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Scotty Croom

hi gang got home safe ,sound and wet last nite before 10pm...

Susan Howard (Bowman)

Teddie Jordan

Scotty and Sharon, so glad and thankful that y'all are back in the Good Ol' US of A.!  And to make it complete in your "Sweet Home Alabama!!"

There truly is No Place LikeHome!

Mary Weidner (Williams)

Welcome home Scotty and Sharon!!

Wayne Lake

Scottie, welcome back to “Sweet Home Alabama”…………It ain’t Texas but if it was  good enough for Hank, it’s good enough for me! About six years ago, I blew my Left Ventricle Valve out in a tiny, remote (no motorized vehicles’) island in the Indonesia chain with two weeks left of vacation/shopping in S.E. Asia promised to my wife. I couldn’t breathe/sleep and was worried sick I would end up in some make believe, understaffed hospital cardiac chopping block with only acupuncture for anesthesia! Scary stuff when you get sick away from home. I hope all is better for you and your wife now.

Jerry, good stuff, I liked everything you posted and would add three points to your list:

1. Money. If friends or family are in need of money and you think they deserve a helping hand, gift it to them, don’t lend it with the expectation of getting it back.  The reason they got into a financial jam is the same reason, they probably will not pay you back. Shakespeare’s Hamlet has a line ‘Neither a borrower nor lender be’ and this general statement is reportedly from similar Bible verses.
2. Friends. Family is important but friends are equally important and you can have as many as you like, both male and female. Old friends are even better than new ones as in the Dolly and Kenny duet hit, “You can’t make Old Friends”.
3. Advice. Nobody wants to hear it anyway so, keep it to yourself as best you can and never start off saying: ”Back in my day”…..

Pat, stay out hospitals, there are sick people in those places.

I recently read a google blog titled ‘40 Things Boomers Should Not Do”. I think I scored about 35 out of 40. It’s ok since I figure the 20 something that wrote it probably couldn’t find Canada on a map so I guess I’ll keep on dressing the same old funky way and doing the same dumb things.     

Speaking of old friends, I visited Keith Kupec before I left for the North around Memorial Day and he is still doing ok, fairly alert, in good humor, mostly in a wheel chair, talking/mumbling continuously and apparently in good care. While there, a VA Rep stopped by and they talked about getting him a personal wheelchair of his very own.

I binged watched 1883 recently, more sickness, death and killings than Lonesome Dove and God Father combined. Not as good as Yellowstone but Tim McGraw did a good job, he’s no Kevin Kostner but ok. Faith Hill was cast well (looked the part) but she sings better than she acts. The pioneer folks that headed West had a rough time especially compared to travelers today that complain profusely that they were delayed a bit or lost their bags. Times have really changed us and made us a bunch of weak crybabies and somewhat pitiful. If expansion of North America in accord with the 1850’s Manifest Destiny was left to current day Americans, nobody would ever leave NYC.    

I’m headed for Voyeguers Nat’l Park on the Canadian border next week where some lakes are 8+’ above normal but declining some. It should be a buggy week and maybe good for fishing but who knows.

I hope we can keep this Waltrip64 blog going after losing Beau, our famous leader without it turning into an Obit column as it is good hearing about others’ perspectives, success’, hobbies, adventures, travel, entertainment and fun times.

From Lake Wobegon, wtl                  

Diane Cunningham (Wann ('72))

Good stuff Wayne! Aren't you glad you are not in our heat!  I hope everyone is handling this heat and maybe some have had rain.  I am now having to water around the pool to keep the soil from pulling too far away from the sides so the pool doesn't crack, YIKES!  This drought is ridiculous!  My weather station hit 111 today and in the shade on the porch 104!  Enough already!  Stay cool everyone!

Diane

Susan Howard (Bowman)

Johnny Sheffield

Hi everyone 

It is time to party again.

Waltrip class of 1964 fall fling 

date and time: Saturday October 29th 2022 

time: 3:00 pm 

where: Harris county bbq 

             14243 fm 2920 tomball Texas 

Please rsvp to Johnny Sheffield by message forum or

text me at 979-203-7209 or e mail Johnnysheffield46@gmail.com

look forward to seeing you all  

Johnny

Teddie Jordan

That is great news Johnny and we plan on coming. That will be the perfect time of year to catch up and celebrate Fall and cooler air and hopefully having also broken  the drought by then too. 

Johnny Sheffield

Thanks teddie 

look forward to seeing you and Fran,

Johnny

Diane Cunningham (Wann ('72))

Put me on the list Johnny!    Hope some of you have been getting some rain.  I had .03 of an inch today!  Didn't do much for grass, plants, and trees, but filled up the rain barrels.  So I can water plants in pots.

Some of you know that Chappell Hill has "The Best Small Town July 4th Parade in Texas"   The Chappell Hill Garden Club has had floats in the parade the last few years.  This year we did a float using my trailer and truck.  So Beau's truck and trailer got decorated in our garage and then I drove the truck in the parade.  Our theme was "Bee Kind in the Sweet Land of Liberty"  We built a beehive on the trailer and decorated with flowers and bees.  The truck was decorated in Patriotic theme including Uncle Sam.  Club members dressed up as bumble bees.  We won 2nd place for a themed float. 

I was going to post pictures here, but can't make it work. So I will put them on my profile.  Just something cute to look at!  Stay Cool! Praying for rain!

