What Do These Famous People Have in Common?

Name                               Age At Death                           Profession

Nick Adams                          37                              Actor
John Belushi                         33                               Comedian
Len Bias                               23                               Basketball Player
Charles Boyer                      79                               Actor
Ken Caminiti                        41                               Baseball Player
Truman Capote                    60                               Writer
John Cassavetes                   60                               Actor/Director
Kurt Cobain                         27                               Musician
Tommy Dorsey                     51                              Musician
Chris Farley                         33                               Comedian
Judy Garland                        47                              Singer/Actress
Margaux Hemmingway        42                              Actress
Jimi Hendrix                         28                              Musician
Abbie Hoffman                    53                               Political Activist
Billie Holiday                       44                               Singer
Whitney Houston                 48                               Singer
Howard Hughes                   71                               Industrialist
Andy Irons                           32                               Surfer
Michael Jackson                  51                               Singer
Janis Joplin                           27                               Singer
Jack Kerouac                       47                               Author
Dorothy Kilgallen                52                               Journalist
Alan Ladd                            51                               Actor
Heath Ledger                       29                               Actor
Bruce Lee                            33                           Actor/Martial Artist
Anna Nicole Smith              40                  Actress/Playboy Playmate
Billy Mays                           51                              Sales/Pitchman
Joseph McCarthy                49                               Politician
Jim Morrison                       28                               Musician
Marilyn Monroe                  36                               Actress
River Phoenix                     23                               Actor
Darrell Porter                      50                              Baseball Player
Elvis Presley                       42                              Singer
Freddie Prinze                     23                              Actor/Comedian
Sid Vicious                          22                                Musician
Sara Teasdale                      49                                   Poet
Ike Turner                           76                                Musician
Dinah Washington              39                                 Singer
Amy Winehouse                 28                                 Singer

This list is made up of only those people with whom I am familiar.  The list grows steadily and surely.

If one were to Google "Drug Overdose Famous People", one would discover thousands of names.

Your thoughts?

Deadwood, Wall Drugs, Mother Nature, Kansas City and Home.......

Downtown Deadwood.  We Had The Town All to Ourselves

Day six of our winter adventure involved moving from our motel in Gillette, Wyoming to newer digs in Deadwood, South Dakota---a move of only a few miles, but a total upgrade in luxury. 

Aaahhhhh, yes---this was the life I envisioned for myself.....lodging at a downtown casino hotel where the grub was good and plentiful in the all-night restaurant; where scantily clad waitresses and casino workers existed only for the purpose of making moi feel appreciated.

Cindy Shot This Pic Of A Mannequin (I Think?) In The Window Of A Downtown Deadwood Hotel.  I Think It Had Formerly Been  A House Of Ill Repute In Deadwood's Glory Days

Of course, the Cinderoo and I were just about the only people there, seein' as how it was 5 degrees outside and the streets were solid ice. 

"What in the sam hill are you folks doin' here this time of year?, asked the nice lady at the registration desk.

I had my answer down pat by this time, having had to respond to that same query several times over the course of the past week.  "I always wanted to see Devil's Tower".   I always got the same look when I said those words, and I very much enjoyed getting that reaction---loosely translated, that look meant "What mental institution did you escape from?"

Deadwood is an interesting and historic town.  On a memorable evening in 1876, Wild Bill Hickok was shot dead at a poker table at Saloon # 10 in downtown Deadwood.  He was playing five card draw poker at the time, and the hand he held was aces and eights, which has since become known as "the dead man's hand".  If you play poker, you don't wanna be holdin' aces and eights.

Anyhooo, I digress.  We spent two days in Deadwood, roaming the almost deserted streets, prowling through the shops and casinos.  We don't gamble much, but we do enjoy sitting in the gaming halls and people watching.  We ate like kings at the ubiquitous buffets.  We napped.  Our only discomfort was when we ventured out into the streets because we had to contend with the ice.  It's a wonder we didn't fall down. 

Typical Snow Bank

On the morning of day number eight, we checked out of our hotel and set sail for Omaha.  Interstate 90 was clear enough, although it was still around 10 degrees and snow drifts along the roadside were ten feet.  When we got to the tiny burg of Wall, South Dakota, we stopped to visit the legendary Wall Drug Store. 

