November 22----tomorrow brings back many memories for me......President Kennedy's assassination in 1963--My date of marriage to Carmen Martos Martos which was performed on the Rock of Gibraltar in 1963....One of my favorite and loving dog's being hit by a hit and run driver and consequently losing her life in 2010.  They were all sad occasions.  Moving forward.............

Today, I plan on installing a new shower massage in the main bathroom here where I live in Tucson with my daughter.  Secondly, I need to get a lot of things out of my bedroom that are not needed on a daily basis.  That would give me room to move around a little!  I hate organization!!  I think that runs in the Baker family traits!  I am surprised that for the 19 years that I was with Carmen, that she was able to keep a neat and organized home.  I don't know why I can't be organized.  My Mom had organized homes as I remember them.  She used to have me dry dishes for her and mop floors.  I didn't protest that I remember.

I've been watching some movies lately to pass the time.  There must be something more constructive to do.  But I have missed a lot of the movies over the years and some of them are really good.

I have got to finish taking my morning medications and start organizing!

Have a blessed day.  Love, Grandpa (gino) Virgil Baker

Okay, so I'm a year older!!!  Seventy-Five now and I am not keeping up the blog like I would like to.  


I made it up to Prescott to visit my brother Richard and cousin Elizabeth and her Mom (my Aunt June).  I met many more in-laws and outlaws along the way.  


I stayed 2 or 3 nights (my memory fails me) at my brother's apartment in Prescott.  It is a beautiful two bedroom apartment in a nice location. 


 My brother and I went to Denny's every morning for breakfast (although he had food in the apartment, neither one of us are too much into preparing meals!!!). 


 My brother is a throat cancer survivor and consequently can only speak in a low whisper.  I have trouble hearing and sometimes what I hear does not come in clear to my mind.  So he had to do a lot of repeating and sometimes note writing.  Even so, I think that he enjoyed my being there as much as I did. 


We both were able to go visit Aunt June at a Hospice Care close-by (who is 93 years young) and I am sure that she enjoyed the visits as much as we did.  We were able to recount some old memories (aunt June still has a sharp mind and memory) of times past. At the time that I returned to Tucson, Aunt June had returned to her home a little north of Prescott.  I have no update on her condition at this time. As I understand it, she has a serious heart condition.  


I was never close to my Dad's family (June is my Dad's sister) as they never lived close enough to really get acquainted.  It was a new experience for me.  


Richard has two homes in Prescott (lucky guy).  He maintains the apartment for when he has visitors such as an occasional visit from me and weekend visits from his daughters.  At other times he has access to the Prescott Pioneer Home where there are two people to a partitioned room with a shared bath and shower with another two people from the other side of the bathroom.  All of this is free to him, including meals (and shopping trips, etc.).  As an ex-mine worker, he gets it free..  He says that I could get in and they would only take my social security away from me and he said something about giving me 2 or 3 hundred dollars back for something or another!  Sounds interesting but I am pretty well situated where I am with my daughter in Tucson..  I will try to get some pictures up here...God bless all of you.....(the can man) Virgil (gino) Baker


First pic is Richard's daughter (Donna, Richard, Virgil & June)
Second pic is Richard, Virgil & June
Third Pic is Richard and June
Fourth pic is Richard leaving his apartment
Fifth pic is view of Arizona Pioneer Home, Prescott, AZ
Sixth pic is Richard in front of Pioneer Home

June Baker Kendig

October 23, 2011

I had lost track of all of my Dad's relatives as most of them, to the best of my knowledge had moved to California.  Facebook brought some of us back together, so to speak.  My cousin, Elizabeth Schinke (daughter of June Baker Kendig, one of my Aunts on my Dad's side of the family) contacted me on facebook to tell me that she was doing a family history thing.  She e-mailed me tons of information about my Dad's side of the family and many, many pictures to go along with it.  It was great to learn family history that I never had heard of before.

At the time of this writing, my Aunt June, (only two Aunts now alive out of all of my Dad's siblings.) who is 93 years old, has just come home from the hospital and has possibly life threatening complications.  So I have decided to try to go visit her for a short time----possibly Sunday the 30th of October.  They live a short distance north of Prescott, AZ and my brother Richard  is living at the Pioneer Home in Prescott.  So I intend to drive about 4 hours to Prescott, pick up my brother and then journey on to where my cousin lives---spend a few hours visiting and then return my brother to Prescott and by that time I will probably be exhausted, so may stay the night in Prescott in a cheap motel.  (Is there such a thing????)  After rest, I will contemplate the trip from Prescott to Tucson.

