Way Back When-sday

These photos are from after a heavy rainstorm at the house I grew up in in Grifton, N.C. My brothers, some friends and I took a canoe and were using it to go back and forth in the ditch in front of the house. In the photo at right, I'm obviously providing center balance. If I had moved to either end, I would have tipped us. In the photo at top starting furthest from the camera it's Billy Wiggins standing outside of the canoe, then my brothers Brandon and Russell, then Ben and Gretchen Gaskins, then David Wiggins, and my brother Stephen is standing outside the closest end. I'm walking off to the right. In this picture, Stephen looks just like his son Trevor does now. We got a lot of good use out of that ditch. I already showed you the waterslide in a previous Way Back. We also slid down it on cardboard boxes and played king of the hill on it.

It's a man's world

Our annual backpacking/camping trip on the Appalachian Trail is coming up this weekend (starting Friday)... These are a few scenes from last year's trip. My friends, a couple of my brothers (also my friends) and I have been doing this for almost 20 years now. We set it up to always be the first full weekend in November. That way we don't have to wonder. We just show up. Some of us only see each other on this weekend now. But five minutes after saying hi, it's like we were right back to the best of friends who see each other every day.

Something sort of funny for Friday

Thursday Thing-along

Eugene "Bird" Daughtry, one of the founding members of The Intruders, was born in the town of Kinston, N.C., 11 miles from where I grew up. Learn a little more about the group here.

That girl's got pipes ....

Way Back When-sday

This is from Feb. 23, 1969. It's a picture of me (left) and Stephen in a makeshift sandbox in the back yard of our home in Grifton, N.C. I was a few months shy of 3 years old here and Stephen was about 1 and a half. I know we had a regular sandbox when we were a bit older than this because I have pictures of it. But for some reason, this looks like it's just a pile of sand. And instead of the trucks we usually had, here we are playing with a pot and what looks like some cooking utensils. The wagon is cool ... and I bet it's all metal ... and covered in lead paint.

Love this ...

Need a good chuckle?

Check out the video on this post over at Our Life in Idaho from Kim and Victoria.

Head in the clouds

I think a lot ... I probably think too much.

Frisbee Dogs in action

We went to the Eagles game on Sunday against the Bears .... It was a disappointing ending, to say the least, if you were an Eagles fan. More on that in a different post, this is for happier news. The halftime show were some dogs catching Frisbees, including what looks like a little Jack Russell. Here's some of the action.

Haircuts make the world look better

I went and got my hair cut today. The barber I go to has a sign-in sheet. She lets people come in and sign in for a haircut and then leave. If they aren't back in time, the next person on the list goes. This, however, royally pisses off people who come in when it's empty except for the person getting a haircut only to have to wait an hour as the signees show up just as she finishes cutting the hair of the person in front of them on the sign-in sheet. I think it's great. I like to sign in and still sit there through the wait to watch people get pissy.



Here's the joke she told me today (WARNING... She doesn't hold back) .....

Why do witches prefer not to wear any panties?

So they can grip their broomsticks better......

Something funny for your Friday

My mama said I could.

Thursday Thing-along

Smokin' cigarettes and watchin' Captain Kangaroo,
No don't tell me... I've got nothing to do...

Check this site for more on The Statler Brothers.

Many of you may only know this song from it being on the soundtrack for this movie.

Way Back When-sday

These are pictures of a water slide my brothers and I built on the hill -- I remembered it as being much bigger -- that led to the ditch in front of the house in which we lived in Grifton, N.C. We took a big roll of plastic sheeting, secured the top edge at the top of the hill and then used a hose to run water down it. We eventually dammed it up at the bottom so that you basically slid down the hill into a nasty pool of dirty, grassy, yucky water. It was awesome. We had a neighborhood pool -- the neighborhood was built around a small golf course and swimming pool -- but the ingenuity is what made this so special for us. We thought we were something for coming up with this. And it was a great way to get girls in bikinis to come over to the house.

Everybody was Kung Fu fighting ...

I love this song. It's so happy sounding that I felt had to stick some old video clips to it -- and speed them up a bit -- to share it.

My kind of truck

This truck was in front of me on my way to work. Although it got my attention, I discovered the reality of what was in it was not as fun as what I was thinking.

Something funny for your friday

How can anyone ever forget the first time they bought condoms? Did anyone else throw in a bunch of other stuff with them or was that just me?
Let's see... I'll fill this grocery cart with a bunch of things I don't really need right now so I can sneak this box of condoms in the middle. Maybe they'll go relatively unnoticed by the 63-year-old cashier lady if I put them right here between the Hungry Man dinners and the Frosted Flakes cereal and just beneath the loaf of bread and bag of Doritos. Yeah... right. When she finally gets to them and pulls them over the scanner, I swear she looked up at me and sort of chuckled ....

Here are some condom-buying tips for those still a bit shy about the subject.

Thursday Thing-along

I was reminded about this 80s group -- Roman Holliday -- after Wibe, a friend of mine, sent me a link to another video from them. I decided to post this one because the quality is a little higher. It's still got the fun, uptempo rockabilly beat the group was known for. Thanks for the flashback, Wibe.

Here is more on Roman Holliday.

Way Back When-sday

These pictures are from somewhere around 1979, I'm guessing. I was 13 or so years old and I was in the Pitt County Memorial Hospital to have my adenoids removed and tubes put in my ears. I had a lot of ear aches growing up and doctors thought this would help solve that problem.
I can remember my mom holding me some nights and rocking me to sleep because my ears were hurting so bad. It felt like I could hear the blood rushing in and out of my head. I can also remember a couple of times when our family doctor, Dr. Troutman, met us at his office late at night to have a look at me. There is nothing like a family doctor in a small southern town.

In the pictures at right you can see that I had a robe and pajamas. I can assure you that is the only time I ever wore a robe and pajamas. Ever.

I mean, what man really puts on a fresh set of clothes to go to bed?

Helicopter landing behind the house

The Maryland State Police helicopter uses the playground of the elementary school behind the house as a landing zone when it gets called here for emergencies. On Sunday night, it was called here to transport the victim of a motorcycle accident. Usually they take victims of serious accidents or assaults to the Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland Medical Center.

Way Back Weekend remix

This is some of the past Way Back When-sday photos strung together. I hope to do this on a few weekends throughout the year. This is the first one.

What can I say.... I'm a big fan of old family photos.

More from our Eagles/Giants road trip

I've finally gotten around to uploading some of the video and photos from our road trip to see the Eagles take on the Giants at The Meadowlands in Jersey. I still have a few pieces of video that I want to post with natural sound instead of music over it. I'll do that later.

At right is a photo of John Pierce kissing my brother Stephen's head. I think he may have even used some tongue. Anyway .... To see a slideshow of more photos from our road trip experience, just click right here.

Something funny for your Friday

You may not think it's safe for work.... but your eyes can deceive you.



Credit for this goes to Kim and Victoria. I got this from them by e-mail and had to upload it to share.

Thursday Thing-along

So it's not quite the typical thing-along .... but I was in the mood for this world of pure imagination.

Way Back When-sday

This picture is from March 21, 1969, and is of me and Michelle Connolly, our next door neighbor, on our swing set. I was a couple months shy of 3 years old here. The way we are dressed it's like it was a date or something. I'm better dressed in this picture than when I go out now.

We will survive....

Four of us took a trip up to the Meadowlands to see our beloved Philadelphia Eagles get spanked by the New York Giants Sunday night. I'll post plenty of pictures and video later but the video above gives you an idea of how much fun it still was despite the loss. This is on our way home about 2:30 in the morning somewhere in New Jersey.