Nancy Retires

Tomorrow 31 Jan 08, Nancy retires after serving children for 30 years. Nancy graduated from the University of Vermont and received a Masters Degree in Reading from Rollins College in Winter Park Fl. Nancy's first teaching job was in Sharon Vermont but most of her time was spent here in Florida. She has taught in the Elementary Schools and the High School.Much of her time has been spent with At Risk students. This is an area that she has been very dedicated and has found to be very rewarding. For many years she was very active in the Florida Reading Association, serving on the State board for several years. At one point I believe she ran for State President, thankfully she did not get elected. She has been honored as finalist for teacher of the year for Sumter County. In 1989 she was named Coach of the Year by the Tampa Tribune. That year her Golf Team won the district and went to the state tournament, the only time in school history. But as times change and the children change, Nancy felt it was time to hand off her experience to others. She wants to be able to enjoy the next phase of her life. To this end she is leaving Sunday to visit Andrew and family in Hawaii, in March she has booked us on a short cruise, in April she will be spending some time in Vermont. That is as far as she has planned (that I know of). I am looking forward to the time that we will have together. Nancy has worked hard for the children in this area and is very deserving of the retirement that is due her. I think this new life is going to be another great adventure.

29 June 2008

I'm taking a couple days off from my writing, but be sure to check my update on Thursday. Will be worth the wait.

Jan 26 2008

Thank you all for the comments, Ted, you can sign your name. Diane, your comment about the women was great. From the comments I am continuing with a bit more info on hunting.

The picture today is one I found and thought was needed. I'm sure everyone knows these folks but may not have seen this one. A bunch of cuties.

Talking again with Stew and reading Ted's comment reminded me of a few rules we had hunting. One: Always had enough clothes to stay warm as you may be out in the cold for a long time. Two: If Cal told you to wait in a certin spot, you waited until you were told to move. This one was to be followed without question, I remember two times where I almost froze to death following this rule, once I was told to wait on some ledges in back of North Tunbridge village, it was below zero, and the wind was blowing, I stayed for over three hours, saw no deer and if I had I was to cold to pull a triger. The other time I was sent to a fence line on top the hill behind the Lindstrom place. Cal and maybe Stew were chasing a "big one" up on Goodin Hill and they thought he might come that way. It was again very cold and snowing so hard you couldn't see a deer 50 feet in front of you, but I stayed until told to leave. Later that day I was up at Lindstrom's visiting with Johnny, he was telling a story about some fool hunter he had seen sitting by his fence line in the snow all morning, I couldn't tell him the fool was me. Third rule: you shoot it, you eat it...nothing was ever left, deer were food and not to be wasted.

Another thing about Cal was that he always knew where the deer were. I don't know how many times I heard him say, I know where's the an ole buck and lets go get him. and most of the time he was right. One afternoon we had been hunting all day and were in the barn.Cal said if you boys do the chores, I know where there's a buck and Den and I are going to get it. Well off we went, I took Cal up to the crossroads and let him off,he told me to go down towards Clydes and go on the back side where I could see most of the back side. About 20 minutes after I got in position I saw a deer starting across the opening. There is a small brook that runs down that hill and as the deer approached the brook, I saw it had horns. Taking aim I shot and the deer never moved, I missed, the second shot dropped him in his tracks. By the time I got to the deer Cal had come out of the woods and said, well I told you we'd get this one. Shortly after we were back at the barn with a nice deer. Ted talked about Mr Benoit who I believe is said to be the great Vt hunter but I think if Cal had had the time to hunt he would have been as good or better. He had a lot "deer" sense and always knew where they were.

Hunting was a big part of Cal's life, and as everyone has stories that they could add to the few I have told about. And yes, Diane they would fill a large book. I would ask that any of you who have a favorite story, email it to me at drr4765@aol.com and I will gladly include it in my blog. Actually any of you that have something to add about anything I have written I would be glad to hear about it. This has been fun for me and I hope for you also. That's it for now, more later.

25 Jan 08

Welcome back, I took this picture a couple of summers ago and thought it should be here. I want to continue with a couple more stories about Uncle Cal and times we had. Everyone knows that he was a great hunter and many of his stories had to do with hunting, both in season and out. I shot my first deer up on the hill one morning before going to school, it had snowed the night before and in the morning I said I wanted to go hunting for awhile. Cal told me to take his 30-06 and go up back and go on the back side of the hill and work my way up toward the crossroad. Well I hadn't gone far when I saw a 4 point in some hemlock trees, and before I knew it I had my first deer. I hid it under some trees and made a bee line for the barn, story goes that I ran into the barn and said I got the son of gun, or something like that. We took the tractor and went and brought him back to barn, my first. Cal always knew where the deer were and would send you in the right place.

