Sunday, April 29, 2012
Saturday, April 28, 2012
WARNING FROM 80 YEAR OLD MAN !
An 80 year-old man in our church told me as I celebrated my 70th birthday, "When you get to 80 you will find everything either Drops, Drips or Droops!!!
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Great Early History of Paris Crossing
Visit this site: http://www.ingenweb.org/injennings/pariscrossing.html
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
'Hello Country Bumpkin!"
As mentioned earlier, I was a very good friend with Leland Matthews. His father was serving as North Vernon postmaster during most of our PCHS years. As a result,he was well connected with members of the Indiana legislature. In fact, he was a former State Senator himself.
One Friday night Leland took me to the home of the State Senator. Mom and Dad were gone and the house was filled with teenagers, mostly from North Vernon. Leland's friend, son of the State Senator was very cordial and friendly. As we walked to the large living room the son pointed out Dad's stamp collection valued at over a million dollars. I was already impressed; however, this comment sealed the deal.
It was here I saw and heard my first Hi-Fi (Not stereo). Wow! What a sound. I clearly recall "Honey Comb" (Jimmy Rogers) was playing as we walked in. Leland introduced me around. For what ever reason an attractive girl came over and we chatted. Looking back, she must have thought I sounded like a visitor from another planet. I felt intimidated, but she was so pretty. I didn't care. She wanted to know where I went to school and how often I came to North Vernon.
She tried to help me dance. Didn't do bad on the slow songs---not so good on the fast songs. We sat and talked until the get together broke up around midnight. I saw no booze or any PDA. I never saw her again, but she is still in my "Country Bumpkin" head. When I hear "Honey Comb" today I recall that night. Maybe like "Slingblade" she liked the way I talked and I sure liked the way she looked!
(Sad Note: When Pat O'Conner was killed on the first lap of the 1958 Indy 500 things started downhill for this family. They had some business connections with Pat. Leland told me the stamp collection had to be sold and they even had to have their phone removed.)
One Friday night Leland took me to the home of the State Senator. Mom and Dad were gone and the house was filled with teenagers, mostly from North Vernon. Leland's friend, son of the State Senator was very cordial and friendly. As we walked to the large living room the son pointed out Dad's stamp collection valued at over a million dollars. I was already impressed; however, this comment sealed the deal.
It was here I saw and heard my first Hi-Fi (Not stereo). Wow! What a sound. I clearly recall "Honey Comb" (Jimmy Rogers) was playing as we walked in. Leland introduced me around. For what ever reason an attractive girl came over and we chatted. Looking back, she must have thought I sounded like a visitor from another planet. I felt intimidated, but she was so pretty. I didn't care. She wanted to know where I went to school and how often I came to North Vernon.
She tried to help me dance. Didn't do bad on the slow songs---not so good on the fast songs. We sat and talked until the get together broke up around midnight. I saw no booze or any PDA. I never saw her again, but she is still in my "Country Bumpkin" head. When I hear "Honey Comb" today I recall that night. Maybe like "Slingblade" she liked the way I talked and I sure liked the way she looked!
(Sad Note: When Pat O'Conner was killed on the first lap of the 1958 Indy 500 things started downhill for this family. They had some business connections with Pat. Leland told me the stamp collection had to be sold and they even had to have their phone removed.)
Monday, April 23, 2012
PRODUCTS THAT WOWED ME !
During my Lovett and PCHS days many new products entered the market. Several had been invented years before but became available during our grade school and PCHS days. Here are five that stand out for me:
1. Saran Wrap. This stuff was magic. I think this product was advertised on an early "Doctor" show. Maybe Ben Casey. I think my Mom only bought one roll. It was clingy and hard to handle. I still think it is magic
2. Papermate Ballpoint Pen. This was introduced while in I was grade school. Cost was like $1.95 (Lots of money then) Never had to sharpen this wonder of wonders.
3. Portable Radio. The early ones were very large, but you could listen to your favorite radio station anywhere. I never had one until my Junior year at Purdue.
