Jaybird and Peas – Reminiscing about Classmate Diner

Laying here jaybird naked after having finally arrived back home from a night out with the girls—as Patsy calls my monthly trip to dinner with my high school classmates—and having moved the leftover Popeye’s Chicken box outta the way for room, I’ve stuffed the purple hulls that I had retrieved from the Farm Patch in Bryan into the fridge to be bagged up first thing in the morning. I bet ya haven’t been able to get that jaybird reference out of your mind yet, have you? Well, the excitement of getting home and taking the pups out back one last time before ascending the stairs to end an eventful evening had caused the heart rate to elevate just a bit—I needed to cool down prior to stacking some zzzzs.

Purple Hulls from the Farm Patch

I couldn’t start the zzzzs until I had reviewed the evening:

Foremost in my mind was the trip home. While listening (read struggling to stay interested) to Jimmy’s fifth time through the guys in his unit procuring an replacement night scope so they could turn in a tank somewhere in Germany, Jersey or maybe Ft Hood or maybe it was the daughter in California requirements; I had been hemmed into the center lane approaching some night road work between Bastrop and Austin. As I slowed down to fall in behind him, he slowed also. As I speeded up, he again did also. Finally punching it and charging ahead in an attempt to gain the advantage, my truck hit 90 quickly. Hoping that I didn’t cut him off too sharply—his horn indicating that I might have—I commented to Jimmy: “I never knew those highway cones could fly so high! Well at least the road crew has the rest of the night to get them back in place.”

Thinking back to the dinner with the girls; I had ordered (again the last in line to do so; last to be served the previous month) a chicken fried steak as it seemed to be the safest only to have it wake me up during the night—I think the last chunk of chicken fried trying to exit back the way it have entered. Hagar the Horrible never had a case of indigestion this bad! Tossing and turning, I hoped I had dozed for three or four hours and hoped that it hadn’t been just an hour or so. I definitely didn’t want to spend the next seven hours suffering like this.

Everything kept running through my brain.

I know Thomas and I discussed the entire past season of “Duck Dynasty” and all the characters highs and lows. Then we moved on to the coming season and each of our hopes for that.

Tonight, I got my entrée just about the time everybody else did. I gazed down at a chicken fry that roughly looked the size of a miss-sharpened home plate and thought I hit the jackpot. Little did I know that it would return to haunt me later. Then there was that stack of mashed potatoes leveling off about chest-hair high and a good little bowl of corn. I had entered redneck heaven.

At some point, I made sure I had everybody’s attention in order to make some witty comment in response to an utterance from across the table about how thoughtful the restaurant was to have put Thomas’ snow peas in a separate bowl so the juice didn’t mix with his chicken fry—by the way: snow peas! How does that come about? I had just dumped my corn (and its juices) into that stack of taters and said: “Vicky! Wasn’t it nice that the restaurant did the same for me?”

Well Vicky took exception to the comment. First by insuring that her name was Kay and not Vicky and then affirming my comment to be right on target. There I was; right back in high school and embarrassed by something I had done that was outta line; stripped completely of all my dignity. Me face should have turned red but couldn’t. All the blood had just flushed completely like Universal Rundle had taken over all bodily fluids. I looked to see if I could crawl under the table but our positioning was so tight I stood not a chance. I had to sit there and take it as if nothing had changed in forty plus years. I apologized to Kay—I have no idea why I called her Vicky, she wasn’t even there.

Eventually the conversation passed on to another subject and I began to feel better about my situation.

Sam took us off on a tangent and assigned us all homework to watch some TV movie coming up over the next couple of weeks having to do with four guys (2 black and 2 white) that had been chained to the floor by Barry Gordy and made to suffer awful punishment somewhere in Detroit for year after year. I’ll look for it, but don’t think it can compare to the Cleveland stuff currently playing out.

We got into a rousing conversation about ancestral searches and who had made what discoveries and who had had problems getting to information. Some of the cemetery searching that some of the girls had been up to sounded sorta creepy—had enough of that kind of play growing and don’t want to go there again.