Me, Getting Ready to Explore the Legendary Wall Drug Store

Now, my friends, I do not have enough space to adequately describe Wall Drug Store.  It's one of those things you must see to believe.  The history of it is rich.  Bottom line is that it is the largest, most unique place of its kind anywhere.  It is a combination drug store, restaurant, art gallery (with hundreds of pieces of western art), chapel, knife shop, clothing store, woodworking display shop, and so much more. 

Me, Chatting With A New Wooden Friend Inside Wall Drugs

I was dumbfounded as I munched on a delicious burger from the restaurant.  And once again we were almost alone because the weather was keeping everyone but us crazy Texans (at the time) at home in front of a fire.  If you have not been to Wall Drugs, please put it on your bucket list.

Inside Wall Drugs

Back on the road to Omaha.  The weather was turning really bad.  Snow was now coming down in dense sheets.  We got to our hotel in Omaha just as darkness fell. 

We Had Several Hundred Miles Of THIS---And Remember, This is an Interstate Highway!

The next morning we were advised by hotel workers not to try to drive on the interstate.  It was still open, but the highway patrol was considering closing it because of the ice and snow.  Other travelers in the hotel lobby were canceling their planned travel in favor of staying another night in the hotel.  Not us.  I spent half an hour cleaning the snow off our trusty chariot, which was now a tried and true veteran of the most severe road wars. 

Windy, Too

We struck out southward at 9:00.  Driving about 30 miles an hour most of the way, we set our sights for Kansas City.  I figured if I could get us that far, we could make it home the following day.  The roads were barely passable because of the ice and snow.  It was pretty scary.  We stopped for gas at a little roadside station and the attendant there was so worried about us that he asked us to please call him when we got home so he could stop fretting over our fate.  Cindy did call him when we arrived alive.

We will never forget that day on the road, with the conditions so bad, with other cars and trucks scattered off the roadway for miles and miles as we slowly plodded southward.

As we neared Kansas City, the weather began to improve.  We stayed overnight there, and awoke the next day to warming weather and clear roads.  We sailed out of the wintry pall and into the sunshine.  North Texas and home lay ahead.  And the best vacation we ever had was planted in our memory forever.

Gillette, Mother Nature, Devil's Tower and Mt Rushmore.......

After our adventure of gassing up in 0 degree, hurricane force wind, we bravely (as in trembling) set our course northward on the two-lane shoulderless state road that led to our night's destination:  Gillette, Wyoming.

We only had to drive about 80 more miles to get there, but the elements were serious business.  I did my famous white-knuckle grip act on the steering wheel.  The good news was that I did know how to drive on ice.  Steady speed of 40 MPH, very little accelerator or brake play.  Take what Mother Nature gives ya.

We were stunned to see train after train pass us headed south,  about every ten minutes apart.  The trains were long, and filled with freshly mined coal from the Gillette mines.  You'd have to see it to believe the scope of it.

Cindy Shot This Pic in The 5 Degree, 50 MPH Wind as We Entered Gillette.  She Later Submitted it to USA Today, and It Was Published as a Unique Photograph

We made Gillette as dusk was settling in.  We were exhausted.  We hit the hay early, for tomorrow was a big day---we were going to Devil's Tower.

You may have visited Devil's Tower---but I bet it was not in the winter!  Remember the movie, "Close Encounters of the Third Kind"?  Much of that movie was filmed near Devil's Tower, which is America's first national park.

We lunched the next day at a nice little eatery right outside the entrance to the national park.  There was no one else there except the owner and the cook.  We had burgers over a nice conversation with the owner.  I think she was glad to be able to talk with someone in the winter.  She said they were always busy in the summer but winters were sometimes a little slow.

Devil's Tower is remarkable.  You have to see it up close to appreciate its enormity and uniqueness.  We spent some time taking pics from the base of the structure and then drove leisurely around the park.  There is a huge prairie dog town on the park grounds, and the entire area teems with deer.  The experience was phenomenal.

