THE OLD "FOSSIL!"

 

THE "OLD FOSSIL!"

This is a personal article some of you may find interesting. Getting to be eighty years is a milestone in any life. I have seen and done many things. Here I take a look at old age vs young age and also feature some pictures from different aspects of my life. I hope you enjoy them and maybe get something worthwhile out of it all!)

I looked in the Mirror the other day..

 

...and was “horrified” at what I saw!

 

Gees, I am getting to be an “OLD FOSSIL!” I am now EIGHTY!

Whatever happened to that cute, innocent little “kid” I once knew??!

There is an advantage to becoming an “old fossil” of eighty. We have a hell of a long life full of experiences that are, frankly, priceless! But don’t make the mistake of preaching to 20 year old “plums” about how “smart” you are! They will place their finger under their nose, kick their head back and go “Nyyyyaaaa!” They only have five or so years of “experience,” but they know it all! After all, they went to “caw-ledge” where they learned all about 57 genders, “ways-ism,” “gas chambers” and all those good things! They learned about “e-quality” and how it is better to “demand a handout” for a living than to (shudder) “work for it!”

 

An old farmer I once knew told me he always hired “teeners” (15-25 years old) while they still knew everything! I also knew another old farmer who said you cannot teach a “new fossil” OLD TRICKS. When I suggested you cannot teach an “old fossil,” NEW TRICKS, he smiled and simply said “The old tricks last, the new ones don’t!”

 

This montage features babyhood, Father and I, Mom, sister and I Passport Photo, Father, sister and I leaving Norway for the US, Me in the Captain's hat, Me in a Southern California Park, "Bucky" the Billy-goat and me, Me as a photographer sitting on a rock, Photo Assistant in a major photo studio in Fresno, California, Me at 16, picture courtesy of Maxwell Studios.

The nice thing about being an “old fossil” is you soon realize there is NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN! Everything that happens on a regular basis has happened before. THAT IS A WELL KEPT SECRET OF LIFE! Some people figure it out quickly, some are slow learners and some NEVER figure it out!

Me on  the steps of the Fresno County Courthouse, High School Graduate at 16, Our Family dog and I, Mom dad, sister and I before entering military, Basic Training  and Army Official Photograph of Outstanding Trainees. (I am fourth from the right in the back row.)

 

I remember Harry S. Truman who became president when I was a boy.  His White House desk had a sign on it that proclaimed: THE BUCK STOPS HERE! Likely story!

 

When he ran for office, he was the Pendergast Gang lawyer from Kansas City. “Tom Pendergast is my friend,” he said! He was also a judge. While Truman was a “Dummocrap,” his “opponent” was a “Republocrap!” His name was Thomas E Dewey and he was considered the mobster’s man from Tammany Hall, the New York Syndicate! While people lined up passionately on both sides of the contest and watched the mudslinging, only the smart ones knew it was a phony battle between mobsters all for the benefit of “voters” who had no idea who they were voting for or what the hell was going on!

 

Hey, it is not different with “swamp killer” Trump who hired more swamp-rats than he got rid of, warp speeded the pandemic right along, while hair-sniffer Joe was standing in the wings to finish the job Nobama started! It has been like that in EACH AND EVERY ELECTION in between. Some of you know it, some of you are realizing it and the rest either don’t know or don’t give a damn! Ya cannot save anybody; they have to do that for themselves.

American Military life in Europe. US Army Photograph features my CO handing meg a Savings Bond as "Soldier of the Month." Kennedy Graffiti picture was taken days after President Kennedy was assassinated. The local communists spray painted graffiti on the power connection to our Communication Facility!

 

One thing that people tend to forget is that EDUCATION and LEARNING are NOT the SAME. Knowledge can be earned and learned in many ways. It can be gained through books that are storage vessels of knowledge. But sometimes it is best gained through observation and experience. People also tend to forget that what they think they know is often the product of what they have heard and what others want them to “know.”

 

But as a smart man pointed out recently, it is NOT WHAT YOU KNOW that is most important, but rather the things YOU DO NOT KNOW! He who realizes that and looks to improve his knowledge by STEPPING OUTSIDE THE BOX, will in the long run be the one who makes new discoveries and is not afraid to QUESTION EVERYTHING HE THINKS HE KNOWS!

My Mother and I in business, My Cessna Airplane and new car, Plane and Car on Radio Station business, DJ and Newsman in San Diego Radio Market, Sound and music recording for movies, The Monster "mockup" used in the film "The Crater Lake Monster." The "Goodyear Blimp." as a promotion and San Diego's Lindberg Field seen from the blimp.

 

So being 80 is a wonderful time of life. By now, we either understand “the game” and avoid it and forge our own path, or we don’t!

A deer gets behind our fence and I pick him up! My two children visit the Redwoods. We build a House.  The children plant potatoes in the garden. A big snow (1996). Rafting a small stream. Thor and the Falcon that ran into our window. Inga and her cat and a family portrait.,

 

For the record, I will try to make it to 90; I can’t wait to see what will happen next. I can assure you, most of it will not be a big “surprise!” But there will be surprises from those who are not afraid to discover things they know not!

Thank you for reading our post and for looking at a lifetime of pictures...

Written and composed 

by 

Harald Hesstvedt Scharnhorst

and photographed by 

a variety of contributors 

to the family archives!

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