Still not able to shake the chicken fry attack, I turned to thinking about gathering a crew somewhat earlier the coming afternoon and hitting one of the Austin eateries, say around 4:30 PM (My son sings to me about eating at 4:40 PM to the tune of the Village People’s YMCA all the while thinking he’s getting over on me. I’ll take the harassment over the indigestion at any time.) With the Legislature not due back until Monday, I don’t know where I’ll be able to come up with a class of clowns. Don’t worry, I’ll scrape together some from somewhere. Still thinking about that jaybird?

Once again, I’m sorry Vicky. DAMN, I mean Kay! Good friends, good food, good night!

Looking Back and Thinking Forward - in no particular order

Born – St Joseph’s Maternity – Houston Texas – 19 October 1947 at 1:00 PM

Spent the first ten years of my life residing in a trailer house; living everywhere from Mississippi north to Illinois and New Mexico north to Montana and everywhere in between

Mom & Dad taught my brother and I the difference between right & wrong and that the Truth is always best.

At 4, I saw my first Big League ball game – 8 future Hall of Fame members on the field that day (watched 63 play live over the years; the first 8 were the most memorable)

At 5, Peaked Pike and again at 11 and 40; done with that -never going there again

At 5, had Route 66 as part of my address

At 6, I stood where George Armstrong last stood

Grew up and was educated in the company of some of the best people one can gather

Worked with and for some of the most interesting people walking the planet

Trained a great bunch of subordinates (both military & civilian), stood back and watched them get at it

Worked in the two most interesting places in the world – Alaska & New Work City

Had the opportunity to test start-up and prototype organizations in both the military & civilian communities

Dreamed and implemented organizational structures that 2X & 3X production rates and cut manufacturing lead times by 75%

Spent two full summers and more hours than most can count working with the smartest and best man walking the earth prior to his passing in 1993

Watched with pride the example set by my Mother spending 22 years teaching first grade

Watched my Son achieve all he has – College degree, CPA and the expert and go-to guy in his field

Watched my Daughter get her degree, start teaching and obtain her dream job

Convoyed some long trails (1965 - Bryan, TX to Valley City, ND – 1278 miles), some tough trails (1974 - Ft Richardson, AK to Ft Greely, AK – 673 miles) and some exciting trails (1978 - Ft Bragg to Akron-Canton, OH – 912 miles & back – total 1824 miles)

Saw the Bear hoist Gene

Watched live as both Heisman winners played 55 years apart

Earned a Bachelor Degree from Texas A&M (’69), all along thinking I would be the first to graduate without ever achieving a C average

Earned a Masters in Business (Central Michigan – ‘80) and a Masters in Logistics (Command & General Staff College – ’81) within a year of each other

Suffered the loss of a child early in her life & my adulthood

Preferred charges and sent to court-martial a guy that threatened my life “If I ever show my face in Newark, NJ, I’ll kill you!” Never thought that would happen. Little did I know that my next assignment would call for me to visit the downtown area of Newark every three or four weeks for some two and a half years – always looking over both shoulders!

Served on 150+ court-martials and administrative discharge boards

Continually connected to D.B. Cooper

Uncovered fraud and saw to it that money and equipment was collected

Know secrets held at some of the highest levels one might imagine – still haven’t divulged a one of them

Spent more time than imaginable with feet dangling from the tail ramp of a C130 or C141

Experienced both the 112s under canvas (-112ºF Feb 1974-Ft Greely, AK & 112ºF Jun 1975-Ft Bragg, NC) within 16 months – Had never thought about the time frame until I put it down just now!

