A Duck Fan "Comming Home" sung by Mat Kearney

Guaranteed to bring a tear to your eyes if you are an Oregon Ducks!!!

Jerry Norton's Funeral at Arlington National Cemetary, April 11, 2014

From The Barron:

On a clear, cool and bright spring morning, when Washington’s cherry blossoms were at their peak, dozens of family and friends gathered to memorialise former Reuters colleague Jerry Norton on Friday at Arlington National Cemetery, one of America’s most revered places, writes Greg McCune.
The 30-minute ceremony in Section 60 of the famous cemetery, which is located on what was once the estate of Civil War Confederate General Robert E. Lee, was led by a military chaplain who spoke of Norton’s valour in serving his country, and read scripture passages.

“You cannot buy your way into this hallowed ground,” he said to the mourners, led by Norton’s wife Kim and son Michael. “You have to earn it.”

Surrounded by a sea of white tombstones, a seven-member rifle squad fired the traditional 21-gun salute, and a lone bugler intoned “Taps”. Then a Marine honour guard holding an American flag carefully folded it into a triangle and presented it to Kim.

Army Specialist Norton earned the right to be interred at Arlington because of his service in the Vietnam War, for which he was awarded the Purple Heart after being wounded during a mortar attack at Song Be. Kim said he dived out of a window during the rocket attack to save his life. He was hit with shrapnel in his shoulder, wrist and back, and a piece was lodged in his arm for the rest of his life.

Typical of self-effacing Norton, he never mentioned to some of his friends that he had been wounded in battle and won the Purple Heart, as well as other commendations. Kim said he kept the medals in a drawer and when she asked about them, he mumbled something and put them away.

Several family and friends remarked about this humility and reticence during a reception at the National Press Club that followed the solemn graveside ceremony. Friends and family remembered Norton as a father, brother, uncle, friend and journalist – including comments from former Reuters colleagues Peter Bohan, Greg McCune and Brian Bain.

Norton died at age 67 in December after an inoperable brain tumour was discovered within months of his retirement from Reuters in 2011. Several people who spoke at the reception remarked how he had been taken from them too soon.

He served in the US Army from 1968 to 1970 including a one year tour in Vietnam and was first assigned to an artillery unit, where he sustained the injuries. His great Army friend Terry Turner was not able to be at the memorial, but wrote that he believed both their lives were saved because they could type, which qualified them to be assigned to public information units. Norton became editor of the division magazine, a coveted post because it involved a 30-day trip to Tokyo to assemble and print the magazine.

Such was Norton’s devotion to fairness and balance in journalism that many of his colleagues at Reuters never knew of his avowedly libertarian political views, or that he had once run for the Virginia legislature as a Republican. He won the primary but lost the general election in a heavily Democratic district. He also worked for the conservative group Young Americans for Freedom both after leaving the Army and again after he retired from Reuters.

Journalism took him back to Asia where he would work for Unicom, the South China Morning Post and then Reuters. In Asia, he also met and married Kim, who was born and raised in Vietnam.

He joined Reuters in 1986 as a filing editor at then regional headquarters in Hong Kong, and over a 25 year career was news editor in Japan, bureau chief in Singapore and Indonesia, deputy desk editor and deputy political and general news editor for Asia. He returned to Washington in 2010, where he worked for the startup Reuters America service aiming to compete with AP. He retired at the end of 2011.

Peter Bohan, the Singapore bureau chief before Norton, and his last supervisor before Norton retired, spoke of the important part he played in launching a new service in the United States in 2010 and how he quietly mentored journalists and stringers.

Brian Bain noted how Norton distinguished himself covering and directing the coverage of some of the biggest stories in Asia over the last 20 years including the Indian Ocean tsunami and the Bali bombing.

Bain read out comments from colleagues who had worked with Norton in Asia including Kim Coghill, Tony Winning, Rodney Pinder and Eric Hall.

“The frequent and controlled, curved smile could have meant a few things, but the crow’s feet at the corner of the glistening eyes always told you that Jerry Norton was on your side, if you wanted him to be,” Bain read from a note written by Hall, a longtime colleague of Norton. “Perhaps Jerry would not mind if we said he was a great American, with all the values and disciplines that phrase imparts in the best sense,” Hall wrote.

Wish I could be there for the Ceremony old buddy!

