Off She Goes
By
Gerry Niskern
August is looming and Grandmas are out shopping in full force. School will be starting soon and “those kids need new clothes”. Some lucky grandkids will love choosing their own new “rags”, especially the girls.
My great-great granddaughter is starting Kindergarten this year and her grandma’s are busy ordering the outfits she has chosen online. Shoes, tights, dresses, coats and even a new backpack are on their way.
Back when I bought her daddy some new outfits for school, around age 7, he thanked me politely. Then he said, “I’m not going to wear them the first couple of weeks. I’ll just wear my regular clothes because I want everybody to know the real me.” We’ll see if the little great-great is as democratic as her daddy was.
Years ago when my first granddaughter started Kinder, she chose a black denim skirt and she was not happy when I wouldn’t buy it. I didn’t think little girls should wear black, but turned out I was wrong. Half the girls in her class were wearing something black that first day. Needless to say she didn’t get her smart fashion sense from me!
When my own daughter started school, I made a trip to Penney’s and bought three new dresses to alternate every other day. And when I started first grade, eons ago, I was well supplied with some hand-me-downs from an older cousin. But I was actually very lucky because her mother always bought her Shirley Temple dresses and they were what every little girl longed for!
School clothes have changed over the years, but there is one thing that hasn’t changed. We, parents, grandparents and everyone want the beginners to have a wonderful experience in the school years. We can’t buy that for them, but can only trust that they are ready to learn and enjoy their school years. My little great-great is self confident and out going, but kind and helpful too.
She’s off to a good start!

“Arizona River Cruise Line”

By

Gerry Niskern

This was from a column of mine in the Arizona Republic a few years ago: Revised

Is your family thinking of taking a cruise this summer? Have you sent for all the brochures and picked out an interesting itinerary? Before you make any hasty decisions, let me suggest you enjoy an Arizona River Cruise.
The residents and visitors of Phoenix have been tubing down the Salt and Verde Rivers for a long, long time. Before all the dams were built, the two rivers flowed wide and full. As soon as there were old patched inner tubes available, there was a way to cool off in the Arizona heat in July. Before Resorts or even RV’s, Arizona families used to spend their vacation camping along the rivers.
Unlike the mandatory fashionable wardrobe for an ocean trip, let me describe the proper attire for a river cruise. No matter which river you choose, you will need a bathing suit, a pair of cut off jeans; (to keep your backside protected from submerged logs and sharp rocks.) You’ll also need some old tennies, sun block, sunglasses, and a hat. The tubes heat up in the Arizona sun, so a towel to drape over the sides is a good idea too.
Typically, when our extended family took our annual cruise on the Verde River every summer, it went something like this.
Grandpa couldn’t swim so he didn’t join floating party. He trucked the inner tubes to the river and met us down stream at the end of the day. Grandma’s Romel style straw hat had a bill. She wore it like the general when she directed the launching of our summer river cruises.
In the middle of July, it wasn’t necessary to be a good swimmer, just a strong walker. You were always glad you had your tennies on when you had to swing your leg down inside the tube and push off against the rocks if you were grounded. In no time at all, you would be bobbing along with the current.
Our kids, along with their cousins, wiggled into their tubes, clomped down the muddy bank and with a whoop and a holler, were on their way. They delighted in the heady freedom of being allowed to go on ahead of the grown-ups.
The water was pure and cold. It felt like melted snow against our hot skin as we floated away, one by one.
We cruised the low, clear river over water sculptured rocks in ever changing moods and colors. As the desert glided by, we passed Mesquite, Palo Verde and an occasional stand of giant Cottonwoods, their green and yellow foliage hanging over deep green pools.
Invariably, as we floated by, we were ambushed by a band of river pirates dropping from the branches above. Waves swamped our river craft and grinning kids who looked familiar popped to the surface. Sooner or later, one of the river pirates asked grandma for a safety pin to hold up his bathing suit; or another needed a Band-Aid. Grandma provided the items without fail from her waterproof plastic purse. You name it, she had it.

We floated on past little hidden pockets of lush vegetation. Blue herons swooped above the trees and settled on their skinny legs in the shallow water. Meanwhile, the strong, sentinel mountains held the brooding July thunderheads at bay.
Later, we sailed into a deep, green pool. Shouts and splashes echoed from the nearby cliffs as kids cannonballed off huge rocks. Tiny rainbows arched through the sprays of water.
One uncle always took along Sparky, their family dog. On one trip, he decided to let the little pug enjoy the river because, according to him, “all dogs know how to swim”. Sparky immediately sank like a rock in twelve feet of water. While his wife screamed, he abandoned ship and dove repeatedly, finally saving the drowning dog. Later, when it was time to drive home, he realized that now, instead of Sparky, his car keys and billfold were at the bottom of the river.
In late afternoon, we rounded a bend and saw the orange sunset reflecting off grandpa’s glasses as he stood waiting at our rendezvous point. The river moved swiftly there, so the men hauled themselves out of their tubes and waded us in.
Soon the smell of hot dogs sizzling from supple sticks filled the air. Damp towels hung like limp capes from kids’ shoulders while we listened to the ripple of the river, chirps of crickets and an occasional owl.
The moon rose cool and bright we reluctantly packed up to go home. We knew we would be back to celebrate another summer on the river that enticed us again and again.
How soon can you pull your wardrobe together for an Arizona River Cruise?

