In the beginning...........

Howdy! The Old Man here. 

I realize that blogging is nothing new, and I am very late to the party, but i figured I had some things to say.  My family and friends have heard all of my stories and adventures, so I decided to do a blog and just talk about myself, family, sports, food, and anything else that may come to mind. Since I have no idea what I am doing, this will be a learn as I go venture, and it's OK to laugh as I laugh at myself almost daily, blog or no blog. 

First a bit about myself.  I'm a man closer to 60 than 50, and I'm becoming more and more OK with it. Time has a way of marching on in spite of some folks feeble attempts to deny it.  I'm not a vain person by any stretch.  My wardrobe consists of basketball shorts, bib overalls, t-shirts, and hoodies, depending on the season.  Most of the time its shorts and tees. I am currently, to the horror of my grown daughters, in the middle of growing a mullet.  They asked me why I would do such a thing, and the answer was simple: because I can and want to.  My hair has way more gray than whatever my natural color was, and I have a long, white beard.  I occasionally pose as Santa Clause at parties and in family pictures.  Once the mullet is to my liking, I'll post a picture.  When I learn how to post a picture, that is.

 In the summer of 1965,  Ma and Pop brought me, yelling and screaming, into the world in a town in southern Illinois called Murphysboro. My middle sister, Jules, was born there 3 years later. Pop found better employment in the town he grew up in, LaSalle, IL, which is about 5 hours north of Murphysboro.  We moved to a farmhouse on a defunct dairy operation which was haunted ,but that will be a subject for another day, just outside of the Village of McNabb, IL in 1969. In 1970 I started kindergarden, and our baby sister, Gus, was born.  We lived there until around 1977 when we moved 5 miles south to the Village of Magnolia. Both towns have a population around 300 even today.  In 1980, the economic climate in IL took a huge downturn, and Pop got laid off from his job as a diesel mechanic at a local Caterpillar dealer.  Unable to find gainful employment in IL, Pop remembered when he went to horseshoeing school in Stillwater, OK in 1976, and how much he really liked OK.  There was an oil boom going on down there, so he had no problem finding a job as a field mechanic for the Caterpillar dealership in Oklahoma City.  In August of 1981, the rest of us arrived in OK and moved into a house in Piedmont, OK, 2 weeks before the beginning of my Junior year of high school. I graduated high school, got married, had Eldest and Youngest Daughters, got divorced, met the love of my life,my Baberino, and am living happily still in Piedmont.  Pop died in July of 2014. 

Along the way, I became a firefighter serving the community who took me in.  EMT and paramedic school came next which led to jobs in EMS, ER, and for a cardiology group.  I saw, and helped with, a lot of growth at the fire house.  When I first started for the FD, there was a two bay, cinderblock building with a 1981 Chevy brush truck, and a 1969 Ford tank pumper.  By the time I retired we had two stations, and about a dozen firefighting/rescue apparatus.  There will be future blogs about my time in public service.

Over the years, cooking has become a big part of my life.  I grew up watching the most amazing cooks. My great grandmother Rosie was the chicken noodle soup  queen and, being Hungarian, her cabbage rolls and paprikash chicken were legendary.  My Grandma K was the queen of pot roast, mashed potatoes, and gravy.  Her gravy was its own food group, and I wish I would have paid better attention to that.  Grandma V could cook just about anything, but she was a pro at frying fish, which was a must since Grandpa V was "The Worlds Greatest Fisherman".  Ma was, and still is, a hell of a cook and an absolute wrecking ball when it comes to baking.  I did learn a lot from them, especially the Hungarian dishes, but most of my cooking comes from self teaching.  I once worked with a Cajun guy who taught me how to make gumbo, jambalaya, red beans and rice, and how to have a crawfish boil.  These are some of my most requested dishes. In the late 80s, someone gave me one of those $25 bullet water smokers as a gift, starting a life long obsession with cooking BBQ.  Between then and now I made a lot of half assed and down right bad BBQ until I started figuring things out. Now I cook with two offset stick burners, and I'm somewhat regionally famous for my Q.

I got into genealogy last year when Eldest Daughter got Baberino and I 23 & Me DNA kits for Christmas 2021.  I knew going in that Grandma V's family had been well researched over the years by her older brother and his son.  Grandpa V's family are all from Hungary, so info on them was scarce.  Ma's family was a bit of a mystery.  They just didn't talk about their families at all.  Ma knew almost nothing when I started my research.  We were always told that Grandpa K was born in Germany, which I figured out right away he was born in IL. Grandpa K had 11 brothers and sisters, and I never met any of them.  Most of them died before I was born, but I was shocked to find out that he was one of the youngest in his family and that he had so many siblings. His parents were born in Germany and came to the US in the 1880s, but for the life of me, I cannot remember him talking about anyone in his family.  Grandma K's family was also a big question mark because, as close as she was with her mother, Ma knew almost nothing about that side of her family. Her sister Lois was the only sibling of Grandma K that I ever knew.  Her family, the Howe's, have been entertaining to research, and a bit dumpster fire-ish as well. Its the gift that keeps on giving!

Sports were, and are, an important aspect of my life.  Baseball was my best sport, and I really enjoyed playing football, and eventually got into powerlifting and bodybuilding.  The Chicago Cubs are my baseball team.  When they won the World Series in 2016, it was a monumentous occasion in my life.  In the NFL, I am a long suffering Chicago Bears fan. They have had some great teams in my lifetime, but they never could figure out how to put a dynasty together.  When it comes to college sports, the Oklahoma State Cowboys are my team. When they beat Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl, it was the highlight of my sports year. To a lesser extent I am also a Southern Illinois University Salukis fan, since I was born, and still have tons of family, in that area. So, yeah, sports are big in my life. 

Well, I think this is a good start to my blogging adventure. I am looking forward to this, and hope it's somewhat entertaining. 

Until next time..........

The Old Man.