Alumni Sandstorm ~ 05/25/05
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12 Bombers sent stuff:
Jim Jensen ('50), Dave Brusie ('51)
Mike Clowes ('54), Laura Dean Kirby ('55)
Tom Tracy ('55), Wynell Williams ('55)
Larry Mattingly ('60), John Browne, Jr. ('61)
Mike Brady ('61), Nancy Nelson ('69)
Linda Barott ('71), Patrick Webster ('82)
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BOMBER BIRTHDAY Yesterday (5/24): Daniel Laybourn ('70)
BOMBER BIRTHDAY Today: Shelly Belcher ('74)
BOMBER LUNCH Today: Girls of '63 and '64
BOMBER CALENDAR: Richland Bombers Calendar
Click the event you want to know more about.
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>>From: Jim Jensen ('50)
Re: Cherries
Maren's editorial comment about freezing cherries (5/23) was very
interesting. Haven't tried it yet, but I will. Good cherries run an
average of one cent less than $5.00/#. After they have been picked
over and are about ready for the dumpster they're on sale for about
$3.00 On the other hand, I've been freezing seedless grapes for a long
time now. After engaging in yard work in the hot, incredibly humid
Houston sun, I crawl into air conditioned space, sprawl and then munch
on frozen grapes until tranquil.
I ran across a quotation cited by a person whom I respect
enormously. He suggested that we heed the words of a poet posted on
a sundial:
The shadow by my finger cast
Divides the future from the past:
Before it, sleeps the unborn hour;
In darkness, and beyond thy power:
Behind its unreturning line,
The vanished hour, no longer thine:
One hour alone is in thy hands, ---
The NOW on which the shadow stands.
A thoughtful piece made in the context of using time wisely. In
light of all of the comments regarding time posted in past Sandstorms
I thought some Bombers might find this interesting.
Bomber cheers,
-Jim Jensen ('50)
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>>From: Dave Brusie ('51)
To: Chuck Crawley ('67)
Believe me!!!! There was never a swimming pool under the old
gym. I played in both gyms and was there when the now old gym was
built. The floor was a hell of a lot better than the floors put
over concrete.
-Dave Brusie ('51)
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>>From: Bob Carlson, aka Mike Clowes ('54)
To: Chuck Crawley ('67)
Re: Swimming Pool Myth
Sorry, Chuck, the myth ain't busted with the demise of The Gym.
The pool may have been planned for it, but construction was too far
along before agreement was reached. The next possible location was
the Carmichael Gym; unfortunately the high water table (Wellsian
Ponds) precluded that.
The next possible location was under the Chief Joseph Gym floor;
but that was stopped for some obsure reason.
The pool was finally located in a warehouse on Stevens Drive close
to North Richland, where it served as the mixing bowl for the jello
salads so prevalent in school lunches of the day. These jello salads
were also sold to the mess halls of Camp Hanford and the Yakima Firing
Range.
-Bob Carlson, aka Mike Clowes ('54) - now in the balmy Willamette
Valley in Albany, OR where the weather guessers predict 84
warm ones come Thursday or Friday.
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>>From: Laura Dean Kirby Armstrong ('55)
Re: cherries and peaches
We arrived in June of 1948 during the flood. I believe it was the
18th. We stayed with friends in the 10 hundred block of Winslow and I
remember those giant juicy peaches. We used to eat them right off the
tree till the juice ran down our elbows and the fuzz made the arms
itch! Almost the first thing we did was go to a cherry orchard in
Benton City and climb up those giant ladders for Bing cherries. I ate
until I was sick. Now I prefer the Rainiers.
Another place we visited was the Peterson's chicken farm in
Prosser. I can still smell those wet feathers when they scalded the
hens. I don't know what happened to that place?
I watched the progress of Carmichael, but didn't remember there
was an orchard there. Things were really happening fast during that
time. Wright street was the last in town and the ranch houses were
just being built. Lucky me, I got to go to Carmichael the first year
that "state of the art" building was open and then moved north and
went to Chief Jo for its first year and was in high school when Mac
hall was built. What great times!
