Sposed to be Spring and looking out at the sunshine with no snow on the ground is nice but with the temp at 28 there's no foolin ya when steppin outside. Brendan and Caitlin are due in tomorrow (Sun.) morning. We're giving them a ride to Paterson N.J. were a friend of ours will pick them up and take them to JFK. Their flight to Rome leaves at 10 PM. We were going to take them all the way to JFK but the offer from Melanie was too good to turn down. specially after our last failed attempt with Evan.
Hard to imagine that it's 42 degrees warmer only 1000 miles south of here. Heck I saw Cherry Bloosoms in D.C. on the news this AM.
The house progresses. It's insulated and after I've had a week to add my deadwood and prep work for trim and such I'll turn it over to the Sheetrock crew a week from Monday. Two weeks later I should have it back and be able to paint & trim it.
Zipidee
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Next installment
This picture is of all the students and the teacher at Lisbon Center School. The year is 1957. On the top row 4th from the left is Harold Aldrich 6th fromthe left, same row, is Ray. I'm in the Middle row 4th from the left. Ernie Aldrich is 1st on the Bottom row and Rob is 4th from the left.
Dad worked part time at a gas station just off of the base owned by Dave. It was a Shell Station. Dave lived in the neighboring town of Lisbon Falls. Somehow he or someone there introduced Dad to Mr. Zaymore. Mr. Zaymore was starting a housing sub division in Lisbon Center and needed a surveyor. Dad had never surveyed before but it was only a matter of math and Dad was a wiz at Math. Said he could do your taxes with a carpenters framing square. I believed him. Anyhow Dad decided to buy the first house in the new development. This was the beginning of our adoption by Mr. and Mrs. Zaymore. We spent the summer between my kindergarten and first grade living in the Zaymore House at the mouth of Booth Bay Harbor.
My favorite memory of Booth Bay besides the Blue Berry bushes that ran all the way down to the ocean was a visit by Uncle Cliff, Aunt Evelyn, Dads sister, and their kids Betty & Larry. Dad decided that we should have Lobster for dinner & to show off a little took his brother-in-law and all us kids down to the docks in the harbor to buy some. There was an old Maine lobsterman sitting in his boat with a ‘Lobster For Sale’ sign propped up. Dad asks the price of Lobsters and the old dude states a price for a certain weight cooked & then the price uncooked. Uncooked cost less so he ask for a couple of a certain weight. Ole dude reaches in a tank and pulls out the ugliest green & brown monsters you’d ever seen. Dad say “ No No No! I want two of those nice Red ones”! Ole dude says “Ayup! You wan em cooked”!
My favorite memory of Booth Bay besides the Blue Berry bushes that ran all the way down to the ocean was a visit by Uncle Cliff, Aunt Evelyn, Dads sister, and their kids Betty & Larry. Dad decided that we should have Lobster for dinner & to show off a little took his brother-in-law and all us kids down to the docks in the harbor to buy some. There was an old Maine lobsterman sitting in his boat with a ‘Lobster For Sale’ sign propped up. Dad asks the price of Lobsters and the old dude states a price for a certain weight cooked & then the price uncooked. Uncooked cost less so he ask for a couple of a certain weight. Ole dude reaches in a tank and pulls out the ugliest green & brown monsters you’d ever seen. Dad say “ No No No! I want two of those nice Red ones”! Ole dude says “Ayup! You wan em cooked”!
There was a short stay in an apartment in Lisbon Falls before we moved into the house. It was on the second floor in a curve on the road to Lisbon Center. Memories here are of taking hands full of maple tree seeds up on our porch and throwing them off. A cloud of helicopters was fun to be under. Another is of Mom taking us shopping on Main Street in Lisbon Falls. Outside of one of the businesses some men were standing, one of them was a midget smoking a cigar. As we passed Sheri asked Mom “Why’s that little boy smoking a cigar?” loud enough to be heard by all.
