OkieMan

Wheels are down and we’re coming in.

Low flying pie in the sky. April 1967. We had just moved down from Sacramento getting ready for me to start classes at Pepperdine L A. For a short while at first we lived in a large apartment complex in Inglewood with pool and was somewhat expensive. But it was a month to month andContinue reading “Wheels are down and we’re coming in.”

Dogs don’t eat popcorn.

Never mind he was trained to do something else. His thing was popcorn. I would pull out of the cabinet a microwave popcorn package and he quickly would be so close to me he would be standing on my foot. Rickles, my beloved Yellow Lab guide dog, would be at my side in a sitContinue reading “Dogs don’t eat popcorn.”

Our vacation summer 1952.

What to do with an eight-year-old boy? We were on, what they call vacation. Our family and my Aunt Elsie drove from California all the way to Oklahoma. My dad, mom, older brother, youngest sister, and myself rumbled through the heat and dust storms in order to visit kinfolk in Oklahoma. Never mind they inContinue reading “Our vacation summer 1952.”

Wearing ‘Go to meetin’ clothes.

Okie fashion plate. It took my dad working two jobs in order to outfit my mom with her mostly church fashions. As mentioned my parents lived in a ‘third-world’ community in red dirt Oklahoma before immigrating to California. No electricity, no running water, and no indoor plumbing. All of this was missing before moving toContinue reading “Wearing ‘Go to meetin’ clothes.”

Don’t let the children and widows hear this.

posted by Chuck Ayers Voices coming from above. Our weekends went something like this. Saturday early evening we kids would be near the big sycamore tree and home base in front of our house and out on the parkway between the sidewalk and curb by the street. My older brother would say when I countContinue reading “Don’t let the children and widows hear this.”

Mr. Disney, we need you back here on Earth.

My happy place. It was clean and well-kept and certainly a happy place for me to be. I had looked forward to being in this place ever since Walt Disney talked about it on his Wednesday night Disneyland TV show. Finally in 1955 the theme park opened to the general public. But what was noticedContinue reading “Mr. Disney, we need you back here on Earth.”

If I were a car, I’d be a Beetle.

Automobile manufacturers! Do this! First a bit about my car and my thrifty background. The most fun I ever had driving any vehicle was back in my college years living in Los Angeles. Spring 1967 up to my first real job in 1969. Driving a car by the seat of the pants and mostly handsContinue reading “If I were a car, I’d be a Beetle.”

Golf balls and rainbows.

The bluest skies ever with the whitest cotton puff clouds along with an occasional rainbow is what we moved to in 1972. And certainly, away from the smoky gray L A basin. So, we winged away to what some travelers call paradise. Honolulu is where we flew away to. Far away about 2500 miles fromContinue reading “Golf balls and rainbows.”

She was the opening act.

Oklahoma’s own. A good friend of ours who lived in Rush Springs, Oklahoma (the watermelon capitol of the world) had a musical talent. As a teenager back in the early 1950s Barbera was somewhat talented playing the accordion. Rush Springs had an annual watermelon and music festival and the young teenage Barbera was chosen toContinue reading “She was the opening act.”

A song request amigo.

Three Amigos. 1979. Many of our trips to Southern California we would often meet up with my cousin and his wife along with my wife and 9-year-old daughter. Meeting them for a spicy Mexican dinner. Sometimes my brother and his wife and maybe my cousins brother came along as well. We would often gather atContinue reading “A song request amigo.”