4. Kool-Aide. Before this miracle drink hit the store shelves, there was a Tang look-a-like sold by the Watkins Man in those funny looking station wagons. The Kool-Aide package cost $.05---just add sugar. Today there are over 100 flavors. Forty percent of Kool-Aide sales are to minorities.
5. Johnson Century 21 Closed Face Spinning Reel. The spinning reel was invented in France and were all open face---subject to all kinds of backlashes and line mess ups. This reel was the grandfather of the Zebco 33 and other closed face spinning reels.
This reel changed the way we fished the Great Graham Creek forever.
Our kids and grand children do not know how lucky they are!!!!
1. Saran Wrap. This stuff was magic. I think this product was advertised on an early "Doctor" show. Maybe Ben Casey. I think my Mom only bought one roll. It was clingy and hard to handle. I still think it is magic
2. Papermate Ballpoint Pen. This was introduced while in I was grade school. Cost was like $1.95 (Lots of money then) Never had to sharpen this wonder of wonders.
3. Portable Radio. The early ones were very large, but you could listen to your favorite radio station anywhere. I never had one until my Junior year at Purdue.
4. Kool-Aide. Before this miracle drink hit the store shelves, there was a Tang look-a-like sold by the Watkins Man in those funny looking station wagons. The Kool-Aide package cost $.05---just add sugar. Today there are over 100 flavors. Forty percent of Kool-Aide sales are to minorities.
5. Johnson Century 21 Closed Face Spinning Reel. The spinning reel was invented in France and were all open face---subject to all kinds of backlashes and line mess ups. This reel was the grandfather of the Zebco 33 and other closed face spinning reels.
This reel changed the way we fished the Great Graham Creek forever.
Our kids and grand children do not know how lucky they are!!!!
WALKING ON!
The Native American culture is vastly different from "white eyes" culture and each tribe or Nation differs from each other. This Post is not a critique of their long and rich tradition. Perhaps at another time I will give you more of my impressions, This Post deals with the way some tribes and Nation deal with death. There are about 200 tribes and/or Nations in Oklahoma. I am personally familiar with about 10 of them.
One Nation, The Citizens Potawatomi Nation lists obituaries in their newspaper under a heading---Walking On. I personally like that term because the Bible tells us that physical death is not the end.
Some of the more traditional tribes and/or Nations have funeral ceremonies without a church or chapel. Graves are for the most part all hand dug.
Many light a campfire from the time of death until the burial. A Wake can last a few hours or until the next sunrise. Some burials consist of what we would call a Christian service followed by an Indian ceremony.
When the body is placed in the grave, and Elder or Chief directs a cadre of men with shovels to start filling it in. Older men, women, and children are provided a handful of dirt from one of the shovels which they sprinkle into the grave.
Let me be very clear---some of the most Christ -like and dynamic Christians are Indians who have broken from the traditional Indian ways. I pastor several of those wonderful people.
There is much I do not understand. What I do understand is the stereotype of Indians is for the most part very, very wrong.
One Nation, The Citizens Potawatomi Nation lists obituaries in their newspaper under a heading---Walking On. I personally like that term because the Bible tells us that physical death is not the end.
Some of the more traditional tribes and/or Nations have funeral ceremonies without a church or chapel. Graves are for the most part all hand dug.
Many light a campfire from the time of death until the burial. A Wake can last a few hours or until the next sunrise. Some burials consist of what we would call a Christian service followed by an Indian ceremony.
When the body is placed in the grave, and Elder or Chief directs a cadre of men with shovels to start filling it in. Older men, women, and children are provided a handful of dirt from one of the shovels which they sprinkle into the grave.
Let me be very clear---some of the most Christ -like and dynamic Christians are Indians who have broken from the traditional Indian ways. I pastor several of those wonderful people.
There is much I do not understand. What I do understand is the stereotype of Indians is for the most part very, very wrong.
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Special Springtime Wedding! V 2.0
(Note: This revision contains a validated true account)
THE REVISED AND TRUE ACCOUNT
I recently heard of a pastor who was on his way to a Friday night wedding rehearsal for a Saturday afternoon wedding. On his way he received a cell call from his brother who asked where he was going. The pastor told him about the wedding and rehearsal.
