I'm Free!

Jimio class of 1973



Brad class of 1969 [My Brother]




Mindy class of 1977 [My Sister]




Steve and Mindy graduates of Eastern Mich U



Jimio getting a Mantle Pic



Missy class of 1975 [My Sister]



Liz class of 2004 [My Niece]

Ah Freedom! Or so we think. It is actually the beginning of a new longer age of responsibility. Just when we think no one can tell us what to do , we get yelled at by our boss, our sargent or our significant other. We throw off the chains of curfews and being grounded while adding on the bonds of deadlines, meetings and remembering anniversarys. So I guess we are never totally Free until we rest Eternally.

When Rabbit Ears were King

My Grandmother Roberta's Zenith TV

This photo was taken in my Grandmothers room. She used to work at the Pentagon for some General but when she retired she came to Michigan to live with my parents. Every evening after dinner us kids would pile in her room and we would watch the "Golden Years" of TV programs. Under that chair you can see the "Rabbit Ears" that brought in such refined and crystal clear reception. There was a pleathora of Cowboy Shows on: Wagon Train,The Rifleman,Bonanza,Gunsmoke,Have Gun Will Travel,Rawhide and the Real McCoys. People must have been starving for Salloon Brawls and Stampeeds. Then there was Perry Mason, a great lawyer turned detective who-done-it show. Dr Kildare before "House" was around. Mitch Miller sang all the great Oldies while Dobie Gillis was doing his beatnik thing. Car 54 Where are you was funny. I never saw much Route 66 cause I was too young to stay up late. Never got to see Jack Parr show. Jack Parr was the for-runner of Johnny Carson and Jack lived in my town when he was a kid. I saw Fury which was about a horse and Sea-Hunt with Lloyd Bridges who produced two good acting sons. These shows were all in Black and White. I didnt mind. I was just happy to watch TV with Grandma and beg Cherry Lifesavers off from her!

Putting Out the Dock




First Section Going Out



Waiting for the pipes



Jimio holding the Dock while Brad aligns it and Dadio getting ready to set the pipe



Finished Dock

  Late Spring means putting out the dock. It was an all day affair and usually Dadio was so impatient we had to fite the urge from passing out due to our body temperature dropping so low due to the cold water. I may be exaggerating just a little but the water still felt pretty cold. The first 20 years we had these lead pipes you pounded in with a sludge-hammer. After pounding in 1 pipe I was done. Dadio and Brad did the rest. Missy and Mindy would hand us the hooks that connected the dock sections to the pipes. The next 20 years we bought these pipes that had screw threads on the bottom. They were easy. I wish they had come with the house 40 years ago! The dock sections were heavy and weighed around 100 pounds. We had 8 or 9 sections. I loved getting it done because that meant 3 months untill I had to worry about taking it out again. Docks are great. It's a place to tie up the rowboat, speedboat and raft. A place to hold the bucket of water and box of worms, to fish off of and to dive off of. To snorkle under and to feed fish by hand off of. A place to sit on and roll your jeans up and put your feet in the water. A place to take the cat Mai Ling out to and watch his claws shoot out. A place where our dog Muffin fell off into the water and dog-paddled back to shore. Even a place to play my trombone off of and to watch turtles race off of and dive in the water and go back to their Lily-Pads and Duckweeds. The dock served as a place to put our lawn chairs and watch the Bi-Centenial 1976 Fireworks on Gilletts Lake. That dock sure had a lot of great Summers.

Jimio Flys to the Rainbow



Scorpions Guitar Pick I Caught

 Back in 1979 I went to a Scorpions Concert and was about 6 rows back. I was groovin to "Lovedrive" when this guitar pick came flying through the air and landed on my head. I just put it in my wallet and it has been there for 31 years till I finally put it in a box at home.  I used to play the Scorpions cassettes[recorded off my LPs of course] in my car at full blast going to work, driving over to friends homes or just out cruising around. I especialy liked "Always Somewhere", "Loving you Sunday Morning" ,"Holiday", 'No One Like You", "Dark Lady", "In Trance","Steamrock Fever","Fly to the Rainbow ","This is my Song","Fly People Fly","Pictured Life", "In Search of Peace of Mind", "Lonesome Crow". I dont have the newer LPs only the first 8. Just like AC/DC and Rush, it took a while before they became real popular. I thought to myself "These bands will never be very popular because their sound was too hard-edged." Little did I know but learned over the years that to get real popular you have to make your songs more appealing to the masses and that meant making their sound a little more easy. That's not to say they wouldn't put out more harder rock LPs in the future, because that's what they did in order to keep their more Hard-Core Fans. [But I'm sure the Super Dooper Hard-Core Fans were Lost Forever]

