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Frank Ganley

Donna a blunt is the opposite of a pinner. Does that answer your question? No of course it doesn't! Since I never saw you where the bad boys and girls to smoke at Sandys and I can only imagine on your way to the tapas bar no one would light up a spleaf for a little bump in your mood. It restores my faith that good girls are always good girls. Not that I am a bad boy but I do know some LOL. A blunt is a nicely rolled think joint and a pinner is the same but very thin, and a spleaf is in the middle. And that ends our little dip in the drug culture vocabulary.

Joseph D. McCarthy

And Tim I just wanted to add the famous saying, often erroneously quoted as being said by Robin Williams:

    "WELCOME TO CALIFORNIA, NOW LEAVE".

Timothy Lavelle

Joe, all...I lived in Northern Cal...Chico and then San Fran...for years. San Fran is and always will be, my vote for Best 'Murican City. The town and it inhabitants opened my eyes wider...sort of put a boot-stretcher on pre-conceived notions. We truly loved living there but eventually, it was just too crowded for us.

We wanted to look at Oregon for later life but on trip up the coast, alongside the road was a billboard that read (I swear) "Don't Californicate Oregon". Appealed to me about as much as a sign entering Albama now might read "It's OK to be 30 and flirt with our 14 year old girls, as long as you buy some BBQ". So Oregon was out as Alabama would be out if they cannot find the guts to call a perv a perv.

Joe, I have to say....spend a year in the PNW and then write that we here have "a bit of rain". The recent draught in Cal has had people wondering about shipping water via ppipeline from up here to your fair state. Crazy idea but vast forests breed craziness maybe?

WA is truly a gorgeous state. Just a little on the poor side other than Seattle. If  someone can compare average income per capita I would be curious.

Patrick O'Leary here..."London is my favorite world city. More than once I have gotten lost all by my lonesome walking around city streets where you continualy run into houses with plaques that say something like "Isaac Newton lived here in 1654" or some such. Many of them much older...and you just could not help but say "Daaaammmnnn son, 'Murica be pretty new on da block"...but you have to say it in a Jamaican voice if you are going to mimic how I talked to myself. "

In one month I reveal who taught me to say "Murica" and why. Surely you can guess? Mark, ask your wife!

David Mitchell

Tim,

I thought "Murica" was invented by our once "beloved" Columbus Mayor Jack Sensenbenner way back in the day. We had this record (a "45") titled "The Sounds of Columbus" (where we bought it, I have no idea). It was full of local sounds like the OSU football radio announcer (as Bob White goes over from the five yard line to score against Iowa) and traffic sounds at Broad and High (fascinating stuff, right?). I think they also had recordings of some animals at the Zoo. Some B-47s taking off from Lockbourne AFB. We developed a long-time family joke over the years about one phrase on the record. It was Mayor Sensenbenner uttering the words "Come ta' Clumbus and discover "Murica".

(ClumbusAhia, that is)

I like your geographic memories. San Fran is a wonder, and London is simply a treat. Friends say Istanbul is the very top of them all. My youngest daughter waxes poetic over Edinborough. Wonderlust has been in my blood.

You happen to live in an area I have grown to like. Having kids in Portland and Everett has given rise to the idea of retiring on a boat in Puget Sound. MIlder summers (than here) - Lots of cool little island towns to visit - great sailng waters - and a lifestyle that even I may be able to afford. Gig Harbor is on my list. But my "Everett's" have moved to Bangor Maine, and I may be forced to become "bi-coastal". 

* BTW, I know your secret up that way. "It's the Water, and a Lot More"

Do they still brew it up in Tumwater?     (I Brake for Artesians)

Timothy Lavelle

Dave,

Better bi-coastal than bi-polar!

I wish we could hear from John Kinkaid and his once-buddy Sonny Can't-Remember the last name; Neil Looker; Brian Doyle; Steve Polis and so many others. I know Bill McRae will never write hear but it would be super. So many folks. Ray Browning. Does anyone remember Glen Poitier? Shortish guy, funny as hell!

Murica quiz: It wasn't Sensennbrenner...no doubt terrble spelling...but he might be one of the inspirations.

David Mitchell

Tim,

Did I read somewhere in the recent past that Ray had been ill? 

I wonder about some of the same people. I have asked openly here about a few also. Brian, Steve Polis  and Mike Del Bianco come to mind. I know they are in Columbus. And Stan Kroenenburger? And Mary Motil and Al & Carol Morse?

Neil Looker and Dan Brown walked into the business school library one me one day at the Universtiry of Denver - after Army return - many years ago. I'm just sittin' there and they walk over to my study table - completely out of the blue!

