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Wayne Lake

I Can’t Believe Life Has Come To This

The dumbest thing I ever bought was a 2020 planner.

I was so bored I called Jake from State Farm just to talk to someone. He asked me what I was wearing.

2019:  Stay away from negative people. 

2020:  Stay away from positive people.

The world has turned upside down.  Old folks are sneaking out of the house & their kids are yelling at them to stay indoors!

This morning I saw a neighbor talking to her dog.  It was obvious she thought her dog understood her.  I came into my house and told my cat. We laughed a lot.

Every few days try your jeans on just to make sure they fit. Pajamas will have you believe all is well in the kingdom.

Does anyone know if we can take showers yet or should we just keep washing our hands?

This virus has done what no woman has been able to do:  Cancel sports, shut down all bars & keep men at home!

I never thought the comment, “I wouldn’t touch him/her with a 6-foot pole” would become a national policy, but here we are!

I need to practice social-distancing from the refrigerator.

I hope the weather is good tomorrow for my trip to the Backyard. I’m getting tired of the Living Room.

Appropriate analogy.  "The curve is flattening so we can start lifting restrictions now” is like saying,  “The parachute has slowed our rate of descent, so we can take it off now.”

Never in a million years could I have imagined I would go up to a bank teller wearing a mask & ask for money.

 The spread of COVID-19 is based on 2 things:

1.   How dense the population is.

 2.  How dense the population is.

Stay safe my friends,  wtl

Teddie Jordan

Good stuff WTL  Have you caught any good Redfish since you got back to AP?

Wayne Lake

Hi All,

I hope everybody is dealing with this new world we are living in today. In a lot of ways, those of us that are retired and without little kids in the house have not had to change our normal routines and therefore we are not affected as much as others that have to go to work and take on new roles as school teachers.  All that said and done, I’ve got a new perspective on pro sports but still really look forward to college basketball.

Bennie, Lora and I took C&W dance lessons a long time ago and really enjoyed dancin’on hardwood floors to music with a familiar beat. After many years of absence, we went to Esquire Ballroom on Hempstead Hwy to practice our moves. I called and asked if they were open Friday night and they said yes and had a band – live music beats the heck out of ‘canned and programmed’. When we arrived on a very rainy evening and it was an eye opener as the marquis out front did not have the nights’ house band name but was filled with used cars for sales as the parking lot served as a car lot during daytime hours which should have been a clue to what we would find out next.

Went in, paid our cover, got some long necks and found a table. Since the place was nearly empty (four other paying guests), finding a table was not a problem. The band came on stage and we immediately jumped up and started goin’ in circles just like the lady showed us. The only problem was the roof had a pretty bad leak and puddles formed which essentially stopped all ‘boot scootin’ since we sort of stuck to the floor in the middle of the puddle. By the end of the first set we figured out we just needed avoid the puddles and stay on dry land where sliding was easier. The band was unbelievably bad, out of time and terrible vocals so they played very loud to make up for it.

After the first set we sat down and a guy from the band came over, pulled up a chair and started apologizing about how bad they were playing saying they did not have their lead guitar player who was normally their lead singer. I don’t think it would have made any difference…….

Then she made me take ball room lessons and I enjoyed part of it – the Tango is great and just like Groucho and Scent of a Woman, I took to it like a duck in water. But the mainstay of BR is the Fox Trot and I kept confusing the 2 step sequence with that of the Fox Trot which made my leads a little unpredictable to say the least and really pissed off the gay instructor who told me I should probably find another hobby. We tried it a few times at the SPJST hall at 15^th and Bealle as they had great bands, good dance floor and interesting dancers to watch. The instructor did give me some good advice wrt dancing; he said you don’t look old until you sit down.

By the way a friend of mine who lives in Needville has a local zero turn mower mechanic that he says is good and cheap. Let me know and I will get you contact details if you like.

