Memories of 87 years by Bob

 FINAL? For those few of you reading my blog, I plan to make this my last entry before my 88th birthday. I don't feel I have much to say and will conclude with a summary before we retired. As I said we sold the motel in 1983. It was messy as we took a house in trade (not paid off) and a note which I later discounted. We decided to take our children to Florida to see my Mom and husband Jim. We had a friend who lived in Cheyenne, Wy who owned a motor home, a 28 ft Winnebago. We picked an iffy time to go (December) and none of us had ever driven a motor home. At the time I had a small Ford Escort in which we loaded our 3 children plus their cousin Chester and drove through through the snow to Cheyenne, leaving our friends and relatives Cap and Julia to watch our home. From Cheyenne we drove to Kansas City to see my brother Paul and his wife Karen. We were met at the door by their dog Murphy, who proceeded to hump all legs he could find. The next day we drove to Nashville thinking Gran...

RAINBOW COTTAGES (continued) The 8 years we owned the cottages were very busy even though a lot slower then the time in Saratoga. We moved with 4 of our children although Renee moved ahead as she said she didn't want to ride with her crazy father! She was not happy about the move to start and didn't feel her reception by "locals" was very nice. I thought she was well received but I was not in her shoes. She graduated from Steamboat Springs high school in 1978 and was beautiful (still is). She had several jobs in town but one in particular do I remember. Our friends, Ron and Lyle Kohler, owned the Rabbit Ears Motel in downtown. We belonged to the Motel Association so spent time with them there plus we all played golf together. Renee was working in housekeeping for a woman named Beth when I received a call from Lyle. She said something to the effect that she would have to let Renee go unless she apologized to the head housekeeper. It seems she told Renee a room wasn...

 Steamboat Springs first 8 years I have been trying to write chronologically but I am now convinced I should just try highlights to try to make more progress! I'm not sure I mentioned that Ellen was born in Steamboat Springs. When we met she was working for Borden's Dairy on Wazee street in Denver. Her dad was a rancher, never owning his own ranch but doing a fine job with others. When Ellen was little she went to a one room school until she entered high school. When little she road a horse to school. I can't imagine a six year old girl today who could do that! As a funny (strange) side note: she was born in the same building that later became the high school from which she graduated. It also was 3 blocks from our motel on 7th street. When she started high school she had to work for her room and board to be in school. The ranch which they were in was too far and hazardous for buses. At that time her folks were managing a ranch owned by a fellow named Barby, who owned the ap...

  Rainbow Cottages II It seems a lot happened during the time we owned the Cottages. We certainly had some interesting characters stay at our place. One that stands out was a fellow named Dallas. He came from California and, as it turned out, was supposed to be on patrol for manslaughter. It seems he shot some fellow in a phone booth. I'm not sure why but he doesn't seem the type to cross with. Of course I didn't know that so when he was late with rent, I asked him to leave and pay the balance. I think he owed about $100 or so.  It turns out I caught up with him and threatened him with the police, he paid up. Later I found out his past and how lucky I was. He was nice to us and polite. Not long after that the local grocery was robbed and after that Dallas disappeared. Seems like a strange coincident! One more character and I'll move on. Another fellow that stayed with us was a fellow named Tim. He had a good job when he moved in as an equipment operator. Not long after ...

 RAINBOW COTTAGES We owned the motel for about 8 years. I would say we had a few adventures during this time. I believe I said my friend Milt (Mike from now on) moved to Steamboat after we arrived, but sometime before that we tried an experiment renting ski equipment from the motel. Seems like a good idea doesn't it? During this time we had an older couple, Polly and Bill, who had a room reserved during ski season. I think they drove from Texas, or at least they had a car when they showed up at our place!. I'm pretty sure they were hesitating about the stay as Polly stayed in the car and Bill was sent to look at the room. This was after our remodel of the rooms so the beds and carpet were new. Our place was old but we kept it very clean and we had new linens. After Bill's examination, the couple decided to stay. We invited them into our home and after some discussion, Bill and Polly decided to take advantage of our ski equipment rental. The equipment was in the only place c...

