Flashback Friday #250

The Hayride



Greetings one & all. Yes, It is really me. This isn't a trained chimp pounding on the keyboard. Well, maybe it is. You'll have to keep reading to really find out.

Annnnyway, as I alluded to in my last Flashback Friday post, this post entails the trickery of my best friend Bart and the fast one he pulled on me. I have never forgotten and thank him frequently.

In late October, Bart asked me if I would like to go on a hayride with his family on Saturday. I hadn't been on a hayride in years and enjoyed the last one I was on. He told me that there would hot dogs, cider, and desserts galore. If you know me in real life, you know I love desserts galore. I told him that I'd go. He even made arrangements for me to stay the night at his house.

His folks picked me up about 4PM and we made the drive to Ashley, where the hayride was being held. We we got there, there were lots of people there and he introduced me around. There were folks from every age range and there were even some girls around my age. It was looking better all the time. Oh, and he didn't exaggerate about the eats.

I played football, tag, and played all through the barn on the property. I was having a really good time. The hayride wasn't slated until after dark. Several bales of hay were thrown in the back of a semi trailer and we would ride on the trailer. It was a flatbed trailer with sides, so nobody would fall off.

As night was falling, Bart told me that everyone was gathering around a bonfire before setting out on the hayride. With that he sprinted off and disappeared into the crowd. When I got up to the fire. A man said that we were going to sing a few songs before we left. I was expecting something like "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" or "My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean" Boy, was I ever in for a surprise. They started sing CHURCH songs.Bart knew that I wanted nothing to do with church and he had tricked me into attending a church function. I was steaming mad. I spotted Bart across the fire. He smiled real big at me. I mouthed the word "You'll Pay" to him as I hit him with a killer gaze.

After the singing, we piled into the semi trailer. I then found out the we weren't just going around the block, but the truck was heading to Mt. Vernon with all the kids. The parents would pick the kids up at the church. Bart told me that the driver would drop us off at his house on the way.

When we got to his house, and were beginning to settle in, his mom asked me "Would you like to go to church with us in the morning?" I glanced at Bart. I thought to myself, "I'm staying in their house, I'll be eating their food. What am I going to say? "No, take me home." I slowly exhaled and reluctantly said "Yeah, I'll go." But I promise you, my heart wasn't into it. As I laid down to go to sleep, I had no idea of the life changing events that awaited me.

Where Have I Been?

Hello. Yes I know you haven't heard from me for a while. I didn't fall off the edge of the Earth (or get swallowed by Facebook. I still don't have or want an account).

There have been LOTS of things going on around here, but I just haven't had the groove to post about them. I know there's much to catch you up with. I'll try to do some of that in this post.

Earlier this year, My dad was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). It makes a lot of sense seeing his struggles over the last two years.He fell multiple times and one day he just couldn't walk. Doctors attributed this to knees that no longer had any cartilage and he had a knee replacement. As he continued to weaken, Mom thought that perhaps he had suffered another stroke. As the doctors ran their tests for stroke, the diagnosis of ALS came. This man who was a strong carpenter now cannot even feed himself.

While watching the deterioration of my dad, I also watched the deterioration of my Mother-In-Law. She had been in the nursing home several years battling with Parkinson's Disease, Emphysema, Diabetes, Congestive Heart Failure and a laundry list of other ailments. She was a WWII US Navy veteran and a dear saint of God. Many people joke and have nasty things to say about their in-laws. I grew to love her. She went home to her reward in May. I miss her but seeing her struggle like she did, I wouldn't wish her back. She's in a much better place.

We also lost our beloved PT cruiser. We were in an accident (nobody was hurt) and the body shop said it would cost $2700  to fix it. The other driver's insurance would pay for it, so they totaled it out for $3500. I still don't see the sense in that. You won't pay $2700 but you will pay $3500? If I was a shareholder, they would, as Ricky Ricardo would say "Have some 'splainin' to do".

