TOO SPECIAL TO THROW AWAY

Judy and I are donating an old dresser, and a couple of end tables, to the local community college theater group, so I spent the day going through the drawers, and trying to find other places for the junk stored in them.  I threw a lot of things away, but down near the bottom of a couple of dusty drawers were a few snap shots that I had completely forgotten about.

Here are a few of the most special ones I came across...

Ranking them, I'd have to say me feeding Katie Bug is number 1!  What a special moment that lucky Papaw's get to share with their grand-kids.  Look at those trusting little eyes...how in the world can some people mistreat children...especially little babies?  

This sure makes me miss her today, but she's off at college, preparing for her own life and future family.  We'll never share such a close moment again, so that's what makes this photo of that moment in '92 so special.

Then there were two I found of my dog Lacy...my candidate for "best dog ever"!  

She was very protective of her human family and even looked the part of a vicious guard dog!  However, to us, she was very loving.  I miss her terribly.  I think these two shots from '92 were the best I ever captured of her.  Note the "half-white" left eye...part of what made her so fearsome looking to strangers!

I couldn't help but laugh when I cam across "the nose picker" shot of Mickey Jones and me!  This was from a 1984 gathering to plan our 20th class reunion.  The Class of '64 has always been close and this just proves it.  Here we are clowning just like be did in class some twenty years earlier!

There are going to be some other dusty drawers in our house that will become overly stuffed from cleaning out this old dresser, but some things are just too special to throw away!

DID YOU HAVE A COOL NICKNAME IN HIGH SCHOOL?

I was contacted again by my old friend Mickey Jones Monday. He sent me two separate pieces his brother, Larry Jones, had written and compiled. One was a poem he called “Harriman Nicknames”, and the other was a compilation of the nicknames he could remember from Harriman, Tennessee, and the surrounding Roane County area, that were not used in the poem. Had Larry not been a few years older than Mickey and me, I’m sure ol’ Mushy would be among those listed. After all, Jerry Lou (a.k.a. Cleo) did not hang that moniker on me until 1963!

I found the poem and list to be very entertaining, often breaking out in ear-to-ear grins, and I’m sure if you had lived in the area it would mean a lot to you as well. However, chances are you had friends that got saddled with some of the same nicknames!

The piece has been published once before in a little local tabloid, but I’ve decided to give it some wider distribution. It is my hope that you will comment and/or post about the nicknames you remember from school and your home town. That should give a lot of readers something to chuckle over!

So, ol’ Mushy offers for your pure enjoyment, Larry Jones’…

HARRIMAN NICKNAMES

The Sanitary Barbershop was a place of renown

If you wanted the scoop on anyone in town.

Tom and Claude were the first to know

The nicknames of those folks so long ago.

There was Blackie and Whitey, Brownie and Red

And some were names we all would dread.

Like Skinny and Puny and Slim and Fat

Or Big Sis and Little Sis, now how about that.

Kitty and Squirrel, or Chicken and Goat.

None of these names would cause me to gloat.

Biggun and Littleun, Shorty and Runt

And Pop-up Wright who couldn’t bunt.

A Cowboy, a Sailor, a Monkey and a Snake

Any of these you like, you’re free to take.

Curly and Salty, and a guy named Chug

Remember Sandy and Rusty, or how about Shug?

There was Booger and Junior we remember well

Gimme Nichel was a name that should ring a bell.

Walking Tom often perched on the bridge day by day

And then walk down the road as he went on his way.

Speedy and Sticky and Stogie and Hy

Betsy and Wimpy and a guy called Ty

Peanut and Buddy and Bum and Bo.

Are more of the names from long ago.

Cake Eater and Crit and Gas and Butch

Happy and Dub and Jug and Dutch.

There was Mule and Toad and someone called Hog

Poss and Shep but no one named Dog.

There was Foot and Sox and also Boots

BadEye and HogEye and also Toots.

Bullhead and Humpy, Jabo and Doc

Were more of the folks in this nickname flock.

Derail and Limber I don’t know at all

But Duggan and Floppy I do recall.

Pikey and Tut and Hop and Churn

Are folks whose names I have come to learn.

Sparky and Squirt and Betsy and Sal

Could be names for either a guy or a gal.

Shag and Moon and Turk and Goof

No exactly a name I’d shout from the roof.

