My Mother-In-Law

 

We got a phone call Wednesday night that no one wants to get.  My mother-in-law Bobbie Carolyn Woods had passed away.  

My mother-in-law was diagnosed with cancer in her leg this summer.  She had surgery on her leg.  Then, she was found to have lymphoma and had to start chemotherapy at Vanderbilt.  We had taken her to several sessions with hopes of it helping her.  About a month ago, she became very ill and had to be taken to the hospital.  She stayed there for a week or so and then came home for a few days.  Her oncologist at Vanderbilt has us bring her there for a week.  She never could regain her strength there, so she came home under hospice for a little over a week and then passed away at home.

She was a wonderful woman.  I never can accept the stereotype of a terrible mother-in-law like you see in shows such as “Everybody Loves Raymond”.  She was always wonderful to me.  She was like my second mom especially when my own mom passed away several years ago.  The first time we met is a funny story.  I had just started dating Donna and went to visit where her where she worked after my day at Martin Marietta ended.  When I came in, she said “My mom wants to meet you and she’ll be here pretty soon”.  I was in no way prepared for that so I hid under a desk.  The next thing I knew, I see a woman’s face looking up under the desk and saying “Hi”.  Fortunately for me, she didn’t tell her daughter that she needed to forget about a young man that was crazy.  In fact, Donna told me years later that she said “If she lets that one go, I give up on her”.   That “under the desk” story was going to be the one I told on Jeopardy if I ever made it to the show.  We got to spend a lot of time together over the past several months on multiple trips to Vanderbilt and I’m thankful for that.

My father-in-law (Jack but he’s Pappy to me) and her were a wonderful example of a loving married couple.  They did everything together.  You rarely saw one without the other.  They ran errands together.  They worked together on their farm raising tomatoes and pumpkins that they sold to local stores and to people that came to their home.  They were the true embodiment of the Biblical teaching of a married couple being as one.  She especially loved her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  I remember how happy she was when we brought Jonathan or Josh to visit her.  And oh how she loved our granddaughter Lucy.  And of course if she hadn’t been born, I wouldn’t have the four most precious people in my life. 

I’d ask that you keep my wife Donna and especially my father-in-law in your prayers.   They were married for almost sixty years.  It’s going to be really tough on him being without her.  And give everyone precious you have in your life an extra hug, because you never know when they won’t be there anymore.

Alex Trebek

 

As we left church Sunday, I got a text from Josh. It simply said “Alex Trebek :-(“ Another one of my all-time favorites was gone. Alex had been suffering from pancreatic cancer for about a year and half. Despite it’s poor prognosis, he continued to host Jeopardy. And now, he had finally succumbed to it.

I have watched Jeopardy in both its iterations. I grew up on the Art Fleming version from the mid-60s to mid-70s. This was the golden area of game shows. In the summer, I spent many a morning watching game shows all morning long. There were even a few that ran in the afternoon. Jeopardy and Concentration were my two favorites. I had home versions of both of the games.

In what seems almost ironic, Jeopardy came back to TV in 1984 right after Weird Al Yankovic released his parody of the Greg Kihn song Jeopardy. His song was called “I Lost on Jeopardy”. Art Fleming reprised his old role as host in the video for the song. A few months later, Jeopardy reappeared on TV with a host named Alex Trebek. I remembered him doing a few shows that didn’t last long (“The Wizard of Odds” and “High Rollers”). However, he seemed perfect for the show. I’ve watched the show almost continuously since then. When our local NBC affiliate could be heard on FM radio, I would listen to the show while I ran. I had multiple video game and computer versions of the game. Alex Trebek even hosted a resurrection of the old Concentration show I liked called Classic Concentration from 1987 to 1991.

The best times I’ve had watching it are over the past few years. Since I’ve retired, it’s become Donna and my afternoon habit to sit down and watch the show together. We often surprise ourselves with what we know. Donna is really good at the game. Her working of crossword puzzles gives her a bunch of knowledge. She’s especially good at categories concerning anatomy and medicine and anything to do with words and anagrams. I’m good at US History, US Presidents and Sports. We especially enjoy when there are Bible categories. I did well recently in a category I thought I knew nothing about. I got all of the Opera “questions” right strictly from watching Bugs Bunny cartoons. I’ll answer some obscure question and then Donna has to endure the story I tell how in the world I know the answer. For example, a few weeks ago there was a question about a British medical journal. I knew it was “The Lancet” from reading Sherlock Holmes. Dr. Watson regularly read “The Lancet”. It can make my day when I get Final Jeopardy especially when no one on the show gets it. I remember being in disbelief that no on knew the Final Jeopardy when it was "This American Folklore Legend came from Cayce Kentucky".

