Friday Check In

Friday was a great day. My daughter and son-in-law had a baby girl. She is our first grandchild. In a few years I will have someone new to introduce to Looney Toons, Scooby Doo, Disney and, of course, The Bickersons.

Then there is teaching how to shoot pool and what we can do to torment grandma. I am certain that whatever she does she will be able to get away with a lot more than I havevever been able to with my wife.

Congratulations, Woody! What a splendid day to celebrate--a new Princess come to improve the world.

Not too similarly, She Who Must Be Obeyed (Mrs. Ghemrats to those uninitiated) and I celebrated our own milestone of 44 years of wedded bliss yesterday. And being the strong-willed romantic that I am still after 44 years, I treated her to a sumptuous repast from KFC. I spare no expense, boy.

But I did get her three Precious Moments figurines she'd been eyeing, and a framed, matted autographed photo of *Ted Lasso* and the two female leads (in separate signed "Rookie Cards"), which I hoped would remind her of her cherished autographed, framed photo of Helen Hunt and Paul Reiser from *Mad About You* I bought for her thirty years ago.

In return she bestowed upon me a limited edition CGC 9.8 rated Red Foil Paul Green comic which is the only one in existence. For most of the evening we cooed at each other while watching a DVD of the 1998 TV series *Cupid*. You may now collectively AWWWWW.

Life is good. Our younger son and his wife celebrated six devoted years of marriage on our same anniversary (they chose that date as a good omen for staying power), and our elder son returns from six weeks' teaching philosophy in Rome, Italy, tomorrow, so it will be great having him back in the States.

Hope your Princess finds life rewarding, but then with you, Woody, as a grandpa, she's assured of that.
Jeff

Jeff,

Happy Anniversary. 44 years is quite the accomplishment.

Holy Cow!!! Skip one day and miss all of the excitement.

Congratulations Woody for the new grand. Trust me, I know the sense of joy, pride and potential shenanigans.

Howdy Jeff, it's been a while. Well, not really. We did have that nice conversation outside of here a couple of days ago. "She Who Must Be Obeyed" my patootie. Any woman who buys her husband ultra high graded comic books is an absolute keeper. Mine "She Who Must Not Be Angered" is pretty generous to me as well. But usually, she just gives me permission to buy whatever hare brained idea of a toy I'm currently craving. But on to the best part. Congratulations to you, the missus, the younger and his missus. And best wishes for many more celebrations.

GB, the quality and sheer volume of OTR research you accomplish never ceases to amaze me. And I just want to say Thank You, for all of your efforts. Setting aside the personal enjoyment of the results of yours and others efforts, you're actually preserving a window into our shared history. And personally, I see that as the most important result of those efforts.

Finally, in my world this week, I mowed a lot of grass AGAIN. I hate to say it, but I'm actually looking forward to winter. Of course that will change the first time we have an all day rain with temps in the upper 30's/lower 40's. But I can bask in my chilly/no grass growing delusion until reality sets in.

We're planning to make a drive 20 miles east, to try out a family owned restaurant simply named "Soul Food". I'll be basing my review primarily on five items. Fried chicken, greens, black eyed peas, corn bread and sweet tea. If those manage to make me feel nostalgic, we'll go again in the future to try out more of their menu.

Be safe, be well and be happy,
Space

Space,

So how was Soul Food? Are you planning a return trip?

And how did your brisket turn out?

Woody wrote:Space,

So how was Soul Food?  Are you planning a return trip?

And how did your brisket turn out?

The brisket was good but I need to work on my rub. I'd never done beef before and it feels like it needs a bit of herbal love. But my neighbors were ecstatic about it. I put it on the Traeger, so it was pretty much a no brainer. The smoke was perfect and I was surprised that the mesquite pellets I used didn't cause any bitterness. It ran into a temperature stall at 152 degrees. So I wrapped it in foil, added an apple juice/apple cider vinegar bath and ran the smoker temp up to 325. It's a Texas treat, so putting the spurs to it seemed like the thing to do. After I got past the stall, I dropped the smoker temp back to 225 and it coasted on up to an internal temp of 200 in a couple of hours. I expected it to take about 11 hours. But it made it to the finished temp in 9 1/2. I did the Boston Butt in the electric smoker and it was a breeze. I like to experiment at times. This time, my experiment was cole slaw. Instead of my usual large sweet batch, I did two medium sized batches. OK, it was really my one large batch divided. I added minced habanero peppers to one batch for those who like it spicy. One of my neighbors loved it and begged me for the recipe. Everyone else who tried it drank a LOT of sweet tea and didn't ask for seconds. Guess who got to take the left over spicy batch home?