Today, I drove to Globe, AZ and returned (about 5 hours driving time).  I met up with my lady friend, Betty Gilbert, and we had lunch at Judy's Cookhouse.   If you ever visit Globe, be sure and stop at Judy's Cookhouse to eat.   You won't be sorry!!  I checked on my property in Miami, AZ (Globe-Miami is almost one big settlement).  I have a 1988 Toyota pick up still in the yard at my former living quarters.  It needs a rebuilt engine put in it.  Anyway, I verified that I still do have a key to the vehicle.  It has been setting for several years now under a carport type thing so has been pretty much out of the sun.   Glass is still all intact as of today----so I want to see if I can get it hauled to Tucson where I might be able to make a couple of dollars on it.  (OR NOT!!)  Anyway that is my current ambition.

GOD BLESS ALL OF YOU....THE CAN MAN, VIRGIL BAKER

Why I am called "The Can Man"

I worked for a number of years buying and selling aluminum cans, scrap aluminum, copper, brass, stainless steel. (The amount in the check shown above was $2,622.54.  This was for one of the bigger loads that I hauled from Globe-Miami to Tucson.  Keep in mind that I was doing this for several years making a trip usually at least two times a week!  Of course, that money was not all profit!)

Partial History of Parents & Family

Recollections: Memories of Virgil Gene Baker (may not be very orderly)

   How my Mom met my Dad.....I don't know why but as I understand it, Mom was hitch-hiking on her way to California.  She had stopped in Globe, AZ and met a friend of my Dad's (name un-remembered).  My Dad, at the time was working (I believe as a cowboy) out on Cherry Creek (probably about 20 miles as the crow flies) North or north-west of the Salt River Bridge that crosses the river on the Globe to Young highway. Horseback, at that time, was the main means of travel for the country folks. This friend of my Dad's in Globe talked my Mom into going with him out to the area where my Dad was working on Cherry Creek.  I doubt that this gentleman took her out there to meet my Dad, but the rest is history.  I believe that my Mom and Dad travelled by horseback to Globe when my older brother was born. I am uncertain as to whether they were still in the lower Cherry Creek area or not but for some reason I tend to think that they probably were.  I do not know if the same was true when I was born.  My Dad pointed out to me the spot where he met my Mother on Cherry Creek but there is no way now that I could locate that area again.  

   My Mom passed away on June 13 (?) 1956. Her full name was Beulah Esthma (Baker) Martin. Her last name would have been "Long" before she married Van Virgil Baker.  As I understand it, her death was caused by a tumor on the brain. I believe she was 46 years old at the time.  I remember in later years (maybe in the mid or late 1980's) my Dad was letting me look through a file that he had in a metal box.  There were letters in there that my Mom had written while she was on a return trip from Arizona to (Missouri?) .  This probably would have been prior to my brother Earl (Red) being born (maybe 1931 or 1932).  I imagine that she took the trip to tie up loose ends in Missouri and/or Illinois as she had been married and had three (?) children by that first marriage and planned to return to Arizona to live.
 (I assume that it was Missouri that Mom travelled to because in the mid 50's I and my brother Richard and my Mom and Dad drove to East St Louis, Illinois to visit my Mom's sister (Mabel Hutchison or Hutchinson) and her family and I believe that we visited my Mom's brother Carl "last name probably Martin as that was my Mom's maiden name" in Saint Louis, MO before crossing over the bridge to East Saint Louis, IL.) Evidently she travelled alone by train part or most of the way.  She mentioned seeing a large number of soldiers also travelling.  I do not know what happened to the metal box when my Dad died.  I believe that one of my brothers got it and it may have been destroyed in a home fire. My brother Richard might know something about it.   John, Donald and Mary (Long) were the three children. My understanding is that John disappeared at some point and was never heard from again.  Donald came to live with our family in Arizona for awhile (long enough for us kids to start calling my Dad Van instead of Dad or Daddy. I do not remember Donald being with us but I know that he was. Possibly when I was very small and my brother Earl (Red) started calling my Dad as Van because Donald would have been calling him Van. Then I copied Earl (Red) and Richard followed suit.  Dad did not seem to mind and we called him Van until we were near grown. Van Virgil Baker (my Dad) died in 1990

 Mary came to visit us for a short while in Young, AZ when I was probably 13 or 14. And then again with her two children when they were probably around 6 and 8 or 7 and 9 years old.
             I was very close to Mary in later years, keeping in
             contact throughout most of the years and we got to
             visit one another a few times over the years. She lived
             her later years in or around Jefferson City, Missouri
             and I went to her home two different times in recent years to visit her and                  her family.
     
