNIES!!! MAD's MICKEY RODENT!

R.  Because you are a Rat!  a rodent!

Here is the old MAD again, tearing apart something that us Americans hold sacred:  Mickey Mouse.

Art by Will Elder and story by Harvey Kurtzman, both now in that great comic book in the sky.

The Keyboard Is Mightier Than The Sword

This is a new experiment for me. I am posting from my i-pad. I know, I know, people do it all the time. Well, they had to do it the first time also. Speaking of other people and tech-o advancements it is sort of expected for people to be on top of the latest gadget. I think that is why you see people all the time doing something to their smart-phones - I think most of the time  they are in a learning mode because they just purchased the latest improved one. It will take them about two weeks to learn that one and maybe in four or five weeks they will have to buy another latest that has more options.

The other week we were haggling with Lowe's about coming to repair something and before they would continue to connect us to the department we needed to talk to they insisted on having our cell phone numbers. I told them the numbers but told the person I was talking to for him to put a notation that we never turn them on unless we go somewhere. Yesterday we missed an important call from Lowe's because we didn't go anywhere. They only tried our cell phones. AARRGGggggg.

Speaking of modern gizmos that it  is expected for people to have is a fax machine. At least twice, maybe thee times, in the past months someone has asked me to fax them something or visa-versa. Their jaws drop (yet the frozen smile stays) when I say we don't have a fax machine.

Which reminds me, a few years ago was a special on TV of barbecue joints in and around Atlanta. We love to try out bbq dives whenever we can, so we taped the program on our VCR. My neighbor, 87 year old Jim, told me several times he loved good bbq, so I thought I would be neighborly if I lent him our tape. I carried the VCR tape over for him to borrow - he didn't ask for it, I thought I would suprise him. I rung his doorbell, he came to the door and I told him what it was and reached to give it to him. He didn't take it, but said, "We don't have a VCR". My jaws dropped but I kept smiling.

BEWARE!! Today is FRIDAY THE 13TH!!!

July 13th Birthdays

1821 Nathan Bedford Forrest -Tennessee, brilliant cavalry leader, Lt Gen

Everybody agrees that CSA General Nathan Bedford Forrest was a brilliant strategist and a brave man. Whether he was a hateful racist or not is debatable.

 

1913 Dave Garroway - Schnectady NY, TV host (Today Show)

Dave Garroway was the first TODAY SHOW host. He co-anchored it with chimpanzee J. Fred Muggs. I think Garroway fitted the spot perfectly and J. Fred didn’t do bad either. Dave Garroway took his own life. I don’t know why he committed suicide but being upstaged by a primate probably didn’t help.



 

1942 Harrison Ford actor (Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Frantic).

Man! Harrison Ford has starred in some great movies. If I was 65 years younger I would imagine myself in whatever role Harrison Ford played in just after I saw the movie. I’m one year older than he is, where did the time go?

 

1946 Richard "Cheech" Marin comedian (Cheech & Chong).

Cheech and Chong have made some hilarious movies about not giving a hoot about authoritarian figures, the same as the Marx Brothers did – anarchism at its funniest. Richard Marin metamorphosed himself out of Cheech and is now an established fine-art collector and dealer.

Romney: Look at my Record - Wait, Don't!

Romney said we should vote for him because he knows how put our country in the financial black again.  Good for him!  He said just look at the companies that he took over and turned them into profit makers.  Double good for him!

Some people looked at his financial dealings, or tried to, and found out the information  is off limits.

However some people did do a little digging anyway and found out a lot of his money is outside the United States where there are high interest rates and low wages. 

Wait!  Now Romney says that he is not too sure how all his money was invested – someone else does his investing for him.  Maybe it is his business manager. 

Maybe Mitt should nominate his business manager to be President.

YOU CALL?

Overheard in the waiting room yesterday:



Nurse: Mrs. Cantilonie?



(Lady rises up from chair).



Nurse: Did I pronounce your name right?

Lady:  Actually it is Cantiloniounitous.

Nurse:  Jesus!

Kids Do The Darnest Thilngs, If They Could Only Do Facebook

I know of 3 very young uninhibited children:  2 girls and a boy, ages from 3 to 5.

