Lake Erie Sunset

Tonight we travel to Rocky River Ohio for a nice sunset over Lake Erie. It may not be a west coast end iof the world looking sunset but I thought it was decent. We were driving home from dinner at a Chinese restaurant when we decide to pull into the park and walk on the pier. On our way out we caught this shot.

While on the pier I took this shot of some lake shore houses in Rocky River Ohio.

For you crime buffs here is a quick picture of what used to be a hospital in Bay Village Ohio. It is now condo units. In its past life it was the hospital started by the father of Dr. Sam Sheppard, who was convicted of murdering his wife Marilyn and then acquitted in 1966. The Dad lived in a house right across the parking lot from the hospital. Sam was arrested for the murder of his wife in this house. During the 1970's it became a doctors office where my Aunt Joanne Knight worked. I have been in the house but never ventured into the hospital.

Josuha Tree June 2011

Last week Phone Rat and his camera took a trip out to the Joshua tree area. He sent me a DVD full of images, a few of which I thought I would share. Above is an old trailer which looks like the kind of housing I could afford if I was back in California. Below is an old car that could be right out of the Bonnie & Clyde movie.

Below is an old bus. Perhaps it's the Partridge family on the lam.

And finally some sage advice

Wally George My Pal

Above is a picture of the infamous Los Angeles "Hot Seat" talk show host and former co-host to Mayor Sam Yorty, Wally George. Sometime back in the 1980's a friend sent in a request for a glossy picture of Wally addressed to me. It was quite a surprise when it arrived since I did not watch the show and was not a pal of Mr. George. But I recently came across the picture and was glad to have a small piece of Los Angeles history. I'm sure Mr. George now lives on through YouTube along with Sheriff John, Tom Hatten and Hobo Kelly.

Before Van Nuys There Was Detroit

Before my family moved to Van Nuys California in 1960 we lived in a suburb of Detroit Michigan named Wayne. Above is picture taken about a year and a half ago when my friend Phone Rat and I traveled to Detroit. The house is a duplex and we lived on the right side at 2562 Ackley Ct. The house looks as it did back in the late fifties. Below is a picture of my Dad and I sitting on the front steps for Easter of 1957. Behind the screen door next to us is my friend Dawny. After we moved to Van Nuys I only saw Dawny one more time when we stopped in Detroit on our way to Cleveland to visit family sometime in the sixties.

By the way Elvis Presley's All Shook Up was the number one song in the nation on this Easter Day.

Mother's Day, A Curmudgeon's Perspective

I always thought Mothers Day was a time to honor Mom, make her breakfast and let her lounge around the house and enjoy the quiet. Not where I am. Currently there are two lawn mowers and one edger cranking out the decibels. Inside is a 9 year old practicing every annoying sound and squeal one can imagine while his Mom finds relief inside her headphones. In another room is the shrill of a relentless alarm clock trying to wake up a 24 year old slacker at 2pm in the afternoon. I was downstairs with the front door and a window open, smoking a cigar and trying to watch a movie. I gave up on that one and came up to my office where I now have my headphones on cranking out Live Bullet by Bob Seger. If I am going to have loud noise at least it will be my own.

As I waddle through time I have discovered that true riches are not found in a fat bank account or a stack of gold bars. True riches for this old curmudgeon are, privacy and quiet. I find it ironic that when I lived in a small two bedroom downstairs apartment I had more room and more quiet. Live in a house with empty rooms and people come knocking on your door looking for a place to live. My wife and I dream of the day when it is just us. That time is now sooner than later. An exit strategy is in the works.

My wife is at work so it is not much of a Mothers Day for her. I'm 2400 miles away from my Mom, but my good friend Arnold put flowers on her grave. Our parents are buried a few feet apart. So with that I guess I will stop bitching and moaning. If things get louder I just might jump in my truck, drive out to the airport and park next to a runway and enjoy the quiet. Happy Mothers Day.

Mitchum Pot Bust House

8443 Ridpath Drive in the Hollywood Hills. The house where actor Robert Mitchum was busted for posession of marijuana in 1948.

Webcam

My Desktop computer finally lost its mind after about 7 years. It served me well so I can't complain. Being a neat freak I decided to get a laptop that would free up some desk space. Aside from getting used to a slightly smaller keyboard I like it. As is probably the norm now it came with a built in webcam. This was not a feature I needed or wanted but now I have it. Now all my friends want to Skype me. I hate cameras so naturally I'm not going to be fond of appearing on a camera. The other night I tested the webcam with my wife who was downstairs. It works as the snapshot above will attest. Next will be Phone Rat and Radio Rat and probably a bunch of my cousins who have webcams as well. I drive a truck so I am one of the first people someone calls when they have something large to move. Now I have a webcam and everyone wants to see me as they talk to me. I should be glad this is all I have to whine about, I'm done whining.

4-16-1981

Bob's Back

Sweet sixteens turned 65...and still rocking

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POj1W7mOF7Q&feature=related

Cigars & Arnold Schwarzenegger

One of my best friends just sent me a red leather travel humidor with 10 CAO brand cigars in it. All the cigars are rated very high with a couple being among the best of the year cigars. So the other night when my old Landlord Jane Russell passed away I decided to light up a CAO Cameroon in memory of her. I had one last Amstel Light in the refrigerator so I opened that and poured it in my special beer mug from Solvang California.

My Dad took up cigar smoking when the doctor made him give up cigarettes. Of course being a cigarette smoker for so long, he inhaled them. My Mom bought him a beautiful humidor for Christmas. After he died I kept the humidor but he was stolen from an apartment I was moving into. Over the years I had smoked a cigar now and then but never seriously until the mid nineties. Unfortunately I didn't have his humidor so my Mom bought me a nice small one which was more than adequate for my needs. It now sits on the mantle about the fireplace (which  doesn't work).

Back in the late nineties my wife worked at a company called CBO in Hollywood. They were a post production company who designed ads, media artwork and so on. One of the 3 owners was best friends with Arnold Schwarzenegger. CBO did the artwork for his movies, print ads and tapes and DVD's. Many of the guys at CBO smoked cigars and Arnold had bought each of them a high end cigar humidor made by Daniel Marshall. As I recall they were the model above but a lighter colored wood.

So it took me and hour and a half to smoke the CAO Camaroon and it was excellent. The Amstel Light beer wasn't bad either. RIP Jane Russell.