Jerry Norton, 67, longtime journalist, National Press Club member, and Vietnam war veteran, will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery on April 11.
His family invites friends and colleagues to join them at Arlington at 9:30 a.m. for a 10 a.m. service, followed by a reception in his memory in downtown D.C.
Norton was a Commodity News Services/Unicom News reporter in Washington before becoming regional editor in Hong Kong and executive editor in London. He spent 25 years in Reuters as a senior correspondent or veteran editor in Hong Kong and Tokyo; was bureau chief in Singapore; bureau chief in Indonesia; and lastly, editor in Washington.
He joined CNS and the NPC in 1974, soon after gaining his Masters in Journalism from Columbia University. Before that, he served in the Army in Vietnam, after having graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Oregon. He left Vietnam with shrapnel in his body and with a purple heart and other decorations.
Between his UNICOM years and his 25-year career at Reuters, Norton served as business editor of the South China Morning Post. He was twice based in Singapore and twice president of Singapore’s Foreign Correspondents Association, besides being a member of the FCC in Hong Kong and the FCCJ and Overseas Press Club in Japan.
Norton worked for Phillips Publishing in Washington at one point early in his career.
After retiring in 2011 from Reuters in D.C., he worked as executive director of the Young America’s Foundation National Journalism Center until he became ill. He had served on the Young Americans for Freedom national board while at the U of Oregon and was active in YAF after his Vietnam service until his journalism career began.
He died Dec. 15, 2013, after a 14-month battle with a brain tumor. Norton is survived by his wife, Kim, and son, Michael.


Next time I  am in Washington I will stop by to say goodbye in person.  Not bad for a "kid" from Coos Bay, Oregon.

Picture of Jerry when he was an undergrad at the University of Oregon featured in a Eugene Register Guard newspaper story dated Sunday, Feb 25, 1968. Jerry is quoted as saying: on politics" the majority of YAF members support Gov. Reagan for the 1968 Republican nomination"  Jerry was ahead of his time.  Reagan wouldn't get the nomination for 12 more years until 1980!

You Are Never Too Old for Popsicles

What with the forest fire smoke here in Southern Oregon you need to find other things of Summer to enjoy and sometimes it is the simple things of life that give pleasure. One of the things I like in the summer are Popsicles. Now, I have switched to "sugar free" Popsicle but they taste great. Enjoy the Summer!

DIsh Network after one week!

I love it and wonder why I stuck with our local cable company (now owned by Charter) for over 40 years.  I am getting more for less cost.  The picture is great and rain does not degrade my picture. I switched so I could watch my Ducks on the Pac 12 Networks, which Charter refused to carry, but there is so much more that is good about the Dish Network.

It started when I went into a local store here in Medford named "No Wires Media" locally owned by a couple who's kids attend the same school as my children when they were young.  The wife runs the store and husband does the instillation. No calling someone in some far away call center and taking potluck as to who shows up to do the instillation. They were also able to get me a discount from Charter for the Internet and phone that I was keeping.

I ordered the 200 station package with one Hopper and three Joeys to connect four TVs in our house.

Last Wednesday the installer arrived at 10 AM and had the system installed by 2 PM.  For the most part he was able to use the old cable wiring to the 4 TVs but did have to run a new line to the master bedroom because we are keeping Charter's Internet and phone service. He installed the dish on the side of the house under a window so if it snows I can reach out the window to remove the snow collection with a brush without going outside; but, yet it is high enough to have a great unobstructed  view of the southern sky and so I can walk under it outside  and not hit my head .  He put the main unit called the Hopper in the living room and the Joeys in my wives's sewing room, the master bedroom and the "Man Cave" downstairs in our half basement.

The Hopper unit has 3 separate TV tuners so we can watch three separate stations in the house or record on one tuner and watch two stations on the other two tuners. If all 4 TV's are in use, one  TV will have to watch the same station as one of the other TVs or watch prerecorded programs recorded on the Hopper which is also a DVR.  Not much of a problem since there is only my wife and I since the Kids grew up and moved out. Each TV gets a remote that controls the Hopper/Joey and the TV.There is even a feature that allows me to find a "lost" remotes!