The next day we drove to Mount Rushmore, where four US presidents are etched in granite for posterity.  I must say that the mountain and the sculptures in winter made as lovely and striking a photograph as I have ever seen.  We were the only people in the park that day---except for a park ranger who had a nasty disposition and tried her best to give rangers everywhere a bad name.

Deer And Other Wildlife Teem Around the Devil's Tower

Next Post:  Deadwood, Wall Drugs, Mother Nature, Kansas City and Home

A Winter Vacation to Remember.......

Pike's Peak From Our Hotel Parking Lot

Cindy and I like to do things spontaneously.  Often, one of us will be sitting there, reading something, and suddenly blurt out "Let's go on a trip!"

Of course, this routinely results in fun, adventure........and PROBLEMS.....which, I suppose, is part of the charm.

Like the time we decided on a Thursday afternoon to take a jaunt from our home near Dallas, Texas for a few days vacation in El Paso, some 570 miles to the west.  Unfortunately for the all too eager travelers, Clint neglected to check the weather forecast and the dynamic duo ended up in a blizzard at night near Odessa with  literally hundreds of cars and eighteen wheelers scattered across the interstate.  How in God's name we reached a hotel I do not know, but we did.  Praise the Lord.  Friends back in Texas still remind us of our foolhardiness, but we ended up with memories no one could ever duplicate.

But today's post is actually about a spontaneous trip we took back in early December of 2009.  I'm sittin' there, watchin' TV or some such mindless enterprise, when these unplanned words erupted from my maw:  "I always wanted to see Devil's Tower!---let's go tomorrow!"

Fortunately, Cindy is not the voice of reason, so she was ready to go right then.

With no planning, we piled stuff in the car the next morning and departed for the great expanse of prairie to the north and west.  By 5:00 that afternoon, we made Amarillo in north Texas. 

It was there we got our first jolt of bad news---there was a monster winter storm headed down from the Pacific northwest and it was going to hit right along our route in two days.  I thought back to what my friend Duane told me when he heard of our travel plans:  You're crazy!  Well, maybe so, I thought to myself.....but Duane should know by now you can't argue with an idiot.  Ha.

The next day started badly.  Yours truly got a speeding ticket just north of Amarillo.  From there, we motored across the vast Texas and Colorado plains to Colorado Springs.  We got a hotel that had a magnificent view of Pike's Peak.  The roads were beginning to fill up with an icy, snowy frost.  So far, so good.  This was fun!   But, in the back of my mind I was wondering what I was going to do about that approaching monster storm.  Oh well, I thought---can't turn back now! 

The next morning, we struck out up the interstate toward Denver.  We stopped there for breakfast.  Locals in the eatery warned us not to continue.  The storm was going to hit that afternoon with tons of ice and snow and something else---hurricane force winds. 

Just north of Casper, Wyoming, we exited the interstate and took a two-lane rural road toward Gillette.  Fantastic views of herds of antelope grazed near the road.  Panoramic views of America stretched out in every direction.  We stopped for gas about 100 miles from Gillette.  That's when the monster storm hit---and the fun began.

Picture Says It All....

The temperature dropped from 30 degrees to zero and the wind was a steady 50 miles per hour with gusts of 70 MPH. 

Unfortunately, I had to stop for gas at a little country station.   The ground was solid ice and the wind made it almost impossible to remain upright.  I couldn't get the gas pump to work---it had frozen up.  I finally got the manager inside the store to get the pump working---thank God.  He asked us what the devil we were doing out in that weather.  I told him I always wanted to see Devil's Tower.  I can still see the look on his face.  Ha.

Next Post:  Gillette, Devil's Tower, and Mighty Mother Nature

Why Do You Blog?.......

It's 6:00 AM.  I Have My Mornin' Joe and My 'Puter.  Let's Go Bloggin'!

In June of 2010 my wife, Cindy told me I should begin a blog.  She had started one a few months earlier and was enjoying the experience.  I had not considered beginning a blog because I was keeping a daily diary of my/our experiences, and the entries were often lengthy.  I guess I just didn't think I had time to do a blog and a diary at the same time...plus, I kinda' thought doing both would be somewhat redundant.

But, then I got to thinkin' that a blog would offer me the opportunity to express whatever was on my mind on a particular day---not limiting me to just my activities.  This appealed to me.