This is the PT with a play house that we bought at a yard sale. The hatch wouldn't close so we had to bungee cord it down. After the accident, the hatch wouldn't open, neither would the back passenger door. :-(

I am still fighting Workman's Comp over the injury to my left shoulder. I hurt it at work over a year ago. They've ruled that the injury was "pre-existing" and had nothing to do with the fall I had. How can something  be pre-existing if you never injured it before? Grrrrr.

We also had a scare with my mom. She was hospitalized with arrhythmia. She has rheumatoid arthritis and it affected her heart. She also has to have both knees replaced as she is bone-on-bone with both of them.

I'm sure I've overlooked several things but at this present time, I can't think of what they might be. I'm sure my wife will let me know what I've forgotten.  

Flashback Friday #249

Starting 11th Grade



Greetings to all and welcome back.

In today's post, I become an upperclassman. 11th grade was a good year for me. The vast majority of my older antagonist has graduated and a fresh start awaited me. Plus I had a good core of friends that also were returning.

When we were making out our schedules in the spring of our Sophomore year, I told Bart to try to pull a fast one on the office staff. Bart had taken Home Ec. I in his Sophomore year. I had taken Home Ec. I in my Freshman year and Home Ec. II in my Sophomore year. I told him to put down Home Ec. III on his schedule so we could be in the same class. He did, and we got to be in the same class, even though he hadn't taken Home Ec. II. Toni and Carol were also in that class with us.

Bart and I had most of our classes together. We were still "Best Friends" (at least in my mind) and liked a lot of the same things. He had recently started going with a girl he went to church with named Cheryl. She was a senior at our school and a cousin to his ex-girlfriend, Dawn. She was different than most of the other girls, except for Dawn, as she always dressed in skirts and dresses. Some of the other girls occasionally wore skirts, but she and Dawn wore them ALL the time.

Even though I had my driver's license, I still rode the bus to school (bummer). Seeing that we were down to only one car, as Dad's green Cadillac had bitten the dust, my parents needed it to get back and forth to work in Westerville. Since I was one of the "older" kids on the bus, I hung out at the back. The 40 minute ride to school and the hour & half ride home was still the same.

There were wonderful things awaiting for me this coming year. The MOST wonderful thing that happened will be discussed in my next post.

Flashback Friday #248

Getting My Driver's License



Hello, all. Long time no see. I'm not going to get into why I was gone. I'm here again and that's all that matters.

As you can see from my title, this was a big day for me. Actually, it was a big four days. "Four days?", you may ask. Yes, let me explain.

I had driven many hours with Mom & Dad and it was time for me to go take my driver's test. Dad let me drive to our county seat. When we parked, we went into the Highway Patrol office to sign up. When it was my turn, a hulking officer escorted me out to our car. As I was backing out of the parking space, he barked "Stop the car!". Startled, I did. He said if I continued the course I was backing, I would scrape the car next to us. Oh boy. What a beginning.

He took me on some of the side streets And while driving, he would say "Turn left." or "Turn right." After one of the "Turn left." commands, he said, "We'll head back to the office now. You failed to stop at that stop sign back there." I didn't remember any stop sign. I figured if I argued with him, he could make my life very miserable. When we got back, I took the manuverability test. I was so rattled that I failed it miserably.

My second attempt went just about as good. I went left of center (I can't imagine that) and my second driver's test was toast. Ditto for the parking test. When I told a couple of my friends of the troubles that I had, they said that they had heard that the officer there didn't like giving driver's licenses to guys because he believed taht all guys want to hot-rod around. That was enough for me. I talked to my folks and we decided that we would go to a neighboring county to take my test the next time.

Now it was time to take my test again. third times the charm, right? When we got to the Highway Patol post, a very nice female officer took me out for my test. She questioned why I went out of county to take my test. I told her of my struggles with the big, burley officer. She smiled and said "I hope I don't make you nervous like that." She didn't. I passed the driving test, but once again, I failed the parallel parking test. Once again I headed back to the Highway Patrol office. I had already passed my driving test, so all I had to do was to take the parking test. No pressure or anything, but if you fail to get your license after four attempts, your driver's permit is invalidated and you have to start all over again. This time, I did pass and it was time to get my picture taken. When I got my license, I didn't care for the picture on it (who does?), but that didn't matter. I had my driver's license. Woo Hoo!!!

