Mom's family

Oh How I Remember

 

We have just finished celebrating the 4th of July. School is in summer recess and our grand-daughter Jessica stayed a few days at our house. She is a joy to be with, especially when she is alone and not having to compete for attention. During the course of her visit, we had many conversations covering a variety of subjects. One of the discussions led to a topic well covered by the song played before this story. One of the Judd's hit songs (Grandpa, tell me about the good old day’s). For me to try and explain the good old day’s to an 8 year old person took quite a stretch. I started by going back in my own memory to the day’s of my youth and the great times I had as a child. So I decided that I would make an audio CD about some of my memories to give to my grandchildren. As they grow older, it will mean a lot more to them to have some continuity to their past through the eyes of their grandpa.

My grandchildren are at this recording, Jessica almost 9, Dallas 3 & ½, and Connor boy 6 months. Jessica and I are pretty tight as she was my charge for the first few years of her life. I introduced her to nature, the great outdoors, construction, flowers, rivers, playgrounds, etc. We walked on a daily basis. Rain or shine. Dallas is more a ladies man, he loves his mother and grandmothers. He tolerates us men but his eyes light up when a woman enters his line of sight. He is going to be our engineer and he can analyze anything mechanical and figure how to fix them. His mother told me at an early age to not let him see how I hook his baby seat safety belt cause he would have it unhooked and be out of his seat in no time. Dallas was born on the day we buried my oldest sister and he has filled such a large void in my life. Our newest grandson Connor Boy is 6 months old and he is such a joy. His mother had a 6 month maternity leave so when she started working out to get her self back in shape, I would do my routine and Tana came in an hour later so I could baby sit Connor. The membership at the club got so used to seeing us together that if he wasn’t present, they questioned me as to his where about. A baby has to be at least 5 months before they were allowed in the baby sitting facilities. He was so good with me that the sitters couldn’t wait to get their hands on him. This is just a little introduction to my grandchildren. They are truly the joy of my life and I hope they enjoy their time with me as much as I have enjoyed my grandparents.

My grandparents Henry and Mary

I will start on the subject of my maternal grandparents and it goes something like this. My grandparents did have proper names, (Henry and Mary) but we usually referred to them as Granny Grunt and Hee-Haw. Granny grunt because she was always grunting and groaning about some illusive pain that never materialized into a treatable ailment, and Hee-Haw because of a story he used to tell my oldest sister Firelan when she was a little child. It was a story about this donkey and some of the things it would do that eventually resulted in her being tickled and grand dad saying Hee-Haw Hee-Haw several times until the name stuck.

I was recalling some of the memories of these two wonderful people and some of their strange habits. They would prefer living out in the woods under adverse conditions than in a house with all the modern conditions and amenities. I told Jessica that world war 2 had been going on for two whole years before they knew about it’s existence. They were back in the woods with out any connection to the outside world except their battery operated radio, and their beloved boss-man. The radio was only used twice a week. They would listen to the LONE RANGER and I LOVE A MYSTERY. So you were not going to get any news on these programs. My folks hadn’t told them about the war to save them needless worry. How they did discover the war was indeed a humorous situation. The boss man had stopped by granny grunts cabin to get her grocery list. It was my grand parents habit to make a list for the boss man to purchase staples from the market in Santa Rosa to supplement the food they could not produce or grow.

Cabin in the woods by Occidental, California

She thought it would be a good outing for myself and her to go with the boss man into Santa Rosa as it had been years since she had been to town. While we were shopping at the market the sirens in town began screaming and people began running in all directions. Granny asked the clerk what is going on? He replied this is a practice air-raid alert. She then asked, practice for what? He replied in case the enemy attacks. What enemy she asks? Lady he say’s where have you been for the past two years? We have been at war with the Germans, Italians, and Japanese for over two years and these alerts are to get us ready to defend ourselves. Shortly there after the sirens blew once again to sound the all clear signal. All the towns people came out and returned to what they had been doing, when granny still in a state of shock gave me the grocery list and said you had better do the shopping son. Well I bought nothing but sweet things such as candy, marshmallows, cereal, etc. Turning a 12 year old loose with a carte blanche shopping list is equivalent to sending a drunken sailor to a house of ill repute with a credit card. The next day the boss man went back to town and bought the groceries we needed. Prior to this time, my grandparents never had a worry in the world. After that every time they heard the leaves rustle, or a strange sound in the woods they just knew it was the enemy had arrived and were ready to attack. Life was never as peaceful and quiet at our Walton's Mountain after this incident. I hope my grand children have as much fun with their grand parents , as I had during my lifetime with my Granny Grunt and Hee- Haw. This was one of the last summers that I spent at this particular home they shared in the woods past a little place called Occidental. The cabin they lived in was void of running water, electricity, indoor plumbing and any-thing that resembled modern living. It did have wood floors that had large cracks between each board that made a great place to sweep the dirt. On the walls, Granny wallpapered with the funny papers as they called the comics. If they ran out of the funnies they then used the rest of the daily news and advertisements.

