See America from the Air

  

I signed up for a streaming service that included Aerial America, which can be found on the Internet in many different fashions - great cities, nature, etc. I started with the 50 states, about 50 minutes for each video.

The narration is fairly balanced and surprisingly good about the history of Christians in various states. I also enjoy mentions of inventers, politicians, military heroes, and insights about each state. Arkansas got a big boost on the Walton Empire but omitted Tyson's meat, which gives Springdale the nickname Chickendale. 

One of my graduate students mentioned living in four different countries on her route to America. That made me think even more about the states Charlie Sue and I have viewed. What a wonderful, God-created country we have. Our wealth in agriculture and minerals is staggering, and we enjoy every kind of climate. Our Founders were so wise that the U.S. Constitution continues to serve us to this day. No other country has that claim.

I enjoyed undergraduate students, especially when they began yapping about rights and the law. Asking them about the Bill of Rights was too much. One student insisted that health care was a Constitutional right, so I invited him to explain where that is stated. 

My public school teachers had a great love for America, and one of my favorites served in the Philippines in WWII. She liked to tell a little bit about serving during WWII.

I know a lot about America from our 52 year slo-mo vacation. We had some great vacations but we enjoyed living in many different places - Connecticut, Ohio, Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin, and Arkansas. People make fun of Arkansas, but I point out to them that we have a strict dress code for shoppers - Wear shoes!

A strange twist of fate has given me access to students from all over the world, because online teaching has made that possible.

One of my Moline classmates, John F. Baker,
received the Medal of Honor for his service in Viet Nam.

Sassy's Charming Presence - Cyber-Pet and Neighborhood Pet

 Sassy is completely in love with the four Esses, each daughter's name beginning with S. Each one has fussed over Sassy, and she loves it. Scared of her? - they own pit bulls.

I promised two readers they would hear from their CyberPet again soon: Sassy the Wonder Dog. Recently, Sassy saw her friends getting out of the van. She ran over and sat down in front of the youngest, grinning. That means, "You will pet me and talk to me." Sophie obliged, as the brother and sister did when walking to school. Sassy simply blocked the sidewalk by sitting in front of them, knowing they would stop and pet her.

Three legs? She was the star of the dog park. The other dogs were jealous of the magic orange ball that made everyone applaud her.

Yesterday, we passed Pat and John's home on our walk. John called from his door, "Sassy...." His wife came to share the love, too. Sassy is expected to kiss their hands each time, and she does.

On the way back we saw the morning coffee couple. She is known for putting her car in park, jumping out to see Sassy. We see them every morning in warm weather. Next the painter stopped his car on the street and talked to us. One day, his children and nephew brought us five paint cans (five gallon, empty and clean) for gardening.

If Ranger Bob is around, there is a big round of yelping, barking, and moaning. She adores him and his brother Mike. Bob calls her ChowHound, and adds, "I love that dawg. I am not a dawg person but I love that dawg. Whenever you get tired of her..." We gave him a large print of her smiling face. He loves it.

When Bob knocks on the door, he asks, "Got any of that good coffee left?" I make a pot of pour-over coffee while we talk about battleships, fixing cars, and dealing with taxes. I work on his taxes and get beautiful used books about the Navy for $1 used. One was in demand so it was more, so that was his chosen Christmas present. Paperwork flummoxes him the way car repairs stymie me, so we specialize. Sassy begins by barking and carrying on with him, demanding treats, and finally lying down to listen to him talk. If we watch car repair videos in our spare room, she lies down to listen.

 Sassy wore the Maroons' M for the river walk, which added up to two people and a dog. Our reunions are less organized than a London soccer riot.

We have taken Sassy to several Moline reunions. We are the luckiest people in the world to have her, but people thank us for rescuing her. She has routines and games that manage us, whether we think about it or not. Yesterday, she put her paw in the air, pretending to claw the table. Of course, she fixed her eyes on me. She looks like a student in the classroom when she does that, except she often adds her devilish smile. She knows I will laugh and respond. Then she grins at my reaction.

 When MHS 66 ladies and Christina had lunch at a Moline reunion, Sassy and I provided a security perimeter. Notice how she is barking her happiness. If she could not bark her joyfulness, she would explode.

Sassy generates happiness wherever she goes - post office, meat market, walks, trips. If I happen to pass through McDonalds without her, they ask about Sassy, who gets a little ice cream each time.