By the time school was to start the house was finished and we’d moved in and made friends with every kid within shouting distance. Our best friends were Ernie and Harold Aldrich. They lived on the farm that bordered our back yard and the rest of the development. Not really much of a farm. They had a cow and some chickens, a couple of apple trees and a good slice of land that ran all the way down to the river. Mr. Aldrich was a painter/carpenter/ whatever during the six months a year that there wasn’t snow. The rest of the time he was home. This was where I went to the first grade. A six grade, one teacher, one room school. It had once been a two room school but the room upstairs wasn’t used. We walked to school rain, snow or sun. Really wasn’t that far.
By the time school was to start the house was finished and we’d moved in and made friends with every kid within shouting distance. Our best friends were Ernie and Harold Aldrich. They lived on the farm that bordered our back yard and the rest of the development. Not really much of a farm. They had a cow and some chickens, a couple of apple trees and a good slice of land that ran all the way down to the river. Mr. Aldrich was a painter/carpenter/ whatever during the six months a year that there wasn’t snow. The rest of the time he was home. This was where I went to the first grade. A six grade, one teacher, one room school. It had once been a two room school but the room upstairs wasn’t used. We walked to school rain, snow or sun. Really wasn’t that far.
There was a fall festival in Lisbon Falls that they called ‘Pioneer Days’. It was strange to be in Northern New England and watch people dress up as Cowboys & Indians with covered wagons and all the extras. They would rope off an area on Main Street and dump sawdust there, then dump nickels, dimes, quarters and a few (I seem to remember the number 5) Silver Dollars in and mix it up. On the big day they let the kids in and you got to keep what you found.
By the time winter hit in Lisbon Center it was our second Maine winter and we were snow survival specialist. We wore LL Bean one piece fleece lined Mukluks back when they were only known in Maine. We spent hours putting on our layers of snow clothing so we could stay outside all day. Sledding, tunneling, snowball fights holding a pee for hours ‘cause if you went in you never got back out, turning blue. Spending the night at Ernie and Harold’s there was no heat upstairs, come to think of it there wasn’t much downstairs. Their mattresses were feather and they had goose down blankets and once you got in bed and screamed through the first few freezing minutes you were warmer than in any bed you’d ever been in. In the morning when you poked your head out you felt like your face would freeze off. Harold would jump out of bed in his underwear and race to the fire downstairs to get dressed but there was no way I was going to do that, his Mom might see me. Anyway Ernie couldn’t do that cause he wore braces. He was one of the unfortunate kids of that time that got Polio. So I put on as much of my clothes as I could under covers and just suffered through the rest then went down with Ernie.
Another family favorite both times in Maine was to go to Bradbury Mountain State Park. There was everything there you could expect in a state park. Swings, teeter-totters, slides, picnic tables, grills, bathrooms and a mountain to climb. The adults would go up the path and we would go up the face of the mountain. A very tame hill in retrospect but in those days it was Everest or something near it. All day was never enough and every time there was another opportunity to discover.
But back to our adoption by the Zaymore’s, they lived in the house next door, the second house finished in the neighborhood. Mrs. Z was always making cookies and having the neighborhood kids in to eat them. She also used to read to as many as would come by. She read Winnie the Pooh to us. I believe there’s still a copy in the family that was given to us by her. This was before Disney got hold of Winnie, there were no Tiger dolls or movies. Her reading to me hooked me on reading. I used to read under my sheet at night with a flashlight after lights out.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Membrin
I've been doin some 'membrin and writin it down. I'm goin to chop out pieces of it as I see fit and post them on this blog. If you are in the narative or there 'bouts and would like to add or correct a point this is your chance. Not that I'll nesessarily use you input but I might who knows.
I started school in Bath Maine. We were close enough that Ray and I walked up the hill every morning together and then at noon I would walk home alone. During Christmas break we moved into Base Housing in Bunswick. It was a three bedroom one story duplex.
