{"id":40,"date":"2008-06-15T14:58:17","date_gmt":"2008-06-15T19:58:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kaybuena.com\/blog\/?p=40"},"modified":"2011-09-04T14:23:54","modified_gmt":"2011-09-04T19:23:54","slug":"that-silver-haired-however-its-mostly-dark-brown-daddy-of-mine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.kaybuena.com\/blog\/that-silver-haired-however-its-mostly-dark-brown-daddy-of-mine\/","title":{"rendered":"That Silver haired (however it&#8217;s mostly Dark Brown) Daddy of Mine"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='__iawmlf-post-loop-links' style='display:none;' data-iawmlf-post-links='[{&quot;id&quot;:38,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/watch?v=SDx-vqRBQNY&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20210728040214\\\/https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/watch?v=SDx-vqRBQNY&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2025-11-01 06:49:03&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:404},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2025-11-16 08:15:18&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:404},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2025-11-24 19:29:51&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:404},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2025-11-30 11:26:22&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:404},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2025-12-06 04:27:16&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:404},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2025-12-14 03:24:34&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:404},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-01-10 13:04:56&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:404},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-01-26 05:47:07&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:404},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-02-08 22:53:07&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:404},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-02-22 13:55:33&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:404},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-13 22:15:18&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:404},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-19 13:39:52&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:404},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-26 02:59:38&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:404},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-02 22:20:01&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:404},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-13 14:57:01&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:404}],&quot;broken&quot;:true,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-13 14:57:01&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:404},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;}]'><\/div>\n<p><a title=\"YouTube of That Silver Haired Daddy of Mine\" href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=SDx-vqRBQNY\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" style=\"float: right;\" src=\"http:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/SDx-vqRBQNY\/default.jpg\" alt=\"YouTube of That Silver Haired Daddy of Mine\" width=\"130\" height=\"97\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Today, being father&#8217;s day, it only seems appropriate that I tell you fine folks a bit (pun) about my Dad, Col. Charles Webb Abbitt (U.S.A.F.(ret.)),\u00a0who has always amazed me in many ways: How could a person, regardless of age and other factors, be so gol darned disciplined about actually doing the things he says he will do? Once I asked him something about this, when I was in high school in Houston, Texas,\u00a0as every morning he&#8217;d hit the freeway way before 7:00am.\u00a0 His job was high pressured as\u00a0he was involved in the design and activation of Mission Control\u00a0from the start till that day of my inquisition in the \u00a0the early l960&#8217;s( first from 1956 at the &#8220;cape&#8221;, an then where Headquarters for the Space Program for the USofA moved on to Houston.)\u00a0He said something to the effect of &#8220;I have no choice in the matter.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>This was a shocking answer to me, sluggard Military Brat that I had always been. But the sheer, clear, Black and white, finite answer to my estupido question, made me realize right then, that any person&#8217;s present, and future is dependent on their past. I know that is a reality seemingly dumber than a door knob.\u00a0 And that I realized that- so late in life-was not a\u00a0prodigy- like\u00a0philosophic sign.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0However, that was\u00a0the time, when one of those &#8220;eureka&#8221;, life changing thoughts, satorial to my 16 year old person, was revealed to my feeble brain. \u00a0Believe me, those kind of thoughts\u00a0didn&#8217;t start haunting me until my old age, when it&#8217;s way too late to change.\u00a0 But here is my rational theory for his dependability and dedication for exellence\u00a0(way beyond the call of duty):\u00a0\u00a0My good old Dad graduated from Virginia Military Institute, back in the days when they where still being tortured and trained to be cavalry soldiers. There were no &#8220;female, women of the opposite sex,&#8221;in those days as students (his quote) to distract them, as there are now.\u00a0And just as an example, all VMI students slept with the windows open, regardless of how cold it was in Lynchburg, Virginia, in that Winter. Each &#8220;rat&#8221; or freshman took his turn being the one to go close all the windows and light the fires in the winter before revelry (05:00 am. eastern time.) And all students\u00a0carried their rifle on their right shoulder at all times (just to get used to that&#8230;) to class, to eat, etc. \u00a0My mom always claimed that was why his right leg was 1\/2 shorter than the left one, and looking back she was probably right.