-Laura Dean Kirby Armstrong ('55) ~ Getting ready for the big 50th
reunion in September
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>>From: Tom Tracy ('55)
To: Chuck Crawley ('67)
Bet many remember the story about RHS pool. The one about
Carmichael Jr. High having a swimming pool under its gym was announced
unofficially for some time. Carmichael's contractor had gone so far
over-budget, some say, that the pool had to be eliminated during
construction. The story may have arisen from an old black and white
film showing a high school dance in a posh community where the roll-
away floor separated neatly and many jumped or fell in but remained
well attired, poised, dignified and thoroughly baptized.
Think of the poor swimming coach trying to convince Art Dawald
to cancel a few practices and leave the floor opened for swimming. A
suicide mission for sure. (that would have been accomplished only on
a rare hot day in January after a 100 to 0 basketball victory.
It was a creative story and helped us realize that a good rumor
often goes half-way around the planet before the truth gets its
trousers on. But anything was possible to those who had witnessed a
place where a little piece of the sun was brought to earth to help
end the war, cure cancer and propel the world's largest vehicles
across the oceans.
The indoor pool-a-nasium palace pond however was an idea whose
time had not yet come to Richland's Desert Oasis. So we swam in the
Yakima, Columbia and various canals. Enough water to make Huck Finn
and Tom Sawyer green with envy.
We were, however, blessed with fine schools well beyond many being
constructed today. Most of Richland's schools had separate libraries,
gymnasiums, cafeterias and auditoriums which helped rule out program
interference so frequently found in our newest of facilities. I recall
Marcus Whitman Elementary school even had showers and a locker room...
perhaps because it had served Grades 1-8 for a time. Of course they
had to tear down those advantageous facilities.
My keyboard just sent out a warning to sign off before the school
board turns me in to Homeland Security... sometimes I think Mark Twain
was right when he said, "School Boards were invented by GOD... at the
end of a long busy week... when GOD was very tired".
Bomber cheers,
-Tom Tracy ('55)
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>>From: Wynell Williams Fishburne ('55)
Speaking of blackberries--I remember my family driving toward
Seattle and stopping to pick wild blackberries. I also remember all
the thorns--we'd wear long sleeve shirts, etc. As kids we had so much
fun doing that. Such simple things we enjoyed as children. I still
love blackberries and have been know to pick wild ones in Seattle and
bring them home with me on the airplane. They make such good pies!
Also, looking forward to the Class of '55 Reunion in September.
Dorothy Cameron, Janice Berg and myself already have our hotel
reservations. Should be a great time.
-Wynell Williams Fishburne ('55) ~ Victorville, CA where our weather
is in the 90s but that's not bad for here
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>>From: Larry Mattingly ('60)
Re: Cherries and other fruit
All the talk of Bing cherries is enough to make anyone who grew
up in the Tri-Cities or Yakima valley hungry. Seems like teenagers in
those days were always looking for ways to earn money. Harvesting and
orchard work such as wheat in the Palouse, peas around Walla Walla,
and cherries, plums, peaches, and apples in the Kennewick highlands
and Yakima valley were always a source of revenue if you were willing
to work. I thinned apples and plums one spring. My arms ached so bad
the first 2-3 nights I nearly cried. The best paying agri-job I had
was working in the wheat harvest one summer up in Eureka Flats hauling
wheat from the combines to the various elevators in an old WW2 Army
6x6 truck. I did pick cherries and plums a couple a of times and ate
my share. I will not forget the day I forgot my lunch and ate plums
all afternoon. I suffered several hours of severe lower GI stress that
evening. I still love the Bings and another one, called I think Queen
Anns to this day and I always manage to drift through the orchard
areas and pick up a flat or two in the season. I have a "cherry
stoner" that quickly removes the pits and I freeze most of them. Of
course I eat some of them fresh, but I also make syrup for ice cream
and a batch of jam once in a while. One of my favorites is some mini
tarts I make with the dough circles you can get at the market. I put
a single cherry on one, dribble a bit of fresh raw honey on it and do
the fold-up and bake them. I serve them with whipped cream topping or
some icing thinned with a late harvest Muscat wine. Rich, but you
can't eat just one.
