Alumni Sandstorm ~ 05/27/05
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9 Bombers sent stuff: 
Betty Bell ('51), Mike Clowes ('54)
Tom Tracy ('55), Dick Avedovech ('56)
John Northover ('59), Mike Brady ('61)
Don Andrews ('67), Jeff Curtis ('69)
Mike Davis ('74)
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BOMBER BIRTHDAY Today: Jim Boyd ('55)

BOMBER CALENDAR: Richland Bombers Calendar
    Click the event you want to know more about.
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>>From: Betty Bell Norton ('51)

    When I announced the Fifth Sunday Dance on Sunday May 29th, I
mentioned that Helen Nash, a former Col High/Richland High teacher
would be teaching the Fox Trot and the Two-Step from about 12:15 until
the dance starts at 1:00. I just found out today that Helen Nash was
Helen Burns when she was teaching there beginning in 1956. She is
certainly a delightful person with lots of enthusiasm and great ideas.
Hope several of you decide to come to the dance (only $4 at the door)
for a fun afternoon! All ages welcome and kids under 12 are admitted
free!

-Betty Bell Norton ('51)
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>>From: Bob Carlson, aka Mike Clowes ('54)

Re: Reason to move back to Richland.

In the recent issue of the Farmer's Insurance magazine there was a
discussion about the most secure places to live. These places were
divided as large metro areas, mid-size cities and small towns. It may
please many to note that the Tri-Cities rated number one in the mid-
size category; and for those that like a damper heat, Olympia came in
second (except when the legislature is in session).

-Bob Carlson, aka Mike Clowes ('54)
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>>From: Tom Tracy ('55)

To: Dick McCoy ('45)

There's something about a Bing. Our first house in Richland was on 
Iry St., across the street from Carmichael's magnetic orchard. Our
Springer Spaniel loved to sneak out of his pen and romp through it.
When we found him and got him home he was loaded with sand burs those
tiny spiny things that kept you from going barefoot to the Bings...
the little weed that Eve caused when she ate those peaches and apples
and Bing Cherries and reluctantly told Adam... "Hey, we're in it 'up 
to our elbows"... just like Laura Dean Kirby ('55)  said. And before 
Adam could say, "What's this WE stuff?", she stuffed a bit of apple, 
(some say it was a peach and others say a Bing) into his innocent. 
Isn't where they derived the word BINGO!?. It was worse than getting 
caught swimming in the canal next to the orchard. After that it was 
like Grandfather always said, "Life is just like licking honey off a 
thorn".

The Carmichael cherries were first class quality and flavor...
especially if you were on your way to swim in the canal with Bill
Griffin ('54) or Joe Valdez ('54-RIP). That evil canal was the one our
Mom's thought they were saving us from when they all theorized that 
by putting our swim suits on the laundry line behind our prefabs and
under their watchful eyes... they'd know if their kids sneaked off.
They somehow were saving us from polio, unsupervised play in a canal
that ran swiftly downhill into the Yakima River. No one could have
said they weren't diligent Moms. Sometimes we had to wait an hour or
two in the hot sun to make sure our Levis were dry before heading home
through the Carmichael Bing route. We always noticed no one had stolen
our swimming trunks from our Moms' view.

Before getting to God's country, we moved from Los Angeles to
Grandview, then Prosser, we picked Bing Cherries for orchard owners 
in Sunnyside. They paid well. Dad, brother Bill ('51) and I savored 
those delicacies from time to time. Nothing like them. Agree with 
Dick about that flavor. It's addictive and arguably one of Eden's 
best. Second best is standing on a mule in our friends' orange grove 
near Knott's Berry Farm and picking a tree-ripened orange.

Bomber Cheers,
-Tom Tracy ('55)
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>>From: Dick Avedovech ('56)

Re: Bing Cherries and babies

I got quite a laugh from Margo Compton Lacarde's ('60) comment about
the tummy ache from eating cherries. My wife is a labor-delivery nurse
and when she was pregnant with our first daughter, she go so tired 
of being pregnant she decided to dig a ditch for our flower garden.
Didn't work. It took another 2 weeks to deliver. So I will tell her
now to tell her pregnant friends that all they have to do is eat a 
lot of Bing cherries if they want to hurry up and get un-pregnant.

-Dick Avedovech ('56)
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>>From: John Northover ('59)

Bing ... Rainier ... Cherries ... Berries ... Raspberries ...
Raspberry Pie ... Black Raspberry Pie!!! Hot Black Raspberry Pie, that
is what life is all about! ... with a generous scoop of Vanilla Ice
Cream placed on top. Or as John Browne, Jr. ('61) might say Rubus
Leucondermis Pie... How would you like a piece of that!!! 