This is the first time we have had a DVR. It's nice to graduate from the old VCR! I can program it to record any program I want on a regular schedule.  For example I programed it to record Bret Baier's news show "Special Report" which is broadcast on Fox News Monday through Friday at 3 PM here on the west coast. Best program on politics on TV. It has a feature that will allow you to record all four major networks (FOX, ABC, NBC CBS) prime time lineups  every night of the week and keep it for a week automatically.
I now get a "slug" of new TV Channels that I love, again at less cost than Charter such as:

Fox Business Network, Turner Classic Movies, Hallmark Channel, Lifetime Movie Channel, Sundance Movie Channel, NFL Network, CBS Sports Network, 2 Comcast sports channels from California and the Pac 12 Networks!!! Also get NASA and Pentagon Channels.

Best yet,  Dish has "TV Anywhere" so I can watch LIVE, all my TV channels  on my computer at home,  at the office and on  my iPad. Anywhere I have  an Internet connection.  So for example, I can program and watch live TV from my home at  McDonald's in Washington D.C. This is not just a few channels but ALL my channels and at no additional cost.

If you are a cable subscriber and are afraid to switch DON"T BE!

Even if Charter should in the future get the Pac 12 Networks there is no going back for me unless there is a substantial improvement in their system and features.

 With apologies to Peter Paul and Mary:  Charter......where have all your subscribers gone....... gone to Dish everyone.... when will they ever learn, when will they ever learn.

"Violets Flowers"

A few years before my mother died we accompanied her to the Blackberry Festival in Coos Bay where she lived.  While there she bought this sign from a vendor and placed it in her flower garden.

After she died I rescued the sign from the estate sale and placed it here in our driveway with a plant that was given to me by some friends in recognition of my mother.

Over the years the sign has deteriorated due to the weather and so my wife repainted the sign this spring. I think she did a great job!

Thanks Janie! 

"Cruiser" International Cat of Mystery

I usually don't post on the blog things that happen at the office but this is funny.   We have an office cat named Cruiser that stays at the office 24/7.  My clients love to come and "visit" Cruiser and it makes them more relaxed visiting a lawyers office which can be stressful to some people  We also have as a sideline a video conferencing system set up in our conference room which we rent out.  . A video conference is set for next week between London England and Medford  and they wanted to do a test to make sure everything connected. The call is originating from London. Due to the time difference, they were going to call in at around 6:30 a.m. our time this morning. We arranged to leave the equipment on overnight so they could just call in. Well, Colette, the attorney I share office space with,  didn’t know about it because she was in trial prep yesterday. She was here early this morning working in her office and all of a sudden she heard Cruiser meowing and meowing. She called to him and then she heard strange meowing and went looking for him trying to figure out what had happened to him. When she walked into the conference room all of a sudden some guy from London started talking to her. He told her he was just testing and the cat  had sauntered by so he started meowing to the cat who answered him back. Cruiser plopped down in the doorway and apparently the camera was set up so they could see him.  Later we got an e-mail from the London contact who said he thought it was hilarious. So now Cruiser has a friend in London, England.

Birthday Weekend in Eugene for a Duck Basketball Game

And the Ducks won too!

The Holidays are Over

For most people the holidays were over a week ago. However, we were able to make them last almost  an entire month !

Our son arrived home on December 16th and I took him back to the airport here in Medford on Tuesday, January 7,2013.  Between those dates we celebrated the arrival of our daughter from Washington DC, Christmas, New Years, the Ducks winning the Fiesta Bowl, Oregon coach  Chip Kelly leaving for the NFL weekend (He stayed), watching all or part of 23 College Bowl games, at least 5 NFL football games, going to see the movies "Lincoln", and "What a Wonderful Life" at Tinseltown, Eating out at Bella Union in Jacksonville, a trip to Donut Country, Christmas shopping, numerous other meals out, the Oregon vs Oregon State "Civil War" basketball game, attended a South Medford Basketball game, and going to the bar at Red Robin for dinner New Years Eve.  We had small parties for the Fiesta Bowl and the National Championship game.

Both of our children are now  safely back in their homes "back east" as they used to say in the Westerns. Today, it's cold, rainy and snow is expected here in Medford and the house is quiet and empty and Christmas decoration free.

But, just think, the NFC/AFC playoff games are next Saturday and  Sunday, the Super Bowl is three  weeks, and  after that  college football "letter of intent" day is February 6th  and we have a Duck recruiting dinner that same day at the 7 Feathers Casino in Canyonville . . And I haven't even talked about movies, music, history and a possible trip to Eugene for a Duck Basketball game.

Merry Christmas

1. 