Stay safe my friends,  wtl

Bennie Schielack

Beau, when I purchased my zero turn, I encouraged Sarah to give it a try, and she refused.  I have two lawns to mow, next door to each other, and at the time, my achilles was giving me problems, along with an ingrown toe nail.  The zero turn made taking care of the lawns easy.  She would not climb aboard and give it a try.  She absolutely refused.  That was several years ago.  Since that time, her mother has passed and we have a homesite over an acre in size that we have been taking care of.  I moved my zero turn out there and I have been using it about once a week.  Sarah's mom left a mower/tractor and she has been using that to help me mow.  One day, Sarah decided to climb on the zero turn, and has wanted to use the zero turn and have me use the tractor.  Nope, nope, nope.  Sometimes, if you give a lady an inch, they will tie you up and abuse you, or try to steal your ride . . . . . 

Wayne, when and where did you guys take C &  W and also Ballroom ? ? ? ? ?  Do you remember your instructors names ? ? ? ? ?  I began around '85 at a club on SW Freeway close to Bellaire Blvd.  Marilyn's Dance Club was conducting lessons there on Sunday evenings before the club opened up.  (Prior name of club was Rubaiyat or some such)  Stayed with the lessons for 2+ years.  Spent most nights (6 or 7 nights a week) practicing dance technique and patters @ various clubs, usually on the nights they were not really busy.  Wild West on Long Point and Gessner, San Antonio Rose, Melody Club, Rose on Richmond, Post Oak Ranch, Aquarium Club, Long Horn.  These were the days that Urban Cowboy influenced, and so many single folks close to our age were out enjoying life and activities, including C & W dancing.  

On Friday nights, many of my fellow students and my personal students (50 to 100), would meet up at a club on Mangum, behind Long John Silvers and dance until around 10, then about 20 to 30 of us would head over to a breakfast cafe on Mangum and 290 for some conversation and eggs . . . . . 

Loved the big floor at Longhorn, but also loved the raised floor at the Rose on Richmond.  That floor was like being on stage, and every once in a while, some drunk girl would try to climb aboard the horse in the center of the floor. 

Post Oak Ranch served the best buffets for early dancers.  Full course meals of several varieties.  Italian foods, Mexican foods and steak night.  Those were the golden days of C & W dance.

What we favor for Ballroom music is live entertainment, but for C & W, a good DJ makes the dancing much more entertaining and beneficial. 

Most live bands play a mix of very slow Two Step, fast Polka and fast Waltz music . . . . . We prefer exactly the opposite, so we do not go to many dances outside of large municipalities . . . . . When we dance locally, we usually do Fox Trot to the Two Step music (Our Fox Trot patterns are very similar to Waltz patterns, but use different characteristics), but often dance Tango when the music is slow, unless it has a bit of a latin beat, then we will dance a Bolero.  Often, to the Polka music, we'll do an East Coast Swing or Cha Cha.  Depending on the "speed" of the Waltz, we'll usually dance a  Viennese Waltz.  Different patterns and techniques . . . . . 

Sure have been missing dancing over the past several months.  Wondering how long it will take to get back into "dance" shape, or even if I ever will . . . . . 

Guess one can tell I love dance, on the floor and off.  I never tire of remembering how it used to be, and hopefully, how it will be again,  

 I'll refrain from my Beau joke this time, even though it would be appropriate.   

Hope everyone is enjoying this great, cool weather, but it is messing up our daily golf game.

I forgot to mention, in my comments about live C & W bands and a good DJ, a band will play an unorganized set.  A good DJ will begin a set with a slow song or two, then a slow/intermediate Waltz, then a faster Waltz, followed by either Polka's or Two Steps, slow at first, then increasing the speed until they bring up the heart rate, then switch to East Coast Swing song or two, followed by multiple West Coast songs.  A "good" set of songs will build from the beginning to the end and like a good "work out" session, end with some "cool down" music.  This is what I prefer, instead of the mishmash live entertainers use, usually only their "break song" being a lively song to dance to.  We have found "Almost Patsy Cline" to be a fun live band, but they fit exactly into the picture I have drawn about live entertainment.  One of our favorite dances is the Hanger Dance on Memorial Day weekend in Fredericksburg.  Missed it this year due to the damndemic . . . . . awaiting next year . . . . .   

