Markymoose in Big Sky: Time with Stan...

Wednesday 9/15/10...

Haven't blogged in a week or so, but I think I will start with today and work backwards. Jackie, Stan and I all went to the dermatologist today to get baselines and check for melanomas... Stan had a couple of things the doctor decided to scrape off and I had one thing she thought she better scrape off because it was speckled while none of my other moles were speckled. Then I took Dad to get his flu shot and a pneumonia vaccine, so hopefully no side effects, Jackie got the last in a series of hepatitis vaccines and I did not get any shots today... We had a very nice lunch at the bistro after doing some looking at winter shoes for Stan. A little chocolate for dessert and then a trip to Target mainly to get Micah his birthday present ( A presto cool daddy deep fryer so we can make falafel - that's what he wants, but don't tell him, it's a surprise - his birthday is Sunday - 14 years old!) So we spent the day with Stan, and Beth you will like this next paragraph if I can remember everything he was talking about today. Lately he's been remembering a lot of snippets from his childhood days or stories about Uncles, and other relatives. He told us a story that when he was 15 his Uncle Louie took him out to the movies and offered him a cigarette (not his first, by any means) a Camel, no filter. He was telling me that he used to visit his Grandfather, his mother's father, who he calls Pop (Thanks, Pop - he's the one who emigrated to America). Pop was about 72 when he died and dad would visit him at the nursing home in Valley Stream where Pop would sit outside in the yard. That was around 1942, so dad was about 12 years old. Stan also talked a bunch about his father's father, Jacob, who was an inventor, invented some kind of gas mantle. I asked Dad, "didn't he invent the automatic bowling alley?" Stan replied, "No, I invented that, I drew it up on a piece of paper, I didn't really invent it, but I thought it up and drew it up, but that was it." Jacob did also invent the plastic bag, he sold it to laundromats and diaper services, but he was ahead of his time. If his timing was better, who knows how rich the Robin family could have been....

My Grandmother, my dad's mother, Anna Roogow, worked for Jacob Robin in his office and that's how she met my grandfather, Dad's Father, Benjamin Robin. My dad told me that his dad hated his father (grandfather Jacob) who was a womanizer and deserted his family - my dad's father, his two sisters Elizabeth and Josephine and his brother Henry (who I don't think I ever heard of before). Aunt Elizabeth I knew - she lived in Hewlett (my home town) for the last years of her life - she moved to Hewlett when I was about 10 and she died about 10 years later. Josephine I never knew and I never knew Henry either who Dad tells me lived in Paris, Kentucky. So lots of family history today. Dad talked about his mother, Anna, the oldest in her family she had 4 younger brothers, Louie, Irving, Ernie and Sol. I knew my Uncle Sol, he was a sportswriter, famous for being mentioned in the famous baseball book about the Brooklyn Dodgers, The Boys of Summer. Dad told a story about Uncle Sol as a young boy crying at the dinner table. When asked why he was crying, he cried, they (his older brothers) are looking at me.... Anna's mother was Rose Roogow, the matriarch who came over with Anna(5) and 2 of her brothers (2 yrs and 2 months old at the time) who were on a boat through Ellis Island. Pop, Abraham Roogow came over first on a boat by himself through Ellis Island and was a professional lithographer.

What I really need to do is set up a little desk at my dad's apartment and take out my computer and while we are watching a Mets game just get him talking, he is full of stories, lots of stories and he enjoys telling them, often with this silly grin on his face...

After our doctor's day in town we drove home, dropped Jackie off who had to take Micah back to town for soccer practice and Dad and I went over to pick up Howie from gymnastics class (see video at bottom of blog). Then back to Dad's apartment where the dogs were waiting for us (we had left them there so Lauren could walk them while we were in Bozeman) - I took the dogs to the store to get dinner, hot dogs and baked beans, then back to Dads where Howie and Grandpa hung out watching the Mets game while Howie did his homework and I took the dogs fishing down by the south fork.

The dogs love fishing - Buddy seems very tired out from all his running back and forth and Murray usually gets her nose in whenever I catch a fish. Tonight I had this big bird, maybe an osprey, maybe a young bald eagle, not really sure, fly by me and perch himself in a tree right above me where he sat and watched me fish the entire time. He saw me catch and release the two fish I caught and he never moved. It was a beautiful evening, but no picture of the bird as I forgot my camera in the car. Then back to Dad's for dinner and then back home with Howie for the night...

Monday and Tuesday were typical work days.

Last Sunday, we had family pictures taken down by the river in addition to Andrew having his senior portrait done. We had the pictures taken right were I fished tonight. It was actually a really good photo session with Kene Sperry and I am looking forward to seeing the results. After the photo shoot it was off to town for Howie's soccer where as soon as we got there Jackie found a brand new baby to hold...

Jackie with the baby and the baby's mom...

Howie scored 3 goals - his team tied 4 -4

Monday night I finally got to go fishing with the dogs on the Gallatin...before coming back home to make the family a mango fajita dinner.... Murray looks like she's going to have some trout for dinner...