I learned a lot in the six months we lived in this house. I learned how wise my father was and not to fight with my brother Ray, at least not where Mom or Dad could see or hear. Mom had had enough of our daily death combat and had turned the problem over to Dad. He brought us together and after a marvelous but forgotten speech about not fighting Yada Yada said “Ok now boys Kiss and make up”. KISS? My brother? A Guy? Now? With everyone watching?? Oh please beat me! Rip out fingernails, anything but that! After we kissed my father informed us that that was how all of our fights would end from then on. We’d go blocks away just to punch each other. I also learned how funny my father was. One day while in a knock down drag out with Ray a few blocks away our younger brother Rob came up and told us that Dad wanted us home NOW! And that he was real mad. We couldn’t think how he would know we were fighting. None of the people in that part of housing knew us. Dads’ habit upon getting home for the day was to kick back on the sofa with a cigarette that he took from a music box dispenser and relax with the paper. My eight year old older brother had put a ‘Load’ in a couple of those cigarettes. I don’t know where an eight year old would get such a thing but I had stood by him as he inserted them into dads’ smokes. A ‘Load’ was a small splinter looking thing that when pushed into the end of the cigarette would explode when the match or hot box reached it blowing the end of the cigarette up and scaring the smoker and anyone else around not in on the gag. When we got home and opened the door Dad was sitting on the couch looking madder than hell. Dad could get that look – easy. His face was black and his hair was standing straight up. After falling on the floor blubbering “I didn’t do it! He did”! “He made me do it”! “I swear I’ll never let him make me do it again” Dad breaks out laughing. The load did surprise him but he took burnt cork and rubbed it on his face to turn the tables. Dad was a funny guy. I also learned how my Dad could overcome almost any obstacle by giving the problem some thought. I needed a bigger bike. The one I had was too small to learn how to ride with, my knees kept hitting the handle bars. So Dad found a big ole bike with the old fashioned curved handle bars and balloon tires for me. But it was a Girls bike! No way Dad! I’m not riding a Girls bike! So he took it to the hanger and had some guy weld a bar across the top. Problem solved. While learning to ride there were several ‘crushing’ moments that made me wish I’d not insisted on that bar.
Zipidee
I started school in Bath Maine. We were close enough that Ray and I walked up the hill every morning together and then at noon I would walk home alone. During Christmas break we moved into Base Housing in Bunswick. It was a three bedroom one story duplex.
I learned a lot in the six months we lived in this house. I learned how wise my father was and not to fight with my brother Ray, at least not where Mom or Dad could see or hear. Mom had had enough of our daily death combat and had turned the problem over to Dad. He brought us together and after a marvelous but forgotten speech about not fighting Yada Yada said “Ok now boys Kiss and make up”. KISS? My brother? A Guy? Now? With everyone watching?? Oh please beat me! Rip out fingernails, anything but that! After we kissed my father informed us that that was how all of our fights would end from then on. We’d go blocks away just to punch each other. I also learned how funny my father was. One day while in a knock down drag out with Ray a few blocks away our younger brother Rob came up and told us that Dad wanted us home NOW! And that he was real mad. We couldn’t think how he would know we were fighting. None of the people in that part of housing knew us. Dads’ habit upon getting home for the day was to kick back on the sofa with a cigarette that he took from a music box dispenser and relax with the paper. My eight year old older brother had put a ‘Load’ in a couple of those cigarettes. I don’t know where an eight year old would get such a thing but I had stood by him as he inserted them into dads’ smokes. A ‘Load’ was a small splinter looking thing that when pushed into the end of the cigarette would explode when the match or hot box reached it blowing the end of the cigarette up and scaring the smoker and anyone else around not in on the gag. When we got home and opened the door Dad was sitting on the couch looking madder than hell. Dad could get that look – easy. His face was black and his hair was standing straight up. After falling on the floor blubbering “I didn’t do it! He did”! “He made me do it”! “I swear I’ll never let him make me do it again” Dad breaks out laughing. The load did surprise him but he took burnt cork and rubbed it on his face to turn the tables. Dad was a funny guy. I also learned how my Dad could overcome almost any obstacle by giving the problem some thought. I needed a bigger bike. The one I had was too small to learn how to ride with, my knees kept hitting the handle bars. So Dad found a big ole bike with the old fashioned curved handle bars and balloon tires for me. But it was a Girls bike! No way Dad! I’m not riding a Girls bike! So he took it to the hanger and had some guy weld a bar across the top. Problem solved. While learning to ride there were several ‘crushing’ moments that made me wish I’d not insisted on that bar.