It was here at this place that granny taught me and my brother Neal the manly art of smoking a corn cob pipe. My mother would have had a fit had she known, but after the evening meal we would sit out on the porch and all of us would light up and puff away. I have to confess it was much better than smoking dried leaves or dried grapevine. These items would let the flame through the stem or vine and really burn your mouth. My folks had a wicker chair on the front porch of our house in Tracy, and Neal and I would break off a piece of this chair light up and smoke away. It finally got to the point that we had smoked so much of that chair it was dangerous to sit in. I don’t think mom ever realized what had happened to her chair.

It was also at this place that granny was Dr. Quinn medicine woman. She had so many home remedies that she could have hung out her shingle. I remember onetime, I had a good dose of worms, and I don’t recall what granny put down my throat but I will never forget what she used on the other end. I could have been the great white hope at track had there been a witness to my speed on one warm evening. Granny had just given me the internal medication, and she then had me drop my shorts, bend and grab the ground when she applied this mixture of grease and turpentine to her index finger and liberally lubricated the inside of my rectum that I was gone faster than a speeding bullet. Who needs steroids when you have hemorrhoids laced with turpentine Like I said if I had a witness with a timepiece that could clock the speed of light, I know I broke all of Jesse Owens records that night. Granny’s pharmacy didn’t consist of much; but she really made do with what she had. Gun-powder and ashes wrapped in a piece of fat meat would really make a dog vicious and good for guarding. A deep cut from a glancing blow made by an axe was soaked in kerosine until the blood coagulated. Your shoe turned upside down under your bed cured a tooth-ache. Our bath tub was a large round metal vessel that was normally used to wash clothes. We would fill this tub with water heated on the wood burning stove every Saturday night. All of us would bathe in the same water, only one at a time. I always got to bathe first. After our bath we would have a smoke on our pipe and most of the time a special dessert.

Hee-Haw sawing wood

We usually would go to bed while the sun was high in the sky, because we would arise very early in the morning long before daybreak. The reason for rising so early was to do all the morning chores, feed the live stock, cow’s, chickens, pigs, horses etc. Then we would milk the two cows, gather the eggs, and while Hee-Haw was doing this Granny was making biscuits, bacon and eggs, fried chicken, hotcakes and heaven knows what else. This was the biggest meal of the day, and after we ate breakfast granny would pack a big sack lunch for us to take to the woods where Hee-Haw would with his hand cross-cut saw, sledge and wedges, and double bladed axe. Fall, buck limbs, cross-cut, split , and stack a cord of wood a day and then go home and repeat most of the morning chores one more time that evening. For cutting this cord of wood he would get if I remember correctly $4.00 cash money. He never paid any income tax in his life, he was strictly cash and carry. One evening while the sun was still high in the sky, a stranger came wandering through the woods and approached the cabin. He introduced himself and then made the statement, you folks go to bed pretty early don’t you. Hee-Haw replied no, sometimes we stay up as late as 7.30 pm.

Another plus to living back there was the schooling. I never attended this school but I had the privilege to visit more than once. Most people probably won’t be able to visualize or associate with a one room school first to eighth grade with one teacher and eighteen students; but it beats thirty two students to a classroom and lack of control by a lot of the teachers. This one person not only taught all grades but also cooked the soup or pot of beans that was the major nutrition for the day. My Army buddy Joe Cook happens to own one of these one room school houses. It was situated on a piece of land that he owns and farms in Nebraska, and it no longer is used for teaching but is I believe a pro shop for the golf course across the road. A lot of the best leaders to ever rule our country were educated in one room schools.

