Well, Jill, here we are again attempting one of our podcasts. For those of you who are listening to us, uh, we've been trying to do one for about a week, and we've had some technical difficulties. Yes. Let's hope this is, uh, all resolved. Well, when you're working with a 92-year-old, uh, technical engineer, uh, sometimes we have problems. I don't wanna hear any excuses. No ex- Well, we're gonna talk about a couple things today. At the... toward the middle of our podcast, we're gonna talk about travel and places we've been, but wanna say a little bit about, uh, uh, what's happened the last couple days. On Saturday, we went to a graduation party for one of our great nephews, I believe. Is that, is that right, Jill? In Pendergrass, Georgia. Pendergrass, Georgia. Yep. Great nephew. Good turnout. Nice people. And then we followed up on Tuesday with a, uh, kind of a family breakfast. Wouldn't you say that is? I... That's what we call it. It's, uh, organized by, um, the male matriarch of the family, Leon, and he, uh, not only organizes it, but- He pays for it he, he pays for it. So there were what, uh, eight people, uh, there? Mm-hmm. It's O plus. Yep. And, uh, one of our attendees is a retired schoolteacher. She retired third grade after 30 years, so she is, uh, figuring out what to do, and I told her, "Get into real estate." That's what Jill made me do when I retired, so. Yeah, I don't think that's her, her cup of tea. No. No. She'll find something to do. And her husband, uh, had never heard us before, so he- is starting to follow us, so, uh, we want to s- thank him for following us. Yes. And, uh, one of our neighbors has a relative up in New Jersey who, uh, just started listening to us, and, uh, we're happy that he is. You know, one of the things we found out is some of the younger people like hearing what we say because, uh, they've never heard of this stuff before. That's true. Um, so... And, uh, we've lived a long life and seen a many, seen many things. Now, Jo, what's gonna happen, what's happening next week in our life? Our anniversary. Bingo. She got it. Uh, 38 years we've been married and, uh, happily. Very happy. And those of you who, who don't know our story, uh, Jo, do you wanna tell the story? You kind of make it long, but you go ahead and tell it. Well, uh, we both worked for the same company, and I worked for the corporate office in Boca Raton, Florida, and John worked, uh, in the sales field in Chicago, Illinois. Am I right, John? You're right. And his wife died in December, and my husband died in July. And through a sympathy card, and a little message in a sympathy card from John, we bec- uh, I responded, and we became pen pals. And then, uh, we talked on the telephone. And it- Every day and every night every day and every night. And our, each one of us paid $500 a month for telephone conversations. No cell phones. No cell phones. So he said, uh, "Jo, we either have to get married or we have to eliminate this situation." Right. So we got married. So, uh, 38 years ago this week, we were, uh, in transit from Boca Raton, Florida, to Chicago, um, and then getting ready to go to Doylestown, Pennsylvania, to get married, uh, the next week. Where, and my family live in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, so... And my mother was still alive and, uh, I wanted her to see us get married. And your mother even approved of me. Yes, she did. Approved me. She said- Thumbs up what did she say to you, John? "Take care of my daughter." And you have I've been doing that. Yes. Well, that gets that out of the way. But we thought we'd talk about where we met, and I guess one of the things we can say since we were married, we went on a honeymoon. You remember where we went? San Francisco. San Francisco. So, uh, we had a good trip there. We went to, uh, 17-Mile Drive. We went to Muir Woods. Saw the seals jump out of the water. Arrested for holding hands. Uh- Yeah had to pay a $5 fine, as I recall. What was the name of th- that place? I think it was down by, uh, that big famous golf course that's on the, uh, coast there. I can't think of the name. It was near San Diego, wasn't it? No, no. No, no, way north. Oh. Yeah, no, not near San Diego. You're Y- that's with problems. Folks, when we have an East Coast girl- trying to do geography on the West Coast, sometimes they get a little off. So but that's okay. We'll accept it. Uh, and you have a little trouble on the East Coast, too. Well, that may be true. Well, then we went to, um Where'd we go after that? We went back to Chicago after our honeymoon. But when I was working- Um, I did some traveling and, and Jo would go with me, um, pay her own way. Oh, I paid my own way. If anybody from the company's listening, I think they've all passed away that knew us. But anyway, Jo paid her own way, and, uh, we traveled. And we went to, uh, Los Angeles. But let me say this. John was doing presentations when he was traveling, and, um, many of the, uh, wives of the groups that you d- uh, talked to- Talked to, right would be there as well. So I had to entertain the wives. Yes, she did, an unpaid, unpaid job. Yes. But, uh, Los... We went to