January 24, 1968: Turtle, Chicken, Byrd

Letter postmarked January 24, 1968 (Part 3):

This is Part 3 of the letter postmarked January 24, 1968.

You asked about the turtle, Snappy. He is just fine and David Wayne plays with him just about every day by taking him into the bathroom and giving him a bath. He also claims he's teaching him to swim. The other big turtle, Mickey, that we bought on Olvera Street died, but it never did much except spit and hiss at us.

[Dead turtles aren't much fun. It sounds like that one wasn't very much fun while he was alive, either. RIP, Mickey. That's a stupid name for a turtle anyway. Everyone knows Mickey is a mouse.]

Oh, about looking up Roy Rogers and Trigger . . . there is a Roy Rogers Museum in Apple Valley and we passed within 10 miles of it on our way to Calico. I said something about going to it but David Wayne showed no interest and neither did Dave after we ran into the heavy traffic. I don't think it would be worth fighting all those cars. The thing David Wayne wants to see is the Batmobile at 20th Century Fox.

[No surprise there. A Batmobile or a horse named Trigger? Hmmm . . .]

I never wrote you the ending to the screen test, did I? Well, Suzie got all dolled up and went over to the studio - located on Fairfax, a very busy street in L. A. She got to wondering what she'd do if they ask her about talent. She said in her East Texas twang, "I can't dance, so I'll have to sing. Now what will I sing?" Sitting in her car on busy Fairfax Street she began practicing on "I Gave My Love a Cherry" from her old Girl Scout camp days. She couldn't remember all the words and none of the right tune, so she gave up, drove home, called the studio and said, "This is Suzie Dirr. Cancel my appointment. I'm chicken!"

[Well that's just too bad. I'm sure Suzie had plenty of talent and would have done fine if she had just practiced a little. If you aren't familiar with that song she was trying to sing, here it is on the Youtubes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaBK0dBV47E]

Via the voodoo doll, Mike - oops! Knuckehead - is seeing the sights in California. David Wayne takes it everywhere we go. He surely does enjoy it. He's sitting in the floor playing with the Matchbox cars and the little circus train. The voodoo doll is laying across the tracks and evidently the train is going to run over it. I'm almost glad you were unable to get the service station because he's been making his own - our shoe boxes are all gone as this is what he's been cutting up, printing signs on them, and painting. He fixed up a service station, a farm, and an animal doctor's building. The service station also doubles as a tunnel for his train. I wrote you that we had to teach him how to play cars, but now he can play _all_ day long with them. The TV never is turned on any more. He hasn't watched even one cartoon since Christmas.

David Wayne is really looking forward to coming home. The first thing he did this morning was to draw a picture of a pelican. When he showed it to us and told us what it was, he said, "I'm going to be looking for one of these today and get it to carry me to Texas in his mouth." I can't imagine what he dreamed about last night. And Dave is just as homesick as David Wayne - he won't rest a minute until he can get me home to have the baby and it will be worse now that he's seen the freeway traffic at night (which I've told him is usually the time most babies come).

[The next part was written Tuesday, January 23.]

I had planned on finishing this letter yesterday but I took a nap. After sleeping I drank a cup of hot tea and guess what - it made me sick. I vomited and felt so weak that I went back to bed. Barbara Hansen came over as I was thinking any minute I'd die. She was going to a discount shoe store and wanted us to go along. What did I do but get dressed, go with her, buy a pair of shoes, and had a wonderful afternoon - not bad for a sick gal, eh?

We picked up Dave and Erland from work and then all of us went to the Hansen's. We listened to some stereo tapes and then walked to a really nice restaurant, Bull 'n Bush, and ate. Our food was delicious - prime beef. It was better this time than the first time we ate there. Again we were very proud of the way David Wayne behaved. He has gotten very fond of Barbara and Erland and just loves to be with them - I'm glad because Dave and I certainly enjoy their company.

Of course, Dave should have come home and gone to bed last night, but he enjoyed the evening. He slept a little longer than usual this morning but said he felt good.

I am sending back the clipping of the "store." Thank you for sending it as we both really enjoyed it. Uncle Byrd looked fairly good in the picture - is it a recent one? He didn't look that good the last time I saw him.

