Life Moments
Stories about things I’ve done and places I’ve been
What Fun Would That Have Been
Many people go through life on the same track. Some never leave the field they were educated in. Others stay married for life to the same spouse. Still others start golf or another sport and continue until they are no longer physically able. This list is incomplete but it makes my point. I, on the other hand, have not been able to be that consistent in much of anything I have done. [Read full article]
Those Were the Days
In late 1960, while I was going to Portland State College (it didn’t become a university until 1969), I went to work for Montgomery Ward Department Store. At that time, it was still a competitor of Sears Roebuck and sold most everything imaginable. I was assigned to work in their retail store warehouse, which was a block away from the store. [Read full article]
My Vinyl Record Collection
About six months ago my Florida friend and client Robert had me make a pair of custom ¾-inch-thick, 42-inch-high maple stereo speaker cabinets. Two weeks ago, he came to my shop to finish most of his part of the assembly before driving them to his future home in Seattle. He is somewhat a stereo nut and has done extensive research on stereo audio equipment. While he was here, I told him I had a couple of boxes of older vinyl records that I haven’t listened to for years. [Read full article]
Preserving History
Every year on my birthday I receive text or email messages from my kids, other family members, and sometimes friends. At other times during the year, I receive short messages about what is going on in their lives and asking me about mine. I usually answer these electronic messages but few, if any, are saved. [Read full article]
Forever in Blue Jeans
I started wearing Levi’s blue jeans sometime in the early 1950s just like almost all the other boys I knew. As I sit here today writing this, I am wearing a pair as I do almost every day both for work and leisure. Levi’s were invented by an Austrian in the 1850s in San Francisco when he recognized the need for rugged work pants. Since then, the company has expanded their line of denim clothing for men, women, boys, and girls and is claimed to be the world’s largest selling brand. [Read full article]
Fortunately There Were No Consequences
Have you ever done anything sort of stupid that actually worked out okay without any consequences? I know I have more than once, but I will only relate two right now. During my senior year in high school my friend Ray McInroy said he had a great idea. Right there I should have said “Stop,” but oh no, I listened. He thought it would be fun if I went to school with him for a day. [Read full story]
A Fun Time Was Had By All
For my 21st birthday celebration, my friends Chuck Helzer, Richard Perlas, and Charles Person took me out for a drink or two. We ended up at a bar somewhere in northwest Portland, Oregon, that had live entertainment. I don’t remember the name of the place but I do remember we were the only white persons in the audience. Apparently, Chuck had told someone there it was my birthday, so were seated at a table right on the dance floor center. [Read full article]
I Sure Hope Those Nurses Learned Something
Shortly after our third child, Katrina, was born, my wife, Patti, and I decided not to have any more children. After considering all the available preventative options we decided that a my having a vasectomy was the best option. Laying there on the operating table I still didn’t feel anxious while waiting for the anesthetic to take effect. Then, just as the doctor was starting, the door opened and someone asked if a group of nursing students could watch. [Read full article]
A Wonderful Breakfast
Some time ago I wrote about memories and memory triggers. Yesterday, while I was listening to the latest chapter in Dirt, my son Kristopher’s audio drama, I was once again reminded of a pleasant memory that lay dormant in the mush in my head. When I was in the 7th or maybe 8th grade I was in Aberdeen, Washington—my dad’s family home after a journey through Butte, Montana and Cumberland, Washington. [Read full article]
How I Almost Helped Get a Sponsor for Jerry Sneva
In the 1970s when we lived in Painted Hills in Spokane Valley, I met Jerry Sneva through one of our neighbors. I didn’t know him well, we were really simply acquaintances, but I followed the local Sneva family’s racing achievements. All the Sneva brothers followed their dad, Ed, into racing. But only one, Tom, had lasting high-level success. Jerry Sneva was also a good race car driver and won Rookie of the Year at the Indianapolis 500 in 1977 in a less than top-tier competitive car. [Read full article]
Snow Days in My Youth
During the winters of the 1950s and 1960s in Portland, Oregon there were several storms that produced measurable amounts of snow on the ground that lasted a few days. Unfortunately there weren’t very good winter clothes and shoes or boots like those of today, or at least we didn’t have any. But that didn’t stop my friends and me from spending some time outside. That is until we got so cold and wet we couldn’t stand it any longer. I remember my friend Joe Hoffman hated winter and still does, but he did join in sometimes. [Read full article]
Another Ray McInroy Story