Hollywood. Yes, we did. And, and Jo did not like Hollywood. It's very dirty. When, when I worked for RCA, our offices in... were in downtown Hollywood, and I saw a lot of movie productions made, TV shows made, uh, all in around our, near our office. And I took Jo to a couple restaurants I used to eat at, and, uh, she gave them a thumbs down. Well, there's so much, uh, uh, a lot of homeless out there. Homeless, yep, a lot of kids looking for jobs, and, uh, walking up and down the street, uh, you just- Yeah, and looked terrible terrible. Well, then we went to San Diego. Liked San Diego a lot, didn't we? Yes, we did. We would move to San Diego if we could've afforded, uh, very- I'm glad we didn't glad we didn't. San Francisco, San Diego, um, Las Vegas. Yes, we did. We've been to Las Vegas several times, and, uh... What I remember, uh, uh, the people were actually sitting around in the drugstores playing slot machines. And, uh, they had all of their breakfast, lunch, and dinner around them, and they never left the chair. Yep. What a, what a waste. Hoping, hoping for a big payout, which never came. No. Never came. Oh. You know, we went to Phoenix and Scottsdale, but we went to Sedona. Remember Sedona? Oh, I like Sedona. Sedona was, is up high. And it's an artsy area. Artsy town, yeah. We're, uh, we're artsy people. So we were up at, uh, Sedona, and we spent a day. A lot of people go up there for the artwork, and there's a cathedral there, and, you know, other things to look at. Mm-hmm. We had, we had a good time there. Yes, we did. And, you know, another place we went and liked a lot was New Orleans. Yes, we did. We've been there a couple of times. A couple of times. Mm-hmm. Uh, good food. Good food. We stayed in the French Quarter. Uh, went to one of the bars and saw a guy drinking out of a- woman's slipper. Shoe. Shoe, yes. We went to a real nice hotel that had a ro- a rotating bar, and a homeless lady sat next to Joe and was telling Joe her life story, pulling out her ID and all that stuff. She was. And the bartender said, uh, "Want me to get rid of her? Is she bothering you?" He said, "No, don't. Le- leave her alone. She needs to be in, in a comfortable place for a while." Yeah. She worked out. Well, here we are. Those hearing that chiming clock, uh, you know we're not editing. That's Jo's mother's- Clock clock that dings, uh, every 15 minutes and, uh- And, and on the hour on the hour, it tells you what time it is. So, um, do you want to- I can tell you a little funny story about that clock. It You said it was my mother's. Well, it was. And, uh, my first husband, uh, would set the clock back s- he had to leave by 10:00, and he'd have to set the clock back so that it d- wouldn't get to 10:00 and bong. He was smart. Very smart. Speaking of that, we had a little discussion about telephones, and I don't know if we've talked about that in a previous, uh, uh, podcast or not. I don't think so. But I ordered a T-shirt. It had a rotary dial telephone on it, and- Do you Most of you don't even know what a rotary dial phone is phone. And you could have your, a number imprinted in the middle. So I told Jo I want to get my phone number when I was a kid. We're talking about 1949, Birmingham, Alabama. She said, "There's no way you're gonna get it." And I said, "Let me look." Got on the internet, uh, found, uh, Library of Congress had a telephone book, and lo and behold, looked it up, there's my father's name and address and a phone number. What year was that, John? 1949. Mm-hmm. And I'll tell you my number, 6-2761. If anybody wants to call me, 6-2761. I don't think you'll get- So I asked Jo- disconnected Jo, "How did you get dates and stuff up on, uh..." I didn't have a telephone. She had no phone. No. So how did, uh, how did you attract, uh Well, I, I didn't attract too many people, but, uh, they, they appeared at the door. And then what? Your parents either shoot them or- Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Shoot and wait. My father was very strict. Well. Well, that's good. I, I guess so. I married my first and only boyfriend. And John, you were f- after he passed, you were my first and only boyfriend. There we go. Still number one. Well, other places we've, we've looked at, we've traveled. You know, we, we traveled looking for a place to retire and, and, uh, one of the places we really liked was Fairhope, Alabama. Oh. Those of you who know it, it's on Mobile Bay. Very artsy, very nice. Lot of restaurants, uh- And it's really famous for something lot of- Oh, the jubilee the jubilee, yes. Go ahead. Tell them about it. Well, uh, there are two places in the world where the jubilee happen, happens. And, uh, when the water, the oxygen in the water is depleted, the fish jump out of the water. So they ring a bell in downtown Fairhope, and people go to the bay with laundry baskets and catch the fish as they're jumping out of the water. So they stand in the water and catch them? Yes. The, uh, the other place is in Japan, somewhere in Japan. Yes. But, uh, we've ne- have we ever, we never witnessed it, did we? No, we have not. We just know- We don't know when it's gonna happen we don't know. We just know about it. Now, another place, uh, well most important is Amber, Pennsylvania. Yes. I was born there. You born where? 