To: Tom Verellen ('60)
You are so right about the "wild mountain blackberries" or what
we call "black caps". Several years ago while on a Sunday afternoon
drive we came across some vines in an obscure place and we try to
pick a gallon or two each year before the birds and bears get them.
I have a one gallon electric ice cream maker. I may only use it
maybe twice a year, but homemade blackberry ice cream is yummy and
hard to beat. I also get a gallon or two of huckleberries from bushes
growing in the woods at our fireworks facility. They are delicious in
tarts, jellies, and syrups. I have a steamer and steam the juice out
of some of the blackberries and huckleberries. The pure juice is
easier to work with and makes really rich syrup and jellies.
To: Betty Hiser Gulley ('49)
I too remember when they tore up the grass of the Greenway and
paved it over. Every time I see it now, I look on it as my first
noted example of crass commercialism. Young as I was, I was very
disappointed in seeing that grass replaced with asphalt.
"Happiness is the sky in bloom"
-J Larry Mattingly ('60)
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>>From: John Browne, Jr. ('61)
Re: Cherries 'n Ferries
That early dark cherry is probably an old French variety,
"Burlat"... supposedly good to grow on this side of the hill, as
well (although it ripens about a month later than this, here).
To: Betty Avant ('69)
The road beyond the ferry went to Connell- but first it went to
Glade. My dad had an office in Moses lake, and used to go that way
(and take me along, if it was a weekend day). We never quite made it
to Connell, though- used to peel off at Mesa, and head N- past Othello
and into the eye-watering vicinity of the Mighty Starch Plant (if the
wind was wrong). Breathing a sigh of relief on the other side was kind
of a ritual... Years later, reading Dr. Strange comix, this was the
mental picture that arose when "The Vapors of Valtorr" were mentioned-
a powerful spell, indeed!
I was sorry to read that Bob Maulsby ('59-RIP) checked out a
little early. I will always remember him regaling fellow classmates
(& youngsters like meself) with the latest Huckleberry Hound
highlights in the student parking lot, during his senior year. He'd
do all the voices, and his enthusiasm would have everyone cracking up.
He really loved a good laugh... ^..^
-John Browne, Jr. ('61) ~ Vashon Island, WA
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>>From: Mike Brady ('61)
To: Tom Verellen ('60)
No!
Re: Jason Lee cherry orchard
P.S. It seems like everyone knows about those cherry trees
next to Jason lee. If they're not there anymore, we oughta make a
pilgrimage and plant some more!
And what about those monkeys? No, seriously, Muscles had a couple
of monkeys at his house.
-Mike Brady ('61)
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>>From: Nancy Nelson Wyatt ('69)
Well Bing cherries and Rainiers are the best of the cherries but
you want a good fruit come up to the mountains and pick huckleberries.
They are really yummy. But when you pick you also have to share with
the bears. ha ha. If a real good picker they sell for about 30 dollars
a gallon. But my feelings, if I spend all day picking them I would put
them in my freezer for huckleberry pie and jam.
-Nancy Nelson Wyatt ('69) ~ Colville, WA - where it is sunny and
beautiful today.
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>>From: Linda Barott Rodriguez ('71)
To: Gloria Willett Green ('56WB)
Re: Fun in Washington
When I was a child growing up, my entire family of aunts, uncles
and cousins would spend our vacation at O'Sullivan Dam. We had a big
tanker truck of gas for the boats so we could ski all we wanted. We
would load up every day and head out to the sand dunes, which seemed
like a long boat trip away, sometimes running over shallow sand bars
to get there. On one side of the dune we would water ski and the other
side we would fish for crappie. Pulled them in right and left and had
one big fish fry when we got back to camp. We will always have fond
memories of that, and still talk about my sis dressed up in her lime
green leotards, long sleeve shirt under her swim suit, and big floppy
hat. She had auburn colored hair so she got terribly sun burned if she
didn't dress like that. She never got hot cause you could slide down
in the water to cool off anytime. Boy was she a sight though.
Thanks for the memories.
-Linda Barott Rodriguez ('71)
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From the new ALL Bomber Alumni GuestBook.
>>From: Patrick Webster ('82)
COMMENTS: None.
-Patrick Webster ('82)
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That's it for today. Please send more.
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