Marvin Theobald

Today's theme is WILDLIFE.

The photo and story of the parrott near Puerto Vallarta Mexico in a previous post may be better appreciated by seeing the special friendship between the woman and the wild parrott.

This buck photo was taken from my kitchen window at Heritage Lake near Mackinaw IL in 2010.

The infamous woodchuck outside my patio door when we first met in 2010.

Camouflaged in the branches is a hawk eating a fish he snatched from Heritage Lake in 2011.

"Wildlife" photo taken at Lucca Grill in Bloomington in 2016. No - this is not Mel. Hopefully Lucca will survive the coronavirus epidemic so we can continue to enjoy that special place for many years to come.

Melvin (Mel) Theobald

Just noticed Jim Rookus is on line right now. Jim send us a message. We'd love to hear from you.

Today is WILDLIFE: Backyard to Zoo.Tomorrow is PLACES LOST. Let's make Wednesday MOON SHOTS. Marv will be on the road Thursday, so maybe Joan will want to chose that day's topic.

Wendy Stephens (Cullen)

My son John discovered these fawns by the side of his house one morning early.  The mother deer was not present,  it came back an hour or so later and moved them.  You can tell how tiny they are by the size of the watering can in one of the photos.  Sorry the pictures are not upright but do not know how to turn them. (Fixed - MT)

Melvin (Mel) Theobald

Going through my photos, I was reminded of my daughter's love affair with animals. All in captivity rather than in the wild, but still, a pretty interesting assortment of WILDLIFE.

Riding a dolphin, 2006

Hugging a koala bear in Australia, 2007

Feeding a wallaby in Australia, 2007

Posing with her favorite, a two year old panda at a nursery in China, 2013

Sandra Jeakins (Singletary Sizemore)

Wendy, those pictures of the baby deer are so precious and a once in a lifetime experience, I'm sure.

Mel, your Daughter is so lucky to be so close to those animals.   Looks like she was having a great time.   

This Mom and Baby Elks were just off the side of the road in Yellowstone.

David Long

While walking through the jungle one day, I ran into my Long Lost Twin Brother!

David Long

A Collection of Photos from our Africa Trip.  Some are real ACTION shots - I'm sure you will spot the action.  Most of these were taken from the relative safety of our open top ride through the wild.  We did have an armed guide with us.

Thus Ends the Rhino Action Shots......

Here are some Hippos.....did you know that hippos can't swim?  They have to be in contact with the river or pond bottom.

This guy was so hard to spot (get it?) and we only caught a quick glimpse before he disappeared into the brush.  He wasn't happy to see us.

Two more "Action" shots and then I have to get back to some volunteer work. 

The first Action shot is a wildebeest we came across - he just said hi, sort of.....

and finally, a Zebra that didn't appear to like the invasion of privacy....

Jack Keefe

This little fellow appeared in a secluded country cemetery near Atlanta, Illinois while we were reading ancestral tombstones of Janet's family. Not the easiest shot to pull off: I was holding the camera in one hand and Janet's high-strung little dog in the other. And for once, he kept quiet while I snapped off several photos. 

Tomorrow's topic: Places Lost

James (Jim) Rookus

Greetings "old" Raiders !  Looks like Mel is " BigBrother" watching what we are all up to!

I've been observing the message form for years ... feel like I've gotten to know many of you I did not know in high school days from reading many interesting postings!  Mel and Marv are the only two I see in the forum that I remember ever hanging around with due to their friendship with one of my two high school buddies Dan Woodard and Bill Rust.  I can see that many of you grew up together since elementary school days and I was a high school shy transplant.  Never the less enjoy the observance and especially the recent photo gallery!  Many of our class seems to have been very blessed to have see so much of the world  ... keep the photos coming !!! 😊😃😀👍🏼

Melvin (Mel) Theobald

Yea Jim. You broke the silence. So happy to read your comments and know you have been following everyone's posts. No, I'm not being Big Brother. I just happened to notice that you were logged in at the same time I was and took advantage of the info.