Anyhow, no matter how you say it ... Hot out of the oven Black
Raspberry Pie with a scoop or two of Vanilla Ice Cream is at the top
of my list of deserts! If you ever visit Mt. Rainier National Park 
and find yourself leaving via the Southwest corner heading towards
Ashford Elbe on 706 ... As I remember, the first Restaurant/Lodging
place is either www.gatewaytomtrainier.com or www.coppercreekinn.com 
which ever is first --- STOP!!! and purchase a Black Raspberry pie or 
two. Get home as fast as you can ... warm that pie in the oven ... pop 
a scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream on top and enjoy. And if you eat a couple
of pies or two ... you won't get cramps and pop a kid as Margo Compton
('60) did after she ate a bushel of those Bing-Things.

[See the Sandstorm entries ~ 05/26/05 for John Browne's, Jr. ('61) 
and Margo Compton's ('60) exact remarks.]

-John Northover ('59) - Living in Black-Berry-Pie-Less San Diego -
               Where the Beer Can Races have started and life is good.
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>>From: Mike Brady ('61)

Re: Cherry Consumption (CC)

In my continuing quest of CC (cherry consumption) at a rapid pace 
in order to reach my PB (personal best), yesterday, I purchased two
pounds of Rainier Cherries at the Yakima Fruit Stand in Bothell, WA at
a cost of $5.29 per pound. That has to be the most expensive cherries
I've ever purchased... but I was desperate! When I paid for them as a
kid, I remember spending ten to twelve cents per pound. But, usually,
we found a tree in the neighborhood and waited until the lights went
out. Hmmm... which reminds me of the night Bill Wilson ('63) and I
tried to sneak my Dad's car to go to Benton City for cherries. As we
pushed the car down my driveway, one of Richland's finest was sitting
right across the street!

-Mike Brady ('61)
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>>From: Don Andrews ('67)

Memories are triggered in many different ways, usually through our
senses. The taste of Bing Cherries as recently visited.

The smell of cottonwoods and Russian olive this time of year. The
sound of a tune on the radio taking you back to times gone by.

I was in Bomberville last week and after a short stop at the Spudnut
Shop, I looked over at the Uptown theater and the first thought that 
I had was sitting through "Bullit" three time just for the chase scene 
with Steve McQueen driving that aw3some '68 Mustang and the amazing 
feet of a Dodge Charger losing 5 hub caps during the chase. While on 
the theme of movies I was watching the AMC channel last night and low 
& behold my 2 favorite John Wayne movies were on back to back. First 
was "The Quiet Man" followed by "North to Alaska".

Some day, in about 9 more years, after retirement I too, will follow
my heart back to Richland (Home)

-Don Andrews ('67) ~ from Vancouver, USA - hot this week 92 expected 
            today and tomorrow. Probably going to have to play some 
            golf; don't want to but sometimes we do things that make 
            those around us happy, oh the sacrifices :):):) 
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NOTE: First published in the 4/2/99 Alumni Sandstorm
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>>From: Jeff Curtis ('69)

Re: The Big Pool

"The largest municipal swimming pool in Washington" in its day, it
looked like Lake Michigan to me the first morning of swimming lessons.
I thought that I liked to "swim" till I took swimming lessons. The
Columbia Basin can get hot in July. Real hot. But for some reason it
always felt like December in the Yukon during those early morning
lessons. Why did they always make you walk through that ice shower on
the way in from the dressing rooms? The temperature, however, seemed
to have no effect on the instructors. They roamed the edges of the
pool and ruled this domain with an steely discipline that seemed
somehow alien to me. No that's not quite accurate. I was the alien,
completely out of my element.

Something about the smell of chlorine in the morning, smells like...
well, it just smelled bad. You just knew that this wasn't going to be
fun. The instructors on the other hand seemed to have actually been
born and raised in the icy waters and had only climbed ashore (with
the help of the gutter along the edge of the pool, I'm sure) to assist
the lowly land children in appreciating the fear and effort it took to
master their fluid realm. I'm sorry. I just didn't have that kind of
respect for the whole thing. My idea of a quality pool experience had
more to do with perfecting my "can opener" for maximum splash and
developing power and accuracy in the two handed cup technique commonly
employed in the finer water fights. Those, of course, were activities
associated with the free-for-all in the afternoons.

Ahh, yes.... blast your younger brother with a few good water hammers
and then fill your sinuses with chemically purified water doing cannon
balls from the high dive. A nice concrete lay-down in the scorching
sun on a sopping towel, back through the showers, change clothes
(sometimes) and then down the hill to Tastee Freeze for a dime dip
cone.

I lived over by Cottonwood so I had a serious walk home. If the tar
oozing through the pavement on a hot afternoon didn't get you, the
goat heads probably would. But you could always stop off at the
Mayfair Market or Pennywise Drug and get a Popsicle or an ice cream
sandwich or something. I remember that if you worked it out right you
could pretty much eat your way home. The Big Pool hated it in the
morning and loved it in the afternoon, kind of a schizo-aquatic
experience that filled many hours of my youth.

-Jeff Curtis ('69)
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>>From: Mike Davis ('74)

Don't know about the hidden-under-the-gym pools, but I know there 
was a tunnel under Carmichael that led to "The Land of Oz!"

-Mike Davis ('74)
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That's it for today. Please send more.
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