56 Tennis Avenue in the third floor. Third floor of the house. Yep. Now, I was born in a hospital. St. John's Hospital. Oh, you city boy. St. John's. Springfield, Illinois was where I was born. Jo was born in a house. In a town. In a town. And, uh, had, uh, one doctor. One doctor. He w- Dr. Jim so they didn't have specialties then, did they? I mean, did- No, they did not. Just- They didn't refer you one doctor. One doctor. And my mother thought I w- I was, had the measles, and, uh, we walked 10 blocks to Dr. Jim's office, and he confirmed that I did have the measles. But by the time I walked back home, I also had pneumonia. So I had the measles and pneumonia together, and I was 14, and my t- the fever was so high that I lost my hair, and then I had to wear a bandana and go to school. Go to school. Wow. And I had oil treatments every, every week on my head at the hairdresser's, and my hair came in pretty thick. Yeah, it looks good. Mm-hmm. Always looks good. I'm pretty, pretty lucky. Yep, you are. Boy, you got good hair, good hair. Now, another thing, you know, other than Amber, when, when we were living in Chicago or Palatine, we had a second house, home, townhouse in, uh, Galena, Illinois. A resort. Resort. There were- This was a, a four golf course resort And we had, uh, 10th fairway of one golf course. East golf course. East. We had a townhouse. We used to go there. Uh, we would call ahead. This is in the winter, say we're coming. They would plow the road to get to our townhouse, and so we were ready. Also, they had a strobe light. We had a strobe light, and if that flashed, the guard that was touring the k- uh, resort would come into the property and, uh, either turn the, the g- Heat the heat up or- Yeah, the heat turned. The heat went off. Or, or see what was wrong. Right. Sometime the heat went off, and he would come in and, uh, light it for you. They even had a way there that you could order groceries, and they would have groceries. S- in the refrigerator. When you Yep. We thought about moving there, and then we bought a lot. And we bought a lot that was on the lake, and it was on the same street where the fellow that invented the, uh, barcode on the credit card, you know? Correct. He had, like, a four-lot house That was like- Huge 95% complete and it burned down Arsoned Arson, yep. That's what they thought. So anyway, well, we enjoyed going- And so did the lodge burn the lodge burned down at one time, and they had to rebuild the lodge. They had no fire department. They had to get water out of the lake, and, uh, it was quite a, quite a mess. We have one story we had about our dog, our Sheltie, Max, who was blind. Uh, Joe used to get him an apple at the, uh, lodge, and, uh, feed him- He loved apples he would eat an apple while we're driving back, uh, to our home, and, uh, eat it all right down to the core, didn't he? Yes, he did. He liked apples. Well, you know, another thing that we need to talk about is Selma, Alabama. And you know, I, those of you who have heard it know I was in a children's home there in Selma, and Joe and I have been there to many reunions. And walked across the bridge. Walked across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, which wasn't famous when we walked across it, but it later became famous, you know, when the march, uh, happened. And, uh, I was there. The home is now moved. They use mostly foster homes, independent homes, but their headquarters is in, uh, Montgomery. It, the home was established by the Methodist Church. Mm-hmm. And when it was Methodist, it was a, a home where, uh, the children stayed in individual homes on the campus. Mm-hmm. And- They had some for boys, some for girls, and by age but then when the state took over, they m- formed a, uh, uh, farmed all those kids out to, uh, foster homes. Now, all the rules changed when they had to follow the state rules. Another thing we can't miss is Birmingham, Alabama. You know, I was, I was raised, as they say, in Birmingham, and- I tell a lot of stories about that, but one good story is I worked for, uh, in Pozitz Department Store. Pozitz was built in the, I think, early 1900s. Seven story building, and, uh, I sold shoes in the basement. And, uh- Yeah. And why, what Were you, uh, employed just there? Were you doing anything else while you were there? Weren't you in college? Oh, I was in college, and every time I, I needed work, I would call my boss. His name was Mr. Lipschitz. And I'd say, "I need some money." He'd say, "Come and work a day." But before I went to college, he told to me, he said, "Now look, I'm gonna hire you, but are you gonna stay on this job?" And I said, "Mr. Lipschitz, shoes are my life." Didn't last too long, but he kept me going. And you know what I got? Every time I went to work, I got $5 for the day, and they paid me in cash in a little bitty envelope that was, like, two inches by four inches high. I had to go to the pay window. Do you know, John, you got $5 a day. My first job, I got $18 a week. Well, wait a