So, I started my blog.  At first, I didn't know anything at all about "followers" and such.  I was simply writing for the benefit of expressing myself. 

After a few weeks, people started to comment on my ramblings.  It was kinda' nice to see what others thought about my topics.  Then, I started commenting on the posts of others, and I began to follow some other blogs of interest.

I quickly noticed that about 80% of bloggers are female.  Not sure why that is, except maybe that women are more attuned to feelings and expression than men.   Anyway, a few months after I was in full swing on my blog, I got a note from a woman whose blog I followed, and the note read thusly:

I don't mean to offend you, but my blog is for women only.  Also, to honor my husband I would appreciate it if you would remove yourself from my followers.

Well, this was certainly a jolt to me.  Fortunately, this turned out to be the only time anything like this occurred.

What started off being a leisurely way to express myself on any subject at any time, soon evolved into a world of its own.

Some observations:

---Bloggers are more intelligent than the average bear
---Family and personal friends seem to actively avoid reading my blog
---Most bloggers are extremely supportive of each other
---Most blog posts are upbeat and optimistic in nature
---Bloggers are incredibly attuned to political correctness
---Bloggers are a faithful bunch
---Blogging is like building a scrapbook of your life

---I occasionally "hit a wall" and writer's block rears its ugly head.  I have to "get away" for a few days when this happens.

---There can be a temptation to write in such a way as to appeal to others.  I resist this because my blog is, foremost, a recording of my own demented mind....and I don't want to appear to be sane.

Why do YOU blog?  What are your thoughts?

Elephants And Donkeys Grow Big Ears.......

Over the years, since college, I have taught myself to play the guitar.  Since I love to sing, this has been wonderful.

Tuning is a Snap With My Cell Phone APP....

When I first began learning to play the guitar, it was necessary to learn how to tune the thing.  In order to tune it properly, I had to learn the names of each of the six strings.  That turned out to be easy, because if one remembers the cute little phrase, "Elephants And Donkeys Grow Big Ears", then you have also memorized the names of the strings, from top (bass) to bottom---E, A, D, G, B and E.

When I first started out, I bought a Panasonic electronic tuner.  This was circa 1971 or thereabouts.  It was about the size of a carton of cigarettes and weighed about 2 pounds.  It was cumbersome.  It cost about $50 at the time, which was a king's ransom in those days.  Today, an electronic tuner can be purchased for between $20 and $90, depending upon what features you desire.  They are about half---or less---the size of a modern cell phone and weigh virtually nothing.

This is My Cell Phone With the Tuning App Running....

When I got my new smart phone a few months back, I was perusing the thousands of applications available.  Astoundingly, I ran across one that I could download to my phone that would tune my guitar---for free!

Needless to say, I did download it and now all I have to do is use my phone to get precise tuning anytime I want.  I love it.

The Little Chick That Could.......

We don't have an open marriage, but I must tell you that Cindy ain't the only chick in my life.  And, I must say I have found that a little variety is indeed the spice of life.

By The Bird Feeder, Scaring Off The Others

Our little chick does not have a formal name.  She is known simply as "the chick". 

In The Microwave

In The Drawer With My Socks and Undies

She is, in reality, made of ceramic.  About two years ago, Cindy and I started playing games with her.  Cindy would hide the little bird in a place she knew I frequented---like the microwave oven, or my underwear/sock drawer.  Then, when I least expected a shock, I would see the garish little chick staring at me and I would get a jolt of a surprise. 

On The Toilet

They Had to Take it Breech

Then, I started hiding the chick in places where Cindy would get a jolt---yesterday, as Cindy made a beeline for the bathroom, she shrieked in surprise as she found the li'l guy sitting on the toilet.

In The Pantry

We've had---and will continue to have---lots of fun with our little friend as we try to surprise each other.

I Caught Her Using My Computer --- On The Website dateachick.com


One day we experimented and placed the chick on our rear deck next to the bird feeder.  Funny thing happened.....our real birds that are always teeming around the feeder wouldn't come near it with the chick present.

She Likes Sitting on My Shoulder

Like I say, Cindy ain't the only chick in my life.  Heh heh.......

OMG!!!