Third Grade - Miss McDougall - Indian Village

Time for another class photo!

If you click on the photo, you'll be taken to where it's hosted (on Flickr) and the image is MUCH larger and easier to see.

So here are the usual (and usual) suspects. If you go back and look at my first and fourth grade photos - you'll see a lot of the same kids (i.e. usual suspects). Mind you, this is all from memory (or lack thereof). If I've mislabeled someone - I expect to be told!!! And for gosh sakes if you know the last names, let me know. I seemed to be having major issues with the names from the third grade.

Row 1: Errol Stech, ?
Row 2: Dean ?, Karen Brezette, Doug White, Billy ?, ?
Row 3: Kelly Miller, Eddie Hyde, Eric Busenberik, Zetta ?, Joyce Lloyd, Eugene ? (my cubbie hottie from Kindergarden!!!)
Row 4: Melanie Davis, Danny Gould, Marla Magditch, Steve Saylor, Adam ?, Glen McCourt
Row 5: Tom Stinson, ?, Chrissy Boner, Lori Schmidt,?
Row 6: Kristina Frazier, ?, Stuart Williams, Ralph Barva
Row 7: Beth Fruechtenicht, ?

P.S. And speaking of class photos - I have ZIP ZERO from my second grade. In 1974-75, Mrs. Judith Edwards taught a split 2nd-3rd grade class. If you know of anyone that has this class photo, please let me know. I was out sick that day (I think I had the measles or chicken pox).

Saturday Morning Cartoons - Hong Kong Phooey

Who is this super hero?

Sarge? No.

Rosemary the telephone operator? No.

Henry the mild mannered janitor? Could be.

Hong Kong Phooey, number one super guy.

Hong Kong Phooey, quicker than the human eye.

He's got style, a groovy smile, and a car that just won't stop.

When the going gets tough, he's super tough, with a Hong Kong Phooey chop (Hi-Ya!)

Hong Kong Phooey, number one super guy.

Hong Kong Phooey, quicker than the human eye.

chicky chong chicky chom chicky dongdiddly dong diddly dong dong bow wow wow

Hong Kong Phooey, fan-riffic (gong!)

Enough with the singing. And apologies to anyone who actually knows the lyrics to the opening of Hong Kong Phooey. These may or may not represent the actual lyrics, but it is what I used to sing when it came on Channel 21 (ABC) at 8 a.m. on Saturday mornings (Spring 1976).









When the show first debut in 1974, ABC had it on at 9 a.m. hour. You had to know it was getting the kiss of death when they moved it to 8 a.m.

I liked this show because of its jingle-jammin' opening, its quirky slapstick comedy, and the plain arrogance of the dog - who just thought he was all that! And also, I always wondered about the sidekick cat - I forget his name. He always looked like the Alice in Wonderland cat.

From my favority community source - Wikipedia:

Hong Kong Phooey is a 16-episode Hanna Barbera animated series that first aired on ABC Saturday morning from September 7, 1974 to September 4, 1976. The star, Hong Kong Phooey, is the secret alter ego of Penrod Pooch, or Penry (sometimes mispronounced "Henry"), a "mild-mannered" police station janitor. Although Penry/Phooey appears to be the only anthropomorphic dog in the entire city where the series is set, no one ever connects his two identities.

Hong Kong Phooey is supposedly a master of kung fu and other martial arts. The stories begin at the police headquarters, where Hong Kong Phooey's alter ego, Penry, works as a mild-mannered janitor. He works with Sergeant Flint (Sarge) and Rosemary, the telephone operator, who has a major crush on Hong Kong Phooey. After Rosemary gets a call and explains the criminals' crime Penry would run into a filing cabinet to transform himself into Hong Kong Phooey. In each episode, he ends up needing help from his loyal (somewhat less anthropomorphic) striped cat and sidekick, Spot, to get him out. Hong Kong never quite notices Spot's help, but instead is always proud of himself because he thinks he is the one who does everything.

Winter On Kyle Road

Looking Down Kyle Road
Originally uploaded by kristinafh

You are looking at the top of Kyle Road.

I know you can't tell from this particular shot, but there's a nice downward slope on this road.

And going up this with your bike is a bitch. It's more than a workout for a ten year old. It's like training for some marathon. Which is why we usually didn't take this route on our bikes. We tended to head the other direction where the road was smoother and flatter.

It was a different story in winter time.

Especially when crusty ole Lester Grile would call off school. School would only be called off in the winter time for one of two reasons. First, blizzard conditions. Second, icy conditions.

As kids, we loved both. The ice though, had its bonus points.

You see, didn't matter what the temperature was. A day off of school, with a fresh sheet of ice - just waiting for us - well - that was almost better than the ice cream truck dropping off free bomb pops.

So, this is how it went down.

We'd tell the parents that we were hangin' at Brian Rice's house (it's on the left - but you can't see it because the trees hide it.

If we had enough kids, we'd break into three groups.

