Flashback Friday #204

The Little Spaced Out Girl


Hello. It's good to have you back.

If you've read this blog for any length of time, you know that I grew up in a rural area. Being in a rural area, and not yet having a driver's licence, meant that I had to ride the bus to & from school. This post is about one of the other kids that rode the same bus.

Her name was Megan Kendrick (I don't use real name to protect the innocent and to protect myself from potential lawsuits). She was a petite, slightly built girl who was a Freshman when I was a Sophomore. She lived about two miles from my house, so we rode the majority of the route together (seeing that there were only two more stops after mine).

Personally, I thought she looked like the little rooster on Foghorn Leghorn that liked to read those long-haired books.She even wore the big glasses, too (After all, it was the 80's). One of the Seniors on the bus came up with the nickname that stuck. The Little Spaced Out Girl. He called her that because she aways had a far-away look. I have to wonder if she was just wishing to be somewhere else.

She always sat about middle-of-the-bus and preferred to sit alone. Some of the guys (myself include) would sit nearby and ask her questions to try to get her to talk, seeing that she rarely said anything. Sometimes, when she was tired of the attention, she shout "Stop it (insert name)". Our bus driver would then holler back for us to leave her alone.

On my last bus ride from school ever, I tried to apologize for being such a moron. She sat in her seat looking far-away, and said nothing. I still feel bad after all these years.

The NFL didn't want another black eye like the last Monday night game. The regular refs are back and the replacements are gone.

Flashback Friday #203

Meeting The Parents


Hello, one & all. Welcome back to another post of re-hashed memories. They're kind of like left-overs, but most of you have never heard them before.

Anyway, in my last FF, I told of finding a girlfriend (check that, she found me because I wasn't looking).Going with someone is one thing. Meeting her folks are totally different.I hold to the standard that a guy must love his significant other's mom and fear her dad. It wasn't like this at all with Toni's folks.

Toni's dad, Clete, was an easy-to get-along-with type of fellow. If he was any more laid back, he'd be laying down. His job was repairing stereos and other electronic equipment. He even had a small workroom in the basement, where he would work on things he brought home from work for rush jobs. He also had spent time in the Army during Vietnam.

Toni's mom, Fran, was totally different from her dad. Three gallons of crazy in a two gallon bucket. High strung doesn't even begin to describe her. One time she totally freaked out because a fly got into the house.She also was very critical about everything Toni and her dad did. She wasn't at that happy about moving from New Carlistle to Marengo. She let her husband know about it any time she could.

Toni also had a little brother, Chip, who was six years younger than her. There were times you didn't even know he was around. Other times, he channelled his mom. When he and his mother were both strung out at the same time, things were quite boisterous. He also was the spitting imagine of his mom, but in in the male gender.

I spent a lot of time at Toni's house. The best times were when her mom was away, which weren't very often because there was nothing to do in Marengo. Many time Clete offered to take Fran to Columbus with him. Her told her that she could have the car while he was at work. She told him that she hated driving in the city and would rather just stay home.

Which Way Do I Go?

I see this sign when I pick "The Boy" up from school. I chuckle every time I see it. I can just imagine a conversation like this: "Do I turn left to exit?" "Right." "Right?" "No left." "I'm so confused!"

Flashback Friday # 202

The New Girl

Welcome back. Once again we look back over my shoulder to the things that happened 30+ years ago.

Recently, If you've been paying attention, you've noticed there have been many posts about my love life as a Sophomore. It really much to talk about, but it had been the subject of many posts. When I finally decided to stop worrying about having a steady, the most amazing thing happened.

It's not unusual to have kids move during school. However, being a rural school like we were, we didn't see a lot of it. There was a girl who moved from New Carlistle (over by Dayton) and became fast friends with Carol. I guess Carol felt sorry for me, because she talked me up mightily. I had seen this girl, but I hadn't spoken much to her (seeing that my self-esteem around females was in tatters). She was in a few of my classes.

I guess this girl kept her eye on me, checking out if I was all Carol had made me up to be. I had gotten to know her name (it was Toni) and she was easy enough to talk to. I still wasn't planning on asking ANYONE to be my girlfriend. Then I got a huge surprise.

One day in Home EC, Carol asked me a question. She wanted to know if Toni asked me, would I go with her? I replied "I've never been known to turn down a lady's request." I didn't realise that Toni was just around on the other side of the cabinet (there were six cooking areas in our Home EC room). She was pleased with my response.

So, when I stopped trying to get a girlfriend, one got me. There will be many other stories about Toni in future posts, since we were boyfriend/girlfriend/best friends with benefits throughout High School.

Huh?

