“I like boring things.”
It’s another spring-like day. The temperature will reach 50° or even higher. Having two days in a row of such warm weather almost makes me giddy, but I know it’s still winter and it could snow next week. I’m guessing these last two days were just Mother Nature’s way of saying hang in a little longer spring is on its way.
I’m stuck in my house for a bit. The front steps are being made higher and the concrete has just been laid. I’m having the work done because the top step is nearly a foot lower than the front doorstep, and that’s a long way for older knees to span. Watching the work is a bit of an attraction so Gracie and I wander to the front door periodically to see how much progress is being made. It’s not exactly an exciting day.
I have lived in small towns in Massachusetts my whole life. No one exciting ever came to my town when I was little, but I did meet one of my TV heroes. It was on July 4th when I met Big Brother Bob Emery. We, what seemed like a million kids and I, were in a bandstand crowded around him. I was right behind him at first, and I remember a bug was on his neck. The bug was green. Bob Emery was the host of The Big Brother show on one of our local channels. Kids were small fry to him. His opening song was The Grass is Always Greener in the Other Fellow’s Yard and he accompanied himself on a ukulele. I never understood that song when I was little. He lost me around the line, “Little rows we have to hoe.” My strongest memory is running to the kitchen every day to get my glass of milk because in the middle of the show we raised our milk glasses and toasted President Eisenhower while Hail to the Chief played. The President’s picture was on Big Brother’s wall. I don’t remember the end song and I don’t remember anything about the program itself but I can still sing The Grass Is Always Greener in the Other Fellow’s Yard, and now I understand.
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February 18, 2011 at 12:08 pm
Still cold over here but the wind has changed direction some and the sun has showed itself now and again so now my little cottage finally is warm again.
I´ve been home with a cold, again! so it´s been a slow day but I did sow some seeds.
Lots of famous people came to my town when I was little, but not to the part where I lived. Slum isn´t popular amongst the stars 🙂 🙂 🙂 But once I saw one of our most popular female singers when my sister entered a talent show. That was the closest I ever came as a kid 🙂
No SciFi at channel six tonight but next week they´ll start showing the new V series. I hope it´s good!
Have a great day now!
Christer.
February 18, 2011 at 7:30 pm
Christer,
It was a warm day but a damp day so you couldn’t appreciate the weather.
You can’t seem to shake that cold. Try soup.
I’m iffy on the V series. I watch it but not faithfully. I think I’m leaning toward the old series.
February 18, 2011 at 12:31 pm
OMG! I was on Big Brother Bob’s show when I was a little kid. It was awful! I don’t think I watched him after that. Before that I watched him every day. He finally got his wish and had a tv show where he got to interview classical musicians and composers. But he still played his ukelele. Not that song, though. 🙂
I was also on Rex Trailor’s show and I got to sit on Goldrush. That was much more fun. Pablo was still there and The Bunker Hill Billies, too.
Did you watch Pinky Lee? I have a vague memory of him but I was too young to get the jokes except for the pie in the face.
February 18, 2011 at 7:32 pm
Hi Caryn,
I never saw him other than that guest appearance on the 4th so I still watched. I never could shake the bug on his neck for some reason. It just seemed ludicrous.
You were on everything! I never made any show. I’m writing to a child star here.
I did watch Pinky Lee and still remember his theme song. I also remember his awful suit and hat.
February 18, 2011 at 6:28 pm
Eisenhower? Really? I was probably not born yet, I guess. But I thought we were the same age. I’m 63. I remember John F Kennedy and my Mom was a campaign chair for our neighborhood of Mt Vernon, Virginia. But Esenhower was in our text books. Seeing old reels played on TV was like a huge disconnect from the lifestyle I led as a child at that time. The other artist you named I never heard of either. When is surgery scheduled on your leg?
February 18, 2011 at 7:36 pm
Z&Me,
I’m 63 also, and Big Brother is the one who taught me that the President was Eisenhower. The first one I ever got interested in was, like you, John Kennedy. Big Brother was a local celebrity on a Boston channel.
