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“Just Thinking"
This week, we are doing a little bit of this and a little bit of that:
As you know from previous newsletters, I am no fan of this time of the year, The days get shorter, the weather gets colder, the rain is coming (El Nino) and now, switching off daylight savings time. I hate it, just when the days are already getting sorter we fall back. It’s 2026, why are we still changing our clocks twice a year, pick a time and stick with it.
Happy Halloween, such an exciting time for kids of all ages to don their favorite costumes. Our old neighborhood was insane, they were literally busing kids in for trick or treats, our new place, not so much, we get maybe a dozen kids… Like a bartender that drinks his mistakes, I get the leftover candy.
November 1 is All Saints' Day, honoring all the saints in heaven, both known and unknown. The Mexican holiday is Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), similarly celebrating those that have passed before us.
Today there is a big Birthday day in our house - Happy Birthday to Tracy. Number three son, Cole’s birthday is November 3rd - Happy Birthday Cole. We are all getting together to celebrate two Birthday’s on Sunday.
Shout out to World Series Champions Milwaukee Brewers winning for the first time in their 57-year history. I wasn’t vested in the series, or the playoffs in general, but was super impressed by their clutch play. They posted a 103-59 regular-season record, then they finished the postseason with an incredible 11-2 record, defeating the Padres three games to one, sweeping the Dodgers, and beating the Rays four games to one.
You can’t think of the Brewers without thinking about Hall of Fame broadcaster, Mr. Baseball, Bob Uecker, who spent more than 50 years behind the mic calling Brewers games. He would have loved seeing the Brew Crew break through, unfortunately Uecker passed away in January of 2025 just before his 91st birthday. Some of Uecker’s lines have become a part of American culture, from his Miller Lite commercials, I must be in the front row! And his line from the movie Major League "Just a bit outside."
Bob Uecker was self-deprecating when he talked about his modest playing career, he was famous for saying: I spent the first couple years in the big leagues trying to get the mildew off the bench. I saw a trailer for an upcoming documentary film called UECK. The movie traces his journey from Major League backup catcher to Hall of Fame broadcaster, comedian, actor, and cultural icon, I’m looking forward to checking that one out.
I saw a reel about Golden Gate park this week that kind of blew my mind, I never really thought about how the park was made or why it was in that location, like St. Louis’ Gateway Arch, which was completed this week in 1965, it has always been there for me. It was 1860s, when the city leaders decided that we needed a large public green space similar to Central Park. The park was not built on fertile land or rolling hills, but rather on windswept sand dunes known as the "Outside Lands" (thus the name of the music festival) on the western edge of San Francisco.
To stabilize the sand dunes, they first planted hardy grasses and then introduced thousands of trees, including cypress, pine, and eucalyptus. Irrigation systems were installed, two large windmills were built to pump in fresh water, roads and pathways were carved out, and lakes and meadows gradually replaced the barren landscape. The 1,017-acre park was opened on April 4th, 1870, over time, the harsh terrane was transformed into the lush park we know today.
Something else that I did not know about Golden Gate park is that after the 1906 earthquake, more than 200,000 displaced residents took refuge by camping in the park.
Finally, during this week in 1881 the legendary shootout at the O.K. Corral took place, in Tombstone, Arizona. The Earp brothers along with Doc Holliday faced off against the Clanton-McLaury gang. The gunfights legend has grown over the years inspiring several movies: My Darling Clementine (1946) starring Henry Fonda, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957) starring Burt Lancaster & Kirk Douglas, Hour of the Gun (1967) starring James Garner, Doc (1971) starring Stacy Keach, Wyatt Earp (1994) starring Kevin Costner and the classic and one of my favorites, Tombstone (1993) starring Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer I can watch Tombstone every couple months. One of Dad’s favorite crooners was Frankie Laine; he sang the theme song Gunfight at the O.K. Corral for the 1957 movie of the same name. Probably his second-best western theme song behind the one that he sang for the 1974 movie Blazing Saddles.
That’s my Hodgepodge.
Let me know what you think.
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