The Strange Memory

When you reach my age which is older than the average bear, you begin to forget recent things, but sometimes a memory of something that happened in your youth comes floating in clear as a bell. Such as the following. 

One of the  most memorable thing I remember was one morning when I woke up and went downstairs. Mom and Daddy had a bed in the living room at that time. I saw a baby lying on the bed by Mom. I asked, “Where did you find this baby?” She said, “This baby is your new sister and the doctor brought her to us”. I asked, “Where did the doctor get the baby from?” She said, “I don’t know, he just had her in a suitcase”. Until I received my, birds and bees education, I thought babies came in suitcases. My birds and bees education was exactly that. One time I asked, “Why does the fly sit on top of the other fly.” My older brother who already knew everything said, “Cause, they are doin it.” “Doin what?” I asked. Mom overheard the conversation and said, “Now you shut up talking that way, the flies are just playing.”  I was about 15. ha ha

I never remember anything very important. 

The Beginning Roots

 My Grandpa, Jasper Lockwood built this house in 1900 for his family of six.
 My Dad was born here in 1900. We lived here when I was a kid.

Then I grew up and got married, but not in that order.

We had a family of three.

They had families shown below. 

Deena

Trent
He lost his life at 12.

Cora

All six Granddaughters

Laura, Emily, Molly, Katie

 

Now the Great Grand kids.

Anthony (AJ)

Tylor (the real "cool age")

Dylan

Chloe

Leah and Chloe

Shelby

Great granddaughters

Great Grandma with the Greats

The Corrupt Years

Is this decade going to be known as ‘The Corrupt Years’ or is it going to continue to be even more corrupt.  Identify theft, if someone gets your Social Security number and other personal information, they can ruin your credit history in a very short while. It sometimes takes months or longer to straighten it out.

If a package is left by your front door, it very likely will be stolen if left there very long.

You can’t warm your car up in your driveway unless you lock it.

I even had my handicap plaque stolen out of my car twice. Think of how many are using plaques that are stolen. I make double sure I lock my car doors now.

Even if you leave your house locked when you leave, you may return to find someone has broken a window to get in, and stolen whatever they wanted. Shoplifting is another big one.  

Now the scariest one of all is the bank hackers that stole a billion dollars from banks. The article in the paper said it may still affect the consumers.  How can it get much worse? 

Cranky Old Man

When an old man died in the geriatric ward of a nursing home in an Australian country town, it was believed that he had nothing left of any value.
Later, when the nurses were going through his meager possessions, They found this poem. Its quality and content so impressed the staff that copies were made and distributed to every nurse in the hospital.
One nurse took her copy to Melbourne. The old man's sole bequest to posterity has since appeared in the Christmas editions of magazines around the country and appearing in mags for Mental Health. A slide presentation has also been made based on his simple, but eloquent, poem.
And this old man, with nothing left to give to the world, is now the author of this 'anonymous' poem winging across the Internet.
Cranky Old Man
What do you see nurses? . . .. . .What do you see?
What are you thinking .. . when you're looking at me?
A cranky old man, . . . . . .not very wise,
Uncertain of habit .. . . . . . . .. with faraway eyes?
Who dribbles his food .. . ... . . and makes no reply.
When you say in a loud voice . .'I do wish you'd try!'
Who seems not to notice . . .the things that you do.
And forever is losing . . . . . .. . . A sock or shoe?
Who, resisting or not . . . ... lets you do as you will,
With bathing and feeding . . . .The long day to fill?
Is that what you're thinking?. .Is that what you see?
Then open your eyes, nurse .you're not looking at me.
I'll tell you who I am . . . . .. As I sit here so still,
As I do at your bidding, .. . . . as I eat at your will.
I'm a small child of Ten . .with a father and mother,
Brothers and sisters .. . . .. . who love one another
A young boy of Sixteen . . . .. with wings on his feet
Dreaming that soon now . . .. . . a lover he'll meet.
A groom soon at Twenty . . . ..my heart gives a leap.
Remembering, the vows .. .. .that I promised to keep.
At Twenty-Five, now . . . . .I have young of my own.
Who need me to guide . . . And a secure happy home.
A man of Thirty . .. . . . . My young now grown fast,
Bound to each other . . .. With ties that should last.
At Forty, my young sons .. .have grown and are gone,
But my woman is beside me . . to see I don't mourn.
At Fifty, once more, .. ...Babies play 'round my knee,
Again, we know children . . . . My loved one and me.
Dark days are upon me . . . . My wife is now dead.
I look at the future ... . . . . I shudder with dread.
For my young are all rearing .. . . young of their own.
And I think of the years . . . And the love that I've known.
I'm now an old man . . . . . . .. and nature is cruel.
It's jest to make old age . . . . . . . look like a fool.
The body, it crumbles .. .. . grace and vigor, depart.
There is now a stone . . . where I once had a heart.
But inside this old carcass . A young man still dwells,
And now and again . . . . . my battered heart swells
I remember the joys . . . . .. . I remember the pain.
And I'm loving and living . . . . . . . life over again.
I think of the years, all too few . . .. gone too fast.
And accept the stark fact . . . that nothing can last.
So open your eyes, people .. . . . .. . . open and see.
Not a cranky old man .