Surgery will be March 8th. It will be on my back. Something slipped from the first surgery and he’s going to add screws to the other side of my back. When I first met him, the doctor said that was a possibility but he didn’t do it. Now he thinks it a good idea.
February 23, 2011 at 1:50 am
Kat,
You and Zoey & me amaze me. Your poor lil noodles must’ve forgotten a LOT. Since you are both 63, you either started 1st grade in 53 or 54. Eisenhower was elected president in 52 and served 53-61. So, he was in office from your first through most of the fifth or sixth grades, the way I count ’em. (I could be wrong, as there are only so many fingers and toes and the times of years of officeholders do not coincide with school years.)
So, all the way (or almost all the way) through your elementary years of schooling, this man was president of our country. His picture was likely in your school classroom. You read My Weekly Reader stories about him. You had to clip news articles for school assignments, so you saw his photo and maybe were even curious enough to read the front page news articles. You LIKELY had TVs to watch and maybe even sat in front of the news. You watched newsreels at the local cinema, perhaps. And yet you both say that you don’t remember his presidency or him from real time. Aiee.
Well, I am glad that you DO recall the brief presidency of JFK. He is a good one to remember. But with all your detailed memories of childhood, not remembering the president of the USA during most of those years strikes me as really odd. But life is full of oddities, now isn’t it? 😉
February 18, 2011 at 6:29 pm
So said the drill crew chief …
Cheers
February 18, 2011 at 6:33 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58TLw0PXYPE
Cheers
February 18, 2011 at 7:40 pm
Minicapt,
That was great hearing Big Brother again with that Boston accent of his. I didn’t realize he started as early as the 20’s. It was in the late 50’s that I watched him.
February 18, 2011 at 8:06 pm
Oh darn! More surgery? How awful!
Are you not supposed to go to Ghana this summer? Will this setback affect your travel plans?
Coleen
February 18, 2011 at 8:13 pm
Coleen,
I don’t think it will affect my trip. The festivities in Ghana will be in August, and I should be fine.
Ugh on the surgery!
February 19, 2011 at 1:00 am
Ugh on surgery too. But I’m glad it will fix the problem. You can also now say when wearing wearing slippers to the store, that you had a screw loose. I’ve never heard of Big Brother, so thanks for sharing that.
Still Waving,
Lori
February 20, 2011 at 11:43 pm
Lori,
That’s a great excuse for my slippers! I wish it were the screw that was loose instead of whatever the heck that is between the screws.
I’m waving back!
February 19, 2011 at 11:27 am
I am getting a good hoot out of Lori’s remark 🙂
Kat, I found out today that one of my “adopted” brothers has left for Ghana on a church mission. He is studying to be an Episcopalian priest. He’s chosen a new career – – and I could not be happier for him.
Anywho, if you can give me some more insight on your experiences there it would please me greatly. Not that you don’t already… 🙂
Hugs,
Coleen
February 20, 2011 at 12:06 pm
Coleen,
It has been so long since I was last in Ghana I’m not up on the latest, but I do read a lot of blogs written by volunteers still in Ghana. The Ghanaian people are outgoing and friendly. I traveled alone and even hitched alone. Only your stuff was in danger, never you. Bargaining is an art and Ghanaians are masters of the art. The country is beautiful with a perpetually green south filled with trees and farms and a north with savannah grasslands green in the rainy season and brown the rest of the year. Accra is a busy, noisy city filled with people and cars. Tell him to hold on to what he owns when he walks the city. I think he picked perfect African country.
February 23, 2011 at 11:18 am
Rh,
I remember Eisenhower, but I don’t think I would have known he was President except for Big Brother. I was 5 when Eisenhower was first elected, and my political saavy was non-existent. Big Brother taught me all about the President. I’m not even sure I was taught anything in the first grade about Presidents. It’s poor Zoey who doesn’t remember.