Before they moved into the back woods by Occidental. They lived out in the country some distance from Bodega Bay, California. This is the location that Alfred Hitchcock filmed the movie The Birds. I state this so you can get a feel for the area. Any-how Hee-Haw was working for a man named Bob Keyes, and his primary job was sheep herding. This country was not very far from the Pacific Ocean and was pretty foggy during the mornings and night. The grandparents lived in the same kind of conditions minus all modern conveniences. This is the style of life they loved best. It was here at a very young age that Hee-haw taught Neal and I the right of passage called Snipe hunting. Visualize this, mostly barren rolling hills grossly void of vegetation eaten down by the grazing sheep. Very few trees, and some fairly steep and deep valley’s and gorges. The moon was non-existent and the fog was so thick you literally could not see your hand in front of your face.

Well these were the conditions that Hee-Haw said were ideal for Neal and I to experience snipe hunting. So after supper that night he got a couple of burlap sacks and took me and Neal way down to the bottom of one of these deep ravines. He said this was an excellent place to catch snipes, and because we couldn’t see a thing we ask how would we be able to catch them? His reply was, just hold the burlap bags open, and he would go up to the top of the hills and drive them into our open bags. He said we would feel them hit the bottom of the bag, and when we filled our bags we could come on home.

Well Neal and I sat out there in the freezing fog for what seemed an eternity waiting to catch our limit of snipes. It never dawned on us what a hoax was being perpetrated on our trusting natures. Even after we finally gave up, went back to the cabin and found Hee-Haw cocked back in his chair warming himself by the fire of the wood burning stove we didn’t realize we had been taken. No these two naive citizens had to have a picture drawn before we could accept the fact that we had been tricked. In fact this left such a strong impression on my mind that I would question any thing that sounded un-usual after this adventure. Such as much later when I was in my teens that a group of adults wanted to take me Grunion fishing. Now I was a lot smarter than to bite on the suggestion that on a full moon night at certain times of the year in the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, you could in fact catch fish by the handful, and once again fill a burlap sack. The major difference being this in fact was the truth. Southern California during the 1940s, this was a great place to grow up go to school and grow into adulthood. The church we attended would on many occasions get large flat bed trucks with open wooden racks on the side, fill them partially with loose straw and take a bunch of teen-agers to the beach on a warm summers night to go grunion fishing. There would be numerous bonfires all along the beach. The water temperature was usually warmer then the evening air, making it more inviting to stay in the warmer ocean water. We would wait until late in the night when the fish would come in with the surf, burrow into the sand, lay their eggs and go back out with the returning waves that we would dig down into the loose sand grab a handful of fish and throw them in our large burlap sack.

These fish would reflect the full moon off their shining bodies like a bunch of diamonds on the beach. After a fun evening of swimming, fishing, and eating, we then had a great hay ride back home in the back of the truck. Life was much more innocent when I grew up than the gang activities that are prevalent today. Oh sure there were gangs then and we had what they called Pachukos, (Joot Suits) but we didn’t have drive by shootings. My brother Neal had gone to a movie one night in El Monte and after the movie on his walk home, a bunch of these Pachukos chased him. He out ran them and hid under a bunch of hay at the El Monte hay market next to where we lived. He stayed there many hours until he was sure they had gone. Even if they had caught him all he would have received was a good whipping, not be shot by some teenager like today.

There came a time in the Los Angeles area that the military was called out to quell the uprising that this bunch was causing because most able bodied men were off fighting in the war. A large group of service-men swarmed the L.A. area and walked the streets literally chasing all of the trouble makers out of our country, and made it safe for those of us that were left at home. The same thing holds true here as it did when I was very young. You still can’t go back to the day’s of your youth. Southern California today, in no way resembles the country of my past, void of citrus orchards and open spaces. Replaced with heavy industry, commercial complexes, residential tracts and smog. Granny Grunt and Hee-Haw died at a very early age due to hard work and and poor diet. Hee-Haw was 96 and Granny Grunt was 94 when they passed on, so I am hoping to have a bit of their genetic code in my genes.

