Category Archives: Family & Friends

My beloved grandson finished his summer job a couple weeks ago. He wanted something and was willing to work for it. Eight hours a day in a cornfield in 90 degree weather is hard work, but he stuck with it. I couldn’t be prouder of him and I told him so. Like most healthy males, I always wanted a son. The Good Lord saw fit to give me two beautiful daughters. I left both their mothers when they were still young and wasted many years doing what I wanted to do. I missed a lot while they were growing up. My youngest daughter didn’t even invite me to her wedding. That’s a shame I will carry with me to the grave.

My oldest, RJ’s mom, was much more forgiving and I’m forever grateful for the chance to have the relationship I neglected for so long. My dad died when I was three and granddad was a good man, but much older, and we didn’t share much outside of farm work. That’s not an excuse, that’s just how it was. Big Sis was born two years before RJ. She was my first grandchild. People must have gotten sick of my bragging on her. The day her brother was born I went to see them in the hospital. Her mom, stepdad, and several family members all crowded into the room. I held that little boy and my first thoughts were that this was the son I never had.

RJ’s dad is into softball and coaches Junior Tackle football on RJ’s school team. Nobody else in the family fishes, so this is my special time with him. His football and baseball games are well attended, with two sets of parents, grandparents, sisters, and various family members. Family dinners draw a lot of people and there is precious little time to talk with him. Like most boys, when I call to ask him to go out, he’s always ready. When I was his age I’d sometimes wait all summer for one of mom’s boyfriends to take me carp fishing just one time.

My life is full of missed chances, wasted opportunities, and more than my share of stupid mistakes. But for once, just once, I can be a hero to a young boy. Heaven, I’m sure, will be much like this.

In July, I was hospitalized for acute kidney failure.

The labs from the hospital report say my kidney function was at 15%. I just got back from my second post-hospital check-up and it’s at 26%!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you, God!!!

I love my new doctor and am very comfortable with the regimen he has me on. We’re going to continue with blood draws once a week and another in person exam with him in two weeks so he can, as he put it, “see if you’re looking better.”

Ha! He’s so polite. The fact is, I look like crap. I lost way too much weight and my eye circles are bigger than my face.

BUT … I haven’t vomited in days and days and I am getting around the house without a walker.

I tire quickly so we’re going to hang on to the wheelchair and the walker a while longer for outdoor excursions.

Yes, me … outdoors!  Imagine that. 🙂

The family had an 8th birthday party for my grandson Tyler at Old Settler’s Park in Rockton,Il. last Saturday. In lieu of gifts they asked everyone to donate to K-Cancer Kids’ baseball team. There was a pretty good crowd there and I even talked to Alisha’s mom (my ex) for the first time in about 30 years. They had a bounce house for the kids and the bloodmobile was there for blood donations. They were busy most of the day.

Suddenly, on the side street in front of the park, bells and sirens rang out. Then came a pink police car, a pink fire engine, two fire trucks from the Village of Rockton, plus an ambulance and a police cruiser and SUV in a grand,noisy caravan and stopped. The pink fire engine travels the country for cancer awareness and gives people sharpies to sign it.

My grandson RJ is like a big brother to Tyler. They were almost inseparable.

These are my motivation to get up every day and do my best to carry on.

There was a local television station doing a taping to air that night. They showed just a few minutes of footage then posted it on their Facebook page. Much to my daughters’ dismay, they made it sound like he was terminal. She called to straighten them out, but as of this posting the FB story hasn’t been changed.
LET ME MAKE ONE THING CLEAR: WE ARE NOT…REPEAT NOT…GIVING UP!!!
THIS LITTLE BOY HAS BEEN THROUGH MORE HELL THAN ANY KID SHOULD HAVE TO ENDURE. THERE’S NO QUIT IN HIM OR US AND WITH PRAYER AND FAITH IN GOD WE’LL SEE THIS THROUGH. MANY THANKS FOR ALL YOUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS. WE’VE SEEN THE POWER OF ALMIGHTY GOD OVER AND OVER. TYLER WILL KICK CANCER’S ASS. I KNOW IT IN MY HEART.

We have been suffering for the past few months for our dear friend Chrissy. Months with no word has had us fearing the worst. Then this morning, I got a Facebook message from her daughter:

“Sorry I didn’t get on to update…my mom had gotten very weak again, trouble keeping food down etc. She ended up in the hospital last week and then, Praise God! Major miracles happening! She is home and working on regaining strength. But all kinds of healing has happened for her!!!!! My sister was visiting, but I suspect my mom will be back online soon 😄”

If anyone tells you prayer doesn’t work, have them get ahold of me. I’ve got some things to tell them.
THANK YOU, LORD, FOR PRAYERS ANSWERED.

Everyday life today is a testament to the fact we were lucky to be growing up when we did. If you wanted to hang out with your friends, you rode your bike to their house to play, usually chaperoned by your buddys’ mom, since with the tax rate being about 3% dad was the only one working. If you wanted to call, you had to wait for the party line on the rotary phone to be free. If it was a long distance call, you waited until after 7PM, when the rates were cheaper. Supper was at 6:00 and you knew better than to be late and risk the dreaded words: ‘wait until your dad gets home.’ Lucy and Ricky slept in twin beds and they couldn’t even get the word ‘pregnant’ past the censors on television.