The other day, I overheard a co-worker discussing a MMA fighter. "I can't think of his name, but it begins with a "W" at the end." Ooooh Kaay!

The Girl Can Be Funny

Being all of 3 1/2, my granddaughter, "The Girl" has quite a sense of humor. Perhaps she doesn't know it's funny. Perhaps she does, and this is only a precursor of things to come. Anyway, here are some of her gems:

While riding in the car with my wife,
The Girl-Where we goin'?
My Wife-To pick up your brother
The Girl- I tan't Nana. He's too big.

One day she went bug hunting and picked them up just to hear another little girl scream.

While watching the movie "Spirit" she said "I wuvs horseys so much. I need to get in dat moobie & ride."

One day she said "I all tired" and put herself to down for a nap in my big recliner.

While eating pizza rolls she was systematically cracking them open and sucking out the filling. She then ate the crusts. (her mom used to eat pizza one layer at a time; cheese, peperoni, lick off the sauce, eat the crust).

Her momma was also pretty clumsy, as is her daughter. I received a text from my wife saying that The Girl had fallen off of two chairs, fallen off the couch, tripped over her own feet, tripped over the dog and run into the corner of the stove (all in one morning). My wife put her down for a nap for safety reasons.

She really is a lot of fun as long as she doesn't live up to the nickname her family has given her,"The Monster" (that's only fitting, after all, since her mother is "The Ogre")

Flashback Friday # 201

At Least It Wasn't A Horse Head


Hello, Welcome to yet another post of stuff that happened years ago.

I had rambled recently about my love life (or lack thereof) as a Sophomore in High School. I recently remembered another story along the same lines that I have to add to the mix.

There was a girl that I was fond of, but she had no idea that I had feelings for her (what, you think I'm just going to walk up to her and tell her? Idon'tthinkso). I thought that perhaps a small gift might announce my feelings. We had some flowers growing in our yard, so I picked the prettiest one , wrapped the stem in a damp paper towel and placed it in a brown paper bag (so it wouldn't be conspicuous).

When I got to school, I purposely tarried at my locker until about 60 seconds before the bell rang. The hall was deserted, so I opened this girl's locker (nobody had locks) and put the flower in her locker. I was hoping she would find it and begin inquiring who may have left it.

What I didn't know was she took all of her books with her and didn't come back to her locker until the end of school. When she finally found the flower, it was rather limp and wilted. She said to her friend "Eeew, someone put a dead flower in my locker. Gross"

I figured that some things were better off left unsaid. She never discovered that I had feeling for her.

Flashback Friday # 200

Bart Has Been Acting Really Weird

Greetings one & all. As you can see from the title, this is FF #200. Who would have thought that I would have hung on so long? I had to. I haven't told all my stories yet.

Anyway, Those who are familiar with FF know who Bart is. He was once my enemy, who became my best friend. I had been best friends with him for over two years, at this time. Just when you think you know someone, they change.

I had been to Bart's house once (remember, I didn't have my driver's license yet). We walked there from the school. His Mom had agreed to take me home. We goofed around his room, and I got to meet his older sister & younger brother. When little brother had gone outside, big sister asked if I wanted a drink. She had a bottle of Boone's Farm hidden in her room. I took a big swig and I think she got mad because I had taken such a big one.

That was then, this is now. Bart had told me that his parents had gotten "all religious" on him. He wasn't sure that I would be welcome at his house. He said things were really going down and there were lots of serious discussions going on. I didn't know what he meant.

One day, I found out from Carol that Bart had a new girl friend. I wondered why he hadn't said anything to me. Then Carol told me who it was. Dawn Pages! She had been our instigator since 7th grade. We both loved to torment her. Now my best friend is going with our favorite target. Something really strange is going on. I wasn't sure I was liking where this was heading.

Those of you who know Bart & I personally know exactly what happened to Bart. But that storyline is to be continued later.

The Lego Building

We have a rather large turbine manufacturer in our city. They recently expanded and needed more office space. An old gas station across the street was demolished to make a parking lot for their employees. The lot that they used to park on became the space for the new offices.


The asphalt was torn up and foundations were lain. I figured that a normal beam & joist construction job would take place. Was ever wrong.


On the way to church, there appeared several semi-trailers (with what we assumed were the building materials) in a field owned by the city. They sat there for about a week and we noticed that some were missing. They must have started construction.


Those semi-trailers didn't contain the building materials. They were the building. Yes, you read right. As I passed by the construction site I saw a crane lifting the trailers and stacking them up like big Legos.



I couldn't figure out how they did this because each trailer had wheels. Wouldn't the axle assemblies get in the way. Nope, each axle assembly came off like snapping the wheels off a Lego car.




It has been a really neat experience watching the boys play with their "Big Legos".