minute. You made more than I did. Yeah, but I didn't work a week. But had, if you had, you would've had $25. Well, if Yeah, that's true. But I didn't. You were- You were a high roller. I was a high roller Where else have we been? We've been to Huntsville, Alabama, you know, Rocket City. We have family that lives up there. A niece. Niece, yep, and her husband. Asheville, North Carolina. Uh, and ne- our niece's husband is ex-military. Yep, ex-West Pointer. Uh, Green, uh, what, uh, Asheville, we've been to the Biltmore. Yes, we have. Biltmore Hotel. That's beautiful. Been there. Uh- And, uh, we went to a church in Aiken, South Carolina, and the choir from that church was invited to do a Christmas program at the Biltmore Hotel. And this, they had a winding staircase, and on each step, one of the choir members stood with a candle and they sang. And it was so moving, so beautiful. It was a nice They did a, uh, I think they did a recording of that, too. I think they did. Think they did. That was a, a You know, that hurricane last year, or has it been two years? Really did a lot of damage to the Biltmore, and I'm not sure- If it's open if it's open now or not. Uh, while we're talking about the Biltmore, we have to talk about Bluffton, and we have to wrap this up 'cause we're talking too long. We lived in Bluffton for what, five years? That's where we retired. Five and a half. Mm-hmm. We, we looked all over Florida. We looked I wanted to move to Arkansas. We looked in North Carolina. We ended up in, uh- Hilton Bluffton. Hilton Head, yeah. Close to Hilton Head. Close to Hilton Head. And we lived there for, uh, five years? Five and a half. Five and a half. And then I, Jo in her wisdom told me to get a job and stay out of her hair, and she stopped one day at Enterprise Rental Car and she said, "My husband needs a job." And, uh, I- And they hired him hired him. So I worked for Enterprise and drove cars. Well, one of the c- uh, times, you know, the Masters is in Augusta. And we drove Cadillacs up to Augusta so the players could drive those cars back to Hilton Head, because the next week they played at Hilton Head. Af- after the Masters. After the Masters. So that was kind of a We, we moved to Aiken, kind of enjoyed Aiken. Uh, Savannah, we went to Savannah a lot when we lived in, uh, Bluffton. Oh, as a matter of fact, we even applied for, uh, a job in the, with the movies. Oh, yes You forgot about that? I forgot. We were, we were accepted to be in the Le- Legend- The Bag of Ants The Bag of Ants. Yeah, those of you who remember Legend of Bag of Ants, Will Smith, uh, Jo and I were gonna be extras and, uh, we were fitted out with, uh, uh, interviews. They took our pictures and, uh, we were gonna get clothes to wear. And then you had a Air Force re- Air Force reunion, and they said- and when that was the time they needed us. That's right, and they said, "Come. It's a casting call, come," and we said, "Well, we're going to the Air Force re-". I think we went to Branson, didn't we? Yes, we did. I think we did. Branson, Missouri. Anyway, some of our neighbors also got in that little thing, and they said they did a lot of standing around and ate a lot of donuts. So that was it. Well, I think we ought to be wrapping this thing up. I, I think- I think so just, just a couple of things. We haven't talked about, uh, Boca Raton, Florida, where you lived. Yes, I did. And you lived there from, uh- I lived there for, uh, 15 years 15 years, and that's a really up... You know, Jo, I married up when I got Jo. Jo's from Boca Raton, and Boca Ra- I was a, I was a poor girl in a rich city Boca Raton, you know, has got a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot of stuff, and a lot of fast cars and shopping centers and, uh- Beautiful, beautiful city beaches, and you know all that stuff. And I, I wasn't used to that kinda life, but, uh, here we are. Well, I, I like my life now Yes, we do. Well, overseas, quickly, we went to Italy. Yes. Went to see where my, uh, dad was born, traveled all over southern Italy. We've been to Canada. We've been to Tijuana, Mexico. We've been to Cozumel. We've been to- Mm Mackinac Island. And we, we also have listeners that are all over the world. I'm telling you. And we appreciate these people, the people that are out there listening to us. Yes. We get a little report every, uh, week or so, and it tells how many listeners and where they're listening from, the cities. So we do appreciate all of you that are listening to us. But I think we've rambled- Long enough uh, long enough. We appreciate you, uh, listening to us. And I'm telling you what's now, we're gonna listen to basketball or watch basketball, aren't we? Yes, we are. If you know, uh, tonight's the, uh- New York New York and, uh- San Antonio San Antonio. In New York. And, you know, Jo has a connection to San Antonio because those of you who know Jo know she's related to Davy Crockett. My maiden name was Crockett. Crockett. So, uh, again, I married up and I married a, a, a Crock- a, a Crockett. You can't beat that. Okay, folks. I think we're done. We appreciate you, and I hope you keep listening to us. Bye for now. Bye-bye