Reunion

It is time for my families annual reunion.

Chicken over an open fire is part of the reunion but never as fresh as the picture above.

Last year we did have a big fire while cooking the chicken but it all worked out fine.

My Uncle George started our tradition of cooking chicken on bed springs.

I think necessity was the mother of this invention.

Need a bigger grill? Use bed springs. Kentucky ingenuity at its finest.



This is a close up of one of the things that makes our chicken great, Uncle Georges secret sauce.

I always have my chicken double dipped with plenty extra sauce on my plate for extra dipping later.

Bed sprig cooking at its finest.


Tompkinsville Kentucky is the site of this grand reunion.

Where the Walmart closes at ten each night and the roads are rolled up promptly by eleven.

Sadly I am not able to attend the reunion this year.

So dip your chicken twice for me.

Aerial View

I was glad to see these pictures again.

We were building a new church in Franklin and wanted some pictures from the air of the progress.

Some how I was the one who ended up in the plane that day.

After shooting the picture at the church the pilot said "We have time where do you live?".

Next thing I knew we were circling our house.

This doesn't show all of Dads property but its pretty close.

The trees are tiny.The back of the house.

The basketball court is freshly painted with a trampoline on it.
I can't tell if it is Brett or Chad jumping.

This is the front of the house.

No pond next door yet.

Lets zoom in and look at some things.

Can you see the Butler totem pole?
The dirt is is Dad's garden.

After zooming in I am guessing the jumper is Brett because he is playing ball.
Elaine says its Chad, hmm.

I found Dad mowing.

So I went and found him in the driveway in one of the other shots.

Fun pictures, I am glad they have survived.
I would gladly go up and take some new ones if I had a sponsor. Any takers?

Butler Olympics

You will see the Butler boys in a lot of sports on What My Dad Saw especially as we got older.

Here is our version of the Summer Olympics.

Chad starts us out with some volleyball.

Brett moves us on to diving.

While I come back with the famous "staple" dive.

On to track and field.
Brett puts in a ducky performance in the high jump.

Now my turn.

Notice the cinder track, foam in net landing area and the bent bar.

Me receiving the red ribbon for high jump.

I recognize Mr. Mishler and Paul Strugell in the picture.

Updates and News

Just a few updates on some resent posts.


Uncle Ike said when his Kentucky chainsaw is broken down he likes to use his electric version.


Cousin Denise was in town and some of the local cousins got together recently.

I am sorry that I wasn't able to make it but Steve, Brett, Denise and Sherri were there.


I found another slide from an Opryland post.

I scanned the whole slide as I have it so you can see how they start out.



What My Dad saw was promoted on a popular Blog called The Presurfer.

This bumped up my hits for a few days so thanks Presurfer.

Dad got a new trail camera for his anniversary and did catch a strange creature on it.

What a goober little brothers are. I would never behave that way.

Talent Show

I don't know what prompted our outdoor talent show in 1977 but my guess would be that it was just my Mothers impish playfulness and desire to have a good time.


It appears my Mom is singing with my brothers and I .

What did we sing? Good question. I have no memory of singing whatsoever.

I had to zoom in on Chad's cool iron on Spiderman t-shirt. Looks like we got this one out of an Electric Company magazine. Remember that T.V. show?

I do remember preforming this magic act that night.
I still have the book that I got the trick/joke out of.

J.D. Poppewell , an Indian Creek basketball star, doing some juggling for us.


The following are probably the real reason we had the talent show.

This is Amy Arkenberg, she was our next door neighbor for many years.
A nice quiet lady.

Belly dancing in the Butler back yard?
That would be a yes.

Look at all the kids on the front row.

Who in the world could talk a lady to belly dance
in a backyard in Trafalgar Indiana for a "talent" show?

There is the culprit laughing in the door.

Planes and Coasters

More slides from Opryland.
Brett is in the back seat of the white plane.


We must have been the last ones that they let in because we are in the back seats of the planes.

I am in the back seat of the red plane.

Seeing this slide jogged my memory of this ride.

1. I don't like going in circles that much.
2. I not a fan of being out of control.

The reason Brett and I were stuck in the backseats is because the front seat had the joy stick to control the ride. So the first kids in get to "fly" the plane.

My pilot liked it high and wild.

I did not.

I am sure the controller in the back seat was there just for looks and was not functional but that didn't mean I didn't try to steer with it.

A close up shows I was trying my hardest to move the plane down.

Brett is in the back of the white plane after it landed. I think he and his pilot got along fine.

Now on to the coaster.

I can't believe Mom and Dad got us on a coaster.
We were pretty chicken at this age but I am sure Dad persuaded us with the
"Lets just go home then." tactic.

Parents are always right. We got on and did enjoy it.

Just look at our brave fun filled faces.

Maybe the look is relief because the coaster is getting ready to stop.

Shari

This is cousin Shari in August 1974.

I remembered that she has a birthday this month, so happy birthday Shari.

Ride'em Cowboy

Brett and I are riding horses somewhere.

My guess is Nashville, In.

Is is just me or should Brett be on my horse and I should be on Brett's?

Or maybe I was too big to be riding at all.

Happy Anniversary

Happy anniversary Mom and Dad.

Oh!

Happy anniversary Elaine!

Yep, Elaine and I share our wedding anniversary with Mom and Dad.
44 for them 21 for us.

Love you!!!

Dads's Deer

Dad borrowed Brett's trail camera and caught some monster deer right in his back yard.

Dad calls this one his mule deer.

Joel and I threw some apples up close to the camera to try to get a better picture and we did!




I would like to have one of these but not for deer.

I would hope to catch Bigfoot on film.

Then maybe I could persuade him to pose with me like he did for the Six million dollar man and woman.

I loved that show it covered relent topics of the day.
On the relevant topic of Bigfoot, somebody supposedly found a dead one and they are going to release the DNA test tomorrow on it.

Here is a link to it HERE.