I Know These Are Not Turkey...

Sometimes we have so much fun on the lake in the summer time with red dirt bare feet and water sports that we forget winter, with it's different colors and migrating birds can be a beautiful time also.  

I was by my lonesome this morning as Cathy had worked last night. A blog post from several years ago documenting a Thanksgiving trip shows us with large blue cats caught in shallow water. I tried shallow first thing and after about 30 minutes went to my favorite deep spot and there they were. 

It was 28' deep and surface water was 59 degrees. Wind was from the north. in 1.5 hours I had 22 cats. I could have easily totaled a one man limit of 25 but was not sure how many were packed in the live well so I played it safe and headed home. 

A few weeks ago I picked up a $5 rod and reel combo at the thrift store. It was a barely used Zebco 202 with matching rod like we used to get from the Green Stamp Store when I was a kid. This set up looks to even have the original line. I would guess the vintage is early 80s but there are few differences from the late 60s and early 70s combos we used. 

After having a large bass take a black devil's horse and strip all my line off one of these in the early 1970s I graduated to spending hard earned lawn mowing money on heavier tackle but for these 12-15 inch cats this rig got the job done.   

Another fall scene along the lake bank. Can you spot the bald eagle? 

Got To Find Me A Way To The Animal Zoo...

Things or events bring family together and in a family everybody brings something to that togetherness. It's like cooking, sometimes not enough salt, sometimes too much pepper. My mom passed last week and the thing that brought us all together was the celebration of her life. Bessie had planned her own funeral some months ago from picking out the casket, the music and writing her obit. We gathered and followed that recipe set forth for us and the seasoning was just right. 

The day after her funeral we spent a morning at the local zoo. It was fun and here are the photos. 

Over the last few years I have made many grandkid photos. They are usually blurry and this one is missing Parker but at least everyone was still for a moment in time.   

Bunch of filthy animals. 

Another moment in time. 

I think Ali told Parker be good or animals eat you. 

Cathy seems to have put a few steps distance away from the throng. 

When Morgan was little and we had an expected arrive coming to the house the kids would watch and we would say "is that them, look, look." Then we when is was not anyone we would say "Made you look." Made you look evolved into "Major Look." 

I know, I know, it's a terrible thing to disappoint a child but every parent probably makes 10,000 mistakes raising a child. Here Parker takes a major look. 

The day ends with the grand children being thrown in the alligator pit. That's another recipe I'll share another time, getting them to do what you want them to do. 

Used Record Finds...

A quick tour of the thrift stores in search of Halloween costume accessories not only turned up a few accessories for a barely controlled dress up habit but there was some fertile plowing of the used record boxes. 

I have been playing in a polka band and the Salvation army store yielded these gems. If you are in a Hawaiian band there is stuff down there for you and you better hurry because all it would take is a uke played and my lap steel tuned to C6th and I'm doing that also. 

Note the Lil Wally record/ Recorded in Chicago on the Jay Jay label. Record company address is listed as Kedzie Ave. which is a street we walk across on the way to the park from the PK house. Apparently still actively selling Wall who passed in 2006 you can get 5 of his releases in their I tunes store. Wall released 150 albums, had 17 gold records and 4 platinum records. That's some mailbox money there. He was know as as the King of the Chicago Polka playing up and down what was known as the Polish Boardwalk and was credited with creating the Chicago style by slowing tempos to what he considered a more danceable pace.   

Al Grebnick is in the Nebraska Polka Hall of fame. He released 15 albums, numerous singles, 8 tracks and cassettes, toured the states and Czechoslovakia where he was always on the look out for new songs. He was a clarinet player and there is good tuba on this record.  

I'm guessing both records from the 50s and they are heavy duty carbon footprint vinyl. 

The two other polka records are by Frankie Yankovich and Henry Tannenberger. Frankie is  no relation to weird Al although they have worked together and is an accordion player in the Slovenian style known as America's Polka King.  Henry was a Texas boy and while I could not find much about him on the internet other than he led the band for 60 years until he passed in 2011 in Houston, He did play in the German style performing country western music as well as polkas and waltzes. His contact info on the album jacket is East 14th Street in Houston and the Guide Record Company and Doggett Music Ent. is listed as an address at 1045 Studewood, Houston Tx. That's in the Heights and apparently a place called Red Dessert Dive is at that location now. 

Rounding out my finds and these were from The Women's Shelter Thrift Store. At about $2 each they were a little pricy as opposed to the Sallie's .50 cents but the condition of the record is consistent with that price range.  They are not polkas.

We have an Orson Welles satire on LBJ and the election of Richard Nixon which I have not listen to yet but is reported to be delivered in the Biblical style. Although it's hard to verify the timeline of events Nixon was known for keeping an enemies list and Welles  was subject to a tax audit after the albums release. Just seemed like something that should be in my collection.  

Also found was a Woody Herman, Tito Fuente and Charlie Byrd release that looks to be worth $6-$20 on ebay and streams free on Amazon. It's significant because in 1972 the University of Houston sponsored a band day where about 6 high school bands massed on the field at the halftime of a UH game and accompanied Woody and the Head in a few of their tunes. I was in that mass of band students that day. I jammed with Woody just like Tito and Charlie did on this record.   

Next up is a Jimmie Rogers. I thought at first Jimmie Rogers,  one of the Kings of Country Music but instead a folk singer. Win some lose some.  

Also found was this Baja Marimba Band, Do you Know the Way to San Jose? I remember these tunes on the old KTRE (my memory might have these call letters wrong) radio station. Many of the musicians on this were studio musicians who played on all your favorite pop hits of the 60s. It was a good clean record and I recorded it with mu usb turntable before giving it to Miguel. I help him build his collection in this genre where I can.   The guy taking a whizz in the background is a reoccurring theme on all their album covers.