Growin' Up in the Hills

Saturday, July 4, 2009

I had a great 4th.!

I woke up feeling good so I jumped in my car and I went to Logan to my FAVORITE hotdog place. I have been craving them desperately for a few weeks now. They were excellent. I took the back roads to get there so I could enjoy the scenery and not really have to worry about going through seatbelt checkpoints and other pain in the ass highway nuisances.

My goal was to go to the Hatfield Cemetery where Devil Anse Hatfield is buried and film it. I accomplished it also. I went there back in February when I was staying at my Granny's house but I wasn't able to even attempt to get up the hill to it. It is about 100 yards up the mountain. Today I took my good old easy time - which is how I do everything by the way. I made it. I had to rest more times than I can count but I got my video. I am going to try to post it but that will probably be a whole another story in itself!

On the way to the cemetery I was sidetracked by a stray puppy I saw by the road. I stopped but it ran away. It was trying to eat something off a piece of paper so I threw a hotdog (complete with chili and slaw) where it was trying to eat and I left. It was pitiful. It was about 3 months old (typical West Virginia Brown Dog). It was eat up with mange. It had very little hair and it's skin was scabbed over and leathered from the severity of the disease. More than likely I would have just had to take it to the pound to put it to sleep but at least it would have been out of it's misery. Sadly it was right in the middle of a "good" neighborhood with barking dogs in every yard and nobody wanted to take the time to help the little feller. If nothing else just so their own pets wouldn't catch the mange. Sigh - I shut up about it now.

On the way back from the cemetery I stopped by my 84 year old Granny's house. She is looking quite healthy now. She is old and feeble as you would expect an 84 year old woman to be but she recovering from the stroke she had last year quite nicely. Her birthday is on the 6th. I videotaped her talking about life in general. I tried to get her to say "hi" to her kids and I was going to send the video to them but she couldn't quite grasp what I was trying to do. So I just filmed a few minutes with her - just because.

Then I stopped by my mom's house. It was locked up tighter than a mauseleum (sp). She was home but she didn't answer the door. I left the picture that I put up for my avatar today in her mailbox. It is my favorite childhood picture of the 3 of us.

Then I came home and took a much needed nap. I am paying the price for going up to the cemetery now. Hopefully it won't take me long to recuperate. We will see.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Michael Jackson

What can I say, he's been there my whole life. I remember giggling over "Tiger Beat" magazine and the other teen mags when I was in the third grade with my friends. We were in love with Donny Osmond, Michael Jackson and Bobby Sherman. Of course in those days we couldn't admit our love for Michael because he was black and it just wasn't proper.

That had changed by the 80's. My stepdaughter Kandi had the most incredible crush on him! She was moved to tears (Thriller days) just by the mere mention of his name and she fully intended to marry him someday. We all used to crowd around the TV and marvel at his every move. When the moondancing started I thought the world just had to be turning backwards on it's axis!

Early one morning after I had just moved to Huntington. There was a radio trivia question and the prize was a trip to Cleveland for 2 to see Michael Jackson. Apparently I was the only one in WV who knew the answer - I spent 1/2 an hour trying to reach the radio station before I left for beautician school. I didn't know the number and they never announced it and I didn't have a phone book either. Alas, that meant that Kandi didn't get to fulfill her life's dream to see Michael Jackson. I would have been the world's greatest stepmother if that call would have gotten through!

Then we watched him turn white. Of course we all just shook our heads and wondered why he would want to do that to himself. I remember when MTV went to Afghanistan for the first time. One of the teenagers was proclaiming his love for Michael's music. They showed him a picture of the now white Micheal and he couldn't and wouldn't believe it was him.

I learned an interesting bit of trivia in the 90's and it still holds true for the young people of today because I have asked. Much of the under 30 crowd believes that Michael and Latoya are the same person - you know, Latoya is Michael in drag. They do not believe you when you try to tell them differently. I guess they will find out now though.

When it is all said and done I believe he will be remembered for his music and his showmanship and his talent. Hopefully all the ugliness will fade away but I don't believe his star ever will.