"DADDY, DADDY, STAR TRACK IS ON!"

In those far-off long-ago Happy Days
of the sixties, when the girls were out
burning their bras, my dear little
sons were growing up.

One TV show that they watched OVER &
OVER...and I watched it with them at
times...was STAR TREK! (Not to mention
their other big favorite: "Daddy,Daddy,
'THE BAGINIAN' is on!" Wed.nights.)

I, being an older fellow.... after a while
tired of seeing those weird, unbelievable
critters on the tube..."WHERE NO MAN
HAS YET GONE..." Swoosh....

It will surprise you to know that our
dear little boys (as we approach our
63 Wedding Anniversary Monday,
February 17) are now 62 and 56

Oh, oh, ..but the rest of the story is:
At all family gatherings, any time of
the year, when the  food is devoured
and the banter and talk all done...they
wind up (knowing TV outlets  I never
heard of) --watching "Star Track" on 24
HOUR Star Trek Channels.

Episodes they've seen a half-dozen
times...each one.

And I feel a little left-out...and a little
bored....because of all the weird stuff
those shows had....and the worst part
is perhaps the fact---that the boys
can recite the dialogue verbatim along
with the characters...and do it offhand.

Okay, I'll admit Spock's ears still
fascinate me, as well as that beautiful
Lt. Uhura with the eight-inch-
tall hairdo. (Are there Beauty Shops
in space?)

Most of the interesting people who
were protagonists in that old show
are now gone...except Capt. Kirk
who never seems to age...and we
remember Scotty and the others
fondly.
--------
This book about STAR TREK recently
surfaced in our garage library, as we
undertook a vast down-sizing effort
of our books. I never read it all...but
it will go to one of the sons to keep
and cherish...and they may argue,
as to whom.
--------
MIL
15 FEBRUARY 2020'

WHERE HAVE ALL THE "AUNT SALLYS" GONE

WHERE HAVE ALL THE "AUNT SALLYS" GONE ?

"For O my brother so far away,

  This is to tell you, she waits today

To welcome us--Aunt Mary fell

   Asleep this morning whispering.

"Tell the boys to come

         and all is well

            out to old Aunt Mary's."

....from "OUT TO OLD AUNT MARY'S". 

            ......James Whitcomb Riley

—————

There was a time in the grand old

USA when every family (and families

were big in those days) seemed to 

be loaded up good and proper,

with "aunts,." (and uncles.) 

The world seems to have had a lot

of them. Both sides of the family had ..

'em..."aunts..."sometimes up to a

dozen, counting those by marriage.

Now they weren't referred to as 

"AHH-UNTS,.."--they were just

pure and simple--"aints." "Ah-unts"

would have sounded hoity-toity

to the simple folks of the 1920's

and 1930's.

In those grand old days when. the

country was more rural, the "aunts"

seem to come back to us  little kids

of those times--with farm houses/

porches and rocking chairs, cozy

warm kitchens with pancakes giving

off their aromas at breakfast---maybe

wood stoves, quilts at night (with hot

bricks, wrapped in old blanket pieces

at our  feet).

There were grape arbors, and gardens.

Fruit trees and homemade cherry jelly.

Places like this were usually visited 

at Thanksgiving and so many came

that people were sleeping everywhere,

a lot of them on pallets.

There was always a much-loved AUNT,

in a perennial wet apron, expertly running 

the show, with her husband...a beloved 

uncle Fred (or whoever), the avuncular

one, ever helping....often

....bringing  in a bucket or two of milk,

on a frosty, cold morning, from Bessie

and Jerseys at the barn.

The aunts today are still with us...only

many fewer: families  became smaller

in the later 20TH century. And somehow,

the quaint custom of referring to them

with their titles-"Aunt," faded out, maybe

with our generation, born in the 30's.

Oh, how we miss them...and those 

simpler times...

Where have all the aints gone?

Aunt Sally, Aunt Emma, Aunt Mattie,

Aunt Edna, Aunt Hettie, Aunt Wanda,

Aunt Bobbie, Aunt Virgie, Aunt Lucy,

Aunt Willa, Aunt Lillie, Aunt Thelma,

Aunt Polly, Aunt Lessie, and on and 

on...BE and I named these real people 

this morning. Do you remember any?

(These marvelous people weren't alone.

They always came in PAIRS, with an"uncle,"

as we have noted, maybe as "Uncle Tom

and Aunt Virgie.")

Uncles remembered are Uncle Tom.

Uncle Bill, Uncle Ed, Uncle Pete,

Uncle Ebenezer, Uncle Horace, 

Uncle Willie, Uncle George....

Ah, but where did all these people

go? I believe they still live today..."On 

Canaan's happy shore..," godly, saintly people,

good Americans.

"Ten thousand times ten thousand

    in sparkling  raiment bright,

The armies of the ransomed saints

   throng up the steeps of light;

'Tis finished all ''tis finished,

   their fight with death and sin:

Fling open wide the golden gates

   and let the victors in."

I think we've found   the lost 

       aunts....they are saints.

----------

MIL

13 FEBRUARY 2020

"YOU COULD GET ANYTHING YOU NEEDED....AT BARRY HARDWARE!"

Bobby Joe Snipes: "Mil, here are the books

we promised you...(we are downsizing).”

"Way back, we bought home of founder of

Barry's, and in my basement man-cave

behind a shelf, we found this roll of 

wrapping paper...likely from the thirties..."