Another Chapter of My Life

The family moved from the Rio Grande river bank to a small town nearby. It was late in the summer when they took the tent down and loaded everything into the trailer.

The house was one half mile north of Center, Co. It was a white two story house with an outside toilet and a large yard with a small shallow lake next to it. The three school kids walked the half mile to school.  They lived in the kitchen and one bedroom. Other rooms were closed off to preserve heat; the only heat source was in the kitchen. It had a potbellied stove near one wall and the opposite wall had the very large wood burning stove. It had a reservoir attached to the end of the stove. It held warm water for doing dishes and their hygiene. It only held warm water while the stove had a fire in it. A small table located on the wall at the end of the stove held a wash basin and water bucket which held the drinking water. A ladle was kept in the bucket. Everyone drank from the same ladle.   There was no concern about exchanging germs. The dining table sat next to the wall by the potbellied stove with a bench on the back side for the kids to sit on.

The upstairs rooms were only investigated the day they moved in. The upstairs had three rooms and one room had a massive amount of funeral wreaths and dead flowers strewn all over. The mystery of the flowers was never solved. Their imaginations, fueled by the funeral wreaths and dead flowers, led to their belief that the upstairs was haunted by a ghost or possibly numerous ghosts. They all heard the eerie sounds coming from the upstairs night after night. They made sure one bed was placed in front of the door to the stairway to block it from the ghosts. Just in case they can’t walk through a door. This bedroom was actually the living room of the house. The main entrance to the house was in this room and was also blocked by another bed. They only used the backdoor entrance. They continued to share the house with the ghost, and had many conversations about the cause of the dead flowers and wreaths and what might happen if one went upstairs. This was not entirely a kid issue; the parents were also concerned about the overhead noise. Another mystery was the door to the other bedroom which opened from the kitchen. It was stuck tight during the day and very difficult to open, but it never failed to come creaking open during the night. One day Naomi was visiting and the door problem was explained to her. She said, “I think I can solve your problem”. She saw a heavy dresser sitting next to the door and the door swung open into the kitchen so she tugged and shoved, and with some help moved the dresser in front of the door. It took care of the problem, but created another one. The next morning the mom wanted something from the closed off bedroom and the dresser was in front of it. She was somewhat miffed about her sisters’ actions and wished she was there to move it back where it belonged. 

They planned to live there until the spring thaw at which time they would hightail it back to Oklahoma if enough money could be earned. The story went on forever, but this is another chapter.

 

From left to right: Dennis, Letha, Carol, Gene, Hollis, Bennie, Lorrene, Ray, Cecil.

The parents and the four on the right were the only ones in the Colorado episodes except for a baby sister that did not survive. The parents and the three men on the right are now deceased. Only four of us left.

Our Tent Living

They were known as the Okies that live down by the river; a family of seven including the baby. They had sold out, packed up their belongings, and traveled from Oklahoma to the San Luis Valley in Colorado. They pitched a tent by the Rio Grande River among the tall evergreen trees and the roaring river sounds. Many families moved to California, and lived in migrant tent camps in 1935. They didn’t have any tent neighbors in Colorado, but there were a couple cabins nearby where families lived, their only neighbors. They also had access to an outdoor toilet.

