In the 80's, one of Fred's favorite family time traditions was listening to the Dr. Demento Show on 94.7 FM (K-MET, The Mighty Met). We all laughed, and sang along. To this very day we could probably stil sing along to a few.

(clears throat)

"Fish heads fish heads,
Roly poly fish heads,
Fish heads fish heads,
Eat them up yum"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rg6fQ565AGY

or, how about another 'classic'


 Remember when you ran away
And I got on my knees and begged
You not to leave
Because I'd go berserk?
Well! 
You left me anyhow and then
The days got worse and worse
And now you see I've gone
Completely out of my mind.

And

They're coming to take me away, Ha-ha
They're coming to take me away, Ho-ho
Hee-hee-haa-haa
To the funny farm
Where life is beautiful all the time
And I'll be happy to see those
Nice young men in their clean white coats and
They're coming to take me away, ha-ha! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQTRP5ZNDkE 

And then there was the telling of his favorite story on the Dr. Demento show;

By Bruce 'Utah' Phillips

The worst job I ever had was working for the Pacific Railroad, doing a thing called "gandy-dancing." Now most of you know the railroad was built partially by Irish labor. Well, back then the workers would use this long handled shovel, made by the Gandy Shovel Company of Great Neck New York. Well, they'd shove one end of the shovel under a railroad tie, and then run out to the other end of the shovel, when they could find it, and do a little jig on it, and they called it "gandy-dancin'". This would lift the tie up so they could shove gravel under it, which would level the roadbed, so when the train came along, it wouldn't tip over, which would be a real drag for everyone.

Well, nowadays, they run three cars out on the rail: a bunk car, an equipment car, and a mess car. The only thing they don't give you is a cook. The bosses figure you'll find out who the best cook is, and use him. Well, they were wrong. Y'see, they just find out who complains the loudest about the cooking, and he gets to be the cook. Well, that was me, see. Ol' aligator mouth. That was the worst food I'd ever had, and I complained about it. Things like "dog bottom pie" and "pheasant sweat." I thought it was garbage. So I complained. And everyone said, "alright, you think you can do better? You're the cook." Well, that made me mad, see? But I knew, that anyone who complained about my cooking, they were gonna have to cook.

Armed with that knowledge, I sallied forth, over the muddy river. I was walking along, and I saw just this hell of a big moose turd, I mean it was a real steamer! So I said to myself, "self, we're going to make us some moose turd pie." So I tipped that prairie pastry on its side, got my sh*t together, so to speak, and started rolling it down towards the cook car: flolump, flolump, flolump. I went in and made a big pie shell, and then I tipped that meadow muffin into it, laid strips of dough across it, and put a sprig of parsley on top. It was beautiful, poetry on a plate, and I served it up for dessert.

Well, this big guy come into the mess car, I mean, he's about 5 foot forty, and he sets himself down like a fool on a stool, picked up a fork and took a big bite of that moose turd pie. Well he threw down his fork and he let out a bellow, "My God, that's moose turd pie!"

"It's good though."

 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zb1qsVqjwg


to be continued... 

(Please feel free to add on a new chapter or event)

Some of Fred's greatest life accomplishments:

His wife, partner, and friend, who he spent almost 50 years of his life with; Sharon.
Times weren't always easy, but when life got hard mom and dad knew they could count on one another to make the hard decisions, and stand by them.

Serving our country during Vietnam Nam as a Communications Specialist in Alaska. For a man who was born in Southern California and had been living in Florida, it had to be a mighty cold experience.

From the time he could walk he was around cars. He cheered his dad on as he watched him race. He passed racing down to his children, and we shared many weekends on the quarter mile. We met some amazing people who shared our love of classic muscle cars. One of his proudest moments is when he attended a dinner for the Stock Car Hall of Fame. Due to his love of racing, and pride he had in his own father's racing success, he was able to help his father Erick Erickson (a.k.a. Stubby Throttle Stomper) be inducted into the Stock Car Hall of Fame, and be featured on the cover of Circle Track magazine.

(you can read it here http://www.hotrod.com/features/history/stories/ctrp-1203-ultimate-racing-those-were-the-days/ )

to be continued..