We had to postpone the trip to Soul Food. My daughter in law had carpal tunnel surgery a week ago and still has some discomfort and didn't want to go. We didn't want to leave her home alone, so we'll try again after she feels more comfortable. It'll probably be a while before we go. She has the other wrist scheduled for surgery this Friday.

Folks, fabulous to see a lot of activity in here. Jeff welcome back your dreams were your ticket it out. Great to see you posting.

Woody and Space I am enjoying the cooking channel you two have got going.

It's been a long hot busy week here. I am going to do ZERO on the weekend. Read some books, drink some ginger beer and veg.

Stay safe my friends....

Happy Day After Friday! We're finally moving The Funny Farm toward actual farm. We have three calves being delivered on Tuesday and the donkey search is very active. We added a 40 foot shipping container for additional long term storage.

My wife has been encouraging me to start what I called "treasure hunting" again. The modern term is "picking" based on the TV series. I was doing it long before it was popularized. But I stopped after tons of people thought they could make a fortune doing the same thing. Most of them just wasted a lot of money, became frustrated and gave up. When I was "treasure hunting" I specialized in vintage comics, books, toys and militaria. Those are the areas in which I have pretty broad knowledge. But I know quite a bit about a few other areas of the collectible world and would sometimes buy and sell those as well. I doubt I'll go back to it on any kind of major scale. But I'll probably at least go out on some weekends and look around a bit.

Boss, the conversation Woody and I have been having makes me feel very nostalgic. It reminds me of many winding and wandering conversations which used to go on in various threads in the past. In the Swap Forum I like to see the threads kept pretty much on subject. But tossing in a bit of humor and conversation tends to make the trading and sharing a lot more fun. But this is Mars' Place. In here I encourage conversation and downright silliness. In here it's all about spending time and having fun with friends.

Holy Frijoles! I managed to put two entirely different kinds of nostalgia in one post.

Be safe, be well and be happy,
Space

Space, what a modern medical miracle you are. Most people have only two calves, but now you have gone and outdone everyone by having three! It might be indelicate, but is the new one an implant? Is it like a spare tire in a Hupmobile? And how does this new addition complicate your walking and strolling?

You know, that reminds me very little of a guy I went to high school with; talking about nostalgia, here's a name from the past--Ken Stuckey. He was into gene splicing and his big interest was denim, a hobby that was strengthened when he married Jacqueline Hyde, whose father owned a tanning company. There he popularized three-legged denim pants for which he trademarked the brand Jean Splicing. It never caught on, so for a time he worked for Jackie's father until the overpowering odor of urine (which they used to stretch and condition the leather) drove him to buy a farm--kind of like you, Space--to erase the lingering smells from Tanning & Hyde.

That's where he embarked on his newest and most successful venture--artificial boneless chickens. I remember visiting him and Jackie once, marveling at how comically boneless chickens ran around, flopping their necks with their wild abandon and crashing into one another. Eventually he opened a side business, which of course you've connected the dots to remember, a local legend that will live in perpetuity: Ken Stuckey's Fraud Chicken.

Remember settling down to Sunday dinner with a pail (not a bucket) of those suckers with an RC Cola and some Moon Pies? Man, them's good eats!--one of my favorite advertising slogans of all time. Too bad he was run out of business by that other, less tasty brand that has somehow taken the market by storm.

Anyway, Space, glad to hear you're well and prospering. Maybe one day we in Cobaltia can say I remember him from those early days when he had only two calves but danced with his Mrs. at the Jump Jivin' Whale Club even when there was no music playing. . . .