[The clipping about the "store" was a neat article from the November 21, 1967 Denton Record-Chronicle about the closing of the College Store, which my grandmother's aunt and uncle had been operating near the TWU campus since 1916. Uncle Byrd was 85 at the time. Here's a scan of the picture and the title of the article.]

[The address of the store was 1219 Oakland Street in Denton, at the corner of Oakland and East Third Street. It now appears to be the TWU Human Resources building according to Google Street View.]

Also, I'm enclosing a picture of David Wayne that we took Christmas morning. This was the very first picture we took and you can tell he's still got sleep in his eyes.

[This was one of the pictures I showed in the post for the letter that covered Christmas morning, but I'll show it here again so you can follow along with Mom's description.]

The balloon is part of the Johnny Astro toy - the red circle is Mars and the blue is the moon. He really enjoyed this toy, but now that he can work it good, it isn't played with much. The gray and white "8 shaped" thing is his Build-A-Road set for the cars - those sticks on the inside are different road signs and street lights (yellow tops). Right in front of the Santa Claus pinata is the circus train and next to it is the Robot (name - Frank). Between Frank and the train is the Batmobile that does all kinds of weird tricks. Directly being our smiling "ham" is a Slap Trap game - the only thing he asked Santa for and the one thing that he doesn't care much for. If his mother could get on the floor to play _with_ him, he would enjoy the game more.

[Yeah, Slap Trap wasn't very fun by yourself, since the object was to remove the things you were holding onto before your opponent slapped the trap closed. And that's kind of sad to hear about Johnny Astro already being pushed aside after being mastered within a month. I'm pretty sure I played with it some in Texas, though.]

Well, must close sometime. I've got to wash clothes and go to grocery store. Take care and write as often as you can. Congratulate Mike on his giving music lessons!

[I think I previously mentioned that Uncle Mike was in his high school band (trombone). Here it looks like his teaching career started early. Later in life he would teach a few college courses related to the music business.]

Love, 

Linda

January 15, 1968: Dressed to Party

Letter postmarked January 15, 1968:

The CCZCC extends its winning streak to 17.

Dear Mother and Mike,

Boy, it sounds like you are really spoiling Miss Taffy - ham and eggs for breakfast, candy treats, sleeping in front of a fire, etc. I bet she's one in Texas that is in no hurry for us to come home. I appreciate you letting her stay in while the weather is so cold, but what are you doing about the dog hair? David Wayne certainly gets a kick out of your letters about Taffy - especially the part about sitting in Wayne's lap!

I'm sorry that you didn't hear from us for so long, but really the mail service was at fault, not me. Can you believe that around Christmas it would take five or six days for an airmail letter to reach us? I didn't get any letters from anyone for nearly a week at one time and then - wham! I got three or four letters in one week just from you. If I had known you would "hop a plane to L. A.", though, I wouldn't have written.

I can hardly wait to see what you and Mike are sending David Wayne. I wasn't going to tell David Wayne anything about another package because he gets so excited, but sure enough, I forgot and read that part of the letter to him - yep! He's just as excited as I predicted.

Let us know as soon as you get the new heating unit as we, too, are concerned about the gas heater. I don't know how you are surviving without heat in the cold weather - 14 degrees! I guess Dave and I will just miss out on any winder this year and from reports, this was a good winter to miss in Texas. I couldn't believe the reports in papers about the temperature, but when everybody writes us about it, I know it's true. Yes, by all means, an air conditioner is just what you need at this time.

Dave and I haven't been doing much since the "joy to the world" season. We stayed home all last weekend except for eating at the Sizzler Saturday night. Monday, David Wayne and I ate lunch with Barbara Hansen and spent the rest of the afternoon just talking and relaxing with her - I can relax with her because I don't have to be getting on David Wayne all the time like I do when Suzie's around. Barbara was having company on Monday night and David Wayne got her feather duster and dusted her whole apartment for her and picked up trash. He loves to help her. Tuesday, Suzie and a Virginia examiner's wife came over and asked me to drive around with them. I declined because I was tired and so was David Wayne. But Barbara also came by (to return David Wayne's Batmobile that he left at her apartment) and you should have seen the way I picked up. Tuesday night Dave vacuumed the rug and David Wayne mopped the kitchen and bathroom and cleaned tub, commode, etc. All I did was wash the dishes, but I was tired from watching them work.

