Wednesday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

When accepting the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in the movie The Last Picture Show he said “It couldn't have happened to a nicer feller.”

Ben Johnson

Some of you may not know who Ben Johnson is but all of us John Wayne westerns fans do.

One of my daughters paid me a compliment that brought a tear to my eye. Earlier I had sent out a quote saying “A pearl is the autobiography of the oyster.” She said that going by that your daughters are your autobiography. Indeed they are and they are all pearls. She said that I should consider the character and success of my girls and if it had not been for me and their mother they would have never turned out that way. She credited me with introducing them to sports at a very young age and keeping them off the streets and out of trouble. This included volleyball, softball, gymnastics, etc. I played city league softball myself. This is a compliment that I constantly carry with me and will for the rest of my days.

Here is a question for you. If you are approaching an intersection with a traffic light and the light is red, where do you stop? YOU STOP BEFORE THE BIG WIDE WHITE STRIPE! NOT PAST, NOT STRADDLE...BEFORE. There are plenty of dumb asses that apparently do not know this because I see it all the time. There was a time in Pensacola, Fla. when if any part of your car was past the big white stripe while waiting for a stop light, you got a ticket for “Failure to yield”. This rule is in the Driver's Handbook, for crying out loud. They ought to start handing out tickets for that here in the buckle of the bible belt...don't be stupid, y'all.

Speaking of my kids, a long time ago I was headed to the launch ramp on 17^th street in Pensacola with my boat in tow. As usual, I was going fishing. I rounded a bend in the road in the North Hills district and recognized the car of my eldest daughter’s boyfriend that was pulled up to a cash and carry window at the Hilltop Liquor store. Her boyfriend had just purchased what looked like a 12 pack of beer and was putting it in a cooler in the back seat. My daughter was not of legal age to drink, I think she was 17. I pulled up beside the car and looked over at them and asked what he had in the cooler. The best I remember he said “Budweiser”. They were both a little put out but were not panicky. At that moment I remembered the first beer that I had ever had and I was 16 at the time. Not wanting to be hypocritical, I did not say anything else and just pulled out and went on my way. By the way, back in the day some liquor stores in Pensacola had a drive by window for quicker service.

Here is another episode of my outdoor adventures. I decided to go offshore fishing in the Gulf of Mexico off Pensacola. It was a beautiful day so I did not read the weather forecast. That, my friends, was a big mistake. I launched my boat in the small town of Gulf Breeze and was about 4 miles offshore when a blanket of fog rolled in and the visibility fell to about 30 feet. It was a really thick. The only navigation devices I had was a compass and a depth finder. I knew that I was south of the beach but I did not know how far. I also knew that there was a barrier island and about 3 miles of open water between me and the ramp where I launched my boat. I headed north until I reached a depth of 6 feet. I did not know if I was east or west of the “pass” that got me back into the bay so I shut off the motor and listened. In addition to the surf, to the west I heard the unmistakable throb of a marine diesel engine heading north so he must be in the pass. I turned west and held 6 feet until I reached the pass, turned north and entered the bay. I knew the ramp was east-northeast of the pass but I was not about to go across with just a compass in that fog with a steady stream of barges passing by that I could not see. I decided to follow the backside of the barrier island to a bridge that crossed from the island to the mainland and follow the bridge to the mainland and the ramp. I held 6 feet and headed east weaving north and south to maintain that depth. I finally reached the rip-rap on the west side of the bridge and turned north. I followed the bridge pilings one after another until I got to the channel where the big boats and barges crossed under the bridge. I cut the motor and just listened for anything that sounded like a boat. After a considerable time and not hearing anything. I started across the channel. I got about half way across and all of sudden a fog horn sounded and it was right on top of me to my left. I gunned the motor and literally jumped another 20 or 30 feet. I cut the motor off and just sat there to regain my composure. After a minute or two my boat was rocked by a large boat wake. It just was not my time to go, y’all. I finally felt my way back west to the boat ramp where a friend of mine was waiting blowing his car horn to help me find the ramp. I kept going west until the car horn was immediately to my right and I turned. I finally saw my friend and the ramp when I was about 30 feet away. I forgot to mention that I did have a two way radio and that is how I contacted my friend and told him what kind of fix I was in. I read weather forecasts from then on no matter what. By the way, I held six feet all the way so the propeller of my motor would not hit bottom and if the boat sank I would have a fighting chance at not drowning. There is reason for me being here on the planet this long. There has been many times that I could have been killed hunting and fishing but when I talk to others that have experienced nothing in their lives but boring drudgery day in and day out I realize that I certainly would not trade my life for theirs. I have experienced exciting adventures and have exciting memories...they have nothing.