They didn’t live very high on the hog, but didn’t go hungry. Fish was a great food source. Rainbow trout waiting to be caught, and all that was required was a rod and reel, and a hungry fisherman. They had fried fish and fried taters cooked over the camp fire. The drink of the day was Kool-Aid, red Kool-Aid, orange Kool-Aid, and purple Kool-Aid.  There was also an ice plant nearby where they could pick up all the free ice they needed for their Kool-Aid. Breakfast was fried eggs and more fried taters and store-bought bread.

A lettuce picking job was found, and the family parked the car at the end of the field. The ones old enough to work in the field picked up the heads of lettuce. The younger ones left to dillydally around the car and watch the baby. Happy Hour was when it was time to go home to the tent.

One day it rained and it rained a lot. Somewhat as it was in Noah’s day only they gathered in the tent instead of the ark to wait it out. 

Bath time was once a week whether they needed it or not. They had a galvanized tub which they carried around in the trailer with a few other necessities. The tub of water was heated on the campfire. Everyone took their turn in the tub in the same water. You do what you need to do.  There was some privacy provided with quilts draped over chairs around the tub. The chairs were from the trailer. 

The mom washed their clothes in the same tub, but with brand new water.

The clothes were draped over the same chairs, and anything else that was available.
One day the Dad said, “We need to find a house to live in before it gets cold, and get these children in school”.  He always called his kids, children because his children were children, and not goats.

This was the end of the tent living in 1935. 

The Way You Wish it Wasn't

I’ve been hanging around for 86 years, and I’ve seen a lot of new inventions in those years.  I have been wondering which may have been the greatest invention of all time. I’m not sure, but I bet toilet paper caught on pretty quick. Who invented toilet paper? No, they didn’t teach that in school, they taught you who invented the cotton gin. Who cares who invented the cotton pickin cotton gin. I don’t think I’ve had any use for that piece of knowledge in my entire life. What a waste of my school time. Even if I were on Double Jeopardy, they wouldn’t ask that one. 

I don’t know when it was invented, but the bread toaster was a great one in our household. We never had toast. My mother would make a pan of biscuits from scratch each morning. Mixes were not in existence yet. She also had to build a fire in the stove to bake them in. The first toaster we had was not automatic. It had a panel on each side that you dropped down so you could flip the toast and burn/toast the other side. Someone had to man the toaster because you had to guess when it was done. I wonder how many slices of bread went up in smoke in those days. 

Speaking of bread, my mother always made our bread, and one day we bought a loaf of bread from the store. We were bowled over because the bread was already sliced. What will they think of next! We constantly hear the expression ‘the greatest thing since sliced bread’. I still think we should say ‘The greatest thing since toilet paper’.

We even had electricity in our house. Many people didn’t have it yet in our area. We lived without it for a few years. It was like camping forever. Who wants to camp forever?

The day our new refrigerator was delivered was a day of celebration. People kept their food in ice boxes. People continued to call the refrigerator an ice box for years. I think some still do.

Our first washing machine had a gas motor. You pulled on a cord to start the motor. It was something else for us kids to fight over. It went like this. I get to pull the cord. It’s my time, you pulled it the last time. Did not. Did so. We didn’t have many toys in those days. On wash day everyone gathered around the washing machine, and watched the agitator go back and forth. As I recall, we had to bolt the washing machine to the floor because it danced all over the porch.

Those were the days I don’t want to relive. 

Things that Make Your Hair Turn Grey

Life is so full of money grabbers and other greedy bodies,  it’s impossible to keep ahead of their game. 

Charter Cable Co must hire a full time staff to decide how to suck a little more money out of you. Every service they offer has a variable price. Internet, telephone, TV service.

Why can’t they put a set rate on each one? My garbage can has a set rate. They don’t send a letter telling me I’ve used the can for a year so now I have to pay another 20 a month for it. The Cable Co. would. In July of 2015 my telephone goes up another $10.00 because it was on a special rate for a year. They advertise on TV constantly that you get internet for $29.99.  They don’t explain that it’s a one year rate.

The Cable company decided to raise my bill $5.00 a month, no explanation so I called to find out why, and it’s because there is a TV-Surcharge added beyond their control.

I found the following link.

It’s rather interesting. 

http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Charter-Starts-Charging-Broadcast-TV-Surcharge-110316