A Close Call

Just received the following email from Ron Wysocky. Thanks for the update, Ron, and I too am grateful for our guardian angels. I know I've kept mine pretty busy over the years!

1/11/07
Subject: Rose Parade follow-up

Cathy

Earlier this evening I was 'surfing the net' and I was reviewing my bookmarks and found a bookmark that I had for your blog. It has been awhile since I last checked it out and sure enough your blog is thriving just fine. I saw an email from Alan Singer recalling our visit to the Rose Parade (New Year's Eve 1966/New Year's Day 1967) and it brought up some great memories. It was extremely cold that night. I remember we had more fun watching the pre-parade activities including the hot cars cruising Colorado Blvd. By the time the parade started it seemed anti-climatic and we were tired and bored so we took off. In looking back it was crazy that we went to the parade on a whim and we never saw the parade or at least very little of it.

Speaking of crazy I want to share what I experienced last Friday evening (1/4). I was working late and I left work in Irvine at 8:30 to come home. It was raining pretty good at the time and I'm driving northbound on the I-5 in Orange County. From there I'm traveling north on the 57 freeway by Angels stadium and the Honda Center (where the Anaheim Ducks play hockey) in Anaheim. By now it is raining heavier. I'm in the #2 lane when on my right side there is this big SUV (Chevy or GM) spinning like a top out of control coming right at me. Fortunately there was nobody on my left and I swerved to the left to avoid being hit by the out-of-control vehicle. It was pure reaction on my part and I still can't believe I didn't get hit. With the rainy conditions I was also fortunate that I didn't lose control of my vehicle.

I continued for a short bit on the freeway when I got off the freeway in Placentia and stopped at an In-and-Out Burger place. Bob's Toluca Lake was too far away and besides there aren't that many Bob's locations anymore. I called my wife, Lynne, who is in Arizona recovering from medical procedures on her back and neck and told here what happened. I mentioned that she almost became a widow. She told me that I had an Angel on my shoulder. If people have 9 lives like cats, then I definitely cashed one in that night.

Anyway I am very happy to be reading the entries on your blog and recounting memories from that 'pre-Rose' Parade. Also I'm very happy to be writing you. Live life to the fullest and I hope to see you and plenty of other classmates when the Centennial Celebration happens at the high school next September.

All the best.

Ron Wysocky

Shari Deuel

Congrats Shari on your new beautiful grandson - love the pics!!

Cathy,

Yes we can post the pics. I have some of me on my 525 mile bike ride and the new baby. My reunion pics didn't come out. They were all out of focus.

Here are the pics of Liam Jackson Hutchins and his big sister Sierra, who's 10.

Will send the bike pics this evening. I'm of to my sister's in Corona del Mar for afew days. Then I have to go to Ventura for my bike club's borad meeting. I'm past pres so. . . . . . . . .

Congrats on your 2 lil ones coming soon!!

More later, Shari








Hey Cathy,

Finally getting around to sending pics. My sister and I have been out all day going here and there.

The pics are from the Arthritis Foundation California Coast Classic. I've done it the last 3 yrs. The min. to do the ride is $2,900 which I raised the 1st yr. Last year I reached 3,500. 07 was a tough yr and I barely made the 2900. But my team, Team 830 reached $70.000!! and 245 riders raised over 2.4 MILLION! It all goes to the AF!!

But this yr. I'm going to ride the Oregon coast and maybe more in honor of my brother Danny. I want to raise $$$$ for Free Flight that he started in the 70's. It's a rehabilitation center (his home) for birds of prey and mammals. It keeps going only by donations. He was so proud of my runnng and cycling accomplishments.

Hope all is well with you!!!

I'll be traveling w/ the Tour of Calif. in Feb and will be in Santa Rosa near the 17/18th.






Shari with son, Tim.







Shari's brother, Dan Deuel, BHS '64 (1946-2006)


1/9/08 UPDATE

I asked Shari how we can contact her if we want to sponser her and here is her reply:
Cathy, Thanks for adding that for me!!

Riderunrepeat@aol.com is how they can contact me.

