April 29, 2016- Childhood Memories-Part 2

Babysitting

Our babysitter most of the time was Dina but sometimes her sister Sandy was and once even her brother did so. I remember that Dina liked “CHiPs” and “Starsky & Hutch” a lot. They lived across the street from us. Other times, Maureen’s 2 daughters, Kerri or Beverly, would babysit us.

   We hid in the sliding door closet of the small sky blue room once. Dina was having trouble finding us. I can’t remember if she eventually did or we got bored and came out of there.

    I hid from her under the blankets and she couldn’t find me so she said that she had a present for me which got me to come out. I went into the living room to see what she had for me and she handed me Rusty’s milk bone- so disappointing!

   I babysat Cindy and Jessica’s 2 cousins a couple of times. Once was during the 1984 Summer Olympics. I was watching mostly the diving and swimming events during that. This is the only babysitting job that I’ve ever had.

 

Note- These photos are from the internet.

Addition- My brother recently told me that Dina used to watch Hawaii Five-O too!

Dreamtime-

December 23, 2014- Autographs

I was at an autograph signing show with Mike and Dad. It was being held in a warehouse type building. The inside of it was nice. The guest list would be a surprise to me because I wasn’t in this holodeck program until we got there. They had run out of the booklets that contained this info and my brother really wasn’t talking about it.

   We saw Johnny Crawford from “The Rifleman”; my brother likes that show a lot. He said that he would get his autograph later. Dad went off on his own. Mike said that he would meet up with me in the other room in about 10 minutes. I wasn’t sure where he was going.

   That room had 4 stars from “CHiPs”- Randi Oakes, the actress who played Sindy, Erik Estrada, and Larry Wilcox. I was wishing that Robert Pine and Michael Dorn were there too. The latter probably would be at this event more for his role in “Star Trek: The Next Generation” though.

   I summoned up enough courage to talk to Estrada and Wilcox. Mike returned and was happy to see Randi. He got her autograph. I needed more cash so I went to an ATM. Estrada’s was $35.00, $5.00 more than Wilcox’s.

   Mike helped me pick out the photos. He was chatting with them, including telling them that we have been watching “CHiPs” on MeTV lately. He also got their autographs.

   “NCIS” star Cote de Pablo was also in this room. Mike wanted her autograph but needed more cash. As I was waiting for him, I suddenly felt very tired and weak. I was surprised when Erik noticed this and got a chair for me to sit in. I thanked him.

   I was getting a little annoyed that it was taking my brother so long to return. Maybe he and Dad were talking. Or he might have run into Tony who had told us that he might be there.

   I was glad when he did finally get back. He talked to Cote for about 5 minutes. I had overheard a guy saying that Mark Harmon was in the big room. As if either or both “NCIS” stars would show up at such an event. I did wonder why they weren’t in the same room.

   Mike and I went to the big room next. I saw Huey Lewis sitting at one of the tables. I found out that he and The News (where were they now?) would be performing there later. This room had a stage in it.

   I didn’t really want anyone else’s autograph. I went with my brother to meet Johnny Crawford. As he was talking to him, the scene began to fade. My time at this show was over. It was interesting that I got to see these and other stars at it.

   I actually did see Erik Estrada at a Chiller Theater one in 2008 but wasn’t interested in getting his autograph. I wish that I hadn’t been afraid to go with Mike and Dad to the show that Michael Dorn was at. Mike said that he had told him “My sister remembers you being on “CHiPs”. 

Mark Harmon

 

Note- the bottom photo is from the internet.

 

April 25, 2016- Chiller Theatre Show

We were at this event longer than I thought that we would be, partly because Tony was doing a lot of talking with people. Also, he and Mike spent like 20 minutes picking out DVDs that they are going to try to resell at the flea market. They got a deal of only .50 each. 

   I guess that I am glad that I went. At the beginning of the day, I was sort of wishing that I could just stay home and watch the tennis and Mets game. We did see Kerber win the Stuttgart tournament before leaving then watched part of the rebroadcast of the Barcelona tournament final which Nadal won.

   Mike actually got the same two autographs that I did which was a bit surprising but I was glad that he did so. First, we went to Robert Pine. He seemed nice. Mike and he were chatting about westerns which Mr. Pine was a guest star in a lot of. We found out that he is buddies with Robert Fuller, who is in another favorite show of ours,” Emergency”.

   Mike got to shake his hand which I am a little jealous about. I hadn’t even thought to stick out my hand to try to do so when I was saying “Nice to meet you”, probably because I am not usually a touchy-feely person.

   We returned to that living room area later on to get Larry Wilcox’s autograph. I had been debating on doing so when walking around and observing the stars. I figured why not since I have one of them. Neither of us were interested in getting that of Erik Estrada. He was charging $20.00 more than the other two.

   I don’t know why, but Mr. Wilcox shook my hand twice. He did say that my hand is cold. I said something dumb in reply to that- they are always cold. I should have said often and not always.

   While we were waiting on that line, I saw this boy of about 7 or 8 years old getting excited about meeting Robert Pine. That was so funny and cute. That it about how old my brother and I were when we started watching “CHiPs”.

   We forgot to go back to the outside area to see the salvage truck from “Sanford and Son”.  We did see the Monkees car earlier but that wasn’t there yet. It was cool seeing Demond Wilson who played Lamont in this show that our family used to enjoy watching.

   It was interesting seeing Kevin Sorbo (“Hercules”), Ernest Thomas and Danielle Spencer (“What’s Happening”), Bernie Kopell (“The Love Boat”), George Wendt (“Cheers”), Marc Price (“Family Ties”), Nana Visitor (“Deep Space Nine”) and Max Baer (“The Beverly Hillbillies”).

   A few of the Rocky Horror Picture Show stars, including Barry Bostwick, were also there. Tony had thought about getting their autographs but didn’t. He had been on line for Rob Schneider’s but after an hour gave up on that. He said that he must have been running late on the photo op session upstairs.

   We saw some music stars- Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork from the Monkees, Weird Al Yankovic (the song parody guy), and Martha Davis from the Motels. Tony was disappointed that Meatloaf and Alice Cooper weren’t there. They were the other 2 days.

   I was talking to a lady who had an adorable pug puppy named Winston while waiting for my brother to get done in the restroom. I felt less nervous talking to her than I did to the stars, probably because a doggie was the major part of our conversation.

   I wish that I hadn’t been afraid to ask if I could buy the nice “CHiPs” cast shot that was on Mr. Wilcox’s table. Even Michael Dorn was in that shot. Mike was lucky that he got to meet him. If I hadn’t been afraid to go to these shows with him and Tony in the past, I would have to.

   Mike said that maybe I could find this for sale online. I hope so. I would have paid $5.00 for it but not $10.00 which he said he bets that would be what they would have charged if they agreed to sell it to me.