The brother remarked, "Will there be a rehearsal dinner?"
The pastor replied, "I sure hope so. I haven't eaten all day."
The brother continued, "You'll be eating those big ribs, big hams, fried chicken, biscuits and gravy; all the while I'll continue sipping on this day old coffee and eating this baloney sandwich."
The pastor tried gracefully to end the conversation and get on down the road. "See you later, have a great evening," said the pastor. He hung up before the brother could reply.
The wedding rehearsal started a bit late but went very, very well. The pastor had the rehearsal dinner upper most on his mind, make that his stomach.
After the rehearsal, the pastor went into the church's Fellowship Hall area and quickly saw there was no rehearsal dinner. After saying goodbye, he headed to the nearest McDonalds where he bought a big, dollar Dr. Pepper and a dollar double cheese burger. (When you pastor a rural church it is Chicken one week and Feathers the next. This was a Feathers week!)
The wedding on Saturday went very well. The bride was as pretty as a model on the cover of Bride Magazine. In fact, the pastor remarked that in several decades of ministry he had never seen a more beautiful bride! He further stated that she possessed a regal outward and inward beauty.
What makes this wedding even more remarkable is at the end of the service the Bride's 2 year-old nephew drove a small battery operated car from the altar to the door with the sign "Just Married" on it and several Pepsi cans trailing behind!The pastor remarked that he had never seen anything like this before.
The Groom is a great fellow who somehow survived a previous disastrous marriage. His daughter and her two boys will make a solid Christ-centered home.
The pastor told several people at the wedding he was not a betting person, but if he were he would put the entire farm on the chances of this marriage making it.
A TRUE ACCOUNT !!!!!
THE REVISED AND TRUE ACCOUNT
I recently heard of a pastor who was on his way to a Friday night wedding rehearsal for a Saturday afternoon wedding. On his way he received a cell call from his brother who asked where he was going. The pastor told him about the wedding and rehearsal.
The brother remarked, "Will there be a rehearsal dinner?"
The pastor replied, "I sure hope so. I haven't eaten all day."
The brother continued, "You'll be eating those big ribs, big hams, fried chicken, biscuits and gravy; all the while I'll continue sipping on this day old coffee and eating this baloney sandwich."
The pastor tried gracefully to end the conversation and get on down the road. "See you later, have a great evening," said the pastor. He hung up before the brother could reply.
The wedding rehearsal started a bit late but went very, very well. The pastor had the rehearsal dinner upper most on his mind, make that his stomach.
After the rehearsal, the pastor went into the church's Fellowship Hall area and quickly saw there was no rehearsal dinner. After saying goodbye, he headed to the nearest McDonalds where he bought a big, dollar Dr. Pepper and a dollar double cheese burger. (When you pastor a rural church it is Chicken one week and Feathers the next. This was a Feathers week!)
The wedding on Saturday went very well. The bride was as pretty as a model on the cover of Bride Magazine. In fact, the pastor remarked that in several decades of ministry he had never seen a more beautiful bride! He further stated that she possessed a regal outward and inward beauty.
What makes this wedding even more remarkable is at the end of the service the Bride's 2 year-old nephew drove a small battery operated car from the altar to the door with the sign "Just Married" on it and several Pepsi cans trailing behind!The pastor remarked that he had never seen anything like this before.
The Groom is a great fellow who somehow survived a previous disastrous marriage. His daughter and her two boys will make a solid Christ-centered home.
The pastor told several people at the wedding he was not a betting person, but if he were he would put the entire farm on the chances of this marriage making it.
A TRUE ACCOUNT !!!!!
Thursday, April 19, 2012
SPRING FEVER !!!!
