Way Back Machine 1989

First half of 1989  

                                  

Jan  4    Judge dismisses some charges in the case of a boy scout        suing the Boy Scouts of America for hiring as a Herdon         Virginia scoutmaster a convicted sodomist. The       plaintiff's mother was having an affair with the       scoutmaster and the plaintiff's father was an      acknowledged alcoholic and homosexual at the time the           scoutmaster is accused of seducing the scout.   

Jan 16    Beth and I see a car hit a dog, see the dog's owner rush      out into the street after the dog and see the dog's owner          say "he's dead".

Jan 20    Beth gets a frisbee out of a sewer while I hold her legs.

Jan 20    After I put George to bed, I come upstairs a few minutes      later and hear him singing a song that went something         like this, "Peanut butter, peanut butter; Beth wore a          dress today; I get to sleep late tomorrow; my writing is       getting better...". Should I get this 5 yr old a notepad         for his thoughts.

Jan 21    George has temp of 104 F twice. After the second time he      began to sweat and then was better the next day. As I         recall, I used to always sweat a lot just before getting          well from a high power virus.   

Jan 27    Doctor to whom we owed the copayment ($700) from Ann's         Dec. surgery says we don't have to pay it at all when we      asked if we could pay it off over three months.

Jan 29    Ann makes fruit salad with non‑dairy whip. She forgot to      peel either the grapefruit or the tangelos. I worked out      a deal that if I wouldn't publish it in the neighborhood         paper, she would let me lick my fingers and smack when      I ate it. At first she had actually tried to say she did         it because my fuzzimindedness was contagious.   

Jan 31    This has been an unprecedentedly cold Jan in Alaska.           Official temps were as cold as ‑76 F and some stations        had over 200 hours consecutively below ‑50 F.

Feb  6    I go to Bismarck North Dakota. The motel restaurant had       a line to be waited on at 8:15 am. First time I ever saw        that. Also had a long line at the State Govt. cafeteria         at 11:30. First time for that. I saw the North Dakota      hall of fame which include Roger Maris, Peggy Lee,       Lawrence Welk and some lesser knowns. I was the first         Federal official who had made a trip there in February         in some time. I went to Denver the next day.

Feb  8    Snow in Malibu, Cal and most of S. California. Below           freezing in Mexico, S. Texas, etc.

Feb 10    Plane trip was OK except for a wait of 1 hr on the runway          at National airport waiting for a gate for the plane to       park in.

Feb 11    McGrath, Alaska, which had a low of ‑76 F a few weeks          earlier had a high of +41 F.

Feb 12    George announces that the reason it is windy outside is        because so many people are breathing hard.

Feb 13    At 6am the forecast was for partly cloudy, temp in the         40's. At 11am it was snowing and some of the suburbs got      several inches.        

Feb 15    13 people shot, (3 killed) in D.C.‑ another new one day        record. So far 74 people murdered versus 47 at same time      last year. An Alaskan timber wolf escapes its cage and         is believed to be prowling Rock Creek Park.

Feb 19    Heaviest snowfall of the 20th century from Warrenton,          N.C. to Norfolk, VA. up to 18". Richmond gets 7". DC gets          0".

Feb 20    George and I visit Mt. Vernon, see Fife&Drum corp and a        recreated Continental Army Regiment (with firing          muskets).

Feb 27    Dallas Cowboys purchased for $140,000,000 by someone from          ARKANSAS and Tom Landry is fired as coach after 29 years      of service.

Feb 28    Norfolk ends Feb with over 24" snow and has three days        on which temp hit 80 F, (one of which was 3 days after       and 2 days before big snow falls. Newport News, VA had       almost 30" snow also (all time records).

          D.C. has about 2" snow during the month.

Feb 28    In first two months D.C. has 90 murders vs 56 last year.

Mar  1    Another weird thing about Feb 89. The best performing          stock group was gold stocks. The worst performing         commodity was gold.

Mar 6     Martin in Calif all week purchases 40 ABBAZABBA bars.

Mar 13    Most intense aurora borealis in hundreds of years,        visible from Bermuda. Martin @ Pentagon for active duty.

Mar 18    George has try out for T ball.

Mar 24    On the 25th Good Friday since the Alaskan Earthquake,          Alaska has their worst oil spill in history.

