Jim & Bub Page, talented teens

Little KNOWN FACTS:

1.   An iguana can stay under water for 28 minutes.

2.   The world's youngest parents were age 8 and 9. They lived in China and had their child in 1910.

             3…The Everly Brothers were the first brothers to be               inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

  Talented friends

Today I thought about Jim ‘n Bub, in my youth they were the only ‘musically’ talented ‘boys’ I ever knew. Garland Page their dad ‘picked’ the guitar sorta like Chet Atkins. I loved his type of ‘picking’. The two boys also sang in a trio that included Paul Settlemeyre. These boys could really sing, and  they were just early teens. They never asked me to sing with them!  

They lived on a very small ‘farm’ in Valdese, NC. Boys with their sister, children of hard working parents. The little town was founded by Waldensians from Italy. I remember when we moved to Valdese, A sweet bakery smell permeated the entire town resulting from the Waldensian 'Sunbeam' Bakery.

I learned recently Jim’s name is “James Dean.“Jim was well known in the local barber shop. Jim was the kid shining shoes toward the back.  He could make that shine rag ‘pop’, entertaining the guys getting haircuts and shoe shines (remember leather shoes?). 

Jim & Bub sounded like the Everly Brothers. Their fame didn’t go much past kids and a local church. Today when I remembered the Everly Brothers, my mind went to Jim & Bub Page and what ‘coulda been’. There is no telling the talent in this world that is never "discovered". (Iffn I had paid more attention to Melissa Grill in the 7^th Grade, I coulda been a famous writer. LOL)

I do not remember the Pages having a dog or a cat, but they did have Frank!

Shirl, Sherry and I had the privilege of reconnecting with Jim, Bub, Linda, Robby & Betty at ‘Myra’s’, a Valdese snack shack. Bub (Paul David) has since passed, although we were not close the last 65 years I still miss Bub. He was a practical joker and always created a laugh. I did run into Jim once in the late 50s-early 60’s. He was in the USN. He chose the rate of Corpsman, not a safe job. They hit the beaches or jump with the USMC. In the Marines, the Corpsman and the Chaplain are respected.

Jim followed the medical profession as a civilian. Jim fit the mold, I know many folk were comforted and at ease with his demeanor.  I didn’t ask Jim when we met if he still sang publicly. I would bet the dude can still sing.

Today as I worked in the yard I have been singing, ," "All I Have to Do Is Dream," and "Wake Up Little Susie” . Jim will probably not read this, but if he does he will eat his heart out wishing he could sing like me.  LOL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyjWJvD5huk

Nite Shipslog

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyjWJvD5huk  

 You will notice I am singing with the Everly Brothers, but in another language!

This car was new and at the Buick place across from the Barber Shop when I met Jim and Bub.

                  1951 Buick Special

My daddy and Hog Killing Time

Little known facts:

1.    The two-foot long bird called a Kea that lives in New Zealand likes to eat the strips of rubber around car windows.

2.    Snakes are true carnivores as they eat nothing but other animals. They do not eat any type of plant material.

3.    The Weddell Seal can travel underwater for seven miles without surfacing for air.

This Blog entry:

The first 6 years of my life, my daddy raised a hog every year. At hog killing time he always used salt to cure the meat. Dad was a preacher, but he originally was a farmer in North Georgia. So he never lost the idea of having his own meat. He skipped six years we lived in towns.  We moved to Valdese, NC and were still in town, but he made an agreement with Robbie Cook’s family to raise his hog in a pen beside theirs, just out of town. My daddy never always fed and talked to his hog. I can still remember the 5 gallon ‘slop’ bucket he put in the back floor board of his 1951 Buick, it seemed to be level full and he never spilled any in the car. It really did amaze me, I was in the 7^th grade. I rode with him to feed that hog, just to watch that bucket. It never spilled.

Hog killing time was festive. Several families would come together to help each other with the huge task. Three families, three hogs.  Under a tree there was a 55 gal drum ½ full of water over a fire. After they were slaughtered, the huge hogs were lifted up by their hind legs with a block and tackle and lowered into the barrel for scalding. After a few minutes it was pulled back out and the men or women would scrape the hog slick.

Then the hog was de-bowelled.  That was what the kids were waiting for. The Bladder was taken, washed and cleaned by one of the men. Then it was blown up and all tubes tied. It became our ball. The game was something like volley ball without a net that we played. Towards the end it became a football, for a tag game.

 The scraps were grilled, they were delicious. The men would butcher a Hog, set it aside and start on the next one. 

My daddy loved ‘country ham’ (defiled with salt, lol). I liked fresh ham. Some was always saved for breakfast with fresh ham.

I always admired dad. Our house scraps along with some mash, furnished our family with livermush, ham, ribs, sausage, roasts, bacon, side meat liver, and more for the year.  Homemade pig skins for snacks were delicious. You cannot blame the families, no one knew about cholesterol then. Our lye-soap also came from the fat of the hog. Very little of that animal was wasted.

            Nite Shipslog
 The 1950 Ford Crestliner. One of the first 'fancy' two tone paint jobs out of Detroit.

What do you smell?

Little KNOWN FACTS:

1.    According to Chinese acupuncture, there is a point on the head that you can press to control your appetite. It is located in the hollow just in front of the flap of the ear.

2.    In a recent survey, Americans revealed that banana was their favorite smell.

3.    When opossums are "playing 'possum," they are not playing. They actually pass out from sheer terror.

Smells…..

 I read that a dog’s sense of smell is 100 times more sensitive than a human.  I don’t doubt it.  But in the little known facts I learned that the banana is a highly favored scent.

I think mine is Pop Corn or maybe fresh baked bread.   I do know they are very pleasant and excite my appetite.  Our AT hiking and travels in the last few years introduced me to the baked goods of PA and NY delis. My mama baked biscuits, pies and cakes but NEVER baked breads, croissants or buns. Biscuits and corn bread smell good baking but nothing like the fresh baked breads of the delis. 

Once at an AT Hut in the White Mountains Sherry had worked for a place to sleep ‘under the tables’. A standard practice of thru hikers who can’t or do not want to afford the $80 a night fee.  The work was simply setting the tables or tearing down after a meal. The work did not include a meal. They did give us coffee. As we started to leave the cook brought us a small loaf of fresh bread to eat as we walked. Man was that good.

Anyway, that note about the scent of the banana got me to thinking of some of my favorite smells.

Sherry says: Fresh ground Coffee & Chanel #5. Oh yes, the Blooming Gardinia.

Evelyn said: While tent camping, the smell of cooking over charcoal. And in the morning the coffee perking over the camp fire.

Do you have a favorite?

Nite Shipslog

                  1939 Lasalle convertible