Previously I wrote about our fun teasing of Ray while we were picking strawberries, but it was in good fun and I considered Ray a friend until he passed away 20 years ago. For certain he gave as good as he got. In the seventh or eighth grade I occasionally accompanied him on crazy adventures. On one boring day Ray told me he had a 22 rifle and a box of bullets and said we should walk to the slough north of our houses and shoot carp. Why not, I thought, that sounded like fun. [Read full story]
Thanksgiving
Yesterday, the day before Thanksgiving, I had a fun trip to the grocery store. As suspected the store was full of people, but I needed a few things so I braved the crowd. When I picked up what I needed, I proceeded to get in the checkout line. As I set my stuff down on the belt, I heard someone right behind me. Since I am always a little concerned about walking in front of others because of my vision issues, I turned and asked the young lady behind me if I had crowded. She said, “No and if you did, I would tell you.” I said, “Good for you.” [Read full article]
My Mistake
Yesterday I washed a load of underwear and socks. When the washer finished, I listened to the little melody it played then I opened the dryer perched on top of it and transferred the load. When the dryer sang to tell me it had done its job, I took out the fresh clean warm clothes and neatly folded them so they would fit in the drawer and not sit around on my couch for all visitors to see. Unfortunately, when I got to the end of the pile, I had two unmatched socks left over. [Read full article]
A Day for Contemplation
I just returned from my first hike of the season on Mt. Spokane. On this Memorial Day I began to think about how lucky and blessed I am to have lived this long and to have had so many wonderful experiences in spite of myself. I came into this world with nothing at a time that may have led to the best and most exciting time in history, and I surely will go out with nothing, but what an experience it’s been. [Read full article]
Bob Hogan and His Racing Career
During my employment at Consolidated Metco Inc. in Portland, I met and became friends with a fellow employee named Bob Hogan. During the next six years we worked in the same office space and for a while our desks were side by side. Even though we were quite different we got along. In about 1966 or 1967 he decided to become a race car owner and driver. [Read full article]
More About School Field Trips
In the nineteen fifties and sixties, and maybe later, the Portland Public School system closed schools for one day and required teachers to tour local businesses. This was to give them a better understanding of where their education was being applied and hopefully give them more insight into how to help prepare their students for after high school. While I still worked at ConMet in Portland, I arranged for a small group of teachers, including my dad, to tour our facilities. [Read full article]
Barriers to Adult Games
Yesterday while I was mindlessly sanding wood trays that I have sold to the Compass Group at Microsoft, I thought about cultural changes that have occurred during my lifetime. Of course there are far too many to innumerate, but two that are sort of related came to mind. The first is the change from the automobile bench seat to bucket seats and the second is the demise of the drive-in theater. [Read full article]
Opening Day
In grade school, many of my friends and I were big baseball fans, especially Joe Hoffman. We used to spend hours playing double or nothing on the diamond at George School. The home opener for the Portland Beavers occurred on a bright, sunny, warm spring day in 1958. To honor and enjoy the day, several of us “skipped” school and went to the game. [Read full article]
Grade School Field Trips
In the 1950s in Portland, 7th and 8th grade students went on a couple of field trips each year. There are three that I remember. The first was a trip to the Mission Macaroni manufacturing plant to learn all about pasta. I’m not sure what that had to do with our studies, but it was interesting to see. [Read full article]
Another Brilliant Idea Gone Bad
One day in either the 7th or 8th grade, Joe Hoffman, Richard Pauly, and probably Billy Kopczak (and maybe others, I don’t remember) thought it would be fun to push our bikes up Portland’s Germantown Road and ride back down. Germantown Road goes from the south end of the St. Johns Bridge up to Skyline Boulevard. It is a paved, tree-lined, narrow, steep, and winding two-lane road with several blind curves. Boy, we thought, that sounds like fun! [Read full article]
Fun in the Fifties
I grew up in what seems to me to be a much different environment than today. I lived with my two parents, two sisters, and one brother in a lower to middle class residential neighborhood in North Portland, Oregon. The grade school I went to was about eight or ten blocks from my home, there was a large beautiful park with a swimming pool about the same distance away, and a small commercial district also within walking distance. [Read full article]
I Ain’t As Spry As I Used to Be
About five or six weeks ago my son Kris and I drove to Wallace, Idaho to hike, or should I say walk, the Pulaski trail alongside Placer Creek. It’s a steady slog uphill for two miles and ends at the Nicholson Mine tunnel where Edward Pulaski and his fire crew took shelter from the devastating 1910 forest fire. It’s a nice hike and obviously well used as we encountered quite a few other adventurers along the way. [Read full article]
Where Did the Time Go?