Mar 27    Martin in Alabama and Florida brings home some Spanish         moss. It refuses to stick to the sweet gum tree. In       Florida Martin was parking in one of the few spaces          marked "Visitors" in the Florida DOT parking lot. It had        a parking meter requiring $.05/25 min.

          Surely one of the tackiest things I've ever seen.    

Mar 31    Beth laments that if she goes to Disney World next month      as planned, she will not have perfect attendance at          Sunday School. George and Beth were both very good while       I was away and helped Ann a lot.

Apr 1     After several rolls of disc film turn out with grainy          pictures, Martin gives up and buys another 110 film       camera. 

Apr 3     Martin returns to office after having been away 4 weeks.      Orioles win home opener. Last year the only game in April          that they won was on Apr 29.

Apr 4     Former Vice President Spiro T. Agnew requests $142,500         refund from California taxes claiming he is entitled to       a deduction on the money he paid as restitution for         bribes collected while governor of MD.

          With Jerry Ruess pitching and Carlton Fisk behind the          plate, the Chicago White Sox opening day battery averages          40 years old.

Apr 5     George wins a travel bag at school's international        dinner. For the 3rd year in a row, we forget to bring a           serving spoon for our contribution.

Apr 6     106 F at Civics Center in LA, Calif.‑record high for           April.

Apr 7     California tax board denies Agnew's request.

Apr 11    31 F at Shreveport Louisiana‑record low for April.

Apr 11    Phil. Flyer goalie gets a goal against Wash Stanley cup.

Apr 12    Min at National Airport is 36 F, at Dulles 24 F.

Apr 16    Pitts sweeps Mets for first time since 1983

Apr 17    D.C. now up to 149 murders for the year.

Apr 17    George says while playing, "I have an idea, daddy, you         stay real still and I'll bash you with the pillow"

Apr 19    Jeff Ballard becomes only the 3rd Oriole to go 3‑0 at the          beginning of a season. Incredibly two of them (Ballard        and Dave McNally) are both left handed and are natives        of Billings Montana.

Apr 21    Beth authors some poetry for mother's day and birthday.       It sounds a little like Ogdan Nash poetry but then most          poetry sounds like either Nash or e.e.cummings.

Apr 24    After his T‑ball game I have this conversation with       George:

          me‑  Some of the mommies watching your game said you                    were very cute.

          George‑ Yeah, how many?

          me‑   two

          George‑ Is that all?

May  1    Only 34 murders in April in DC (Jan‑Mar average was 44)

May  5    Playing soccer with kids. I trip on pile of rocks which        was simulating the post of a soccer goal. Beth says, "Oh      well. I guess you just weren't born to be a goalie,          daddy.

May  7    Rochester, NY gets 11" snow. Phoenix, Ariz hits 105 F.         Beth taking care of her brother while Ann & I are at          dinner theatre leaves the

          following message: "Dear mom & dad. George didn't finish      his vegetables or milk. He tried to wrinkle this note.        That is why it is wrinkled. Love Beth P.S. I tried hard           to get him to eat."

May  9    At a meeting in Annapolis Md. At restaurant for lunch the          soup‑du‑jour was pecan‑shrimp. Really. Out of 35 people,      total number ordering soup was zero.

May 12    After telling Beth she should come home from soccer      practice if the field was too wet and telling her she         could blame her quitting on me if the coach asked her to        stay, George says, "could I blame some things on you, too         Daddy?".

May 13    Beth gets 2 goals in soccer game. She didn't want to brag          so when she came home she said "Guess how many goals our      team scored?" I found out it was 5. Then she put her           hands behind her back and waited for me to ask a follow          up question.

May 14    George buys a pet scorpion at a garage sale. He also says          during dinner at a particularly loud moment "I want 5         minutes of silence here." Where does he pick this up?

May 15    I took Ann to palm reader as this year's birthday         present. (her req.) The reader said that her palm         indicated she had many worries.

May 16    Of the first 16 days of May in Pittsburg, all 16 of them      have had rain. In D.C. 13 or 16 with rain.

May 21    Beth scores again in soccer playing one hour after        finishing a 4 hr long picnic.

