Petty Inverview Part II

Conclusion -

E: Do you know where the Pullens came from?
O: No I don't.
E: Do you know where the Ridleys came from?
O: No they all were from up in Chatsworth. around in there someplace. Now, the Pettys came from Elijay and around in there ....Fannin County. Now, Grandma's Daddy's mother was name Jane. Jane Garrett. They were from Fannin County. Some of them come and see us. Said we were related, But I didn't know them.
E: Did you know anything about the Mashburn Family?
O: No.
E: Know anything about the Killians?
O: Grandma Ridley was a Killian. And Kate's first name was really Killian. Grandma Ridley and Grandma Petty all died when I was a baby. Now, Grandpa Petty, I was three weeks old when he died. He kept on waiting to see the baby because it had red hair that was me they carried me over there when I was three weeks old, before the day was over he died.
E: When you first went to work for pay, where did you work Dalton?
O: Yes. I worked in a hosery mill there. I worked during school vacation. The last year that I went to school I worked that summer. Georgia was working there and she got me a job.
E: How did Georgia meet Cecil Grant?
O: In Dalton. And I didn't know anything about money when I got paid Georgia would take my money and give me a little change out of it and she would take the rest of it and give it to Mama and Papa to run on. I worked for a pair of ___?__
and an ice cream. That's what I got out of it.
E: What about Tom? Was he working to help out too?
O: Tom was a self centered person. He didn't help out with anybody. I never will forget when he was in school.he didn't finish school....he went off to Detroit to work I beleive...and he run out of money and couldn't get a job and he wrote home and said he was blind. That's when we lived on the farm. And Papa sent him the money to come home home on. He met the train....we were all out in the front yard waiting. Thought Papa would be leading Tom. Well, he wasn't no more blind than I am. That was just his temperment. He just told anything to suit himself, absolutely. I know one time there on the farm...I think it was Fourth of July, we usually tried to have the crops laid by, and Tom, I don't know where he was working, but he wasn't living at home, Wallace was. We were all out there in the field working and here comes Tom walking out in these red fields with white shoes, white pants, and a white straw hat on. That made Wallace so mad he said he thought about wallowing him down in that dirt. He was paying us a visit. Ha ha. He wasn't a homebody, he was a taker, not a giver. Now, that may sound kind of bad with him dead and gone, but the truth is the truth.
E: What about Georgia?
O: She was more or less a taker too.
E: Wallace?
O: Wallace was a silent partner you might call him. He didn't have to say it, but he was always there if you need him. Wallace was real quiet.
E: Osmo. Didn't you and he go to Detroit together?
O: He was up there working and hed wrote me to come up and go to work. He said he would send me money to come on which he did. It was on a Saturday, I wasn't expecting it. I wrote and told him I would come but I wasn't expecting to go that soon. I was staying at y'all's house.
E: On Manget Street?
O: No. You weren't born. Frances was a baby. I got this money telegram. I had to get up there and get it cashed. I had to leave Marietta by six o'clock that night on the bus. And he would meet me in Detroit the next afternoon late. I had my hair rolled up when I got it and I had a little over an hour. I took a cab up there and got the telegram cashed, ran back and packed things. And I had my hair rolled up, caught another cab to the bus station and took a bus to Detroit. And I took my hair down in Cincinniti.
E: Did he have you a job in Detroit?
O: I got my own job. He had an apartment. He and Stanley Petty. I went up and stayed with ;them.
E: Where did they work?
O: Some brass company. Robert Pratt or something like that. Some brass I'm not sure.
E: Where did you work?
O: I got a job in a hosery mill that time. I didn't stay up there all that long then. I came back home, and I went back. Leonard was up there. Osmo was in the service. Leonard wanted me to come.
E: Did Osmo have a wild life up there? Drinking a lots?
O: He sure did. Ha ha. That's why I come home. Ha ha.
E: Didn't you say he got into a lot of bar room fights?
O: Yeah, ha ha. I was just telling Janie this afternoon about Stanley and Osmo were living together when I moved in. Osmo when he got his pay would get drunk. I got to where I would go over to where he worked and get his pay...but, if I didn't beat him to it he would spend it all. One time when I went over there well, he hadn't met Gerry then
E: Who's Gerry?
O: That was his first wife. She came over to my apartment. She worked where I did. I said, "I got to get over to Shaw's Bar before Osmo spends it all."
She said, "I'll got with you."
We walked in and there was this girl sitting up there with him. I sat down, Osmo turned around and said, "Who are you?"
And I said, "I've come after your pay."
And he said, "Who's that with you?
And I said, "That's your wife don't you recognize her?" And boy, that old girl got up and left. Ha ha. So Gerry sat down and said, "Since I'm your wife, buy me a drink and hand Opal your pay." He did.
E: Then they got married?
O: Not then, but he married her latter. He married her twice.
E: Did they have any children?
O: No. She was an all together different person from Osmo.
E: What was her last name?
O: Gerry...you know, I can't remember.
E: He married twice didn't he?
O: He married Gerry twice. Then he married Violet.
E: Are all his children by Violet?
O: Yes.
E: What are their names?
O: Viola, Osmo, Roscoe....see, Osmo was a twin....and he just had two boys.....so he named them after the twins, Roscoe and Osmo. Viola, Roscoe, Osmo, Brinda, and Gyrtle....that's six.
E: How many did he have?
O: Seven. Two boys and five girls.
E: Do they all live in Indiana? Besides Viola?
O: No. Some of them live in Florida.
E: What about Rosco. He lived with Roy for a while..
O: But not for long. Roy sent him home. He went into the service somebody said. I don't know.
E: Is Roscoe the oldest son?
O: No, Osmo is the oldest son. Viola was the oldest child. I don't know them very well.
E: Yeah, I only saw them about once or twice in my life. When I was about nine or ten they came through Marietta a couple of times.
O: I seen Roscoe one time and that was when Osmo, they called him "Moe". Moe and Brenda...and some of other kid ran off and they come down here and Osmo found out they were gone and had the law pick them up. He felt that they were heading towards Marietta. They picked them up...and Leonard had to go up there and pick Moe and Brenda out, but he couldn't get the other kid because he wasn't related to him. Then Osmo came down. Held him there until he came. He brought a letter from the other child's parents and he and Leonard had to go up there with the letter to get that one out.
E: When was that?
O: I know it has been over four years ago.four or five.
E: Well, Osmo died about two years ago.
O: Two years ago...a little over two years now. I never did know well, he could have committed suicide but somehow or another I just can't beleive it. What I am going by is that he was still sitting at the table. Now, if he had shot himself at close range like that it would have knocked him outof the chair. So, that's what I'm going by. And I tell you, they lived such a life up there, and I guess they were just considered trash and ;the law didn't take a hand in it, thought, "Well,, that's well and good, that's one more out of the way."
E: Osmo drank a lot...
O: And always in a fight.
E: Did he have any scars from all his fights?
O: No. When we were living in Detroit together one night there Osmo was all dressed up, and Stanley was too, they wanted to go over to some bar the next street over and I was with them and Osmo gave me a nickle for the jukebox. And when I went there to put in I dropped it and this couple sitting at the table a big truck driver type and you know how short Osmo was and a woman....you know...some kind of....you know. She got down trying to help me hunt the nickle.."Find anything?"
And Osmo came there and said, "You get away from her you " and he called her a name "That's my sister, don't you touch her." So the big old truck driver got up and took it up. Osmo had inaudable _______ in him just like a little fice dog.
So the guy said, "You just go ahead and mind your own business".
And Osmo said, "you shut your mough, or I'll shut it for you."
He said, "Lets see you". And Osmo drawed back and hit him and then they got in a fight. The truck driver swung and Osmo hit me in the eye and blackened it. The bartender was call ing the police.
And I said, "I'm getting out out of here." When he went over there he was all dressed up with a suit and a pair of inaudable work gloves. I got him outside and he said he for got his gloves he was going back to get them. I told him I would go get them. I went back and got them. And got home,
I sat him down to play cards and he turned around and saw my black eye.
He said "Where did you get that black eye?"
And I said, "Over at the bar." He grabbed his inaudable and I grabbed my coat and was right behind him. He went across the street to this resturant ran right through it through the kitchen and got a meat cleaver and took out the back door up the alley and I was right behind him. Got over there... He outran me, but I walked up....saw him and that couple was sitting up there on bar stools just laughing and talking. I walked in.
That old woman said, "We're friends now."
And I said, "Come on Osmo, lets go home."
And that guy said, "Well, we're fixing to leave, we will take 58
you home."
I said, "No, we just live a block over there."
He said, "We are going to take a taxi and we'll drop you off."
That old woman kept saying, "We're old friends." Just a kissing (making motions kissing up and down her arms). I thought I wanted to go home and take a bath...her kissing up and down my arms...but I would ride in their taxi, anything for peace.
I said, "You get out of my sight."
Osmo said, "Do you think I am going to stay here?"
I said, "Yes!" And I just drawed back and hit him in the face and knocked him out. I used to do that all the time up there. That's the only I could handle him. He would be so drunk it wouldn't take much. I know one time there was a crowd over and he was going to inaudible and I said, "I can stop him. We were with Charlie and his wife.
His wife said, "Can she?"
Charlie said, "Yeah, you just watch her, she'll land him in a minute."
His wife said, "I'm going to try it on you."
Charlie said, "It won't work on me, I'm from the South."
Osmo had to be drunk before I could do it. That's all I could do. Stanley was the big coward. See, Osmo would start everything and when he got it started Stanley would run. Stanley would ag him on. But when Osmo got it started Stanley would run. That's all water under the bridge. To tell you the truth Osmo was the smartest one of the whole family. As far as being smart. He had a brillant mind.
E: I never heard that before.
O: That's true. He had a brillant mind. He got to drinking and let that get ahold of him.
E: I'm almost out of tape, I guess I better close this out. I think we got some goot stuff here.
O: I hope so. Did I help you out any?
E: Yes, you did, very much. Thank you.