Yes, some of us have known each other since kindergarten, but most came to know each other either in or after high school. You are one of us and a Raider64 forever, like it or not. So glad you mentioned Bill Rusk. Do you remeber his Vauxhall? We had some great times together. Hope this is just the beginning. Have any photos for us?  

Melvin (Mel) Theobald

Dave, I had no idea you were a twin. The similarities are remarkable. In fact, I could hardly tell you guys apart. Are you on the left or right? That's a question we twins get a lot.

You couldn't get that zebra shot again if your life depended on it. If you chose peeing and pooping animals as a topic, you could have the Raiders64 website all to youself for an entire day. 

David Brock

Wendy--your twin fawns shot up next to the house reminded me of a similar situation while I was still working.  I owned a pest control business for aabout 20 years, and did most of the service work myself.  Along in mid-June, I was peforming 'perimeter service' around 1 of our client's house.  As I was walking through the yard, I saw a doe leave the yard.  As I turned the corner of the house there laid her fawn--I don't know who was more surprised, bur he never moved.  Mom watched me like a hawk from a distance.  I skipped that 10 foot section of perimeter, and everyone was all the happier.

David Long

Jim,

Glad you're on the site.  Post away.

Mel,

I even have a picture of the aftermath of the excrement - a Dung Beetle rolling a ball down the road.  An interesting thing about the rhino - it's right eye appeared to be infected and our guide called it in and a spotter plane was soon overhead and I guess a vet was summoned.  The spotter plane was up lookng for poachers.  Had we seen any, I would have been happy to borrow our guide's 30.06 for a little target practice.

Where oh where is Mike Franks these days?

Jack Keefe

First, a big welcome to the conversation to Jim Rookus. 

This is to start off our tuesday with Places Lost. We all have them. Maybe you will recognize some of these spots around Bloomington.

The old GM&O depot on West Washington Steeet was one of my favorite hangouts. I loved the stories the old timers told, loved hearing what was happening up and down the line, and loved watching the trains roll. It was an education all its own. The depot closed in the late eighties and burned in 1997 in the middle of its own demolition project. 

A demolition photo from the GM&O depot site. Notice that the old Front Street bridge, once a gateway to the Stevensonville neighborhood, is also gone. In fact, the bridge was one factor that contributed to the depot's demise. The bridge caused structural problems with the building and they were too expensive to fix. 

The old fire station on McGregor Street closed in the nineties and is now a beauty salon. It opened in 1957 with a staff of nine firemen, including Ralph Poland. I got to know him later at church, and was impressed with the Bloomington Fire Department honor guard at his visitation when he died. Very nice man. 

The water tower that stood behind the fire house is gone too.  

And where there was smoke -- there was this. The Twin City Hydramatic building in downtown Bloonmington provided a smoky show all over town. The building also housed Haney Plumbing. Late one August afternoon in 1996, the building caught fire. Seeing the smoke from my office window on Empire Street, I had to go look. These firemen were busy for hours. Classmate Mike Meece was on the scene watching the action, as was then-IWU President Minor Meyers.. And does anyone know if classmate Roger Kemp was on the BFD shift that fought this fire? 

The building was eventually rebuilt from the remaining walls and is in use today. 

Sandra Jeakins (Singletary Sizemore)

Jack, I enjoyed your railroad pictures.  Ron used to work in that little office.  There was a diagram in there so he knew what track every train was on.   And the Mill Street Bridge brought back memories.  I crossed that many times because of living in the Stevensonville addition.

Now my pictures.  They won't mean anything to anybody but me but they are 2 places that I have lost.

This is the camp on Clay Lake in Canada that we almost bought.  Things went wrong and we walked away, but that was a dream of Ron's, more than mine.  But I wanted it for him.  We stayed from April thru August and then returned to Bloomington.     This is the house I grew up in from the age of 2 yrs to 18 yrs.   When my Dad passed he gave the house to his 2nd wife and she sold it to a Grandchild.  Dad always took pride in keeping the house clean and fixed.  I feel so disappointed when I drive by now and I'm sure Dad would be also.       This is the house we DIDN"T lose when we went to Canda.  We rented it out so we had it to come back to.  It is the house Ron and I bought in 1965 and the one I still live in today.