I’ve always loved trivia. I was an avid player of Trivial Pursuit in the 1980s. Both Jonathan and Josh played on Quick Recall teams when they were in school. I even became an official and got to read questions and judge those events. I’ve recently (well until coronavirus) gotten more involved in playing on trivia teams in trivia matches. One of the things I’ve always wanted to do is be on Jeopardy. I’ve taken the online quiz more times than I can count. I’ve usually done well on it. My understanding is that even if you get enough questions right, it is still random process to advance to the next round. I actually met a young man at my nephew Tim Lanier’s wedding a few years ago who was a four time Jeopardy champion. His name was Kyle Becker. I finally worked up the nerve to talk to him. He was very personable and nice. He said it was a wonderful experience. He told me he had taken the test multiple times as well and encouraged me to keep trying.

I’ve read that there are enough pre-recorded shows with Alex Trebek to last til Christmas. I have no idea who could possibly take Alex’s place. He was like a good friend that came by every afternoon to just visit and relax. I still can’t watch “The Price is Right” with Drew Carey even though he’s been the host since 2007. “The Price is Right” will always be Bob Barker to me. I don’t know what will happen with Jeopardy. There will be an enormous amount of pressure on whoever takes his place.

Thanks for the memories and good times Alex.

Bob Gibson

 

I had just finished listening to the Cardinals lose to the Padres to eliminate them from the playoffs when I got an alert on my phone.  Bob Gibson had passed away from pancreatic cancer at the age of 84.   The greatest pitcher in Cardinal history was gone.

When I started rooting for the Cardinals in 1974, Bob Gibson was approaching the end of his career. He had very up and down season I remember with a few really good games and some really bad ones.  I remember him pitching well in September as the Cardinals were battling the Pittsburgh Pirates for the NL East crown.  He managed to get his record to 11-12.  Alas, he lost the next to last game of the season 3-2 when he gave up a two out homerun to Mike Jorgensen of the Expos.  I remember listening to the game on the radio. The Pirates won their next two games to win the division.  He began 1975 in the starting rotation but was moved to the bullpen because he didn’t pitch well.  He did OK there but he realized he needed to retire after a game against the Cubs.  He came in relief and gave up a grand slam to a guy named Pete LaCock.  Pete’s claim to fame was he’s the son of Peter Marshall – the longtime host of the gameshow Hollywood Squares.  He didn’t pitch another game after that.

My first real memory of him was in 1974.  My mom took all of us to see a couple of Cardinal games.  The first game we saw, Bob Gibson was pitching.  He was going for his 3000^th career strikeout something only one pitcher (Walter Johnson) had done up to that time.   I remember him getting that by striking out a guy named Cesar Geronimo of the Cincinnati Reds.  Bob left the game with the lead but unfortunately the bullpen coughed up the lead.  The Cardinals ultimately lost in extra innings. 

I’ve read a lot and seen a lot of film clips of Bob Gibson.  He pitched for seventeen years for the Cardinals.  He won two Cy Young Awards.  He was a clutch pitcher in the World Series winning seven games in three Series (two of which the Cardinals won).  He struck out 17 Tigers in the first game of the 1968 World Series.  He set the modern record for the lowest ERA in a season in 1968 – 1.12.    He was a first ballot Hall of Famer. 

My best memory of him though was actually getting to meet him.  A few years ago the Cardinals had an event where you could meet Bob Gibson and Tim McCarver before they did a meal and then an interview with them.  Donna and I went.  I actually got to shake his hand.   I told him I was there at the game where he got his 3000^th strikeout.  He asked me “Do you remember who that was?”.   I told him “Cesar Geronimo”.  He smiled and said “You have a good memory”.   I stood by him for an hour listening to him tell stories of his career.  Donna said I looked like a happy child.   We got our picture with them as well.  I hated to leave and go the meal.  He did a great interview afterwards as well. 

