The Statesman's View

Herb Carlson; Sun Valley Ski Instructor

In the 50's, before the folks bought the Warm Springs property or built a house, they would drive from Twin so Carol and Herb John could ski on Baldy. Neither of the folks knew how to ski at that time.  When I got off the "big black boat" as they both called it, and started to ski at Sun Valley, we would have friends up that didn't know Herb had never skied.

Invariably these folks would describe their day on the mountain and how they did.  Dad would listen patiently and at some point ask about their "weight transfer" while turning.

"What do you mean?"

"Were you uplifting and weight shifting?"

But Dad would say these magic words with a thick Austrian accent, like "oohuup lifting und veighth shifting"

The guests would become very interested and the Dad would demonstrate the classic Austrian counter rotation ski turn.

We figure over the years Dad taught at least 25 people how to ski in this manner.  And we never told anyone he  had never skied.  Why should we.  They knew from his pronunciation of "oohuup lifting und veighth shifting"  he knew what he was talking about.

The best part is that when Herb did try for the first time in about 1970 to ski,  he could !!!

 Must has been all that practice he had in the living room at the house on Warm Springs.

"You Can't Give me a Ticket"

Sometime around 1971, before the folks moved to Eagle, Mom would drive from home in Boise to teach at Eagle Elementary.

One day, during dinner, she told Herb "I got a ticket today, but I shouldn't have".
"What happened?" asked Dad.

Mom said when she got to school the cop was behind her with his lights on...and was pretty mad.
He said "I've been following you for miles.  Didn't you see my lights or hear my siren.  You failed to stop at a stop sign coming onto Ustick".

Mom handed Dad the ticket and he looked at it.  "This says he's a Boise City cop, and you were in Eagle."

Mom's response was one of her usual ones; "so what?"

"Well...." Dad never got the chance to finish.

"I told him he can't give me a ticket"

"Why? Because you stopped at the stop sign?"

"No, I told him he can't give me a ticket because I don't have a license."

Sure enough, Mom didn't have a license.  It had expired years before.

She only was cited for the failure to stop ticket.

The Son Returns to the Homeland

Sorry; this story has yet to be written. Itis about one of  Herb and Lorrain's trips to the 'Motherland'.