> > > Recent discussions seem to indicate that I am the oldest person to post on this forum. I may even have several decades on the next oldest. That got me wondering why there aren't more old coots on here. People over 60 are one of the fastest growing segments of the population that logs onto the internet. Rinkworks is not hard to find and us old coots have more time to play with our computers. Trading barbs, comments, opinions, jokes, etc. with younger people is a great way to hang on to your youth. It seems like every time I log on, I get a geography lesson. Geography and other cultures, the topography and geology of farflung places are among the things that interest me. Retired people tend to travel a great deal, and the things I learn here greatly enhance travels. So where are all the other old coots?
> > > How"Who flung those places so far?"ard
> >
> > Hey, Howard,
> > I'm the other old coot from around here. I just turned 64 on the first day of October. But while just a young squirt helping my Dad raise cattle down at Dixie Lee Junction, I decided I had had a little too much of the farm animals, and bought a round-trip bus ticket and ran away to Miami, FL. Then I decided I might as well go on to Key West and even to Havana, Cuba. Being short on money, I had to return on a ferry hauling about 45 cars!
> >
> > As you may know, State Testing moved its offices to Nashville last year and the test processing is now done by prisoners over at Petros. I decided that might just be a good time for me to retire.
> >
> > So now I am staying fairly busy playing piano for a Baptist Church and I also play for a restaurant called Helma's on Sunday afternoons. I enjoy it.
> > Then there's the Hispanic Ministry I got involved in a few years ago. I learned Spanish while a student at Harrison-Chilhowee Baptist Academy. My roomates were Cuban, and spoke little English.
> >
> > Calvin
>
> Calvin?
> I don't know if you're the Calvin who lives down the street from me or if you are just pulling my leg. Or maybe both.
> I live a couple of miles from Dixie Lee Junction, and used to eat at Helma's on a fairly regular basis. I know about state testing, having taught school for a few years. I also love the Florida Keys and hope to someday see Havana. On top of all that, I find Hispanic people very interesting and even worked at learning Spanish for a while. I even have two grandkids who are half Hispanic.
>
> If it wasn't for the fact that I can't play a piano and don't know doodly about raising cattle, I'd swear you were me.
> Howard

Howard,
You might think this strange, but I am probably the only Roman Catholic in Knoxville who is a pianist for a Baptist Church. I joined the Catholic church in 1960 and this year I was appointed eucharistic minister for Hispanic masses at Sacred Heart Cathedral. Starting this month we have Hispanic masses every Sunday. But I became very familiar with Baptist church music during my four years at Harrison-Chilhowee Baptist Academy. I studied voice and piano there and my piano teacher at UT was Maurice Fears.

I also have two half Hispanic nieces who live near Dollywood. They go back to Peru about once a year, but believe it or not, they speak very little Spanish. Spanish is very easy to learn.