Elaine is not just any chick. She’s one of my great friends that I’ve kept in touch with over the years. Elaine as in Elaine Russo, now Elaine Lemmer.

Tom, Rob and I met Elaine for lunch at Siesta Key Village. Speaking of getting kicked out of places. We started out trying to go to the Siesta Key Oyster Bar but just as we were walking up the sirens went off and we had emergency vehicles and were told we’d have to vacate due to a gas leak.

So we went next door to the Daquiri Deck, sat down and ordered beverages. Then we got kicked out of there due to the whole gas leak thing going on next door. They cleared about a whole block, including blocking the road.

So we headed on down to the Old Salty Dog and finally got to eat a great grouper sandwich and visit. What a great morning.

Here’s the sign out on Proctor Rd. at the corner of Lords Ave.

There’s a whole bunch of temporary buildings in front of the school now so you really can’t get a decent wide shot and see the old school.

Behind the sign here though are all the old pine trees outside those huge glass windowed classrooms.

We spent quite a few hours sitting under these trees once upon a time!

As I was saying, we wandered on in to the school today.

This is me in front of the admin building and courtyard.

I’m snapping pictures and Tom decided to visit the office. So he walked in and Rob and I followed. We met a few people in the office and they said we really should be signed in and have visitor badges.

We didn’t and were sort of getting ready to leave out in the hall in front of the cafeteria when we met a security guard. Actually she met us and promptly escorted us off the property.

She was nice and we could have signed in, etc. but we had a lunch appt. to get to and had seen enough. We did get to look at the plans for the new building since apparently they are going to tear in down.

BTW. We figure we were in the school about 15 minutes before being discovered by security. For pictures of the school, visit my online photo album.

We’ve been having some fun today. I took Rob Artin (pictured) and Tom Paulk and we went on a little trip down memory lane.

Actually we drove in University to the Trail, headed toward Marina Jack and then turned on Orange, which runs into Osprey. Then we took a right out to Siesta Key through the Village and wandered around the beach for a while. The pavilion is still there. Looks like the same old hamburger/hot dog/soda stand and nasty bathrooms. The sand and the water were nice and I’m going back tomorrow!

Then we drove on out Midnight Pass Rd. to Turtle Beach, back over Stickney Point bridge to the Trail and went south a ways.

Then we headed on over to the High School. Here’s Tom rejoicing that we’re not having to go to classes. No pressure.

Actually we were a little surprised that we could just wander on in. More on that in the next post.

I could try to post a picture of everyone who attends the reunion but I’m not.

We had a great group here for Thursday evening. Like old Scotty here.

I’ve created a Reunion Photo Album online though that I’ll keep adding to. You can find it using the following link. If you have trouble identifying anyone, let me know and I’ll do my best to help you out.

So, here’s a link to the Riverview High School 1976 Reunion Photo Album.

Here’s our fearless leader, Nancy Tatom.

Nancy has coordinated a very unique group of people who are putting on an awesome reunion.

We’ve been in touch a lot over the last year since the reunion has been planned. If you get to attend or just see what we’re doing via the internet, a lot of thanks go out to Nancy for taking the time to help get this put together.

Speaking of Bennie. . .

He has done a lot of work to make this a memorable event for all of us.

For example, tonight we had a great iPod setup with slide show of all our pictures that are in the yearbook along with the music of the years we were in school.

Great job Bennie.

Tonight we had a very informal reception at the hotel.

It was really an excuse for Bennie to get a bunch of people to help put together the name tags and other stuff for the next couple days.

We have had a really good time just chatting about the reunion, school and people we know or used to know.

I’m here. The sun is shining. It’s beautiful in Sarasota.

After getting in a little work out so I can feel better about having a beer (any minute) I’m ready to head on down to the reception we’re having here at the hotel.

I’ll have some pictures later.

I already saw Jim Hoffman. He was catching some rays out by the pool.

Hello, we’re at the St. Louis airport and getting ready to board.

This is me with my oldest daughter, Chelsea. She’s going to Naples where I’ll drop her off and then head up to Sarasota for the weekend.

We talked our gate agent into taking a quick picture.

See you soon!

This picture just showed up in my in box.

This is coming to you from the St. Louis airport, before boarding for Florida.

It looks like Tom Paulk, the hunter of tweety birds in Texas.

What kind of birds are those Tom?

I guess we’ll get to hear the stories in just a little while now.

I know, I know. You’re looking here and wondering what’s new. Well, there’s going to be a lot new over the next week or so. I’m getting ready to leave for Florida in the morning. I heard from Jim Hoffman who is probably there now from Italy! We’re coming from all over the place.