The Frosty Paws routine each night is elaborate:

1. Restless murmuring, sometimes hurt looks.
2. "Is Sassy looking for something?"
3. "Maybe, Frosty Paws?"
4. Her responses vary from slapping the blanket with a grin to sorrowful barks about being forgotten.
5. "Love first, then Frosty Paws."
6. She stays in place.
7. "Come on up here. Do I have to YANK you?"
8. She feigns terror and clutches the mattress.
9. I reach out and tug her a bit. Eyes widen.
10. Then I clap. "Move. Move. Or no treat."
11. She gets up and moves two inches, collapsing down.
12. "Are you kidding me? Move up!"
13. She moves up just enough to be petted, grinning.
14. After hearing how much everyone loves her, she gets one teaspoon of vanilla ice cream.

 The drive through tellers loved her so much, they gave her extra treats for barking loudly into the mike. That woke up everyone inside. The branch moved away - too much overhead?

Moline's Jann Carl Covered the Best about My Home Town - Moline, Illinois

Here is a post about Jann Carl.

Reunion Outside the Famous Moline Candy Store - Lagomarcinos

Guy Johnson, retired police and corrections officer;
Gregory L. Jackson, blogger.

The Moline High Class of 1966 organized a special mini-reunion since most of us were turning 66 this year. Besides that, we were born in 1948 (with some exceptions) and this is our 48th year after graduating.

If you happen to be younger and reading this, then I will repeat what I often heard from my parents. You will not believe how fast time flies as the years add up.

I last saw Guy in high school in 1966. We lived about one block apart, went to the same grade school (Garfield), the same junior high (Coolidge), and graduated two years apart. He had my mother for a teacher, which was true of well over 1,000 students.

We had some laughs about how she handled students by inflicting brief moments of pain. One source was her rock ring. Another was the knuckle rap. A third was the neck pinch. In a crisis, she could drag a student kicking and struggling into the principal's office. I watched that once, thinking,"You can't win this one, kid."

The school chose my mother to teach under-performing junior high students. She agreed only if she could use physical punishment. The principal quailed, insisting on signed parental permission slips. The parents were glad to sign, and my mother turned a bunch of undisciplined kids into very good students.

Guy is now restoring WWII aircraft with other volunteers. He has also gone around town and photographed our schools and identified what has changed over the years. That means a lot as time goes by. I remember the "new" part of Garfield, another school being closed. We marched up on the stage and sang Christmas songs, and put on various skits for our parents and teachers.

Coolidge was the junior high where we started to grow into adults. We took shop - print, metal, and woodworking. The system has turned it into an alternative school, so that has all changed, too.

I usually walked to Garfield, and Guy met me on the way. We had great discussions that led to a mutual swapping and reading of comic books.

A few people have browbeaten me for not keeping all those comic books, which are now collectibles. But, how does one explain boxes and boxes of comic books to adults. "What are those?" -

"Oh, Superman comics, and Batman, and Justice League, and Flash, and Classics Illustrated, and some random military ones. Why?"

The comics encouraged imagination and an interest in science. By reading all the Classics Illustrated I had the background for about 100 of the best known works of literature. I bought and collected those works, sold some, and gave many away to students. Next semester, I am teaching World Literature.

The Moline school system gave us a great start. No area of education or the fine arts was neglected, and they had great sports teams as well. I was in the band, so I got to see a lot more sports than I cared to watch. But marching and concert band created a large group of friends - several of them at Lago's today.

Barb Garst Day at Moline High

Being in band meant we played for Barb Garst Day, honoring our English teacher. My head appears over the shoulder of the principal. The sax player is Jim - from the Medd family, pioneers in the Dairy Queen business and inventors of the DQ Blizzard. Jim became a pilot for TWA after serving in the military. Behind him is Carl Zobrist, who became a well known lawyer and also served in the military.

I was going on 18 in that picture. Our granddaughter turned 18 and just graduated from her high school.

"A Teacher Affects Eternity; He Can Never Tell Where His Influence Stops.” - Henry Brooks Adams

Bruce Johnson (l.), George Small (c.), and Jim Krohn
were part of the Garfield Gashouse Gang,
denounced by Mr. McAllister at John Deere Junior High.

I was talking to George Small, one of my more hilarious friends from Garfield and John Deere. I asked, "Have you recovered from the Panama Canal?"

On Facebook, someone just posted the newspaper article where George and others were working on a mock-up of the Panama Canal.

