Ok, here it is. Thank you if you have been reading my blog. I just wish more would take a peek. And leave a comment. For those that write, you know that having readers is important. If no one reads, then what's the use?? Someone out there could be the next #1 writer, but if you can't get anyone to read what you write, what can you do? Oh if you already have a 'name' or are a movie star, on television, politician, in any kind of government, or just popular in something, getting someone to read is no problem.
I hear, "oh, I have been meaning to, but have been so busy." Or I forgot what your blog was, Or my kid, or I, was so sick I just didn't feel like it. And on and on and on. But then you (I) go on face book and find comment after comment, see you going into the movies, sitting in a café with friends and stay there for two hours; Well you get the idea. Even some of these sites that say they encourage writers never seem to get around to encourage you. Hey, maybe some of us might not be a King, or Rawlings, but I have read quite a few 'new' writers and they are good, Very Good. So hey people, if you are reading a blog, I don't care who's, leave a comment. That is the only way any of us will ever know if you are there. It doesn't matter if you like it or not. Comment.
Thanks to all that write and read.
B. Anna Lee.
Monday, September 30, 2013
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
THE ONE AND ONLY BLACK WATER RACE OF 1975
This is a true story of mine.
Oakland, Oregon; June 1st, 1975, 8:30am. "Ok everyone, it's time to get up and get ready for the race."
I see one eye of Mindy's peeking out of her sleeping bag. Robin covers her head in protest. Jim doesn't move. The babies are wide awake and running around, so I let them do my dirty work.
"Jump on the people you sweet little kids."
That did it, everyone is starting to move. Someone is missing--Joy, where is Joy? Down the hall I slowly walk, checking each corner in every room. There she is, on the floor with the blankets over her head. As I grab a hold of them I hear a weak voice say, "No, no--it's to early."
Since I am her mother, I am the superior one, I pull the blankets off ignoring her protesting. Now the whole house is awake, all fifteen of us. As I look around I see wall-to-wall kids, and I know it is about time to leave.
Time is getting short. Mindy, Jim, Robin, Joy and myself, start searching for an empty room to get into our bathing suits. We are ready--now off to the Cell Tavern in Sutherlin to meet the rest of the water race party. Because of their age, Robin and Joy will wait for a phone call before leaving the house.
Mindy, Jim, and I jump into Jim's car and off we go. We are the first group to arrive at the tavern, but more people are crowding into the door behind us. Within ten minutes the tavern is packed. Everyone is buying beer for the house, a few are playing pool and shuffle-board, while the juke-box is playing, 'Hail, Hail, The Gangs All Here.' After two hours of drinking and laughing, someone yells, "It's noon, time to leave."
I make the call to the girls, and back to Oakland the caravan goes. We stop by the house, pick up the girls and their inner tubes, then head for Sterns Park to leave Jim's car. We hitch a ride to the gravel pit in Al's 1965 Ford pickup. With 14 people, 7 blown up car inner tubes, and someone trying to inflate more there wasn't much room left. Fifteen minutes later we were at the gravel pits only to find ten more cars and pickups filled with people, inner tubes and small rubber rafts.
When we piled out of the truck, and grab our inner tubes, Al hands me a canvas bag filled with bottles of wine, telling me to tie it to my inner tube. "No-way," I said, "I'll sink, but I'll take it to the river for you."
As I get closer to the water, my girls started splashing me. Laughing, I jump in the river with them. Now that we are soaked, we settled into our so-called 'little boats'. As I anchored myself to the sand with my bottom, a bottle of Apricot Splash is handed to me. I didn't have it long when someone else grabs it. Back and forth the bottle goes until it is empty. Now someone is passing around a thermos full of Harvey Wallbangers. It is so cool and refreshing that I try to hold on to it as long as possible; no such luck, someone else took it.
After bobbing around for an hour or so, sipping out of all the different bottles that is being passed around, the race finally begins. Down the Calapooya River we go bobbing up and down in the shallow water while trying to paddle with our hands. This gets pretty tiring after the first fifteen minutes, so I find a lose rope that is hooked to a raft, letting the raft pull me. I noticed my friends had the same idea. After the first hour or so, people were getting tired and started drifting towards the bank. Soon Mindy, Steve, Ron and I are the last ones hooked to the raft. Jim floated by earlier; hope he makes it all right.
We had to drag the extra inner tubes, that we found, and the raft over the shallow spots, (there were a lot too), along with our own. Why? because we didn't want them floating down the river by themselves. I don't know. But when we got to a sand-bank we left them there.