One group would stay towards the bottom - looking for any stupid cars that might try to come out of Cedar Crest OR which might try to make its way up Kyle (up the slope).

Side note: Most drivers avoided this area when it was icy because it was a guaranteed wipe-out.

One group would park themselves at the top of Kyle, watching out for the silly drivers who might approach from Tielker Road.

The other group would grab their plastic, toboggan sleds (mine was red - got it at Mr. Wiggs I think) and ride them down the slope, holding on for dear life.

Things to look out for:

* Other sledders
* Mailboxes
* Utility poles

Otherwise, the name of the game was, see how far and fast you could go without injuring a body part.

And everybody would rotate.

And keep on slidin' down that slope - until it was time to go home for supper.

And that's how we spent our icy winters. Slidin' down the slope with our plastic, toboggan sleds.

Final note: if you've never rode down a slope on a plastic toboggan sled - you haven't experienced life. There's nothing like a thin piece of plastic between you and a sheet of ice and the wind ripping your face off as you hold on for the ride of your life. Guaranteed to erase all of your worries of the day.

One....Two....Three.....GO!!!!!!!!!!!!! Or How I Learned About Physics In Real Life

Gosh, but I loved my Evil Knievel.

Surprised, aren't 'cha?

The girl who wanted to grow up and be Miss America - well - she also wanted to be a daredevil too.

Watch the video....and remember.



Of course what they don't show you is that frickin' plastic piece that had grooves on it and you would have to pull it out of the back of the contraption where you wound him up and then zinnnng...off he went.

Constructing an incline was close to rocket science. You see, although you may have wanted to stack and tilt anything you could get your hands on, in reality, there was only so much that the Evil K man could over come.

We had to play around with the degrees of tilt and height. Uh-huh. Physics at nine years old. Go figure.

Important things that were pondered during my ninth year of life.

How far would he go before he wiped out?

How come I could never get my Evil K man to stand up like the commercial?

What kind of crap would he ziiiiing over - but you know - still keep on going? Because if he stopped, all of the fun was over.

* Side note: things that made Evil K man stopped dead in his tracks included large amounts of clothing (which meant - I had to throw my dirty clothes off to the side so I had some space); text books (wipe out city); and shoes (too steep of a mountain to get over without some serious lift-off ahead of time).

In case you're wondering, I also had the Evil Knievel space ship and that had lots of power but it wasn't nearly as agile as the stunt bike.

Oh - and yes - I did undress him because when he became the husband of one of my Dawn dolls - well - he had to change clothing for the wedding and stuff.

Historic Photos of Fort Wayne

A few months ago, I located a book that was very near and dear to me - John Ankenbruck's 1975 Twentieth Century History of Fort Wayne. When these limited edition books came out, my mother had purchased a handful of them for people like my grandparents and her sisters.

Sadly, our own copy was lost in that fire I just referred to in my last post. I never thought I would locate another copy. Thank gawd for eBay. Thank gawd for greedy re-sellers :).

P.S. I'd like to thank Judge Jackson for my Ankenbruck book - it was given to him (as inscribed on the inside cover) by Charlie Pratt, Christmas 1975.

What I loved so much about Ankenbruck's book, was the massive amounts of details about how Fort Wayne evolved from the beginning of time. In between the oodles of details, were informative pictures of our lovely city. They were all black and white and even in 1975 - when I would spend hours reading through this book - I was amazed at how much Fort Wayne had changed.

Truly, if you were ever going to build a Trivial Pursuit card game around the history of Fort Wayne, John's book would be the place I'd start!

Gosh - but I'm feeling really old right now!

One might think - okay - if I have Ankenbruck's book, what in the world does Bushnell's latest offer me?

Oh yes, it's a beautiful, coffee table-like publication. And I haven't seen a duplicate yet (of what was in Ankenbruck's gi-normous volume). That's cool.

But what really made this book stand out for me was Bushnell's approach of storytelling and then, the selection of photos he uses to support his style of relating the history of Fort Wayne to the reader.

You see, he doesn't bombard you with the Trivial Pursuit knowledge. (This is a good thing btw). Instead, he fluidly leads you through the significant periods of Fort Wayne's life and times.

The photographs (which cover the mid/late 1800's through the late 70's) were mesmerizing. For the most part, they were preserved and printed as is - and frankly - that's hugely amazing to me.

Side thought: I think that many of us have an appreciation for great photography. Is that an appreciation that these photographers (or picture-takers? or historic documenters?) had or is it just coincidence that they produced show-stopping images of our past?

My favorites (in case anyone is asking) are on pages 6 (St. Paul's Catholic Church), 28 (Lake Shore Hotel), 47 (Young Men on Bike's in Swinney Park), 66 (Alt Heidelberg Hotel and Cafe), 102/103 (Wayne Knitting Mills annual outing), 122/123 (Lady Wayne Chocolates League Team), 162 (G.C. Murphy's), and 195 (200 Block of Columbia Street).