[It's time for a confession. I don't think I ever told Mom this, but when I was putting the Hansen's feather duster back in the closet or wherever it belonged I broke the handle somehow. I didn't want to get in trouble so I just put both pieces back and didn't say anything about it. As far as I know Mom never found out about it, so I'm guessing Barbara Hansen never told her because she didn't want me to feel bad. That's one of those weird little flashback memories that has always stuck with me for some reason.]

Wednesday I went with Suzie and Sam (Virginia examiner's wife) to Olvera Street. Sam wanted a "shoplifter's bag" like mine - a gigantic straw monstrosity I bought there to carry camera equipment. Also, we ate lunch there as Sam had never - yes, never - eaten Mexican food. She loved it and I really enjoyed being with her.

[I checked, and there are Mexican restaurants in Virginia now.]

Thursday I decided to go and buy a dress with the money you sent. (Also, I had my babysitting money, $20.) I had told Dave Wednesday night that I planned on going shopping. That night he talked in his sleep and I plainly heard him say, "Now, don't spend all that money in the same place." Mother, I just about fell out of bed laughing and Dave is dying of embarrassment so I am telling everyone. And Dave doesn't deny it because he admitted dreaming about money that night.

[That's pretty funny yet certainly believable regarding my dad's sleeptalking comment.]

Well, about the dress . . . I bought a green wool jumper with a darker green sweater type blouse to go with it. I am in love with it and Dave likes it, too. I don't look the least bit pregnant in it - just stylish! It was not a maternity dress and I bought it in a regular dress shop - so I can wear it even after the baby comes. I will get Dave to take a picture of me wearing it so you can see it. Next week I plan on getting some new shoes and bag with the rest of the money.

[Alas, if a picture of this outfit exists I have not run across it yet.]

Thursday night we had the Hansens come over. We had been to their apartment several times and I wanted to return the invitation. We thoroughly enjoyed having them and the time passed so quickly that before we knew it - it was 11:30. Barbara and Erland both apologized for staying that late, but really no one realized it was that late. David Wayne was excited all day about "our party" and he made cookies and when I put out snacks (potato chips, dip, peanuts, etc.) David Wayne got a bowl and put Lifesavers and Dentyne chewing gum in it - this was what he was serving for the party. I'm sure the Hansens are not wild about unwrapped Lifesavers, but they ate one and really bragged on them - David Wayne just beamed. These poor people have the misfortune of being favorites of David Wayne.

David Wayne gave Snappy a bath this morning in the bathroom sink - also, he was teaching him how to swim. He really enjoys that turtle. We bought distilled water to put in his bowl because the tap water had so many chemicals it turned his shell white. I guess that's all old Snappy got from Santa.

[Although I liked playing in swimming pools at that age, I didn't know how to swim so I'm not sure how I was teaching Snappy to swim.]

While I slept this morning David Wayne copied the alphabet in small letters and capital. It was very good. I also listened to a song he made up: 2+2 is 4, 2+3 is 5, 2+4 is 6, 2+5 is 7, etc. I have no idea why or how he stumbled on this, but it makes me very proud. His first grade teacher will hate me, but truthfully I have not consciously "taught" him all these things - he just sorta picks them up. Next on his list is learning how to spell and I haven't figured out yet how he is planning on doing this.

I am still pondering the question of coming home to have the baby instead of staying with Dave. He wants me, David Wayne and the new baby to have good - the best! - care and I guess he doesn't feel capable. It would be hard on him and I would have the worry of who was taking care of David Wayne. I really feel sorry for Dave as he was really looking forward to being with me and seeing the baby firsthand. Dave says he thinks that you would be more helpful to me than he ever could - sounds like he's passing the buck, Mother. You better watch him!

[That must have been awful for both Mom and Dad to try to decide what to do about the upcoming birth. Although I know what happened I'm still looking forward to reading about how it all unfolded.]

Since I've used all my paper up, I better close. I should try to play with David Wayne since I slept almost all morning. I feel that I'm doing my little five-year-old an injustice by sleeping so much, but I just can't help it. And, he's smart enough to connect the sleeping with the new baby. I am feeling better than I was, but I still need to rest. David Wayne is most considerate when I do sleep - he colors or looks at books and he has never made a sound to wake me up.

