Missing in Action...Sort Of...

There hasn't been much activity on this blog for quite a while. However, I have been at my newer blog, Three Makes A Collection, so check it out. You may find something you need to collect!

If you are into genealogy or just like to look at old photos, you can check out the blog I did in honor of my mother. I scanned and posted the school yearbook for the year she graduated high school at my blog Fairforest High School Spartanburg, South Carolina Class of 1940.

Fairforest High - Spartanburg, SC - Forest Views Yearbook 1940

I have another blog that I've started AND finished....as far as I know at this moment. It was done on a whim and for only one purpose. I recently ran across my Mama's 1940 Fairforest High School yearbook. Fairforest High was located in Spartanburg, SC. The 1940 yearbook was, according to the dedication page, the very first edition of Fairforest's yearbook, Forest Views.

There is not much on the web that I can find about Fairforest High, at least not from the 1940s, so I decided to scan all the pages in the Forest Views and put them in a blog. Maybe someone will find it interesting....or maybe someone will find a picture of a loved one that they did not have before. 

Since the blog is new, and since I won't be adding much to it beyond what is already there, it may not get into the search engines quickly (or at all), so I decided to put a link to it here and perhaps get Fairforest High, Class of 1940, a little publicity. Here is the link to the yearbook of  Fairforest High School Spartanburg, South Carolina Class of 1940 .

Our Annual 4th of July Sporting Event

Sports has never been important to my husband and I. Oh, we did the obligatory T-Ball and Soccer when our son was growing up, and we went to a few Braves games in Atlanta.  But overall, he and I are indoor people who like books, computers, TV, movies and video games. EXCEPT once a year on the 4th of July, the only time we tune in ESPN to view our favorite sporting event.....Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest. 

We have watched this event for several years now and once again "our boy" Joey Chestnut retained his championship Mustard Belt  for the 4th straight year by downing a grand total of 54 Nathan's hot dogs in 10 minutes.

I'll have to say, this years competition was not as intensely competitive as previous years due to the fact that Takeru Kobayashi, a previous Mustard Belt champ, was not in the competition because of a "contract dispute". It also seems that Kobayashi had some trouble with the police at the end of todays contest. Kobayashi had previously won the Nathan's competition every year from 2001-2006, but placed 2nd to Joey Chestnut in the years 2007-2009. The years with Kobayashi and Joey Chestnut cramming in those dogs side-by-side were very exciting.

I don't know how they do it, but it's both amazing and scary to watch. If you missed today's competition you can catch it in the video below. Hope you had a Happy 4th!

Woooooo! Ric Flair and the Lottery

When I was between 12 and 14, I watched a lot of TV. On Saturday afternoon, after a morning of cartoons followed by Shock Theater, I watched wrestling. This was way before video games. Kids either watched TV or actually played outdoors!

Now the wrestling I watched was not your high school/college/olympic real wrestling....this was "wrasslin' ". The showy kind where the wrestlers throw chairs, yell and stomp around, and sometimes wear masks or flashy robes. Generally this was just entertainment, but these wrestlers had lots of fans. During this period some of the wrestlers in the Southern viewing area (Jim Crockett Promotions) were The Bolos, Rip Hawk, Swede Hanson, Tiny Anderson & Big Boy Brown (The Kentuckians), George Becker, Haystacks Calhoun, and Johnny Weaver to mention just a few.

Here are The Bolos on the left and on the right are Rip Hawk and Swede Hanson.





When my son was a kid, he watched "wrasslin" too, and I guess I watched with him. Some names from those days were Hulk Hogan, Andre The Giant, "Macho Man" Randy Savage, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, Wahoo McDaniel, and "Nature Boy" Ric Flair.

Here are (L-R) Andre The Giant with Hulk Hogan and the "Nature Boy" Ric Flair.





A few months ago, I saw a TV ad for a NC State Lottery scratch off game, featuring Ric Flair wearing a flashy outfit and promoting the game which was called...."Woooooo!". I wanted to go across the state line from South Carolina where I live, just far enough into North Carolina to get a Ric Flair scratch off card. I just never made it.



A couple of weeks ago from another room, I heard Ric on TV yelling "Woooooo!" once again. I made it into the den in time to see that now South Carolina has the Ric Flair "Woooooo!" scratch off cards. I had to have one. One day when we were out, we stopped at a local neighborhood convenience store just to get a "Woooooo!" card, but they were sold out! UGH! I rarely buy scratch offs, but I just wanted the Ric Flair card. Today at the grocery store, we remembered to look at the lottery scratch off display at customer service. There we saw Ric Flair staring back at us and the service clerk was not busy with customers, so today I finally got a "Woooooo!" scratch off.




Was it worth it? Yes, just to be able to say out loud "I want a "Woooooo!" card please." I think that is what I wanted to do all along. Did I win big?? Well, no....but I did win back the $5.00 cost of the card itself, so nothing was lost. Will I get another one? No, but since I have to turn my "Wooooo!" card in to get the $5.00 winnings, I scanned it before and after scratching to preserve my "Woooooo!" experience.

Just for fun, here's a video of Ric explaining his trademark "Woooooo!"

My New Blog

I just wanted to say that I have started a second blog which will be about things that I collect. It is called Three Makes A Collection. My first post is titled Family Treasures. Click the link to check it out. I hope you like it.

