It's All In The Timing...
Somebody told me my tomatoes will all ripen at the same time.
Huh? Can this be true?
There's about 15-20 little green ones hanging there right now.
I buy two tomatoes at the store and hope to use the second one before it gets all squishy.
What do you do with a dozen at once?
This may be a set back to my status as a veteran farmer.
I adopted that title after earning my Green Thumb by planting a small patch of wheat when I lived in Kansas.
It was just outside of Kansas City, Missouri.
You could gather my whole Winter Wheat crop with your two arms forming a circle.
My then-wife suggested I pull it up from her garden and throw it away.
"You can't eat wheat," she said.
I'll always remember that line!
Years later, I planted a crop of peanuts when I lived in Tallahassee, Florida.
It WAS fairly close to Plains, Georgia.
And, I HAD met President Carter.
Not too unusual to think about peanuts.
But I must have done something wrong.
They didn't come up "boiled."
(Click on the photos for more details.)
When it snowed, I called the Kansas Wheat Commission and asked what I should do about the snow?
They seemed confused when I asked if I should brush it off or ignore it.
I left the little plot alone and it was just fine.
This alone should have earned me the title
Farmer of the Year.Labels: boiled peanuts, green tomatoes, outstanding in my field, President Jimmy Carter, Tallahassee
This is NOT your pilot speaking....
Flying on Aer Lingus recently, I was reminded of the time I held the microphone and talked to a planeload of startled passengers.
When a Convention Bureau goes after a group to come to their city, it tries to show ingenuity whenever possible.
Off the wall works too.
So the Committee to select where the
1980 Republican National Convention would be held came aboard the plane in Dallas, Texas after several days of being wined and dined by Texans who wanted the convention.
I was with the Kansas City Convention Bureau and we wanted the GOP back again after they had met successfully in KC in 1976.(Remember the
Ford/Dole ticket? Jimmy Carter creamed them.)
As long as the group was in Texas, we held back from tooting our horn. It would have been bad form to intrude or interfere there. But, as soon as the plane buttoned up, they were subject to our message and it began immediately.
There were straw "skimmer" hats placed on each seat with a red, white and blue hat band and the GOP elephant featured very prominently...right next to the
KC,MO 1980 logo. Colorful bunting was draped around the cabin as well and KC/GOP campaign-type buttons were being passed around.
I clicked on the microphone and introduced myself as being with the Bureau and asked everyone to welcome the members of the GOP Selection Committee who were on board in their midst. Some applauded.
To our knowledge, this kind of airborne pitch had never been done before.
I quickly added that since we all were headed up to Missouri, we had arranged to have the inflight meal changed to a
Kansas City Strip steak with all the trimmings.
Then
"Going to Kansas City...." music started playing.
Later, of course, Detroit, Michigan won the convention and a fellow named
Ronald Reagan became President.
(I borrowed the steak picture from the internet and, truth be told, the airline served its regular steak. WE just called it a KC strip.)
Labels: 1976, 1980, George Bush, Gerald Ford, GOP National Convention, KC Strip steak, President Jimmy Carter, Robert Dole, Ronald Reagan
A Grand Moment In History....
My younger brother reminded me he was in Washington for the
John F. Kennedy inauguration. As we can see from his snapshot, he stood in a great spot.
It was the Senior trip for his class from Bishop England high school.
The bad news is he lost his new class ring while throwing snowballs.
I was fortunate to have been in D.C. for the Jimmy Carter ceremonies and, during my time as a newspaper staff photographer, I took pictures of Kennedy and LBJ.
I see a definite Democratic Party trend here.
But, here's the odd part: last year I was visiting in the District of Columbia and went to the exact spot where my brother believes he lost his ring 48 years ago.
There was no snow this time.
There also was no trace of his ring either.
(Take a look at the "fins" on those cars!)
Labels: Democratic Party, inauguration, John F. Kennedy, LBJ, President Jimmy Carter, school ring, senior class trip
Ka - BOOM!
Two wonderful things happened to me while I was the
Director of Tourism for the state of Missouri.
Well, actually quite a few more than two but two especially come to mind.
I didn't take either picture and was, for a change, in front of the camera.
My Mom describes me in the photo with
President Carter as "
my son is the one with the gray hair." I helped welcome him to Tom Sawyer's Hannibal, on his way down to New Orleans aboard the historic paddle wheeler Delta Queen.
My other memorable moment was a year later, doing something we've all seen in the movies and on television.
I placed my nervous right hand on the plunger of a dynamite detonator, shouted "3-2-1" and pushed it as hard as I could. It made that familiar
"screeeech" sound and then
"BOOM!"The terrific noise was still ringing in our ears as a geyser of sand and small rocks rained down on a group of dignitaries.
For those who know the Kansas City area, the new Visitors Information Center is built on a hill overlooking the twin stadiums used by the Chiefs and the Royals.
The main stuff that fell from the sky landed on the hood of a parked Missouri Highway Patrol car. Well, he knew we were playing with dynamite.
Labels: Chiefs, Delta Queen, dynamite, Hannibal, Highway Patrol, Kansas City, KC Royals, President Jimmy Carter, Tom Sawyer, Visitors Information Center
Somebody told me my tomatoes will all ripen at the same time.
This may be a set back to my status as a veteran farmer.