Mom and Dad

Can you remember when you got your first bicycle? When we lived in Tracy, prior to the war, we were always inventing new ways to utilize the toys at our disposal. This was during the depression but we still received some nice presents at Christmas and our birthdays. During the course of our youth, Neal and I got only one bicycle, but it was a brand new 26 inch Wards Hawthorne. It had the works, a horn with batteries, also a headlight with the caution not to ride after dark. This just didn't make any sense at all. So this was just another way of inviting a spanking. I was constantly staying out after dark and Neal was sent to find me. He usually found my bike first, and would then-hide it before locating me and telling me to come home. He would act like he was going home, and then hide and watch me looking for my missing bicycle. Normally after he let me twist in the wind for a while, he would then tell me where the bike was hidden and then all I had to worry about was my spanking for not coming home. On a few occasions I would have to suffer for a-day or so before he would tell me where my bike was hidden.

There came a time that Neal tied our little red wagon to the back of his bicycle, and then convinced me to ride in the wagon while he towed it behind his bike. This worked fine, until he decided to stop. The wagon, not having brakes continued to travel until it tried to pass Neal's bike. This caused Neal to fall on the wagon, turning it over, and throwing me on the ground. The bicycles handlebars then fell on my left hand with Neal on the handlebars causing it to break my finger in three places.

Can you remember when your mother first lied to you? My first and only time my mother stretched the truth resulted in my one and only stay in the hospital. Not realizing my finger was broken, until the bone almost came through the skin. I then had to stay overnight and have the bones reset and put in a cast. Mom (right) told me that I wouldn't have to stay overnight but the hospital said otherwise. Bummer, big bummer.

Neal was not through with me yet, later after my hand had a chance to heal, he convinced me it would be wise to jump from the top of a boxcar onto the ground. Tracy was a railroad town with several tracks, and many sidings where they kept many boxcars waiting to be loaded. Next to some of the parked boxcars were piles of sand, and Neal explained how soft this would be to land in when we jumped. I emphasize the word we, because we never happened. He said you jump first and I will be right behind you. When I jumped, my knees bent on landing driving them into my chin, and almost breaking my neck, When Neal witnessed this, his true colors came through loud and clear (yellow).

Can you remember when, with a cereal box top and a quarter, you could get a decoder ring? One time we sent a quarter along with a Wheaties box top for our secret decoder rings. We both ordered a ring, and after many weeks of waiting they arrived. After coding and decoding messages for about a week, I got tired of mine and sold it for a dollar to one of our friends. This really angered big brother, and he then fabricated this story about having free admission to the movies all summer by just showing your decoder on arrival. I was really upset until I got the truth.

Can you remember when you used to be chased home by some bullies? This happened almost daily when we first moved to Tracy, California. This was in the middle 1930ts. We had moved out to California during the depression from Oklahoma, and (Okie's) as we were called were not exactly the pick of the litter. So when we arrived in town we rented on what was called, the wrong side of the track. Tracy was heavily populated with Mexicans, and they loved to pick on us little Okie boy's. These same bunch of guy's chased us for several days until our grandfather put a stop to it.

Neal and me in Tracy

Hee Haw (grandfather) took Neal to the side and questioned him. After finding out what was happening, he picked out the biggest one of the bullies. He then told Neal to clean his clock. Neal was frightened to death, but his odds were better now than at any other time, with Hee Haw there to keep things even. So, he just jumped in boots and all. Started swinging like a mad man, and really beat the crap out of this bully. After that, we never had another problem. This seems to be a common mating dance between males all over the world. Call someone's bluff and they will usually leave you alone.

About living on the wrong side of the track. It was one of the safest places we ever lived. We had hobos stop to ask for food, but never without offering to work for their meal. Mom could always find some yard work or wood splitting chores to have them earn some food. I don't recall her ever turning anyone away. We used to sleep with our doors open wide during the hot weather, and while we were gone on vacation, the doors were never locked. It wouldn't have made any difference because all the locks used what was called a skeleton key. One key fits all locks. We eventually moved to the right side of the tracks but it didn't effect any drastic changes in our lifestyle.

Can you remember when you could buy a guess what for a penny? A guess what was something like a party favor. It was a round wrapped orange paper that was twisted on both ends, with a toy and a piece of candy inside. Something like a Cracker Jack only smaller. We would usually get ours at Divanas' market. This was a small local store much like the AM/PM markets today. Angelo Divanas was a guy that me and Neal ran with at times. Their house was attached to the store, and I recall one time that we went to get Angelo, and his teenage sister answered the door in her slip. So sinful, we covered our eyes and turned our heads until she covered herself properly.

