What can I say. Today is Jeds birthday. I love him and miss him. Of course I feel that way about Jed everyday. The luncheon is this Saturday. I know Jed would be quite happy with all the hoopla. He always liked a good party, especially when thrown in his honor. I hope everyone brings a lot of money for the auction. There will be a lot of great items. Hopefully we will raise a ton of money to help find a cure for childhood cancer and to help family s that are living this nightmare. Jed will be thrilled to know, that a friend that he never met, has lit a row of candles for him at the Vatican and that 13 balloons filled with red and white rose seeds will be released from Roma for his 13 birthday. That is just so awesome. Thank you Castiel.

Happy birthday Jed

When I wake up it will be Jeds birthday. His 13th. Happy Birthday Jed. I love you.

Janis Joplin

A future Rock Star


This is the second time that I am writing this. The first time everything disappeared into computer heaven, or wherever it goes when it disappears. This weekend is what they call bike week. It is really only a couple of days. I was not interested in going. Usually Jed would ride with me. We would go down and watch all the bikes in the parade. Kristin would ride her bike. Jed was very proud that Kristin had her own bike. He thought it was way cool. It is not that appealing without Jed. Another reason is that I am so disappointed in the company Harley Davidson. I mean, I love riding my motorcycle, but I would like riding any motorcycle. The only reason I ride a Harley is because I work there. I would never buy another new Harley. Not when you can buy a used one that is just broke in, and save yourself about five or six thousand dollars. Lets face it, most people keep their Harleys up better than their houses. Anyway enough of that. The last time I wrote on my blog, I made a list of some of the concerts and musical artist that I had seen. When I went to work the next day I started thinking about all of the artist that I have seen in my life. I wrote them down as I thought about them. When I was finished ,there was a list of 105 artist , I could have added to the list on my blog. I won't bore you with the whole list but I do want to write about one that was a real standout. That was seeing Janis Joplin at the fillmore west in San Francisco. It was April 4th 1970. I am pretty certain that it was a Saturday. My Friend Floyd informed me that Janis Joplin was going to be playing at the Fillmore that night with Big Brother and the Holding Co. That was a very big deal because Janis Joplin had split up with Big Brother about two years earlier. After the cheap thrills album was released. That album became a huge success. I had not seen Janis Joplin before that night, and was very excited to go. I was a huge fan after listening to the Cheap Thrills album. Yes Album. I remember when Bill Graham started to announce, about the special performance that we were about to see, the crowd stood up, and went wild. When Janis Joplin hit the stage it was electric. No one set down. She really was mesmerizing. I remember her singing "piece of my heart'. She never stopped moving and stomping her foot. They preformed almost all of the Cheap Thrills album, and them some. It is really hard to compare her to anyone. When she sang ball and chain, you could tell she was giving you everything. It was one of the best concerts that I have been to.Janis Joplin died six months later on Oct.4. The shows at the Fillmore west were usually great. It was just the right size. Anyway that is all for tonight. Jed I love you and hope that Janis Joplin is singing for you. Good night.

Whenever I read Savannah's blog it just blows me away. I am so proud of her and what she does. The THON videos are so inspiring. As much as I love them they usually bring me to tears. I watch them with mixed emotions. THON is definitely one of the good things that came from Jed illness. I have been to a lot of great concerts in my life. I have seen Janis Joplin, Jimi Hindrex, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jeff Beck, The Grateful Dead, Rod Stewart and the faces, Lee Michaels, Canned Heat, The Temptations, Smokey Robinson, The Four Tops, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Al Green, Alvin lee and Ten Years After, QuickSilver messenger service, Dr. John the night tripper, John Lee Hooker, B.B. King, Albert King, Freddy King, Joe Crocker and the Mad Dogs and Englishmen, Bonnie and Delaney, Eric Clapton, Traffic, Stevie winwood, BlindFaith, Pink Floyd, Stevie Wonder, Reberta Flack, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Bob Dylan, Bob Seager and the Silver Bullet Band, Neil Young and Crazy Horse, Crosby Stills and Nash, and Young, David Bromberg, Jerry Garcia, Old and in the way, Coldblood, Tower of Power, The Dixie Chicks, robin Trower, The very first Santana group, Journey, Huey Lewis and the news, Eddie Money, Joan Baez, Joni Mitchel, The Band, The last Waltz, Altamont, Leonard Skinner, The Allman Brothers with Duane Allman, Gregg Allman, Match Box Twenty, Roy Clark, Glen Campbell,the Kinks, Blue Cheer, Grand Funk Railroad, and Credence Clear Water. In no particular order. A lot of these people, I was fortunate enough to see at the Fillmore West and Winter Land and the Avalon ball room, before they were huge stars. I was just a young kid when I saw a lot of these groups. I really have to thank my friend Floyd Nay. He took me to most of the early concerts in San Fransisco. The point I am trying to make is, even with all these great concerts, and a lot of them were great, is that THON, is in a league of it own. THON ROCKS. The positive energy that is inside the BJC on Thon weekend is the best. You really have to be there to get it. It's just one big arena of LOVE. Tears,Laughter,cheers and dancing. Wow,it sounds like the concerts I went to. If I would have studied more instead of going to concerts I could probably describe it better. All I can say is "WE ARE PENN STATE'. I don't know if anyone really reads what I write but if you do, remember what THON is for.FUN and to make money ,to help support Family's who have children ,who are fighting Cancer. The money collected in the months leading up to THON goes to the Four Diamonds Fund. You can read more about the Four Diamonds on Savannahs blog. Now I need to go to sleep. Goodnight Jed. I Love and Miss You Everyday.