Stood beneath Niagara

Visited both Halls twice

Boated the 1000

White-watered the New

Float-fished the White in spite of Hillary

Squarely and proudly stood where it’s Red

Visited all 50 states

Lived in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Illinois, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Colorado (again), Montana, North Dakota, Texas (again), Virginia, Alaska, Virginia (again), North Carolina, Virginia (again), New York, and Texas (again)

Worked in Texas, North Dakota, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Colorado, Wyoming, Virginia, Alaska, Virginia (again), North Carolina, Virginia (again), Massachusetts, New York, Texas (again) and Canada (Calgary)

Topped the Empire State building three times

Topped the World Trade Center - I

Walked on Mount McKinley

Walked on the Chilcoot Trail

Adventured out of Resurrection Bay

River-boated the Yukon

Visited the site of the two most important surrenders in United States history

Visited feud sites and both the Hatfield and McCoy family graveyards

Talked with a grandson of Devil Anse

Canoe trekked the Quetico Boundary Waters (135 mile trip)

Canoe raced the Texas Colorado (110 miles)

Canoed the Delaware River Gap

Canoed (over-nighter) the Shenandoah

Hunted with some good buddies :

Texas – Duck .22 & 20 Gauge – Sherman (chest deep wading in real cold winter water), Bob & James Lee

Texas – Dove 20 Gauge – James Lee

Alaska – Knick Flats - Duck 20 Gauge – Johnny, Marvin, Martin, Larry

Alaska - Knick Flats – Moose .357 – Marvin, Martin, Larry

Alaska – Hatcher’s Pass – Bear 30-06 – Marvin, Martin, Larry, Cliff, James, Doug & Sgt Stone

Alaska – King Mountain – Snowshoe Hare - .22  - Marvin, Martin, Larry, Cliff

New York – West Point Military Reservation – Whitetail – 30-30 & 30-06 Richard

Fished some great spots

Texas – all over Central Texas

New Mexico

Colorado

Montana

Minnesota & Canada – Quetico Boundary Waters

Alaska – Finger Lake, Susitna, Yukon, Ship Creek, & many more

North Carolina

New York – bottom to top

Louisiana

Wyoming – Tetons Wilderness (son, Joseph & son-in-law Michael)

Set foot inside the Arctic Circle (Ft Yukon, AK 1973)

Lived in my current abode longer than any other along the way

Fortunate to have had 20 or so canine partners (& a couple feline)over a span of 65 years; the last six being the best (Denali, Buck, Maggie, Gus & Otis, Crook)

Have had the great luck and accomplished all this with my best friend and the best person I know in the entire world by my side for the majority of the trip and am now looking forward to and thinking just what adventures we might challenge together in the coming years to top all that has gone before!

Figured it out!

I Facebooked Jimmy (Phipps) on Tuesday to see if he wanted to ride over to Bryan/College Station with me on Wednesday afternoon to attend the SFA Class of ’65 monthly dinner—my wife calls it my night out with the girls and, YES, I do know that Facebooked is probably not a real word—so what, get over it!

I should have known better but went ahead and invited Jimmy to ride over with me. Having know Jimmy since shortly after I arrived in Bryan way back in August of 1954 and entered the 2^nd grade (Mrs. Miller’s room at Crockett Elementary); I know how he likes to talk. You see, I’m a story teller and enjoy that lip exercise myself—maybe just a little more than I probably should have. Jimmy and I had gone our separate ways after graduating from Texas A&M University (Class of ’69) and entering into the service of our nation in the United States Army. We finally reconnected again when he moved here to Austin early last year.

That's me on the top left right beside Mrs. Miller (I think I was her favorite) and there's Jimmy at the other end of the row sorta next to Mr. Nabors (probably been in trouble earlier in the day)

The net result is that we have a gathered boo-koo of stories neither has heard from the other. So, as one might say: “There’s a target rich environment here that needs to be exercised.

Be that as it may, I can’t really say that I got my fair share of story-telling time yesterday.

Jimmy showed up at the house an hour early—actually, I was about to call him anyway and tell him to come on over and we could catch-up a bit before driving over to BCS. I was still cleaning up and had to return back upstairs for a short time and when I came down Jimmy was sitting in the kitchen with both my pups, Little Gus and Otis, sitting attentively at or near his feet while he went on and on about some war story from Germany. He has already started to get ahead of me and I wasn’t even in the room.