                 She passed away in 2009 or 2010.
               
Donald (as I recall) was in the Navy(?) and was in a boxing match where he got knocked out.  The story is that they put him in a deep freeze or whatever they do for dead people (as they thought he was dead).  At some point, someone seen him moving and they saved his life.  I believe that he lived in Wichita KS and Kansas City, KS over a period of time with his family. He passed away several years ago, I believe it was Prostrate Cancer that got him. I met his wife and his daughter on one of my visits to Wichita for my step-grandchildren's high school graduation. Donald did return to Young, AZ a few months or a few years before he passed away.  He did not make anyone aware that he was visiting and the only person that he got to talk to on his whirlwind trip was Tommy Clark who is a close friend of the family. I later asked Donald in a letter why he did not linger a little while and visit.  From the sound of his reply he did not like the country roads and was in a hurry to get back on the blacktop (paved roads). Other than this one time, to the best of my knowledge Donald never returned to Young after he was here as a small child.

In the above paragraph, it was probably 1952 that we took the trip because I remember that we had a new or near new 1950 Dodge Wayfarer car and about a 30 foot new Shasta camper trailer and I was 16 and drove part of the trip. The reason that we had the money to do these things is because of the sale of some Uranium claims that my dad had staked out near where he was working for Gila County Road Camp, the sale being sometime prior to the trip.

***NOTE: SOMEONE MIGHT GET AMBITIOUS AND CHECK OUT SOME OF THESE NAMES ON ONE OF THESE NEW FANGLED DEALS TO CHECK FAMILY HISTORY.

"CINCO DE MAYO" "my root canal day"

Well, the dentist done it to me.  In more ways than one.  He kept me in the chair for 1 and one half hours.  He finished the first procedure, shot a couple of xray pics to verify his work.  He did not like it, so after a few minutes break, he started again.  After more pictures, he was pleased with the result. Hooray!   Then came time to check out.  I asked the dentist before we started if the procedure was covered by my insurance.  He told me yes, it was.  Well----I guess I should have asked if it was "fully" covered by my insurance!!  They had me billed for around $300--my portion  not covered by the insurance.  So I begrudgingly paid about one-half of it and they seemed to be temporarily happy with that.  I did not mention when I would pay the rest of it.  Anyway I have some questions on the billing after I got a closer look at it.  

Emmett Van Baker-Horton and Regalo
(around 3 years ago)

I think the temperature was around 95 today.  After I returned from the dentist----I found my spray nozzle for the garden hose in the back yard---attached it, turned the water on and sprayed down the back yard some and then caught up with the dogs one by one and got them good and wet.  Except for Patches, our first owned dog--he hid in one of the dog houses and I did not want to wet the inside of the dog house to get to him.  But I got the other four dogs good!!    Have a good day, God Bless, Grandpa Virgil


Just a bit of info about cinco de mayo.  


Cinco de Mayo(Spanish for "fifth of May") is a holiday held on May 5. It is celebrated nationwide in the United States and regionally in Mexico, primarily in the state ofPuebla.^[1][2][3][4] The date is observed in the United States as a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride,^[5] and to commemorate the cause of freedom and democracy during the first years of the American Civil War.^[6] In the state of Puebla, the date is observed to commemorate theMexican army's unlikely victory over French forces at theBattle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, under the leadership of General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín.^[7][8] Contrary to widespread popular belief, Cinco de Mayo is not Mexico's Independence Day,^[9][10] the most important national patriotic holiday in Mexico, which occurs on September 16th. 

"root canal"

It was in the mid 90's today here in Tucson.  I woke up yesterday morning with an area in my mouth hurting.  Called my dentist and set up an appointment for an exam this morning at 10:30.  He said that I had an infection below one of my teeth.  He gave me a prescription for an antibiotic and tomorrow he is going to do a "root canal"........ouch.....Actually---I had one done before and I don't remember it being that bad.

21 yr old gndson, Enrique--
 with Sheila, a young female
that we have only had a few weeks.

