Those were the days.....

[DavidC]

http://www.remodelcrazy.com/wp-content/uploads/OldBarnInVA1-300x225.jpgAUNT BESSIE'S PLACE By Dave Cook

This could be just therapy. Our extended family gathered twice this year for funerals, then we had our annual family reunion, and my Aunt asked for a quote last week to tear down most of a garage we all played in as kids. So suddenly nostalgia is running rampant.

How did we ever survive? Sunday morning meant that if they weren't coming to our house then we were going to some... Read Complete Article at Remodel Crazy blog (http://www.remodelcrazy.com/2009/remodel-stories/those-were-the-days.html)

[Century Man]

"I've been asked to amputate part of my childhood."

That brings a tear to my eye.

[JasonW]

Sad to look at it last week, all droopy and fungy smelling. Parts have actually caved in over the past winter. We'll salvage the main structure and remove the rest, clean up the area and go.

I've been asked to amputate part of my childhood.

Good Luck
Dave

I sort of felt that way when I went back up to the lake last year. Looking around at our old camp where I have fond memories of my childhood, seeing what others have done with the property since I was there last.

Melancholy is the best word I can find for that feeling. The memories will last for our life times though, no matter how things change around us.

[Bodger]

Nice post, David. Brings back a lot of my own memories. Simpler times, and an America we'll never see again.

I had a similar experience when my Mom passed away in July 1994. I was living in Los Angeles, as I still do, when Mom got diagnosed with multiple myloma. She had been living in the small town in Ohio where I grew up. After she got sick, she lived for a while with my sister in D.C. and received treatment there.

When all hope was more or less gone, she told me she wanted to die at home, not in a hospital or nursing home. The only way she could do that is if someone could care for her at night, as round the clock nursing was too expensive and her insurance wouldn't do it. I was the only one who could or would do it.
So I put everything into storage, filled my pick-up with tools and drove home to Circleville, Ohio. I had intended to work around the old property during the day, there was an outbuilding to demolish and some fences to mend. And the house was nearly 100 years old, so plenty of things to fix could be easily found.

Mom died the day I got home. I guess she waited for me. And she got her wish, no nursing home, and no hospital. Just me and my sister and a nurse.

My sister left shortly after the funeral and I was alone in a house that had been in my family for generations and that I had grown up in.
As a child, I had no memories of living anywhere else. I had left in 1971 at the age of 18 to serve in the military. The old place had been home all that time.
Five acres of wooded land is heaven when you're a kid. I have such memories of that property. Back in the day when kids ran free in the summertime. It was a small town and everyone knew each other and crime was nearly non-existent. We could throw our bikes in front of the old Cliftona moviehouse, watch a double feature, and come out and the bikes would always still be threre. No lock required.

I got a new Crosman BB gun for my 10th birthday. I accidentally shot out one of the windows in the old shop garage, which was actually a converted chicken house from the days when the property had been a chicken farm.

My dad told me to go up to Stonerock's Hardware store, and with my own money, buy a pane of glass, and some glazing compound and points. He then proceeded to teach me how to glaze a window. And I glazed many a window in the old shop after that. I think of it every time I glaze a window to this day.

On my last day at my childhood home, I sat on the second story porch with that same Crosman BB gun. I had a bottle of Bourbon and a six pack of beer and a tube of Daisy BBs.
I proceeded to shoot every window out of that old shop just for the hell of it.

[Eieio]

Is this the old men reminiscing thread??

[Bodger]

Is this the old men reminiscing thread??

It was until you showed up. :laugh3:

[Silvertree]

Is this the old men reminiscing thread??

Men with firepower:rifle:

You got a nose for trouble, doncha?

[Bodger]

...I'll bust a BB in yo' ass cuz! :laugh3::laugh3:

[DavidC]

Is this the old men reminiscing thread??

I'm busy ignoring that.