SPRING FEVER
I’m not real sure where it all starts
Maybe in my brain, maybe in my heart
Nothing seems to lessen its wonderful impact
Giddy, lazy, nostalgic, how strange I do act
Why do I long for the outdoors, yet I want a nap
Flowers, fishing, baseball, just give me the map
Don’t call the doctor, I’m OK for sure
Thirty days of April is my only cure
----- Glenn C. Peck
(This time of year is tough on me. It was during this time of
the year when my cousins and I started fishing the Great Graham Creek in a serious fashion. Fishing worms were easy to find; it was warm enough to seine the branches for minnows and crawdads; the farm crops were just coming up and we didn’t have much farming to do. I was saddened about 8 years ago when we were in Indiana and I bought a fishing license and associated fishing laws; the fish in the Great Graham Creek are not safe to eat. Runoffs from fields that have been sprayed with herbicides and plant growth fertilizer are the culprit. Some of you know who is responsible for this.
Robert Redford’s “A River Runs Through It” was great. If I made a movie, it would be “The Great Graham Creek Runs Through Me” One of my deepest regrets is my grandchildren do not have an opportunity to have the same great growing up experiences that I had. Maybe God let me eat dessert first!
Just a little reflection and I can hear the Rain Crows (actually mourning doves) in the day and the whippoorwills at night. The smell of honey suckle blooms and the melody of frogs at night were part of who I was and who I am.
The night sky was the best of all. City lights have limited my observing. Dark observing sites are rapidly disappearing. Meteors streaking through the sky (sometimes called Falling Stars) made my heart to race and to feel the power of a Thrice Holy God.)
Thunder outside my 9 year old grand daughter’s bedroom reminds me I am in Oklahoma. I love Oklahoma, but miss Indiana this time of year. Sure do miss my Mother also.
PS: My NOAA Weather Radio just sounded an alarm!
I’m not real sure where it all starts
Maybe in my brain, maybe in my heart
Nothing seems to lessen its wonderful impact
Giddy, lazy, nostalgic, how strange I do act
Why do I long for the outdoors, yet I want a nap
Flowers, fishing, baseball, just give me the map
Don’t call the doctor, I’m OK for sure
Thirty days of April is my only cure
----- Glenn C. Peck
(This time of year is tough on me. It was during this time of
the year when my cousins and I started fishing the Great Graham Creek in a serious fashion. Fishing worms were easy to find; it was warm enough to seine the branches for minnows and crawdads; the farm crops were just coming up and we didn’t have much farming to do. I was saddened about 8 years ago when we were in Indiana and I bought a fishing license and associated fishing laws; the fish in the Great Graham Creek are not safe to eat. Runoffs from fields that have been sprayed with herbicides and plant growth fertilizer are the culprit. Some of you know who is responsible for this.
Robert Redford’s “A River Runs Through It” was great. If I made a movie, it would be “The Great Graham Creek Runs Through Me” One of my deepest regrets is my grandchildren do not have an opportunity to have the same great growing up experiences that I had. Maybe God let me eat dessert first!
Just a little reflection and I can hear the Rain Crows (actually mourning doves) in the day and the whippoorwills at night. The smell of honey suckle blooms and the melody of frogs at night were part of who I was and who I am.
The night sky was the best of all. City lights have limited my observing. Dark observing sites are rapidly disappearing. Meteors streaking through the sky (sometimes called Falling Stars) made my heart to race and to feel the power of a Thrice Holy God.)
Thunder outside my 9 year old grand daughter’s bedroom reminds me I am in Oklahoma. I love Oklahoma, but miss Indiana this time of year. Sure do miss my Mother also.
PS: My NOAA Weather Radio just sounded an alarm!
Oh, Brother Where Art Thou?
In the USAF we had an expression that we used to describe why something had not been done--OBE. Translated: Overcome By Events.
The Blog has been silent for several weeks: I have had two funerals and two weddings. I got the income taxes done 1 1/2 hours before the Post Office closed. Arranged for Home Health Care to come help my wife. End of year school activities (3 schools) and arranged for a new weekly house keeper to help me with the washing. And rural church to pastor. Not complaining or whining. Just telling it like it is.
You life may be just as hectic--but God will provide Grace for the journey.
Will do better. I promise!
The Blog has been silent for several weeks: I have had two funerals and two weddings. I got the income taxes done 1 1/2 hours before the Post Office closed. Arranged for Home Health Care to come help my wife. End of year school activities (3 schools) and arranged for a new weekly house keeper to help me with the washing. And rural church to pastor. Not complaining or whining. Just telling it like it is.