May 22    I noticed that when George runs to first he doesn't run        straight but hooks first toward the pitcher then toward       foul territory. We practiced running in a straight line        the next day but he intentionally ran in a curve.  

May 24    After nearly a year without smoking my pipe, I had a           smoke today. The tobacco was still moist indicating that      my devises are working right. An 11th grade girl in P.G          county (Michelle Collins) strikes out 53 players in         girl's fastpitch (Div IIIA) softball game (23 innings).  May 29  Two more George Quotes "Daddy, let's play all the parts          in Annie (the movie about Orphan Annie)...but not the         parts where they clean up their rooms." "Do you know what      is good about vacuum cleaners"  "No what George?" "They           work hard and you don't have to pay them."

May 30    A review of hospital statistics indicates Wash D.C. led        the nation in emergencies hospital cases involving        phencyclidine dust). Does that now mean we are the city       of 'angels'?    

Jun 3‑5   The LA Dodgers lose a 22 inning game in Houst (6/3), lose          a 13 inning game in Houston (6/4) and win a double header          in Atl (6/5) while Boston blew a 10 run 6th inning lead          to lose 12‑11 to Toronto. Balt wins a game 16‑3 despite           being outhit 13‑9 vs New York.

Jun 7     On this day 6/7/89, the Housing and Urban Development          cafeteria served an entre called 'coconut fried fish'.        Really.

Jun 11    Beth gets chickenpox. George asks 8 times/minute if he        is going to get it too.

Jun 13    Conversation between George and his grandmother

          Grandmother‑Now George, is your sister very sick

          George‑ Yes. She says she itches a lot.

          Grandmother‑ You know you might get chicken pox too.

          George‑ And then again, I might not.

Jun 14    Worst summer wind storm in PEPCO history. 150,000 without              power. Also, murder total in D.C. is now 202 for the          year.

          Charlie Hough and Nolan Ryan of Texas become the first         pair of over 40 pitchers to wins both ends of a           doubleheader for the same team.

Jun 16    Beth shows me a children's magazine and says, "Guess what          daddy, this article on penny power says that if you had       a penny one day and doubled it the next and then doubled          it the next, after a month..." I then used the          opportunity to give her some calculating

          exercises, compare simple functions and so forth. I then      commented that she must be very proud of what she         learned. Beth responded, "Yeah, I learned never to tell       you about penny power"

June 19   Still 10,000 without power.

Jun  23   George gets chickenpox, a worse case than his sister.

Jun  25   George lying down on the third floor. I say, "do you want          to go to bed, now?" George says, "why don't you carry me      up stairs?" I say "but you are upstairs". George looks       around blinks his eyes and says "Oh. Really? How did you          do that?"   

1989 second half

Jul   5   Beth, George & I have been the only ones in the pool the      past two days while a staff of 5 was watching us. As good          as the Trumps have it. (happened again Jul 16)

Jul   6   George gets some blue marker on him. I tell him it will      wash off, he says, "But daddy, you said it would wear         off, not wash off."

Jul   7   Beth makes carrot sticks for my vanpool. She produced         about 50 sticks out of one carrot (by hand), better than      a machine.

Jul  10   Double murder suicide five blocks from where my parents      live.

Jul  14   Beth teaches George to play the card game 'Spit'. The         kids also know a variation of 'Hearts' but George doesn't          deal very well (e.g. people get different number of       cards) he can't hold more than a few at once and he likes           to capture the Q of spades just for the heck of it.

Jul  15   Orioles wins 11‑9 despite being outhit 9‑19

          Elva A. Kling Reyburn who in 1908 saw the Cubs previous      World Series win and who in 1945 (Cubs previous World         Series appearance) vowed to live to see another one, dies        at age 108 vow unfulfilled.

Jul  16   Max temp is 76 F vs 104 F in 1988

Jul  18   George swims 20 laps (25m each) in about 1 hour. Beth         says, "I think George likes games where he gets to order      people around."

          With this in mind we made up a game where George is      Pharaoh and we are slaves. Beth was right, George loved           the game.

Jul  19   At swimming pool a little 2 yr old pointed at me and          said, "Grandpa."

          "Tell your kid to watch the insults, lady" said I to his      mother.

          "No son that's not Grandpa, Grandpa has more hair." said      the mother.