One of the funerals this year was for my last blood uncle. That puts my cousins, brothers and me on the front line. My oldest brother is an ordained minister and he officiates as many family services as he can. One younger brother has made the urns to contain the ashes of 2 of our siblings.

I'm thinking these two are vying for the 'who deserves to be last' spot. They forget that Mom likes me best. (or so I keep telling her) Naturally I'm confident that I will be the last. I've realized that everyone needs some one to point and laugh at.

Like the time I was showing my cousins how to build a tree house. I was Mr. Cool because my plans didn't call for a platform near the ground. We were off to the top of the tree, branches my sometimes smarter cousins didn't dare approach.

When the platform and I fell for nearly forever you would have thought I had time to come up with something to bring it all together like it was part of the plan.

I didn't.

I play an important part in society. You may all point and laugh, I will live forever.

Good Luck
Dave

[Silvertree]

The legend of Dave Cook:2thumbsup:

[Eieio]

Wow. I could not have been more wrong I am sorry guys and apologize.















































Its the old grouchy men reminiscing thread, I stand corrected

[Silvertree]

Its the old grouchy men reminiscing thread, I stand corrected

It's Grumpy Old Men you pup:mad:

[Century Man]

Is this the old men reminiscing thread??

You had better keep your punk azz in the city.

Go ahead fellas, keep up with the storys.

[Eieio]

You had better keep your punk azz in the city.

Go ahead fellas, keep up with the storys.


:laugh3: wow

[Bodger]

I'm busy ignoring that.



You mean

"I'm not tryin' to hear dat"

:laugh3:

[sparkydave]

[QUOTE=Servicezunlimited;9597]Wow. I could not have been more wrong I am sorry guys and apologize.

Not that wrong, bud.

I wrestle with nostalgia at times. with family, I can't believe for the life of me how lucky I've been healthwise, personally. I haven't taken even an aspirin for years.

My parents, 82 and 86, still in their own house. Healthy, physically and mentally. Dad's still a preacher, both carrying on as though they were 50. I feel like I should be "doing something" but Dad wouldn't let me if I could.

LOL as if i should advise him on financial matters! His are fine, mine not so much. One thing I know for sure, I didn't do anything to deserve it.

I feel for you guys. My thoughts are with you.
(Sure hope the girls aren't listening....)

[Bodger]

You had better keep your punk azz in the city.



Oh BOOYAH!! Century Man!

LMAO! :laugh3:

[Eieio]

I just reported this thread :censored:

[Bodger]

Actually, I lied.
I was born a poor black child, named Navin Johnson.

[Century Man]

I just reported this thread :censored:

The Paul is my age so no help there.

[Carport King]

Back in the 50-60"s my dad was a Chrysler dealer in Ohio. So I grew up cleaning the cars and the shop all the time. I also learned to drive at an early age[real early] this was back in the day of the old Hemi Motors and the big fin Chrysler's like the red 300 my dad had.

It just goes from bad to worse from there in my driving skills and a lead foot!

Needless to say some things never fall to far from the tree.

We had an old farmer that lived next door that we cut a deal with that if he let us use his barn for playing basketball in the winter we would bale his hay in the summer for free.

In our 3rd year of this arrangement we caught his barn on fire from the salamander one very cold winter night playing ball and then we got to build a new barn that summer for free also.

Then my oldest brother got a red 67 GTX with a 426 Hemi motor and this was one bad ass mover let me tell you.

My dad took a belt to his ass one night when dad ran into the local cop one night and said the Larry out run them the other night going home and the cop could not catch him. Larry denied it as he was getting his beating swearing to dad that he was at a dance that night in another town and he left the car home that night. Suckr

It was a great day when I finally got my real drivers license but mom and dad was not a happy camper.

Needless to say I had all the Hemi motor cars that I could get my hands on. It got so bad I had to move out of our small town for awhile or at least until we got a new cop transfer.

I was always just 1 point away of losing my license but I enjoyed every minute of it.

