OkieMan

Book Report: Nina and RBG.

Book Report Being a long time NPR listener, I first remember fearing the author of this biography reporting on the Iran/Contra controversy during the Reagan Administration. She and her NPR colleague Daniel Schorr reported on this event. She inappropriately described an Episcopal priest testifying at the hearing as a reverend “wearing his priest uniform withContinue reading “Book Report: Nina and RBG.”

This is where he was buried?

Under an oak tree. We were passing through Wilson, Oklahoma 1964. On our way to my third year of college. We stopped in to see my dad’s mother, my grand mother who we just called Granny. She was Omie Ayers to her neighbors in Wilson. My dad and I decided to stay a few daysContinue reading “This is where he was buried?”

It was the organ that made me skate.

The marvelous Wurlitzer organ. Some of the older and larger downtown movie theaters had a mighty Wurlitzer organ. Put into service back when movies were silent and needed some underlying musical theme to carry the action. The bigger and older ones were huge as they are today. About the size of a Volkswagen beetle. AContinue reading “It was the organ that made me skate.”

Look who’s waving at us guys.

Seen at the ball park. There were Wayne, Rich, Warren, and me. All headed to Dodger stadium Warren, the guy with connections had box seat tickets about 10 or 12 rows back from the expensive dugout seats behind Homeplate. As far as I could tell our seats were better seats to view a baseball game.Continue reading “Look who’s waving at us guys.”

We drove to Sears once a year.

Before we could do Easter… The Saturday before Easter we all drove to Sears in East L A. The place was the main Sears catalogue store at Soto and Olympic. A tall ten-story building just east of the concrete L A River. After arriving and parking My two sisters would go with our mom andContinue reading “We drove to Sears once a year.”

Anybody want an eighty-pound bale of hay?

Bucking hay. Stepping off the back porch and just a few steps from the breakfast table I would be struck by a marvelous sight. At first glance you would think a giant yellowish and white fireball was coming up out of a volcano. No, a brilliant sunrise rose up into the clear blue skies overContinue reading “Anybody want an eighty-pound bale of hay?”

Buy me some peanuts and crackerjacks.

Peanuts from the sky. It was a balmy weekday evening and the Los Angeles Angels were playing at Dodger stadium. We had box seats just behind and a bit left of Homeplate. Temperature was about 60-degreess and the air was calm. Perfect for a springtime evening major league baseball game. Never the less, when theContinue reading “Buy me some peanuts and crackerjacks.”

A Gold en book report.

s A fictionalized version of how Swedish John Sutter settled the Sacramento Valley in the 1840s. The building of Sutter’s fur trading mercantile and supply fort and his saw mill on the American River. The saw mill where gold was first found. All part of the great central valley of California. But anyway, the eventContinue reading “A Gold en book report.”

I do not want to end up deep in the ocean.

It was proclaimed to be the tallest wooden frame roller coaster west of the Mississippi. Had you driven south on Atlantic Boulevard back in the 1950s from East Los Angeles all the way to Pacific Coast Highway in Long Beach you would have certainly notice the tall wooden structure known as the “Cyclone Racer.” RollerContinue reading “I do not want to end up deep in the ocean.”

I’d rather eat Play-Doh.

What about avocado toast? My lovely wife loves avocado toast. I don’t! I do not like its mooshy texture and wall paper paste taste. So here is my recommendation for an alternative. We’ll just call it banana toast. Banana toast only if no one else has already invented banana toast. This is how I wouldContinue reading “I’d rather eat Play-Doh.”