Jul  21   Corpus Christi, Texas has record max and min on same day      97 F, 71 F

Jul  24‑28  M in Austin Tex. The first 3 days were cooler in Tex        than in Wash D.C. The motel had free breakfast and free       alcohol during late pm while there D.C. instigates the       "long march of the hookers" forcing several prostitutes       to walk from Thomas Circle to Arlington.

Aug  03   Cincinnati scores 14 runs in 1st inning vs Houston‑seven      people get two hits in the inning.

Aug  04   Beth plays viola for a shy little 4 yr old who then      becomes friendly. George tells his grandma he doesn't        want to go to the pool. Grandma asks, "Why not?". George          says, "I don't have a good reason, I just don't want to." Aug  08   Beth & George taken to miniature golf and baseball game.           George tries to fib about his golf score. Beth says that          when frustrated  "just hit the ball as hard as you can"

Aug 8&9   Dulles airport below 50 F both days (new records)

Aug  11   5.7" rain in Yuma Arizona in 24 hrs where annual precip       is 2.5"

Aug  14   Beth rearranges linen closet. Beautiful volunteer job         includes labeling shelves.

Aug  15   Some George (age 5) quotes,

          Anne: George, I'd like you to help with some light house           work.

          George: But mom, we don't have a lighthouse.

          Anne: George, why don't you hug and kiss me more.

          George: I'd like to mommy but I don't have the time.

          Martin: George what do you want for supper tonite?

          George: I'm not very hungry, I'll just have something              light.

Aug  16   Seattle beats Texas 2‑0 despite being outhit 13‑1.       Charley Hough loses his second one hitter.   

          Beth and I stay up to see lunar eclipse.Beth thought it      was OK but was more interested in a particularly friendly          dog that was with a lady taking pictures of the eclipse       from a nearby hill.            

Aug 22    Jeff Ballard pitches shut out with no walks and no      strikeouts.

Aug  23   LA wins 1‑0, 22 inning game at Montreal. First 21 LA hits          produced no runs. Total of 35 strikeouts in game. Longest          game won by visiting team ever.

Aug  22‑25 Vacation in Virginia Beach. Big waves last two days.             On the way home, Martha (Beth's friend) is having a       fantasy about marrying one of the boys she knows. The         following conversation

          Martin‑ "Well Martha, suppose it is 3 days after your         honeymoon and your husband goes out and comes back home       at 4 am with 5 friends and they all smell like cigars,       alcohol and cheap perfume and one of them throws up on       the floor and they demand breakfast."

          Martha‑ "I would make the smelly men leave, then I would      clean the kitchen floor, then give my husband a bath and      kiss him and put him to bed.....long pause.... but my          husband would never do something like that." It is going      to be an interesting generation.

Aug 25    That conversation brought the following thoughts from         Beth. "Being 10 years old is just so stupid because you       have to grow up."

Aug 29    Murder report. DC 300 in 89 (vs. 216 on this date last        year), PG County 77 (vs. 53), other metro (Fairfax, Mont      Co, etc.) 52 (vs. 30).

          Martin gave blood today finishing 9th Red Cross gallon.

Sept 4    Kids and I got a kite up to about 300 feet high directly      over head.

Sept 5   As Beth was cleaning her lunch box up after school,       George says,

          "I have an idea Beth, why don't you wait until next year      to clean it out. That way it will save time."

Sept 8    George lets us know he thinks a girl in his 1st grade         named Nicole is cute (he tells us how she did her hair        and what she was wearing.

Sept  9   Beth says to George, "If you do bad things in school,         I'll just have to die." George says, "I'm going to do         real, real bad things (jokingly)." Beth says, "I'll die         then." George says, "I've always loved you (line from         Blues Brothers movie)."

Sept 10   Deion Sanders becomes the first person to score a        touchdown (for Atlanta) and hit a home run (for New York      Mets) in same week.

Sept 11   Max temp in Denver is 41 F. George tells me that he got      Nicole to sit next to him at school. "I asked her very        nicely and said please." He also has a girl sitting on           the other side of him.

Sept 12   Max temp in Denver is 39 F w 2" snow. George tells Ann        that he gets Nicole to help him open his lunch box. Beth      decides not to take two musical instruments during the       same year. We might have her take a band instrument in         6th grade and go back to viola in 7th grade (or something        like that).