Take care not to freeze. Keep your fingers exercised and warm by writing lots of letters. I'm sorry Mike may come down with the flu - I understand it's almost an epidemic. This kind of flu can realy be bad so do keep him at home - he can miss all activities for awhile.

[A flu epidemic? Seems like I've heard that term recently.]

Love,

Linda

October 19, 1967: Creepy visitor

Letter postmarked October 18, 1967:

The CCZCC now stands at 10. Double digits!

This letter is being posted one day after the date of the postmark because the October 17 letter was split into two posts.

Dear Mother and Mike

This may not be legible - I have written three letters already this morning and I'm lying in bed and I've got Kleenex in both hands. No, I don't have a cold - I'm just trying to filter the air as I take it into my lungs. Coming from a family of breathers I find it hard to exist in this climate. I think within a few years the population in Los Angeles will have gills instead of the regular breathing apparatus. Either that or they shall all surely suffocate. The smog really isn't too bad now - by that I mean you can see "Mr. Sun" peeping through, but we are due for another siege on Thursday.

[That ongoing smog problem sounds awful. Reading Mom's firsthand account of her difficulties dealing with it has given me a little more appreciation for the tighter restrictions on things like automobile emissions in California.]

[The handwriting in this letter is definitely different than the handwriting in previous letters. The most noticeable thing to me is the lack of a slant in this letter. I have scanned in samples of this letter and the previous one so you can see for yourselves.]

Handwriting sample from letter postmarked October 17, 1967.

Handwriting sample from letter postmarked October 18, 1967.

Of course, we could go to the mountains again like we did last Saturday, but then we might be called upon to fight the forest fires that are surrounding us. They (the police) have arrested several known "fire setters" this week and I wonder if our little handyman will show up for work today. (That's another reason my hands are sorta shaky, I suppose. I get just a teeny bit nervous on Wednesdays.)

[Forest fires in California. Imagine that. (Those of you reading this way in the future can google "2017 California forest fires.")]

David Wayne said for me to tell Nana that Mike is a Knucklehead. He really misses his Uncle Mike and is always talking about fighting with him when we get home. So tell Mike he better get in shape - David Wayne is a lot bigger now than when he last saw him. Also, David Wayne keeps in practice by fighting with Dave. They are constantly rolling around on the floor and I wonder how many lamps we will have to replace.

Dave and I have something in common with the Johnsons. We also have a child that makes visits during the night. It's a little eerie to wake up and find someone standing by your bed, but it is better than him getting out the door and chasing him down the street. You should tease Dave in your next letter about our having the same experience as the "cookoo Byrds."

[I didn't find anything to confirm this, but I suspect the Johnsons Mom is referring to here are President Johnson and his wife Lady Bird Johnson, or perhaps their first daughter Lynda Bird Johnson. That seems like a logical reason for the "cookoo Byrds" comment.]

[I wonder if I ever woke up Mom and Dad yelling "Red Rum!" repeatedly?]

Joan Baez is going to be giving more free concerts for the next ten days - this time to the men in jail where she will be in residence. It seems that she was a ringleader in a big riot on Monday. I think this riot or sit-down or whatever happened in front of an army induction center where they were protesting against the draft system. Anyway, the police drafted her and her mother to jail for ten days. I wish I could go to jail with my mother for a few days - I think our relationship is lacking in some way, don't you?

[Joan Baez gave a free concert for an estimated 30,000 people at the Washington Monument in Washington, DC in August of 1967, to protest the Vietnam War. The arrest Mom is referring to here occurred in Oakland.]

[Fun fact: It was during this jail sentence that Joan Baez met an inmate named David Harris, whom she would marry in March of 1968 and divorce in 1973. She was pregnant with their son Gabriel when she performed at Woodstock in 1969.]

We are busily getting ready for Halloween. David Wayne was driving me nuts asking how many more days, so I made him a calendar and he is marking off each day. The witch pinata we got on Olvera Street is really cute and we have decided not to break it. I don't know how we will get it home but Dave says he'll figure something out.