   
   

   
   

   As someone who is Agnostic and a lover of Christmas our son has posted a most thoughtful statement reconciling the two, and with his permission I repose it here:

   
   

   The recent events in Connecticut are challenging for the religious skeptic to contemplate: twenty children, barely having experienced existence, lost their lives. While this event has done much to shock the country, it is only a small scratch among troubling deaths that plague the earth every day. Whether it takes place in small events here and there, or mass genocides, ...death is a constant presence. The worst offender isn't even at the hands of fellow humans. Though it is by different means, and often different timing, nature is by far the most prolific killer of the human race; inevitably leaving no one untouched. The net effect is the same. We are given a relatively brief moment of existence only to have it snuffed away. Is the universe really that cruel and perverse?
   
   Suppose death is not the end of our spirit? Perhaps our souls are given life on earth to experience the travails of survival: hard work, management of finances, interactions with others, and pursuing our own means to contentment and happiness. In an otherley world of care free happiness and love, free will and the burdens of earth are the only ways for the soul to mature and grow. Suppose the children killed in Connecticut lost their lives, but are now in a happier place? Is any crime on earth thus too heinous for forgiveness? Would it not seem ideal that the killer, stripped of his human weaknesses, come to repent and be granted redemption for his hateful actions? Supposedly Jesus asked that his tormentors be forgiven as they knew not what they were doing. Whether real or symbolic, does this not sound right?
   
   As for life on earth during the Christmas season, perhaps there is a hidden gem. For all those parents across the nation who might normally be worrying about the mortgage, dealing with the in-laws, or worrying about the perfect Christmas present, perhaps they might hug their child a little harder and appreciate the love of family more. I think that’s the true reason for the season.
   
   This optimistic agnostic wants to wish everyone a Merry Christmas this Holiday season.

   
   I wish to echo that statement.  I don't know if a "God" existent but if he doesn't he should and even more so this day!  Real or symbolic the Christmas story is a wonderful tale. Merry Christmas!

Home For Christmas

One of the best part of the Christmas Holidays is having our adult children come home. Since they both live in the Eastern time zone we don't get to see them that often during the year. Last night  very late I  picked up our son at the Jackson County "International" Airport. He came in from Lexington Kentucky where he is working on his PhD in History. Next weekend I  will go back to the airport to pick up our daughter who is coming in from Washington D.C.. I love this time of year and the trips to the airport !

TV Christmas Movies

I am a sucker for movies about Christmas. This time of year my wife is always watching those, non stop, Christmas movies made for TV on the Lifetime and ABC Family TV cable channels. I will be watching FOX NEWS on the TV in the room where I am and will walk by the TV my wife is watching and will watch a few minutes and I am hooked. It's fun to watch these TV movies because you see actresses and actors (Mostly from canceled TV shows) who you haven't seen for a while, because they are on the down hill slide in their careers, and will work cheep. Once in a while you will see a movie made before an actor became famous. I have gotten so I remember movies they showed last year and the year before. This is the first year my wife has a high definition TV set and we have our new recliner chairs facing it.  So like an "old couple" we sit there in our recliners watching these Christmas movies in our living room with it's "Christmas Overlay." Life is good!

A couple that I have seen this year are:

Love at the Christmas Table (2012)

Family friends Sam and Kat spend every Christmas Eve at the Children's Table. They grow up together, sharing the highs and lows of young adulthood. And at thirty, Sam realizes that Kat is the one...but he's afraid that the past will get in the way. I liked this movie because it follows the two main characters from age 6 or so till their early thirties.  It's a "same time next year" type of movie because you only see them once a year as they grow up on Christmas Eve at the Christmas party thrown by their parents .  The actress that played Winnie Cooper in the "Wonder Years" is the female lead.

Will You Merry Me (2008)

Very funny movie about two family's that get together at Christmas when their adult children meet in New Your and decide there families should meet  before they get married.

Rebecca, from an upper class Los Angeles Jewish family,(liberal) and Henry, from choir-singing, tradition-bound Midwestern roots,(conservative) are in love. Henry pops the question just before Christmas and the kids plan on gathering their families for the holidays in order to surprise them with the good news. The families collide-oops-meet the week of Hanukkah just before Christmas in a small Midwest town. It's a wild, wacky ride of good intentions and missteps as the two families try in vain to respect each others' traditions. It's not long before Rebecca and Henry learn the hardest part about being married might be dealing with each other's in-laws. Lots of Liberal vs Conservative issues such as Rebecca's revulsion that Henry has a "real" rifle in his childhood bedroom for hunting defenseless ducks.


