Yes, I am (Very, Very!) Thankful

If I said everything I wanted to this morning, this blog post would be twenty feet long! It will not be nearly that long, but I do want to express a few of my thoughts on this most important holiday in the good ole USA! These “points” are in no particular order, all should be considered No. 1 on my thank you list:

* THE GOOD OLE USA: Still the greatest country in the world and that is why so many people still want to come here despite problems now and in recent years. We all gotta push harder to get us back to normal. Thinking especially of our military (and their families back home!) on this Thanksgiving day. Glad to report that temperatures for the next five days will be comfortable in Baghdad. We can’t thank them enough and for the families back home who have to dread receiving a phone call in the middle of the night.

* FRIENDS: I believe the list would fill an average dictionary and I am thankful for every one. They are as vital in life as anything i can think of. Living without friends would be the ultimate miserable life.

* HAVANA JUNCTION AND HALE COUNTY: Havana Junction is a small crossroads community six miles south of Moundville in North Hale County. When I grew up there in the 30s and 40s, WW-II was still in progress, and there was a great depression. Food was rationed and you had to have ration stamps to even buy a pound of butter at the only country store within miles. In fact, to make the meager allotments go further, the store owner would cut the pound of butter into four parts, giving each family a quarter pound. My father was killed (work-related) when I was just a kid. We were so close. Our cousins, McCrays and Kinards, gathered around us and adopted us as their own. Even back then, my interest in weather was already overheated. I saved my money and bought a $4 plastic rain guage! I wanted to be a weatherman, newspaper reporter, photographer and radio broadcaster. Amazingly, it all blended together in later life. Built a tiny radio studio in the corner of my bedroom with cardboard boxes. Carved a mic from a cedar stick and broadcast the news from old copies of the Tuscaloosa News, Hale County News (now the excellent Moundville Times) the old Birmingham Post, Birmingham Age Herald. No bumper music. If I had to recycle my life, I would, without hesitation, choose to be born in Havana Jct., and to face all those hard-scrabble times. (possibly excluding picking cotton!) It “seasons” a person!

* U.S. WEATHER BUREAU/NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
Graduated Akron High School, 1950, and moved to Bessemer where I already had a job waiting. Spent a lot of Saturday’s (riding by greyhound and switching to city bus) hanging out at the U.S. Weather Bureau at Birmingham Airport. (Much like Bill Murray used to hang out on Saturdays at 11 West Oxmoor Road when he was still in school!) Charles F. Bradley, Jr. was the OIC (Official in Charge) That title was later changed to MIC (Meteorologist in Charge) Right away, he realized my sincere interest in weather and he started bugging the regional office in Fort Worth to give me a job as a trainee. They refused because people with veterans points had first choice (and I agreed fully with that) Finally a position came open in 1957 when the veterans register was empty and Fort Worth very reluctantly agreed to take me. They warned that I could not work alone for a year and had to be under supervision 24 hours a day. Had it not been for Mr. Bradley, I would have never made it. Will always appreciate him. At that time they offered on-the-job training and some in houses courses. I did not have a formal university degree in meteorology so a huge amount of it has been self-taught and I am still doing that. On my first day at work, a tornado was on the ground north of Jasper as I walked in the office and several persons were killed. (What a way to begin my training!) Jay Shelley and Bob Dietlein were also on duty that first day and I worked my entire 32-year career at the BHM office with those two great friends and never a cross word between us. I am still a great fan of the NWS!

* SOMETHING HAPPENED IN 1960: One night a beautiful young lady (Judy Miller) walked into the weather office with her “boy friend” who wanted to become a pilot. She and I chatted and I learned that she was from Phoenix but she was attending Samford while her dad was stationed at Maxwell Air Force Base. I was also taking a few courses at Samford. Ran into Judy a few days later. Offered to drop her off at her part-time job downtown. We were married a few months later which has lasted over 48 years.

* 1989 AND BEYOND: Retired from NWS in 1989. A year or so later, James Spann, who I had become good friends with while still in the NWS approached me to help him publish a daily weather fax which he had started earlier. At that time we did three editions, East Alabama, West Alabama and Central Alabama (BHM) That eventually evolved into The Weather Company, a first cousin to ABC 33/40. So I am enjoying a second career in weather with (not just coworkers, but very close friends) And I also enjoy, and appreciate the staff and management of WBHK-FM, WBHJ-FM and AM-610, WAGG. The FM stations are better known as KISS-FM and 957 JAMZ. I do severe weather coverage for those stations including wall-to-wall during tornado warnings. David Dubose is the CEO and he is sold on weather coverage.

* So later today, we will all be together including daughter Debbie Broome, who is good at web design and son, Steve with Birmingham Fire Department (station one downtown) and also Center Point FD. Steve told me he wanted to be a fireman 30 minutes after he was born! He never gave up. We will have turkey, although I prefer meatloaf.

* LITTLE MISS MOLLY: Can’t close without expressing my thanks to my little 9-pound pal, the friendliest doggie I have ever seen, who has made me, even more, appreciate the simple things in life. We have walked several thousand miles together since she came into our life 5 or 6 years ago. That is why I am perfectly contented driving my “96 Olds, best car I have owned. However, I can no longer say that every time I fill the tank, it doubles the value of my car. Cheers for cheaper petro!

* This post is far, far to long. I apologize and I will delete it later today because more important things are at hand, such as the weather and trying to determine how much rain will occur during the (Auburn-Alabama) (Alabama-Auburn) game.

* Please help me pray daily for the good ole USA!!

Back to the coffee pot for cup number 6.

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