George said, "Recovered? That is why I became an engineer. Your mother had us create this model of the Panama Canal and she explained everything, how the gates and locks and everything else worked. It was tactile experience. I told myself - this is what I want to do. And I became an engineer. And later, I got to see it myself. It was exactly the way we were taught and worked just as your mother told us. It was fantastic."

Robert Millman, Michael Rothweiler,
George Small, and the late Terry Carlson worked on the model
in this Moline Dispatch article.

Then George brought up my mother's ring with the rock embedded in it. She reversed it in her hand and used it to clonk students who were not behaving. "I remember your mother's ring."

I said, "My wife wore the ring for the dinner tonight."

George got more excited. "She has it? Where is your wife? Excuse me. I have to go see it."

I walked over in a minute or two. Chris told me that George asked her to clonk him twice on the head. He claimed that one crack in the ring probably came from his head. More than one of her students brought up "the ring" at various times.

George and I, not to mention many others, talked about the great teachers we had in the Moline system. They agreed that we got the benefits of a very large private school with the best teachers. They went out of their way to do things for the students, such as taking them on overnight trips.

People often bring up Mary Copeland, Liz Copeland's mother, as one of their favorite teachers. Steph Sundine told a reporter that she got into music through Mrs. Leland, the singing teacher at Garfield with the angelic voice. Many guys were in the Moline Boys Choir - Lawrence Eyre, Bruce Johnson, Greg Keller, John Robeson, and more. Their director, Fred Swanson, had a PhD in music.

Alan Hoffman, our PhD rocket scientist, was encouraged by Mr. Goar at MHS to study physics. That chem-physics class was a riot, in and out of class.

Rex Bullock, whose entire ministry has involved singing, mentioned the musical ability of Mr. Partridge at MHS. There was no field, vocation, or skill that students could not pursue. We had so much available that we took it for granted, but everyone agreed, "We were prepared for college and anything else we wanted to do."

John Robeson, PhD, the late Margaret Carr, and Jim Patronagio
showed off their skills in this Line O Type article.
Mary Parsons, Debbie Mitchell, Rosemary Flatley, Jackie Ozanne,
Dean Parker,and Lawrence Eyre are also mentioned.
The class crushed my science hopes but launched a career in writing song parodies.

About My Hometown Area

A Glimpse of My Moline

Mike broke this window as a child.
This is why it was never repaired...

In his own words:

"I was playing marbles with Jim Putnam and Harry Mahar on 11th Ave C when we decided to see who could throw a marble the farthest. My choice was over the house on 27th street facing 11th C. I was short.....I walked up to the guys house and knocked on the door to turn myself in, so to speak, and he didn't even know it had happened. He asked me what we should do and I told him to call my dad. After my dad showed up we went and bought a window and came back to replace it and the owner told us he wanted to do that himself and put the window in the garage. That was about 1960 I think.

Years later when I was living in Arizona , I was visiting and saw the man and his wife working in the front yard. I stopped and told him who I was and he and his wife got big smiles on their faces and he told me he never replaced the window because I had renewed his faith in the youth and wanted a reminder not to become angry over neighborhood kids anymore. He showed the window to his friends and church members and used it for a lesson/story. That was in 1976. I told him then it was time and I could do it for him and of course they wouldn't let me....

I was recently in the neighborhood with my son Joe, 12 years old, and told him the story, and then stopped to see if it was still broken."

Mike spotted neighbors of the original victim on this latest trip, who invited Mike and his son into their house for tea. They spent a long time talking about the neighborhood and the tale of the broken window.

Mike said, "It was a great trip and a chance to impart a little wisdom on my youngest son."

Drama and Communications
Mike was in theater as a child. Moline High classmates remember him in "The Importance of Being Earnest." He was also Von Trapp in "The Sound of Music."

He was also in Playcrafters and the Music Guild. He worked at the Apacheland Movie Ranch, doing stunt work and some small parts, including "one terrible B movie" he has not named.

Back in the Quad Cities he directed Crazy For You. He came down with Guillain-Barre, a neurological disorder causing extreme weakness, among other symptoms.

Car Restoration
Mike earned a communications degree while he was recovering from Guillain-Barre, graduating with honors from Illinois State, and did most of the master's program. That did not turn into a communications job, so he went back to car restoration work. Some of his work is pictured below.

Mike says:
"I did a 51 Frasier and a 36 Pierce Arrow before opening my own location. (photos of both of these are in my Facebook photos albums, I am currently working on a lounge interior in a 40's passenger train car and have a 68 Malibu to start on the end of February. I would like nothing more than to return to Moline, to do whatever work is available. I am hoping to get some more rod and classic interior work, but it is hard to do when out of that for so long."