I was thinking the other day if they could spell and type and belong to facebook they would have followers interested in their every step. Their facebook postings might read something like this:

Oldest girl:  Today I ran away.  I stuffed my backback and left.  I got 2 blocks away and saw a lady out in her yard.  I asked her could I live here.  The lady looked horrified.  She asked where I lived and she walked me back, only to be intercepted by Grandma.  She thanked the lady and said something was going to have to done.  I said please don't let my grandma take me.  The lady looked confused as if she wasn’t sure she should release me to my grandma or not.   Grandma grabbed my hand and yanked me.  She was maaad!

 

Little Boy:  I woke up early this morning before anybody else got up.  Me and the puppy went out in the front yard and played.  I got on my tricycle and me and puppy raced down the streets.  Several cars had to swerve to not to hit us and some slowed down or stopped.  The man (editor’s note: that’s me) walked up to the street and told me to walk with him to our front door.  He banged and banged on the door until my aunt came to the door.  She said, “What the fuck! I didn’t know he was here today!”  The man left and returned across the street.

Oldest girl:  Mama went across the street to the man who made my cousin come home and had a word with him. She said Family Services came and threatened to take me because the kids were running on the street without adult supervision.  A neighbor reported it.  The man (me) said he had considered calling several times but it wasn’t him.  Mama told him it was too.  The man said no it wasn’t, how did she figure it was him.  She said that Family Services said a neighbor called and she pointed at him and said, “And you are a neighbor.”  He said he was A neighbor not THE neighbor.  He never could convince her other wise.  She told the man to mind his own goddamn business or he would regret it, because messing with her kid is messing with her.  The man was speechless.

The 3 kids:  The man across the street told us to get out of his yard, we might get hurt with all the building equipment lying around.  Grandma and Mama don’t like that man.

Little Boy: Today my grandma took our clothes off and was about to give us a bath when I ran out the door to chase the dog. Grandma tried chasing after me and screaming. She almost had me when my sister ran out of the house also naked and ran in the other direction then she had to chase her too. Her screaming became crying, but she finally rounded us up.




Little Boy: My grandma bought me a harness with a leash to lead me around. I cried and so did she. That new method only lasted part of a day.

Youngest Girl:  Me and my brother and my cousin ran away again.  We got four blocks away and got tired and walked up to a pretty house and asked them if we could live there.  The man made us get into his truck and carried us back to the street he knew we lived on.  He saw the lady next door working in the yard and asked her if these were her children.  She said no, they live next door at their grandmother’s. The man told the lady he knew about that family and he was going to talk to spiritual leaders at Woodstock Baptist for guidance should he report them to Family Services or what.

Little Boy:  I ran away again.  My grandma chased me down with her van and almost ran over me.

Note:  It should be noted that the grandmother is recovering from a recent cancer operation and is taking treatments which leaves her very weak.  When she sees they are missing she doesn't feel like chasing after them; she gets into her van and looks for them.  Some of the neighbors mentioned seeing her chasing the children in the van and almost hitting them several times.

All 3 Kids:  The woman down at the end of the street has two dogs in the fence always barking.  One is a little lap dog and the other one is a big German Sheppard.  We decided to liberate them.  We were trying to get the gate opened when the woman came out and told us to stop.  She made us go with her to Grandma’s and the woman told on us.

One of the Girls and the Little Boy:  Today we and the puppy raced each other down the street then raced each other back, and over and over.  Only one car almost hit us.

Mother of one girl:  GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE!

Grandmother:  GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE!

Visiting Mother of two of the kids:  GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE!

Mother, upon hearing someone complain about the loud profanities:  W are loud people.

Lady calling 911 Operator:  There is a small girl running down my street alone, she does not live near here.

A few minutes later another call to a 911 Operator:  There is a little boy here who does not belong.  He is covered with poop!

Man across the Street: I went out to get in the car and saw two police cars and a couple of other strange cars parked at the house across the street. There were two other strange cars there also. I found out later all three kids went their separate ways and caused havoc and were picked up by the law. The other cars there were from Family Protective Services.

There Are Reasons For Separation of Church And State

SUNDAY FUNNIES!! THE SPIRIT of '76

or something like that.  I was digging through my comicbook library trying to find something that mentions the 4th of July celebration or the Revolutionary War and  lookie!  I came across the below, killing two birds with one stone:  THE SPIRIT by Will Eisner.  Be sure and click on each picture to be able to read the balloons.