A few years back, I forget how many, but not that long ago, I was visiting my son, Kris, and his family. We woke to one of those glorious Seattle days, so Kris decided we should go to the beach. After a ferry ride to Whidbey Island and a short drive, we stopped at a shorefront park and clambered through sand and over logs that had washed ashore during who knows how many storms. [Read full article]
Oatmeal Has Feelings Too
This morning I decided to have hot cereal for breakfast. I put water in a pot, put it on the stove, and opened the pantry. As I reached for the Cream of Wheat I realized I was apologizing to the oatmeal for not choosing it. [Read full article]
A Great Day at the Grocery Store
Yesterday was a great day at the grocery store. After picking up the few things I thought I needed, I went to a checkout line and was waiting my turn behind a young woman with a child who was 1 ½-2 years old. Very close to the line, the store had strategically placed a display of small stuffed animals and the child grabbed one, which she clutched to her chest. [Read full article]
My Illustrious Navy Career
During my sophomore year in college, the Cuban Missile Crisis happened, and in a moment of madness I applied for—and later was accepted to—the Navy Pilot Training Program. Applying consisted of two physical examinations at Sandpoint Naval Air Station in Seattle. The final test was to go for a ride in the back seat of a Navy training airplane. Here I was dressed in a suit and tie and being strapped into the plane. The last thing the guy helping me said was, “When the plane has a serious failure, unbuckle the straps and jump out.” [Read full story]
My New Friend Ray
The party was held on a hot summer evening, and it was a sort of dressy affair. About an hour into the event, I noticed a tall, mustachioed man about my age sitting across the room. About the same time he spotted me and asked, “Are you as bored as me?” I said yes, and then he said Frank had a motorcycle in the basement, and would I like to go for a ride. That was the beginning of a long and interesting friendship with Ray Willman. [Read full story]
Life Changes…and Breakfast
Hash browns, fried egg, multigrain toast with jam. Oatmeal with Craisins, brown sugar, butter, and a little milk. French toast and bacon. Cheerios with sliced banana and milk. I like to mix it up when it comes to breakfast. [Read full article]
My College Years at Portland State
In the fall of 1960, I entered Portland State College as a freshman student. I never thought about why I made the decision to go to college, I just assumed that was what I was supposed to do. I had no plan or a burning desire to study something specific so I just took classes that would fill the basic graduation requirements while I was trying to figure out what interested me. [Read full article]
He Had to Be the Berry Best
Have you ever had a friend who at one time was very caring and fun to be with, but at other times was exasperating or even off-putting? I have, but through it all I enjoyed his friendship, at least most of the time. His name was Ray McInroy, who unfortunately passed away 18 years ago from lung cancer after a lifetime of smoking. [Read full story]
Camping at the Oregon Coast
During the late 1950s and into the ’60s, we, as a family, vacationed on the Oregon Coast several times. As usual, it was tent camping. One time we stayed at Beverly Beach. Another time, at Fort Stevens State Park. But our favorite was Sutton Lake campground just north of Florence, Oregon. Here there is about ¾ of a mile of sand dunes that are 50-75 feet high, between the campground on the west side of the Oregon Coast Highway and the ocean beach. [Read full article]
Memories of My Early Life
I was in grade school in the 1950s. The country had just come out of the largest world war in history and trying to get back to so-called normal. However, there was a “Cold War” between the United States and Russia, the threat of possible nuclear war, and Europe and Japan needed to be rebuilt. Of course, that didn’t mean much to a kid in grade school, even though I had some awareness of all this. I lived in what seemed to me to be an ideal family. [Read full story]
Acting on Impulse
The other day I was following Mary down the carpeted stairs in the house on Cooper Road. Since we were still dressed in our work clothes, she had a nice suit on. When she was about three stairs ahead of me my brain got the best of me. I flashed on the many times Kirsten, Kris, and Laura slid down the stairs at my mom and dad’s home on McKenna Ave. in Portland, Oregon. Boy that looked like fun. [Read full story]
A Few of My Earliest Jobs
Starting in the summer after the 7th grade I worked to have some spending money of my own. I would get up at 5am during strawberry season, catch the “berry bus,” and spend about 6 hours crawling around in the dirt (and sometimes mud) picking strawberries. I usually earned about $5 for my day’s effort. It was hard work, but at the same time fun being out there with my friends. [Read full article]
Just Call Me a Crazy Hiker
Last week I almost out did myself physically, especially for an 80-year-old, but not quite. I hiked on Mount Spokane from the parking area at Lodge 1 up the cat track going north, under Chair 3, to Lamonga Pass ski run, turned left and continued up to the top of Chair 3. After a short break I hiked down the center of Northwest Passage ski run then back to Lodge 1 on the cat track. [Read full article]
Coaching and Observing Youth Soccer
The Spokane Valley Youth Soccer Association (SVJSA) needed coaches. So I, in my naivety, volunteered and spent the next two or three years trying to figure out the sport, keeping a step ahead of the kids by reading a book on coaching youth soccer and trying to keep them working on basic ball handling skills while hopefully they were having some fun. [Read full article]
Brief History of Me
Highlights of my education, work history, family milestones, hobbies, activities. Spoiler: I studied ballroom dancing but am not too good at it. [Read full article]
I Think I Kind of Overdid It Last Evening
My long-time partner Mary’s daughter-in-law, Dora, called and invited me to go to a swing dance with her and several mutual friends. The Hot Club of Spokane, a combo that plays 1930s-50s big band music, played after a one-hour East Coast Swing dance lesson. The lesson was well-attended. And although the instructors were not the greatest, they did get most attendees doing 3 or 4 reasonable moves, and once the music started they had fun. [Read full article]
Paul Simon on PBS and in Concert
As part of my local PBS television station’s fund raising campaign they aired the filming of Paul Simon’s 1991 New York Central Park Concert. This concert happened 2 or 3 years before Mary and I saw him in concert at the Gorge Amphitheater. Sometime in the past few years I wrote about the Gorge Concert and what an amazing performance it was… [Read full article]
My Very Aztec God-Like 50th Birthday Party and Gift
The instant I crowned myself, I became larger than life—more important, something special. A leader among mere mortals! DARE I SAY AN AZTEC GOD SYMBOL. It made me want to strut! Well, for certain I became the center of attention. Everyone wanted to look at me and several took my picture. [Read full article]
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