While trying to get back into my inner tube and getting dunked every time, I soon sobered up. It wasn't long that I mastered the art of entering a floating inner tube. Continuing with our race, we soon hit the rapids. (actually it was just a little fast water.) But now we are caught in a very swift current Ron slips out of his tube and grabs our ropes, stopping us from going through the tumbling water and over the sharp rocks, then he helped us out of our tubes and held onto us until we could get our footing well enough to walk over the rocks and through the water to where it was calmer. Once again we continued the race.
Ron decided to stay behind to help others that might get caught in the water like we did.
Mindy and Steve decided to walk awhile so that left me to drag the slowly deflating raft, and all the inner tubes that are attached to it, down the river. Finally I come to deeper water, I slowly slip myself into my tube and start drifting once more. Here comes Mindy--now Steve. They jump into their tubes, splashing water all over me. Within minutes Steve falls asleep. Now it's just Mindy and me (out of our group) to finish the race.
I'm exhausted so I grab a rope and let her do the paddling for awhile. The dam is in sight; that's it, I can't go on, I've had it. She agrees and splashes Steve to wake him. We are so stiff he has to help us onto the dam My house is just across the street, so I decide to walk over to get my car while she waits at the dam. Now I can feel my sunburn, and I'm so exhausted I can hardly walk. As I walk into the house, my girls meet me, also looking like lobsters. The hands on the clock say 6:30pm. I knew I was getting late, but didn't realize how late it really is. I get into my car, and after much cussing it starts. Mindy is sitting on the corner when I get there. She gets into the car with a lot of complaining and we head back to Sterns Park. There is a bon-fire going and Mindy warms herself for a minute to dry off, then she climbs into Jim's car to take a nap. Steve decided to finish the race and finally comes dragging in. I collect all of the inner tubes of mine, let the air out of some, then had to stuff them into the back seat of my car.
I found my jeans that I took off at the beginning of the race, slipping them gently over my sun-burnt legs. Now everyone decides to go back to the Cell Tavern for hot dogs, and chili, and naturally I go too. Downing two hot dogs, a plate of chili, and one glass of beer, the day's race is starting to show on me. I begin to burn all over. My whole body is glowing with my sunburn. It is time to go home. I hear a lot of moaning and groaning, others are having the same idea and are leaving.
When I arrive home, Mindy and Jim are dressed and walking around like statues, groaning with every step. As soon as they leave, I slowly, and, very gently, slip out of my clothes and bathing suit, take a lukewarm shower, then rub baby oil over my body until I am slippery as an eel. I get the softest robe I have, glide it on my arms and lay down to rest. As I drift off to sleep, I think of the six hours it took us to go three miles, how sore I am, and wish that it was next year so I can do it again.
**
There were prizes for the first, second and third that made the whole race. But to this day, I don't know who got them. And, NO, we didn't let any kids drink. They had pop and Kool-aid, And were watched. NOT everyone had alcohol. And there were baby-sitters for any children that didn't go. Some families even followed us in their cars and had food for us along the river. And we had designated drivers for those that was drinking. We had no accidents, drowning's, or fights at our race. Everyone looked out for each other. It was a great 'get together'.
****
This is a true story of mine.
Oakland, Oregon; June 1st, 1975, 8:30am. "Ok everyone, it's time to get up and get ready for the race."
I see one eye of Mindy's peeking out of her sleeping bag. Robin covers her head in protest. Jim doesn't move. The babies are wide awake and running around, so I let them do my dirty work.
"Jump on the people you sweet little kids."
That did it, everyone is starting to move. Someone is missing--Joy, where is Joy? Down the hall I slowly walk, checking each corner in every room. There she is, on the floor with the blankets over her head. As I grab a hold of them I hear a weak voice say, "No, no--it's to early."
Since I am her mother, I am the superior one, I pull the blankets off ignoring her protesting. Now the whole house is awake, all fifteen of us. As I look around I see wall-to-wall kids, and I know it is about time to leave.
Time is getting short. Mindy, Jim, Robin, Joy and myself, start searching for an empty room to get into our bathing suits. We are ready--now off to the Cell Tavern in Sutherlin to meet the rest of the water race party. Because of their age, Robin and Joy will wait for a phone call before leaving the house.
Mindy, Jim, and I jump into Jim's car and off we go. We are the first group to arrive at the tavern, but more people are crowding into the door behind us. Within ten minutes the tavern is packed. Everyone is buying beer for the house, a few are playing pool and shuffle-board, while the juke-box is playing, 'Hail, Hail, The Gangs All Here.' After two hours of drinking and laughing, someone yells, "It's noon, time to leave."
I make the call to the girls, and back to Oakland the caravan goes. We stop by the house, pick up the girls and their inner tubes, then head for Sterns Park to leave Jim's car. We hitch a ride to the gravel pit in Al's 1965 Ford pickup. With 14 people, 7 blown up car inner tubes, and someone trying to inflate more there wasn't much room left. Fifteen minutes later we were at the gravel pits only to find ten more cars and pickups filled with people, inner tubes and small rubber rafts.