Diane

Johnny Sheffield

Hi Diane 

have you on the list for the fall fling  

Johnny 

Diane Cunningham (Wann ('72))

Hey Johnny, I hope you and everyone else are getting some rain.  No rain in Chappell Hill! Dad got rain in Oak Forest today. 

Those of you with siblings in my class, we are having our 50th in September!  Looking forward to that and to your Fall gathering in October.

All of you on vacation, we need some stories

Do a rain dance!

Diane

Susan Howard (Bowman)

Mary Weidner (Williams)

Johnny, my husband and I plan on being at the Fall Fling!

Mary Weidner (Williams)

Johnny, my husband and I plan on being at the Fall Fling!

Johnny Sheffield

Thanks mary

look forward to seeing you both.

johnny

Bennie Schielack

Dianne, hope you received a deluge from the current storms, and some additional rain before the low heads toward Corpus.  

Catching up after not reading anything on here for a couple of months.  Just a thought on ending up in a hospital in a foreign land . . . . . Insurance coverage or universal health care provided by the citizens via government of the visiting country ? ? ? ? ?

Two things happened to me at about the same time.  Preface this by saying I always enjoyed a variety of music, but "rock n roll" and other "pop" styles never impressed me.  I enjoy the Dixieland we played in band, big band music, classical and show tunes.  Jazz is OK, but I really enjoy "march" music and country music.  

I was surviving a divorce while working in the computer industry.  I spent a lot of time dealing with people via phone and when dealing with people in New York and other locations in the North, it seemed that NO ONE could understand my name.  Everyone wanted to call me Vinnie instead of Bennie so I changed the usage to Ben.  

Ben is the name I have been known by ever since.  During the same period of time, I began to search for new activities for a single person.  I walked into a dance hall country bar one Saturday evening and found a "flyer" discussing C & W dance lessons.  I showed up the next day, at that same club and began a career in an activity I fell in love with.  Dancing changed my entire personality and life style.  I continued my dance education until about 5 years ago, just prior to enduring a partial knee replacement.  Slowed me down for a couple of months, but Covid shut my dance teaching career and social floor time down completely.  Just slowly getting back into the grove.  A little Smooth Ballroom but mostly C & W when we can get to town.

Just an aside, one evening, I was out at a place called "The Rose On Richmond" and ran into someone from Waltrip, maybe from our class.  I do not recall who it was, but I did enjoy a conversation sitting at the bar before the dance floor called me.

May God bless us with health and if you are in Texas, RAIN.  I spend an hour or two each day watering pots, beds and lawns.

Go, Coogs . . . . . looking forward to college football and basketball.

Another aside, I do believe our little get together band, who crashed a Ram basketball game at Delmar gym (we swore we were the official pep band for our BB team), was the very first BB pep band in HISD.  

Jimmie Sue Roach (Nation)

Johnny, Please add my name to the list for the Oct. get together. I will be bringing my friend, Sandra, with me. Looking forward to seeing everyone. 

Wayne Lake

Vinnie from the Wharton Bronx, I also took dance classes many moons ago but about the only thing that stuck was basic 2 step and only then if my partner was quick/adept enough to avoid my stumbling 2 left feet and size 12 boots (one time she was a bit slow to respond, hollered and came up beating on my chest). I never mastered polka, waltz, fox trot, jitterbug etc but did have fun making a fool of myself doing the tango aka Groucho. Dancing keeps you  young, I remember an instructor saying, you only look old when you sit down and seeing a guy at the SPJST @ 15^th and Beall that kept an O2 tank at the his table to charge up his lungs when the band stopped playing music.    

Johnny from Fayette Co, thanks for organizing the BBQ. I hope to meet up with Frank Lynn and Bradley Seals and drive in – no commitment from Frank or Bradley though.

Anybody from Anywhere, I am also challenged wrt computer skills, can you give me step by step instructions on how to include a saved picture in the body of a post. You can send it to my email: wtlgonefishin@gmail.com.

Currently enjoying reading ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ by David Grann, a very well written history about the Osage tribe of NW Oklahoma who became rich from oil $ discovered in the 1920’s and were consequently murdered.    

Aransas finally got 3+” rain after about a 3 month drought.

From the North country, wtl  

Ronna Brand

Hi Eveyone.  I hope all of you have seen at least some rain from last week's scattered rain.  I got 3 1/2 inches and was so thankful to get it!!!

I will be attending the fall BBQ and am really looking forward to seeing all my Waltrip friends - what a blessing we have in this site that keeps us all connected.  See you there!!

Don Ellisor

I will be attending the gathering . I hope to get the time and place right this time. One feels really foolish when you arrive three hours late. I don't do late very well ever.

Johnny Sheffield

Hi everyone

look forward to seeing Don and Shirley 

Wayne , ronna and Jimmie sue and Sandra at the fall fling. 
it will be a fun time for all of us, 

hard to believe that in 2 more years , it will be our 60th reunion.

Johnny 

Jimmie Lee Smith (Brawner)

It is with great, great sadness that I have to pass on the news that John Adams passed away in Baytown Methodist ICU last evening.  He was admitted over a week ago with pneumonia and his condition worsened along with the ravages of the cancer he's been fighting for a few years.  Lynell Carapezza Johnson visited with John yesterday morning and she's been in contact with John's remaining family.  John's niece will give us information about his memorial service and I will post that when it's finalized.  

Scotty Croom

we have had rain nearly every day in daphne area....keeps temps down,but makes it steamy...sorry to hear about john adams passing...remember when he came to black in late 50's...he was his own person,but was sucessful in home mortgage business...he lost some of his soul whem mary lou passed away..rip john..