Sept 14   Max temp in Denver is 75 F.

Sept 20   Martin in New York during Hurricane Hugo disaster. I was      in Alaska for the 87 stock market crash, Kansas during       the Challenger crash and in Indiana during the Cheyrnobl       disaster.

Sept 22   11 pm Sept 21 forecast for noon was for gale winds and        heavy rain from Tropical Storm. Actual weather was sunny,          light winds as TS went 300 mi. West of town. George was       looking forward to the storm and asked every five minutes         about it. Bad week for kids as Martin was out of town,        Beth forgot about going to Hebrew School on Monday and       George caused a panic at school by telling the nurse he         had strep.

Sept 23   George revels that he dislikes lunch because of the      noise.

Sept 24   George has his 3rd soccer practice in a row rained out,       in the spring he had 4 of 7 practices in "T" ball rained         out.

Sept 27   Beth comes home from school with a complaint, "It's not      fair, we got tested for stretch in Phys Ed and after you      got tested you could play on the equipment and because        I was at the end of the alphabet I didn't get a chance      to play." "Do you want me to write a note?" her Daddy          asked. "No I'd rather complain." she said.

          Bismarck ND has max of 93 F, El Paso Tex has high of 77 Sept 29   George brings home picture of a WETA (a large grasshopper          like creature found in New Zealand) and despite      assurances he has a nightmare about this animal.

Oct  01   Rick Reuschel (age 40) of SF has record of 17‑8

          Bert Blylevan (age 38) of Calif. has record of 17‑5

          Dave Parker (age 38) of Oakland has 92 RBIs

          Nolan Ryan (age 42) of Texas has 300 strikeouts to lead      majors by 66 Oct  08  George asks Ann if he can have          people sleep over. Ann says yes and who does he want        over. George says, "Well first I'll have Nicole, then         Brandy, then Lauren". Ann says, "Martin, I want you to       have a talk with George."

Oct   10  First day with frost. St. Augustine Flo. gets 16" rain        in 14 hours.

Oct   15  Ann takes George and Beth to visit H.M.S. Bounty which        is visiting Washington. George says to Captain Bligh,        "Why were you so mean?", the Captain indicated that he      wasn't really mean. Beth had her French Sailor Girl       T‑shirt on. Such a nautical thing to impress them.

Oct   17  Watching World Series game #3 with Beth when earthquake      hit SF.

Oct   20  Three day snowstorm in midwest ends,up to 10" snow in         Cincinnati with temps down below 32 F in Houston,         Tallahasse, Baton Rouge, etc.

Oct  23   Nutritionist visits kid's school. During assembly        Nutritionist asks, "Can someone think of a nutritious         drink they get at home?"

          George raises his hand and answers, "Wine."

Nov   03  Return from trip to N.Carolina‑ planes ontime.Beth      announces that her music teacher and she are putting one      of her poems to music, however, when her proud father       asks her to tell what the poem is she hasn't got it         memorized or written down in the house.

Nov   05  Minn. scores 23 points against LA Rams w/o a touchdown        (7 FGs and one safety).

Nov  06   I take Beth and George to gun range and let each fire         about 40 rounds of a .38 revolver. Each probably hit the      outside of the target a couple of times.

Nov  07   Beth gets sheet music for cello and viola so we can play      a duet. The piece ‑ "Love me tender" by Elvis‑ we jammed        some after.

Nov  07   Both PG county and DC have broken all time homicide      records with almost 2 months to go in 89.

Nov  11   George's soccer game is confused. Both teams wear        identical uniform colors. Consider that 1st & 2nd graders          tend to cluster near the ball and imagine the spectacle.

Nov  14   In 15 years, today was the first time I ever ate too much          at a govt. cafeteria. (Housing and Urban Devp had a $3.95          buffet).

Nov  18   George decides to bring his blanket and pillow into the            downstairs closet and take a nap. His action caused Beth      and Ann a long long search and upon discovery, George          said, "close the door, it's too much light." 

Nov  21   Playing cards with Beth & George. Actually had 3 hands        in a row with the correct number of cards dealt to each

          person. However they kept getting old tricks back into         their hand.