Bob Gibson was a very well-spoken articulate man.  He did some broadcasting and was the pitching coach for the Atlanta Braves for a few years.    He was a wonderful athlete and even played for the Harlem Globetrotters until the Cardinals increased his salary to make him stop.  He roomed with the most famous of Globetrotters, Meadowlark Lemon.  He was a regular at Cardinal events and a great ambassador for the Cardinals. 

Jonathan asked me the day after why it made me so sad for Lou Brock and Bob Gibson to die.  Part of it is it’s another part of your childhood being gone.  Another part is you really start to realize your mortality when things like that happen.  I told him he’ll understand when his favorite sports figures of his youth (Derek Jeter and Eli Manning) age and finally pass away.  I’ve seen two of mine die in the past month.  I was honored and happy to have seen them play and watch their lives afterwards.

Lou-u-u-u!!!!

As church was ending Sunday night, Jonathan let me know that he had gotten an alert that Lou Brock had died at the age of 81. He had been in bad health, but this was still a shocker to me.

The first year I really got into baseball was 1974 when I was 12. I rooted for the St Louis Cardinals of course. Lou Brock was the left fielder for that team. He began to steal bases that season at an astounding rate. The record for stolen bases in a season was 104 by Maury Wills. Lou Brock was stealing bases at a rate that would beat that record. The Cardinals were in a tight division race all year with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Lou Brock’s great year helped keep them in the race. I remember listening on the radio when Lou Brock broke the record. He would ultimately steal 118 bases. The Cardinals ultimately lost the division in a large part to the Cubs blowing a game to Pittsburgh (on a dropped third strike in the bottom of the 9th that allowed the Pirates to tie and ultimately win the division clinching game). Lou Brock finished second in the MVP race to Steve Garvey of the Dodgers. I felt the only reason that happened was Garvey’s team won the pennant that year (and were easily beaten by the A’s in the World Series that year). 

Lou Brock was my first favorite baseball player. His base stealing that year captivated me. We even tried to incorporate stolen bases that year in our pick up baseball games. We didn’t have catchers so we had to make our own rules as to what a stolen base was. The pitcher had to throw over to a base you were leading off from in order for you to try and steal a base. If you took an extra base on a hit (say going first to third on a single) that counted. I remember Joe Ford and I both stole 59 bases that year. We didn’t keep up with stolen bases again in any future year.

I read with interest of the infamous trade (Brock for Broglio) that brought Lou Brock to the Cardinals in 1964 and spurred them to a pennant and finally a World Series win over the Yankees. Lou Brock was at his best in the World Series. He hit .391 in three Series (a record for anyone playing over 20 games). His 14 stolen bases in the World Series is a record. I remember him breaking TY Cobb’s career stolen base record (with 893) in 1977. I was working at the Paducah Drive In in 1979 when I heard Lou Brock (on the radio) literally knock Dennis Lamp of the Cubs out of the game by lining his 3000th hit off of the pitcher’s hand. Brock won the National League Comeback Player of the Year that year as well rebounding from hitting .221 the year before to hit .304. He retired after that year.

Lou Brock revolutionized base stealing. He bought a movie camera and would take films of pitchers to pick up particular movements that made on the mound to give him a better idea of their pickoff moves and when they were going to pitch so he could get a better jump. He revolutionized the pop-up slide. Using that slide, he could immediately be in a position to advance should a throw be bad. He led the National League in steals every year but one from 1966 to 1974. He was voted into the Hall of Fame in 1985. Base stealing has fallen off severely in the last decade or so. The MLB leader in steals last year stole only 46. 

Lou Brock was a successful man outside of baseball as well. He was also a very articulate man. Donna and I went to see him and Red Schoendienst a few years ago at Busch Stadium. He told many wonderful stories of his days in baseball with the Cardinals. I still have my autographed baseball that has both his and Red’s signatures on it. He came back to Busch Stadium often and was always greeted with an enthusiastic “Lou-u-u-u-u!” from the crowd.

It made me sad to hear someone who was a big part of my life pass away. It also makes my realize my own mortality when my favorite players of my youth pass away. Thanks for the memories Lou…

The Lincoln Memorial

I really enjoy history and visiting historical sites. I decided for my birthday this year that I wanted to visit the Lincoln Memorial. I didn’t go to Washington DC. In fact, I didn’t even go out of the state. How is that even possible you say? Let me explain.

