THENOTEBOOKS

Carl Barks never wrote a diary. This may at first seem a little odd, because one may think that he had loads to tell, but in reality Barks did not really lead a life out of the ordinary; mostly he just worked hard and went about his daily chores. This was especially true before he became a household name, and when he became a celebrity with an incredibly full agenda he would probably not have had time for a diary, anyway.
But he had to organize his extracurricular activities and he did so in special, annual notebooks marked Year Books. These books functioned as mini-diaries, agendas, timetables, organizers, and journals, and were filled with all sorts of important data such as telephone calls and appointments as well as casual remarks about vacations and illnesses.

This page will take you through a few of Barks' annual notebooks in an overall format free from exact and tedious dates. The aim has been to present you to a fraction of Barks' activities within a specific period of time, and a few years around 1980 have been selected as being both typical and representative. These were years when Barks was really tied up with painting, interviews, visits, and much more, and the information rendered will give you a little insight in one portion of his daily life.
It must be noted that both Carl and his wife, Garé, filled in the notebooks. It is also important to stress that no strictly personal matters such as family contacts and doctors' appointments are included in this page, and the identification of persons are kept to a minimum.

CAR NOTES

Every year's first and last day Barks made entries on the couple's cars as for mileage. In 1977 Garé and Carl had an Oldsmobile, which he replaced for a new Pontiac the following year. Typical mileage per year would be in the range between 7,000 and 8,000 miles (11,000 to 13,000 kilometers). The couple also maintained a Mazda for many years, and it typically clocked between 4,500 and 5,500 miles (7,000 to 9,000 kilometers) per year.
Of course, the cars were continuously used for supermarket visits and such, but vacations and long distance business appointments also took their 'toll'.

The different American cars were all regularly serviced at Tri Buick in Hemet, which was the couple's residence town until 1969! The obviously very revered company still exists now under the name Tri Buick Pontiac GMC/Buick.

MOVING

Since September 1976 the couple had been looking for new premises (see more HERE, bottom half), and they finally settled in a mobile home in Temecula, southeast of Los Angeles. In the beginning of January 1977 they managed to sell their previous house. Here is a summary from the days:

Group of realtors from MacElhenny & Levy toured the house. - Realtor from Sunset Realty brought a looker. Realtor from another outfit brought a looker. Received bids from both. House sold by 9.p.m. to the Sunset saleswoman's clients. Full price $98,500.

On the new accommodations: Called Heritage Home Parks in Rancho Calif. (a resort area with landscaped sites - Editor's remark) to confirm our lot lease. - Signed Escrow papers (a trust account system - Editor's remark) on the house. - Drove to Hemet and Rancho Calif. to secure storage unit at Hemet and to make measurements at Rancho Calif. mobile home lot. - Got storage unit at Hemet. Has two doors and locks. Paid $75 rent to April.

Throughout January, February, and March the couple had several errands to perform in Goleta (selling old furniture, driving books and other things to storage), and in Hemet and Rancho Calif. (opening a bank account, rent safe deposit boxes, selecting linoleum for their new home) until they could finally settle in.

AILMENTS

Garé and Carl had their 'fair' share of days with sickness just like anyone else but, in general, most of them were days with colds, sore throats, and headaches. Still, in October 1978 Garé spent a few days in hospital. Here are just two examples of sickness 'reports' in abbreviated (and slightly humorous) form:

August 1978: Carl has severe sinus 'running' from left nostril. We hear it is the 'sinus season' around here.

December 1979: Carl knocked out with a virus that leaves him weak and groggy. Can't sleep, can't eat. Has a harsh cough. - Carl some better but still has no appetite or energy. Cough continues. - Garé get penicillin for Carl who is still only half alive. - Carl some better after penicillin broke his fever. Still weak. - Carl able to be up and tending to a few writing jobs. Cough still persists. Garé now weakening and feverish...

VACATIONS

The couple allowed themselves a few weeks per year on vacations. They were always spent with their car as the transportation medium, which means that they basically stayed in 'the neighbourhood'. It is interesting that Barks was quite particular about the motel accommodations; he named and rated them, for instance 'Very good', 'Very noisy motel', 'Very hot room'. Here is a summary from two vacations:

September 1979: Started trip north. - Drove on to Klamath Falls. - Visiting around Tulelake. - Drove to Florence, Oregon. - Drove up coast to Depoe Bay. - Drove south to Eureka. - Drove to Santa Barbara. - Returned home.

September 1981: Left home 9.a.m. on trip to Oregon. Drove to Bishop, 6 hours. - Drove from Susanville to Grants Pass. - Drove to Klamath Falls. Visited Tulelake relatives. - Drove from Klamath Falls to Grants Pass. - Drove to Eureka. - Drove to Goleta. - Arrived home 1.p.m.

Although these summaries do not make the couple's vacations sound interesting, they do reveal two things; that their vacations were always spent driving up and down the west coast and adjacent areas (see more HERE), and that the couple had taken a fancy to Grants Pass, which was to be their future hometown from 1983. In fact, they stayed several days in Grants Pass on their 1981 trip and met with Russell Myers who was already a resident (see more HERE).

TELEPHONE CALLS

Of course, a busy man like Barks had to have extremely many conversations on the phone. This is certainly not remarkable except for one obstacle; Barks was very hard at hearing! Surely, it must have been very strenuous for him to conduct these calls, but somehow (often with the participation of Garé) he managed. All calls were meticulously noted with phone number and duration.
One curious piece of information: Barks frequently dialed the wrong numbers (phones had dials in those days), which must have irritated him immensely!

Beside private calls to family members and official calls to doctor and dentist, Barks had conversations with a multitude of colleagues and business associates already known to the public. Examples are Mike Barrier, Barbara Boatner, Donald Ault, Russell Myers, Malcolm Willits, Ed Summer, Abbeville Press, and The Disney Studios, but the one far the most used was Russ Cochran, who, in those years, was managing and promoting Barks' duck paintings.
Also, Garé placed multiple calls to her 'manager', The Leanin' Tree Company, with which she had a long and fruitful cooperation on her paintings.

TITBITS

Garé and Carl would occasionally comment on their immediate habitat. Here are a few examples:
June 1977: Little linnet (a bird from the finch family - Editor's remark) started settling on bracket nest.
July 1977: Baby linnets flew today. Fine specimens. Nest free of mites due to 'gasser' we had attached to side of nest.
October 1981: Heard Woody Woodpecker outside. His first appearance this fall.

In March 1977 Barks was called to a meeting with the IRS (Internal Revenue Service). The IRS is the US government agency responsible for tax collection and tax law enforcement. Barks survived...

ENTRY EXAMPLE

The above photo shows two typical pages from the couple's notebooks. The example covers the period from June 4 to June 7, 1981, when Garé and Carl were finishing a small vacation that had started on May 27. As you can see the entries were all made with light pencil strokes instead of durable pen strokes, a fact that often makes the entries in the notebooks somewhat hard to 'decipher' and the copied example a little difficult to read. The last - and more private - entries under Sunday were deleted by the editor of this website.