Well I better stop while I'm on a high note because it just goes down hill from here.

Next?

[naptownCr]

Is this the old men reminiscing thread??

ffin a right

You youngins can't appreciate how well we had it as kids.

there was no internet so this activity was 45 years in the future

There were far fewer perverts preying on kids

Because things were safer then we had less parental oversight. (mon wasn't
looking for us every 2 minutes to make sure John wayne Gasey hadn't gotten us.

We also had access to and grew up around the greatest generation in this country's history.

Future generations will never experience the idyllic childhoods that we old codgers had.

[Bodger]

ffin a right

You youngins can't appreciate how well we had it as kids.

there was no internet so this activity was 45 years in the future

There were far fewer perverts preying on kids

Because things were safer then we had less parental oversight. (mon wasn't
looking for us every 2 minutes to make sure John wayne Gasey hadn't gotten us.

We also had access to and grew up around the greatest generation in this country's history.

Future generations will never experience the idyllic childhoods that we old codgers had.


How true.
I have two sons, 12 and 14. They cannot believe that we only had cartoons on Saturday mornings. How could that be? They're on 24/7 now, and there are entire cable networks devoted just to cartoons.

And DVD? No...when The Wizard of Oz was shown once a year, it was an event. You could NOT see moives any other way. Theatres and TV only, and no taping to watch later.

They think I grew up in prison.

[Silvertree]

My daughter got her school haircut and asks for a ride to a friends (10 miles) for a half hour so they could compare fashion updates, I say no and the battle begins.
Finally she says "Dad, I'm not a kid,I'm almost 13":rolleyes3:

She doesn't realize the freedom we had. I would have ridden my bike the 10 miles and did pretty much anything under certain restraints. Hardly ever asked for a ride, and was always off doing some kind of mischief.

Now parents fear for the children's safety and the kids don't have street smarts like we did. Less freedom, less creativity.

I suppose they will end up thinking the same about their kids.

[naptownCr]

I have two kids one is 20 and the other turns 18 on friday
These kids have no idea what it is like to have to work for everything they have or want.

If I learned one thing from my parents it is this

There is nothing in life that's free. If you want something you have to work for it.

Maybe that should be the first lesson n business.

[fez-head]

Century Man is right - more stories please.

I always loved family reunions as a kid because my Dad and uncles where the best story tellers ever (when they decided to speak) and they always told stories on each other.

They were all hard nosed, hard working, hard drinking germans and that was just about the only time that I would ever see my Dad laugh.... and boy would we laugh !! Theywere a family of 4 brothers and 2 sisters and onry as hell. Good, good memories - thanks guys :2thumbsup:

[Silvertree]

Here's the deal, I posted Dave's story on the blog, we can't have it in 2 places on the site.
I will remove the story from this thread, go to the blog to read it, thanks
Paul

[Bodger]

I have two kids one is 20 and the other turns 18 on friday
These kids have no idea what it is like to have to work for everything they have or want.

If I learned one thing from my parents it is this

There is nothing in life that's free. If you want something you have to work for it.

Maybe that should be the first lesson n business.


Exactlythe lesson my Dad pounded home to me. I hated it at the time. But now I get it completely.

He had lived through the depression working a hard scrabble farm, then joined the military and was in the combat zone for nearly 4 years straight in the Pacific Theatre in WWII. Then came home and started an excavation company and stayed in the active military reserves for another 35 years. Got re-deployed to Korea and Vietnam as a result.

As far as my old man was concerned, you earned it or you didn't get it, and if you couldn't pay cash (except for a house) you didn't buy it.

No college money for me. I enlisted.
Dad took me up to the Greyhound station and bought me a Mars bar and wished me luck.

I think if we can emulate the greatest generation, we'll do just fine. Those values and principles still apply. Even in this up-side down world.

Editorial partially sponsored by Knob Creek. :laugh3: