Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Coach Funerburk




This is Coach Funderburk several  years ago at a concert in downtown Marietta.   At Marietta High he coached various sports and also taught various subjects.  And it did not stop there.  He also taught my youngest son Adam Driving. 

Adam said he had a pretty good collection of comics too.

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

On This Date in History, 1806, Andrew Jackson killed a man in a Duel





From Wikipedia:

"Andrew Jackson killed one man in a duel on May 30, 1806. Charles Dickinson insulted Jackson, accusing him of cheating on a bet, calling him a coward and calling his wife Rachel a bigamist. Dickinson then went public with his accusations of Jackson.


Jackson was known to have a temper. He participated in a number of duels in his life, but only this one ended in a fatality. In this particular duel, Dickinson fired the first shot and hit Jackson close to the heart. Jackson fired back and, according to the History Channel website, witnesses say he misfired. Ignoring duel etiquette, he fired again and killed Dickinson. He did not face criminal charges for the death, but suffered physically from the wound for the rest of his life."

"Old Hickory" Andrew Jackson is one of Donald Trump's heroes. 

Years ago when the boys were young we toured Nashville, Tennessee.  While there we toured nearby Hermitage, the home of Andrew Jackson.  About all I can say,  It looked "presidential".

I did not know it at the time, but later with genealogy research, found out that a distant relative Timothy Dodson of mine was a neighbor to Andrew Jackson and was one of the pallbearers at Jackson's funeral.

Timothy is my 1st cousin, 4 times removed.  My claim to fame.

Monday, May 29, 2017



Although I was in a Naval helicopter squadron I have no war tales to share for Memorial Day.
But I do have true tales:  Once my division officer offered to give me a helicopter ride.   He was always friendly and was sort  of a rebel who resented authority also.  He had to get so many flight hours a month.
We flew a Bell Helicopter (as above).  I thought they were called Belle Helicopters because they looked like little hand-held dinner bells, but actually, they were built by Bell Aircraft Compnay.  When we got way up high in the air and the hangars looked small he looked at me and turned off the engines.  The props stopped.  We started to fall.  The Earth stared rushing up at us.  He looked at me shrugged his shoulders.
As we were almost at the "END" of our fall the propellers started turning then spinning faster and faster.
With the spinning of the props, creating a windmill bowing at the ground, it let us down easy.
The division officer laughed.  He was playing a joke on me.
He said, "You have just experienced auto-rotation."

He said he usually got his flight time in by flying over a nudist colony at Cape May, New Jersey, I should feel special. 

Why Not To Shoot and Ask Questions Later



Willow did not like Memorial Day Eve at all.  Too much fireworks popping around us.  Which reminds me, when I took her out this morning, I saw two doors down something  strange illuminating and dancing  in the dark, about five or six feet above  the ground.  It stayed in one spot making all kinds of weird movements.  I immediately thought it was some kind of fireworks, still ignited, left over from last night's Memorial Day Eve fireworks..... but how would it be still be lit up?  Maybe a fuse.  Or, maybe it was electronic, some kind of strange new fireworks and something went wrong.  Willow and I slowly walked  carefully towards it for a better look and to decide if I should call 911 or not.  When we got within ten feet I saw what it really was.  A shiny balloon tied to the neighbors' mail box and the wind was making it dance.  The illumination was just a reflection of its shiny surface from a street light.  

I'm glad I didn't call 911.

More Square

People may wonder why I put so many photos of downtown Marietta up in this blog.  To me it is my comfort zone, an area I have known all my life.  There are probably some people who do not live near Marietta that feel the same way I do.  So, consider it a GOLDEN RULE act also.
















I doubt if this was planned, but notice the person's nose in the painted picture is pointed away from the row of portable toilets.

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The lady handing our Cobb Symphony programs is retired Jude Adelle Grubbs.  I wonder if she knows she shares the same first name as MAD Comicboook creator Harvey Kurtzman's wife?





Sunday, May 28, 2017

SUNDAY FUNNIES, Part 2



Wait!  Is it too late to put this in the SUNDAY FUNNIES!!??
To give credit where credit is due, these were ripped from the comic strip of the PIRANHA CLUB by Bud Grace.


Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

click on each panel to make it readable and maybe understandable.





Angel's Graduation Party

click on photo to enlarge it to see it better.