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09/01/16 10:22 PM #2225    

 

Jim Cejka

“A great soul serves everyone all the time. A great soul never dies. It brings us together again and again” 

~ Maya Angelou

 

Ken did serve everyone, all the time. I knew Ken ‘around’ Custer, but not so much on a personal basis. At sports events, around school, he was always easy to spot - easy going, great smile (nice to have perfect teeth, Ken), and an advanced case of charisma. 

Serve everyone he did. When some of us west-coasters talked about having a reunion out here, Ken stepped up and offered his place. He even “imported” genuine Wisconsin brats for us, and a great time was had by all. When I became a volunteer at a museum in San Francisco, I noticed that he was already a donor to the museum. We desperately needed an AED, so I started a quest. I specifically asked Ken, not for money - he was already a donor - but for a “who’s who” to contact. He served up again, gave me a name, and we got not one, but two AEDs as a result. 

I was fortunate to re-meet Ken and Bonnie here in California.  A few less hairs, gray now, not quite the athletic figure, but the same smile, and same character as those many years ago.

Bonnie has been so lucky to have what, 60 or so years with him. I (we) are lucky to have just known him.

Thanks Ken, for the memories.


09/02/16 10:16 PM #2226    

 

Ray Thompson

Oh my god this is terrible about Ken--But I will let a bit of our high school years together. Ken lived 6 blocks away from me and we hung out together out of school--good friends. In school Ken was involved with many people who I really never got to know. He was an incredible athlete & I did my thing in sports. After school we would go to the local playground and talk. Hate to use the word "group" but we were in somewhat different groups and he knew that and felt uncomfortable many times. I will always cherish our off school and away from everyone with our talks--God Bless you my friend


09/03/16 06:22 PM #2227    

 

John Gilbert

I hadn't seen Ken since we left school and he was not able to make our last class reunion. I can't recall ever seeing Ken without a smile that went from ear to ear. I can remember a time that Marquette High School had a open track invitational on a Saturday. Ken had a 1949 Ford two door car and a bunch of us from the track team piled in Ken's car headed to Marquette field, won a bunch of ribbons that day. Ken, may you rest in peace!

 


09/09/16 12:13 AM #2228    

 

Jim Cejka

Happy Birthday Star Trek. Going Boldly for 50 years! (Kinda like us.)


09/09/16 10:56 AM #2229    

 

Terri Levenhagen (Hoornstra)

Great comic, Jim, and so true. I loved Star Trek, and all the movies and all the sequels. It started when I was in college and tutoring a 7th grader in math. All he kept talking about was Star Trek, so I said we had to get all his work done before he could watch it. He did, and he invited me to watch Star Trek with his family. (They had a COLOR TV!) And I was hooked thereafter. But FIFTY years ago? That 7th grader must be. . . .hmmm. And I must be. . . .  Can't be!!!


10/10/16 10:00 PM #2230    

 

Jim Cejka

I was in an antique store today. They had Harry Potter books. If Harry Potter is now antique, what does that make me?


10/15/16 07:25 AM #2231    

 

Gordon "Allen" Mitchell

an antiquity     -      

an object of art from the ancient past.
plural noun: antiquities    -  the rest of us -    lol

10/16/16 12:14 PM #2232    

 

Garry Sellers

I don't know what my neighbors are getting so testy about.  Doesn't everybody sit out on their lawn naked, singing Johnnie Ray's  "Just Walkin' in the Rain",  when it's raining for the first time in months and months?  Maybe I should have changed to BJ Thomas' "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" around 2 or 3 a.m.  Not one of them was worried about my catching a cold.  Ingrates!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIiKWJbxGjs


10/17/16 04:56 PM #2233    

 

Jim Cejka

Al - Thanks. "Antiquity" sounds so much classier than "old," or "relic," or even just plain "antique."

Garry - Did you invite them to share your beer? Maybe a little hospitality would help.

 


10/20/16 11:01 PM #2234    

 

Jim Cejka


10/25/16 08:52 PM #2235    

 

Jim Cejka

Applause, Applause Garry

 

Somewhere, I believe, is a dark, smoke filled room with a bunch of people and a special black Magic-8 ball. Those people don’t like things, and if they don’t like things, then the things they don’t like are, by inference, bad, evil, or at least, not tolerable. And, if that’s the way those things are, then no one else should like or tolerate those things either.

So, they sit in their lairs and shake their 8-balls, only instead of answers to their dislikes, their magic ball shows them ‘labels.’ That way, they can file their dislikes under a label, and easily and conveniently place those evils and intolerables under an, of course, easily recognizable ID. 

It’s so much easier to let everyone else know of the presence of these nefarious people, thoughts, or ‘isms, through labeling. How nice it is to be able to say that so-and-so is not to one’s liking. If one would want to disdain someone as a individual, then they would have to get to know that person, and find actual reasons for such an opinion. But if one can just label that person, placing them into a group which, for want of any actual reasons, the Magic 8-ball has created a label, and which, because all labels are naturally derogatory, that person, therefore, is bad, evil, or intolerable. 

Of course, we make ourselves so easy to label. Some are almost instantaneous, like a chuckle at a joke, saying what we saw on TV, talking with another person, questioning something, stating and opinion, what we wear, the color of our skin, facial hair, etc, are all easily recognizable, and so perfectly give away our true feelings, right?, Some are more difficult, at least at first glance. Religious and sexual preferences, political leanings or philosophies, wealth or lack of, etc., etc., even being left-handed (Latin, left = sinistra), may take an actual conversation, and have become global doom-labels. It’s not personal, it’s labeling.