At the Fair

Today,Kristin and I went to the York Fair ,to see a young man I know,play guitar and sing. Well to make a long story short, if he was playing, we could not find him. The fair is a good place to watch people and critique them (make fun of). Not really. Ok really. The place serves nothing but fried food. Fried everything. I had a fried oreo cookie, and Kristin had a funnel cake. We also ordered a large cup of lemonade. The large lemonade dispenser looked like it had some nats swimming in it. Today was the last day of the fair so all the oil and grease had an extra strong smell to it. While there it brought back a memory of when I worked at a fair in Alaska. It was 1985, I think. I was 32 years old. I had already spent the spring and summer fishing and working at different places in Alaska. When the fishing season was over I hooked up with a carnival in Fairbanks Alaska. I ran the Tilt a Whirl ride. When the carnival was over in Fairbanks it moved to Palmer Alaska for the State fair. They asked me if I wanted to go and run the ride there. Since I was not really doing anything else I said "yes". The month was Sept. The Alaska State Fair starts there on about the 16th of Sept. and runs for about two weeks. The days are beginning to get shorter and the temperature was getting cooler. The nights get really cold. All I was sleeping in was a small tent with a sleeping bag. One benefit of working at the fair was you could take a shower every day. When fishing, you don't take a shower until its over. That could be anywhere from one week to three weeks. It really depended on what boat you were on. Anyway back to the fair. You will see why the shower became an important item to me. One night while I was running the Tilt a Whirl ride, these three teenagers were waiting in line. You could tell that they had been drinking. They were getting loud and obnoxious. I just tried to ignore them and hurried the riders on before them so they could get on and get it over with. I wasn't supposed to let drunk people on the ride, but I wasn't about to get in an argument with some drunk teenagers. I would run the ride about four minutes and then slowly stop it for about another minute. When it would stop I would make sure everyone got off safely. It was a fun job and easy to do. Finally the three boys got on with about twenty other people. After about two minutes the ride was running at full speed. For you who don't know what the ride is, it's a large round disk that you stand on. The back part of the wall that you lean against is a wire type cage. You stand with your back to the cage and hold on to these handles as everyone faces each other. As the disk starts spinning I would pull on a leaver and the disk would lift up a about a forty degree angle. You would get real dizzy if it went to long. Like I was saying, the ride had been going for about two minutes and it was all the way up. As I was watching, I could see one of the drunk boys ,turn around so his face was pressed against the cage, outwards facing me. He looked a little green. I was just about to say something, about turning back around, when all of a sudden this red vomit came spewing out of his mouth like a fire hose. Before I could even think what was happening, all of this stinking red puke cheap wine, hit me. I was completely covered. My hair, shirt,pants and shoes. I stopped the ride so fast that the other people almost fell out of the cages they were standing in. While all of this was happening there was this little black kid standing there with his friend. He was probably about 12 years old. As soon as the puke hit me the little kid yelled out "OOOH he hit you". As soon as he said that I started cracking up laughing. I shut the ride down and headed to the showers. On the way, the owner of the carnival ask me where I was going? She started to tell me that I could not just walk away from the ride. She started to get mad, until I told her what happened and she got a good wiff of me. She just said "hurry up, you have twenty minutes". She started laughing too. That is my carny story. At least one of my Carny stories.

Saturday

Today is Saturday, Sept.11 2010. On this day, in the year 2001, I was in the Hospital with Septic blood. I was very close to dying. I was watching the T.V. as jets were flown into the World Trade Buildings. At first, I thought it was a movie. Then when I realized that it was not, I begin to cry. I called Kristin at work. She was working at Harley Davidson that day. She was listening to Howard Stern, as he told his listeners, that the terrorist were hijacking planes and flying them into buildings. I was crying as I told Kristin what I saw. She told me to turn off the television. It was a very sad day. One of those days that you will never forget. I always pray for our soldiers, wherever they are. I guess that whoever is in charge of my life has a bigger plan for me than dying, back in 2010. Anyway, I am still here. Jed birthday is coming up, and with that a luncheon to celebrate his short life. Living without him is so hard. I know that I have a lot of blessings in my life. My son David, my daughter Andria, My grandchildren, Gage,Talisa,Bianca,and Alyssa. My sister, Nila, and her children. I also know that I have a lot of support from Davids mother, Susan. I am also blessed with the family I have here. Kristin, Savannah, and their family. With all that, loosing Jed is just so overwhelming. I wish I could say that with time it gets easier, but it does not. I am so thankful that I was able to sit with Jed on his last day. I was able to tell him how much I loved him, and what he meant to me. Jed was always one of my biggest allies. If Kristin was upset at me for whatever reason, he would be there to say, give me a break. Jed I miss you and love you. Childhood cancer needs to be eradicated. That is why this luncheon is so important to us. The money raised from this celebration will be used to help fight this disease. I think with Savannahs hard work and focus, this luncheon will become an annual event. A very successful event. Go to Big Jeds World, kristins blog, to find out how to donate money or buy tickets. There is going to be a lot of good stuff to bid on to buy. The one guitar that you can see on my blog is going to be donated for auction. It is a guitar that I built from Fender American parts. I have over $1,000 in the building of this guitar. It will come with a case and Amp. Every penny that goes to the purchase of this guitar, will go to help cure childhood cancer. Thank you