These names bring back memories of folks I once knew

Some were just strangers, but only a few.

If you think of others to add over time

Include another verse to this “nickname” rhyme.

Larry D. Jones - 11-12-2005

Okay, so you knew I would have to try a verse myself…

Remember Cleo and Castro and Cay-Woody

Shaky-babe and Henry and just a plain ol’ Woody?

There was Harry Melon and Porky and even Musky

And who could ever forget ol’ Mushy!

Thanks so much Larry for the use of your poem!

I know many of you are sitting there thinking, “How thankful I am I was never tagged with a horrible nickname!”

However, down deep inside, you secretly wish someone had thought enough of you to leave you branded for life with the legacy of a “cool nickname”.

THE HARRIMAN HOOLIGANS

Recently I’ve been in touch with another “Harriman Hooligan”, as he likes to call his Class of ’64 buddies. His name is Mickey Jones, and he once worked for the IRS, but now does something along the same lines for the state. He was tight friends with Bob Hamby and Sid Stanley, and they ran around together in school. I was a friend to all but Sid, who I never really got to know well, but we got along.

Mickey and I lived a couple of houses from each other back in grade school, and we used to play some mean games of cowboy and Army. We loved to get together and play, but especially when we got our parents to take us to David Yeary’s over in Walnut Hill. David lived near a stretch of woods full of honeysuckle tunnels, and it was perfect for playing Army! Those were the days my friend, back when summers actually felt long, with perfect temperatures.

We lost contact, naturally, after high school until one day in 1967 when I got a call out of the blue from Bob, who explained that the trio was going to be in Nashville for the weekend. Basically, they wanted to party, but I think his real purpose was to show Mickey what it was like being in the Air Force! Mickey, as it turned out, had plans to join in the winter of 1969, which he did.

I had been promoted to NCO and had access to cheap fun at the NCO Club, so the party was on!

As I remember it, I was still in my “cock-of-the-walk” attitude, and living my life as a true Gemini! I had a little lady that lived near the base, but spent most of her time on the dance floor of the Airmen and NCO clubs. I also had a “hometown girl”, but they never knew about each other (not until one or both reads this anyway). My personality was 180 degrees at home from the wild party-boy at Sewart AFB, but I was young, could carry it off, and was reconnecting with life after a year of base restriction in Southeast Asia!

The months leading up to my marriage to Corey’s mom in March of ’68 were nothing but a party, with weekends off for rest back in my mild-mannered persona!

What I’m trying to say is…I was ready to party!

Billy Jean (not her real name) naturally accompanied us to the club and sat at the table with us guys – that is until the music started. She was then up dancing beside her chair!

Now, I sometimes danced with her, but more often than not I let her dance with guys that asked her. I was playing that “I don’t give a damn” game that drives some women crazy. They can’t figure out if you like them or not, but she was head over heals in love and did not, or could not, bring it up. It made her mad that I wasn’t jealous (or at least show it), but she was afraid to let it show.Like I’ve written before, I’m ashamed of how I treated her, but it was my great “split-personality”, indifference experiment and it worked like a charm for all those months.

As it turned out Mickey was a dancer too. He leaned over to me and yelled over the band into my ear, “Can I dance with her?”

“Sure,” not asking her opinion. I reached out and touched her arm and said, “Dance with man here!"

She looked at me for a couple seconds, with a hurt look, and then over at Mickey. They danced several times that evening, but the rest of the evening at the club is lost in whiskey and time.

I do remember driving Bill Jean home, too drunk to walk, but I could drive. As a matter of fact, we had to pass through a license check point of Tennessee State Troopers on the way. I remember rolling all the windows down, lighting up a Winston, and finding my license.

When the officer came to my window, I was holding up my license causally between two fingers. I said, “Catching many tonight?”

The officer didn’t say anything, just shined his light on my driver’s license and waved us on! Upon arriving at her house, I opened my door, and promptly fell out of the car!

As it happened, Mickey and I were both at DaNang, only 5 years apart! He worked to turn the airbase over to the South Vietnamese, and left after the transition in June of ’71.

We got together again, sometime after my divorce in ’78, and again partied at his house in Harriman. After that he followed his career to Nashville where he lives today. Maybe we can get together one day soon.

Thanks Mickey, for helping me remember that night, almost 42 years ago!