Wendy Stephens (Cullen)

Sandy I love the look of your house with that great porch!

my husband is from NYC, and after 9/11 we always looked at names of those who lost their lives.  Many high school class mates went down with the World Trade Center Towers.  Several weeks after that day, the New York Times included names and pictures of all of those lost people.  I decided to look at every one.  Found the name of one of his cousins, who was a fire fighter.  The first picture shows the South Tower Memorial, and the second picture shows the ledge with his name.  The names of everyone who died are engraved around the perimeter of the memorials on the ledge.  
 

Marvin Theobald

Yesterdays wildlife shots were great. Loved the fawns, bears, otters, and others. Especially Dave's "Action" shots. Jack - As I am considering the "Places Lost" topic it is making me realize so many places that no longer exist that were a part of my life. Thank you for this great suggestion. The depot pics are sooo special to me and Mel since our dad worked in the ticket office and the baggage room from the late forties through the fifties. We would often get to go to work with Dad. A Bloomington hatchery brought newly hatched chicks to the baggage room for shipment. There were thousands of chicks in cardboard flats stacked on the old RR wagons. We would put our fingers through the air holes in the boxes and the chicks would peck at our fingers. They were so cute and the chirping by the mass of chicks was constant. Grady's cafe in the station was another part of the station that is a vivid memory. The McGregor fire station was on our paper route and we lived a short block from the water tower. Brings back many fantastic memories. Another great loss, as you well know, was the locomotive shops where our Dad worked until his death in 1972. The history of those shops is amazing. Other unrelated memories of "places lost" are in Miller Park; the raccoon cage, the bear cage and the Fun Fair. Wendy - Your World Trade Center story and connection is a very sad addition to todays places lost topic. Thank you for making us aware of how personnal it was you.

While not totally gone, Notre Dame comes to mind a great place lost.

I do not recall where I obtained these photos but below are a couple of more vintage depot photos.

Jack Keefe

Here's another: enterntainment center, babysitter, and make-out palace: The old Irvin Theater. It came down in 1982, shortly after I took this photo. The Irvin was built by Clarence Irwin in 1915. The first showing was "Rags," starring Mary Pickford. But the real "premiere" wasn't something for the general public. The afternoon of the grand opening, Mr. Irwin invited all the workers to the theater and gave them a free showing. The big event wasn't until that evening.  

There are two significant "places lost" on the same block. The other is the old 1895 Second Presbyterian Church building. I couldn't locate my slides of the building in time for today, but hopefully someone else has a photo of the old church to post. 

Joan Pease (Clark)

I just saw my name here - gulp! The pressure's on. 

Have we done Pets: Past and Present yet? If not, how about that for Wednesday? And if it has been covered, back to the Moon as suggested.

David Long

Places Lost:  The house where I grew up.  Lived there from 1952 - 1966; age 6 - 21.  Hated to leave my dad alone but felt the call to become a Marine and go to Nam.  There used to be a rose garden next to the house where the driveway is now.  The little window along the drive was the coal chute as we had a coal fired furnace.  I had to fill the coal hopper every morning before school and every evening before bed.  Was always glad when spring came and we didn't need the furnace.  The numbers 1229 were made by my dad with wood that he embedded when the concrete was poured.  It was my job to chisel the wood out without damaging the concrete.  Used to be a dirt drive with a one car garage w/o a door.  A lot of great memories.  Took this picture when we were back for the 55th.

Everyone probably remembers the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.  The next 2 photos are the memorial dedicated to those that lost their lives.  There is a chair in the memorial for everyone killed that day.  You may notice some very small chairs.  Those are for the kids that were in day care in the building.

I was in this "building" just minutes before the rocket made a direct hit.  Would still have been there playing cards with 6 of my friends had I not had to saddle up with my R/0 to head out of the wire.  So, lost six Marines, lost this building, lost the 'war' - don't think I'll go back for today picture.

