Like many kids, I wanted to be a garbage man when I grew up. I was torn between that and wanting to take Gabby Hayes' place as Roy Rogers' sidekick. I knew all of Roy's songs - especially the ones he did with the Sons of the Pioneers. In my pre-teens I revised that wish. I wanted to be a writer; but recognized that I might need a real job and decided that a veterinarian might be a useful trade. Almost simultaneously, I wished to become a pop singer. The Kingston Trio changed all of that. Although I still paid close attention to the pop charts, the songs I usually played on the guitar, (my first) that I received for my 13th birthday, were those I learned from my KT3 albums. At one time I had all of those that are now referred to as being a part of "the Capital years". (The albums, themselves, have gone the way of roommates and divorces; but just yesterday I ordered the CD collection from Dick Greenhaus.) It was soon evident that music was a driving force in my life. I entered and won a bunch of talent contests, singing folk songs, mostly. I also sang in choirs throughout high school. The choir director I had during my senior year was so dynamic and inspiring that I decided I wanted to follow his career path. After a semester of music theory, I realized that doing music was much more fun than studying it. That realization was among the reasons I canceled my plans to attend a music conservatory after I graduated.

During these years my folks seemed happiest when I was pursuing my interest in biology. Mom and Dad both created a butterfly net for me out of stuff around the house. They allowed me to keep a young squirrel I caught. (I learned a lot from that squirrel!) They bought me a dandy microscope for Christmas during my junior year of high school. I later found out that Mom was convinced I would become a physician. When I announced my short-lived intention of becoming a high school choral director, Mom said, quite contemptuously, "A fat lot of money you'll make doing that!" I think that was the day I realized that my parents weren't perfect. If Dad ever had any thoughts about what he wanted me to be, he kept them to himself.

My high school yearbook predictions included a note mentioning that I would someday be performing in Greenwich Village. (Hm-m-m...I'll be attending my fortieth class reunion this summer. Wonder if I can find my way to Bleecker Street before then.)

The war was steadily expanding in Vietnam as I neared the end of high school. I was to turn 18 just a few months after graduation. I attempted to explore ways of side-stepping The Draft; but those wheels were moving much too slowly and The Draft wasn't. So, in order to keep from being drafted, I joined the Air Force. I flew a typewriter during my stay with them. After I got out I went through a long list of jobs. (See Brief Mudcat Biographies for a lengthy, but only partial listing.)

I recall that when I attended my twentieth high school class reunion I joked that I was still in high school -- working as a custodian. Try that sometime if you want to stop a conversation dead in its tracks!

If a career is defined by the jobs one has held the longest, then I had a career as a donut baker. I did that for something close to four years. Some time later, I became a nursing assistant. I did that for about seven years in a variety of settings. (The training came in handy some years later when I took care of my mother for two years.) I later spent twelve years managing copy centers at instructional facilities.

What ever happened to the writing? Virtually all of it goes into emails or postings here at the Mudcat. Once in a great while I find some subject that inspires me to expound. But, again, it usually goes into an email and is lost to me the moment I push the Send button. I've written a small few songs, only two of which I have ever performed.

What about the bent toward biology? I have a keen interest in the natural world. I'm especially fond of wildflowers as well as edible and medicinal plants. I won't claim to be especially knowledgeable, but I do know a few things about a good many plants. I also am a student of animal behavior and am an amateur tracker.

More recently, I've been working at hotels - often as what is called a Night Auditor, but also as a daytime Front Desk Clerk. (Capitalization makes them appear ever so much more important, don't you think?) After a long and tiresome job hunt here in Dallas I finally landed a position at a local Holiday Inn Express. Three weeks later the hotel was sold and I was out of a job.

So, now I am about to spend a year or so wandering about the country, singing and listening to as much folk music as I can. Maybe this is what I was meant to do from the start. I do plan to keep a journal. (Details about that will be forthcoming.) Perhaps this was the writing I was destined to be doing.