Beau Wann, Jr.

     Hey Scotty, yall ok?   

Teddie Jordan

Cephus, I checked on them last night after it had gone in and he said so far so Good and still had power.

Then apparently lost it overnight. But texted me this morning that they got power back around 630 Am today! 

They are back in business!

What a crazy year for many reasons, but one of them is definitely tropical storms!

Fran and daughter Lisa went over to Lake Charles today for a little girl get away. They will come back tmrw. Fran said the blue tarps on too many houses and downed trees show how much LC got damaged by the earlier storms. 

They've had so many named storms this year that they've gone completely through the  English and Greek alphabets, and my understanding is that they will name any future 2020 storms after streets in Garden Oaks and Oak Forest. Hurricane Althea or Dubary, have a familiar ring to them don't they?

Beau Wann, Jr.

     Thanks TJ. Glad they are ok.  That's what, 11 storms going through there this year?  Well, no matter, one is too many! 

Scotty Croom

well,we made it thru another storm,power outage.....out 8pm to 6am..no food lost.......no damage....after 3 trieas to vote early...no parking early today,ate breakfast..tried later,still line,but parked. used old folks express voting...done in 10 mins...bypassed line, sugned in ,got ballot ..w/help voted,scanned and out the door ,in car and headed home....

Beau Wann, Jr.

     Scotty, glad you made it through yet another storm...I'm amazed that all multi-tenant buildings arent required to have backup generators.  ALL Bell Telephone Buildings aka central offices have "no flicker" back up generators in their basements. ("no flicker" indicates that when local power goes down, and the generators kick in, you dont notice the "flicker" of lights when it happens).  I dont recollect just how many each b uilding has, but it's at least 3 or 4, and the generators were the size of locomotives.

     Back when I was an ironworker, I worked for T D Howe construction and they had most of the Bell Tel contracts.  Bell buildings are designed and built with enough steel and concrete to go up 40 floors, even if it is only one or two story, plus a  basement. They are, or wwere designed as CD shelters and could withstand any detonation short of a direct hit.  they use to have the CD symbol on the exterior door, but dont think theyre designated as Civilian shelters anymore.

     Then having graduated from working on building Bell Buildings, to working inside them and around them, I learned even more useful stuff, only, cant rmember what it is, was.  But that's ok, being 75 und vun haf, I'm allowed certain parameters in the "remember" department.

     One time back in the old days in the late 70s or early 80s, we, our crew and any others that wanted to work 24/7, installed a back up computer room for some company in New Jersey.   That is, this computer room was a mirror of another computer room in New Jersey, but was only there as a "back up" should the initial one go down.  This was down on Yellowstone street by the Astrodome. 

    This computer room had state of the art, well, for the 80s anyway, everything, including a "no flicker" backup power supply, that we heard cost 100K dollars, which was a lot back in them "halcyon" days.  (we had a piece of test gear called The "Halcyon" ), now cant for the life of me remember what it did.  I think itt was a "variable tone generator", we had a lot of those by different manufacturers.

    Had a "COLLINS" tone generator built by, appropriately so, The Collins company.   When Byrd went to antartica, or maybe it was the north pole, the known radios, both military and civilian were not reliable, at best, when trying to communicate with the expedition, except one, built by an amature radio opeerator, Arthur Collins, using "short wave" technology. Off on a tangent is me of course.

    Well, what else would youse like to know?  I was trying to get a Power Generator company to come up here to give me a bid on installing a "whole house" system, but seems we are not in the right zip code.  No one wants to go just a little "above and beyond" to make any money.  Seems that people now want what they want and nothing else will suffice. 