I'll see you in the skys above

i am writing another post so I can put more pictures up. I downloaded a lot more than are posted. I don't have the best of luck with pictures. I also want to say ,especially to the people on the west coast this is "CHILDHOOD CANCER AWARENESS MONTH'. We are having a celebration of Jeds life on Oct.2. It is a luncheon that Savannah is putting on, with the help of many friends, to raise money to help fight childhood cancer. I know that most of you will not be able to come out here,but if you would like to donate money, you can by going to Savannahs blog. I think there is a link from Kristins blog Big Jeds World. If you can't donate through her blog you can send money to her. This is something that is very dear to our hearts. Thank you

airplane ride home

Home at last

I'm home and still here. I arrived at our house at about 1:30am or 2:00am. I did not look at the clock. It's funny how when I am out there, in California, I miss my family here, and when I am here I miss my family out there. If I could just win the lottery, I could fly back and forth all the time. The flight home was nice because I flew business class, which is first class. When I went out there, I stopped in Atlanta, and changed planes. I only had to walk about 30 feet to be at the gate to catch the plane to San Francisco. On the way back when I got to Atlanta, I had to walk, this is no exaggeration, a mile to a mile and a half, to get to the next gate. Atlanta has to be one of the biggest airports in the world. You can eat at a Phillips resturant at the airport if you want. One thing I don't miss is the traffic in California. I took some pictures of it, when I was driving. I hope I can download them. we will see. I almost bought some snow globes for Jed when I was out there. I did buy some shirts for Kristin and Savannah. Some cool San Francisco shirts. Tomorrow I get to start work at 6:30 in the morning, to 5:00 in the evening. A ten hour day. The good thing is that I get Friday off. Yea! It was great seeing everyone, and it is great being home. I am still here. Jed I love you and miss you. I thought about you all the time. I played catch with Gage. Catch with a football. All the time I was thinking, Jed and Gage woud have liked each other. I wish I would have played catch with Jed more than I did. David, play catch with Gage. I know you do when you can. Just do it more. Gage is really good at it. I love everyone out in California. That is all for now. Like I said "I am still here".

It's my last night in California. I am staying at the marina inn in San Leandro. The same place I started. It was great seeing and visiting everyone, but it is time to get home. My phone is about dead and I must have left the charger in Oroville. The trip from Oroville to San Leandro was very long. I forgot how California holiday traffic is. Everyone heads home at the same time. It took about an hour and a half to go about 20 miles. You have to have a lot of patience. The weather has been perfect. Hot weather with no humidity. I would have liked to gone to the ocean and San Francisco, but I will save that for when Kristin comes out here with me. Thank you to everyone for their hospitably. It was awesome seeing my grandchildren Gage, Talisa, Bianca, and Alyssa. All of them are beautiful. The dinner at Susans was a lot of fun. It was great having Nila there with all the kids, and it was nice seeing Susan and her husband David. Now it is time to go t sleep. A long day tomorrow. Good night. I will see you soon Kristin. Of course I am having trouble downloading pictures.

These are pictures of David and Alyssa and Bianca when the came to my room. The little one is a handful. Both are very beautiful.

My triip to California

Here I am. I am sitting in my room in Oroville Ca. waiting for my sister to come over. I'm staying at the feather hills casino and lodge. So far I have seen my friend Rick in San Leandro, my mother and her husband in Clear Lake Ca., my son and his clan, Davids grandmother, Jane, and grandfather Stan. Today, Susan, Davids Mother, is going to have a fried chicken dinner for everyone. Susan has a pool, so all the kids will go swimming. My sister, Nila, is also going to be there. It should be fun, seeing everyone together. So far the trip as been a whirlwind. Yesterday my son, David and I went on a long drive by an old mining town. It was a lot of fun. We ended up in Marysville at a taco joint. They had great tacos. I ate six of them. My mother also made tacos for me when I was there. After David left my sister, Nila, came to my room and hung out with me. It was a lot of fun. We talked about everything. Today is Sunday the 5th of Sept. I miss Kristin and Savannah. I wish they were here with me. The weather has been great. In the hundreds.No humidity though. That is it for now. As usual always missing Jed, wishing he was here with me to see my grandchildren. Wishing I was buying snow globes and magnets for him. wishing, wishing wishing....