HAPPY BIRTHDAY EDWARD!!!

Today our son Edward celebrates what I call one of those magical numbered birthdays. Yesterday the family helped him by gathering and getting his celebration started.

Some facts you might not know.

*** He was born at the Independence Sanatorium in Independence Mo.

*** He was an Indian guide

*** He played the saxophone,and piano in his high school band.






*** He qualified to run at the Mo. high school state cross country race.

***He holds the record at his high school for best cross country time.

{his school eliminated cross country racing after he set the record.

*** He was an actor in a high school play.
*** In his younger days he played baseball, soccer, and was a four year player in basketball for his high school.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!

Remember the "Best is yet to come" We are proud of you. Love!!! Mom and Dad

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER

I have had camera troubles loading from camera too computer so this post is about a month old.

Our granddaughter Kelsey better known as the senior princess plays the Oboe in her high school orchestra.

Photos are dark as I was at least 20-25 feet away.

In the first photo she is the second from the left.







In second photo she is the one with shorter hair and second from the left.

Third photo she is still the second from the left.

MARCH MADNESS!!!!!!!

In 1967 Nancy and I were living in Independence Mo. and one of the cities I was traveling too was Lawrence Ks. In March of 67 Kansas University. was the host of the Midwest Regionals. Nancy and I had the opportunity on a Saturday night to attend the famous Phog Allen Field house and witness our first NCAA basketball regional. Unfortunately I did not keep my program or ticket stub. We did see Houston beat Kansas 68 to 53 and SMU beat Louisville 83-81. Houston went to the final four but UCLA won again.

In 1973 on a Saturday March 24TH St Louis hosted the Final Four for their first time. A young friend fifteen year old Kerry Anderson and I went to the old Arena without a ticket even thought the local sports talk radio was saying that tickets were selling for $50.00 to $100.00. His father Neal thought we had no chance for a ticket at face value. We parked in Forest Park and walked to the Arena in case we could not get a ticket. We were not past the parking lot before I had bought two tickets for face value.Please note the price of ticket was $10.00 and the program was $1.00. The games on Saturday was UCLA 70 Indiana 59 and Memphis State 98 and Providence 85. On our way out I bought a ticket for the finals to be played Monday Mar.26TH for face value from one of the losing teams fan. On Monday night I again saw a basketball double header and also #18 on a list of greatest NCAA tournament games. Bill Walton of UCLA hit 21 out of 22 shots for 44 points on the way to leading UCLA to a 87 66 victory over Memphis State.

I have heard rumours that Kerry and his son Matthew have been to a few sporting events without tickets in advance.

In 1978 St Louis once again was the host for the NCAA Final Four basketball tournament.My memory is that my friend Bob Schwenker and I went to the game at least the semifinals and bought tickets out front for ticket price or less. Kentucky beat Duke 94-88 in the finals.

In 1982 St Louis hosted only a regional but their is an interesting story behind the event. My friend Bob Schwenker and I arrived at the Arena about two hours before tip-off and bought two tickets for face value within moments. We went for a burgher at a fast food joint were I noticed our tickets had limited view written on the back.We went back to the Arena sold our tickets and now had to try to find and buy two more. It was moments before game time when Bob bought two tickets for less than face value from a fan that had friends on an air plane unable to land in St Louis because of fog. My memory is we were eight to ten rows from the floor with the center line right in front of us.

I include the 1984 experience as Bob and I brought my son Edward about fifteen at the time and future son in law Joe and taught them how to buy tickets outside.We were successful in buying four separate tickets and before the second game started we were all sitting together.

If I have some time I will have some more NCAA experiences before the tournament ends.

In going to sporting events without a ticket it is always a good idea to have my friend Bob with you. Some day I will write about our world series adventures.

I MIGHT GET LUCKY
Tonight I will be answering phones for FOX2 NEWS for their "Ask the banker segment". Sometimes they put the camera on the banker and feature their answer on their newscast.
It could be at 6:00 or maybe at 9:00. Hope to be lucky tonight.

AN UPDATE ON MY 2009 GOALS

My goal for February was to lose two lbs. and I hit my goal.!!!

In February I wanted to read two books and I accomplished that goal.

I will give a brief book report.

1---"ESCAPE" by Carolyn Jessop

A true story of Carolyn's life growing up in a Utah polygamy family until age seventeen and then being a polygamists wife for seventeen years to a fifty two year old man. She finally engineered an escape along with her four children and how she made a life for her family in the outside world. It was eye opening for me as I did not realize polygamy was still alive in the USA. I would rate this book a seven on a ten rating scale.
2---' THE ASSOCIATE" by John Grisham

I did not feel John was any where close to the suspense and excitement he usually generates. For me the story was unbelievable that it would have actually developed in the real world the way John wrote the plot. Usually I cannot put a John Grisham novel down but in this case I had no trouble in moving on. I would give it a rating of five on a scale of ten.