Great Teacher Retires

This week marked the last time Dr. Tom Stone will direct a band from Nampa High School. He is retiring after over 30 years of working in the Nampa school district. I had the privilege to learn under Dr. Stone from 6th through 12th grades, from Central to West Junior High to Nampa High School. There were a lot of fun times with Band competition trips to Clackamas in Oregon or Reno or even U of I. Then the "play-a-thons" to raise the money at Roller Magic. But one of the funnest memories are from playing with the Jazz band at the NHS basketball games. Those were some fun times. I remember playing at the state basketball tournament and yelling and screaming like crazy some of us even using a megaphone and an official from the tournament came over and threatened to give us a technical for using the megaphone... Good thing Mr. Stone was there to calm the situation.

Congratulations Dr. Stone!!

Grandpa Crummett 1927-2009

This past Monday my Grandpa Crummett passed away. He was home in McCall. We had the opportunity to go an d visit him when he was in the hospital in Boise on May 04, 2009. This was Tammy's dr. appointment when we found out what our baby will be. So we took the kids with us so they could share that experience with us (we are having a girl by the way). So he was aware that there was another great-grand daughter on the way.



Being the oldest grandchild and my brother being the second oldest, we had many opportunities to spend time with Grandpa that others may not have. I remember going to McCall frequently growing up so that even though they were in McCall, Grandma and Grandpa Crummett were close. I remember walking up to the top of his driveway through the trees to a home that was under construction at the edge of the hill and looking down on the McCall airport to the north and Franklin Building Supply to the south. I remember when they would have the McCall air show walking through the trees and sitting on a couple of the boulders in the woods watching the planes with Grandpa.



I remember how dedicated he was to make sure that there was always a gassed up snow machine ready to go when we would come up for the weekend. He was also ready to show us where the shovel was in case we got stuck while zooming through the pasture. I appreciate that he had us help with chores while we were up there. He would even get our friends that we brought up there to contribute by doing chores.



I remember as a young boy and later as an adult going out and cutting trees for firewood. Then bringing it back to his house to get ready for winter. Or load it up in pick-ups for the drive back to the valley.



I remember having the opportunity to float the Middle Fork of the Salmon River with he and grandma. He worked so hard maneuvering that raft, it was hard to believe that he was retired.



I remember that even after retiring from Idaho Power he still was always willing to share his knowledge of electricity. I remember helping my mom replace an outlet in her bathroom and we called grandpa to ask a question about replacing a standard outlet with a Ground fault circuit interrupter. Mom had mentioned to grandpa while talking that while disconnecting the out let she had been shocked. He gave his advice and she and I finished the project. About an hour later he called worried that he had not heard from us and that we might have been shocked again (or worse).



I have more memories than I can write today, but I wanted to share some of my fondest.



One last one. Grandpa was very supportive when Mom passed away. I was the executor and between Cort and I there were many decisions to be made and even though he might have made different decisions he supported us and wanted us to be happy.



I love you Grandpa. Say 'Hi!' to Grandma Crummett, Catherine, Addie, and Mom for me.



Here is a link to his obituary.

Mothers...

I wanted to take some time to salute the mothers in my life. First my mother, she was a wonderful woman. I feel blessed for the time that I had with her. Some of you know that she passed away in January 2002, they day before Gabe's first birthday. But I know that she has watched over all her grandchildren since then.

My mother-in-law is wonderful as well. I could not ask for any better. She is kind and loving, generous with her time. She loves to spend time with the grandchildren and does not miss out on an opportunity to teach them. She raised a wonderful daughter.

My wife. Tammy is a great woman, loving wife, and amazing mother. I have been blessed to have spent the last (almost) twelve years together as a family. She teaches our children how to be loving, charitable, and caring (just like her). I know that when our new little girl arrives that she'll have room in her heart for her as well. I am excited for this new addition to our family coming in September. I love her!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Damn it Jim I'm a doctor not a ...

If you recognize that quote then something happened this week that hasn't happened for a long time...There is a new Star Trek movie and Kirk, Spock , and Bones are in it! get your Trek on!



That's right, Star Trek was released on Thursday. With a few friends I attended the 10:00 PM showing. We DID NOT dress up! Heck I don't even own any Star Fleet uniforms. It was a lot of fun. Our showing was about 1/2 full (they had shows at 7,8,9,10,11,and midnight). It was a lot of action from start to finish. The filmmakers did a pretty good job of keeping continuity from the previous films to the prequel. Just as 007 has been reinvented with Daniel Craig, Star Trek is reborn with J.J. Abrams.








We got out about 12:20 AM and then we headed to Los Betos for burritos. Nothing says 1:00 AM like a carne asada or mixed breakfast burrito. It was a great time. Now if we an just get our wives to see it... I mean we watched "Twilight"...

UPDATE:
FYI- Some of us went again on Friday night! What a weekend!