Pierce Arrow interior work.

The Barbie Jeep.

Frasier seat, green cloth with chestnut leather.


Dad
Mike loves being a father again, coaching his young son's baseball and football teams.

Mike and his son Joe enjoy time together.
Mike's favorite job is being a father.

Moline, Illinois Food Puts DC on the Map

From CNN and Bernie Hanssen's tip

Pizza man's first day as a Congressman

 

A big crowd of supporters, including his wife, Christie, kids, and the new Speaker of the House, Rep. John Boehner, came out to celebrate the ceremonial swearing in of Bobby Schilling (wearing a red tie) to Congress. By Catherine Clifford, staff reporterJanuary 5, 2011: 10:51 PM ET

WASHINGTON (CNNMoney) -- At the open house gathering to celebrate the official swearing in to Congress of Rep. Bobby Schilling in Washington, D.C., the pizza and ice cream were shipped in from Illinois.
The pizzas came in overnight from Saint Giuseppe's Heavenly Pizza, the shop that Bobby Schilling has owned for 14 years in Moline, Ill. Before deciding to run for Congress, Schilling was a pizza man. And lucky for supporters, there are pizza ovens in the historic D.C. office building, so the pizza was hot.

The ice cream, meanwhile, was shipped on dry ice from a local ice cream legend in Illinois, Whitey's. The owners of Whitey's Ice Cream weren't able to attend the party in D.C., but they wanted to show their support for Schilling on his big day.

For all of Congress, Wednesday was a big day. The 112th Congress was officially sworn in, giving Republicans a majority in the House, while Democrats maintained a slim majority in the Senate. Veteran Rep. John Boehner of Ohio took over the chamber from former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
But it was an especially big day for the Congressional first timers: Ninety-four new House members took office.

"It has been really, really busy," said Schilling, standing in the hall of the House, waiting to cast a rules vote about 4 p.m. But "I come from the restaurant business; you're talking to a guy used to working 12, 14 hours a day." When there isn't time for a meal, the pizza man resorts to energy bars: it "keeps you so you are not going to pass out," he said.

In addition to the official swearing-in ceremony, a family photo with fellow Republican Boehner to commemorate the day, and his first votes as a member of Congress, Schilling was meeting constituents and new colleagues, and being interviewed by reporters. And if there weren't enough cameras swarming Schilling, there were plenty of kids underfoot: He has ten. And his chief of staff has four, with a fifth on the way. There were kids all over the office, ranging from toddler age on up.

Schilling's son Levi, 18, said coming to D.C. for his father's swearing-in had been a "whirlwind." He flew in on Monday afternoon and the "first thing we did was come to check out my dad's office, that was pretty cool," he said. Since then, the family has been exploring the city from Chinatown to the central train hub, Union Station. The whole experience has been a little strange, though: "I have always known my dad as a pizza guy," said Levi.

With limited seating available in the chamber for the official swearing-in, supporters, friends and family watched two TV screens in Schilling's still-being-set-up office.

Friends and supporters Tim and Gin Wray drove 14 hours from Illinois with their 13-year-old daughter, Sierra, to be there for Schilling's big day. Gin went to high school with Schilling in Rock Island, Ill., and has been helping Schilling's campaign. She has a full time job as a landscaping manager, but helped out with everything from fundraising to watching kids if necessary.

"He is a family man, a business man," said Gin. "To help him get elected and to help him stay elected, I will do whatever he needs me to do."

Small business owners have been especially supportive of Schilling. Not only is Schilling a small business owner himself, but his conservative political agenda favors smaller government, popular on Main Street.
At the open house, Dan Caulkins, the owner of several nursing homes in central Illinois, observed: "This room is really populated with small business owners."

For many newly elected members of Congress, having no experience in Washington was their ticket in.

"He is a fresh face. We share common ideology about the Constitution and limited government," said Caulkins, adding that Schilling is "very honest, open, and he is not a politician and not a lawyer." 

Moline Memories Blog

The president of the licorice company in town was named Smylie!

I have many pleasant memories of Moline, Illinois, so I decided to start a blog for people in my graduating class. On Saturday morning, classmates began reacting and thanking me on Facebook. I was surprised.

I have it linked on my blog list (left column) for now. Chicanery stalkers may want to do some research so they can invent some new, unwarranted assumptions. The old ones are getting rather tedious.