You just thought you bought the little turtle for David Wayne . . . but Dave is the one who pays the most attention to Snappy. He even talks to it! Sunday, on Olvera Street, they were displaying some turtles that were ten times bigger than Snappy and Dave wanted to buy one. I wouldn't have minded, but I know he would have come straight home and played with it the rest of the day. I imagine we'll get one this weekend. By the way, how is your livestock? Any little hamsters yet? Adelia wrote David Wayne that they were expecting twin goats and that if we had twins she would swap him for one. He thought that was a great idea, naturally.

[Adelia, in case you have forgotten, was my grandfather's second wife. They lived on a farm in Sanger, Texas at the time.]

I will close for now. Please write soon as I have started accusing the postman of losing my mail. You wanna hear something funny? I get so much mail from Mordecais that the postman wished me a "Happy New Year" a couple of weeks ago. I took me a while to figure out that greeting. Another funny thing . . . Dave cooked outside on Yom Kippur (the day of Jewish fasting) and we got some mighty dirty looks that day! I'm afraid we have a lot to learn about living around Jewish people. Maybe we will learn since we're going to be here so long.

[Mordecai is apparently a traditionally Jewish name, but as far as I know you have to go back quite a ways in our family tree to find a Mordecai who was Jewish. Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) in 1967 was on October 5, and Yom Kippur was October 14. So here's some more exposure to other cultures that Mom and Dad were not exposed to very much while growing up in small Texas towns.]

Love,Linda

P. S. - Does Linda Kay have one of those electric baby food warmers? They are something new . . . at least I don't think they had them five years ago. It saves putting water in a pan to heat the jar of food. Anyway, I would like to get one for her, so find out if she has one please.

September 24, 1967: Political nightmare

Letter postmarked September 24, 1967: The CCZCC now stands at 2. Today's letter is being posted before today's diary entry. You'll see why at the end. "Dear Mother and Mike," "Sounds like you both are busy and I do feel sorry for you. I wish I had more to do so I wouldn't have any time to feel sick. I don't actually get sick in the mornings, but I have to eat crackers and lie very still. My back hurts at night and I usually stay on David Wayne's little bed and watch TV." [I think I've mentioned it before, but my little bed was a folding metal cot. It will make an appearance in at least one upcoming photo. I can't imagine why a pregnant person with a sore back would find it comfortable.] "I'm glad your trip on the plane was good. Very glad that Mike took care of things so well during your absence." "I just don't know what to make about Mrs. Hall. Mike, what are you doing up there at school to get in bad with her? I was her pet. You step lightly around that old witch, she has a lot of influence in that school, or she did. Of course, she hasn't got a brain in her head and she's very moody. If you're going to be a politician, you will meet a lot of the Mrs. Halls so learn how to handle her type. But never sacrifice what is right just to please - just make her think you are." [I looked up Mrs. Hall in Mom's high school yearbook. She was the Speech and Drama teacher, and I'm pretty sure Mom was in plays in high school. My uncle doesn't remember exactly what his issue was with Mrs. Hall. Perhaps he was more focused on his political career than his acting career.] [Politician? Uncle Mike? I asked him about that, and there's more to it than just his own political aspirations at the time. I'll reveal just part of his response here: He wore a coat and tie to school every day his senior year of high school.] "David Wayne is completely in charge (so he thinks, anyway) of taking care of Snappy. He feeds, changes water, and puts in new gravel. He's also got the duty of putting it in the sack - her or his home when we are gone." [What a responsible young man I was.] "Ed Kubala and family from Austin have been vacationing here this week. We have enjoyed seeing familiar faces and talking about people we all know. (Excuse my writing this morning - I'm sorta shaky.) David Wayne was at a total loss of how to play with their children for about an hour. Finally, he got okay and really enjoyed them. I guess he's just forgotten how to act with other children." [Now I have something to blame my lack of social skills on: A few months of isolation from my peer group at the age of five.] [Since this is the last mention of this visit by the Kubalas, I'll tell something else interesting about them. As I mentioned before, although they lived in Austin and we lived in the Dallas area, we would see Ed from time to time when he was in Dallas on business, and I'm pretty sure Dad would visit them when he was in Austin. The two couples remained friends through the years, and the last time they were all together was at a career development seminar Dad and Ed attended in Portland, Oregon in July of 1991 (bringing the wives along), since Dad died while traveling back from that conference at the age of 53. Ed was so torn up over my dad's death that he couldn't attend the funeral.] [Fast forward to early 2009 and Ed's wife Joyce passes away. Some time after that Ed finds a way to contact Mom and says he and Joyce already had plans to make their annual trip to Hawaii in May, and would Mom like to join him. Mom said yes because she loved to travel, and over the next four years the two of them traveled the world together to more places than any of us can remember, and essentially became a part of each other's families until Ed passed away in 2013.] "David Wayne had a terrible nightmare Wednesday night which scared us to death. He woke us both up about 3 AM. When we ran into the living room, he was out of bed, had the front door open (as far as he could with the night chain), and he practically had the night latch pulled off its hinges. It took me about an hour to get him settled down and back to sleep." [Yikes. I bet they made darn sure that night chain was on before going to bed every night after that.] "He said he had dreamed about monsters. He hadn't watched any television that day as we had the Kubala children during the day and that night we had all gone out to a Shakey's to eat supper. We had to laugh the next day at him though. I had taken him into our room after the dream and Dave and I both rubbed his back and talked to him. The next day he said, "I couldn't go back to sleep because of that snoring daddy." [If only the movie "Monsters, Inc." had been released back then . . .] "I better close for now and get dressed. I am going to make Dave take us somewhere today - I feel like the walls are closing in on me. Take care of yourselves and Taffy." [This letter does indeed have a postmark date of September 24, 1967, so Mom apparently wrote it Sunday morning and got it in the mailbox the same day. Today's diary entry will tell us if Mom was successful at getting out of the house.] "Love, Linda"

