Do you know if anyone has ever been prosecuted for violating the Federal “No Call Act,” or whatever its correct title happens to be? It’s just another of many thoughts that germinate in the fertile compost pile of my mind.
For instance, not too long ago I had to take my aging pickup truck to LeDuc’s Service Center because a red light flashing “Brake” appeared on my dashboard whenever the motor was running. It turned out to be nothing serious — just a bad bulb or socket — but it forced another thought into my mind.
The thought was this: are you old enough to remember when what we now refer to as a “parking brake” was once — very seriously and very truly — called an “emergency brake?” I won’t go into details of an incident when, after only just passing the test for a driver’s license, I was driving a load of similarly aged youths in my parents’ very used car down the steepest hill in Tacoma when the brakes gave out! We survived, obviously, but that old emergency brake was part of the salvation!
The hydraulic brakes that replaced the old mechanical ones were safer, mostly, but not always so in the early days. The cylinder in each wheel hub was prone to leakage and, when the liquid dripped out, well … a wet brake shoe was no help in stopping that wheel!
Another change of thought: back in 1941 President Roosevelt brought forth the need to preserve four freedoms in our lives. Norman Rockwell created four paintings that have been preserved ever since in the minds of those who were living at the beginning of WWII. How many Americans can name all four of those freedoms today? You don’t need to go online to find out. They are Freedom of Speech, Freedom from Want, Freedom of Religion and Freedom from Fear. Those four Rockwell paintings would not be out of place in any home today.
How much should we believe advertising claims? The writing on a packet of brown gravy mix I recently used claimed that it had “30 percent less sodium” — 30 percent less than what, a salt lick out in the pasture?
Here’s a test to determine if you’re getting old or not. How long has it been since you heard anyone use the expression “hubba-hubba?”
Mark Twain once wrote, “Common sense wins out over unbridled outrage.” It’s a good thought, but difficult to follow, when you think of the way our beloved country is heading.
Changing thought again, I can’t help but feel a twinge of sorrow for anyone who never heard the gentle humor of “Bob and Ray” on radio or even an old cassette player. Also right up there near the top of that list are those who never got to hear the happy music of The Hoosier Hot Shots. If you know who I’m talking about, you’re likely on a first-name basis with your undertaker.
One of the items on my bucket list is to drive as much as remains of the old highway between Olympia and Montesano. Our family drove it often when I was 8 or 9 years old, with me using a stick that represented an airplane’s joy-stick to guide us safely around corners and over hills.
There were signs along the way — each one with a few words in a poem — that always ended with the one sign that told who the sponsor was … as if there was anyone living then who couldn’t. It was always a challenge to see who could read (and shout out) the last few words of the poem before anyone else.
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Bill Moeller is a former entertainer, mayor, bookstore owner, city council member, paratrooper and pilot living in Centralia. He can be reached at bookmaven321@comcast.net.