Fast forward to 2017. Mom and dad both work, one to pay the bills, one to pay the taxes. Except for the millions of households with one parent, most on welfare and having multiple children. They all have i-phones, or whatever they’re called. They have Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, and Instagram. My grandchildren have two parents, my daughter has R.J. and Big Sis, and her husband has joint custody of his girls, Karissa and Peyton. His two are on Facebook, RJ and sis are not.

I’m probably overreacting, but I saw some things that really, really disturbed me. I haven’t met Peyton and Karissa’s mom, but I suspect she’s behind it. My daughter and her hubby do the best they can, but they work different shifts and all four kids are unsupervised for much of the time. DW got a friend request from Peyton, and what she posted was troubling.

FROM LEFT: KARISSA, 12; PEYTON, 11; BIG SIS, 14; AND RJ, 13.

THIS IS WHAT PEYTON, 11 YEARS OLD, POSTED ON FB OF HER AND BIG SIS…. SHE DOESN’T REALIZE THIS WILL NEVER GO AWAY. IT CAN’T BE DELETED OR ERASED.

Big Sis had posted some questionable photos on her Instagram, and when her dad saw them, he was infuriated. He tried to warn her about the dangers inherently present these days, but she has a rebellious streak and kids today have to learn the hard way. My biggest problem is that kids today are compelled to grow up so fast, that sometimes mistakes last a lifetime. In our day, if a girl got “in trouble” or “with child” it was a disgrace and her parents had to take her out of school. Now they have daycare for 15 and 16 year olds who already have a child or two. These stud-wannabes want to make as many babies as they can. It’s a sick competition. My grandkids are so beautiful and have so much potential, I couldn’t bear them giving in to peer pressure to do something that will affect them forever.

Those of us here are older, came from moderate backgrounds, better educated, had moms and dads who were husbands and wives first. We were lucky. Saturday morning network television wasn’t a non-stop menu of wildlife shows, science and sundry other enviro-wacko horseshoe. It was CARTOONS! from 6:00 AM until about 11. You sat there in your pajamas, eating your Kellogg’s Sugar Pops or Cap’n Crunch cereal staring at the little black and white screen at Mighty Mouse, Heckle and Jeckle, Woody Woodpecker, Huckleberry Hound, Tom and Jerry, and my personal favorite, Linus the Lionhearted (with Itchy Brother and Biggie Rat.) There were no commercials for cars or laundry soap. All available minutes were designed to sell toys.

Here are some toys you may remember:

THIS IS THE MATTEL FANNER 50

It was advertised so heavily that in the different models that were produced there were more than 30 million sold. They were realistic-looking, and most importantly, they were cheaper than a lot of character guns. As a toy monger, I sold a lot of these because almost every boy had one.

THEY ALSO MADE A SHOOTIN’ SHELL MODEL IN A 9″ SIZE AND THIS FANNER .45, ONE OF THE RAREST AND ONLY DOUBLE ACTION CAP GUN I’VE EVER SEEN. ALONG WITH THE NICHOLS STALLION 41-40, THEY’RE MY TWO FAVORITE TOYS.

I’ve already done an article on Mattel’s Barbie dolls. Shortly afterward, Hasbro came out with a toy for boys, but didn’t call it a doll… it was an ‘action figure.’
There were two early variations, this one, commonly referred to as a Painted Head, in 1964

and in 1971, the Adventure Team Joe, commonly referred to as the Fuzzhead (with kung fu grip hands, which were interchangeable) came out. It had flocked hair, which had a tendency to fall out.

Maybe your brother had the 3 3/4″ Joes

I only dealt in the bigger 11 1/2″ figures, along with the dozens of playsets and accessories that came with them.

THIS IS CHATTY CATHY, THE FIRST DOLL WITH A PULL STRING TO MAKE HER TALK. THOSE OF YOU WHO’VE BEEN HERE FOR A TIME KNOW ABOUT  THE TRAVELS ACROSS THIS GREAT NATION MY WIFE’S CHATTY CATHY TOOK A FEW YEARS BACK. I WILL ALWAYS TREASURE THE BOOK OF MEMORIES MY WONDERFUL FRIENDS PRODUCED.

THE TOY TOP…AROUND FOR MORE THAN A CENTURY. MOST WERE MADE BY J.CHEIN OR OHIO ART. MANY MODELS MADE A WHISTLING SOUND WHEN THEY SPUN.

DON’T EVEN TRY TO TELL ME YOU NEVER HAD ONE OF THESE:

MY COUSIN BOBBY GOT ONE OF THESE FOR CHRISTMAS. HE BROUGHT IT OVER AND WE PLAYED UNTIL THE CHEAP PLASTIC CONTROL HANDLES SMELLED LIKE THEY WERE GOING TO MELT.

BEFORE THERE WERE VIDEO GAMES WE HAD THESE

REMEMBER?

THEY WOBBLE, BUT THEY DON’T FALL DOWN

MY MOM ACTUALLY PLAYED THIS WITH ME

THEY REPRODUCE THESE NOW, BUT THEY’LL NEVER BE THE MEMORY THE ORIGINAL ONE WAS

I ACTUALLY ASKED GRANNY FOR ONE OF THESE WHEN BEATLEMANIA FIRST HIT IN 1963. I WAS 13.
SHE TOLD ME TO STOP BEING A DUMBASS.

AFTER THE WEEK WE’VE SUFFERED THROUGH, I THOUGHT IT WAS A GOOD TIME TO TAKE YOU ON A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE. I DON’T DO IT OFTEN ENOUGH.