I’ve been robbed! No, really! The theif that commeth in the night commeth here!
Friday night some time my cars were ransacked and relieved of the GPS and MY IPOD! The nerve of some people! I came out Saturday morning to go to breakfast at church and when I opened the door to the truck it was obvious that someone else had been there since I left it Friday night. The plastic tub on the hump is where I keep my stuff. A good flashlight, binoculars, change purse and checkbook. The checkbook had been opened but no checks were missing. The binocular case had been opened but nothing was gone. The change purse was gone with the 2 or 3 dollars in change. The pocket was ravaged but nothing was gone because there was nothing but Tylenol and tissue. My Ipod was gone with the tuning/charger. My GPS was gone but they left the mount on the windshield.
I went on to breakfast. When I got back I intended to call the police to file a report. I saw a couple of guys standing out by the street (which never happens around here) so I went down and asked them if they had been hit too. Seems these guys made a tour of the neighborhood and went thru any car that was open. They took 4 GPSs, 2 Ipods, one pistol and a laptop. They passed on fishing rods with reels worth hundreds. One of the guys left the keys to his truck in the ignition but they weren’t interested. They went thru Andrea’s car and didn’t take anything. I filed a report and I even had the serial number for my Ipod but the cop didn’t give me much hope.
This afternoon just before 5 I got a call from the city police. They have my Ipod! No word yet on the other stuff but ya gotta start somewhere. Personally I would like to go down to the jail and pop this guy up side the head just for messin’ with my stuff but I guess I’ll leave that up to the judge. I won’t get it back for some time and I don’t know what shape it is in but at least we know where it is and that someone is in the slammer!
Ya know, it was 5 or 6 hundres dollars of stuff. But mostly, it was MY stuff. I like my stuff. I paid real money for it. Lets see if I get the rest of it back. I’ll write a nice letter to the paper for the Police Dept.
Unclewesty, over and out

The beat goes on!
The Dodgers are getting clobbered in Philadelphia. Florida could have been beaten yesterday but escaped. Alabama stays undefeated. Auburn got burned.
Church was good this morning. We baptized 2 of the kids this morning. Keelin says she wants to be baptized next time. We quizzed her about what it meant to be baptized and why should you be baptized and she was very knowledgeable. She said her daddy told her about it. Good boy!
After church we took Keelin to lunch with us and then we went to the Pumpkin Patch ‘cause granddad promised. She spent more than an hour on the inflatable slides and obstacle course before moving on to the petting zoo. I thought the llama was going to spit at her but she escaped. A trip on the tractor train and face painting and it was a full afternoon and time to go.
We dropped her off and went on to the church for our Strategic Team meating. The ever lovely Mandy had been invited to join the team by Pastor so this was her first meeting with us. Dad is mighty proud to have her on the team. I have thought she would be a good fit for a long time. I think in time Robby and Tracey will take a seat with us. We need some younger voices in leadership and I have full confidence in both of them.
Pulled the pictures from this afternoon off the camera. She is lovely as ever. I got some good ones. I’ll post them somewhere.
This needs to be a week of miracle provision. I’m tired of wondering what’s next. I know I’m just along for the ride, but I really want to know where the bus is going. Robert and I are conniving and planning. Maybe this will be the week we put shape to it.
The Lord is my strength! I will lift His name on high! Forget not the Lord your God and His covenant for it is He who has given you the ability to create wealth. His goodness endures forever!
Uncle Westy over and out!

1967

I don’t know if I ran out of old stories or just got tired of them for a while.
I graduated from Huntington Beach High School in June of 1967. None of the plans I had tried to put together to stay in California by myself were working out so it was decided that I should go ahead of the family and stay with Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Jimmy for a couple of months until the family could move to Montevallo. This move served several purposes. One, I got away from everyone for a while. Two, I could adjust to the new environment of Alabama (not). I have no idea how much this inconvenienced Jim and Carolyn. I was not very sensitive to the folks around me at the time.
I rode the train to Montgomery! I left the train station in downtown LA and traveled for three days and nights. I had a seat, no stateroom. I can’t remember the name of the train route now but when we got to New Orleans it became the City of New Orleans and went north to Montgomery, Birmingham and points north on its way to New York.
I do know that part of the plan was that I would find a job for the summer, not just sit around on my whatever. I became one of the last of the door to door salesmen for the Fuller Brush company. I sold tooth brushes, hair brushes, vegetable brushes, toilet brushes and brushes that I could only wonder what they could be used for. I wasn’t very good at it. I walked a route everyday, knocking on doors carrying my bag of brushes and my catalog. I don’t remember making any money at it and I don’t remember lasting very long at it but I can keep Fuller Brush Man on my resume forever.
Paul Harvey (the rest of the story) was the speaker at the 4th of July celebration at Crampton Bowl that year. Smack in the middle of the fireworks display something turned over and all of a sudden the fireworks were shooting into the stands. Jimmy jumped on top of a couple of the kids and I got on top of a couple until it slowed down, then we ran for it. I don’t think anyone got hurt but it sure was scary.
1967 was a summer full of Big Bam shows. Back then, a touring concert might have 8 or 10 name bands in one concert. There was always one super band but everyone else was at least on the radio. As I remember, 1967 was Herman’s Hermits as the headliner. Sam the Sham and the Pharos were on the bill as was Billy Joe Royal and the girl who did Billy Joe jumping off Talahatchee bridge. 1968 had Paul Revere and the Raiders with Billy Joe Royal and a bunch of unknowns with a lead singer who broke his guitar on stage and yelled a lot (can you say pete townsend). It was a different kind of rock concert but it sure was popular around here.
Let’s save some for later. Uncle Westy over and out.