      Back when we all started our work careers, me at 8 years old, shinning shoes, 10 cents, and picking up coke bottles for deposit money, 2 cents, then finally  graduating to an actual paycheck at  Mangum Suprvalu. First  paycheck was 9.01 for my first week.  I made 25 dollars in tips just on Saturday.  

       We all subscribed to the fact that a penny was better than nothing, a nickel was better than a penny, 10 cents was better than a nickel, 2 bits was bettern that, and upwards, 4 bits, 6 bits and a whole dollar was bettern the aforementioned.  Folks dont subscribe to that nowdays.  They also dont want to travel moren a few feet out of their way to make any money.  With the exception of Fedex, UPS, and USPS, we cant get ANY deliveries up here, or anyone to make a bid on whatever work we need done. You'd think we lived on Mars.

     Time to deplane boss, the boss is heading in to H town for the day to hep her parents in whatever they need, so I'm bachin it till sundown.  Oh boy ! 

Keep the sun at your six and "ride boldly ride..."

your frien and resident encyclopediactical person, Cephus R Me esq

Don Ellisor

Good morning class mates. Currently in the throes of recovering from triple by pass surgery. I do not recommend this experience. I would rather run wind sprints with an angry Coach Burton that wake up in a recovery room in which I knew no one. God has been great and we will recover. If you have a history of heart disease in your family, please get, a regular check-up and remember an EKG will not show this type of activity. Thank you for all the memories. Remember it matters not who is President, God is still in control.

Teddie Jordan

Wow Don, had not heard about that. Glad you have the surgery behind you and discovered the problem before it got any worse. Praying for your continued recovery and getting back to your family and living!

Johnny Sheffield

Gods blessings to you don. 
will keep you in our prayers 
for a speedy recovery. 
Stay safe and get well soon. 
Johnny and Becky 

Bill Traill

Don, Here's hoping for a speedy recovery !!!

Don Ellisor

Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes. I appreciate all these more than I can ever express to you all. God is good and is always in control. If ever I offended in any of you by words or actions, please for give me.

Teddie Jordan

 There is an obituary in today's Chronicle for Jim Montgomery, WHS class of '63. I always thought the world of Jim. We met playing little league baseball at age 11 and remained friends all of the way through school. I last saw him at one of their class reunions in the 90's , but sadly missed their last one. I'm sorry no one in their class ever gave them the gift that Jackie gave us in creating a class website, and the wonderful communicating and frequent gathering and catching up that naturally evolved from it.

Rest In Peace Jim, and Thank you to both Jim for your friendship, and to Jackie for your many gifts to us!

Beau Wann, Jr.

     Don, hope you have a speedy and full recovery.  Hey TJ, Didnt Jim have a sister named Jean?  I remember them from Oak Forest Elem school.   They lived acrross from the store there on Alba and Wakefield methinks.  Whilst still in elem school, Jean also suffered a nail to the heart flung by a lawnmower?  She survived, and they had the nail in a jar after her surgery and recovery.  Or at least my brains hard drive has that ingrained in there.  They were both very nice folks.

     Wish we could get the paper up here without having to drive somewhere to get it. I've tried it on line, and I'm so much better at "hard" copy than digical stuff.

Teddie Jordan

Cephus, yes Jean is one of Jim's sisters and Judy was the other. I think it was Judy who preceded him in death. I seem to remember them living on Curtin When we were on Overhill from '48--'57. 
 

And I'm just like you, I have always read a daily newspaper and there is something about going out and picking it up, sitting down with it and a fresh cup of hot coffee and reading it and holding and turning the pages. But mainly the chance to get a more in depth view of the "News" with some background and details!

Wayne Lake

Happy Veteran’s Day

Regards to all those who wore the uniforms and proudly served our country when called, those of you who have family members or friends that served, were injured, POW or paid the ultimate sacrifice and a special thanks to those Viet Nam combat vets who put it all on the line while so many of our generation were protesting against the war. This is one thing that we all can agree on regardless of the color of tie or hat we wear so fly your flags, don your old uniforms (well, maybe the hat still fits?) and celebrate your day.

