HOW MANY REMEMBER ?

How many y'all remember when TV stations had
technical difficulties and had to put up a test pattern
and signed off the air at 1 or 2 A.M. after the Late Show
or the Late News when all we had was our local &
Network TV stations ? When TV was FREE !

I remember those days, I remember my Pop gettin
up at 12:30 or so to go to the bathroom
(our 1 bathroom for a family of 6 was off the hallway)
and steppin into the living room to say
"what are you still doin up, turn that TV off and
get to bed" to which I would reply somethin like
"but the movie is almost over" even if it still had an
hour or more to go. Pop would always say "well as
soon as it's over you get to bed". Of course this was
on Fri. and or Sat. nights. Ahh the good ole days.

Here's a link to a site where y'all can see some station
sign offs from around the country, unfortunately there isn't
one from any of my local stations and the oldest one I
found is from 1977, let me know in comments if ya see one
from your hometown and if ya remember it.
http://www.tv-signoffs.com/

I even found and remember this HBO sign off from
1979 when HBO and cable TV was young .

For those of you who remember this stuff I hope it
has brought back some pleasant memories.
For you younger folks, how many of you had no idea
HBO EVER signed off the air at night ?

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31 YEARS AGO........

31 Years ago I got my very first real weekly
paycheck job, sure I had mowed lawns & raked
leaves for my neighbors and I had a couple of
paper routes up to then but at 16yrs. old it was
time to join the real work force.

Monday I just happened to have to drive by
the place where I had that first real job.

I was a bus boy at a Restaurant & lounge called
Dorado's right by Sky Harbor Int. Airport at
24th. St. & the I 17 truck route in Phx. The name
is now Rodehouse & the landscape is a little
different but everything else is still the same
(from the outside).

Poke the pic. to biggie size it.

I even remembered a couple of the people I worked with like Sue Hunter, she was the Hostess & the owners daughter, she was about 25yrs. old tall slim & pretty and very funny.

Then there was Miss Jessie the head waitress, she was about 4' 7" and at the time about 60 yrs old, she was a hard worker and a very sweet lady and IF Miss Jessie is gone from this world now may God rest her soul.

Then there was Robin...mmm Robin mmm...oh uh yeah Robin was a 28 year old waitress, a 5' 4" tall REDHEAD with a gorgeous freckled face and a set of 40D's and an awesome personality, we were real good friends in the work place and though I tried and tried she was married and in love with her husband and would giggle and remind me of that fact every time I would say something suggestive, that and the fact that she could go to jail if she ever rocked my under age world. I kept tryin though right up to the day I left that job and Robin always kept a good humor about it, ALWAYS.

Robin is my fondest memory of my first real job.....I wonder why? heh heh

Oh and there was this one waitress that I can't remember her name but she was about 5' 8" tall & had a pretty face & nice body but WOW WHAT A BITCH!

Yeah there were other bus boys & the cooks were all guys but who gives a shit about that I WAS 16 REMEMBER.

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Illuminating the Memories

My Pop made this display cabinet for my Mom
many years ago but he never got around to
putting any lighting in it.

Sunday I went to Wal Mart and bought a 12'

rope light, I only had to drill one hole in the

back for the power cord and it came with mounting

clips so I ran it around the inside edge or the door. The first shelf from the bottom is full of

memories of my Pop, the next shelf up is

memories of Mom. The rest is just miscellaneous stuff.

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THE LANDFILL vs THE DUMP

I was hauling asphalt today up Hwy. 87 to
where they are widening the road .

From the Hot Plant to the job site I made six
trips up and down the Hwy. passing the landfill
each time and on the fourth trip up it struck me .

When in hell did we start calling it the landfill ?
Sometime in the last 35 years people started
calling it the landfill instead of the dump .

When I was a kid Pop would tell me -
Before you take off to play Saturday I want you
to help me load {whatever it happened to be}
into the pick up and go to THE DUMP .

He always called it the dump , everyone we
knew called it the dump , I always called it the dump .

Until seven years ago when I came off driving
long haul and started driving local construction
[sometimes we haul dirt in to bury the trash]

I started calling it the landfill because that's
what was on the paper work .

Suddenly at that moment I felt like I had just
lost part of my childhood .

Maybe it's silly to be so sentimental about
what we call that big ass hole where we put
our trash....or maybe it's something else .

I MISS YOU POP

APRIL 1936 --- DECEMBER 2004

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Mmm Tasty

I took this picture about 15 years ago in
Las Cruces NM. the little joint was already
closed down because there was a brand new
Pilot Truck Stop across the road ...
or maybe it was just the cooking.

I know it's a little blurry but that's because
I didn't have a digital camera back then so
this is a picture of a picture .

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