Good times, man. Good times.
Jeff, who's now inwardly singing "We'll go dancing in the dark, walkin' through the park and reminiscinggggggggg"

Jeff, I forgot to mention that the calves will be named Larry, Moe and Curly. We also have a cat named Fritz. And the only critter on the property to be named by me is the donkey. {Insert tasteless one liners here}

Sorry I am tardy on posting.  Friday my daughter had a doctors check up so I took the day off and babysat my new grand daughter.  It was a great day. I don’t think I put her down once.

Space, that is quite the feast you prepared.  I am glad the brisket turned out well for you.  That is one thing I disliked putting on my smoker. I hated getting up at 4 in the morning to smoke it for 12 hours so it would be ready for dinner.  That and it never seemed to turn out as well as I wanted.  

Now I can smoke a mean turkey. Well, nice ones too.  It’s whatever the store has in stock at the time.

Jeff, I am rolling.

I thought Ken Stuckey was the furniture maker. He didn’t last last long because he could never get the varnish to fully dry. Or was that guys name Ken Sticky? What can I say, my memory isn’t as sharp as it used to be.

Space Cadet wrote:Jeff, I forgot to mention that the calves will be named Larry, Moe and Curly. We also have a cat named Fritz. And the only critter on the property to be named by me is the donkey. {Insert tasteless one liners here}

I can’t think of a suitable reply that doesn’t involve another name for a donkey. That would be tasteless but you’re too nice for that. Now if I had a couple of beers that wouldn’t matter. I guess it’s a good thing I am replying on a week night.

You need more animals. I thing the stooges deserve some Marx Brothers (don’t forget Zeppo) and then Stan and Ollie or Bud and Lou. You could end up with quite the menagerie.

An interesting time away over this last weekend, cluminating with the Bravos beating up on my Metsies really really bad including an hour-long rain delay and us leaving early since GB the Younger and his intended had to do something called "work" the next day. The following night we went to Charlotte's AAA team where those ChiSox prospects played the Syracuse Mets in a marvelous downtown ballpark on a hint-of-Fall evening. The real prospects are in AA and AAA has evolved over the years to become prospects whose skill at hitting decent curveballs is finally put to the test, almost-washed-up players who want that one last chance as they recover from the latest injury or are trying to adjust their swings or pitches to compete again, and washed-up players whose next chance rests solely on someone getting hurt up in the bigs.

Last Friday's The Big Story event went well -- hope you enjoyed it, too. Sunday is a big day in Suspenseville -- a recreation of a missing episode from the mostly missing Summer 1942 season. The link is under tight security -- but as soon as I find out what it is, I'll post it every place I can find it in Intergalactic OTRdom.

You can tell real Summer has now broken here and we're about to ease our way into the extended Fall that made us consider living here in NC so compelling. And that also means the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia convention is just weeks away...

HAPPY FRIDAY (And only two days late this time)...

GB, I'm right there with you on the weather. We seem to be over the hump for the most part, on the unbearable Summer heat. We'll still have a few days like that but Fall seems to be knocking on the door.

Jeff, I hate to be the correction dweeb, but it's Ken Stuckey's Sudden Fright Chitlins. Ken's catch phrase is, "You'll Love Em', Butt They Taste Like Crap". There's an all you can eat special daily. Anyone who can eat ten pounds of chitlins in an hour eats for free. Ken will also cover your emergency room tab. Many have tried and a few survived.

After many course changes and much confusion, we finally managed to bring three cattle onto the property. Instead of three lil' steers, we ended up with three lil' Angus heifers. Their names are tentatively Laverne, Shirley and Burger. But the debate still rages. I don't really care, as long as I eventually get to grill and eat pieces of em'.


I think we have a celebrity on the property as well. I'm pretty sure one our chickens was in the movie Moana. It amazes me, the things this bird does on a daily basis and survives. I've seen her actually trip and fall many times. Yesterday, she fell out of a tree, bounced off the roof of the chicken coop and rolled across the ground. I never would have believed these stunts, if I hadn't actually seen them happen. Who knew that living in the country would be so comedic in nature?