END OF INTERVIEW

Petty Interview Part 1

This is an interview with my aunt that I did in 1980. My uncle died last week and he was the last of my mother's generation. They had an interesting life while growing up and worth me recording it. I am making two installments of this. Each will be about 3 physical pages long. It is so long I don't expect anybody to read it - I just expect me to put it here:

Interview With

Opal Petty


Date: 6 April 1980
Interviewer Edwin Hunter E
Interviewee Opal Petty O

E: When were you born?
O: April 12th, 1913.
E: Who was your father?
O: William Elijah Joseph Petty.
E: And what was he like?
O: He was a wiry quick tempered man, but he was a very good man. He was good to the children unless somebody made him mad (chuckling) then we got a whipping.
E: What are some of those experiences?
O: Well, one time Osmo, my brother just younger than me, had started to slop the hogs and Papa asked him where he was going, you know, said something to him and Osmo smart talked him and he just ran out there to jump him and give him a whipping and Osmo; would pick up the slop and run a piece and from where he was. And then he would set the slop down again, and Papa would make a grab for him and Janie, your mother, took it up.....she went there and (inaudable) Papa for a fight and we all got tickled. Mama was having a fit. So Papa took Osmo in the living room and I kept Janie in the dining room and I got some scratches on my face while he was trying to correct her, she was just a spitfire....ha ha. Next morning was Sunday morning and I got up and I looked at myself and saw the scratches and I thought it would be nice if I had a black eye. And I painted me a black eye with ink. (inaudable) didn't know the difference. When I camedown to the table Mama said, "What's the matter with your eye?"
And I said, "I got it in a fight yesterday evening." And he thought he had done it.
And Mama said, "I advise you to just wash that ink off just a little bit at a time." Ha ha.
E: Do you remember Wyoming?
O: Yes, I was three years old, but the biggest thing I remember is hearsay, you know. We went to this little town Cisco. We were going to leave I guess I don't know where Cisco is...
we were going to take the train. And Osmo was eighteen months old and he had a little white suit, he fell in a mud on top. She looked around to see what happened to me and I was coming down the street pulling all these wagons. We took the train and we saw three of four families left from there going west to Wyoming to homestead. Each family had a big basket with fried chicken, biscuits, cakes, and you know, what have you to eat on the train. And when we got to Wyoming, we pulled into this small place town. It was mostly saloons and they rode the horses right in and they were out there when they were unloading our trunks and things. They were having a big fight right out there in front of the saloon, a fist fight. I remember that.....(pause).
E: What else do you remember of Wyoming when you were little?
O: We lived out on the prairie we took up homesteading out there. We lived in town first and we went out and built this I guess it was a one room house I never have figured out just how big it was but I think we had two stoves in it. The wind blew hot all the time. We had a well down at the foot of the hill, what they called in (inaudable). In the winter we would move into town. Janie was born in town. The older kids went to school. While we were in town my two oldest brothers, Wallace and Tom, they and some of their friends cut some blocks outof snow and built an igloo. And built a fire inside to keep warm.. And it melted down on them. Ha ha. And then we moved back out, going back to the Prairie. He come back into town to get us and I had the measles. They moved in the wagon of course, it was twenty four miles from town. They made me lay down in the wagon with my head covered up, because the Sun was suppose to ruin your eyes. Of course, they boys would say, "Look at that antelope look at that rabbit " And of course, it was driving me crazy be cause I couldn't see. But we had a real good time. We stayed out one winter and Papa and some of the other people around....Papa gave them the land and they built a schoolhouse ....... it was on our property....a one room schoolhouse. There were eleven in school. I was the youngest. Osmo didn't go to school, he wasn't old enough.. And they hired a school teacher. She was about seventeen. They had to pay her because they didn't pay for having school teachers out that way. She would come in take up time on the book had a clock there and she left us in the hands of my oldest sister, tell us when to go home and she brought a Victrola over there and she brought a sack of candy everyday and we just played over there and played that Victrola. Ha ha. But they found about that and fired her. But, I don't know, we had a real good time. The boys all rode horses. We had horses. We raised sheep. We had a few sheep, but we raised corn, potatoes, and wheat. And when it come thrashing time all the ranchers around, they would come and thrash when the thrasher would come to your house, and all the other people then would go to another house where the thrasher would go.
One time while we were living there, it was in the summer time, here come this covered wagon through, there were about three covered wagons and they stopped and they had guns and all and they demanded that Mama cook them something to eat. one of them said that he was Jesse James' cousin. I don't know if he was or not. But Papa sat up all night and Mama had a sack of beans there that the cat had peed on...ha ha....and she cooked those beans. And we got snickering about going to eat those beans. Those guys camped out there in their wagons but they rode around the house all night. They left the next morning.
E: Did they harm anyone?
O: No. They never did hurt anybody. But, he didn't know what they might. He sat out there all night with a shotgun. One winter when we stayed out, he thought he had put in enough provisions, groceries and things, to last, but around Christmas time we ran out of groceries. He could go and carry coal on his back because there was a coal mine right close to us. He just go out there and dig coal so we had coal. He went in to get more supplies, groceries, and to get Santo Clause for us, Christmas, and it came a blizzard and he couldn't get back out. Well, it came Christmas Day and we didn't have anything to eat but some dried beans without seasoning in them and Mama had one egg. She made us a one egg cake. And then she carried us over to the schoolhouse and we played some records. So, that was our Christmas Day. When the blizzard let up the neighbors rode horseback over there to bring us something to eat because they knew we were out of groceries. But I don't remember being all that hungery.
E: Didn't y'all leave because your father was sick?
O: Yes, the doctors said to go to a different climate. He had contacted T.B. from being out in the weather so much. One of the neighbors had a brother that lived in Virginia. So, we sold the place and went to Virginia. You see, where we lived out in Wyoming there weren't any threes. You could see somebody coming from miles around. Just like a a speck. We didn't have fruit that grew on trees. We had fruit but they came in boxes. We got to Virginia when all them trees and berries and all kinds of fruit and we rented this place
E: Where in Virginia?
O: Dellyon, Virginia. Just a small place, we went wild. We weren't use to all that free fruit like that. And then we all got sick, naturally. Then he bought this old colonial home. It set off the road. It looked like one of these you see in the movies. Colonial Style house. Two storied house. It had this big spacious front yard with the driveway with the lawn on either side. He plowed up the front yard and planted it in tobacco. Ha ha. We went to school. Arthur Goldfield was the name of the school we went. A lot of black people lived around there. Their school was further on from ours. When we would get out of school we would go and ____inaudible ____ ______inaudible______ and take a nail and punch holes in it. We would take those lids and lay in the ditch and wait for the blacks to come by and jump up for a fight and rake that down their arms and legs. Wasn't that mean? So we got a whipping when they caught up with us. The blacks come and told it. That is where Roy was born, in Virginia.. Now, Janie was born in Wyoming. The neighbor kids told us that house was haunted. Said there were ghosts down in the basement. I wouldn't go down there. Roy said he went through there a couple of years ago and said the house was still there. Said it was awful run down. Then we left there Papa decide to come back to Georgia. So, we done that. He put Mama and all us kids on a train, and come to Crandal where Grandma lived and he, Wallace, and Tom came through on a covered wagon. It took them about three or four weeks to come through. Wallace and Tom said they had a real good time. When we got there Wesley met us at the railroad track, at the railroad station and he had a surrey. Do you know what a surrey is?
E: A horse and buggy?
O: It is a two seater buggy with fringe around it ... its takes two horses to pull it. They used to have those around all the time. I thought that was so fine you know ... when we got there at Grandma's she was showing everybody where to sit at the table and we got ready to sit down she had an epileptic seizure, but we didn't know it, us kids didn't. She fell out with one of them and scared Osmo and me half to death. We ran outside and would not come back in. I was always afraid of her from then on. But he rented this house over on the river. We still didn't have much to eat there. We were trying to get started. We got out there to help him on the house. We sat down to eat and we didn't have much for lunch that day but _______inaudable_____ brought their lunch. They were sitting on the porch eating and we would say, "Pass the chicken....pass the....", you know, just different things .... we did have next to nothing...ha ha. Then he went to Cohutta and took over this Mr. Bryant had a dairy over there I believe... had over twenty cows and Papa was going to manage it for him. We had to get up at three o'clock in the morning to milk the cows then we had to go to the field and work and then we had to come in before dark and milk the cows again. The milk had to be at the depot by seven o'clock in the morning. I know when we started to school up there in Cohutta (chuckle) there was a crowd of us...haha...People would ask me first one of them would come up and said something and then they would say, "Who was that?"
And I would say, "That's my brother" or "That's my sister".
Somebody said, "You sure got a lot of brothers and sisters".
And I said, "Well, they are not all my brothers and sisters, part of them are my half brothers and half sisters."
And they would say, "Which ones are your half brothers and sisters?" And I picked out the ones I didn't like right then and made them my half brother or half sister. Ha ha.
E: Did you know Jane Petty's husband?
O: Daniel? No, he died when I was a baby. He had red hair, he died the year I was born.
E: Thomas Jefferson Ridley?
O: That was Mama's father. He died in...in
E: 1939.
O: I was working in Summerville then I guess.
E: Do you remember anything about him?
O: Well, in his early days he was a big drunkard. When Grandma died he married this old maid schoolteacher. She wore high neck dresses. And she fussed at Mama all the time because her dresses were so short. She said her girls would't be worth nothing because she went around half naked all the time. But she left him before he died.
E: What was her name?
O: Dorothy...Dillingham. I believe that is right. Look in your book and see.
E. I don't have it. Didn't he have a farm on a river up there?
O: Yeah. He had a farm up there on a river. It was right out of Dalton...closer to Chatsworth I guess. Because we were up there one year in the rental house.
E: On his property?
O: Yes.
E: When y'all just came in from Virginia?
O: No, just before we bought that place in Cohutta.
E: I heard your Grandpa Ridley was cranky. Is that right?
O: Yeah. He had all kinds of fruit trees...apples, peaches, plums, also grapes. He would not let us touch them or anything. He made wine out of the grapes.
E: For himself, or to sell?
O: For himself. He wouldn't let us touch them but we would sneak off and pick them. He caught us. He didn't like it. He would fuss about it, tell on us....but we didn't let him catch us many times.
E: Do you know anything about the Pullen Family?
O: Yes. Which ones do you want to know about? Some of them I know about, some I don"t.
E: Thomas Jefferson Ridley's wife was Maryetta Pullen. Her mother was Frances Bookout and her father was Greenville Pullen.
O: Frances. that's part of Mama's name. Viola Frances. That is where she got her name..

