Happy Holidays, Everyone!

Here's Wishing You...

The countdown is on, only a few days left until Christmas. Is the excitement building in your house? How’s that holiday baking coming along? Better hurry!

It’s going to be a laid back holiday at the Cuhaj household this year. Oh, we have plans on having Christmas dinner with my daughter, her husband, and the grand kids but otherwise it’s going to be quiet. Old Archer T. Dog is still recovering from his TPLO knee surgery so we need to keep everything calm. I was thinking about decorating his kennel for the holiday with lights and all. The thing is so large that it takes up half the living room so we couldn’t put up a tree. I reconsidered. Although I could get one of those Star Shower Winter Wonderland Projectors and have an image of Santa dancing around the kennel! Too much, huh? J

There are big plans in the works here for 2018. I have lot more presentations and book signings firming up; the manuscript for the new book, “Best Dog Hikes Alabama”, will be completed; another new book, “Everyone’s Gone to the Moon”, should be wrapped up by years end; and of course, there are a lot of podcasts and videos planned for release.

I’m also working on finalizing plans for some events to aid animal shelters around the state to coincide with the release of “Best Dog Hikes” and will also be asking for your help with that new book about the first lunar landing (details in the next Blog entry).

This will be my last entry of 2017. We’ll pick it up again in January with more short stories, ramblings, outdoor recreation news, and more.

Before I take a break, though, a quick thought. It has been a crazy year. I know way too many people who have distanced themselves from their friends and, sadly, their own family because of political and racial differences. I hope that each one of you can feel the spirit of the season and learn to love and respect each other. THAT is what made this country. It’s called the “Melting Pot” for a reason, you know.

For me, personally, I wanted to thank all of you for your support over the years. I am truly humbled by the love you send my way not only by buying my books, reading my ramblings, and following my podcasts and videos, but also through the kind words you always send my way. Thank you!

So with that, I want to wish you and yours a Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, Merry Christmas, HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

A Christmas Ramble

I just finished watching the annual showing of Rankin and Bass’ “Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer” with the Grandkids the other night. They love their Rudolph and I’ve got to say, after watching it for 50+ years, I still do, too.

When you’re a kid it seemed like that show went on forever. If you took out the commercials for Norelco shavers with Santa gliding down a snowy slope on a triple-header, the show lasted only 15 minutes.

Over the years I have quoted lines from Rudolph during conversations. For example when my grandson Stevie realizes he did something wrong I’ll call him a “humble Bumble” or when things aren’t going well at work I’ll shout out, “I want to be a dentist!” (It’s better than the alternative, a lumberjack, but then I’d have to break out in song.)

There is one quote I quickly learned to never say again. When something had to be done around the house like painting or mowing the yard and my family wanted to help I’d (jokingly) say, “NO! This is man’s work!” to which I would be summarily sent off to sleep in the shed for the night. It really was just a joke!

There is one thing that has bugged me over the years about Rudolph, though. On the Island of Misfit Toys there is a toy bird that can’t fly. During the closing credits we see an elf attaching umbrellas to toys so that they can float happily down to children waiting below. He does that for all of the toys except the bird that can’t fly! He drops the bird over the side!! Oh, the humanity!

I didn’t watch a lot of television when I was a kid. The bulk of my viewing was on wintery Saturday mornings when cartoons would run from 7am to noon and the only way you knew that it was time to go outside and play was when Johnny Quest came on. But it was different during the Christmas holiday. There were some amazing shows to watch.

As I mentioned before in another post our family was big into variety shows. The Andy Williams Christmas Special was a particular favorite of my Mom who loved that man in a sweater. I had a chance to interview Andy during my radio career and we talked maybe a minute about his new record and the next 20 minutes about his Christmas shows.

We would watch Bing Crosby religiously every year all the way up to 1977 when he recorded his last show with that amazing rendition of “Little Drummer Boy” featuring David Bowie. And Bob Hope was a regular draw when his special would showcase his USO tours at military bases in Vietnam.

But it wasn’t all variety shows. I loved all of the prime time kids shows, too. The thing about it, and you youngsters just won’t understand this, you only had one shot to catch your favorite show. There were no VCRs, DVRs, or Netflix. If you missed it, too bad. You’d have to wait until it came around the following year. That is IF it came around the following year.

A real favorite of mine was Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol with Mr. Magoo played by Thurston Howell III who was played by Jim Backus with that sad song that was sung when Scrooge was all by himself at school during the holidays, “I’m All Alone in the World.” Ugh. Teary eyed. And the beautiful song, “The Lord’s Bright Blessing” with Razzelberry Dressing. Razzelberry?