Be safe, be well and be happy,
Space

Folks late again. It's been busy so I guess this is all good. Summer enjoy it while you can I say. We have been on many beaches this summer and that has been very relaxing.

Happy to be reading everyone's exploits.

We are back on the road again to another beach house.

Stay safe my friends

Ugh! The replacement reel deck seemingly arrived DOA. Still working on the tricks of the trade being supplied to me from multi-decade friends and acquaintances to its revival. It really is amazing how the mid-tier 1970s reel equipment has lasted even this long. The transfer of reels is not just a race against our own time, but also a race against the viability of the equipment we use.

I was chatting with a few people this week and it became pretty clear if you want to get deep into the classic radio recordings hobby with disc transfers your first step is $1500 to find a working turntable. If you want to transfer reels it's $600 at least to find a good deck. If you want to listen to the fruits of the labors of the people who do such things: $0. All you need is a smartphone that you would need anyway.

We do it for the love of it, not the economics of it. Which reminds me of the "vulnerable man of the 1980s" comment... "I get hurt because sometimes I love too much." Well, ain't that our relationship with OTRdom on some days?

I did get some transfers of Theater Five done with the deck that's acting up... wow! These are episodes I transferred months ago from a different collection, but obviously closer to source. There may be just one generation difference and the loss of richness and addition of tape noise is noticeable. It really does pay off to find these early collections. And those reel transfers I'm working to replace were big upgrades from what was circulating.

One of the fun things about T5 has been finding uncredited bit parts in the plays by Fred Foy! He often plays an authoritative cop, but he played a nurse assistant comforting a patient before a procedure!

Another reel came up of a neglected late-1950s series Indictment. Eight uncirculated episodes! Unfortunately no episode of the now 15 circulating episodes is that there are no clean copies from a studio tape or a direct AFRTS disc transfer. Most all seem to be home airchecks of some sort. One of the eight was a script that would be used two years later with adjustments for a NY Suspense production. It's one of those series that every episode had a title but it was never announced, and you can only track the programs with certainty through the first lines of the dramatic dialogue.

The "First Lines Project" that OTRR started in the mid '00s was abandoned as some of the folks who worked on it had to give up OTR for various reasons, including their passing. Luckily, those files survive, and one of the OTRR volunteers has done heroic work in merging the OTRR logs with RadioGoldindex and the first lines. If you've never seen it, go to this link, give it time to load, and choose "Broadway is My Beat." http://www.otrr.org/?c=first

Getting ready for MANC and the Parley Baer presentation. What a marvelous life on the edge of the spotlight

Labor Day is next weekend. And I'm of the age who knew Summer was over because the Jerry Lewis Telethon was on.

GB, great OTR info I always find these posts super interesting and know all the work it takes to produce files that are consumed with no thought to how much work and effort and money went into this "hobby"

I am down country on the beach you can feel the air changing. Days are still warm but the wind off the ocean is cooler and I do enjoy these days.

Sitting looking out over the ocean as the sun sets its magic.

Stay safe my friends....

Lots of excitement on the Funny Farm this week. All three of our new calves got sick and we've been playing country doctor. They seem to be getting better and we're hopeful all will be well. But who really knows?

The BIG excitement is that our oldest grandson arrived from Las Vegas to spend some time with us. He and I have always been very close and we've really missed him since he moved to Vegas 2 1/2 years ago. Saying that his Poppa is ecstatic is an understatement.

Be safe, be well and be happy,
Poppa Space Cadet

I haven't posted on this thread for awhile, so I thought I'd check in this week. I enjoy hearing about what everyone's been up to.

Just finished the first week of teaching for the fall semester. I've had to slow down with my Dennis Day log with all the class prep, but have been making progress. I'm up to over 42,000 words, cataloging first lines, cast, summary, songs, and research notes for each episode from the scripts. I'm looking forward to sharing the research with everyone!

My oldest two children (13 and 11) have been getting into audio editing and radio drama creation lately. This week they premiered their second radio show.

I've been enjoying keeping up with the Theater Five project and all the Whistler upgrades, as well as listing to some Orson Welles shows.