The pictures of the World Trade Center brought back memories.  We had scheduled a spring break trip with the girls in NYC and I had booked the Embassy Suites across from the World Trade Center as our base for our trip.  With the attack, the Embassy suffered damage so we had to move locations.  Hilton was nice enough to put us up in the Waldorf in a mini-suite with a fireplace.  Great location.  It happened that they were doing the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame inductions in the Waldorf that week and the girls sat in the lobby that night and got to meet Doc Severenson, and some other big names that I have now forgotten.

We have to Live In The Moment.  A quote often used in a TV series we often watch.

Melvin (Mel) Theobald

Marv and Jack, I totally agree with you about the loss of Union Station. As Marv said, it was a place of great importance to us personally. Some of the people who worked there had a life long impact on us: George Perry, Bill Clooney, Dave Ryan, Jim Batts, Cliff Winkler, Jim Grady, Wes Bray and many others.

Wendy, thank you for sharing your husband's story about the World Trade Center. It brings the whole of that tragic day closer to home.

Joan, don't fret too much. We already have MOON SHOTS for tomorrow. We did PETS about a month ago, but no reason we can't do it again or anything else you decide for Thursday. It's all yours. Let us know.

Like Dave and Sandy, my thoughts for PLACES LOST went to houses I've lived in.

Our family moved to Bloomington from Decatur when Marv and I were a year old. Our parents rented a house at 1614 W. Locust until 1951. I have many memories of this place, one of which was the time Marv was playing with matches in the basement and started a fire that filled the place with smoke. The fire department showed up and found me hiding upstairs under a bed. Ironically, fifty years later, the place had a real fire and burned to the ground. The lot is still empty.

In 1951 Mom and Dad bought a house at 8 Wach Drive at the south end of the Oakland School yard. I lived there until moving to Chicago in 1964. We watched the place go through many changes. A brick flower box filled with red geraniums was added to the front porch, a TV antenna popped up, our baskball hoop was replaced by a garage, and the backyard served as a badminton court. Around 1953, Dad planted two sappling white birch trees in the frontyard.

This is what it looks like now. Those are same birch trees Dad planted 67 years ago. Mom sold it after Dad died.

Finally, the only house I ever owned. It was built in 1888, survived a fire in 1920, but was "lost" during my divorce in 1996. This is what it looked like after I spent five years restoring it.

Sandra Jeakins (Singletary Sizemore)

So Mel, we both lived on West Locust St when we were kids.   That house I lived in when I was in grade school was at 717 W Locust.  The corner of Locust and Allin.   It was a block or 2 East of the Locust Street bridge.  That last house was beautiful.  After putting your heart and soul into remodeling it I'm sure it was hard to give up. 

Oh, the Irvin Theater.  Good memories there.   Remember when The Buffalo Bills, the Barbershop Group, came to town and sang there?

Melvin (Mel) Theobald

Sandy, you got that right. Thank you for noticing. I suppose at some point everyone falls in love with the house(s) they lived in. Although those other houses carry great memories, the one in Chicago was more than that. My kids were born while living there, I started my graphics business in the front room. We suffered through the coldest day in Chicago history. One day a large bat got into the house and had to be captured. There was all the research that went into unlocking its history. But hardest of all was all the work that went into restoring it. Yes, it was very, very hard to "lose" it. I loved that old house.

This is a photo taken when the restoration was in midstream in 1980. What you can't tell from the photo is that the property was 3/4 of an acre, which in the city is enormous. All the trees chopped down, all the times mowing the lawn, and the day a group of religious fanatics decided they wanted it as their temple of worship and we had to call the police to get rid of them. OMG. My brain is running wild with those memories.

Wendy Stephens (Cullen)

 Very appropriate the house you love has an onion dome, Mel.  Was it there when you bought it?

Melvin (Mel) Theobald

Wendy, yes it was. The house is the only example of Greek Revival architecture in Chicago. There are Tudor, Queen Anne, Italianate and numerous other Victorian style homes out there. But it never entered my mind unitl going to Russia how unique that house was. The American Institute of Architects listed it in their 1993 Guide to Chicago as, "Queen Anne meets the Kremlin in this exuberent house with its guilded dome." Serendipity? Life can be very strange. There's much more to this story, but it is not likely of interest to the Class of 64.