Of course there were all of those other Rankin and Bass productions – “A Year without a Santa Claus”, “Santa Claus is coming to Town”. But looking back on it now, was it the shows or the commercials I was into? Now those were fantastic and each year they armed me a 100,000 word Christmas list and a prayer that the Christmas tree would be overwhelmed by a bajillion “some assembly required” toys scattered around it.

Santa was usually kind to me and I’d always have a handful of neat toys. First thing on Christmas morning I’d run down and check my stocking that was thumb tacked to a cardboard fireplace with faux flames produced by red flickering lightbulbs inside. The stocking usually had the staples in it: an orange, apple, and maybe some nuts tossed in for good measure from the bowls of goodies that my Mom always adorned the living room coffee table with. It also had a small toy in it like the classic metal Slinky. Ugh, that thing frustrated me. We had carpeted stairs leading to the second floor of the house we were renting and the thing would always get caught on it. The commercial was right when it asked, “What walks down stairs…?” I had no idea. It sure wasn’t my Slinky.

The gang would gather up at around noon on Christmas Day to show off what Santa brought to the others. Maybe you remember some of these:

Mr. Machine: A red robot that looked like it was made of steel beams with gears. It didn’t do anything except walk aimlessly from one side of the room to the other with its mouth silently moving up and down.

Ideal’s Robot Commando: Now that was a hoot. A giant robot with swirly eyes that you could use to fling marbles at your sister with or shoot missiles from its head at people passing by. 

The Robot Commando was not to be confused with The Great Garloo: A hideous green giant of a remote controlled, albeit via cables, monster that could gingerly bring you a glass of Bosco.

Major Matt Mason, Mattell’s Man in Space: A rubbery doll for boys so they could dream of exploring the outer reaches of our galaxy. Comes complete with helmet. Space station and crawler vehicle sold separately.

I remember one year I got a Creepy Crawler set. This thing was one of the reasons they established safety regulations for kids toys. The kit came with solid metal plates that had the imprints of different bugs stamped in them. You would put a plate into the Creepy Crawler gadget that closely resembled a hot plate, fill the impression with Plastic Goop, then plug it in to the wall. Seriously! The plates would get ridiculously hot and turn the goop into a rubbery toy bug. Touch the plate while it was plugged in and your finger would turn more than rubbery.

Ah, those were the days back when playing with toys was an adventure.

But that's only the short list. There were plenty more: Mystery Date, Easy Bake Ovens, the ORIGINAL Troll Dolls, Satellite Jumping Shoes, and the list goes on and on.

How about you? Did you watch these commercials and dream of having these toys under your tree Christmas morning? Did you circle everything in the Sears Wish Book to let your folks and Santa know exactly what you wanted? 

I’d like to hear what your favorite toys from the past were. 

Next time, we'll crack open a few pages of the Sears Christmas Wish Books. 

Put Another Log on the Fire

Not long ago a dear friend of mine wrote about her Thanksgiving traditions when she was growing up and one of those that she wrote about struck a chord for all of us kids who grew up in the Tri-State area of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. It was when a local channel, WPIX, would air the 1934 movie “March of the Wooden Soldiers” also known by its original title, Babes in Toyland. Now don’t confuse this movie with the “Babes in Toyland” starring Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon. No sir, this movie featured Laurel and Hardy in all of their black-and-white splendor (although it has since been colorized. Blasphemy!)

The story in a nutshell is that an evil man, Barnaby, is going to throw the Old Lady Who Lived in a Shoe out of her shoe if one of her daughters, Little Bo Peep, doesn’t marry him. Booo! Hisss!!

Barnaby’s evil henchmen were the Bogeymen, really creepy creatures that were sent to abduct Little Bo Peep. My friend wrote how the Bogeymen scared the Dickens (holiday pun) out of her.

What scared me in that movie is towards the end when the wooden soldiers march through town to save the day. One of them walked through a door that was too short for him to get through and he knocked his own head off! Oh, and the weird little mouse. Creepy.

But reading her story made me think back to those happier times of childhood and just like Santa Claus appearing at the end of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade the airing of that movie signaled one thing for us kids – the start of the holiday television viewing season. From that moment on until the big day, Christmas Day, our grainy black and white televisions would be filled with Christmas special after special.