And I have wished Kevin Cull would sign in here since the 50th. I had one of the warmest short conversations in my entire life from Kevin at that banquet - again, totally out of the blue!  And then we only got a few minutes together last summer at Janie's re-reunion - odd?

And have we put Joe Donahue to sleep a while back?   JOE, You out there?

James Hamilton, M. D.

Fred Clem

Dave, 

The last time I visited Olympia, in 2012, the brewery in Tumwater was all boarded up.  I believe the brand is now owned by Pabst and the beer is produced in southern California.  I don't know if they still use the phrase "Its the Water".  I doubt if the water comes from the same source.

Donna Kelley (Velazquez)

Thanks for the indepth explanation, Frank.  Having turned 69 (what an impolite number)  last week I never fail to be surprised by what a huge learning curve life is!  While I realize there were a lot of things that I didn't try there sure seem to be a lot that I have. 

There is a Spanish expression which I like a lot..."Que me quiten lo bailado".  More or less it means "Let them try to take away the dances that I have already danced".  So maybe I never did pot but like Patrick I have found a lot of pots of gold along the way.  

Btw you really should probably take Tim's advice and volunteer for the Tampa Chamber of Commerce. I am sure they have no one else like you in town.

Mark Schweickart

Tim,

My guess about 'Murica would be also from a record, not Dave's recollection of Sensenbrenner, but from the album of poetry recorded by the one and only self-proclaimed A-1 American of all time--drum roll please-- that's right, you guessed it,  John Wayne. It was called America ! Why I Love Her, except whenever he said "America"  it always sounded like your pronunciation, 'Murica. And the poetry! Sublime, to say the least. Who could forget lines like:

You ever see the mighty Mississippi rolling along unchecked/ You ever see a robin yankin' on a worm's neck.

Well It wasn't exactly like that. I made that up, but it had that flavor.

David Mitchell

Tim,

I'm beginning to get the impression you were the author, or at least the inspiration for that old trucker record, "I Been Everywhere Man" ("cross the deserts bare man ,,, and then all those cities names). You have been a "Ramblin' Boy"

But I gotta ask, Could the "ancient Indian in Taos" have been Frank with a blanket on his head and some "tobacco" leaves for feathers? 

Michael McLeod

Love that expression, Donna.

I may memorize and use it in class.

I have a lot of hispanic students  in the writing classes I teach and I like to pretend like I speak the language.

It amuses them.

Timothy Lavelle

Mark n Dave, I always thought that "'Murica" was something a friend and I made up but I see that you are correct really...we just aped it from what we had grown up hearing. It was the memory of how the word was used by some older heroes and villains as a sort of cudgel that brought us to joking about it.  I'm gonna wait awhile before getting into that story. Doctor Bop - yeah Jim it was Sonny Carroll. Hope Sonny is well. Hope  Ray Browning is OK. We had such a strong group of youngsters. I recall a Mike Kayler...no, probably not right...poor memory. Not a big guy but seemed made of strong stuff?

While not religious, Dave,  I have to use the word "blessed" because wanderlust began in the 6th grade at St Agatha with the Little Messenger newspapers we received occasionally. News of tortured missionaries in China and such. Plus my oldest brother was flying jets  for the Marines so anything seemed possible.  The company who eventually adopted me knew if they put enough money (lower-middl class upbringing) on the table I would go anywhere. Algeria, after being pickpocketed in Marseilles, was probably the scariest although kidnapping in Peru was still common when we moved there! I have been incredibly lucky if not very bright.

You know, that Indian in Taos did look a lot like "Frank in Buckskin". But it couldn't have been Frank becase I could understand almost every word he said!

Go Buckeyes...beat those pathetic Illini into dust!! Go "Group W Bench" on 'em. Watching a great Michigan/Wisconsin game. GREAT THANKSGIVING TO ALL!!!!  U 2 Frankie!

Mark Schweickart

So gang, as you may have heard me mention before, since it is November, it is that NaNoWriMo time of year again, which, in case you have forgotten, stands for National Novel Writing Month. The challenge is, during the month of November, to crank out (at minimum) a 50,000 word rough draft of something that has been percolating in your brain, something your inherent procastination has prevented from emerging. You win nothing by succeeding, other than the satisfaction of having succeeded. Nonetheless, it is quite amazing what a totally arbitrary deadline can do for one's motivation. Here it is, day 18, and I am at 38,000 words, so it appears that I have the endzone in sight. What was it that they used to always say about Woody Hayes, "three thousand words and a cloud of dust"? Something like that? The last two times I took on this challenge, I cheated a bit, in that both were memoirs covering different portions of my inglorious past. That made it easier because I always knew more or less what was coming next. This time I am attempting a fictional piece, and the plotting is proving to be quite a bit more difficult, not to mention the problem of running into characters who highjack my story and send me down alleyways I wasn't expecting. Anyway, wish me luck. And I highly recommend using this challenge idea for any of you who have long been sitting on a creative bubble of your own and wondering how to pop it.