Customah!!!

I have to pick up a suit from the cleaners today. We are going to a wedding Saturday.

The cleaners we do business with is ran by a greedy nervous Caucasian man that I am sure is the owner also. He has about 6 or 7 Asians working for him and I don’t think any of them can speak English. You always see them in the background folding, pressing, and whatever else they do. They remind me of a crew of bees in a hive fanning and caring for the lavas.

There are two women that can speak broken English. One looks matronly and probably in her late 40s, the other one looks to be a teenager, and somehow has similar traits of the other one – I wondered if the oldest is the mother of the teenager. When the bossman is unavailable either two will do what he normally does… take in clothes to be clean and of course deliver clothes when someone comes to pickup an order.

All the rest of them I think cannot speak but one word of English. That one word is “Customer”. Several times I have walked into the store and the first Asian to see will holler out “Customah!” and the bossman will instantly appear from the back – or one of the two females I described will gracefully come up to the counter.

I think with most of them not speaking English is the way he prefers it. They can’t communicate to fuss about being underpaid and overworked – and maybe even crowded living conditions.

The owner/bossman is a tall fellow. He has a very nervous look about him… he might be a nervous wreck trying to overlook all the business operations, the cash register, and extended lunch breaks.

The other day while carrying my suit to the cleaners I noticed a van with a back door opened with a young guy putting bundles (clothes probably) into it. The van had a “for sale” sign on it. Standing beside him, with a smile on her face, was the matronly Asian lady talking to him.

I immediately decided the young Caucasian fellow was the owner’s son. He was tall like his father – just not as age-thick. When I walked inside after the “Customah!” alarm went off the bossman emerged from doing something in the back - rolling in his money or whatever and he noticed the matronly Asian talking to his son. He didn’t look too happy about their socializing. He kept glancing at them while keying in my order on his new computer system. I wondered if he was wondering if she wanted to know about the van for sale – or was it something else they were talking about?

The nerve of them! Time is money!

HeeHawmoSapiens of the Mist

Yesterday suddenly Willow started barking. Then, I heard the door rattle or shake. I went to the door and opened. There stood the mother of Joe’s baby.

She said, “Joe needs your help with his truck. His batter is dead”.

I asked, “Does he have jumper cables?”

She said, “I doubt it.”

I put the dog in her crate and drove my truck across the street. Joe guided me in with the expertise of a Flight Deck specialist guiding in a jet plane. He got my hood fairly close to his hood.

His hood was already up. He was washing his truck. I said something to the effect, “Your battery is already dead with a new truck?”

He said yeah, his mom got mad at him and pulled out a bunch of plugs and wires and let the battery run all night.

Later my neighbor Kathleen told me why his mother was mad at him. He tore up the back yard making wheelies all over – now, after his work, there is no grass – just dusty tracks going in a circles, circles overlaying circles. From high in the sky it may look like aliens did a trick.

Joe was washing all the back yard dirt off his truck.