I went out and had my hair done today and now I just can’t decide what to wear. How about shorts, my Gator slaps and a t-shirt? It would sure help my carry-on if that’s all I had to bring.

I’m planning on taking pictures and maybe even doing some interviews to post for you. I don’t know how much time I’ll have each day but I can pretty much assure you that I’ll have something new on each day. This doesn’t mean you can just stay home and relax though.

No, we want and need to see you there so come on out. In case you still don’t know what the schedule is, here’s where you find it.

So stay tuned Rams fans for the coolest 30 year Riverview High School reunion to be held this year. Wait, I mean ever. Well, something like that.

Sue O. sent in the latest on Barbie dolls made for the Sarasota market. You’ll have to ask her for the description of all of them. Here’s one though:

Recently released from Mattel: New Barbies for the Sarasota market place.

* Lakewood Ranch Barbie
This princess Barbie is only sold at exclusive Lakewood Ranch stores.
She comes with an assortment of Kate Spade Handbags, a Lexus SUV, a
long-haired foreign dog named Honey and a cookie cutter house.
Available with or without tummy tuck and face lift. Workaholic Ken sold
only in conjunction with “augmented” version.

It’s time to get ready for the reunion. Bennie posted a final announcement which you can find on the reunion website.

It’s not too late to decide to come. You can find the schedule here.

I’m really looking forward to it.

Hello reunion people (former classmates). A week away. Wow. I can’t believe we’ve made it this far. I just checked and I’ve done 102 posts on the blog. There’s 88 comments so far. That’s pretty good activity.

Right now I’m doing one of my favorite things, besides blog posts. I’m making supper and I’ve got my Sirius radio cranking. I love the Vault (channel 16) and highly recommend it. Great music. Stuff that wasn’t always top 40. BTW I’m cooking some petite ribeye steaks with lots of garlic/onions, homemade garden salad and tater tots and lots of fresh brewed iced tea.

Thanks for you recent emails. Interesting stories coming in. I’ve got to figure out how to put this all together by next week. I know what I’ll be doing this weekend.

We’re getting real close to reunion time and now that I have been volunteered to be the emcee I’m seeking some material. Actually, I always like the emcee who doesn’t say much. Just does the introductions, shuts up and let’s you get on with your socializing.

But, I thought I’d solicit your thoughts and ideas. For example, could you write some things about what you remember the most about high school, your most fun time, things that make you laugh when you remember it.

For example, one I can still see very clearly was when a group of us rebels who were hanging out “across the street” before school started all stormed into school at the bell after we had been threatened with some kind of severe punishment and torture if we didn’t quit loitering. Actually about all I remember of that was a crowd of us hauling booty onto campus and right past a couple teachers, the principal, etc. who were trying in vain to get our names down on a list. I don’t remember getting into trouble over that one.

There are some other things I remember which I hope you have forgotten so I’m not about to bring those up.

Feel free to use the comment feature or just email me.

Okay. Since Mary Kinney made the comment I’ve got to post this.

After Bennie dared me to post the picture he had of me I cropped it and put it on my AgWired blog. Numerous commenters and friends wrote how much I resembled a young Eric Stoltz. Actually I kind of think he resembles me.

So for whatever that’s worth . . .

I just found out that Riverview High School has an entry in Wikipedia.

It looks like the Highlander Drum Corps folks have been pretty busy online. They’ve got most of the information in the listing. If anyone’s motivated enough you can add to and edit any entry on Wikipedia.

It takes a while to get pictures here. But finally, another picture of our reunion leader Nancy Tatom with Pat Cronin, looking over some of Pat’s pics.

I guess Pat has donated some pictures for Bennie to use (against) us. I wonder what he’s got up his sleeve. I’m sure we’ll see.

The reunion committee is meeting tonight and I’ll get any updates from them for you. Earlier this afternoon I interviewed Nancy via phone (Skype on my end). It’s kind of a long interview but I thought you might be interested to listen. So without further ado, here’s Nancy (and me): Nancy Tatom Interview (20 min MP3)

Since Bennie triple dog dared me to post these pictures, well . . .

Apparently Pat Cronin has given Bennie a box of photos he took during high school and Bennie is busy scanning them to God only knows what he’s going to do with them. He already circulated these to the planning committee so what’s a few more eyeballs on this gorgeous bod?

I put the one with a hat first to tease you so you’d be prepared for this next one. I don’t know where it was taken. Pat, can you help jog my memory?

All I can say is I’ve got some extra working out to do to get back to this weight. Although the picture was taken before I could flex those pythons there’s strenth there. You can see it in the eyes anyway.

All right Bennie. Are you satisfied?