Little Gus looked up as I came in the room and with his eyes tried to communicate: “Can we go outside; I think we’ve heard this one?” I rescued them (again) and put them outside in their 40X40 run and Jimmy and I went into the living room to talk more before departing. Talk is sorta singular in this instance.

After topping of the Explorer, we were finally on the road—Jimmy in fine fashion once again! His memory of “stories told” is a little out of kilter—I know I have heard most of the ones he told on the way over, but it passed the time.

I managed to sit at the other end of the table arrangement at the Outback and wasn’t subject to any of his tales during the meal. Although, I will say that Lana Reed has as many stories as Jimmy has—she seems to know every movement that takes place in Bryan and most of what happens in College Station as well—I got very little relief during dinner.

After dinner, I got some air while waiting on Jimmy to make a stop by the little boy’s room and finally we were once again side-by-side on our way back to Austin. We spent a little time bashing those that didn’t show for the meal and pretty quickly, Jimmy was back into his “war story mode.”

Every-once-in-a-while I would stutter to start a story of my own, but couldn’t get a word in edge wise. I began to study the situation—having no real luck at deciphering the code for the first fifty miles or so.

All of a sudden, something must have distracted him, maybe the light in Caldwell or something else. I had my chance and I started right in with a goodun’. I got two or three sentences into it and took a breath—big mistake! Before I could inhale and exhale, Jimmy was into another story. It was no way nearly related to my story and I could tell by the look on his face, it really didn’t matter.

That’s when I figured it out. I knew right away that I had uncovered the answer. Now, what could I do about it?

What did I notice you might ask?

Well, I’ll tell you. When Jimmy goes into “story telling mode”, he doesn’t breath! My guess is that it’s an evolutionary development that he has worked on over the 40+ years we were apart and he has mastered it, believe you me.

This morning I started practicing not breathing while telling stories. I know I have to work up to at least fifteen minutes or I don’t stand a chance with someone who has a forty year head start; but I’m atryin’. I keep you advised of my progress.

Austin City Counsel Districts - Redistricting Commission Notes

Fixing the woes of the Austin City Counsel is a mountain of a task, but the work has begun. I’ve just returned from a lunch hosted by the Austinites for Geographical Representation (AGR), the League of Women Voters, and the Austin Area Research Organization to introduce prospective commission members to Angelo Ancheta, “a distinguished law professor who also serves on the Citizens Redistricting Commission for the State of California.”

( http://law.scu.edu/faculty/profile/ancheta-angelo.cfm )

Wait! Before you run off half cocked; I realize that those guys out there don’t always do things like the rest of the country. Maybe, we can learn from their struggle and try to it better here in Austin. After all, “Mr. Ancheta is coming to Austin to share his personal experience serving on the first citizens redistricting commission in California, a system upon which Austin's 10-1 was modeled.”

The luncheon was held at Threadgill’s today and the room was packed. Evidentially, there are some 400+ people signed up as volunteers to do the commission work. This number has to be whittled down to fourteen—a pretty big task in itself. A task force is at work currently doing just this.

Mr. Ancheta came to Austin, on his own dime we were lead to believe (no reason to think otherwise) to share his experiences as a member of the California state redistricting commission. Austin is merely redistricting some 850,000 citizens—California, some 38,000,000.

The Professor will also be speaking this evening at Bass Auditorium on the tu campus in an event sponsored by the University of Texas School of Law, LBJ School's Center for Politics and Governance and AGR.

Lots of good information came out of the noon luncheon—along with making the acquaintance of other commission candidates—and I look forward to getting even more info this evening at the lecture and Q&A session.

This has been a long time coming to Austin and still has an uphill battle to be successful. It is high time that the strings to the governance of our city be taken out of the hands of that small group that has strangled the city since the 1970s.

There’s a lot of work left, but still the major task to be overcome is the voter apathy and lack of participation. Let’s hope we turn that corner with this effort.

Dave Barry – “Insane City”

Seth Weinstein is in Miami to get married. His fiancée, Tina, is the elder daughter of the rich and powerful Mike and Marcia Clark. Everything, but everything has got to be perfect for Tina’s wedding. This is not in the cards for Seth.