I noticed the yard was covered with little bits of trash: plastic bottles, candy wrappers, McDonald wrappers, Wendy’s Frosty cups wadded up, loose tools, and bits of paper, mail, and more.

We charged his batter with my battery for quiet a while and it still would not start. He said he had to take his baby to the doctor today.

As soon as he said his baby I instantly thought of the last time I saw their baby. He and his mate were up by street and he was holding the little baby. I was picking up little pieces of paper junk that the wind carried from their yard to our yard and thought I would be nice and walk up and look at the little baby girl (named after Joe’s dead dog).

Joe is a big person in weight and height. He is probably 6’6”. He had to bring the baby in his arms down to my level. I looked at the little baby and her face from her nose to below her mouth was covered with mucus. I don’t suppose it occurred to them clean her face, or use one of those little rubber suction things to suck all that goo away.

Then a white government vehicle drove up. A black lady got out and spoke to him and asked in a distant friendly way what was he doing. He explained about the battery and how his mother got mad at him and pulled out all the wires.

She had a wry smirk when she heard the story. I don’t think she was surprised.

Incidentally, I think the lady is a county official. Now, because of the draught condition there is a strict water ban going on. You can only water three days a week in the late and wee hours. It is based on your street address, whether it is odd or even. It was not the right time or day for Joe to water outside. He openly washed his truck while she was inside. Laws are not meant for him…. I guess he could claim he didn’t know about the water ban, he is not the kind to watch the news. My father used to say Ignorance is no excuse of the law – but I bet smooth talking Joe could use it and get away with it.

I see that white government vehicle parked at their house ever so often. She was carrying a heavy duty plastic kit of some kind. She asked by name where was the baby’s mama.

Joe said inside. She stood out in front of the house and hollered. The mate came out on the balcony. She called her by name again, and told her to “come on down honey.”

Then she went inside. I suspect the lady was there to give Joe’s mate a random drug test with no warning.

Well, I did all I could do and the truck still didn’t start. I took my jumper cables and left.

Later in the day I was working in the yard and my neighbor Jim asked me what was I doing over at Joe’s with our hoods up. I told him. He said he had a charger but Joe didn’t ask him. He said he normally asks him to borrow his tools. Jim went on to say that recently Joe borrowed something and failed to return it. I think he eventually got it back. But the next time Joe came over to borrow something Jim asked to hold his cell-phone as security. Which Joe did, and he more quickly returned whatever tool he borrowed. Jim might as well asked for his pants as security – I’m sure he felt just as naked… he always has that cell phone to his face.

Somebody carried Joe to work and one time I looked over and saw that his truck still had the hood up and one door opened. It seemed like old times when Bob was there.

Also, I have mentioned more than once that Joe and his family has never failed to surprised me. Yesterday was no exception. After I left yesterday my neighbor Kathleen called and asked who the little kid in orange was across the street. I looked out and hiding behind a row of hedges and edging his head around the hedges looking at Joe was a little boy dressed in orange pants and orange shirt. I think he may have had orange-red hair also. It is always something. Amazing!

Willow - again. Our adopted child.

As requested.

Dogs of the Mist

Warning: This may bore you into a coma. It might be boring as a vacation slide show.

I am enjoying watching our new dog Willow.

Today she suddenly started barking, which is unusual because she is normally quiet, unless she thinks she hears something outside. She was in the den when she was barking and appeared to be looking out the window. As I got closer I saw that she was not looking out the window, but at our TV screen. She was barking at her reflection! The more she barked the more her reflection barked and when she started growling so did her reflection. I moved in and broke them up.

The neighbors whose back yard is adjacent to our side yard have three dogs. I have mentioned them before. They have Skip, a Jack Russell looking thing and looks very much like Skip in the movie A Dog Named Skip, a little growing Schnauzer, and a little ball of fur named Binkie that barks in a loud shrill voiced, when she barks, which is rare.

Every time Willow goes to the back yard I hear one of the three dogs next door bark – it is almost a different one every time. I think they organized a detail that they each takes turn about to be on the Willow Watch Detail.

Whoever barks, the other two come running. I think Skip is the leader. If he chooses to bark then Skip and the Schnauzer bark. If Skip just chooses to look at Willow through the fence and make eyes at her, then the Schnauzer will quit barking.

Yesterday I saw Willow and Skip touch noses through the fence. I wonder if each knows the other one has been fixed? … or more importantly, I wonder if the Fixed took?

Sometimes Willow will go over by the fence and recognized the three nosy dogs as fellow-dogs and sometimes she won’t. Sometimes instead of trying to communicate with the three small dogs she will run at a tremendous speed – she runs so fast it appears that her feet are not touching the ground at all – she sort of puts herself in a bullet mode and she flies low around the yard – but yet you know her feet are touching the ground by the very rapid sound of the thumps of her feet. As she shoots by them each time I cannot almost see a gleam in her eyes. She is trying to impress them – and I think it works.

She does the same thing to me at times – run at a high rate of speed and get very close to me then make a sudden turn and she has that same gleam. I’m impressed too.

When we first got Willow I bought her a rubber chicken that had a wheezy whistle in it. When Willow first pounced on it the chicken let out a wheezy whistle and she jumped back and let out a scary yip. When she built her nerve she attacked it again and it whistled again. And again, Willow cried with it. After a day or two she had ripped her playmate’s head and one of its legs. It no longer whistled.

We put our son’s old comforter in her crate. One day she pulled it out and tried to pull it up stairs with it clenched in her teeth. Anna saw her doing it and carried it up for her. She made herself a bed in the den. Yesterday she spent a good deal of time pulling and pushing it. After a while she reclined on it and apparently it was just right – she was fluffing it.

One of her toys is a Raggedy Ann looking thing that also looks like a mop without the handle. She likes to gallop around the inside of the house with a gait that a show horse would be envious of – her head high and her front legs taking high steps – then she flings her toy, barks at it, and scoops it up and continues her proud gait.

I am now taking her for a walk every day. I think we both need it. My plan is to increase about a tenth of a mile each day. Yesterday I saw ahead of us a woman named Anne that we have know since we moved here in 1975 walking her poodle. She has told me before that her son got the dog for her to keep her company. As we caught up with them the poodle noticed Willow and let out a yip in sort of a musical tone and stood on it’s hind legs and danced! As we went by Anne asked about Willow over her dancing poodle’s singing, then she said with a smile, “I cannot stand my dog’s shrill bark – I hate it!!!”

How’s that for a loving and kind master?

Comparison

While I am on the subject of rereading MAD #15 here is something else I just noticed: The same story The Wild ½ with Marlon Brandflakes the heroin is walking along on the little town’s streets after dark and she is suddenly being chased by motorcyclists. Above.

There is a very similar scene in MAD #3 in the story V-Vampires where a woman is out at night and not knowing which way to run from the danger.








Both stories were drawn by Wallace Wood – maybe you recognize the sharp knee caps.

Now You See It, Then You Didn't

art by Wallace Wood - click to make it better, but of course, you knew that.

I love to reread my old MAD comics. They are very detailed. In fact, they are so detailed, it is hard to catch every little side joke. Almost every time I reread a old MAD I catch something that slipped by me before.

Take issue #15 for example:

In it is a lampoon of the movie The Wild One with Marlon Brando. The name of the lampoon is The Wild ½ with Marlon Brandflakes. What I didn’t notice is the scene above with Marlon Brandflakes in his devil-may-care character enters the town’s little restaurant, and he does what any rebel would do, spin the counter stools as he walks by as you see in the first panel. What got by me, was the second panel – he spun a stool with somebody sitting in it. Not a word was said about it, you either caught it or you didn’t.

Protecting Our Interest

Recently I heard somebody say we should be in Iraq to protect our interests.

If that is true, that our troops can and should protect our monetary interests in other countries, does that give other countries the same right – to protect their interests abroad?