I work the Tour of California(pro bike tour). We aren't able to take our own bikes because we(80+) travel big vans with 8-10 people per van. We're dropped off on the race course 2 hrs. ahead of the race coming through. We make sure the route is clear of any debri, talk to spectators and direct traffic. After the race has passed our van comes by and picks each of us up and we race to our next location. Each day and jumps(our race coverage area) is different.

In towns we might be on each corner but out in the coutry or on Hwy. 1 we might be 2-5 miles apart. As soon as I get home from T of C I drive to Arizona for a 185 mile relay race from Wickenburg to Mesa. Feb. 28-March1. We are The Grey Hares, in the over 55 category. We got 3rd in the Hood to Coast Relay -from the Mt. Hood ski lodge to Seaside, Or. 197 miles. Should be another fun adventure.

I'm also training for the King of the Mountain series. You have to complete 3 112+mile rides, each w/ 12,000' of climbing, making each check-in point on time. The 1st is the Mulholland Challenge then Breathless Agony and Hearbreak 100. So I'll be looking for steep mtns to ride ALOT until then.

Won't be going to Tour de Georgia this year with all the training for the KOM. Want to get that accomplished before the BIG 60 next year. Maybe even go to St. George for the senior games this year.

Have a beautiful day!

Shari

The Storm

Carol Nicholls Lebrecht had quite a day when the storm hit the Sacramento area, so I asked if we could post her email:

January 4, 2008
Hi Cathy,

I went in to work this morning and got downtown Sacramento by 8:00 am. I could barely cross the street with the wind and rain. My umbrella was not much help. I felt like I was battling a 70 pound weight. Finally made it inside and within a half hour the electricity went out in the building. We had an interview that morning and luckily one office had lights. The poor woman had walked over in all that wind and rain to get there. And afterwards she was going to have to walk all the way back to her car again, because lightrail was down. I had to send her down the dark stairwell from the eight floor, because our elevators were not working either. They didn't let us go home until 10:00 am.

One of the girls in my Unit was walking to the same garage across the street as me. She waited so we could both go together. It is a good thing, because now the wind was so bad that you couldn't even hardly walk forward. She is a small woman and ran back under the overhang of the building. She told me "I'm scared!" Other people were arm in arm crossing the street so I told her to take my arm and I would get her across the road. It wasn't eazy because the wind had blown my hair in my face. We had to stop a couple times, but we finally made it across the road.

Then I had to walk up five floors to my car. I was pretty beat. I only got about five miles on the freeway when I saw a sign that said "Prepare to stop. Freeway closed ahead. Take alternate route. I was in the right hand lane so it was no problem to take the next offramp. But other people did the same and we were at a stand still with boulevard lights out and trees down. I looked at the freeway and the cars were moving at a pretty good pace.

But I thought, if I got on the freeway I would probably get stuck, so I stayed in the heavy traffic, barely moving until it finally cleared. Then it would jam up again. The one hour trip lasted 1 hour and 45 minutes.

When I got home our backyard fence was down so luckily my husband's friend was over and under the heavy wind and rain they built the fence back up within a couple of hours. His friend's house electricity was out and he had come over to warm up. Bet they are pretty wet and cold right now.

Yes, it is storming Sacramento today. Did you get much rain?

Sunday update from Carol:

My youngest son, Jay, who lives in Sacramento called and asked if he and his family could spend the night. Their electricity had been off all day. I have two guests rooms now that my sons have moved out and gotten married. First, thing Jay says is "I get my old room back, right?" I told him, "No, you get Brandon's room; because it is bigger and has a tv hooked to cable". He muttered something about him having to sleep in a strange room. Here after having moved out seven or eight years ago.

My middle son, Brandon, lives in Loomis. His electricity was out also all day Friday, but their heat had been on until 10:30 am in the morning and stayed warmer for them throughout the day. They huddled under their blankets that night and the next day at 9:30 am had a birthday party for my grandaughter, Meghan who was turning 3, at their house. Luckily they had planned to only have a continental breakfast. Jay and Barb stopped at Starbucks on the way over to pickup some hot coffee to try to keep the guests warm. The babies attending had jackets on and snow hats. The older kids just ran around and kept warm that way. The party lasted a couple of hours. Brandon's electricity was restored at 10:30 pm that night. I still am not able to get a hold of Jason so his electicity must still be out. They talked about bringing their trailer over and parking it in the driveway for the night.