 MORE STEAMBOAT SPRINGS I have many recollections of events but I still forget many and placing the time is difficult after so many years. A couple of things I neglected involve my personal habits and my relationship with family. When growing up I never drank alcohol or smoked tobacco (or chewed). I learned these habits as I grew older. Smoking came when I joined the Air Force. When in boot camp, if on a break, we were told to light 'em if you have 'em. Otherwise you were cleanup detail. I chose to light up, so started a habit I have since learned to hate. Drinking came as part of a social desire and today we both still enjoy a cocktail at 5! I love red wine and am particularly fond of Chianti and other Italian red wines, so if a gift is in order I am easy(hint, hint). In December of 1969 we were in Steamboat Springs for Ellen's brother Mike's wedding. We were staying at the cottages when Ellen's mom woke us up with bad news. It seems Ellen's brother Tom was in ...

 STEAMBOAT SPRINGS II My son Tony has a slightly different recollection of the furnace detail he had but it's my blog so I will stick with my memory. He was less than ten years old so maybe his memory and mine are correct for different episodes! Anyway, the auger to the furnace in the house quit so we were forced to convert the boiler to gas in that location. This was a dark and small basement with a lot of coal dust to deal with over the years.. The heating system was no more efficient no matter what heated the water!     We joined the Chamber of Commerce and signed up for their booking system for the ski year of 1976/1977. We were taking reservations soon for the coming year. All looked good at that time but wait! I had been traveling to Steamboat Springs since 1976 and if you ever wanted it to snow just ask me to travel there. By November we anxiously waited for the inevitable snow to arrive. By late November when the skiing usually began there was still no s...

 STEAMBOAT SPRINGS COLORADO This is the longest segment of my 87 years. The family moved to Steamboat January 1, 1976. We stayed off and on until January of 2001. Renee actually went first as she didn't want to ride with her maniacally father and Chris stayed behind to finish high school as he was a senior. To make the transition I decided to purchase a brand new 1975 VW Rabbit. More on that later! We arrived on January 1 when the temperature was a balmy -5 degrees zero. We had brought plants from California which promptly froze. I'm not sure how long I stayed as I had agreed to work until March with Intech, so I flew off again. At that time Frontier was flying a Convair STL into the airport. I flew in most weekends. Now for the good part. I quit a job paying almost 6 figures a year and bought an OLD motel that grossed $25,000 per year. The motel was built in the 1920s and the house that was with it dated from before 1906. The motel had 8 units with kitchens and all the furnitu...

 California III The routine followed in California was:gone 2 weeks, home 1, so much of my time was flying to a strange city, stay in a motel a couple of nights, smooze the rep and hope they sold something! I met some nice people on the road a couple  with whom I have stayed in contact. Good friend, John, in Houston, Texas. He enjoyed golf so we were able to play a couple of really good courses. Our daughter Julie came out swinging. She was cute as a button  but could literally destroy anything! She destroyed her crib as soon as left alone. By the time she was 2 she could climb to the top of the monkey bars and had no fear of jumping (which she did). She has since grown into a very nice (if not calm) women and is a good mother. Leroy talked me in to traveling to Japan to meet with our licensee in Tokyo. Let me tell you, that is a long airplane trip and the time change is brutal. We made a stop in Hawaii where I was able to use the duty free store. I was informed that the ...

 California II So much happened in the 5 years we lived in Saratoga that I am sure I will leave out parts but this was a long time ago. My rep in NYX was VERY Italian and loved good food. He also weighed in at 400 pounds. I had quite a few occasions to dine with him in and around Central Park. He had an auto fitted for his figure and seemed well loved at our clients place in the Bronx. I think he knew every Italian Restaurant in New York, He would order a 7 course meal and still be hungry. Sadly this was also his demise. On one of the occasions I was in California I received a call that he had died of a coronary at age 37. Tony was a very special person and loved life but not enough to give up his desire of all things Italian. I felt proud to know him. We had a company in Japan licensed to build product. I'm not sure how much they built but they were very gracious hosts. Bill and I were invited to an Embassy party in San Francisco on at least one occasion. This was sadly before I h...