The reason I ask that is that I read somewhere that the U.S. is selling bonds to help pay for the Iraq war and their biggest customers are China and Japan. So, if that is true, China and Japan, by buying U.S. bonds, have a big monetary interest in the United States. If I remember correctly, stock holders own and they get what is left after the people who bought bonds in the company have been paid. So, it would be to these countries’ interest to see that the U.S. can afford to pay them back. How would they do that? To make sure the U.S. is ran more efficient.

Japan and China might want to come in with their troops and oversee and protect their interests more – maybe a good whap with a rifle butt will make that Postal clerk come out of the break room and get back to work or a shiny bayonet poking the ribs of another Federal worker looking out the window would snap him out of his daydream.

Calvary Baptist Church.

(click on the image for detail)

The above are my grandparents William Elijah Joseph and Frances Viola Ridley Petty. Elijah died before a came along, but I knew ‘Ola very well. She was a very wise woman who raised her children practically single handed.


Calvary Baptist Church is in the Crandall Community of Murray County, Georgia. My mother grew up in this area and she either was related to or knew every family in the area I think.




Terry Mason lived in Marietta. Terry's mother’s maiden name is Petty. Terry's mother's father was my mother’s first cousin. Terry died as a teenager. I do not know the story of why he died but I know it was tragic.




These are my great grandparents Daniel Webster and Jane Garrett Petty. Daniel fought in the Civil War, and while there came down with piles, which he suffered with the rest of his life.



Stanley Petty was my mother’s first cousin. He moved to Detroit when he was old enough to work and lived there until he retired.





Marcus Petty is another tragic death of a young Petty boy. He fell off a riding lawnmower. His tombstone and his first cousin Terry Mason’s tombstones are beautiful black marble with what must be a laser art.




This is my grandfather William Elijah Joseph Petty’s three unmarried siblings. They lived in the Old Homplace, a big two-storied country house, together until age separated them. One sister died and one sister broke her hip and was put in a nursing home. Wesley, the brother, was in the house when it burned down.

Forwarding Joke:

(taste) of first graders

using a bowl of lifesavers.

The children began to say:

Red......................Cherry

Yellow.................Lemon

Green...................Lime

Orange.................Orange ,

Finally the teacher gave them all HONEY lifesavers. After eating
them, none of the children could identify the taste.

'Well, she said, I will give you all a clue. It's what your mother > >>> may sometimes call your father.'

One little girl looked up in horror, spit her lifesaver out and
yelled, 'Oh, my God, 'They're ass-holes!'

My Uncle's Funeral

Yesterday my two sisters and I went to our uncles’ funeral in Milledgeville, Georgia. He was the last of our mother's generation to die.

Milledgeville is located more in the center of Georgia. We drove to Atlanta on the I-75 and there near the Turner Stadium turned east on the I-20, and drove east some 50 so miles, and turned south on FederalHwy 441.

I have always found the Hwy 441 interesting, although it has been over 60 years since I have been on this segment, I have been on the north Georgia mountain segment many times. It clings to the past something like Route 66 and the Dixie Highway (US 41).

One time in college, in his journalism class, Rocky and a few of his classmates jointly did a report on Hwy 441. They drove up and down it, from Franklin, North Carolina, to the first little town in Florida. The went into restaurants and motels and got post cards and brochures and made a scrapbook.

Hwy 441 goes through Clayton, Georgia, Tallulah Gorge (a huge convulse of several water falls that fall into a river far below. It is breath taking scene, and has attracted the same sort of people who tight-roped over the Niagara Falls to do the same there. Walanda rings a bell in my memory, he walked the rope there and stood on his head. 441 comes on down to Commerce, Georgia, where Holly Hunter was born, and is now a huge factory outlet center, then I think through Braselton (the town Kim Bassinger bought), Athens (home of UGA), Madison (a showplace of stately homes and mansions), Milledgeville, and probably many other notable places which I don’t recall ever going.

As soon as we turned south on 441 the look change from huge expressway to the old south. Big trees, huge crops, with several barbecue joints and similar dives.

At one we rode by at least 30, probably more, bikers were hanging around. From a quick glance from driving, the bikers looked like the Hells Angels type, but could have been a middle age yuppie biker’s club riding for some non-profit benefit or something.

We first went to a First Methodist Church where we were be with the family while some hovering ladies from my uncle’s Sunday School Class fed us lunch. Everything looked homemade, and even the KFC buckets were hidden. They had fried chicken, four types of potato salad, four or five differently made deviled eggs, and a big lineup of home made pies. We went through the lines and the women took our drink orders. I was craving coffee to jolt me from the two hour drive, but didn’t see a pot or anything, so took tea, unsweetened.

My uncle and aunt had four daughters. The oldest I communicate via email regularly and I was not shocked by her looks, she had sent me pictures from time to time. But two of the sisters had aged something I hadn’t expect. I used to chase them around as a ten year old boy… but today I could have easily caught them. One was in a wheel chair and the other had a cane and had to have her son’s hand to keep her balanced.

We got to meet a whole bunch of their children and grandchildren. They have made themselves into a whole little community. I knew they existed, by what the oldest cousin had told me, but it was a pleasure to actually to see them live and living.

Downtown Milledgeville is a nice looking big town – well, the downtown part is bigger than Marietta. It was the capital of Georgia during the Civil War. I noticed a lot of big old buildings with historical plaques outside. Someday I would like to return to take my time and read the historical marker signs.

In the funeral home there was a wide variety of humans. A lot were related and a lot were people in the community. They had a big electronic picture side-show of my uncle going all the time. Some of the pictures made we want to cry – it was done very well. I recognized about 5 pictures that I had taken over the years when my uncle and aunt would visit… this was after the daughters had families of their own.


My uncle's youngest daughter and my uncle in 1995 (notice the hog in the reflection?).


One picture I recognized was a picture of my uncle, not long after his wife had died, sitting at a table in a restaurant that was reserved for his brother and his wife’s 50th anniversary. I remember taking the picture. Then – for the first time I noticed the background.: behind my uncle was a big mirror. In the mirror was my torso, with a flashing light blocking the view of my head but my stomach was big and bloated. I forgot, that was during one of my fat periods.

Looking at it, I wish I knew how to get into the electronic gizmo that was showing the pictures and remove or delete that one picture with my flab showing. Each time, the picture selection rolled around I no longer saw my uncle smiling at the camera – but the belly.

The funeral was, a funerals are these days, a celebration of life. The temperature in the cemetery was hovering at 99◦ and 100◦.

Bad Dog! Do Not Own Yet!

When we were looking for a dog, every time we came upon a breed of dog we didn’t know about we would run to the computer and do a google and learn a little something about the potential pet.

On one site Anna found herself in, to go forward where the information was you had to tell them your name and your dog’s name. Because we wanted some information but did not have a dog yet under the blank for the name of the dog Anna put “Do Not Own Yet”.

Now, she has received countless of emails with special offers for dog books and other things for her and her dog Do Not Own Yet.

Here is an actual email, doctored to protect the blind and in bold is the mistaken name:

Hi Anna,

Dem Ranking here from http://www.thedogsbowwowwow
hoping you and Do Not Own Yet are doing well.

Today I'd like to show you a fun trick you can
teach Do Not Own Yet in no time flat.

Here it is:

"How To Teach Do Not Own Yet To Wave Hello"

First, start out with Do Not Own Yet in the SIT position.

(Note: If you're having trouble getting Do Not Own Yet to
SIT when you say "sit" ...and to STAY when you say
"stay", you should check out my guaranteed training
system here: http://www.thedogsyyakyakyak

Now, with Do Not Own Yet sitting in front of you,
gently tickle the hairs on one of the dog's
front paws.

THIS PART IS CRUCIAL:
As soon as Do Not Own Yet's paw moves,
praise your dog and give a treat.

It's important to praise and reward Do Not Own Yet
immediately ...even if the paw just barely
moves.