I am feeling bad for the dog's in the back yard even though they have 4 dog houses and two or three trees that give off pretty good shade....and there is always a side of the main house where it is shady.  I make sure that they have plenty of food and water...keeping the food and water in the shade as much as possible. I also try to give them as much attention as I possibly can.  There are five of them!!!  Yes---and when it gets really hot in the afternoon I get out the garden hose and put the spray nozzle on it and spray them down when I can catch up with them.  My Regalo loves it and will come running toward me with the spray aimed at him.  The other dogs really like it after they get wet and cooled down.  Then it is time to frolic.  Peace and Happiness to all, God Bless, grandpa virgil

Windy and Warmer

Tucson  is nice today.....a fair amount of wind and right around 90 degrees.  I was out in the back yard earlier today and put a brass spray nozzle on the garden hose and sprayed down the yard a little including the 5 dogs.  Sometimes they are a little difficult to catch up with.  Today has been routine.  I usually don't get to sleep until around midnight or 1 am so I tend to get up around 9 am or a little after.  Feed and water the dog's and try to make sure that each eats their own food and don't steal from the others.  Poop is piling up and I need to get my scoop shovel and hula hoe and go to work on that.  I try to clean it up at least once a week.

I loaded 3 dogs in the back of the pick up around 2 pm and drove about 3 blocks to the Erickson school.  I always park in front of the apartments across the street from the school.  (by the way, my family lived in those apartments around 1969 for several months)  Anyway I timed it so that we did not have to wait more than 5 minutes in the hot sun for the bus to arrive with Emmett Van.  Even though it was only in the low 90's, when I put my hand on the hair on Regalo's back it seemed like it was almost hot enough to burn my hand.  I think the hair takes up a lot of the heat before it gets to their body.  Regalo was my father's day gift about four and a half years ago. He was just a few weeks old at that time.  (not sure, I'll have to look up his age)  Sometimes I'm not sure about my age.  After I got Emmett Van home, I waited for Stefan James to come home (he walks from the bus stop which about one half block away).  He arrives around 3:30 pm and then today Emmett Van has to go to the Tucson Boys Choir for practice. So a little before 4 pm I pack up the two grandkids and go there.  It is about a 45 minute round trip so I arrive back home with Stefan James a little before five.  There is some variation every day but generally that is the way it goes........Peace and Love to all....God Bless.....grandpa virgil

HEY!!! I'M BACK......

I changed computers sometime back and lost track of how to get to this blog.  Today, I was messing around with my old computer and seen the link and tried it and it still works so here I am.  I think my last post was in February and here we are at the end of April.

I am going to try a new medication for my "ITIS" pain in various parts of my body.  It is Diclofenac NA 75MG Enteric Coated tablets.  Carlos Diaz told me that they seemed to be working good for him so I told my doctor and she prescribed me a month's supply for a trial run.  Just got them in the mail today so will let you know later what effects they have.

My step-sister Bertha (Lopez) Baker passed on in February and I, along with Carmen and Carlos Diaz and my daughter Maria Teresa Creighton drove from Tucson to Prescott on the 13th of February---stayed overnight in a luxury hotel type thing and went to the services on the 14th and visited some more with family members---as we had visited some on the previous day.  Maybe later I can get some pictures up here.

My daughter, Maria Creighton and her Mom, Carmen Diaz just returned from a mini-vacation.  They left on thursday the 21st and returned on the 26th.  They drove to the Grand Canyon first and spent a couple of days there and then on to Las Vegas for a few more days.  They brought back a lot of pictures but somehow (around the second day out) the camera got bumped from the larger size panorama pics to the very smallest pics and consequently some of the pics from the Canyon and all of the pics from Vegas were small and of a more inferior quality....

I'm seeing in the news today and yesterday about the tornadoes across parts of the U.S. and so many people killed......and I am so grateful that we live in Arizona where, so far Thank God, we haven't had to worry about tornadoes and hurricanes and earthquakes.

That's about all of my ramblings today.  God Bless...grandpa virgil

Long Trip (For An Elderly Gentleman)