 California II We made the move to California in 1971. We stayed there until 1976 but it seemed forever to me. I was very busy! The company for which I worked was named Intech Inc, kind of a play on words. It was founded by three gentlemen, Leroy Buckler, president, Lee Evans, chief engineer and Bill Jumper, vice president of marketing. All of them came from Siliconix Inc in Sunnyvale California and Texas Instruments in Dallas Tx. Lee Evans was the inventor of a special type of transistor called a field effect. Texas Instruments didn't see the market, hence Siliconix. Not sure what happened to the three after that but they left Siliconix to start Intech. I think the original plan was to manufacture modular electronics until the other division of the company gained success, so I was place in charge of selling the modular devices. Before I even started, Lee Evans parted ways with the company and another fellow was hired as chief engineer, which was a red flag. Lee was a genius and ve...

 COLORADO (still) I keep remembering events that I neglected in prior posts so I decided to add a section to clarify. Some of the additions include Hunting. I tried hunting as it seemed the thing to if living in Colorado. I bought a converted 8mm rifle, converted to a 30.06. The problem was the shells were ever so slightly expanded once fired so the rifle had a hard time ejecting empty shells (sometimes before empty.} Inconvenient but I managed to make it work. Toward the end of my experience with hunting I either gave or loaned the rifle to Ellen's brother Doug. He returned from hunting one day and had neglected to unload the rifle before entering the house, As he was trying to unload, the shell didn't exit so he was more forceful. I know you know where this is going. The rifle fired and he killed a cream can. Luckily no people were hurt. The rifle was retired! Thomas. When Thomas was born I had purchased a 1957 Chevy hardtop (red and white). When Ellen woke me to go the hospi...

 Colorado to 1971 I think I mentioned that I went to work for a manufacturers rep in 1966. Sam Barnhill was the owner and was new to the components end of electronic sales, at least in Colorado . As I mentioned Hewlett Packard became a good client. We developed a very good relationship with engineering and purchasing. I discovered early on that the little extra things you do make a big difference in loyalty and trust.  I remember an instance where HP needed a part to finish a project. The buyer asked if we could rush delivery. I contacted the company and they flew the part to Denver and my sweet wife Ellen picked it up and drove it to Loveland, the same day. The buyer was impressed, more by Ellen than by me! We went on to be good friends with this buyer and went on vacation with he and his wife to the Grand Tetons (Wyoming if you didn't know). While there camping he and I decided it would be good fun to tube the Yellowstone river. It was about 10 miles to the nearest dam where...

Colorado continued 1961 to 1971 I started at Ball Brothers Research in 1963 and stayed until September of 1966. The work was interesting and I think I learned a lot while there. My friend Bob and I decided we would take up golf. Neither of us had ever played but how hard can it be, right? There was a 9 hole course in Westminster  we decide to honor with our presence at 104th. It kind of wandered back and forth and we had to cross a pond several times. I know you know where this is going. Let's just say the golf ball manufacturers should have encouraged us to play more. In case there is any question about my problem with autos, I will share another episode. We purchased a Ford Falcon, which is kind of a prelude to small autos for Ford. It was a column shift 3 speed and had a little trouble between 2nd and 3rd, especially if not shifted in a smooth action. Of course Ellen drove it more than I did as the 2 children fit better. Well, she had trouble shifting so I told her to "shif...

  COLORADO 1961 to 1971 I started my job as technical writer in June of 1961 at Stearns Rogers. One of the main reasons I was hired was due to my experience with the Atlas F missile. The reasoning was faulty because Stearns Rogers was a mechanical engineering and construction firm  so they designed the framework to hold the missile and had nothing to do with the missile as such. All of my experience was on the missile. I knew nothing about the structure holding the missile. Oh well, we were writing for 6th grade education. I realized when I started this was a short term job but I was grateful to be working and the pay was not bad. I was considered salaried but was paid overtime if I received any. We found an apartment close to University Hospital on Cherry Street. It was small for the 4 of us and as luck would have it, we fell into an opportunity just built for us. A couple of artists were going to Mexico for 18 months to study and needed someone to care for their place south ...