Zipidee
Saturday, March 15, 2008
A Trip to Sequoia
In the summer of ’62 we learned we’d be moving to California. That was the way of it usually. You’d learn of a new posting in the summer and be gone without being able to say farewell to all of your friends. Some that lived on base with you or in the off base neighborhood you lived in with a few other ‘military families’ would let the others know the obvious when school started the next fall, you’d moved. Those that had different posting cycles than you disappeared this way and we all accepted it as normal.
We were in Millington Tennessee, just north of Memphis, where Dad was teaching at the “A” School on base. I’ve no idea what an “A’ School was but I do know there was a “B” School there also because Dad had attended that school at an earlier posting to NAS Millington. We’d lived in Millington three different times. This trip was to be our first West Coast posting. After Maine, Florida, Kansas and Tennessee California sounded promising. Ocean, sunshine, no snow, no tornado's, no hurricanes just one threat --- Earth Quakes! Not a bad trade really.
As we came over the mountains expecting to see sunshine, orange groves and an ocean vista our eyes began burning, tears were flowing, the other trade off came home – Smog. It was something that we became used to and truthfully there were many sunny days but our first few weeks were spent in a brown overcast haze. The base we were moving to was NAS Point Mugu. Yes there was a sign at the base entrance that read “Oh Magoo You’ve Done it Again! With a picture of the cartoon character on it.
We were going to have to wait for six weeks before base housing was available so we were put in a two bedroom hotel room in Oxnard. Then they immediately shipped dad to Long Island N.Y. The new plane, E2A Hawkeye, that he’d be helping to shake down for the last three years of his twenty year career, was at the Grumman factory there. They were supposed to fly it back to California a month later after a shake down cruise but the shake down took three months. The Hawkeye is the little plane with the pancake on top that you see on aircraft carriers in the news.
By the time Dad returned we were settled in Base Housing. Our house backed up to the fence that separated Base Housing from Base Runway. We were at the very east end of the runway. If the Fantom 4F’s, never just one, took off from our end their departure was proceeded by 30 minutes of oscillating blasts of their engines leading up to a final 5 minutes of earth rattling, ear splitting noise before screaming down the runway and into the sky over the ocean. If, on the other hand, the wind direction required they take off from the other end you were spared the 30 minute assault, but were still aware of their activity (it wasn’t that far off) only to have to live at the bottom of there departure. Heading east, into mountains and over residential areas, required they reach certain altitudes quickly. They always chose immediately, strait up, with after burners roaring. It was loud and violent enough to shake you as hard as any tremor did. But it was “in defense of the country” and therefore acceptable.
The house had three bedrooms and two baths. What luxury! These Californians’ knew how to live. Mom & Dad got a room of course and that left a room for my two sisters and a room for me and three brothers. The me and three brothers thing wasn’t working. Dad came up with a solution that like most of his solutions was joined to another solution. Another part of the equation to these solutions was money. Of course it was. He had six children and was in the Navy, even with part time jobs off base it was tight money wise.
His solution. He bought a small camping trailer and parked it in the back yard. My older brother Ray and I used it for a bedroom. We ran an extension cord to the trailer for lights but just threw extra blankets on in the winter. Wait you say this is solution at expense and your right but ---- We could now vacation, why in the Sequoia’s if we wished, and since the trailer sleeps six and two can sleep in the back of the station wagon why there’ll be no tent fee and if need be we can just pull off the road and get a nights sleep without paying for a motel and……Well as you can see it was a very sound economic decision.
