Some Short Stories in August

 WE'RE GOING TO THE ZOO!

When was the last time you went to a zoo? I have no idea my last time, but I went on August 3rd, our granddaughters birthday. I went on the carousel and the little train.  The Denver Zoo had a Disney-like feel to it.  We got lucky it was cloudy for the first couple hours.  Below is my train and carousel picture. I'm not really an animal kind of guy, but they were there.                    

                          

CAN YOU SEE THIS CAR?

I am not the most observant guy, but I have to admit this observation was pretty ridiculous.  My two-year-old granddaughter got her first car.  It's not too big and not too small, but I wasn't there when she got it. So I walked in the garage door to babysit and I was in the house a couple hours and walked back and forth past this blue car without seeing it. Sitting at the kitchen table I looked over and saw it very close to the front door. It did not just arrive, but I did not see it for hours. 

TOOTH EXTRACTION

If you have never have had a tooth removed I can ease your anxiety and tell you it is simple, quick and painless...when it happens. When the meds wear off, a throbbing toothless area is left.  I did have one removed this month and when the oral surgeon started working on my tooth I heard the music in the other room very clearly-it was Olivia Newton John singing, "Let's Get Physical." I would have liked more calming music when the drilling began.

HOW MANY SPRINKLES ARE THERE?

The above donut was put in front of my two-year-old granddaughter and she started eating one sprinkle at a time. I estimated that there was a few hundred sprinkles. She eventually could not resist and took a couple bites and after twenty-five minutes she lost interest and the donut looked like this below. An hour or so she went back to the donut, but I'm not sure how many sprinkles she ate.

VISITING HOME DEPOT FOR MY BIRTHDAY

 After eating my birthday dinner at Olive Garden my wife took me to Home Depot. I was a little concerned when the guy below went to wish me Happy Birthday so I took his picture.

HAVE YOU EVER SEEN THIS?

This dinosaur is on a scooter and he goes down a big slide.  Here's the picture of it failing to do it and he comes up looking a little green.

                                                                      

                                                                              

                                                                                                                                              

IT'S NOT JUST THE FLOWERS!                                                                                                                            

I did buy my wife some beautiful flowers for our 43rd anniversary at the end of the month. However, I brought it into the house and could not find a vase, so I improvised.  I took part of a bottle and put water in it and then I put it in the below bucket and I threw in the salt shaker to maker sure the bottle would not tip over. It was perfect!

                                                                                                                            

                                                                                                                              

                                                                                       

How Many Free Throws Would You Shoot?

When I was a kid my dad put up a basketball backboard and rim and it was attached to the middle of our garage on the top of our driveway.  I used to shoot hook shots and long shots and free throws.  The driveway sloped down so I was always shooting up.  I would take twenty straight free throws and my goal was to make sixteen which I did from time to time.

I recently saw a video that I watched a couple years ago by Eric Johnson of KOMO News in Seattle, Washington.  It's about a guy named Tom Steurey who lives in Eastside, Washington. After he retired at 65 he was at the gym and walked by the basketball court and saw a ball sitting near the foul line. He picked it up and decided to do one hundred free throws and he made 82 of them.  He was on his high school basketball team, but that was a long time ago.

He wrote down his numbers on his calendar and started doing it every day as part of his workout and then it became his workout.  Sometimes he would shoot 400 in a day and record it on his calendar and then on his computer.  He had retired from Boeing and he was a guy who liked numbers.

After a few years he had a bigger goal-he wanted to shoot one million free throws.  It took him a total of 17 years and he tracked all his free throws and he made 94% of them which is incredible.  He also estimated that going back and forth on the court he walked 1,500 miles.  At one point he made 222 shots in a row.

On his 82nd birthday he made free throw number one million in front of friends and family.  You can watch the news story online by looking up his name.  He said, "I did it for the challenge."

When you retire, what will you do for "the challenge?"

Why Are Dutch Kids so Happy?

Children in the Netherlands are regularly rated some of the happiest kids in the world, but why? Studies have shown a few simple explanations: Margreet de Looze, as assistant professor at Utretch University said, "Where Dutch children really stand out is that they have very good social relations. The amount of support they receive from family and friends, from teachers and classmates-in all these areas they score high."

The kids also have a lot of freedom, do a lot biking, and cell phones are banned from schools. These areas are all considered to be very positive.  Many parents work part-time which enables them to spend more time with their kids. Will working remotely have the same impact today?

Their are no school buses so kids regularly bike to school and of course the exercise is good for them. The communities are very close and kids are frequently involved in activities and local events. They feel good about themselves and their community.

As we raise or help children one of the basic things we want is for them to be happy.  It seems that the people in The Netherlands have figured out how to do this for years.