Send In The Clowns

This was a nice day for going to the flea market. Sunny, warm-ish, and not windy. My husband chose the White Horse Flea Market and across town we went.

We found a few odds and ends and had an enjoyable time. My husband got a couple of LPs and a few videos. My find was much better......an addition to my fear of clowns collection.






At first glance, I thought this clown picture had a red light bulb for a nose which would in theory light up if it worked. When I picked it up though, the bulb was actually a red wooden knob that would turn. I looked and there was a square plastic box on the back of the picture behind the nose area. Hmmmm.........I was thinking while my husband bargained. He got the picture for $2 instead of the $3 that they first said. Then I decided to turn the nose more and suddenly it tightened. Then click, click, click..........I let go and BINGO, a few music notes. It was a music box on back! I turned the nose more and listened carefully, picking out the notes a few at a time in the noisy crowd. Then I realized I was hearing "Send In The Clowns". Perfect. Best buy of the day.

HAPPY MARDI GRAS

Mardi Gras parades and New Orleans are far away from where I live in South Carolina, but they are close in my heart. Years ago the Travel Channel at times would televise some of the Mardi Gras parades and my husband and I would take a day off from work and watch and celebrate, even though we could not be in New Orleans for the real thing. Now we have to rely on parade cams which sometimes work, but the experience is lacking.

Today we were lucky enough to find that our Publix bakery had made King Cakes. I had to get one even though it may not taste the same as the ones we have had when in New Orleans. It looks good though and it is the closest we will come today in Upstate SC to having a Mardi Gras celebration.

Laissez les bon temps rouler!

R.I.P. Art Clokey - Gumby Forever!

Art Clokey passed on to the eternal claymation heaven, wherever that may be, at the age of 88 on Jan. 8, 2010. Art gave us Gumby and Pokey and even though you may not have known his name, I cannot imagine anyone who had not heard of Gumby.

I remember watching Gumby in black & white on TV when I was little. Those fond memories carry forward to this day as I approach the dreaded senior years. (Though some may think I am already there, I say you are only as old as your mind makes you!)


I have a faded stuffed Gumby that is packed away now, but many years ago, he used to ride with me on the dash of a van we had. I had bought or made seasonal "garb" for Gumby to wear, like a Santa hat at Christmas. I also have a larger Santa Gumby which can be seen on my fireplace hearth in my Giant Elf Invades Home entry as well as in Santa Is At My House.




Thanks Art! Long live Gumby!

CLOWNS - My Fear and Fascination

I have always, as far as I can recall, had a fear of clowns. Maybe that is why they also fascinate me.




One of the earliest memories I have of this fear/fascination is being in the Big Star grocery store in Spartanburg, SC, where my Daddy worked and Mr. Peanut (of Planter's Peanut fame) was there. Now I know it was just a man in costume, but for a small girl (maybe 4 years old) this was a scary thing. For some reason Mr. Peanut was giving away prizes. Maybe this was a "grand opening" for the store or some other promotion by Planter's. I remember my Daddy urging me to go up and get my trinket, so finally I did. It was the tiniest harmonica, about 1/2 inch wide and 1 1/2 inches long, maybe a little smaller. Anyway, in today's world it would definitely be a choking hazard, but in the early 1950's it was OK for any small child. This experience definitely has stayed with me. I remember being glad to get the harmonica and very relieved that I could get away from this huge Mr. Peanut.




I find it interesting that I loved watching Howdy Doody and thought Clarabell was great....on TV! I also watched a show called The Big Top (or Sealtest Big Top) and part of its opening showed the words "The Big Top" written on the top of a clown's head. This clown was portrayed by Ed McMahon, the future Johnny Carson sidekick. Needless to say, there were lots of clowns on The Big Top and I enjoyed watching them. I also watched BOZO the Clown when his show was on television.




In the mid 1950's we moved from Spartanburg to Greenville, a town about 30 miles away. In the early 1960's, my Daddy was transferred from the Colonial Store on Pendleton Street to a brand new Colonial Store on Laurens Road at Hwy 291 in the "modern" Pleasantburg Shopping Center. I remember one time there were clowns in the parking lot. Maybe it was another "grand opening", but I also recall on occasion there were small carnivals that came through and set up in an area of the shopping center parking lot. My Mama and I were in our car leaving the parking lot and a clown came up to our car window and wanted to give me a balloon. Scared me to death and I was about 10 years old then. I didn't take the balloon!




I am currently reading a book about the Howdy Doody Show and on this first day of 2010, it made me search on the internet for information on Bob Keeshan (who once was Clarabell on the Howdy show). I was looking for information "Tinker's Workshop", a show he did after leaving "Howdy". I didn't find much, but one thing led to another and I ended up looking for information on Sealtest Big Top. I found some video on YouTube. Here is one of them.





In my early childhood I had a tray puzzle which featured the clown that Ed McMahon portrayed on Big Top. I don't know what happened to it, but I remember it and the clown's big red & white striped square glasses very well. A few years ago at an estate sale, I found another tray puzzle featuring the Big Top clowns. I added it to my "clown collection".




On a wall in our computer room, this collection stares at me. I guess I put it there to face my fear every day. So far, it has not helped.



I even have this bumper sticker, but won't put it on my car, it might attract those crazed clowns!