1/6/1973 - 48th Wedding Anniversary

 

1/6/2021 (1/6/1973 - 48th Wedding Anniversary)

 Of course, today is a special day for each of you Bassier children.   Additionally, something to learn about the date 1/6.  The 6th of January is the 12th day of Christmas as in the song "A partridge in a pear tree....five golden rings....twelve drummers drumming... 

In Christian and Christmas traditions, the 6th of January is also the day that the three Magi / Wise Men / Kings arrived to give Jesus the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.  In Catholic Feast Days, this is called the Epiphany. As a Bassier / Avender tradition on "Tri Keina" (Three Kings Day - something like that in Germanic) Big Grandma Avender hid a quarter or half-dollar in a few of her freshly homemade donuts.   This was for a special surprise for her ever-greedy grandkids!  For the Biblical record, the Magi actually did not arrive at the Christmas of HIS birth, but a couple of years later when Jesus was a toddler.   Sorry to discredit classic Nativity Scene tableaus.   There will be extra credit awarded to any that name the Kings as a comment to this posting.

Dad Joke:   What kind of music do Alyssa, Ben, Beau and Winter hear at the playground? (pause) Swing  

(Most of you, let alone the grandkids, won't recognize this type of music of the Big Band era.   However, you should have seen my Mother and Father dance together to swing music.  Let me tell you they were smooth.)

More to see than can ever be seen:  

Take a look for photos on the web of Fanjingshan (Mount Fanjing) near Tongren, China, ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanjingshan)  Whew!  What a pinnacle and aerie.    I think I could make the steps up....maybe.   Would love to tackle the daunting bridge that spans the crevice that splits the top.    Look it up, there is more to learn.  

 

More to do that can ever be done......

The Early Years

·  Born on a summer afternoon in 1949.  I have been told this was a Wednesday.  But I remember nothing of this entry into the world.

·  Was the 2nd son of Fred and Eva Bassier that eventually numbered 6 children - older brother and four younger sisters.  (I was the family teaser and stirrer-up-of-mischief.)

·  As soon as I was able, I played endless hours of baseball, played army, had outdoor adventures galore, set up and re-enacted battles with an array of army men.  Remember, during my youth TV was limited, no I-phones, I-pads, Computers, Gaming platforms etc. 

·  (I still have a few boxes of my army men.  Like a couple thousand figures.   Some of these are now 50 to 60 years old.   What the heck are you going to do with these?)

·  Read books (more to learn than can be learned....)

·  Milked, fed and herded dairy cows.

·  Fed and herded a couple of hundred hogs.

·  Operated tractors and farm machinery for countless hours.

·  Survived a midwinter fire that destroyed our house and ended our time on the family farm. (January 1963).

·  Lived for a time with Grandpa and Grandma Avender - helping Grandpa milk the cows and carry out the needed farm chores.   (My Dad was very sick with a bout of malaria after the fire.)

·  When living with Avenders, I saw my siblings on the bus to and from school.    (No worries, this was not a grim season for me - even though it may have been tough on my Parents.)

·  Took my first regular paying job as a farm hand for Henry Malburg....what else would I do...this is what I knew.    More hogs, cattle and tractors, etc.   Hey, I made 1.50 an hour and worked up to 60 hours a week.  This was 90 dollars and "big money".

The High School years

·  Started buying Honda and Suzuki small motorcycles.

·  Played Junior Varsity and Varsity football and baseball - Captain or Co-Captain of the teams.

·  Met my sweet heart and only "steady" - Carol Bacholzky (she was leader of the Cheerleading Squad, and like your Mom, was one of the cool girls in high school.)

·  Read books.  (In 1965, Mrs. Wilson told me to read the "Lord of the Rings" as a semester book report assignment.   Boy, did she open a new world of reading for me.   I still have the trilogy she gave me on my bookshelf.)

·  Class President for a couple of few years.

·  Graduated in June, 1967.

The College Years

·   Went to Adrian College in Michigan.  (Carol went to Albion College and this relationship came to a painful end for me when she "dumped me" for another.   Alas and alack, etc.)

·  Took Classes in History and Geology.

·  Read books. (Is this becoming a lifelong theme?)

·  Went alone to the Rocky Mountains in the summer.

·  Continued to foster this persona of a tough, rugged. loner.   Not to be trifled with!   (What a joke!  I am and always have been like a Panda Bear - scary if you run into one in the jungle but all I eat is bamboo shoots!)

·  Cut trees (some big ones) to clear the ski slopes for Eldora Ski Area (met my friend Bob Perry here - together we climbed every Colorado Front Range Peak we could.)

·  Rode motorcycles cross-country from Michigan to the Rockies.

·  In September of 1969, there was an "event horizon" of most importance to my life and as it turns out to yours.   I met Janet Lee Ohnsman.      Perhaps to be continued in another posting.

To close this for now, there are a couple of common themes throughout in what I have done.    Reading, Outdoors, Bit of an Adventurer, History, Motorcycles, Swords (more on this later), Guns of the Old West, the Mountains held an allure (still do), Canoeing rivers, Hard-working. Running and Lifting weights started when I was twelve years old - this type of exercising continues to this day though at levels that are much, much diminished.

TAB