The Homemade Mailbox

A True Farmers Mailbox

I have passed by this mailbox for over 35 years on my way home and then on my way to see my parents after I left home. About 500 feet down this road you turn left, then another 1,000 feet and there's Momio and Dadio's house on Gilletts Lake. One day I just decided to take a pic of it. Stopped the car, jumped out and snapped the shot. The nice thing about this mailbox is that the family put this together themselves instead of buying some fancy store made mailbox. Another nice feature is if some crazy punk kid knocks it over with his car, it's easy to set back up again. I suppose they are a John Deer tractor family by the disctinctive green tractor and the yellow wheels. This farm has supplied us with lots of sweet corn, snap beans,wax beans,tomatos,squash,cucumbers,peppers in the Summer and lots of pumpkins in the Fall. Hey this has given me a great idea, to take pics of homemade mailboxes. I wonder if any books exist on the subject? I'm sure there is because every time I think of an idea, it has already been done. =B-]

What's Wrong with this Picture?

Raccoon thinks he is a Bird

I'm sure everyone gets strange guests in their Birdfeeders. A Squirrel, Chipmunk, Opossum but a Racoon? This big fella must have had a case of amnesia and saw the next animal near him [a bird] and decided "That's Me!" Actually I know the real reason. He was just lazy and opted for the freebies in the form of sunflower seeds. Guess he's on a health kick =B-] This might be the Raccoon we chased around the house but I kind of doubt it because that was just before we caught the schoolbus and there was no time for pictures then. I'm just glad he posed real nice for  Momio's camera.

Jimio caught by Surprise

Jimio relaxing during the Early 80s

The reason I'm looking like that is because someone yelled "Hey" and when I turned my head, they snapped my picture. It actually doesn't look quite that bad. I don't look terribly shocked, I was just wondering who yelled "Hey". That's my swede winter coat draped over the armrest. You can see we didn't have cellphones yet but that was a chordless phone and it could probably go 200 or 300 feet before fading out. :-] Plus there is no way you can stumble into these chairs, they are too bright to miss, even when I am totally schnockered. I  probably just got done playing chess with my friend Gario and we were going to watch a movie. You don't see a chess set on that table behind me because we usually played in the kitchen where the beers and the radio are. We did use that table occasionally when the kitchen was being used for meal preparation or haircuts.

The Carnival is in Town!



Carnival in Westwood Mall Parking Lot



Time to Chow



A Beautiful Early May Day 67F

 What a day for a Carnival. Sunny, warm and just a slight breeze. These pictures were captured with my new Canon Power Shot A490 just bought 1 hour before.  The guy at Sears said he's been working there about 15 years. I told him I was in this store before he was born, which my first time was 6 so that makes it 50 years ago. In fact this Sears was built before they even had a long mall that is now attatched to it. They sure make computers User Friendly now. If they didn't, I'd be in a whole lot of trouble. It would take 3 weeks to get these on here instead of 1 hour. But its groovy, just plop the CD in the drive and the darn thing takes over. I had to click my mouse here n there and in 3 minutes all this garbage is loaded up for everybodys viewing pleasure. So the next time you see a computer Geek walking around, give him/her a big hug! [Or at least shake his/her hand]

Why does Spring drive us Crazy?

Jimio wearing protective Spring 3D Glasses

There is something about Spring that makes us go wild. I think it has something to do with the warmer temperatures, the new fragrances in the air and the longer daylight savings time. More people outside gives me the impression that there is more life brewing than I actually thought possible. All these people outside doing fun frolicky things[think trampoline] switches my body into "Groovy Mode", a kinda of feeling you get from drinking 20 cups of coffee [or 12 beers,or 10 cups of coffee and 6 beers] I am so overwhelmed by this fantastic sight, that I must wear 3D Glasses to acclimate myself until all my "Groove Neurons" settle down to their proper levels.
The only thing I hate about this new refreshing season is, all the birds tend to wake up at a very early hour and for some reason like to "chirp" their heads off. At first I thought the birds were also so thrilled by this Groovy Spring Weather, but I read that they are actually warning everyone about their territory. A so called "swear song" like an old curmudgeon yelling at WhipperSnappers to stay off his lawn. I thought "How can bird songs so beautiful be such a warlike manifesto?" Oh well, I still like the chirping even tho it has a new meaning for me, but please birds, dont start chirping till 10 am!Also I try to insert jump breaks to make a new paragraph, but they never seem to work. Anyone who can tell me how it works is welcomed to comment. I'll prob be embarrased but it certainly wont be the first time and definately not the last.

Mindy's Cats

Sid Vicious - Beatrice - Peebs

Why do people Love cats? Because they Love you back [Especially in cold weather and at feeding time]. They also are fun to watch when they chase Mindy's 2 dogs all over the place. Being able to climb to lofty heights has its advantages.  Up high they can survey the best tactical spot to attack.Who needs a blanket when you can have a nice warm cat curled up in your lap, puring away with the vibrations helping to jump start the heating process. The only downsides are watching for the claws digging into your legs or the tail in your face, blocking the view of the TV.