A Tribute To Allan Sherman

One day around the year 1975 I went over to my best friend's house, Larry Osman.  I think we were in high school.  He played the guitar and he sang me part of a song he wrote called, "Jersey Traffic." He told me that the music was from a popular song. I thought it was pretty good and the idea of writing something to other music was a pretty cool thing to do.

It may have been that day he told me about a Jewish singer, Allan Sherman, who wrote a bunch of songs or parodies of other songs in the sixties. He played me the album he had. I thought it was so good that I asked him to put the songs on a cassette tape for me and I still have that tape today.

Between 1980 and 2024 I have written well over two hundred songs/parodies and Larry and Allan definitely deserve some of the credit and blame. I recently found out that Allan Sherman wrote the below autobiography and I bought it and read almost all of it flying to New Jersey recently.  Who was Allan Sherman and what incredible journey in life did he have?

They say that Allan Sherman was a comedian, a writer, a musician, and a television producer.  He created a television show, "I've Got A Secret" that was on the air for fifteen years. He produced it for six years. At the same time he struggled with bad health being overweight, an alcoholic, and a diabetic.  Before the Beatles became famous in February 1964 on the Ed Sullivan Show, Allan Sherman for a year and a half was almost as popular as The Beatles were in 1964.

He once lived next to Harpo Marx, one of the Marx brothers. He once lived in the exclusive Brentwood section of Los Angeles. He also  moved into a neighborhood that three weeks later ninety-one of the ninety-seven houses burned to the ground, but not his. He knew comedians and singers, but he really had no musical talent. He was fired as the producer of a television show for Steve Allen, before the show started.  

His life went up and down and being unemployed with a wife and two kids, he was on unemployment. He used to sing songs at parties for friends for free and sent Capital Records a bunch of songs, but he was turned down.("We don't think there's a market for this kind of thing.")

A friend got him an audition at Warner Brothers and they decided to record a comedy album of his songs called, "My Son, The Folk Singer." Quotes on the album were from friends who loved his songs, famous people like Harpo Marx, Steve Allen, Jack Benny, and Jerry Lewis. 

On October 7, 1962 the album was released and here are some of the ridiculous highlights:

1. The album became the fastest selling record album of all-time as of that date.

2. The Warner Brothers New York distributor ordered 100 copies on Monday and 30,000 more on Wednesday.

3. Frank Sinatra bought 25 copies to give out to all his friends.

4. The week before he was on unemployment and the first week the album was out it sold 65,000 albums and he made $23,000 that week. (In 1962)

5. He released three albums in 1962-1963 and they all went to number one on the charts.(A total of eight albums in his life)

6. His first single from his first album was "Sarah Jackman" and President Kennedy was overheard a number of times singing some of the words. (Parody of "Freres Jacques")

7. The Sam Goody record store in New York put up a sign, "Limit 12 To A Customer". 

8. It is said that he sold over 500,000 albums the first month and there is no definitive amount on how many millions he sold of that first album.

9. He turned down performing on The Ed Sullivan Show twice because he was terrified of performing, but he eventually did perform some concerts.

10. He guest hosted for Johnny Carson on "The Tonight Show" a number of times including once for an entire week.

11. The sudden death of President Kennedy in November of 1963 and The Beatles coming to America in February 1964, some say led to his popularity decreasing.

Most of his songs were parodies of other songs, but he did write and perform some original songs.  Many of the parodies on his first albums were filled with Jewish humor.  My favorite song he did was "The Ballad of Harry Lewis." Some others were: "Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah" (about going to Day Camp), "My Zelda", "Oh Boy", and "In Sherwood Forest There Lived a Knight."(Sir Greenbaum) He also did a song called, "Pop Hates the Beatles," in 1964.

It was a terrific book to read and his sudden success was absolutely incredible. You can look up these songs and hear some terrific lyrics. His first album was performed in front of a very amused and entertained crowd in  a studio and his songs are still very good sixty years later.

MY 1,000TH BLOG

If you had told me that I was going to write 1,000 blogs over 8 1/2 years I would not have believed you. However, according to my blog this is number 1,000. How did this start? 

On December 26, 2017 my wife, myself, and my youngest daughter each drove cars filled with stuff from New Jersey to South Carolina. We also had a pod sent down to our new home in Myrtle Beach. It was a big move for my wife and I over 600 miles and to a different part of the country.

I wanted to document our journey and decided to write a blog that I called, "Becoming a Southerner." In the first few days I wrote five different blogs with these titles: "Not About Politics", "Traveling the Day After Christmas," "It's Snowing in New Jersey," "Grits" and "Why Write a Blog?"