Jump On In!

It will cool you off!

CHITTY GANG BANG!!!

- Top photo by Vickie Turner Hunt.

Or MY MOTHER THE JUNK

 

I saw the above picture on Facebook the other night and felt the need for it to be on the blog Chicken-fat.  Chicken-fat and that ugly hunk  of junk have a lot in common. 

Video

The Boys

Owner Jackie Gaskin

Late Patricia Whiten

Late Jerry McBee

Memories of the Peachtree Road Race in the 80s.

I ran the Atlanta July the 4th Peachtree Road Race for several years, from about 1983 to 1987.  In 1988, I had my number but two days before the race my brother-in-law drowned.  I sold my number that year and have not been back.

A few years when I was running it I trained on Sunday mornings.  I would drive to Piedmont Park, get my bike out of the back, chain it to something and then drive back up Peachtree to Lenox Square , park, and run back down Peachtree.  Usually about one or two hundred other people were also training.  I felt part of something, which is a rarity for me.

About the only thing that stands out on my Sunday morning training runs wasacross from Piedmont Hospital I saw an old man in rags bending over doing something by an alley.  Being the nosy person I am, I made a point to run on the sidewalk to see what he was doing.  He was digging through a garbage can by a restaurant back door and gnawing on rib bones.

On the 4^th, race day, before the race began, I always found it amusing to go around and look at the people.  At one place, across from Lenox, was a temporary fence called the “World’s Longest Latrine.”  I remember standing by the small trench of the World’s Largest Latrine relieving myself and in walked about a half dozen women with numbers on.  They hunkled down over the little trench and relieved themselves too.

I don’t blame the ladies.  There were not nearly as many facilities  for women as there were for men.  I remember a patch of woods by Lenox Road at the time – in the trees almost behind every bush and tree was a women stooping behind it.  Remember everybody was suppose to drink plenty of liquids before the run – well, what do they expect?

I saw several semi-famous people lingering around before the race, mostly news people, including anchor people – John Pruett comes to mind.  I saw Jimmy Carter two years near the back of the line of people to start racing.

When the race started, they did not have waves or segments as they have now.  After the real runners  got underway everybody else began their run.  I always started near the back and worked my way up some – not a whole lot, but some.  Up enough to be in the middle of the mass of people making a party or a happening out of it all, which was always interesting.

I think just about every time we started out walking because it was just too crowded to do anything else, and someplace between Piedmont Road and the Roswell Road fork the cadence of walking gets at a faster beat and find you are finally running and you get a “group feeling” of running with the crowd.

A lot of people like to put on a show – some dress like Uncle Sam, some dress like the Statue of Liberty – It seemed there was surprised dresser about every few feet.

There were a lot of volunteers handing out cup of water and sometimes just spraying people with water which was welcomed.

Piedmont Park was crazy with colors; people making announcements over the loudspeaker; loud music; thousands of people moving thousands different directions; t-shirt lines; beer lines, a lot of vender tents, and a stage and rows of seats which was meant for invited speakers to say something.

Which reminds me:  One year the officials of the Atlanta Track Club invited a famous female award winning  runner to come and participate in the race and give a speech afterwards.  She was paid for this and was treated as she should be - royally.  After all the festivities, riding back up Peachtree with someone I knew to take me back to my car I saw the famous lady making the long 6.2 mile back up the road alone.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!

me, about 30 years ago at the end of the Peachtree Road Race.

Don Rhymer Has Left Us

Don at the 2008 Bell Reunion

Jackie Gaskin called and left word that Don Rhymer had died.

I hated to hear that he is gone.  And, I suppose, some would say he has been gone for a few years.  Don had Alzheimer's disease the last years of his life

In high school he was one of the football wonder stars the Marietta High School could brag about.   I remember one time Don, Jimmy McEntrye, his future brother-in-law Tommy Hadaway, and I played hookey and had a blast, but that is a long story.  Don was a good friend.

Don & Jackie Gaskin arriving at a GOBAG meeting in 2008.

Don in the foreground at a GOBAG meeting in 2008.