Garry, I would bet you a (cheap) beer or wine that, when you were a personnel manager, you hired people, not labels.

When we grew up, a decent label maker hadn’t even been made yet, and the Magic 8-ball was becoming a popular toy. We talked to people and interacted with them. We didn’t label, we felt - friend, acquaintance, not-friend, unknown. I don’t think our life was simpler then. I think it was far more complicated. We actually had to use our senses, our heads, and our hearts to make decisions about people. I kind of liked us that way.


10/27/16 08:06 PM #2236    

 

Jim Cejka

Since our graduation, worldwide populations of mammals, birds, fish, amphibians and reptiles have plunged by almost 60 percent.


10/30/16 02:17 PM #2237    

 

William Nelson

Jim,

Since CHS no longer exists as an ongoing entity, I suspect the population of Custer alumni is falling, too. Just hope it's not that rapidly.

I do wish some species of insects (like mosquitoes and roaches) would lose population density that rapidly, though.

Bill


10/31/16 06:03 PM #2238    

 

Jim Cejka

Bill,

I used to agree about useless bugs too, but then I majored in zoology and was led to realize that all things are put here for a good reason (except maybe politicians), even if it is only to be eaten as part of the food chain.


11/01/16 09:40 AM #2239    

 

Garry Sellers

I'm beginning to worry about you boys.


11/01/16 01:05 PM #2240    

 

William Nelson

Keep worrying Gary!

Jim, I understand the "food chain" thing and that lots of birds and little reptiles like lizards dine on them, but what other species would flounder if all the cockroaches in the world disappeared. They seem to hide in places nearly impenetrable. The only way to make a serious difference is use chemicals I'm not that fond of. We do see and kill a few who wander out of seclusion, but doubt if we get even 0.01% of them.


11/01/16 08:24 PM #2241    

 

Jim Cejka

Bill,

With cockroaches, the first species to be affected that comes to mind down south are your good ol' exterminators.


11/02/16 02:11 PM #2242    

 

William Nelson

I think most exterminators in these parts spend most of their time on termite control. We've discussed roach control, but haven't had enough of a problem to justify the cost or the hazards of the extermination.


11/02/16 05:58 PM #2243    

 

Jim Cejka

When we lived in Orlando, FL, we had "the bug lady" come every other month and spray around the house and yard. Palmetto bugs there are roaches on steroids, and the fire ants super nasty.


11/02/16 06:46 PM #2244    

 

Jeanne Zinser (Gottschalk)

You guys are really starting to BUG me! 


11/02/16 08:23 PM #2245    

 

Jim Cejka

Jeanne,

As long as you're not singing "I've got you under my skin," I figure we're OK.


11/03/16 08:31 PM #2246    

 

Terri Levenhagen (Hoornstra)

It was pretty much the bugs that chased us out of Georgia. We had to have that exterminator too, Jim;  no matter how good a housekeeper you are in Georgia, the roaches will come. We tried the Super Deluxe Roach Motels, but to no avail. So every 2 months, we had to remove ourselves, the cat, and the plants so the house could be sprayed. Then there were the mosquitoes. You know all about those in WIsconsin, but in GA, the truck would drive down the street, spraying some horrible insecticide into the air - the air we breathe. My good friend said when they were little kids, they would run after the truck to feel the spray on them. She passed away last year from non-smoker's lung cancer. And the fire ants. If you stood on one of their hills, hundreds of them would head up your leg taking enormous painful mouthfuls of flesh as they went - indeed like fire!  And then the "no-see-ems"! Those little tiny things that fly into your hair, ears, nostrils, requiring you to be constantly waving them away if you are outdoors. It even has a name: "The Georgia Wave".  So, as soon as we had the opportunity, it was "California, Here We Come"!


11/03/16 09:27 PM #2247    

 

Jim Cejka

Y'all ain't seen nothin 'till ya drive thru clouds of Florida love bugs. Ya kin always tell the locals there 'cause we carried a bucket and a windshield sponge/squeegie thing.

If you noticed, the rest stops along I-75 have like drive-up showerheads in the parking lot to help wash them off your car.  Stop at a gas station and the pump is black - and moving. A Greyhound bus becomes a blackhound bus. Good thing is they only swarm for a week or so.


11/03/16 10:59 PM #2248    

 

William Nelson

Most of the Love Bug problem stays to the southern half of Louisiana. We do have fire ants, but have been able to largely keep them at bay. They don't seem to bother the armadillos. Mosquitoes have been surprisingly light this year. We had torrential rains al through the spring and early summer, but now it's so dry that outdoor burning is banned. I've only used repellent a few times this year. I've been told South Louisiana has two different kinds; one is so small, that it can fly through the holes in the screen, while the other is big enough to open the screen door. I can remember having far more problems with those in the woods of Northern Wisconsin than any we've encountered here in our own woods.


11/04/16 03:51 AM #2249    

 

Melody Jones (Parker)

Jim, we lived in an apartment in Clearwater, Florida and the bug man came every month to spray around the kitchen and bathroom.  We kept our bathtub drain in the closed position so no beetles would crawl up the drainpipe.  Then there were also the gecko lizards that would come inside whenever you opened your door. They were kinda cute and ate some of the other insects roaming around the house.  After they died they dried up and you could vaccumn their skins that were left on your floors.  What's worse then finding a Palmetto beetle in your pudding dish...yup, finding half a beetle in your dish!  Happened to my brother while taking a bathroom break, eating pudding in a dish sitting on the floor of his bedroom watching TV.  Now I have spider webs all over my house in California!  At least it is better than snakes!


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