[Edited 9-25-17: Clarified the location of the career development seminar.]

September 16, 1967: Turtle escapades

Letter postmarked September 16, 1967 (dated "Friday"):

This letter had no zip code. The CCZCC (Consecutive Correct Zip Codes Counter) is reset to zero. :-(

"Dear Mother,"

[Once again she forgot all about her little brother in the salutation.]

"We all enjoyed your visit so much that things have really been dull without you. At the airport we watched until the airplane took off. David Wayne was very good on the drive home and re-hashed all we had done. Catastrophe on reaching home - the turtle was gone! We searched everywhere and after 30 minutes found him in the stack of papers. Now, when we leave the apartment and at night we put the bowl in a paper sack. This is our turtle house."

[Here's the drawing of the turtle house she included in the letter. Now we know the turtle's name is Snappy. I guess those circles at the bottom of the sack are air holes. Hopefully they aren't big enough for Snappy to crawl through.]

"Dave was very unhappy at first with the newest addition to the family, but now he watches him and talks to him. David Wayne places the turtle in front of the TV so he (the turtle) can watch and not get bored."

[It doesn't surprise me that Dad talked to the turtle. He talked to all of our pets while we were growing up, especially the cats.]

[Like I mentioned a few days ago, let's hope I didn't let Snappy watch "The Great Escape" on TV.]

"We just hope someone was at the airport to meet you. Mike called Dave and asked him if _you_ had made arrangements with Wayne. Dave said he nearly fell out of his chair because he understood from Mike's letter that arrangements with Wayne were all fixed. I do hope you weren't stranded. Poor Dave, I bet he won't even talk on the phone any more - first my call about the baby and then Mike!"

["What . . . we got here . . . is a failure to communicate."]

"Thursday I had my hair cut. My operator offered to cut David Wayne's hair free. He says - hold on to your seat - that _my_ son is the best behaved child he ever saw in a beauty shop. He really was good. He is also going to lend me a card - a special club deal - to get 15 tickets at Disneyland for $4. The 15 tickets are good for any ride and you don't have A, B, C, D and E tickets."

[I'm guessing all that time I spent in my grandfather's barber shop made me all the more interested in what was going on at Mom's beauty shop. Oooh, we might be headed back to Disneyland!]

"Dave was really interested about Farmer's Market. I think we will probably go Saturday. We are going to send some more goodies. Gary, my beauty operator, said you can haggle down the prices in most of the stores. Also, he said that you could see many movie stars shopping there."

"I just checked the mail for today and I am very depressed - no letter. This makes three days in a row. Has everybody forgotten us? Is nobody excited about our baby?"

[Uh oh, Mom's already getting impatient for some correspondence from back home.]

"I will close for now. Write soon and put a fire under everyone else."

"Love, Linda"

"P. S. - I feel great physically."