I had heard only recently of the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace Memorial Park. It’s south of Hodgenville and has a memorial building for Abraham Lincoln. I had planned to go there on my next trip to Lexington. We got tickets to see Kentucky play for my birthday (like we have for the past decade) so we decided we could make a slight detour and visit on the way. I’d also found out about a restaurant that had some of the best hamburgers in Kentucky that was located in Hodgenville. That sounded like the perfect combination to me so we planned to go.

We headed out on my birthday on our trip. Instead of jumping on I-65 in Elizabethtown, we just kept going and headed for Hodgenville. We found Laha’s Red Castle (located on the roundabout in Hodgenville) with no problem. The restaurant is very small only having counter service with only seven stools. We decided to just get our food and took it to the National Park to eat. They cooked the hamburgers right in front of us. They also made the fries and onion rings we ordered fresh. We got our food and headed to the car. In the middle of the roundabout was a statue of Abraham Lincoln I had to see. It looks very similar to the one in the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. This statue was made in 1909 which is the 100th anniversary of Lincoln’s birthday. After we saw that, we headed for the park.

We got there and parked and ate. The food was excellent. There was not a big crowd at the park at all. There was a visitor center and the memorial itself. It was a very impressive structure built of granite and marble. It has fifty-six steps leading to it which represents the age Lincoln was when he was assassinated (I had forgotten he was that young, I’d always thought of him as being older). It is located on a knoll that is thought to be the location of the cabin Lincoln was born in. Inside the memorial is a replica of Lincoln’s birth cabin (which you cannot go inside of though). The memorial has sixteen windows and sixteen rosettes in the ceiling since Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States. At the bottom of the knoll, is Sinking Spring. You can take a set of steps down to the actual spring supposedly used by the Lincolns. There is also a nature trail you can walk. Finally, there is a fifteen minute informational video available at the visitor center along with a few displays and items for sale.

After we finished our visit there, we drove several miles to the Knob Creek cabin where Lincoln lived until he was seven and moved to Indiana. There was a small cabin replica there (that you also could not enter) and the Lincoln Tavern that serviced that area in the 1930s. Both areas are free to see.

If you interested in history and especially Abraham Lincoln and you are travelling through the Elizabethtown area, I would recommend you check the park out.

Review - Frosted Chocolate Cupcake Pop Tarts

I really enjoy a sweet snack. One snack I didn’t usually eat was Pop Tarts. Kellogg’s came out with Pop Tarts in 1964 but I don’t remember us ever buying them when I was a kid. I had a fellow system admin when I worked at USEC who ate them just about every day (Skip Hancock), but I was never really tempted to try them. At some point in the last few years, I got turned onto Cookies and Cream Pop Tarts. These are fantastic. The only issue is a package of two has 380 calories. A few years ago around Valentines Day, Kellogg’s released Red Velvet Pop Tarts. These were equally fantastic. Alas, I have not seen them since. I look every year around Valentines Day and ask my friends to do the same. Despite this, Kellogg’s refuses to reissue them :-).

A couple of weeks ago, my sister Jody posted a picture of Frosted Chocolate Cupcake Pop Tarts on my Facebook page. I love Hostess Chocolate Cupcakes. I was devasted in 2012 when Hostess went bankrupt and stopped making them. Fortunately, another company started making them in 2013. Of course, I had to find some of these and try them out. I looked at several stores I frequent with no luck. Finally, I found a box at Wal-Mart. I bought some and eagerly prepared to try them.

Donna and I toasted a couple that night to try them out. They have the neat squiggly line on them just like a Hostess Cupcake.

Unfortunately, that is where the comparison ended. It tasted nothing like a Hostess Cupcake (or any frosted chocolate cream filled cupcake I’d ever had). The cream especially didn’t taste anything like the white cupcake filling I was used to. We decided a couple of nights later to try one untoasted. It didn’t help. In retrospect (after eating a couple more), they aren’t that bad. Have you every really looked forward to something and when it finally happened, it wasn’t nearly as good as you hoped it would be? That’s what had happened to me. So, I’ll stick to my Cookies and Creams Pop Tarts.