Dancin’ with Dolphins,

Stay safe, wtl   

Bill Traill

Back at you Wayne for letting all the veterans know that we have not been forgotten. My heart also goes out to all who have lost someone in the fight to keep our Nation strong. God Bless !

Bennie Schielack

Don, praying your recovery passes very quickly. 

Wayne, thanks for recognizing Veterans. 

Bill and Beau, thank you for your service.

I thank Johnny Gregg, Leroy's brother, for his service.  Really sorry that he did not return from Viet Nam. 

This day is in memory of ALL veterans, alive and passed.  I was fortunate enough to find a "slot" in the Air Force reserves and spent 6 years working on C 119 and C 130 aircraft.  

While I was serving, I was serving with three people that I had know for many years.  One was a school mate from St. Rose, a fellow with the name of James Alexander.  Another was a youngster I was fortunate to be a neighbor of, Jack Bogle, WHS '65.  The third was my younger brother, Mark Schielack. 

A funny (to me) incident happened a few weeks ago.  While having lunch at our local country club on a really bad weather day, there was only one other patron in the restaurant.  We began conversing and some how we got around to military service.  I told him I boarded a bus for San Antonio on the 15th of January, 1967.  Some of you may remember that Sunday, as it was the first time the champions of the AFL and the champions of the NFL met in a game that was the first of what has become the most watched football game ever, the SUPERBOWL . . . . . 

Turns out the fellow I was visiting with boarded a bus to San Antonio on the 8th of January, 1967.  He spent his time on the flightline, while I spent mine in the hanger, pulling maintenance.  One of our service mates ended up being my personal attorney.  Turns out my attorney and my fellow luncher were best friends, joining service on the same day, and to this day, are still good friends. 

Truth is, it really is a small world.

Wayne, I've not given up on my mower yet.  I like to, whenever possible, fix my own mechanical devices.  That way, when something comes up broken, I know who's fault it is and I know who to blame.  I do have a friend in Needville who is a teacher there.  Her son just recently received a scholarship to Rice U for football.  Think Needville will be playing in the state playdowns, begininng Friday night.  

We should be in Giddings for Boling's first playoff game of the year.  Hopefully more to come this year . . . . . 

Tomorrow, I go online to pick out our seats for UH Basketball . . . . . so looking forward to BB season . . . . . well worth the drive into town . . . . .

Lynn Wren (Burkhardt)

Hope to see you there.  We are excited they moved Kyler up to varsity, loved watching him play last year.    Have missed the JV games since Rodney, my daughters husband, is the Junior High Coordinator and also coaches 7th & 8th grade football.  Kooper my youngest grandson is manager.  Friday night lights is a family affair, Varsity Kooper is Tee and Ball boy and my oldest gransson Kade films with the tall camera in the end zone.  We will all be in Giddings on Friday night.  On another Waltrip note Coach Kevin Urbanek - Boling Athletic Director and Head Coach wife Diane graduated from Waltrip a very long time after we did...small world. 

A huge thank you to all our vets your service was and is appreciated.

Don Ellisor

Good morning Waltrip Rams! For all of you that served in the Armenian Forces, A huge God Blees and keep you. We will never forget what you have done for our country and us. Surgery recovery continues. Thanks for all the kind words and mostly for your prayers on our behalf. Shirley is a saint as those woh know her will testify. God is good all the time!

Teddie Jordan

Lynn I rememember James (Jimmy) urbanek who played football and was about a year or two ahead of us. 

To all of our classmates who served in the military, thank for your service and for your contributions to our country and for our independence and for our freedom!

Sweetie Marbury '65

Veterans Day is so special to all of us. We salute our classmates who served and remember those who did not come home. 

Lynn Gregory (Ferraro)

So sorry of hearing of Sandra Lee Cole's passing. She was wonderful, and apparently lived a very full life.