My husband worked as Cal Expo Police at the gun show. He said it was still storming with heavy winds and rain all day down in Sacramento at the California State Fair site. While driving home he was about eight miles away, when a car jumped over the median and flying thru the air, hit the car in front of him. With good reflexes he was able to weave in and out of the smashing cars, four in all, and then get all the cars moved to the side of the road until the Roseville Police showed up. He thought that the 70 year old woman who had caused the accident had realized she was going to miss her left turn, so made a hard left and hit the median so hard causing it to be airborne and fly thru the air into the traffic going in the opposite direction. They took her off in an ambulance; because she was so shookup.

Today is Sunday and they say another storm is on the way. I am greatful that no one has gotten hurt from trees slaming thru homes, and the wild weather. The next storm is coming, but is not suppose to be as bad.
Let's hope not.


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And here was my response:

Wow Carol - what a day you had!!! Here is a link to a short video of some storm damage a little north of me. It was pretty intense, not for me so much as my home and my work never lost power and I was inside during the worst of it.

Linda my daughter went though Hurricane Ivan a couple of years ago. Her little house was near the water so they went to the in-laws who lived in a big brick home inland. Well, around 2 am as the eye hit Pensacola, their roof ripped off and rain came pouring in, so they had to all jump in their cars to find another shelter which turned out to be a church down the road. The next morning, it looked like a bomb had gone off and when they got back to their little house, everything was fine including the 2 cats in the bathroom! However, on the next street, houses were gone, washed out to sea and sadly, a few folks were dead that didn't leave. When I went back a couple of months later, the damage was unbelievable!

Plus, I went to New Orleans to do some volunteer work for a few weeks after Katrina and that was horrible - another bomb it looked like - still does in some areas - a political hot potato in so many ways - very sad for the folks esp in the 9th ward.

Anyway, in perspective, this storm is 'mild' unless of course a tree falls on you or your house!!

So we give thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ for His protection.

Back to Bob's

Cathy Nicholls Coyle just sent a couple of great pics from Bob's. Thanks Cathy - looks like ya'll had a great time - would have love to been there!

Hey CP:

Just wanted to send you a couple photos of the Bob's Big Boy Post Christmas gathering we had on Friday, Dec. 28th.

It was fun seeing people from other classes.

Nancy Krogh Brez just happened to show up with her sister; not knowing this was a scheduled event that Jon and Pam Kirkwood had arranged through their "BHS Loop" announcement.

(clip on pics to enlarge)


The people pictured above are as follows:

Front row: Donna Luce Neitman ('67); Sandi Tate Uribe ('66); Peggy Melton Cyphers ('66); Randy Boeing ('66); Cathy Nicholls Coyle ('67) and John Coyle ('65)

Second row: Jon Kirkwood (64); Steve Gillion ('66); Don Melton ('65); Margie Boeing ('69); Al Thouette ('67) and Gil Uribe ('66)

Back row: Ron Franzen ('66); Ron's wife and Pam Zipfel Kirkwood ('64)













Cathy, Donna and Nancy

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Pasadena Tournament of Roses website



Count down... another New Year is here and I pray for you that everything goes great in 2008!

Just received the following email from Alan Singer as he reminisces about ANOTHER New Year's eve many years ago... Thanks Alan!!

Hi Cathy,

Here’s some random thoughts on going to the Rose Parade.

In our senior year, I went to the Rose Parade with Tom Hurd and Ron Wysocky (41 years ago tonight – hard to believe). We went at about 10 o’clock the night before the parade, and had nothing to do until the parade started the next morning. After awhile, we ran into Mark Pollock and then Carol Hanlon. We all wandered around together, talking with other parade goers and watching the cars drive down Colorado Boulevard . I remember that it was really cold, and we were having a hard time keeping warm (I probably wasn’t wearing a jacket that was heavy enough, and had no doubt been warned about it by my mom before I left my house). For a time, we tried to stand around other people’s sources of heat, like fires or portable heaters. Then we found a business that was open, a Western Union telegram office, where it was warm and they let us stay for awhile (I saw a newspaper article recently saying that Western Union has now gone out of the telegram business – I guess no one needs to send a telegram anymore.) As the night progressed, we got colder and more tired, and by the time the parade started and we couldn’t find a good viewing spot, we didn’t have much interest in staying to watch it. So about fifteen minutes after the parade started, we went home and watched it on TV. It was warm, and the TV cameras had great viewing spots.