However my favorite movies about Christmas are the classics that were originally shown in theaters. The following is my list of my favorite movies about Christmas. I decided the test for a movie to make the list is have I purchased it on DVD. Here is the list in order of preference in reverse order.

4. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)

Stars Chevy Chase in a very funny movie. I see a lot of me and my family in this movie, trying to have the "perfect" Christmas. The scenes with the old folks who come over for Christmas eve dinner reminds me of Uncle Herman and Mrs Hills and others who my folks would invite over for Christmas. They are all gone now but the memories remain. I am sure my son has empathy for Russ who has to help his dad put up the outside Christmas lights.

3. Meet Me in St Louis (1944)

A Judy Garland classic. About an upper middle class family in turn of the century St Louis ( young folks the one in 1900). The movie focus in on a group of young people (They didn't call them teenagers then) who are excited about the coming of the Worlds Fair to St Louis and their trials and loves. The dad, who is a lawyer, gets a job at a prestigious firm in New York and causes a crisis that hits it's boiling point at Christmas. Garland sings "Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas" that is a show stopper and is one of those moments you never forget.

2. White Christmas (1954)

What can I say, Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye and Rosemary Clooney in a movie about two GI's from World War II that want to help out the general of their division who is now the owner of a lodge in New England that has fallen on tough times. Crosby and Kaye are Broadway writer and producers who decide to put on a Christmas show at the lodge and have it shown nationwide on TV on something like the Ed Sullivan Show. Rosemary Clooney has never looked better. A classic 1950's movie that says a lot about the times and in glorious color. of course, Bing sings "White Christmas."World War II was still fresh in the minds of most who saw this movie when it first came out in 1954.

1. It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

The Jimmy Stewart, Frank Capra classic about a guy who gives up his dream of college and travel to stay in his small home town and makes it a better place. I never tire of this movie. The Christmas decorations in this movie remind me of the decorations we had when I was a kid. Next to The Duke, Jimmy Stewart was and is my favorite.

Marcus Mariota.....The Dawning of a New Era?

A friend offered me a free ticket to the Oregon game in Eugene last Saturday night so I took the charter buss sponsored by the Oregon Club of Southern Oregon and saw a spectacular performance by redshirt freshman QB Marcus Mariota. He can run and he is an accurate passer. He has a lot of poise and I can't remember when I felt so comfortable watching a new QB for my Ducks! He may be the best QB in long long time. Only the level of the competition, Arkansas State, keeps my enthusiasm in check. However, Arkansas State is not a bad team. This could be the beginning of something great and special!

It was a perfect night in Eugene. It was shirtsleeve weather in the first half and only a light jacket in the second half. A wonderful sunset and a full moon at the end of summer.  Oregon Duck fans are a zany non conforming bunch  and it's always fun to be at a gathering of the flock. Trips to Eugene and Autzen Stadium always bring back a flood of memories. It was a feeling of contentment and nostalgia all at the same time. All was well with the world for a few hours and you can't ask for more than that.  Let's Go DUCKS!!!!!

PS Love the new uniforms and that's not always true for me.... I'm kind of a traditionalist. 

Moving True Story of Mitt Romney's Kindness

Long after the political speeches of the 2012 Republican Convention are forgotten this true story of Mitt Romney's kindness will be remembered.  Too bad it didn't make the broadcast networks or most of the Cable news channels. I have drafted thousands of wills in my law practice but never for a 14 year old boy dying of cancer! Watch this video but have some tissue  ready.

My Summer of 1960 & The Republican Convention

It’s hard to remember when I first fell in love with politics but if I had to pick a time it would have been the Summer of 1960 during the Republican and Democratic conventions when I was in my early teens. The Republicans met in Chicago and nominated Richard Nixon and Henry Cabot Lodge. The Democrats met in Los Angles and nominated John Kennedy and Lyndon Barnes Johnson. I watched both conventions all day for four days each on NBC since that was the only network we received in Coos Bay/ North Bend, Oregon back then. My dad did not believe in Cable TV so we didn’t get the other networks, CBS or the upstart ABC. I had a part time job watering a neighbor’s lawn while they were on vacation so I got up early to do that job before the convention started. The “gavel to gavel” coverage was hosted by Chet Huntley and David Brinkley who also had the nightly 15 minute news broadcast "The Huntley Brinkley Report" on NBC. Back then the TV networks covered the entire convention proceedings. Wish they still did.