You life may be just as hectic--but God will provide Grace for the journey.
Will do better. I promise!
DICK CLARK---Rock 'N Roll Pied Piper Dead at 82
DICK CLARK'S IMPACT ON ROCK 'N ROLL CANNOT BE OVER STATED. HIS DEATH YESTERDAY HAS BEEN WIDELY AND ACCURATELY DESCRIBED BY EVERY TV STATION. AS A RESULT,I WILL TELL ONE DICK CLARK STORY I REMEMBER FROM MANY YEARS AGO:
Dick Clark has often been called the World's Oldest Teenager. He was asked by a TV reporter what he did to remain so young looking. Dick replied, "I have it in my contract that the camera must back up another foot after each of my birthdays."
Dick Clark----R. I. P.
Dick Clark has often been called the World's Oldest Teenager. He was asked by a TV reporter what he did to remain so young looking. Dick replied, "I have it in my contract that the camera must back up another foot after each of my birthdays."
Dick Clark----R. I. P.
Monday, April 9, 2012
TV Questions That Still Bug Me !
Inquiring Minds Want To Know:
1. Did Howdy Doody pull some strings to get
Sunday, April 8, 2012
WELL, IT COULD HAPPEN !
Kings Island is probably a place known to all readers of the Blog. What follows is an extraordinary account told by one of the Nation's best known evangelist. I have heard the story three times in person.
My evangelist friend, Ernie, and wife Wanda were spending a day at the park which is just north and east of Cincinnati. After waiting in line for two hours they finally got to board the coaster that makes a complete loop of 360 degrees. After much pleading, Ernie got Wanda to sit in the first coaster car.
This part of the story must be understood before going on. In the middle 70's women wore wigs of all shapes and colors. Wanda had a wig on this fateful day.
The ride came to the loop. Wanda and Ernie were in the first car and was upside down when Wanda's wig fell off into the trailing cars that had not started the loop. Ernie claims a fellow yelled out , "A Head ! A Head!!!" Another rider shouted out," Somebody has been decapitated!"
After hearing the part about someone being decapitated, another rider (probably from Kentucky) yelled out, "Yeah, somebody has had their head cut off too!!!!"
My evangelist friend, Ernie, and wife Wanda were spending a day at the park which is just north and east of Cincinnati. After waiting in line for two hours they finally got to board the coaster that makes a complete loop of 360 degrees. After much pleading, Ernie got Wanda to sit in the first coaster car.
This part of the story must be understood before going on. In the middle 70's women wore wigs of all shapes and colors. Wanda had a wig on this fateful day.
The ride came to the loop. Wanda and Ernie were in the first car and was upside down when Wanda's wig fell off into the trailing cars that had not started the loop. Ernie claims a fellow yelled out , "A Head ! A Head!!!" Another rider shouted out," Somebody has been decapitated!"
After hearing the part about someone being decapitated, another rider (probably from Kentucky) yelled out, "Yeah, somebody has had their head cut off too!!!!"
Friday, April 6, 2012
IMITATION MAY NOT BE HIGHEST FORM OF FLATTERY
I recently discovered several sites have lifted portions of my Posts and inserted them as their own. Because my Blog is not Password protected, there is no way to stop this.
Please check the URL of any Posts claiming to be from me. You can forward a single Post or the entire Blog to others without any problem
Somewhat Related topic: In Grad school, my major professor said when one student steals from another it is call Plagiarism. When one student steals from several others it is call a Term Paper. When a students steals from over 50 others it is called a Thesis!!!!!
Please check the URL of any Posts claiming to be from me. You can forward a single Post or the entire Blog to others without any problem
Somewhat Related topic: In Grad school, my major professor said when one student steals from another it is call Plagiarism. When one student steals from several others it is call a Term Paper. When a students steals from over 50 others it is called a Thesis!!!!!
Thursday, April 5, 2012
"It's Friday, But Sunday Is Acomin'" ---Black Preacher
Dr. Tony Campello wrote a book by that title; he used the title from a sermon preached by his black pastor.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
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