Wishing a happy and healthy New Year to all my BHS classmates and their families.

Alan Singer

2008 Rose Bowl Parade

Remember driving to Pasadena on New Year's Eve to find a good place to watch the parade the next morning? And by the time it started, you were so exhausted from being up all night, you could hardly stay awake!

Please add your comments at the end of these posts - i.e. what do you remember?? How was 2007 for you? What adventures are you planning for 2008? What's new in the zoo for you, McGoo - lol!

http://www.burbankrosefloat.com/
























Foreman and volunteer Burt Ballard, works on some of the main figures for the Burbank's 2008 Rose Parade Float Thursday.

Burbank Ledger Published Dec 28, 2007 - 22:34:17 PST
New Year’s float about to blossom

Crew is putting hours of work in to ensure that every flower, berry and accessory will be in place for the Rose Parade.

By Rachel Kane
As the new year nears, hundreds of volunteers are putting the final floral touches on Burbank’s Rose Parade float entry. This year’s float, titled “Oktoberfest,” will depict flute-playing squirrels and a merry German beer maiden serving a man in front of a cottage. It will also feature a live Oom-pa-pa band and dance troupe called Die Gemutlichen Schuhplattler, who have been instructing 20 people who will dance alongside and on the float during the parade.

But during Deco Week, the time from Christmas Eve until the night before New Year’s Day when people, flowers and foliage descend upon the decorating barn, it’s all about troubleshooting and time-consuming decorating. This year’s team has their hands full.

“This is the tallest float we have ever built,” said John Hames, Burbank Tournament of Roses Assn. president. The float raises and lowers on a hydraulics system but at its highest point is about 27 feet tall, with many movable parts and animated figures throughout. Float workers on Thursday made adjustments and hammered out the kinks in the movements of some of the doll figures that wave from the windows of the float’s cottage.

“They’re trying to lower the doll so that the doll pops out and waves, and right now, also, we’re busy decorating all over,” Hames said. Nothing is ever final in the float-design game, and fine tuning is done up to the last minute. “You have to test everything out even if you think it’s going to work,” said Carol Cotter, decorations committee chairperson.

“It’s amazing how it was designed,” Cotter said. “It was a real challenge for them.” Most of the dried items and some of the more than 26,000 flowers had been delivered to the float barn by then. Cocoa shavings, carnations, roses, chrysanthemums, cranberries and even cabbage have been incorporated into 2008’s design. Every detail of the float, from the trim on the cottage to the eyebrows of the beer maiden, must be covered in some form of vegetation or flower before it is judged Monday morning and hits the parade route Tuesday. But some parts of the design were more time-consuming than others. Robin Hanna spent an untold number of hours crocheting window curtains and dainty handkerchiefs from raffia, a kind of flexible straw-like material.

“I probably got about 12 hours work into one seat cover,” Hanna said. Even with the volunteers and crew members working from 9 a.m. to a little past midnight most days, they are still cutting things close, said Steve Edward, design committee chairman for the Burbank Rose Float Assn.

On Thursday, the crew was behind in their work, but Edward was confident everything would come through. “It’ll happen,” Edward said. “It’ll come together somehow. It’s all magic.”

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Burbank's 1932 Float





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And Cathy Nicholls Coyle just sent an email which listed a bunch of "REMEMBER THESE?" which you can enjoy seeing by clicking HERE!

Remember the trauma of loosing your skate key?

Remember Beenie and Cecil, the sea-sick sea serpent?

Remember "I Remember Mama" on television?

Remember doing the twist with your friends while listening to Chubby Checker on the radio?

Remember the name of your kindergarten teacher? Mine was Mrs. Winter at Miller - loved her and loved the class especially when I got to paint!

What do you remember? Post it in the comments below 'cuz we all want to know!

Happy Birthday Jesus