Now repeat this process quickly until Do Not Own Yet
starts to pick up the same foot ...without
you tickling the hairs.

(It might take a few repetitions, but Do Not Own Yet
will get the hang of it.)

Next, you want to keep praising and rewarding,
Do Not Own Yet every time the paw comes up
...but gradually withold your praise until
Do Not Own Yet's paw comes up a little higher
each time.

Your goal is to have Do Not Own Yet's paw come up
about chest high.

...Do Not Own Yet's chest, that is :-)

Once Do Not Own Yet raises the paw to chest height
CONSISTENTLY, add the command "wave" or
"high five" just before rewarding and praising
...while the paw is in the air.

So if you were to map this out in
Do Not Own Yet's mind, the "timeline"
for this trick would look like this:


COMMAND ---> DESIRED BEHAVIOR ---> REWARD

It's pretty simple, really.

In fact, training a Miniature-Schnauzer to do
just about anything will follow that
same pattern.

BUT, there's a catch.

You've got to first lay some CRITICALLY
IMPORTANT groundwork in order to accelerate
Do Not Own Yet's training ...and guarantee
the training "sticks".

If you don't follow these vital
(but easy) steps, you'll make the same
mistake that countless other Miniature-Schnauzer
owners make ...and Do Not Own Yet can end up
being a strain on you ...and a nuisance to
others.

That's why you owe it to yourself
and to Do Not Own Yet to check out my
guaranteed training system for
Miniature-Schnauzers here:

http://www.thedogsblabalbalbal

If you use the easy methods in this
breakthrough system, Do Not Own Yet will
listen to you and obey you every time.

Period.

And that's not just a promise, it's a
guarantee.

In fact, try my system out for three
full months.

If Do Not Own Yet doesn't snap to attention
and obey your every command ...just let
me know and I'll give you ALL of your
money back.

And YOU CAN KEEP THE ENTIRE SYSTEM
FREE.

No tricks, no gimmicks, no B.S.

It's all spelled out for you here:
http://www.thedogxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

If you're serious about keeping
Do Not Own Yet well trained ...and
therefore having a good long term
relationship with your dog then
you'll put this amazing system
to work for you right now.

Sincerely,


xx

Belated Happy Birthday Steve!

The Aging Hipster's birthday was yesterday. He is just a baby – but he is aging and he is a hipster.

Speaking My Opinion

Strike by Attrition

Today on NPR I heard a knowledge person talk about the coal industry. Unless something is figured out we are going to have a big energy shortage not too far in the future.

Coal. Although coal is rarely seen these days it is a much needed product to keep a lot of things running or heated.

Coal miners, or the lack of, is the problem. Nobody wants to be a coal miner anymore. It is dangerous down in those tunnels – explosions, cave-ins, and if you get through all that black lung disease will probably get you.

The young people don’t want any part of it. Who can blame them? The average coal mine worker is in his late 50s. Once the current coal mine workers die, retire, or get killed there will be no one to replace them.

The strike for better conditions and pay will not be marching on a picket line. They will just leave by attrition and not return. The company will have to offer better incentives for the younger work force to consider being coal miners as a career.

OR

Since the American present day work force is not willing to work in the mines there are the immigrants who will probably consider it – then more Americans will get mad at immigrants for taking American jobs.

You can’t win.

BEEP!!! I Love You!

I called my first cousin yesterday to tell him of our uncle's death.

His wife died a couple of months ago and he is having a hard time coping with it. They had been married about 25 years. We talked about several things.

One of the things he told me that I felt was touching is that his son wants him to change the answering machine's message. Now, his late wife's voice tells you they are not home and please leave a message after the beep. He said, he enjoys calling his own number often, just to hear her voice.

Cat Got My Tongue?

No.
But a dog got my fingers.

Unfair Pay To Retirees!

A friend that I grew up with, now retired in Florida, is sick today. He had minor surgery yesterday and is recuperating today.

Here is the problem with us retirees when we are sick: We can not call in for sick leave. If we are sick, we still have to do what we do every day anyway, whether we are sick or not.

Is that fair?

Another thing, we are also retired on Federal Holidays. We get the same rate of pay. Think about it. Normally, if a person, who is considered “regular” works on his or her holiday he or she gets an extra day’s pay. Retirees don’t. We have to do on holidays what we normally do, for no extra pay.

I would say we would strike and lie down in our work place – or in this case, non-work place, but we do that anyway.

Maybe we should boycott whoever sends those checks out and refuse to accept any more until they agree to pay extra for doing nothing on top of nothing on holidays and sick days - but on second thought lets don’t do anything foolish and irrational.

Wallace and Thelma Cox Petty

This is Wallace Petty and his wife Thelma when they were newly weds. They were both school teachers in Murray County, Georgia. Wallace went on to become a school principal and later over the Georgia Rehabilitation Department.

Thelma died in 1994 at age 85. Wallace is still living, in a nursing home, at age 96. If he lives to September the 9th he will be 97. But it is doubtful he will live to see 97. His daughter emailed me Monday saying his health is declining. He is down to under a hundred pounds.

Wallace is the last of my mother’s siblings still living. He is the last of 15 children. Three died young. He was part of the dozen that reached adulthood.

Wallace was the next to the oldest son. Once, as a child, his family moved to Gillette, Wyoming, to try to live off the land. They almost starved. They returned east in about a year. Gilette is where my mother was born, in 1918.

Their mother, the girls, and the youngest children went back east in a train. The father, Wallace, and Tom, the oldest son, went back by horse and wagon, which took months. That was quality time spent with his father that is priceless.

11:32a.m. (same morning). I just received word from my cousin Wallace died.

Free Complementary Checkup

When we adopted Willow from the Atlanta Humane Society they told us, because we got her from the, she was entitled to free checkup from the list of veterinarians they gave us.

The two vets closer to our house were not on the list but I called them anyway, to see if they would do it. Each one said no, they only gave free exams to Cobb Humane Society adoptees.

Then I called the closest one near us that was on the list, which was not that far away, probably between 2 and 4 miles. We got an appointment the same day. That’s good because we only had 7 days to take advantage of their amazing one-time offer.

The veterinarian’s office had two waiting rooms. One for dogs and one for cats. The receptionist was very nice and efficient. I had to fill out forms just like any other doctor’s office.

She led Willow and I to an examining room and told us the doctor would be with us soon.

The doctor was also very nice, friendly, and professional. But he knew how to milk me. He looked Willow over, bent her limbs at her elbow joints and said she was a nice looking “dog”. She had some a young lady come in and “checked her oil” and went back to put the stuff under a microscope.

The nice smiling doctor went back and looked a the microscope and said Willow had some little parasite worms in her intestines – “No big deal” he said. Did I want to get rid of them? Yes. He must have know what I was going to say, he had the stuff already in his hand… he injected something down her throat. He told me it taste like a banana milk shake.

I said she might know that taste, we gave her a piece of banana the other day. “Oh? How did she like it?”

“Well, she didn’t say, but she did take another chunk.”

The doctor smiled.

He asked me did I want a flea and tick combatant. Sure. He recommended Front Line, which they just happened to sale. Then he asked about heartworm medicine. Did I want her to take heartworm medicine – although now she has no heartworms, but you never know when she might get some.

“Of course, I want her to have heartworm medicine.”

“What about a rabies shot? According to her papers she has not had a rabies shot. By state law she has to have one – shall I do it and get it over with.”

“Yeah, yeah, why not? What else?”

I forgot what else, if he felt my wool had been fleeced enough. When he bided us farewell, he had a nice twinkle in his eye; the trait of a very good salesman.

The lady at the desk added everything up CHING! = $130.18!!!

Not bad for a free exam – huh?

Later at home I was looking at the itemized statement and the first item said “Exam – Complementary” and “NC” was on the same line, next column.