I was going to do this post on the 26th, got sidetracked and now it is the 1st of February.  How time flies when you're having fun!!!  The long trip that I have in the title must of been from Tucson AZ to Globe AZ and then on to Black Canyon City AZ (stayed overnight there) and then back to Tucson.  I think it was something over 400 miles.  I went to Globe to pick up a stranded friend of mine who needed to get back to Black Canyon City and had no wheels.  After I picked him up, we went to a hardware store and bought a gallon of "bear crap" so that we could patch the mobile home roof of my lady friend that lives in the Globe area.  That took about an hour---then back to my house in Miami where this stranded friend had stayed for a night---to pick up his gear.  Then a bite to eat (a Philly cheese steak sandwich w fries) at the Miami Burger House. Then we got under way---up over the hill to Superior---on into the
Apache Junction area--got on the Superstition Freeway and somewhere before we hit I-10 we took off on Loop 101---followed it North, passing by a lot of Scottsdale exits and somewhere up there we connected up with I-19 going North.  About 20 miles further north we came to the Black Canyon City exit.  Since I had been there one time before, I actually remembered how to get to my friends home from the freeway exit!!  As I said before, I stayed overnight there.  I left there around 9 a.m. headed back down I-19 to connect up with I-10 on down to Tucson.  Made only one stop on that portion of the trip (at the rest stop just before you get to Casa Grande).  If I remember right I made it back to my daughter's home in Tucson around 11:30.  I had to meet a schoolbus to pick up one of my grand babies at 1:15 p.m.

(L) Huera, (R) Regalo

I must of picked up some cold germs somewhere along the line as the last two days (31st and 1st) I have had a miserable head cold (little sore throat, a lot of nose blowing and quite a bit of sneezing.)

I don't know what to blame this one on-- but today I lost a bottle of liquid medicine (ear drops for my Regalo) and I am still supposed to treat him for another week or two.  Bottle cost me around $35 from the vet and I think it was about 2/3 gone.  Don't have a clue where it got to.  I guess I will take Regalo back to the vet tomorrow and see if he is well enough to get off the medicine (double ear infection) or whether I will have to get a prescription and buy another bottle (hopefully a little cheaper at Wally World.)  Then the second stupid thing that I done today........I got hungry around 2 p.m., found a can of chicken noodle soup (that eat like a meal stuff) and used the gas kitchen stove burner to heat it up.
Evidently, when the soup got hot enough--I pulled it off the stove without turning off the burner.  I ate, picked up my grand baby at the school bus stop at 2:30---brought him home.  The other grand baby walks home from the school bus stop which is right around the corner from the our house.  He showed up about 3:30 (normal time).  The children had an appointment to meet their Dad at 4:15 at a specific location so I transported them (along with my two dogs).  While en route, my 21 year old grandson called me on my cell phone asking if I would pick him up from work at 5:30.  Since I had about 45 minutes to kill before starting over there--I went to Wally World and picked up a few things that I needed--then back across town to pick up my grandson.  On my way back home with my gs, my daughter called and asked if I had used the cook stove today.  "yes, why" --- "you forgot to turn the fire off"  ......  I told her that I was going to check to see what one of these places for assisted living cost for seniors!!!  Have a good day.....

SLIPPING AND SLIDING

How does it feel to be 74 years old, weigh around 220 and have your feet slide out from under you in a bathtub.?

Not good......  I was standing up in the shower a little while ago and had bent down and washed my feet with soap (from a soap bar).  I do one foot at a time that way and then move my foot around in the shower water on the bottom of the bathtub until the soap is all off and I can stand on that foot, and lift the other one to wash it.  Evidently I did not get all of the soap off of the clean foot.  I slammed the side of my head into the end wall of the shower and my body hit hard on the floor of the bathtub.  I was dazed for a moment but seem to be okay.  Heart rate moved up a little bit!!  I am now headed out to buy some non-slip mats to put in the bottom of the bathtub!!  Amen...............

Sunny Weather in Arizona

Well, it was cold for awhile----and now it's back up around 70 in the daytime.  I love it!  I see that Tucson got in the World Wide News for awhile.  I don't like the way we got there.  So I'm not going to talk about it. I've got to take a trip back to Globe-Miami soon as I need to pick up some more of my belongings that are still up there.  And I need to see that my friends mobile home roof gets some repair work done on it.  She is a couple of years older than I and lives alone with her 3 dogs and a stray cat that she took in as a starving kitten.  My grandson who just turned 21 has yet to get a drivers license.  Now he is taking a weeks vacation from his work and wants me to give him some more lessons.  That means that I have to ride with him while he makes his learning mistakes---some of which makes me a little nervous.  I have never been in a serious accident and I'm too old to start now!!!  This pic of Tammy below, I did not find until today on a camera that I seldom use anymore.  It is tough to get so attached to an animal and then lose them in a senseless accident. Well it is getting close to 1 in the morning and time for this old geezer to hit the hay.  Take Care and again:  HAPPY NEW YEAR.

She slept at my feet, would follow me everywhere I went
in the house and any time I was gone for any period of
time--when I came in, I would lay down on my bed and
and she would lick my face for the longest time.  I sure
do miss her!!!!!!!