Huntley and Brinkley sat in in a  small booth high above the convention floor and they had a low key approach to the convention. David Brinkley with his dry humor always enjoyed the “hoopla” of a convention. (i.e. the funny hats and confetti etc).I had a black and white TV (They were all black and white then) in my room so I spent each day sitting on my bed watching the conventions.    Lipton Tea sponsored part of NBC's coverage of the Conventions. George Fenneman, Groucho, Marx’s, sidekick on “You Bet Your Life” was the pitch man for Lipton Tea and did live commercials from the conventions. So I got my mom to get some so that I could drink iced tea while I watched the conventions. That was my summer of 1960.

 I already have my instant ice tea for next weeks Republican convention in Tampa Bay, Florida.   Around our house Republican Conventions are bigger than Super Sunday because they only come every four years!

SUMMER MUSIC

As the temperature hovers around 90 degrees here in Medford, Oregon, I thought it would be fun to again list songs about Summer that would have to be included in any album of Summer Music. I love Summer and I love songs about Summer so here is my list.This may take a few days so come back often as I update the list.

1. Theme to A Summer Place - by Percy Faith
2. Theme to A Summer Place - by The Letterman

No album would be complete without both versions of this music from the 1959 movie of the same name. According to Wikipedia: "The 1960 hit "Theme from A Summer Place" (composed by Max Steiner and recorded by Percy Faith and His Orchestra) enriched and improved on a secondary musical theme of the film; it remains a classic of its era. A vocal version, with lyrics by Mack Discant, was a hit for The Letterman in 1965"

3. Theme to Summer of 42 

Haunting theme to a 1971 movie about young teenage boys "coming-of-age" at a small beach town on Nantucket island on the east coast during World War II. According to Wikipeia: "Legrand's theme song for the film, "The Summer Knows", has since become a pop standard, being recorded by such artists as Peter Nero (who had a charting hit with his 1971 version), Frank Sinatra, Andy Williams, and Barbra Streisand." 

4. Green Leaves of Summer - by the Brothers Four

The Brothers Four were an early 60's folk group formed at the University of Washington (ugh)and had a hit with this cover from music from John Wayne's movie The Alamo in 1960.

5. A Summer Wind - by Frank Sinatra

According to Wikipedia: "a 1965 song, with music by Henry Mayer and lyrics by Johnny Mercer. A cool, nostalgic tale of a fleeting romance, it is most known for a 1966 recording by Frank Sinatra that is informed by what NPR called "a majestic sadness." It is largely forgotten that singer Wayne Newton had the first national chart hit (1965). The Sinatra version originally appeared on his Strangers in the Night album, and hit number one on Billboard magazine's Easy Listening survey.

By the 2000s, it was one of Sinatra's most-used recordings in various contexts, including a mid-2000s television ad campaign for Mastercard and Major League Baseball.

6. Lazy, Craze Days of Summer - by Nat King Cole

This is one of my favorites. It really gets you into the spirit of summer in this 1963 hit

7. Here Comes Summer- by Jerry Keller 

According to Wikipedia:it "was a 1959 song, which was written and performed by Jerry Keller. The song was produced for Keller by Richard Wolf. It reached #14 on the Billboard Hot 100,"

Love the lyrics :

" Here comes summer
Almost June the sun is bright
Here comes summer
Drive-in movies every night
Double features
Lots more time to hold her tight
Oh let the sun shine bright on my happy summer home"

8.Sealed With A Kiss - by Bryan Hyland

Teenage "love lost" during the summer in this 1962 hit

"So we gotta say goodbye for the summer
baby I promise you this
I'll send you all my love
every day in a letter
Sealed with a kiss"

9. Summertime Blues - by Eddie Cochran

a 1958 song about the trials and tribulations of a teenager during the summer.

10. Surf City - by Jan & Dean

No summer album would be complete with out a Jan & Dean song. "Two girls for every guy" caught my attention so many years ago in 1963.

11. Surfin' USA - by The Beach Boys

and

12. All Summer Long- by the Beach Boys

I could fill this summer album up with Beach Boys songs but limited myself to the two listed above. They even have a classic album called "Endless Summer." In fact, the "Endless Summer" album should be a companion to this as it so expresses the feelings of Summer.