Somehow the five blogs came out the same week and they are dated almost exactly the same. Here are some excerpts from those blogs with my comments in parentheses:

"Keep in mind in the future that Dec. 27th is a much better day to travel on the road." (Massive traffic jams were awful)

"We had two shovels in New Jersey and I couldn't get rid of both of them, so I brought one to South Carolina just in case.  If it snows I'm going to be one of the only ones with a shovel." (It happened and it was great)

"Grits may not be for everyone, but I'll give it another shot."(Did not happen)

"From time to time I will probably go on the fringe of politics, without talking about politics."(I have written a few political blogs, maybe 3-5)

"You never know what I'll write unless you check out this blog on a somewhat regular basis."( I have written about a lot of topics)

I have enjoyed blogging about all the different things going on in my life including all my favorite riders, favorite rider comments, some books I've read, inspirational stories, unusual events, and things most people never think about.

Will I one day write my 1,500th blog or 2,000th blog? I have no idea. Will I write a book about my favorite blogs? That is a possibility. I do enjoy writing and documenting my life by putting out a blog every three days.  

Thank you for reading and also contributing to my blogs by being a part of my life.  And now-on to the next 1,000 blogs...

Above is my wife and I when we lived in Myrtle Beach in 2018 and below at a family wedding in July 2026.

HOW OLD IS OLD?

Recently someone referred to people in their sixties as being old.  I am 65 and about to turn 66, but I don't consider myself old. The President of The United States is 80, my friend Chuck who is about to publish his 28th book is 85 and the oldest water skier in the world is 95, yes, he's 95.

Bryan Murray of New Zealand was recently verified as the oldest male water skier at 94 years and 318 days. He's been waterskiing since 1955, which is before I was born. He has two kids, six grandchildren and ten great grandchildren. Over the years he entered tournaments and did very well in slalom tricks and jumping.

"As I got older it became a challenge. I enjoyed it so much I just kept going. Most people tell me that I'm an inspiration to people of all ages. It encourages me to know that I'm leading the way for people to stay active." One of his favorite sayings is, "You don't stop because you're too old, you get old because you stop being active."

What will I be doing at 75 or 85 years old? Will I still be blogging? Driving Uber? Writing books? Will I consider myself old? On several occasions my dad when he was in his nineties would comment that the people in the independent living facility he was in, they were old. I don't think he considered himself old. 

Maybe I'll just say I'm older?

You Can't Do What?

Most people will agree that they don't like anyone telling them what they can't do, but it does happen. Did you ever hear about the ridiculous things that it's against the law to do? Well, it's a good thing you're reading this list today.  Here's what I'm talking about:

1. Snowball fights-how can be true? In Wausau, Wisconsin it is still against the law. The city once considered throwing snowballs as bad as throwing stones and shooting missiles. Who was shooting missiles is what I want to know. No one is being arrested these days for throwing snowballs, but they haven't gotten rid of the law.

2. You cannot camel hunt in Arizona. In the mid-1800's the Army brought camels to Arizona I guess for training purposes and they had to have a law put on the books to protect the camels.  Legend has it that they lost of them and they haven't found them yet, but you can't hunt them.

3. You can't talk and text if you're crossing a street in Honolulu, Hawaii. Why would you be texting with beautiful scenery all around? Why would you do that anywhere crossing a street?

4. I like apple pie and I like ice cream, but in Vermont if you're getting a slice of apple pie you need to have a scoop of vanilla ice cream, a piece of sharp cheddar, or a glass of cold milk. And, you have to be standing on one foot when you eat/drink them. Ok, I just threw the last one it. They are very big on desserts.

5. If you want to bear wrestle in Alabama it's against the law.  They officially banned it in 1996, it took them that long to realize this wasn't a good idea.  I know you're disappointed.

6. In Tennessee it is illegal to share your password for streaming companies like Netflix. The fine is 2,500 or possibly a year in jail if the password goes to a friend. The law was made in 2011. Does that sound a bit strict?

7. If you really wanted to duel with someone, you can in West Virginia, but you can't hold public office. The law has been around since the 1800's which is no surprise. Now you know that not a single office holder in West Virginia has not challenged anyone to a duel.

8. In the 1930's the town of Biddeford, Maine considered the sidewalks to be sacred ground.  They banned roller skating and biking on sidewalks and for some reason never changed the law.

9. In Indiana you are not allowed to fish with your hands. This is actually called "noodling," but it sounds more like you lost some of your noodles. Why would you fish at all? And with your bare hands? How are you going to eat a bucket of chicken while you're fishing?

10. If you're going to Mardi Gras in Mobile, Alabama you should know that no confetti or streamers are allowed.  They wanted to keep their streets clean, so that law is still on the books.

Wouldn't be fun to go to all these places and do the one thing they say you can't do? Now that would be a road trip!