Driving: the Early Days

My first car was a 1966 Ford Country Sedan station wagon. All red. The summer of 1975 I cut grass and umpired Little League games with the Georgia Tech Bonifay brothers: Cam and Brannon. Used the money to buy the car for $600.00. A great first car. The back window rolled down, and the back gate opened flat or swung out like a door.

 

Between classes I would drive over to the Junior High to pick up kids to take them to band class at the senior high building. One time we loaded 14 kids in my car for the half mile drive. One Thursday I was driving a girl home. I wasn't driving fast but somehow my accelerator stuck. I had no idea what to do. Might've run a busy stop light. Kept driving and finally pulled in her driveway and turned off the car. That fixed that.

 

Another time I was so excited to see a friend that when I drove up to her house I pulled up and jumped out. Took the keys but didn't shift back into park. Luckily the ground was flat. But for the life of me I couldn't figure out how to start the car again.

Today Anna and Ceil arranged flowers for the Hargreaves/Walton graduation party. Anna's picture (above) was better than mine (below).

Was it Tony LaRussa who brought in the era of bringing in more relievers than ever before? Might be easier to keep in starter in the game in Strat-O-Matic than in real life, where you see the starter getting tired. But back in 73 the starters were used to going longer. No problem for Niekro.  

 

Last year for some reason I looked up Frank Tepedino to see what he was up do. Can't remember now, but might've done some motivational speaking. Tepedino was also a firefighter.

Will is on a 2 week break from classes. Tuesday he flew to Dallas. Wednesday he helped his brother-in-law Thomas pack (he's a freshman at TCU). Today they drove to Houston to watch Rockets/Spurs Game Six (below). Tracked Will's drive from Ft. Worth to Houston. He went by way of Austin, perhaps to check out professional opportunities. Friday they drive back to Cartersville.

C and A went shopping at the Avalon Thursday evening. I was trying to leave work before six but the phone rang, giving me something else to do before I left. Then when I went to shut down my laptop there were new programs to automatically install. This took almost 30 minutes. Gave me time to do some filing and clean out my briefcase. Got my desk looking organized for today's CEO visit and tomorrow's open house. I won't get much done tomorrow due to the open house, but I will get to eat some BBQ.

Left work and headed in the direction of the Avalon. Stopped by two thrift stores and RaceTrac. C and A were eating at El Felix, but I didn't join them. Went home and watched some of the Braves replay, Modern Family, blackish, and Designated Survivor. The Braves announcers and reporters kept talking about where to eat near the arena (below), so I was relaying that to Will.

M got off work, stopped by for a shower, then went over to his band member's house to play music and spend the night. He hated missing El Felix.   

 

The Hurts are at Rosemary Beach, on the other side of Seaside.

 

Hear Dimino's diamond notes? Said a complete game using less than 100 pitches was called a "Maddux." Greg is the all-time leader with thirteen. Second all-time is Zane Smith with seven, as I recall.