David Mitchell

Tim,

You crack me up! I am able to get portions of what Frank writes on this Forum but only because I was able to spend some time on the Navajo reservation. 

Mike Kayor was an enigma to me. I always admire d him for his athletic toughness - and he really was tough!  I tried to be a closer friend to him, but he was kind of a solitary guy. It frustrated me no end that I could not stop him, or even keep up with that small of a guy at our JV basketball practices (nor Mike Hill, nor Allan Morse, nor Tom Litziner either - well I had learned to accept the fact that I was not Litzinger's equal long before high school and that didn't bother me like those other guys). I just wasn't very good, and it really used to be hard on me at that age.

(Basketball at Watterson - whole 'nother story)

("Dr. Bop on the scene, with my stack o' shellac and my record machine")

James Hamilton, M. D.

David Mitchell

Happy to report a very nice and somewhat detailed report from Seve Hodges earlier today. He gave a detailed health report that nearly lost me. I would have opted for the "english" version, but I trust Dr. Jim to  deal with those details (which he does - they are in frequent touch).

"Father Robert" is living in a parish house in Costa Mesa California with 5 or 6 Norbetine Fathers and recovering very well from a successful surgery. I am taking it slow while he gains strength, but hope to be able to converse wth him more in the near future. Stay tuned.....

His father has been in poor health and is now 96. He asks for a few paryers for the  good Doctor. As most of you may recall from my earlier  "Steve Hodges-Disneyland-Michael Jackson-elevator story" I had one of those funny little moments in life with Steve's Dad over the phone many years ago that will not be forgotten. Steve and I have long admired one another's dad's very much. Dr. Hodges is one gentle soul.   

David Mitchell

Jim,

I always believed it was because there weren't enough names of famous stock market crashes to go around.

David Mitchell

No - seriously, I think it goes back to the days of the American West. My own Squadron was the "Blackhawk" Squadron" and we had old battle ribbons on our unit flag that went back to the original "Blackhawk Indian Wars". I never followed that "pride-of-the-unit-history" stuff much. Like the guy from New Jersey said "I don' know nuttin", I just woik hea". (In my own case - I never knew or cared much about that stuff, I just flew) 

*(there probably is a better explanation than what I know of all this - possibly because most helicopter warfare in Vietnam was conducted by Army Cavalry units - as in the famous "First Cav")

I do beleive that today's newer "Blackhawk" helicopter models were named after the same "Blackhawk Wars" with some added influence from our own Unit name (the "Blackhawk" sqaudron).   

That, and the idea that Tribal names were in keeping with the whole "warrior" theme. Oddly, some of those "official" individual aircaft names we never used. Our little "Loaches" were officially the OH6-A "Cayuse" But we never - I mean NEVER used the name Cayuse. It was either a "Loach", or an OH6. (ground pounders did sometimes refer to them as the "Little Birds")

And the famous workhorse "Huey's" were officaly the UH-1 Iroquoise. No one on the entire planet ever called them an "Iroquoise" -- absolutely never!  Oddly, it did apply for some - the older (Cheyenes) and some newer models (Apache). 

Interesting side note with these names. Under our Squadron name (Cavarly name for "Regiment"), we had three Troops (cavalry name for "Companies"). When they moved down to our location in Vinh Long, they renamed the whole unit and part of Troops (but not all). We were Comanche Troop , and there was an Apache Troop, but the third was "Dutch Master Troop" - go figure?  (too long and boring to explain).

Good golly!  Ain't this fascinatin' stuff?     zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

Janie Albright (Blank)

Sheila McCarthy (Gardner)

Clare's Christmas luncheon sounds like so much fun! Wish I could make it.....

Nina Osborn (Rossi)

I will be at the luncheon!🌲

Janie Albright (Blank)

I hope everyone who can manage to be in the area on December 12 will attend the Class of ‘66  Holiday Lunch. See the invitation a couple of posts above.  Also you should have received an email. 

Joseph D. McCarthy

Now that "Thanksgiving Week" is officially here I want you to know that 40,000 to 50,000 turkeys were saved from roasting during the fires out here.  They should be on their way to supermarkets near you.  Oh we donn't keep any of the turkeys raised in Sonoma county.  Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years Day are celebrated with "Dungeness Crabs".  DON'T ASK ME, I still enjoy turkey.

Kathleen Wintering (Nagy)

I wish I could be  at Clares `as well! Have fun!  Take pictures! Kathy Wintering