When we piled out of the truck, and grab our inner tubes, Al hands me a canvas bag filled with bottles of wine, telling me to tie it to my inner tube. "No-way," I said, "I'll sink, but I'll take it to the river for you."
As I get closer to the water, my girls started splashing me. Laughing, I jump in the river with them. Now that we are soaked, we settled into our so-called 'little boats'. As I anchored myself to the sand with my bottom, a bottle of Apricot Splash is handed to me. I didn't have it long when someone else grabs it. Back and forth the bottle goes until it is empty. Now someone is passing around a thermos full of Harvey Wallbangers. It is so cool and refreshing that I try to hold on to it as long as possible; no such luck, someone else took it.
After bobbing around for an hour or so, sipping out of all the different bottles that is being passed around, the race finally begins. Down the Calapooya River we go bobbing up and down in the shallow water while trying to paddle with our hands. This gets pretty tiring after the first fifteen minutes, so I find a lose rope that is hooked to a raft, letting the raft pull me. I noticed my friends had the same idea. After the first hour or so, people were getting tired and started drifting towards the bank. Soon Mindy, Steve, Ron and I are the last ones hooked to the raft. Jim floated by earlier; hope he makes it all right.
We had to drag the extra inner tubes, that we found, and the raft over the shallow spots, (there were a lot too), along with our own. Why? because we didn't want them floating down the river by themselves. I don't know. But when we got to a sand-bank we left them there.
While trying to get back into my inner tube and getting dunked every time, I soon sobered up. It wasn't long that I mastered the art of entering a floating inner tube. Continuing with our race, we soon hit the rapids. (actually it was just a little fast water.) But now we are caught in a very swift current Ron slips out of his tube and grabs our ropes, stopping us from going through the tumbling water and over the sharp rocks, then he helped us out of our tubes and held onto us until we could get our footing well enough to walk over the rocks and through the water to where it was calmer. Once again we continued the race.
Ron decided to stay behind to help others that might get caught in the water like we did.
Mindy and Steve decided to walk awhile so that left me to drag the slowly deflating raft, and all the inner tubes that are attached to it, down the river. Finally I come to deeper water, I slowly slip myself into my tube and start drifting once more. Here comes Mindy--now Steve. They jump into their tubes, splashing water all over me. Within minutes Steve falls asleep. Now it's just Mindy and me (out of our group) to finish the race.
I'm exhausted so I grab a rope and let her do the paddling for awhile. The dam is in sight; that's it, I can't go on, I've had it. She agrees and splashes Steve to wake him. We are so stiff he has to help us onto the dam My house is just across the street, so I decide to walk over to get my car while she waits at the dam. Now I can feel my sunburn, and I'm so exhausted I can hardly walk. As I walk into the house, my girls meet me, also looking like lobsters. The hands on the clock say 6:30pm. I knew I was getting late, but didn't realize how late it really is. I get into my car, and after much cussing it starts. Mindy is sitting on the corner when I get there. She gets into the car with a lot of complaining and we head back to Sterns Park. There is a bon-fire going and Mindy warms herself for a minute to dry off, then she climbs into Jim's car to take a nap. Steve decided to finish the race and finally comes dragging in. I collect all of the inner tubes of mine, let the air out of some, then had to stuff them into the back seat of my car.
I found my jeans that I took off at the beginning of the race, slipping them gently over my sun-burnt legs. Now everyone decides to go back to the Cell Tavern for hot dogs, and chili, and naturally I go too. Downing two hot dogs, a plate of chili, and one glass of beer, the day's race is starting to show on me. I begin to burn all over. My whole body is glowing with my sunburn. It is time to go home. I hear a lot of moaning and groaning, others are having the same idea and are leaving.
When I arrive home, Mindy and Jim are dressed and walking around like statues, groaning with every step. As soon as they leave, I slowly, and, very gently, slip out of my clothes and bathing suit, take a lukewarm shower, then rub baby oil over my body until I am slippery as an eel. I get the softest robe I have, glide it on my arms and lay down to rest. As I drift off to sleep, I think of the six hours it took us to go three miles, how sore I am, and wish that it was next year so I can do it again.
**
There were prizes for the first, second and third that made the whole race. But to this day, I don't know who got them. And, NO, we didn't let any kids drink. They had pop and Kool-aid, And were watched. NOT everyone had alcohol. And there were baby-sitters for any children that didn't go. Some families even followed us in their cars and had food for us along the river. And we had designated drivers for those that was drinking. We had no accidents, drowning's, or fights at our race. Everyone looked out for each other. It was a great 'get together'.
****
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