I grew up in the Tri-State area of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut in the 60s/early 70s. We were fortunate when it came to television in that we had the 3 major television networks, 3 local independent stations, and one PBS station to choose from, seven channels in all. When the holidays rolled around I was granted rare access to the TV in the evening so that I could watch a few Christmas shows but do not under any circumstances take control of the set when my Mom was in charge! She didn't watch a lot of TV but by God, when it came to Christmas she had her favorite shows and she was going to watch them. There was no argument. We would watch them without argument. Even my Dad would sit there helpless when she commandeered the television

The shows she loved were variety shows with a holiday flare, shows like the “Hollywood Palace” when Bing Crosby would host it and the “King Family Christmas Special” that featured the King Cousins including Tina Cole, what dreams are made of for young boys of the time.

Another of her favorites was the “Andy Williams Christmas Special” with all of his special guests, his wife at the time Claudine Longet, and my favorite, the “talking” black bear, Cookie Bear. Yes, I was into cheesy movies and TV even back then. Years later when I had a chance to meet and interview Andy my questions quickly went from "Tell us about your new record" to, “So tell me about that bear.” He was not impressed.

I could write an entire blog about kids holiday programming in the 60s and I will soon. I was an aficionado of the genre, a true connoisseur. My love of the programs at Christmas went way beyond the classics. I always found the odd and off the wall stuff.

There was one program, though, that became a staple in our house. It was truly unique and for as many people that loved the show there were just as many that ridiculed it. It was actually a feat of programming genius that has recently become a nationwide phenomenon.

Once again it was WPIX in New York that began the tradition. It was in 1966 that the President and CEO of the station, Fred Thrower, wanted to do something for the residents of New York City who didn’t have fire places. He also wanted to give his employees time off for the holiday.

With the permission of the city’s mayor, John Lindsay, Thrower sent a crew to the mayor’s home, Gracie Mansion, and filmed a few seconds of a fire burning in the ornate fire place. It’s said that a rogue spark damaged a $4,000 rug during the filming.

That Christmas Eve WPIX cancelled over $4,000 in advertising and the broadcast of a local roller derby match so that they could air the Yule Log. The resulting 17-second film would be looped for hours with holiday music played over it.

It’s hard to believe but the show was a huge hit and it ran every Christmas Eve and morning until it was cancelled in 1990. In 2001 following the 9-11 attacks the show was brought back, digitally remastered, of course, and has been on ever since. And now, several satellite and cable companies have produced their own version of the "Yule Log" and you can actually by DVD’s of the show.

An unlikely but remarkable holiday tradition that has thankfully survived.

A Quickie

Hi, All! Just a quick entry in the Blog this week. Been a bit busy these days not only with the latest books but also getting ready for the Thanksgiving Giveaway. What, you say? You haven't heard about it? Well, beginning Thanksgiving Day and each Thursday for four weeks I'll be giving away some goodies, just a little thank you for buying my books and following my writings, podcasts, and videos this past year. The details of the giveaway will be announced Monday, Nov. 20th right here in the Blog, on my website, JOECUHAJ.COM, and my FaceBook page. The giveaways won't just be about hiking.

And in other news, "Best Dog Hikes Alabama" hit a little hurdle this week. We knew my rescue lab Archer T. Dog had some leg issues but he MAY be going in for TPL surgery next week in Birmingham. Keep your thoughts with the old boy, won't you? I can't say "old boy", really. He recently turned 4-years old. Poor fella.

BUT, the research will go on and it looks like this is shaping up to be my best offering yet. We've been to some great places so far, some re-visits to old favorites, and plenty of what have become new favorites.

Oh, and by the way, if  you love the outdoors I'd like to invite you to check out my articles on RootsRated.Com. You'll find all sorts of information on hiking, biking, paddling, and just plain fun things to do across Alabama and the Gulf Coast. And also be sure to check out the articles by my editor Marcus Woolf. He's done some excellent work talking about Alabama's outdoor wonders.

That's it for now. Till next time....Excelsior!

A Little Fall House Cleaning

This week’s blog is dedicated to doing a little house cleaning. I have a special announcement to make and I’ll be answering a couple of the many questions I have been receiving, but first, that announcement because I can’t keep a secret. Trust me I was much better at keeping secrets when I was a radioman in the Navy than I am now.

I wanted to do something special for all of you this holiday season, something to say thank you for buying my books, listening to my podcasts, watching my videos, and for all of your support this past year. So, in the spirit of the season beginning Thanksgiving Day I’ll be giving away some freebies. I think you’ll like what I have lined up if you like my short stories or you like my hiking guides and writing. It all begins Thanksgiving Day with a new giveaway each week until Christmas.

I’ll have the details on my Facebook page, my website JoeCuhaj.Com, and on my Blog on November 20th.

From the mailbag (do they still have those?) I have been asked about my podcasts and videos. On the videos I have been asked if there will be any new ones released soon. It has been a while since I posted one. As a matter of fact I have one on “Hiking the Mining and Steel History of Birmingham” that will come out in the next two weeks….that is if I quit watching baseball and my latest Mystery Science Theater box set.