\u00a0 Dad\u00a0went from a loving family life, not far from their family farm at 16 years old- into that Intense and really quite\u00a0brutal training, and to say\u00a0nothing of difficult\u00a0college\u00a0classes, all\u00a0in one 4 year experience. (Heck, it took me 5 years to get my BFA at UT, and I graduated mostly cause they&#8217;d had it with me. ) He majored in Electrical Engineering, &#8217;cause he found that &#8220;right interesting.&#8221; And Dad graduated in 1941, only to be sent right into the U.S. Army (no summer vacation for him).\u00a0This was before the United States was officially at war, however there was a R.A.F. in England, and soon there was an U.S. Army Air Corp as well. At one point his brigade was flying gasoline to the ground troupes Under General Patton, as the Alis made progress to the Rhine River in Germany and on to crush the Nazis.\u00a0All with out getting blown up to smithereens, even once.<\/p>\n<p>I am one lucky &#8220;Baby-Boomer&#8221; to be alive today, considering the dangers he faced during his whole career during World War II, and the remaining dangers he continued to face\u00a0 with 20 years in the Air Force.\u00a0 \u00a0He retired a full Colonel, and then went directly\u00a0into one of the\u00a0companies contracting to NASA, when it went from a Military Operation into being more\u00a0the\u00a0aspiration of\u00a0President Kennedy&#8217;s dream of future Space Travel,and the\u00a0goal of landing on the Moon.\u00a0\u00a0As the military developed these possibilities, that became more of a scientific achievement, than merely\u00a0the\u00a0defense department&#8217;s superior weaponry and such; the Space Program became more publicly available. \u00a0many aspects of Nasa&#8217;s Space Program were non- military, and were provided with equipment and personnel using private contractors.\u00a0 Upon his first retirement from the Air Force, he went to work for what was then Philco-Ford. (This was in the time frame of when I asked him that question, on &#8220;how he could keep up that pace, with-out seriously wanting to role over in bed and sleep 6 more hours ?..&#8221;.) He progressed, from the start of the\u00a0space program,\u00a0to more or less Administrative duties over those dudes we always saw at their desks on TV, with headphones and &#8220;computers?&#8221;&#8230;during a lift off. And he always ended up doing what was necessary for him and about 10 other guys, as well. Fortunately for us all, Dad was up to that task and hyperactivity runs in our family.<\/p>\n<p>Now, when I think of him then, when he was (-20 years) my age, as well as my age in the present, I remember his hair was dark brown; and he could ward off the most disgusting teen-aged wastrel, with one glance. (That would be me at that time.) \u00a0My greatest fear was to disappoint him. And when he lost his tempter, it was rarely at me, as he had minions to monitor. (A much more likely group to capture his disdain.)<\/p>\n<p>He is now 88 years old and living in Richardson, Texas, close to where my brother lives. He practices singing and playing his guitar every day,and learns at least two new songs for his Thursday night concerts each 2 week interval. Whereas, I do not practice my guitar, trying to focus on piano. ( However, whose got the time? &#8221; ) If only I had that drilled-in discipline, and duty installed, or inherited,\u00a0like there was no other choice.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0I grew up to his singing and playing guitar for me all through my youth, and to this day. \u00a0Though I&#8217;m his daughter, and alot of that musical\u00a0interest\u00a0 and talent stuck.\u00a0 I&#8217;m the one with the &#8220;white&#8221; hair, and when we are together we look more like peer\u00a0compaions, than Father-Daughter. Except for I limp, (artificially replaced hip and knee, one on each side)&#8230;And he&#8217;s able to walk a mile a day, which he does every morning.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0\u00a0 My Husband and I visited him on his birthday weekend, when this was recorded, it&#8217;s one of my dad&#8217;s favorite songs.\u00a0Though two weeks earlier,\u00a0I had dislocated my right arm, lifting something way too heavy for me, but I thought I could&#8230;and I did, only with some physical damage&#8230;which I had not considered\u00a0the possiblility of happening before doing so.\u00a0 But as it is said;&#8221; a bad workman, always blames his or her tools.(1)&#8221;\u00a0(Those would be my thought processes, tsk. tsk.)\u00a0So my guitar playing sucks, and my legs are still swollen up in this Video like they belong to Emmett Smith, and not to me from the 5 hour drive in our car,\u00a0even with support hose&#8230;it&#8217;s the sitting still thats a problem, in a socially acceptable position.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0 Any hoo, This is a Gene Autry Song. It was my Dad&#8217;s childhood dream to be a cowboy, (preferably the singing kind.) Though he grew up in Virginia, we moved to Texas \u00a0and he did that too. \u00a0I miss our farm in Holland, Texas so much (along with it&#8217;s water moccasins, ants and &#8220;no-see-&#8217;em&#8217;s&#8221; gnats, and some of the nosiest mocking birds and cardinals in Texas,etc.) even though it was always in his care, (ergo; in perfect A-1 shape, of course)&#8230;\u00a0it was always home.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0If I&#8217;m lucky, I can\u00a0 re-record this on the piano and not sound quite so much like a dweeb.\u00a0 Hopefully, Charles Sauer (my husband) might feel up to the task of recording this, when I&#8217;m home and rested and inside the air conditioned house. It&#8217;s supposed to be 100 degrees outside this afternoon. I wonder why Dad didn&#8217;t want to live here? Oh, I remember; it&#8217;s way too hot, and that kid of his, with the white hair is a true wastrel, however entertaining she can be upon occasion. But, Dad, you&#8217;ve got to admit I&#8217;ve got good taste in music.