Given a chance to meet anyone in Miami and the surrounding area, Seth will encounter trouble. The Groom Posse, Big Steve, Marty and Kevin will make nothing easy and manage to screw up at every turn.

Even Tina’s sister, Meghan, gets into trouble assisting Seth in his efforts to do the right thing: assisting a Haitian mother of two illegally make her way to join her sister in a new country.

The plot even includes a barely working orangutan, Trevor, who emotionally attaches himself to the nearest good looking woman and is wounded in a gun battle with Daddy Clark’s hooligans trying to intercede in the Haitian affair.

Some of the book is much funnier than other parts, but a good read overall. I will say the hour I spent listening to Dave Barry at his local book signing was the funniest hour I have spent in a long time. In person, the man is knock down funny.

I saw Jackie play!

I did. I saw Jackie play! Of the multitude that might take the trouble to read this, I am probably in the minority that actually saw Jackie Robinson play baseball for the Brooklyn Dodgers. I’ll get back to that later—there’s a few things I want to discuss first. The 14^th of April, 1947, some 66 years ago today was a big day in Baseball. If one puts their mind to it and discounts the fact that it was a sporting event, the single act of playing a baseball game that day is as BIG as only a ever dwindling few alive can imagine.

Jackie Robinson – 18 Apr 48

 

John Jorgensen – Pee Wee Reese – Eddie Stanky – Jackie Robinson – 15 Apr 47 (Day #2)

At the time the NFL and the NBA were still fringe elements in the culture of the United States of America—Baseball was king. All other sports were also runs.

Let me ask you this: What momentous events in history stick out in your mind when you think back? 9/11 is  probably the most notable for most. T an ever decreasing few, the answer to the question centers around World War II: December the 7^th, D-Day, Victory over Japan and big events like those. The next few generations probably recall watching the landing and walking on the moon—a momentous step, to say the least.

Keeping in mind the steps taken on the beaches and the moon; now, I would ask you a followup question: Was the first step on the moon a bigger step in the cultural history of the United States than the step taken by Jackie Robinson (backed by Branch Rickey) when he left the dugout that afternoon into the previously all-white realm of Major League Baseball? That step, arguably, was the shot heard ‘round the world in advance of the civil rights movement of the 50s, the 60s and decades to come.

The event came much earlier than I and my first memory of big events—but not much earlier in a life that has seen many biggies transpire.

Stealing Home – Ebbits Field 22 Aug 48

Pee Wee Reese – Jackie Robinson – Preacher Roe - 1952

*****

In the summer of 1951, life found my family residing in our 40X8 foot trailer in the small mid-state Illinois town of Taylorville—real small town of Taylorville. My dad worked for the oil exploration company Geotech and we moved around a great deal. We lived there for only a few months, but looking back those were fairly active months. Dad and Mom always wanted us, my brother and I, to experience as much as possible of the notable spots our traveling gave us the advantage of proximity. One weekend we spent in the Illinois capitol of Springfield—the first city of which I have memories.

The next available weekend, we traveled to St Louis, Missouri. I was as excited as my dad. We were going to take in the Cardinal game. My dad was the biggest baseball fan in the world—as far as I knew at the time. I thought I was the second. We never missed a Cardinal game on the radio. You might recall that the Cardinals were the farthest west team in the major leagues at the time and actually they were all you could get on the radio. Still that was OK with me—they were my favorite.

I was on my way to see Stan The Man Musial (6), Country Enos Slaughter (9) and Red Schoendienst (2). The cards also had such names on their roster as backup catcher Joe Garaoligo, Harry Walker and Peanuts Lowery. Sportsman Park, here we come!

The opponent that Saturday was the Brooklyn Dodgers. Some legendary names were on that roster as well. Our excitement level was as high as a kite. Tickets were purchased and we were making our way to our seats. As luck would have it, our trek took us right in front of the visitors locker room just as they filed out to make their way to the dugout tunnel—there they were right in front of me, the Brooklyn Dodgers—I coulda reached out and touched them.