13. A Summer Song - By Chad and Jeremy

A sweet song about summer from 1964

14. Here comes the Sun - by The Beatles

One of my favorite Beatles songs

15. Summer in the City- by The Lovin' Spoonful

With the temperature hovering around 90 in Medford this 1966 hit song is very appropriate. "hot time summer in the city back of my neck getting hot and gritty"

16. Summer Breeze- by Seals and Croft

Mellow song from 1973

17. Our Last Summer- by ABBA 

On soundtrack to movie Mamma Mia from summer of 2008. One of the best songs from the movie and play.

18. Summer Nights- by John Trivolta & Olivia Newton John

From the movie "Grease" in 1978. I can't believe I put a John Trivolta song on my list!

19. Surfer Girl- by the Beach Boys

Yes, I know I said I would limit my Beach Boys selection to 2 but I just had to add this third song.

Dog Days of Summer

The 4th of July has come and gone and now we are in the "Dog Days of Summer."  Half the country is on vacation and the other half wishes they were on vacation.

However, in this summer of our discontent it would be better to say one quarter of the country is on vacation, one quarter wishes they were on vacation, on quarter wishes they had a job to take a vacation from and one quarter is living off  those that are working and can't take a vacation.

Drive In theaters

This time of year I think back fondly of the Drive-in Theaters of my youth. In the post World War II era of the 1950's families were trying to find an entrainment option as they raised the "baby boom" generation. What follows is an "Oldie Goldie post" of a few years ago which I have added to and re edited.

As a kid I loved Drive In theaters.In fact, if I were to pick the favorite thing of my youth it would be Drive-in movies. I grew up in Ogden, Utah; Boise, Idaho; Roseburg, Oregon; and Coos Bay/North Bend, Oregon in the 1950's. Each of those towns had drive in theaters. I can remember going to two or three movies a week in Ogden in the summer before we had TV. This was when I was 4 or 5. My dad didn't like indoor movies because as he said there was always someone behind him chewing on gum which he hated. My mom would make us sandwiches (usually tuna) along with Kool-Aid in a thermos and cookies.(Coke was too expensive) There was always a commercial before the intermission between double features for the snack bar food. I remember an ad for a foreign food I had never heard of called "pizza". My dad said it tasted like card board so we never got any. My mom loved pop corn so we always got some. To draw family's the theaters sometimes had special attractions like pony rides or steam engine train rides. I still have a black & white photo in my "movie room" of my sister and I on ponies taken at a Drive-in theater before the movie. We must have been 4 and 6 years of age. It is one of my favorite pictures. They all had playground equipment we would play on till the movie started. The movie always started with a cartoon. I remember running to the car as the cartoon started. I even loved and still love the previews. Before the movie dad's would often turn on their spot lights and play games on the screen.

The movies, or shows as we called them, often were not in retrospect that good. I can remember Ma &Pa Kettle, Here Come the Nelsons ( Ozzie and Harriet before TV) and the Bowery Boys. Not real sophisticated stuff. But their was always John Wayne. I can remember campaigning for weeks to go see "Blood Alley". Not because I knew anything about it other than it's name and John Wayne was in it. I loved saying "Blooooood Alley." I knew if Jeff Chandler was in a movie I could talk my mom into going. My sister who still likes to go to bed early would always sleep through the second feature but not me. My dad would always make fun of the kissing scenes and my mom would always kid us about the hero being the only one left standing  in war movies.My mom would put her head on my dad's shoulder and fall asleep. The sound was usually terrible but I loved the big screen and how it transported me out of small town America in the days before color TV. Most of them are gone now the victim of VCR's and now DVD's and high land prices. I still miss them.

The big office move is over!

New Office

My Oregon Duck "stuff"

We are finally done moving our office after having been in the same building for the last 30 years. It was a long hard "slog" but we did it and "the troops will be home by July 4th!"

Don Grady of "My Three Sons" dies at 68

Don Grady in the middle back next to Fred McMurray

One of my favorite TV shows as a kid was "My Three Sons" and Don Grady was my favorite son. Earlier  he had been one of the Mouseketeers on the Micky Mouse Club

.http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-don-grady-dies-at-68-robbie-on-my-three-sons-20120627,0,6588842.story