Can you remember when you could get a haircut for 15 cents, or gas for 8 cents a gallon? The haircut came with a lollipop for the same price. My cousin Buddy Blagg was visiting us when I had to get a haircut. He came along riding on the handlebars of my bike. After the haircut, the barber gave us both a sucker, and with Buddy on the handlebars wiggling around and me taking the sucker in and out of my mouth. I didn't have very good control of the bicycle, and ran into the drivers side of a slow moving car just in front of the windshield. Smashing a perfectly good lollipop on his windshield. Buddy ended up on the hood, but none the worse for wear, and the bike came out unscathed. As for the cheap gasoline, the Mohawk station on the West End of town was selling gas for 8 cents for regular and 10 cents for ethyl per gallon. This was in 1940.

Can you remember when movies were 10 cents for a movie, serial, cartoon, and the Warner Pathe News? We used to go on Friday nights to see a western along with the serial that always had the good guy dying at the end (you thought) until next week you found out how they escaped. We would walk to and from the movies, and on the way home, after a scary movie the shadows made by moving trees in the wind, cast by the street lights made us pick up the pace to a very fast trot. Some wise guy would almost always hide behind a tree, jump out and scare the wits out of us. This was part of what made the experience enjoy

Do you remember when some of the older kids first explained the birds and bees? This happened for me in Richmond during WW2. Dad was working at the shipyards and there was a large group of kids that hung out in Atchison Village, a development of cheap housing to accommodate the ever growing horde of shipyard workers. We were out front on the huge common yards playing ball when one of the bigger boy's told us this ridiculous story that I know my parents wouldn't do. It made me so mad, when he kept saying oh yes they did. How do you think you got here? Not like that I said. Finally after much bickering back and forth, I jumped on top of him trying to make him take it back. He eventually kicked my butt real good but would not apologize. Oh for those day's of innocence. A postscript to this story. When the war first started, dad (left) moved to Richmond to work in the shipyards. His day off was Thursday, and when he came home after dinner, he would give Neal and me 15 cents apiece to go to the movies. This was the most expensive night of the week because they played keno. We never understood why dad forked out the big money until many years later. That big guy in Richmond knew what he was talking about, and dad wanted to be home alone with mom. As for the keno, I won one night; but so did half the theatre. The keno cards had a misprint so all we got was a free pass to the movies.

Can you remember when they had loge seats and intermissions in theatres? As we grew older and wanted to impress our dates, we would spring for a loge seat at the theatre. The loge seat cost a little more and was much more comfortable. It was like a rocker with more padding. Also wider. There was always an intermission between films to allow you the opportunity to use the restrooms, or better yet for them, purchase some goodies. There was always a lot of chatter and activity during these intermissions. I recall during the start of one of these intermissions, just as the lights came on, a very loud noise as someone released excess gas from their system. This person was a guy named Jim Shelton, and right after he did this offensive act, he stood up, said to his beautiful date Janice Rice, if you are going to do that, I am going to sit elsewhere. He then walked away from her, as her face got redder and redder. This should have been the end of that romance, but they went on to marry, have lots of children and grandchildren. You just never know what it takes to end a romance.

Can you remember when you got your first BB gun? Mine was a Daisy, Red Ryder model. It was quite a bit like a Winchester saddle carbine. It had a large round ring on the side just above the cocking lever. In this ring, was a piece of leather looped through the ring. I, don't recall if there was any significance attached to this adornment, or if it was just for decoration purposes. They did seem to have more shooting power than today's models of air rifles. I was talking to my friend Wes just the other day about a situation with my BB gun that really had me scared. I had run out of BBs, so I was dropping wooden matches down the barrel of my Red Ryder not thinking I could hit anything I fired at, when I aimed it at the exposed light bulb of a street light. After firing several matches towards the street light, with them veering off in all directions. One went straight to its mark, and exploded the bulb with a loud noise. I thought sure, that all of the people in the surrounding neighborhood, heard this explosion and my next residence would be in jail. I rapidly ran home, put my gun away, and never said a word about this activity for many weeks.

Neal and me on our first big bikes.

Oh, how I remember!
 

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