One by one, as they made their way to the dugout tunnel my dad would point out and name each one as they passed. He recognized them from pictures in the newspaper, the only visual media at the time—long before TV was widely affordable and available. Still now, I can close my eyes, lean back and see them as they walked right there in front of me: Roy Campanella (39), Pee Wee Reese (1), Jackie Robinson (42), Duke Snider (4).A few other Dodgers present that day that my generation will remember: Don Newcombe, Ralph Branca (he who threw the other shot heard ‘round the world that allowed the Giants into the 1951 World Series), Preacher Roe, Gil Hodges, Eddie Stanky, Carl Furillo, Dick Williams (rookie in ’51, but the A’s manager in ’72 & ’73 World Series), Wayne Terwillger (34), and Carl Erskine (17).

That’s enough with the name dropping—but, they were all there.

Scorecard – Dodgers lineup – Aug 1951

Scorecard – Cardinal lineup – Aug 1951

Count them up: Cardinals—Stan Musial (6), Enos Slaughter (9) and Red Schoendienst (2) and Dodgers—Roy Campanella (39), Pee Wee Reese (1), Jackie Robinson (42), Duke Snider (4) and Dick Williams (38); all future Hall of Fame members; eight in that single game in 1951. You’d be lucky to find two future Hall of Famers on the same field in today’s game.

The Cardinals won that day by-the-way.

Here’s my point: without that day in April, 1947, three of the eight above may not be in the Hall of Fame. Those three and many more to come owe a great deal of gratitude to the suffering and courage that Jack Roosevelt Jackie Robinson underwent sixty-six years ago. Most don’t realize it, but Jackie’s #42 was the first uniform number to be universally retired throughout  all of Major League Baseball—this had never been done before.

Jackie Robinson was a great athlete and a great man. I saw Jackie play! I, for one, think he is due more!

A Few Topics Off the Top of My Head – Guns, North Korea & Welfare Payments

I’m kinda fed up with a few of the hot topics being bantered around in the news these days. So I wanta get a few things off my chest.

Let’s start with the Gun Control hot topic. I am thoroughly fed up with the GUILT TRIP the President and the media is trying to lay on us. I feel very sad about the loss of life that took place in each of these events. But, having stated that, I do not feel an ounce of guilt over there events. We are experiencing an inordinate amount of throat shoving by both the President and the news media. I don’t like it a bit.

My feeling toward this matter is: “one of the big reasons for the split in Red/Blue America is due to the pushing back and forth by the patricians playing their game of politics. I am not a member of the NRA and see zero need to become one. This organization has only the power that we the public grant them. I liked what one of the two Senators said about pushing the compromise bill through: (my summation) He couldn’t get behind what was happening and didn’t want to get caught up in legislation he couldn’t support. His answer was to get behind legislation he could support. I hope we get somewhere that we all can live with.

Then there’s that little snot from North Korea! What is gonna happen here is anybody’s guess. If he intends to excite a war, he just might do so. I don’t believe, at this point, that the US has anything to worry about. We do have troops that are in harm’s way should he decide to cross the 38^th. Make no mistake, this will get bad if that happens. Right where China stands on this matter is the larger question that only China can answer. The US can handle the little snot and his military very well, but early on, there will be a huge price to pay. Does anyone believe the people of North Korea are behind this guy?

Here in Texas, we once again, have the legislation pushing forward wit a bill that will require all (or most, I’m not real sure at this point) welfare recipients to go pee in a cup—drug testing. There hasn’t been any validation of a need for this action. Here, again, we have some patrician legislators pushing an agenda where there just might not be a problem. Somebody will have to pay for all this getting there, peeing, getting back from there  and the testing—you can darn well bet, it’s gonna be you and me. I’m not real sure how they are proposing the work-around to get needed funds to the children of the failure group—they say they have a way. But, doesn’t it sound like an increase in government (both people and funds) for a problem that may not even exist?