Superstition

I was never really superstitious, but my mother was. I remember she would never walk on opposite sides of a pole. If I walked on the opposite side, she would make me walk back around, or she would, so that we had both crossed on the same side.

I remember one specific incident in California though that has always stuck with me. Mom had a mole that had grown on her forehead I think. She took a bean, and rubbed it on the mole...and then told me to take the bean outside and bury it under the tree. Which I did. She said it would make the mole go away.

And guess what? The mole did go away! I never got over that!

Yet in spite of it all...I still ain't superstitious.

Clint Kobaba

When I lived in Craig, there was one kid I really hated. It was juvenile really...but in my defense: I was only a 4th grader. I didn't really like my name as a kid. It was a pretty unusual name. I just wanted to be something common like Jim or Bob. But NO, I was Clint. And the only other person in town (that I knew) whose name was Clint...was a kid named Clint Kobaba. He was probably an alright kid, except that he had the same name as me, and we saw him as a little doofie. ( Like I was Mr. Cool! ) He couldn't even give the bird right. Like that was some big 4th grade right of passage.

I hated Clint Kobaba. In reality for no good reason other than our names were the same. And he had greasy slicked back hair, and he couldn't give the bird right, and, well, yes, he was actually a little doofie. So why did the only other kid in town with the same name as me have to be doofie??

Now I can sit here and wonder...did he feel the same way about me???

Jaguar's

I lived in Compton California when I was in the 6th grade. One of the few white kids in my school. I kept to myself and walked home fast. It didn't always keep me safe. It must have been fun to pick on the scrawny white kid.

I remember the guy across the street from my Grandparents house. I don't remember his name, but I remember he had a big gate at the front of his driveway where the front of his house began. Behind the gate, in the driveway, and in the garage, and sometimes even in the back yard, were Jaguar cars. Some restored. Some in the process of being fixed. Some in the garage or really 'The Jaguar Workshop'. I don't remember him ever parking one in the driveway though. They were always hidden behind that big wooden gate.

Of Course, I was just a kid. I had no appreciation at the time for the craftsmanship and prowess that was associated with the 'Jaguar' cars. The neighbor was obviously a collector of Jaguar cars. He owned several of them and fixed them up behind that big wooden gate.

He showed them to me once. I had no idea what an awesome thing he was sharing with me at the time. All I knew was that he had an avocado tree in his front yard. I didn't appreciate them at the time either.

Now I like avocado's and Jaguar's...but still can't afford either one.

I guess some things never change.

Changing it up

I've grown weary of the Craig stuff. I'm going to try something different and share some of the memories stored in the archives of Skinton Clinton. I may go back to Craig stuff at some point. I didn't really tell all the gunk floating around inside my head.

Tuesday Night Rodeo's

40 years later and Craig still has Tuesday Night Rodeo's. Just think of all the bottles we could collect Andy!

West Theater

I find it kind of sad really, that 40 years ago I went to the West Theater to see a movie. Today, in 2010, it is still the town theater. Same building! Across the street from the Palace Drug I wrote about last week. This week they are showing Alice in Wonderland with Johnny Depp. Ironically, I probably went and saw the original Alice in Wonderland there.

Actually I can't remember any of the movies I went to see there except one. I don't remember the name, but it was a horror movie. A man was buried alive in a casket and he was scratching and pounding when he woke up. I think I had bad dreams for a month. I can't remember who took me, or why Mom even let me go. She probably didn't know. OK, which one of you older siblings took me to that scary movie?

Does it even have a parking lot? What a mess it must be. Craig has changed so little in some ways. Maybe it's cool that it's kept it's old town feel, but I can't help thinking...'it is sad'. A town frozen in time.

Craig Daily Press

One year the local Craig newspaper had a contest. The paper was called "Craig Daily Press" and still prints today. My best friend Andy and I would faithfully play the contest every week. It required a little bit of leg work, but two bored kids in small town USA were up for the task.

The newspaper would include semi-hidden clues within the advertisement's inside the newspaper. The clue would be some little phrase that obviously was not part of the original ad. The reader, or contest players, had to find all the little clues and fill out the contest sheet and then take it to one of merchants located in town and drop off the entry. There was one contest per week, but you could put an entry at each participating business.

Andy and I faithfully played the game. We would find all the clues, fill out the form and then ride our bikes all over town to each of the merchants and drop an entry into each of the boxes. There was one at Cook Chevrolet, and one at Coast to Coast. I can't remember them all, but we made the rounds and we never missed a week

Finally our diligence paid off and I won the contest one week. I won $80 in merchant bucks. I didn't get $80 cash, but I got $80 worth of vouchers that could be used at participating merchants in town. My poor single mother, God bless her, would not let me just spend the money on whatever I wanted. She insisted that I buy some useful stuff with my bounty. I remember we went and bought some clothes at the town Department Store. Perhaps at Hesteads. I remember we bought some clothes at a store on Yampa Avenue in downtown Craig. Funny, I can't remember what I bought with that money except for 2 shirts. One a yellow gold striped shirt, and the other a blue striped shirt. I was wearing one of those shirts in one of my elementary school class photo's. I can't remember any toys or fun stuff I got. All I can recall is the shirts.

Eighty dollars was a lot of money in those days. And for a 10 year old boy it was a fortune. I think about it now, and I should have probably split it with Andy since we both worked on the weekly entry's as a team. Not sure why I didn't. Sorry Andy. I got my picture in the paper too. The headline read: "Poor kid makes it big!" Not really, but it was the truth.

I remember on Sundays the Denver Sunday paper was available. Not sure it was the Rocky Mountain News of the Denver Post. Of course in those days, the little town closed up on Sundays. But people could get the paper in front of the Palace Drug Store on the corner of Yampa Avenue and Victory Way. The store was closed, and they didn't have newspaper machines like now days. The papers were just sitting on the sidewalk under the awning with a weight on them. Next to the papers was a coffee can. People would grab a paper and put their money for the paper in the coffee can. People were honest in those days I guess, cause that is how we got the Sunday paper when we were in Craig. I remember getting marshmallow sundae's at the Palace Drug too. That was a real treat. The Palace was one of those old fashioned drug stores with a refreshment counter inside. I guess they weren't old fashioned then...it was normal. Anyway, it was a real treat to go get a marshmallow Sundae. Maybe that's where the rest of my $80 went?!


Here I am wearing one of the shirts I bought with my big winnings.




Look at that mop...and those ears...and those big teeth...and all those freckles...and...