I have always regarded exchanges between Chaz and myself as very private and confidential. Over the years we have shared many secrets; they will remain intact. I recall when I used to use the Whistle & Thistle Conference to greet new members of Electric Scotland who had the courage to post their pictures in the Rogues' Gallery (my term). I even chided Chaz for not sharing his photo at
http://www.electricscotland.com/wboard/pictures.htm.
In order to stir things up a wee tad, I even suggested that members of ES should not remain anonymous any longer, and that they should show their full support by becoming "full" members. Among other things, I said that this would best be shown by posting a photo of themselves in the Rogues' Gallery.

You would not believe the ruckus this caused. Behind the scenes, Chaz had promised to send me a photo of himself ... sometime. Well, an email with photo attached was received on March 11, 2004. It remained in the "private and confidential" category until he gave me explicit permission on July 12, 2005, to share it with everyone.

I've never been one to make many close friends so my number is small...Knowing a lot of people and having good close friends is too seperate things, at least to me...
Please take care of yourselves and I'll be in touch as time permits..Peace, my friends...Chaz...

ps..Doug, you have my permission to put the picture of me and wife in your website as friends of yours..I imagine a few of the old members of ES wonder what kind of a kook I must look like considering some of my post..CZ

I remember your Banter Conference (and both of us know how that began) One of my topics was "Good Times and Good Memories", where I posted about a dozen photos of ES members whom Pat and I met on our travels. Although there was a threat to close down the whole Main Webboard at ES in March of 2002, the trashing of the "Good Times and Good Memories" topic by the infamous "inner sanctum" group was one of many events leading to an actual shut down. Fortunately, Alastair McIntyre reversed that decision and it reopened in June as a new "Good Times and Good Memories" was posted. The photographs are still posted at the websites of Pat and myself. Unfortunately, Chaz and I never met ... but he earned a very special place as a friend. In fact, I surprised him with a telephone call when he had been absent from ES for a lengthy period. Yes, we did understand each other in spite of our accents. [GRIN]

No "kook", Sir Chaz ... at least not moreso than myself. The majority of your homespun humour reminds me of Will Rogers, and your southern charm is reminiscent of Mark Twain (a.k.a. Samuel Clemens). In the more serious topics of Religion and Politics, we sometimes agreed to disagree ... but that was remarkably seldom. We did agree upon the differences between beliefs, opinions and attitudes.

I was glad when Alastair McIntyre created a section for stories that had been posted at the Electric Scotland conferences. Some newer members may not have been exposed to your contributions, but the representative examples may still serve an introduction, eh?

One piece at the Banter Conference demonstrated your loyalty to your country. It is located at http://www.electricscotland.com/wboard/stories/story4.htm. Nobody could question your sincerity, and what you stated was basically true.

You may have learned that most Canadians are not flag-wavers. We prefer peace-keeping by diplomacy over peace-making by force. We tend to support world organizations in a global search for truths. We make every effort to honour our treaties. We believe that our Constitutional Monarchy provided "Rep. by Pop." on a more equal basis; we pray for minority governments as the best way to ensure some measure of honesty among our politicians ... with an easy way to remove the party in power through a confidence vote. Might doesn't make right. We reject proposals from nations which run afoul of our ways.

I sometimes comment that disagreement with the U.S.A. is one of the national past-times of Canadians. Our American embassadors to Canada never fail to object to this. U.S. Presidents routinely show their disrespect of Canadian Prime Ministers. Yet, when the chips are down we usually support each other. Alastair posted one of my stories about a modest Canadian, who became an American hero ... but who is just as easily forgotten. The tale is at http://www.electricscotland.com/wboard/stories/story8.htm.

Now, for those who don't know you, Chaz, I'll provide a couple of more links. In his collection of tales from the old webboard, Alastair recommended "a story to encourage" everyone. This was a typical post from Chaz. You may read it at http://www.electricscotland.com/wboard/stories/story9.htm.

Here is the kind of philosophy that Chaz passed on to his three sons in Nauvoo, Alabama. Take a look at http://www.electricscotland.com/familytree/community/banter/marbles.htm.

Chaz enjoys the wisdom of his Father. The post at http://www.electricscotland.com/wboard/stories/story10.htm shows that "Fathers are good guys too".

With typical humour, Chaz explained "What a Woman Wanted in a Man" at http://www.electricscotland.com/wboard/stories/story17.htm.

And who could forget that weird and wonderful adventure of The Round Table? What great times they were! Cavorting beavers ... the invention of the wheel ... the real story about soccer ... tree mail as a fore-runner to email ... the Book of Facts ... this much and more was told with sincere reverence for the past. Grandpa Chaz began to spend more time with the triplets (and rightly so); the job of being a good Grandpa is much more rewarding than telling tall tales. The final chapter of The Round Table was a collection of comments by many of the Sirs and Ladies of Electric Scotland. When I met Alastair at his former home in Grangemouth in the year Two Thousand Ought One, he was just recovering from a heavy dose of coffee which he stated was an absolute requirement before one attempted to digest the tale he posted at
http://www.electricscotland.com/wboard/stories/story27.htm. [I still think that Chaz should collect all of his fine stories in a booklet for his descendants when he can find the time.]

Some of us also recall when Chaz began to give us some lessons in the Cherokee language. He was rightly proud in his heritage. I reminded him that a certain John Ross, although having only one-eighth Cherokee Indian blood, was elected Principal Chief of his First Nation Republic in 1828. When I travelled to the Four Corners of Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico in 2005, I was also interested in the Anasazi origins of many of the First Nation peoples of the southern U.S. Our lessons in the Cherokee language ceased during a period when Chaz was teaching his personal physicians other lessons. Good health to you, my friend.

Peace . . .