Nov  23   Snow for eastcoast. 4" in Washington area. Dulles airport

          down to 9F two nights later.

Nov  26   Beth chases me all over the house to tell me her long          winded version of a movie. Also she hides in the closet       to surprize me by jumping out. After she did that I said,

          "good to see you Beth I have some house chores for you."

          She responded, "let me go hide again."

Nov  27   Homicide report- DC 404, PG County 122, rest of metro         area 103- for calander year. Murder rate is approximately

          300% higher than the worst year of the 1970's or 1960's.

Nov  28   George's grandmother: "here is a nice book for you        George, the author is Frank Smith."

          George: "Yeah, but who is the bozo who illustrated it."

              Wonder where he picked that up, hmmmm?

Nov 29   George and Beth both went to bed. George got up and saw        Beth watching TV when he thought she should have been in      bed. He went into his grandma's room and said, "It's         10:16 and Beth is in deep deep trouble."

Dec  4,5  Beth mispronunciations and my rejoinder (later amended);

          Beth- Daddy, why did Ben Johnson take stereoids before         the Olympics?

          Me-I guess he was tired of hearing things in mono.

          Beth- Daddy, how do whales go down 3000 feet and come          right up again, is it part of their boing-ency.

          Me-yeah, they have to 'boing' once every thousand feet         like the cartoon character ricochet rabbit.

          Later next week after Star Trek, she referred to an       android as an adenoid (no rejoinder).

Dec  6    With much fanfare the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors          establishes a Transportation Advisory Board to speed road          construction. The Board is abolished Dec 12, two days         before its first meeting.

Dec  9    Dulles down to 4 F after 2nd snowstorm of autumn.

Dec  12   Schools close on the basis of a storm warning (4-8" snow

          but nothing came (good thing because previous storm       hadn't been cleaned off the road yet). I stayed home with        kids to take them sledding but snow was too slushy.          Instead we made 9 snowmen (5' tall) and then threw         snowballs at them. The snow was so soft and wet that when      rolling a ball through it, all the snow adhered to the           snowball and left bare grass where the ball had gone.

Dec  13   School closed again because 3" fell in early am.

          Wash Post "food" section has recipe for Vietnamese noodle          dish containing lime, chile sauce, mint, ginger root fish          sauce and jalapenos - do people actually eat this?

Dec  15   Potomac River has 50% ice cover at 14th St bridge - I          can't remember ever having a freeze before the solstice

Dec  16   George moons a visitor - gets punished -claims baby      sitter's oldest kid taught him it was a big compliment

Dec  19   Dulles had -2 F this morning, the 5th day in a row with        record minimums.

Dec 19   New record. Mortgage company missed payments on insurance          and property taxes in a two week period - is this end of      history or end of nature.

Dec  25   George asks to be able to open casket at graveyard and        is disappointed when I point out that caskets are under          several feet of dirt. "I'm good at digging" he said,         prompting me to note that grave robbing is illegal as       well. That seemed to shut him up.

Dec  29   George complains of a headache. I got him some medicine        but he still complained. Soon after he had about 8        cookies for dessert. "My headache is gone." he said. Then        the wheels turned and he followed up by opining, "Maybe          next time I have a headache, you could give me cookies." Dec 30    Beth watches some TV quasi educational drama on drug         abuse of children. She had questions,

          "Why would you spit up heroin?" (shoot up)

          "What is PC3PO?"   (PCP)

          "What happens when you smoke pod?" (pot)

          I think instead of just saying "no" to drugs they could        also say, "how do you say that again"

Dec  30   Beth reties the red MADD ribbon I put on the rear view        mirror. It flies off the first two blocks. "But I just        wanted to put a bow tie in it." she says.

Dec 31   DC ends the year with 437 homicides breading the old           record by about 20%. The rest of the metro area had about          160 homicides (also a new record). This year 16 of those      arrested and charged with murder were 15 years old or         under (100% increase from last year.                 

Dec  31   Coldest Dec in over 100 years ends. Dulles airport had        10 record minimums, several below 0 F. Apparently 28         cities in the US had all time record cold December.

          Snow as far south as 25 N latitude on Gulf coast of       Mexico, down to 30 F in Miami and 44 F in Key West, Flo.