At the first chance Dad has for some time off Ray and I have to clear out of the trailer so Mom can stock the trailer for a trip --- to Sequoia National Forrest. Dad has decided that traveling in California really requires air conditioning and has the Ford wagon equipped. Pulling a trailer through the mountains will definitely over tax the cooling system of the car so there’s a bonus to the original solution. The trailer being towed has a large water tank in it for drinking and washing. He taps the tank with a copper line that goes all the way to the front of the car and has small holes in it that spray water onto the radiator. He then taps the tank and brings the line into the rear of the wagon and attaches a bicycle pump. By pumping air into the tank it forces water through the line and onto the overheating cooling system. A beautiful system and a testament to how I think. Certain things were overlooked in the plan, also a part of my genetically formed problem solving process. There was no pressure gauge to let us know when we’d reached a safe amount of pressure in the tank. Actually over pressurizing the tank never entered his mind. Wouldn’t have mine. How much pressure could some kids develop with a bicycle pump anyway? Another overlooked sum in the equation was the weight of that much water but that weight would diminish, it being pumped onto the radiator to offset the weight of the water to…., as we climbed the mountains – all would balance out. Bout half way up with Dad hollering “Pump Harder it’s still overheating” we blew the tank. After the initial roadside investigation, the tank would no longer hold water and the Air Conditioner was just unused weight for the rest of the vacation, we proceeded, with only a few more stops to let the radiator cool, to our vacation amongst some of the oldest living organisms on the planet. Trees that you could, and some did, carve a whole house and stable out of! Looking at the stars at night makes my insignificance apparent, but looking up one of these trees and knowing its age brought home a different humbleness. Saw the Redwood with the road through it, closed to traffic in an a inspired act of conservation, saw a Park Ranger hold a blow torch to a piece of Redwood Bark to exhibit its fire retardant abilities. Always wondered why those attributes aren’t utilized by firemen.
Returning home with one day for Mom to clean out the trailer and it became our bedroom again.
We were in Millington Tennessee, just north of Memphis, where Dad was teaching at the “A” School on base. I’ve no idea what an “A’ School was but I do know there was a “B” School there also because Dad had attended that school at an earlier posting to NAS Millington. We’d lived in Millington three different times. This trip was to be our first West Coast posting. After Maine, Florida, Kansas and Tennessee California sounded promising. Ocean, sunshine, no snow, no tornado's, no hurricanes just one threat --- Earth Quakes! Not a bad trade really.
As we came over the mountains expecting to see sunshine, orange groves and an ocean vista our eyes began burning, tears were flowing, the other trade off came home – Smog. It was something that we became used to and truthfully there were many sunny days but our first few weeks were spent in a brown overcast haze. The base we were moving to was NAS Point Mugu. Yes there was a sign at the base entrance that read “Oh Magoo You’ve Done it Again! With a picture of the cartoon character on it.
We were going to have to wait for six weeks before base housing was available so we were put in a two bedroom hotel room in Oxnard. Then they immediately shipped dad to Long Island N.Y. The new plane, E2A Hawkeye, that he’d be helping to shake down for the last three years of his twenty year career, was at the Grumman factory there. They were supposed to fly it back to California a month later after a shake down cruise but the shake down took three months. The Hawkeye is the little plane with the pancake on top that you see on aircraft carriers in the news.
By the time Dad returned we were settled in Base Housing. Our house backed up to the fence that separated Base Housing from Base Runway. We were at the very east end of the runway. If the Fantom 4F’s, never just one, took off from our end their departure was proceeded by 30 minutes of oscillating blasts of their engines leading up to a final 5 minutes of earth rattling, ear splitting noise before screaming down the runway and into the sky over the ocean. If, on the other hand, the wind direction required they take off from the other end you were spared the 30 minute assault, but were still aware of their activity (it wasn’t that far off) only to have to live at the bottom of there departure. Heading east, into mountains and over residential areas, required they reach certain altitudes quickly. They always chose immediately, strait up, with after burners roaring. It was loud and violent enough to shake you as hard as any tremor did. But it was “in defense of the country” and therefore acceptable.