So, if I read it right when he said Willow was a nice looking dog that complement was on the house, or as it said, Complementary.

Glover's Tannery Tower

Another Vanishing Georgia picture. The description tells it is a tower of Glover’s Tannery. It seems the Glovers had their hands on every operation in Marietta. This tower was on the south side of Marietta. There was another Glover’s Tannery north of Marietta near the foot of Kennesaw Mountain. The ruins are still standing (barely).

Back to the Tannery Tower. The tower was still standing in my youth and not that far away from where we lived. It was very close to a railroad yard, bordered by the railroad on one side and Glover Street on the other. It was also a place the local drinkers gathered and drunk from their brown paper bags. The railroad tracks were on a raised hump of earth. I remember more than once playing on the railroad tracks and seeing the drunk’s having their “happy hour” at the foot of the tower.

Marietta was a dry county back then and these men mostly drunk moonshine. So they had their “Secret Laughing Place” as Brer’ Rabbit might have called it.

It was my Briar Patch – I was afraid to get near them.

Well!

Many years ago in Georgia, by law, blacks and whites were separated. Normally they were not allowed to sit by each other. Silly!

Then when segregation was ruled illegal and blacks could sit with whites it was not uncommon if a black person satt by a white person the white person move away.

That was the way it was. It was no hard feelings. The whites mistakenly thought they were the king of the roost by heritage.

Now, times like that are happily gone forever.

A few years ago on the way back from Memphis we stopped at a Tennessee State Park and spent the some time there. They had a couple of beautiful water falls. While there, in their gift shop I bought a walking stick. It was naturally curved, heavily varnished, and had a little hole up top that a loop of rawhide there. It was cheap, considering – I think I paid about $9 for it. Since then, I have become a connoisseur of natural looking walking sticks. At craft shows I always look at them and admire them, but they all seem too expensive compared to my one I bought. The first (and only) walking stick buy spoiled me.

Now when I see somebody with a natural walking stick I sometimes mention to them how nice looking their walking stick is.

I just remembered this when I saw my noticed my walking stick in the corner this morning: When I took my sister to the doctor and I sat in the waiting room for a couple of hours people were coming and going. They would have a certain phase of their stress test and come back to the waiting room and wait for the next phase.

Once, a little short black lady came and sat by me. She had a natural walking stick. This one had part of the limb bark still on it, and rings were carved up and down the stick. It looked very unique. I turned around to the lady and told her, “I like that walking stick.”

She got up and moved across the room.

Dog Posse

We have just about spent most the previous week looking for a dog. It was on again, off again kind of thing. We decide not to, then change our minds and decide to go ahead and look for a suitable dog… then, start thinking of all the minuses again and then it was off again. Then, we might see somebody with a cute dog and was is on again.

By now, we should have our PhD’s in Dogantry… we know which ones shed, which ones don’t shed, which is good for having to keep your house free of rats, which ones make good hunters, which ones make good herders… like “get along little doggie”…

Which is completely opposite of our neighbors Bill and Sarah White (where the ghost haunted). A few years ago, on a whim, Bill went out and adopted a dog to give Sarah for her birthday – and it was a surprise. Then, she did the same for him a year or two later. Then, somebody gave them a Schnauzer – so, now they have 3 dogs yapping, and didn’t do any research or anything on either one. On a whim they just hauled off and got them.

I have mentioned before how horny Skip is. Any human leg is fair game.

We studied and studied. We looked at many potential dog-pets, walked different ones from different rescue agencies….. and essentially, drove each other crazy, but I think we take a few members of various agencies down with us. Saturday all our work paid off. We got a very pretty dog. A year-old shiny mostly black medium size Whippet. A Whippet, as in “why don’t you whipit out and show the girls big man?”

We looked the Whippet breed up on the net and they appear to look something like Greyhounds. But, ours is part Walking Hound and seems to have the latter’s traits.

On our second trip to the Atlanta Humane Society we found the one. After we walked the one we were looking at and decided she was the one we were given a card with a number on it. We sat in a waiting room waiting for that number to be called. Isn’t that organized?

When we got in the office of the Atlanta Humane Society bookkeeper or cashier, or whatever and were getting our money ready – we were led to believe the adoption would cost between $85 and $150, the lady looked at my application and asked if I had any other pets. I said no.

She said Purina will pay all my fees except the microchip part. They paid the spade part, shots, and all other adoption fees, which is normally about $150. And, like I said, we had to pay the $15 microchip fee. Not bad, not bad. Why? That is what I asked, why would Purina pay my fees for me? And the lady told me Purina had sort of a foundation or a grant going that paid for adoption fees for those people age 65 or older that did not have any other pets. Well, good.

Then, later in the day, after we rode over to Anna’s mother’s and showed her the dog and then to my sisters to introduce the dog to her first cousin, my sister’s dog Happy. Then we went to Pet Smart to buy some dog supplies. While at Pet Smart, inside the store our dog somehow got loose from my leash and darted away from me. When I saw her headed for the door I said, “Ahah! Now I got her!” The sliding glass doors were shut. When she got closer the electronic door sensed her nearing and opened wide open for her. Out in the parking lot she ran.

Three or four female Pet Smart employees and several men and women in the parking lot formed a posse and chased her all around the parking lot shopping center. She would run one way, then another – when someone was about to grab her she would dodge them and make a turn the other way and the crowd would follow. I think she thought it was a game and she was loving the attention. A Pet Smart employee coming back from Chick Fil-a from her dinner break and saw the posse chasing her and she caught on what was going on and lured the dog over with the smell of chicken nuggets. We nabbed her.

Whew! I thought my $15 was flying out the window.

As you can tell, we haven’t decided on her name yet. Her name, the Atlanta Humane Society said her name is Wiggles. We both feel Wiggles is not a name we want to call her. Right now, we are leaning towards Willow. Wiggles sounds like something the late Mr. Rogers would name a pet.

She spent the night in her crate in the basement. She has me trained to, if she whines, to take her to the back yard to do her business. She loves to be petted by Anna and just sort of politely puts up with my petting.

She is lovable, in her own way.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!

Burningtown Baptist Church

This is Burningtown Baptist Church, Macon County, North Carolina, near Franklin. Behind it is the cemetery. My great g-grand parents John Ray (1813-1903) and Nancy Sumner Ray (1817-bef 1895) are buried there in an unmarked grave.




Cecil Baldwin is a distant relative. He was a bachelor who lived a long life. He lived in our ancestors John and Nancy Ray until he died. I had the pleasure of meeting him a couple of years before he passed. He was a very friendly youthful-looking old man.


Cecil Baldwin's parents.



Posey C. Wild was a good friend of my great-grand father William A. Hunter. They fought in the Civil War side by side. Posey was served his time as commissioned officer but were still friends with William. He is the one who was with William when he got shot on Kennesaw Mountain and later wrote and signed a statement that he fought with him in the war.

Posey had a large interesting family that I keep stumbling over while researching the Rays of the community. He was a justice of the peace for the community and once he swore out a warrant for a number of young men for raping his mentally challenged daughter.

These are some Rays buried in this cemetery but I am still working on their connection. I know they existed, because here are the leftovers, so to speak.

Fumbling Friday

Above- Plenty of bed scenes in KNOCKED UP.

Today we did some shopping and running around. We had lunch at a new Cajun restaurant here in town. It just wasn’t good. It was served by a fumbling waiter and the Cajun wasn’t Cajun enough. The Diet Coke was watered down. The only thing closely related to New Orleans was the folk art mural – well, also they played a Fats Domino CD too.

Afterwards we went up to the other side of the new strip shopping center to a semi-new restaurant by the name of Gabriels’. The restaurant is a bakery/sandwich shop that moved itself up a block on the street and upgraded itself from just a bakery. The owner is a very pleasant kind looking lady that looks so laid back I don’t see how she would let anything upset her.