<\/p>\n<p>(1.) Read this in a Superman comic book.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today, being father&#8217;s day, it only seems appropriate that I tell you fine folks a bit (pun) about my Dad, Col. Charles Webb Abbitt (U.S.A.F.(ret.)),\u00a0who has always amazed me in many ways: How could a person, regardless of age and other factors, be so gol darned disciplined about actually doing the things he says he [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-true-and-unusual-stories"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8R4qt-E","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4,"url":"https:\/\/blog.kaybuena.com\/blog\/st-live-kay-buena-thoughts-of-the-day-song-of-the-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":40,"position":0},"title":"!st&#8211;Live Kay Buena: thoughts of the day, song of the day.","author":"Kay Buena","date":"August 1, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It is a remarkable thing that what ever notoriety I have received as a visual artist, is from my Computer destruction, relief sculptures (inside pun), as I was trained quite classically at the University of Texas in the late 60's.\u00a0 This was back in the McKinley administration, when you\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35,"url":"https:\/\/blog.kaybuena.com\/blog\/im-getting-a-tad-sick-of-this-maudlin-kiddie-crapbring-back-the-snoop-dogg\/","url_meta":{"origin":40,"position":1},"title":"Bring Back the Snoop Dogg Picture; it&#039;s a total Winner, if I do say myself.","author":"Kay Buena","date":"April 18, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Song of the Day: \"Moon Rise \" Lyrics, Music,Vocal, Rhythm Guitar, Slide\/Country-Slack Key Guitar: Kay Buena (AKA) Caroline Abbitt Sauer:- Bass Guitar, Recording Engineer: Dr. Charles Sauer,(PHd.comp.sci.):- Drums: The Honerable Jerry Barnett. Recorded back in 1986(?) \u00a0Oh, great swami of the computer Empire of the network here, please bring back\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Art&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/blog.kaybuena.com\/blog\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Snoop Dogg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kaybuena.com\/images\/tn20080124SnoopDogg.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":944,"url":"https:\/\/blog.kaybuena.com\/blog\/outlook-on-bob-dylan-fallen-angels\/","url_meta":{"origin":40,"position":2},"title":"Outlook on Bob Dylan Fallen Angels","author":"Kay Buena","date":"June 13, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"As a fellow singer-songwriter, it makes it sometimes harder and sometimes easier to write about someone else\u2019s music. I feel that I have known Bob Dylan since 1963. I remember the first time I got his Freewheeling with my Dad who was not a Dylan fan then, but after a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Music&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Music","link":"https:\/\/blog.kaybuena.com\/blog\/category\/music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26,"url":"https:\/\/blog.kaybuena.com\/blog\/tribute-to-bill-ducker-gone-but-never-forgotten\/","url_meta":{"origin":40,"position":3},"title":"Tribute to Bill Ducker, Gone but Never Forgotten","author":"Kay Buena","date":"October 26, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I first became acquainted with Mr. Bill Ducker back in the early 70's when times were not exactly prosperous or even ironically amusing for me and his then girl friend (later to become his wife), Claire.\u00a0 We were House mates at the time.\u00a0 She had divorced her husband and\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":443,"url":"https:\/\/blog.kaybuena.com\/blog\/a-triad-of-deminished-existentialisc-two-who-make-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":40,"position":4},"title":"13. A Triad of Deminished Existentialistics,Two who &#8216;Make it&#8217; in the Outside World","author":"Kay Buena","date":"May 15, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Part 3 The faraway place where Elmo was used to looking out the window, and yearning to join,\u00a0seemed much too active for him in reality,well more or less but particularly without taking in nourishment.\u00a0 And as with most cats the intense magnitude of new smells and his ability to\u00a0freely walk\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;(The) Betty Jane Chronicles&quot;","block_context":{"text":"(The) Betty Jane Chronicles","link":"https:\/\/blog.kaybuena.com\/blog\/category\/the-betty-jane-chronicles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16,"url":"https:\/\/blog.kaybuena.com\/blog\/there-is-nothing-quite-like-staring-into-the-eyes-of-a-shaking-rifle\/","url_meta":{"origin":40,"position":5},"title":"There Is Nothing quite Like Staring into the Eyes of a Shaking Rifle.","author":"Kay Buena","date":"September 3, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Back when I was a kid ( about 26) I had a unique experience with\u00a0the County Sherrif's officers that gave me a rather grey look into the black and white letters of the law.\u00a0 I was a serious Ballet student, and had just come home from my 2 &\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.kaybuena.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.kaybuena.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.kaybuena.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kaybuena.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kaybuena.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kaybuena.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":555,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kaybuena.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40\/revisions\/555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.kaybuena.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kaybuena.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kaybuena.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}