The house had three bedrooms and two baths. What luxury! These Californians’ knew how to live. Mom & Dad got a room of course and that left a room for my two sisters and a room for me and three brothers. The me and three brothers thing wasn’t working. Dad came up with a solution that like most of his solutions was joined to another solution. Another part of the equation to these solutions was money. Of course it was. He had six children and was in the Navy, even with part time jobs off base it was tight money wise.
His solution. He bought a small camping trailer and parked it in the back yard. My older brother Ray and I used it for a bedroom. We ran an extension cord to the trailer for lights but just threw extra blankets on in the winter. Wait you say this is solution at expense and your right but ---- We could now vacation, why in the Sequoia’s if we wished, and since the trailer sleeps six and two can sleep in the back of the station wagon why there’ll be no tent fee and if need be we can just pull off the road and get a nights sleep without paying for a motel and……Well as you can see it was a very sound economic decision.
At the first chance Dad has for some time off Ray and I have to clear out of the trailer so Mom can stock the trailer for a trip --- to Sequoia National Forrest. Dad has decided that traveling in California really requires air conditioning and has the Ford wagon equipped. Pulling a trailer through the mountains will definitely over tax the cooling system of the car so there’s a bonus to the original solution. The trailer being towed has a large water tank in it for drinking and washing. He taps the tank with a copper line that goes all the way to the front of the car and has small holes in it that spray water onto the radiator. He then taps the tank and brings the line into the rear of the wagon and attaches a bicycle pump. By pumping air into the tank it forces water through the line and onto the overheating cooling system. A beautiful system and a testament to how I think. Certain things were overlooked in the plan, also a part of my genetically formed problem solving process. There was no pressure gauge to let us know when we’d reached a safe amount of pressure in the tank. Actually over pressurizing the tank never entered his mind. Wouldn’t have mine. How much pressure could some kids develop with a bicycle pump anyway? Another overlooked sum in the equation was the weight of that much water but that weight would diminish, it being pumped onto the radiator to offset the weight of the water to…., as we climbed the mountains – all would balance out. Bout half way up with Dad hollering “Pump Harder it’s still overheating” we blew the tank. After the initial roadside investigation, the tank would no longer hold water and the Air Conditioner was just unused weight for the rest of the vacation, we proceeded, with only a few more stops to let the radiator cool, to our vacation amongst some of the oldest living organisms on the planet. Trees that you could, and some did, carve a whole house and stable out of! Looking at the stars at night makes my insignificance apparent, but looking up one of these trees and knowing its age brought home a different humbleness. Saw the Redwood with the road through it, closed to traffic in an a inspired act of conservation, saw a Park Ranger hold a blow torch to a piece of Redwood Bark to exhibit its fire retardant abilities. Always wondered why those attributes aren’t utilized by firemen.
Returning home with one day for Mom to clean out the trailer and it became our bedroom again.
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Rain!
Today's rain is the second big rain of the week. Funny how a slight shift in the path of a low pressure system makes such a difference. Had these last two tracked a hundred miles east we'd be buried in snow. So let it RAIN:~) but you'd think it would have washed all of the snow and ice away. It has most of it but not all. 6 inches in Nashville and rain here --- naw there's nothing wrong with the atmosphere.
House project is moving on. The heating contractor should be roughed in by next week then it gets insulated after that Sheetrock. Yahoo! then I can get in & make some money painting & trimming & putting in the kitchen & -------.
Well my big brother got older and you know what that means -- yep I'm gonna have to also. Guess it beats the alternative.
Better go watch more rain fall!
Zipidee
House project is moving on. The heating contractor should be roughed in by next week then it gets insulated after that Sheetrock. Yahoo! then I can get in & make some money painting & trimming & putting in the kitchen & -------.
Well my big brother got older and you know what that means -- yep I'm gonna have to also. Guess it beats the alternative.
Better go watch more rain fall!
Zipidee
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