“Cool Truck”

By

Gerry Niskern

Maybe you remember seeing a little blue Ford pickup scurrying from store to store around our valley anytime from the 60’s to the early 80’s. The bed was always stacked eight feet high with plump, handmade evaporative cooler pads. The rumble of the straight six engine bouncing off the pavement could be heard two blocks away.
The kids in our extended family loved riding along with Grandpa on pad deliveries. One of the perks was that Grandpa had the little workhorse so well trained it automatically turned into chosen Dairy Queens along the route.
As they grew older and needed part time summer jobs the grandchildren learned to make the cooler pads. Nothing smells as good as freshly shredded aspen wood as you grab armfuls and spread it evenly into sized trays lined with cheesecloth. You tuck the cloth in and staple it all around the edges. Then you grab the foot long needle threaded with string and take long criss-cross stitch and tied it off with a flourish…two minutes tops. The boys in the family were sure they would get to make deliveries in “the truck” when they got their drivers licenses. Wrong.
When hot, tired customers came into the shop for fresh pads each spring, they were not happy campers. Heaven help the homeowner who asked for supplies for his swamp cooler. My dad gave them all the help he could, but first corrected the errant customer that they were called evaporative, not swamp coolers. He showed them how to scrape the alkali from the louvered panels of the cooler, patch any holes in the bottom pan with a thick black adhesive. Dad patiently instructed all this to newcomers just as he had been helped with his cooler by a neighbor on an August day in l942 when we moved into our first house in the valley.
He sold them a new recirculating pump and clean, plastic arms to insure even distribution of water down through the fresh pads. More likely, he encouraged them to attach a garden hose to the drain on the bottom of the cooler and let the runoff help water the grass.
On one historic hot day in our family in l942, when Dad finished changing the pads in our side draft cooler and cool, refreshing air filled our new home, Mom and we girls decided that maybe we could stay in Arizona, after all.
Lucky are the people who have both evaporative coolers and air conditioners. On warm days from April up to the 4th of July or until the dew point reaches 55, they can enjoy the breeze wafting through doors and windows open to the fresh air, and count on a small electric bill too.
My parents started the Cooler Supply Company in the early 50’s and prided themselves in producing the best cooler pads in the valley in their small manufacturing plant. Their pads cooled a large portion of the population in Phoenix, Glendale and Scottsdale. Dad and the old Econoline pickup with wrap around windows delivered to several school districts that had standing orders each year. Other dealers that waited for the truck’s low rumble were L. L. Smiths in Glendale, Paul’s Hardware in Scottsdale and Mike Barras in Sunnyslope.
The old 64 Ford pickup lived at our house in the early 80’s. As the kids in the family married and bought family cars, we still received a call from time to time, “ Could you bring the truck? We have something big to move” Those with a little more chutzpah say, “I’d like to borrow the Econoline for a while this weekend.” They’re entrusted with the keys along with the warning, “Don’t forget, if you give the truck its head, it will head straight for the nearest Dairy Queen.”

Drones or Rockets?
By
Gerry Niskern
What was the best fireworks display you have seen in your lifetime?
I would have to think a while to choose one in my memory as the best. My earliest recollection of the Fourth of July is of a homemade ice cream fest at our farm back East when I was a toddler. After dark the men shooting off big, beautiful rockets from the top of our hill out over the meadow. It was wet and green in the country side so there was no danger of fire. Someone put a sparker in my hand and I loved it!
Later, growing up in Phoenix, fireworks were against the law for the public, but the city put on a wonderful show on the island in the lagoon at Encanto Park. People relaxed on the grass in the area in front of the Bandshell.
Arizona had a ban on public use of fireworks up until about ten years ago. Due to a strong lobbying push the ban was lifted here and in most other states. However, one July, while it was still illegal here, a few of young married guys in our extended family decided to send away for fireworks. They managed to set our little North Phoenix Mountain on fire with their third rocket. Not a fun Fourth!
Today, many cities are cancelling regular firework displays and using drones to light up the sky. The bottom of the drone is just one big LED light that can burst hundreds of lumens of light. They dance around the sky creating illuminated formations. Many towns are hiring the drone companies to put on a safe Independence Day show.
In years past I’ve seen unbelievable fireworks taking place on yachts in Honolulu. The boats move out a distance from shore and begin shooting off their rockets. The sky and the reflection on the water is breathtaking. Later on that night, it wasn’t so much fun when kids lit a string of firecrackers on the floors above our room in our hotel and tossed them down. We were treated to loud explosions shooting down past our room all night long!
We stood in a park in Portland, Oregon one Independence Day and watch a spectacular fireworks show from some large barges in the Columbia River. Thousands of people on both shores were treated to a safe and grand show.
For many years, while in Laguna Beach on the fourth, we were able to see, in planned sequence, fireworks starting down the coastline, shows from Dana Point, then Laguna, next north at Emerald Bay, Corona del Mar and then finally Newport Beach.
Firework displays on the Fourth of July has grown in our country since the first festival in 1777 in Philadelphia. Now rockets are ordered for weddings, birthdays, after a touchdown at a football game and just about any other occasion you can think of. Disneyland spends between $40,000 and 50,000 a night on their fireworks.

So what is your favorite Fourth of July fireworks memory? You’ll have to admit nothing beats the first minute you held that sparkler!