One time she told us she is from Albany, Georgia. If you watch the food channel you probably know Paul Dean lives in Savannah, Georgia. However, Paula was born in Albany. Paula and the owner of Gabriel’s are first cousins.

The new Gabriel’s is big and while we were there crowded. While we were there we saw the owner in a glass office talking to three business people – everybody in the office was all smiles. The business people left and some older lady stuck her head in her office evidently to say “Hi!” and the owner got up and gave her a big hug. We had a small dessert and went on our way, vowing to return for a lunch sometime soon.

Next to went to multi AMC Cinema complex to see the movie “Knocked Up”. Which, we thought was very good and warm…. Also there are several crying moments – not sad crying but crying because you are enthused – overcome with joy.

Before we went into the theater that was playing “Knocked Up” we stopped to buy a Diet Coke. The counter is long with many stations. But only two stations, next to each other were opened. We had to wait a bunch of minutes to get our Diet Coke. After we paid and got it and got our change back we moved up three or four stations to an area not being used and Anna put her gift certificate back into her purse. While she was straightening that our, a family came and got in a line behind us. They thought we were being waited on. I tried to tell them nobody was working there but I don’t think they were listening to me.

I was hoping we might see a little action. Last week at this same theater a man came in with a gun and held up one of the servers at one of the stations. He took the money and ran down one of the halls with theaters. The Kennesaw police were called and they came quickly. They evacuated the theater and checked it looking behind each seat, looking for the robber. They didn’t catch him.

I wonder if they considered that maybe, just maybe, when they told everybody to leave evacuate the theaters at once, the robber left with everybody else?

Do you just suppose they helped the robber make his get-away in a round about way?

Excercise On My Bike

Sometimes I have to knock something around in my mind before I write it which might take days. Doesn’t my mind know I have a deadline?

Thursday instead of running and walking I chose biking as my exercise for the day. I rode a little over ten miles and one hour and 14 minutes. You might say, Hah! I can do a mile in less time than that. If you can, then you are not invited. Only I am allowed to win this race.

I rode down Sandy Plains Road which I picked up a half mile from my house. At the railroad tracks I turned around. My odometer said 4.25 miles. Late at night I can hear the train, which is that far away. Amazing how sound travels – especially when you don’t want it to.

You might ask, if it was 4.25 miles to the tracks shouldn’t it be 4.25 miles back, which will be only 8.5 miles instead of 10? Well yes, if you did question that you are right. On the way back I took two detours to ride through new sub divisions.

On Sandy Plains Road there is a dog care complex. It has a dog-day-car with a big fenced-in area with all kinds of colorful tunnels and inclines for the dogs to romp and play in. The only thing about that is dogs don’t always have good rapport between themselves and fights break out. Bloody fights. As I rode by I saw two vicious days trying to rip out each other’s jugular vein with a smiling Mexican man trying to pull them away from each other. I think blood spilling on the doggie playground would be a bad advertisement… that is while he was smiling. At least with him smiling it would show some happiness about it.

On the way back near Sprayberry High School ahead of me I saw two women walking rather large black dogs. As I got closer behind them I saw that the two women were very tall women, like their dogs. The two giant black dogs from ten or fifteen behind looked like Weimaraners. I pedaled along side the four walkers, said good morning and told them their dogs were beautiful and asked them were the dogs “Weims” (I don’t attempt to make a fool of myself and try to pronounce the real name).

One of the women said, “No, they are Giant Schauzers.”

About that time I got a better look at the two tall women. They had the same facial resemblance; the same curved lip, the same type of nose. I thought to myself: Twins!

And I also thought two giant twins. And they are walking two giant twin dogs as well!

They looked in their late 30s or early 40s. They were probably two singles twins who never married and now own a house together.

I continued my conversation. “I bet they don’t shed. My wife and I are considering a Schnauzer as a pet, we read they don’t shed very much.”

One of the human twins said, “Well, these shed a lot! They shed all over the place!”

I said, “We used to have a miniature – Schatzi – I don’t remember her shedding.”

And the same human twin said, “Well, these sure do!”

I was tempted to say, “Are you sure you two weren’t the ones shedding?” Then rear up my bike front wheel like Roy and Trigger might do, then ring my bell on the handlebars and speed off. But I didn’t.

TV Commercial Idea

Remember the James Bond movie DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER? Remember the chase scene in downtown Los Vegas. The local law enforcers were chasing James and he would do things like drive his car down a narrow alley sideways and when the cops tried the same thing their car crashed. And many other cops car did a Keystone Cop style wreck where about 4 cop vehicles all crashing together.

Well, imagine watching a rerun of that chase scene on TV between programs.

Then a quick 3 second clip of James Bond holding Bambi and Thumper’s head under water in a pool.

Then, as a ending show a bunch of gangsters throwing Jill Saint John out of the 8th floor window of a high rise hotel in Vegas. And as she is seen flying downward through the air kicking and screaming the announcer’s voice says:

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

Siblings Graveside

This picture is another from the Vanishing Georgia Collection. Does it look strange? At the time it wasn’t considered strange at all. It was meant to show respect for a departed sibling.

My mother-in-law submitted this picture. The picture was taken November 27, 1928. She is the girl in the picture. Her, and her two brothers Charles and Paul are looking down at their deceased brother John.

Days Without Shirts

Every time I happen to turn on the TV and the Soap Opera Days Of Our Lives is running there is always a man standing there talking with no shirt on.

The man might have a towel around his bottom part because his aunt’s half sister happened to drop by to borrow something. Another man may be out chopping wood, shirtless, or a man might be tearing down a brick wall in New Orleans for a Habitat project, and of course, shirtless.

I think a producer of days was looking over the bills and saw that what the wardrobe department spent on men’s shirts was outrageous. So, now the policy, is whenever possible have the men parade around without a shirt.

It would not surprise me if at the Salem Hospital Doctor Horton is operating shirtless. Or maybe Victor going over his high sophisticated finances is behind his big mahogany desk shirtless. Or maybe police brothers Roman and Bo Brady fight off a team of thugs and everybody is shirtless – a version of River Dance.

What about Mickey Horton, a fine lawyer, presents his case to the jury with no shirt on? And you look up at the judge and not only does he not have a robe on but also n.s. Maybe they are involved in a very complicated law SUIT.

On The Road Again

(Imagine Willie Nelson singing the above).

I am back on track - as far as exercise goes.

Monday I walked 3 miles; Tuesday 2.5 miles and ran 1.4 miles (estimated), and this morning I walked 3 miles again and ran 1.5 miles. I plan to slowly increase my running and walk with what is left over. In other words, I will first walk about a mile, then run my preplanned time, then walk home.

Until this week I haven’t ran since April the 24th. That was mostly due to the stress test findings and the nurse recommended that I not do any serious exercise until after the catherization and they find the problem. Then, after that I was on a roll of not doing exercise and it is hard to start the inertial first step. But, after you get over that it is smooth sailing, so to speak.

By the way, a doctor told Anna my heart performed its own bypass because of my continuation of strenuous exercising.

I don’t have to worry about competing with a runner from Kenya for the world’s fastest running pace or anything – if that comes up I will gladly forfeit. While running yesterday a long legged kid walking casually to his summer school morning class passed me on the side walk. He looked like he was casually strolling.

That reminded me when I used to run with our dog Brandy somebody made the comment I appeared to be giving it all running while running and the dog looked like she was casually walking. She probably could have even squatted and pee and it wouldn’t make a difference.

And this morning a young skinny legged girl shot around me as a wild rabbit would do. She was out of sight before I could even find a rock to throw at her.

Speaking of the turtles’ pace, also this morning I was running I ran a block into a new subdivision with big McMansions. On the side of the street near the curb was a good size turtle, probably as big as a volley ball if you squished the air out of it, lying there with its shell cracked and it was of course dead. He was ran over while trying to cross the street.

He didn’t go to civilization, civilization came to him.