As for the podcasts, people are just curious about them as in, “What the heck are these?”

For the podcasts I return to my radio roots so many years ago. I used to do an overnight trucking show (I know, right? Me?) on an AM station in Mobile, Alabama, WUNI.  I would take calls from listeners, truckers, and other jocks doing shows on other stations and between songs about Mama, trains, getting drunk, and prison we would just talk and get on a subject. Many times I would start rambling on about whatever we were talking about with a story from my past.

Well, those stories became the basis for my short story collection, “Living in a Banana Dream”, all stories about growing up told in what humorist Jean Shepherd called the “universal eye” – they can be about you, or you, or you. They were stories that we all could relate to in some way or another all loosely based on my faulty memory.

A few years ago, “Banana Dream” was released as an eBook to test the waters and it did fairly well so I have been revamping the collection and it is now heading to publishers for – hopefully – an eventual hard copy release. In the meantime, I thought it would be fun to do a podcast with those stories just like the old days. Once a month I sit down in the studio and crank one out for your listening pleasure.

As I’ve mentioned before in an earlier blog entry I had a few issues with the company I chose to host the shows on but, as I said, I’m in the process of re-mixing and re-releasing them so be on the lookout for those plus new ones, soon.

So that’s the story behind the podcasts. Hope you enjoy them and please, drop me a line with your comments on Facebook or from the contact link on my website.

 Till next time….

The Legend of Nancy's Mountain

Finally, there's a crispness to the air here in south Alabama and it feels like fall, just in time for Halloween!

And with the spookiest night of the year just around the corner, I wrote an article for RootsRated.Com about some fascinating, and eerie, haunted hikes in Alabama. I also wrote about a personal experience I had on one trail in particular for my book, Hiking through History Alabama, one that left me, and my big rescue lab Archer, a bit spooked. So in the spirit (pun intended) of the season, a little tale from the book about Nancy's Mountain....

You may have heard this story before. Every town, city, and village across the country has something similar. It’s a story as old as history itself, the story of lost love and a never ending search.

The Nancy's Mountain Trail at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Haines Island Park is, on its own, a beautiful walk in the woods. The path is lined with Christmas fern, American beech, water oak, and yellow poplar trees. Snowy white dogwoods flower here in the spring. In the fall the hardwoods flame brightly with orange, red, and yellow color.

But there is a story here on this mountain. It’s a story that’s part history and part legend. It’s the story of Nancy.

From all accounts Nancy was a strikingly beautiful woman. She was known to have dressed in white gowns of the antebellum period. Nancy, her husband, and son all lived on the top of this double hump mountain on a bend in the Alabama River.

It was sometime during the Civil War that Nancy’s son decided to head off and enlist in the Confederate army to fight for the Southern cause. It wasn’t long that, as was the case in many families both North and South, word came that her boy had died in battle but a body was never ever found.

In shock and disbelief Nancy would walk day after day down the mountain to the river where there was a steamboat landing. She carried a pail of water with her in case her son would someday return on one of the boats.

Overwhelmed by his wife’s grief, as well as his own, Nancy’s husband took matters into his own hands and made it his mission to locate his son either dead or alive.

No one knows how long her husband was gone but eventually word arrived at Nancy’s doorstep that her husband was found dead, frozen to death near the grave of an unknown soldier near Lookout Mountain, Tennessee.

Soon after Nancy disappeared from the mountain and was never seen again. No one knows where she went. Her house fell into ruin and was reclaimed by nature. But not long after her disappearance locals began reporting seeing a woman walking the mountain in the dark. Her beauty indescribable, her dress a white antebellum gown of the period. In her hand she carried a lantern as she glided silently to the riverbank where the old steamboat landing was and the current Davis Ferry paddles back and forth.

To this day many people say they have seen this ghostly figure and all agree it must be Nancy waiting the return of her husband and son. Rangers with the Corps of Engineers will tell you stories about people camping on the mountain only to be found running down the hillside white as ghosts claiming to have seen her.

Arrive early in the morning just as the sun is rising, a light mist rolling in off of the river, and see what you think. Walking the trail, as I did in these conditions, will make you wonder. You will find yourself looking around, the goosebumps will rise on your arms. Is it because you have just heard the story or is Nancy really there? 

I will tell you this, my black Labrador Archer usually leads the way on my hikes. This is the only hike we have ever taken where he had to be coaxed into hiking the trail, whimpered all the way,and darted back for the car when we made the turn-around. Spooky!