  (This is Bob's approx. quote.)

So excited we're we to get the poetry

book gifts that we at first tossed the

brownish wrapping paper into the

recycle box.

Ah, but then we discovered our error...my

friends this is a historic piece of

paper, as Bob said..."maybe from the 30's;"

go figure, you students of Reba Jenkins---

that's going on a century....old.

This was fresh wrapping paper, likely the 

same as that on the rollers inside that favorite

store, at practically  the "heart-beat" 

corner of old beloved Clovis, as we knew

it....on a memorable day, Aug. 1945. Read

on...

At that central corner of Fourth and Main

were Barry's, Woolworth, May Bros.

Jewelry, and across to the northwest --

Fox Drug...(you remember the Running 

Foxes on the signs.)

Mil, age 11, on an August 15 afternoon in

1945, came out into the bright light of

reality from the double feature movie,

showing at the Lyceum, three doors

north of Barry's.

The intersection at Fourth & Main was 

blocked by a big KICA broadcasting van,

and a loud speaker was blaring: "The Japs

have surrendered...the Japs have 

surrendered!"

I can take you to that corner, in front

of Barry's today and mark the sidewalk

with a piece of chalk, showing you just

where I stood...when I heard the news!

I was tired of that war. We all were. Boys

were gone, never to return. We kids had

cleaned up every piece of scrap anything,

anywhere in the county...for the war effort.

And in my boy's heart, with its young

innocence of the human condition...I

said: "Thank God for no more war!"

An interesting thing: note Barry's phone

number--72. Bob mentions that his dad's

OK RUBBER WELDERS store had the number

of 656, My dad owned the MAGIC STEAM

LAUNDRY at 417 W, Grand and the number

there was 397. Just interesting side facts...

Ah, but..."As for man, his days are as the 

grass..." and that old "heartbeat corner"

of Clovis is not the same today. Woolworth's

left along in the 70's (I got a final photo);

May Bros. left and I heard Charles was 

ranching somewhere; and Barry's-gone.

FOX DRUG, a most interesting place for

kids to walk through, over there on the

northwest corner-- became Cretney Drug,

Roden-Smith Drug, and may now be a

church...who knows? It once had a great

news/magazine/comic book shop

opening to the north corner.

So there you have it...a piece of life and

history from the 30's and forties--.that 

corner...and a fine hometown...good 

Saturday double feature movies, for

ten cents (plus 10 cent popcorn) and

a ham salad san just south at Woolworth's

after the movie...for a mere twenty cents.

And fresh on my mind, as if it had all 

happened yesterday! How lucky to

live in a  "Place Like That," we were.

Think of the memories stirred

by that ancient piece of brown Barry's

wrapping paper (which I cherish)...

and did you know that when such paper

as that exists  and ages and dries out,

it seems gets rather crispy.

---------

Mil

11 JANUARY 2020

MY OLD "DAM-GUD" BAG IS NOW ONLY A MEMORY

MY OLD "DAM-GUD" BAG IS NOW ONLY A MEMORY

It was the coolest bag you ever saw.

Visualize a "thermos" bag about 14 

inches long, with a shoulder strap:

it'd hold six or seven sodas and

a frozen block...it zipped right around

the top. Made of white plastic 

interior and light canvas exterior.

In your mind's eye, see it as being

rather rugged and very masculine;

practically crying out "Let's go 

fishing!" Almost like a faithful dog!

Oh, oh! The biggie. It was made 

in CAMO. "Woodland" camo. You

could lose it iffen you got careless.

The "DAM-GUD" Company made 

these fridge bags and I bought ours

in about 1962. Where I can't recall;

"the mists  of time" have taken their

toll.

Depending on the season, 

temperature, weather--like a duck-

hunt or a catfishing  trip (with a 

lawn chair)' it would keep coffee 

and soups hot and sandwiches 

and sodas cold. Big time!

One look at it, hanging upstairs on 

my cozy "escape attic" wall brought

back...um..glorious memories of

times spent in the wild, with good

companions, and oft nice solitude.

Who can forget quail hunts, like

down around historic Claunch....

In the chill fall air, sitting and

leaning against the right front tire 

of the pickup, with the warm fall

sun shining , and rummaging thru

your Dam-Gud bag for sandwiches 

and drinks ...all in that clean red

sand in the  country road ruts--

well, there is nothing like it    on this

earth!

People used to see the trade mark

tag on the bag and say "Ha-Ha, is

it really 'damn good?,' "  I'd say, "My

brother, you don't even know the

half of it!"

Now today, I wish I had bought two

of them, and stored one in a vacuum

bag, protecting it from aging. For

though time has limited my outdoor

excursions, it'd be nice to have a

another brand new bag, like the old!

It seems the DAM-GUD Company 

is no more. Remember, mine was

purchased sixty years ago. When 

I searched the internet to order a

replacement, the displays all said:

"Did you mean damn good bag?"

There is a big empty nail and spot

on the attic wall, over in the corner,

where the old DG bag,  all brittle 

and cracked a bit, hung.....for years.

Then one day, it was gone.What 

happened to it...nobody knows.

Gone.

It was the kind of thing a wife does...

you know...gets a cleaning urge and

spots old stuff of husbands, ("that 

needs to go,") but no one will own up.

Maybe I myself, did it and then 

blocked it out…mercifully.

Someone once said, and it was maybe

in "PATTON,"  

           "All things are fleeting."

-----------

MIL

10 FEBRUARY 2020