Flashback Friday #247

Witnessing A No-Hitter



Hello to all. Any one who knows me in real life knows that I'm a sports fan. I enjoy football, baseball, hockey, Olympics, and Genesis 26:8. That being said.There are certain things that happen in the sporting areanas that take special notice. One of those things in the no-hitter in baseball. It is a special thing to have faced the opposing batting order several times in a game and watch as each one trudges back to the dugout without a hit. it take grat skill and lots of luck to do this on the profesional level. It take even more when you're talking about girls slow-pitch softball.

Toni played softball for the local "city league" team. You needed a minimum of nine girls to have a team. Theirs had ten. If Toni wasn't in right field, she was on the bench. She platooned with another girl in right. All the other positions were set, especially pitcher.

Gina Queen was our school's version of "Big Ethel Muggs". For those of you that are unfamiliar with Big Ethel, she was the homely, super-athletic, wanna-be girlfriend of Jughead Jones in the "Archie" comics.

Gina was on fire that day.In softball the idea is to loft the ball up toward the plate and let the batter hit it. I don't know if she was adding some back-spin or what, but the batters weren't hitting the ball. Those that did manage to make contact were put out by a sure fielding team. That is until the final inning.

At the top of the last inning, the first batter flies out to center. The next batter makes contact and lofts a ball to short right field. I really don't remember if it was Toni or Becky playing at that moment, but the ball hits right at the tip of her glove , then bounces out for an error. The opposing team has a baserunner for the first time. The next batter hits a grounder to short. The shortstop gobbles up the ball, flips the the second baseman who then throws to first to complete the double play. Game over.

Gina lost out on the perfect game, but she got the no-hitter.

What's Going On At The Castle?

The other day, my grandaughter, The Girl, wanted me to play with her. I have an Imaginext castle and she needed me to put it together for her to play with. She drug it out of the toy room and I dumped it out, sorted the pieces and commenced to build a castle. Once I had the castle built, she had some grand plans.

First off, she wanted visitors to come to the castle. So I rounded up some visitors. I came up with a giant and an ogre. The ogre needed help crossing the street, so the giant held his hand.

Then there was a ball in the castle. Cinderella and The Prince were dancing together.

But everyone knows the story. The Prince also had to dance with Cinderella's ugly step-sister. This step-sister could have had as much beauty sleep as Sleeping Beauty and still have been ugly.

You've got to love the imaginationof a four year-old little girl.

Flashback Friday #246

The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same


Greetings to all who have ventured this way. I hope you came here on purpose, but if you didn't, you can read my drivel anyway.

Currently, in my storytelling, we pick up our story during the summer between 10th & 11th grades. During this summer I've (if you've been reading my blog, you already know this) taken Driver's Ed, Moved into a new house, and dated Kelly Stump (again, even though I told myself I wouldn't).

Another thing that happened during that summer was that Toni & I got back together.She rode over to my house one day on her bike and told me that she had to talk to me. She knew that I wasn't one to talk a lot on the phone, unlike Carol, who would call me and get mad because I wasn't talking. Hello, you called, you should do the talking. Anyway, she told me that all the other guys she dated after we broke up, none could hold a candle to me. I was unlike anyone she had ever met. Then she asked if we give it another try.

Of course, I said yes because I hated the fact that I didn't have a steady girlfriend. I also didn't have enough self-esteem to ask anyone else. Here was someone who was asking me. I'd be crazy to say no.

I learned later on, at my high school reunions, that there were some other girls that liked me but wouldn't or didn't say anything. In retrospect, if they had dropped a hint or two, I probably would have tripped over them and gone about my business.