This Date in History January 21

1793 Earlier in 1774 Louis XVI rose to be king of France succeeding his grandfather King Louis XV. Louis the XVI was by no means cut out to be a French monarch at this point in time because France was in serious financial trouble and Louis did not have a clue as to what to do about it. In 1789 as a last ditch effort to\\l the resolve the problem, Louis assembled a group of Frenchmen known as “The States-General”. An assembly like this had not happened since 1614. The States-General was an assemblage of representatives of French royalty, the clergy, and the commoners. This gave the French people the opportunity to declare themselves “The National Assembly” and the French revolted in July of 1789 by storming a prison in the center of Paris known as the Bastille, releasing all prisoners and eventually disassembled the building stone by stone by commoners because it was the very symbol of repression by French royalty. Although Louis outwardly accepted the revolution, he did not heed the advice of his advisers and modify the monarchy so as to save it. In October a mob stormed the home of Louis and his wife Marie, the palace of Versailles, and forced them to a lesser opulent home of Tuiliers. In June of 1791 the opposition to Louis and Marie became so heated that they decided to get the hell out of Dodge and headed for Austria. They were stopped and captured in the French city of Varennes and brought back to Paris and forced to accept the Constitution of 1791 which reduced the monarchy to mere figureheads. In August of 1792 Louis and Marie were arrested and imprisoned. They were tried for treason because the now National Convention had evidence that Marie had been communicating with Austria to declare war on France which would have allowed the monarchy to continue and there was no evidence that Louis had discouraged this arrangement. Both Louis and Marie were convicted of treason and sentenced to death. On this date Louis walked confidently to the guillotine and was beheaded before a gigantic screaming mob. Nine months later Louis’ wife, Marie Antoinette, was also beheaded and also before a screaming mob. Sometimes bloodlust has no limits.

1863 Earlier the US had captured the Confederate ports of Galveston and Sabine Pass, Texas which severely restricted imports into the Confederacy. The Confederacy sent General John Bankhead McGruder to retake these ports. In November of 1862 McGruder arrived at Galveston and re-took the port in 7 days. He then turned his attention to Sabine Pass (Texas/Louisiana border). McGruder arrived at Sabine Pass with two warships, the Bell and the Uncle Ben. He stacked cotton bales along the decks of these ships and put sharpshooters in place behind them. On this date he approached Sabine Pass and found two US ships protecting the fort that had been built by the Confederates. These two ships were the Morning Light and the Velocity. The Confederate sharpshooters opened up a withering fusillade and in the span of two hours the two Yankee ships surrendered and Sabine Pass was in Confederate hands once again. The US tried to take Sabine Pass port again about a year later but was repulsed with heavy casualties.

1996 The 555 ton passenger vessel Gurita used as a ferry in the islands of Indonesia departs a port in Sumatra with 400 passengers aboard. After the ship had been at sea for just a few hours it ran into a severe storm. There was no evidence that the ship was excessively overloaded but overloaded it was. The ship began to lurch violently and take on water. This resulted in the passengers fighting over life jackets of which there was not enough to go around. The ship eventually sank putting the passengers afloat. The warm waters around Sumatra are famous for its large number of sharks. There was a lighthouse on a small island about a mile away and everyone headed for it. 47 people made it to the island the rest were consumed by the sharks. The rescuers did not find one body.

Born today:

1905 Hungarian high wire walker Karl Wallenda. He said “Walking a high wire is living, everything else is just waiting.” There are two things I am afraid of and that is heights and places way up in the air, airplanes excluded.

1905 French fashion designer Christian Dior. He said “My dream is to save women from nature.” I would have thought that job belonged to people like Helena Rubenstein, Estee Lauder and the Revson family (Revlon).

1925 British funny man Benny Hill. He said “Just because nobody complains does not mean that all parachutes are perfect.” Benny was a funny guy. He went to that great stage in the sky in 1992.

1955 US baseball pitcher Dave Smigh (Astros). Commenting about being behind by 14 runs in the first inning he said “The last time I saw anything like this I was playing for the Tastee-Freeze in Little League.”

1957 US actress Geena Davis. When speaking of Dustin Hoffman she said “I have always looked up to him even though he is shorter than me.”

Died today:

1985 US chef James Beard. He said “If the time ever came where we had to resort to cannibalism, I might survive if I had enough tarragon.”

2002 US singer Peggy Lee. When speaking of her three marriages she said “They were not marriages, just years long costume parties.”

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow