In 1991, I met actress Angie Dickinson at the Golden Boot Awards Banquet in Santa Monica. Pat and I had seen her in a couple of movies and, later, enjoyed her portrayal of Sgt. Pepper Anderson in the Policewoman television series.

I found Ms. Dickinson during the meet and greet session at the start of the evening. We talked about her work as we walked around the hall, and  I looked for my wife, Pat, our son, Doug, and his friend, Penny. We finally found the gang, and I introduced them to Angie. She was relaxed, friendly, and gracious, and seemed  to be having a good time and enjoying the party. It was a pleasure to meet and talk with her.

Dave Thomas

11/30/2023

Pat had some recycle objects to dispose of. It was Monday morning, trash pickup day, so the trash cans had been placed at the curb the afternoon before. She took the handful of stuff and went out the front door. As she went down the driveway, she noticed two crows circling some distance away. She had fed the crows a couple of hours earlier, so she knew they were scouting for their next meal. She dumped the stuff in the Recycle Bin, went back up the driveway, and into the house, shutting the screen behind her, but leaving the front door open. 

The crows had spotted her, so they swooped in, jabbering all the way, and landed on the garage roof. Since Pat had already fed them once that morning, she ignored them. The crows kept cawing and trying to get her attention, but she wasn’t having any of it. Being denied and becoming frustrated, the crows decided to change their game. They began jumping up in the air and landing on both feet just as loud as they could. Pat continued to ignore them though she was laughing to herself at their inventiveness. The crows finally gave up and flew away. It would be fitting to say that, but that’s not what happened. The truth is that Pat caved. She took a slice of bread out and fed her hungry friends. She felt she should reward their persistence and ingenuity.

Dave Thomas

11/30/2023

Something to Crow About

As you know, crows never stop talking. They jabber incessantly from morning to night. However, I’ve noticed that when they come for breakfast, the Boss  Crow is more restrained. He lands on the driveway, stands there for a few seconds, and then emits four caws. Caw, Caw, Caw, Caw! It’s always the same, and I’ve decided that it probably means, “I’m here- feed me!” I passed this information on to Pat. The next morning, Pat had the front door open and was looking through the screen door. The crows show up between 7:15 AM and 7:45 AM, and Pat was ready. At the appointed time, the Boss Crow came in and landed. Before he could say anything, Pat yells, “Caw, Caw, Caw, Caw!” The Boss Crow shakes his head and returns the call. Caw, Caw, Caw, Caw! At this point, I say “This is something to crow about about, Sweetie!” We have just become a multi-lingual family!

Guacamole, Anyone?

We don’t know anything about a crow’s diet. We’ve seen them eating roadkill or packing around in people’s gardens for breakfast. Pat noticed that one of the avocados she had purchased the other day was about to go bad. Not wanting to waste it, she cut it in half, lengthwise, removed the pit, and when the crows showed up, put it on the driveway for them. They went nuts over it! The whole bunch was pecking away and trying to get all they could. One crow, apparently afraid that he wouldn’t get his share, grabbed one of the avocado skins in his beak and took off. The rest of the crows worked harder and faster to get their share of the half that was left. Who knew that they would even like the thing?

Youngster

The other morning, we were drinking coffee and watching Good Morning America when, out of the corner of her eye, Pat saw some motion over our driveway. She turned to look and saw a crow making a landing. It wasn’t time for the regular crows to show up for breakfast, so Pat wondered what was going on. This crow was smaller than the normal bunch, so she thought it might be from the next generation. Her first question was “Who told this kid where to go for breakfast?” After landing, the crow started jabbering and didn’t stop. Apparently, he hadn’t been told that the code for breakfast was “Caw, caw, caw, caw!” Pat decided to feed him anyhow, so she put some bread out for him. By now, it was time for the Boss Crow and the regular guys, and they showed up on schedule and landed and started eating. The regulars didn’t seem to like the little guy. He must not have been family after all. They began crowding him and pushing him around. He got the message and flew away. We’ve never seen him again, so I guess he didn’t feel welcome.

Early

It was 6:15 AM on November 5, 2023, the first day of daylight savings. Pat and I were drinking coffee and watching NBC’s Sunday Today Show. Suddenly, we heard, “Caw, caw, caw, caw” coming from our driveway. This seemed strange because the crows were pretty regular about showing up between 7:15 and 7:45. Then we laughed because we realized the crows were an hour early as they didn’t know about Daylight Savings Time.

Dave Thomas

11/16/2023

I met Charlton Heston at the Golden Boot Awards Banquet in Santa Monica in 1991. The ceremony was an annual affair to honor the men and women who made and starred in western movies. It was created by Pat Buttram, Gene Autrey’s old sidekick.

The evening started with a meet and greet period with the movie people scattered around the hall so you could meet and talk with them. This was followed by dinner, then the awards program, and then another period for meeting the movie people.

At the end of the evening, I was still shaking hands and spotted Charlton Heston heading for the exit. I hadn’t seen him during the evening, so I hurried and caught up with him. I spoke his name, and he stopped and turned to me. I introduced myself and told him how much I had enjoyed his movies. He graciously replied and we chatted for a couple of minutes. Then, he said he had another function to attend and needed to hit the road.  I thanked him for stopping, and we parted. It was a good experience, and I enjoyed it.

Yes, in 1991 I admired and respected Charlton Heston, the actor. However, nearly 25 years later, in 2015, he showed himself to be the poster boy for the NRA. He gave a speech that mostly had to do with whining about his 2^nd Amendment Rights and AR-15 rifles. However, rather than making an effort to construct an intelligent argument to convince the rest of us that owning an assault rifle was a good thing for ordinary citizens to do, he gave us adolescent bullshit. He proclaimed that the only way we could take his gun was “to pry it from his cold, dead hands.” This information has established him as a world class class drama queen. You’ve lost me. Adios, Chuck

Dave Thomas

11/2/23