Stay safe, everyone!

Hi all. I hope everyone is doing well.

I really have nothing to report. There is nothing much going on in my life other than work has been absolutely thrashing me lately. I get home just wiped out.

@SpaceCadet: love the calves.

@Semus: ocean sunsets...sweet!

@greybelt: About turntables for transcription discs. I successfully recorded some 16" transcription disks using a school record player. You know, those Califone (and other brands) portable record players they used to use? I picked one off of Ebay for about $50 or so. My brother made me an adapter plug for the external speaker jack to convert it to some RCA style plugs and had some resistors to lower the output to line voltage. The examples are in this post: https://cobaltclubannex.forumotion.com/t319-some-commercials-from-late-50-s#8420

@Woody: Congrats on the grand-kid!

I am at a lovely place. Only annoying thing is my neighbor flies in on his helicopter and his friends fly in with theirs.

I am late checking in.  Two of my sisters-in-law were visiting this weekend.  One is in the process of buying a house near us, but not too close.  They got to meet the newest addition to the family.

I brought out the electric smoker for the first time in years.  Did a turkey breast and a pork loin.  They turned out pretty well.  It also reminded why I bought one that used a propane tank.

Seamus,  enjoy your beach getaway.

Space, sorry your bovines are ill. Could it be the left over spicy slaw?  Enjoy your visitor.  How old is he?

Chad, thank you.

Memorial Day was the "unofficial start of Summer" and here we are at Labor Day, the "unofficial end of Summer." Can't anyone follow the rules any more? They make up all this "unofficial" stuff and expect us to go along with it. We'll show them! We'll treat this like any other weekend.

We watched The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe on BritBox this week. It is an impossible story that just can't happen... but it did, and that's why it's both amusing and sad and and occasionally captivating. The real-life story behind it is at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Darwin_disappearance_case  If you get a chance to watch it, don't watch the "bonus" items on the Britbox page for the series until after you watch the episodes. One of the bonuses is a ten minute behind-the-scenes video and it includes the reporter who became involved in breaking the story. A couple of things he mentions are even stranger than what the series portrayed. The scriptwriter is interviewed and he's definitely right when he says that anyone who proposed such a storyline to a producer would have been rejected for an implausible story. But it happened... and the series is true to the flow of facts... and it's quite good. The characters drip with deceit, but it's not their fault as they see it, and one stupid mis-step sends the entire scheme into freefall.

These past few days I've been finishing up the slides for the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention presentation about actor Parley Baer. All I can say is..."wow!" What an amazing and reslilient career. Gunsmoke was his personal highlight where that cast just loved being together and playing off each other. The way we figure it he probably did more that 10,000 radio performances including his start at KSL in Salt Lake City where he was a writer/producer/director/actor/reporter/events coordinator/whatever needed being done. He didn't get to Hollywood until 1947 about a year after his military service ended. And then he worked until the late 1990s when his last gig was on Star Trek: Voyager cast as "old man #1." And my, how he loved supporting the old time radio conventions and the fans.

Lots of stuff going on, and I'll go into hiatus mode for a few days mid-September, all good stuff.

We had an exciting and busy day on and off the Funny Farm yesterday. We had to drive for an hour and a half to pick up my oldest son from the airport. He's retiring from the army after 20 years of service on New Years Eve. At that point, he and his wife will take on the property full time. My wife and I will finally have the freedom to relax and hopefully enjoy our retirement. He's here for a month, burning up some accumulated leave time and working on projects on the property. But there will be ample time to explore the local area and have some fun too.

We lost one of the calves, but the other two are doing fine. Such is the reality of life on a farm.

Woody, my oldest grandson Landon is fourteen. And he has a 160 IQ. We were very close until two years ago, when his family moved to Las Vegas. He's home schooling while he's with us for a few months and is on track to graduate high school at 16. He and I are nerding out in a most glorious manner. We intend to have a few adventures while he's here as well. But his primary reason for being here, is so that he and his Poppa can try to find the degree path he'll follow.

Be safe, be well and be happy,
Space