Ringo Starr and his All Starr Band

If you follow this blog, you know that my favorite group is the Beatles. I’ve been a fan since the early 80s thanks to Keith (Corky) Johnson loaning me all his Beatles albums during my first semester at the University of Kentucky. I’ve seen Paul McCartney three times in concert, most recently a couple of months ago. You probably know the only other living Beatle is Ringo Starr who is actually older than Paul (he is 79 as of this post). For some reason, it has never occurred to me to try and see Ringo in concert. I happened to get some sort of alert from Ticketmaster that he was playing in Champaign Illinois. Why would I even consider going there you might ask? I actually am somewhat familiar with Champaign. We go through it on our trips to see Josh and Shelby. If you go one mile east of the I-57/I-74 interchange, there is fabulous exit with a lot of good restaurants (Culvers, Longhorn and Einstein Bros). The Drury Inn at this exit is really good. And if you are willing to go a mile or so off the exit, there is a Krispy Kreme and a Portillos. Anyway, by the time I got in and tried to buy a ticket, the good seats were all gone. I checked around a bit and found he would playing with his All-Starr Band in Nashville. There were some good single seats left, so I went for it.

As I began to research, I found out that for years (since 1989), Ringo Starr has assembled several iterations of what is called “The All-Starr Band”. He gets other famous rock stars (usually four) and they play together. He’s had guys like Joe Walsh, Todd Rundgren, and Billy Squier. The current band is his Fourteenth iteration. The band is comprised of Steve Lukather of Toto, Colin Hay of Men at Work, Gregg Rolie of Santana, and Hannish Stuart of the Average White Band. I checked a few set lists and about half the songs are by Ringo. They either Beatles songs or his solo songs. At different points in the show, he’ll go back and play drums and the others will do about three songs each. This all sounded very intriguing. I got my hotel room in Goodlettsville (the rooms were much cheaper there) and got a Parkwhiz a block away from the Venue.
The day of the concert came and I headed for Goodlettsville (with a brief detour). I ate dinner and headed for downtown Nashville. The traffic was fine until I got to Downtown Nashville. Turns out that in addition to the All-Starr Band playing at Ryman Auditorium, John Legend was playing at Bridgestone Arena. So, downtown Nashville was a madhouse. Fortunately, I left early and was in no rush. The police were directing traffic so that did help. I finally made it to my parking garage and still got into the Ryman in plenty of time.

This was my first trip to the Ryman. It was the original home of the Grand Old Opry (before they moved it to the Opryland Megaplex). It took me a little bit of time to find the entrance (around back) but I finally made it in. It’s a beautiful facility. It used to be a church building and still has stained glass windows. You even sit in pews (with your seat number on the back to tell you where to sit). There is a main floor and a balcony. The facility seats only about 2300 people. The bathrooms were even nice. A friendly usher pointed me to my seat. I was about twelve rows from the stage. I settled in to wait for the concert to start.

Unlike his counterpart Mr. McCartney, Ringo and his band started right on time. They started with the Carl Perkins/Beatles classic Matchbox. Ringo sang his solo hit “It Don’t Come Easy”. He then did the song “What Goes On” by the Beatles. This is the only Beatles song that he shared writing credit with John Lennon and Paul McCartney with (the credit shows as Lennon/McCartney/Starkey). Then, each of the members of the All-Starr band did a song they were famous for. I especially enjoyed Rosanna by Steve Lukather and “Down Under” by Colin Hay. They brought back memories of my teen-age and college years. This process was repeated throughout the concert. Ringo actually left the stage during one set of the others playing. Steve Lukather did Africa and “Hold the Line” and Colin Hay did “Who Can It Be Now” and Overkill. Ringo did several Beatles songs (Don’t Pass Me By and Yellow Submarine) plus solo hits (You’re Sixteen and Photograph). He closed with the Buck Owens song (and a personal Beatles favorite of mine) “Act Naturally”. Finally, they closed with “A Little Help From My Friends” (with a riff of “Give Peace a Chance” mixed in). Interestingly enough, when the band came out from to take their bow, Ringo left the stage and didn’t do that with them. Also, this ended up being first concert I’ve been to (that I can remember anyway) that no encore was done. The show lasted about two hours.

I did run into one issue when leaving. I had parked in a multi tiered parking garage. I should have learned my lesson from attending Cardinal ballgames but I didn’t (at least I’d forgotten). It took about thirty minutes to wind out of the parking garage. At least, we dodged the crowd leaving the John Legend show. It actually took less time to get from Nashville to Goodlettsville then to exit the garage. But that was a very minor annoyance. I really enjoyed the concert, especially in the venue of the Ryman. If you have the opportunity to see the All-Starr band, I’d recommend you go especially if you are Beatles fan or a fan of one the groups represented.