Ramblings
Below are some of my rants. They are just for fun. If you feel they are offensive, the best thing to do is to not read them.
Grand Opening
You can’t enlarge the door of a barn without making a new barn door. Randy made the doors in no time. I gave rides to various parts to and from Hills Flat Lumber and Hardware. Then everyone except Margie got the stomach flu. Bracing and putting on the hinges took longer than making the door. We made additional trips to Hills Flat. In a couple of days all began to feel better, and then it turned cold. We made more trips to Hills Flat. I put my propane heater in the barn, and we finished the doors. We have not put the bats on the doors as we...
read moreThe Barn Door is Open at Graestone
One of the two barns has the chicken pen, a tack room, a storage room, and a place for a pony. There are feeders, dutch doors and two places for a pony to poke his head out into the main room of the barn. My father used to love to imitate a little girl asking her Daddy for a pony: “I want a pony, Daddy. I want a pony. I’ll take good care of him, Daddy. I will brush him and feed him. Please, Daddy. Can I have a pony?” A year later, the father is mucking out the stall and remembering, “I want a pony, Daddy, I want a...
read moreThe Hubley List
I tend to repeat myself in my references to movies and books. The good part is that most of the time I know it. When I no longer know that I am repeating myself, you may want to remove yourself from this list. Or you may just want to remove yourself now. Abraham Lincoln is famous for the Gettysburg Address. Not as many know that Lincoln was almost an afterthought, and that he followed the speech given by Edward Everett, which lasted for two hours. Lincoln’s speech lasted for two minutes. I can imagine that some of you wish I would adhere...
read moreChristmas Preparations
What a season. What a time of the year. Matthew wanted stockings hung on the chimney and lights on the house. BobbyDodge wanted the horseshoe pit ready for horseshoes. Apparently he didn’t think I was making the proper progress, so he and I went out the twenty-fourth to prepare. Bobby used the weed eater. Then I used the hedge clippers to trim a bit while Bobby and Matthew did a bit of “spade work” to prepare the ground. Then we had the Big...
read moreStocking Were Hung By The Chimney With Care
I have an ancient “Linenette” book The Night Before Christmas with wonderful A.E.K. art. One of the plates shows Santa, “laying his finger aside of his his nose” by the chimney complete with stockings and holly. The book has been in the family for as long as I can remember. I read it to our kids on Christmas eves. Graestone has a fireplace and one would think it would be made of stone, like the rest of the house. Not so much. Looking more closely at the “stones” used to make the chimney we discovered...
read moreCamellias
I have always loved Camellias. They are hard to grow in the central valley. When Alpha School was built, they planted camellias on the North side of the cafeteria. The camellias slowly died off. Finally there was one plant remaining and one fall it had a single leaf left. I told the kids to watch because the last leaf was going to drop. And it did. I remember my first job, as a squeaker. My mother had about twenty camellias in barrels on the terrace. Camellias grow beautifully, with some shade, in Southern California. They were a left over...
read moreThe Foundation
One of my favorite Seinfeld episodes is when George has to meet with the “Foundation”. His fiancee has died from licking cheap wedding invitations with poison glue. Her parents have started a foundation in her honor. George is a weasel and is actually relieved to have gotten out of the wedding. He is less than enthusiastic about the Foundation. [George is staring intently at a painting of Susan as Wyck walks in.] Wyck: George. [George doesn’t respond.] Wyck: George. (taps him on the shoulder) George: (startled) Oh! Wyck:...
read moreGumman Goose N48550
Crocodile Rock is a great Elton John song. The first verse has these words: I remember when rock was young Me and Suzie had so much fun Holding hands and skimming stones Had an old gold Chevy and a place of my own I went to Alaska when I was 17. I left the day after high school graduation. I weighed about two pounds and had no idea what I was doing. Ruth thinks my mother was crazy to let me go. My Uncle Harold, Father’s brother, got me a job in the cookhouse at the logging camp at Thorne Bay, the main camp of the Ketchikan Pulp Company....
read more“All Came to Town on the Very Same Historic Day”
The Music Man is my favorite musical. It has the small town, the early 20th century setting and music. There are some great lines but one of best is when Professor Harold Hill, the flimflam man, tells the unsuspecting: And you’ll feel something akin to the electric thrill I once enjoyed when Gillmore, Liberatti, Pat Conway, The Great Creator, W.C. Handy, and John Phillip Sousa all came to town on the very same historic day! After ten short months, yesterday, the mover guys, from All Safe Moving, came and unloaded the biggest U-Haul I...
read moreSqueakers in the Cafeteria
The movie Home Alone has a scene when Kevin is sitting in a chair eating ice cream covered with all sorts of junk food. He yells, “Guys, I’m eating junk and watching rubbish! You better come out and stop me! ” Of course he is home alone so so one stops him. I always thought that his parents had not spent a lot of time stopping him before, but that is just me. My mother was an official ’50s mother. She cooked supper for us every night. She didn’t ask me what I wanted. She didn’t ask me if I wanted something...
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