New Leaf Bike Trail

New Leaf Park is a Bike Trail that goes west starting at 4th Street and connects at Weatherwax Dr to the Falling Waters Trail which continues another 11 miles to Concord Michigan. I travelled east instead on the Jackson Inter-City Access Trail which goes to Elm Street. It's a much older trail but still smooth with only a few bumps and cracks along the way.

Don't Rain On My Parade

Parkside Marching Band



No Parade is complete without Clowns



Jackson County Rose Queen 2011

 I have to say this was one of the best Rose Parades I have seen in my town in quite a while. The skies were clear and even though it was hot [95F] at least it wasn't raining. It was great for picture taking but I'm sure was bad for marching. When I played in the band, we had to take these salt pills to keep us from passing out. I didn't take mine cause I thought the salt would make me thirsty. It wouldn't be so bad if we didn't have to wear those thick uniforms and gloves and those hats which helped to fry your brain. I went to the Holland Festival in Michigan and had to walk 5 miles! Luckily the Jackson County Rose Parade is only a little over 1 mile. When I was marching I prayed for cold weather. Now I feel guilty I want hot weather. These kids should not have to suffer like this but it's only for a short while and hey, they are young with tons of energy. I would definately pass out marching in this parade at my age but only cause of all that thick clothing.

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-]