One year when I was living in Chelsea we all were hunting on the hill, it was the first day of the season and early we were hunting over in Arthur's when uncle Jim shot a buck, but when we found it, his horns were about an inch short. Rule was, see horns , shoot. Well they took the deer and put it in an old travel trailer that was over there to retrieve later. Seems later that day, some young folks from Uncle Clyde's were in that area and looked in the trailer and saw the deer, really freaked them out, they went back and told everyone and the next morning went back on to find there was no deer there. Somehow the deer was moved in the dark of night...Same day up on the mountain Stew and I were going through the woods and saw a buck, Stew shot and down he went, only this time too, his horns were a bit short. We covered the deer as best we could and continued to hunt. Later we told Cal and he said we would go back later and get it. Late afternoon, almost dark I took Stew and Cal up and I waited in the road while they went up to find the deer, we had my truck and after awhile the two of them came out of the woods. Cal had on an old purple quited jacket and had every bit of meat he could carry inside that coat. He was so heavy he couldn't get into the truck without help. Stew was the same, they told that I was scared because if we got caught I would lose my truck and maybe my job. To see the two of them with all that meat stumbling out of the woods was a sight, it was a real Kodak moment. Stew told me just last night that Merry wasn't real happy with his clothes that night, I imagine Shirley was used to it. That day we had a lot of meat to eat but nothing to report and no horns to hang on the silo.

Stew picks on me about my blog and says he doesn't like history but last night we were sitting in my living room and he asked what I was writing and I told him that I was going to include a couple deer stories and he said , be sure to tell the one about the short horn on the mountain, the story I just told. I think of our hunting times that story is one of our favorites and don't let him fool you, we told deer stories for at least an hour. I wish he would try this as he spent much more time on the hill than I did. He still goes up often to see Jim and help around when he can, maybe I can do a little ghost writing for him, but don't hold your breath.

Enough for today, Stew coming out and we are going to play a few holes of golf, not real warm but we will make it without freezing. Until next time.

23 Jan 2008

I guess its about time to get back to writing before my small fan base leaves me. Tonight I am going to continue with the "hill" thread and how can I talk about life on the "hill" without talking about the King of Hill, Uncle Cal and family. Calvin ran the farm for many years and the time I spent there was more with him than will my grandparents. Calvin was a remarkable person, one who never met a stranger, was hard working, loved to tell stories, and was devoted to his family. I think some of my earliest memories of him were watching him play baseball at the old field on the fair grounds. This was a Sunday afternoon must when I was young. Go the the town team game. Cal was the catcher for the Tunbridge team, he had one of the best throwing arms I have ever seen, he could throw to second base from the crouch position and the pitcher had better duck as the ball would hit him on the way. His throwing power also stayed with me. He could hit too, many times he hit a homer over the horse sheds and into the river, he also struck out a lot. Those were great games and the attendance was something to see, everyone went to the games. I remember after Calvin and Shirley were married they lived in the further end of G&G house until he and Marty Jones built the house they lived in and raised their three girls and one son. One of favorite stories during that time was when Aunt Shirley mother was staying or living with them. Cal and I were out on the front lawn one evening and I had a new BB gun, and I was shooting at any thing I could find, with a bit of encouragement from all assembled there. Cal spotting a black bird in the top of one of the big maples and said he didn't think I was a good enough shot to hit it. Well that's all I needed, I took dead aim at the bird, pulled the trigger of that trusty BB gun. One shot and the bird can tumbling down and landed almost the the feet of Aunt Shirley and her mother. That's when we all realized that the black bird was really a gold finch, a pretty Yellow and Black bird. Well did they ever get mad at me and did everything except whip me. Let it be said I was not in favor from those two for quite soon time. Now Cal thought it was great spot and laughed for ever about the bird. He never forgot that day and over the past 50 or so years has reminded me about how mad they were...I don't really think they held it against me but never did say much more about it. Another of my great times during the time they lived up there was the weekly trip to the store. Now this was on Saturday night after finishing chores(this was before they had children) we would go to the Tunbridge General Store for the weekly shopping. What a great time that was, don't remember if George Wood still had the store or if the Steves were running it, but that was the gathering place for all the local farmers. The woman would do the shopping and the men would sit on the stairs that went upstairs and tell about the problems of the week, or who had the best coon dog, or a multitude of stories that a young person like myself found real interesting. The people that met there on Saturday night were all "real Vermonters" and were characters all. When it got about 9:30 everyone would need to leave, so that we could get home to watch, Sea Hunt and Gunsmoke, two to the best shows that had to be seen. Strange, Sea Hunt, starring Lloyd Bridges(for you younger folks) was filmed at Silver Springs, Florida not far from where I now live.
This part of my memories is far from over, I have many other stories that I want to share about my Uncle Cal, but will have to wait for another night with the following exception that I want to share. Two summers ago I spent most of the summer in Vt with Nancy helping care for her mother. One day I had gone to the VA hospital in White River to try and see a Doctor about an aliment. While sitting in a office with a Nurse a Doctor interrupted and ask the Nurse if she minded taking care of setting up an appointment for a gentleman, I said I was in no hurry and the gentleman came into the office, it was Cal, I hadn't seen him much that summer and we had a big ole visit right there in the Nurse's office. He left and later so did I, when I went to the waiting room to get some blood work done, here was Cal again, we told stories for quite a long time setting in that waiting room, his daughter Sherry came to get him and we said goodbye, little did I know that would be the last story telling time I would have with him, for the next day he died, working the fields he had for over 80 years. I don't know how or why we had that chance meeting that day but I'd like to think that someone more powerful than any of us made that happen. It is a day I will always remember, not for what was said, but that I had that opportunity for one last story with a person I truly thought the world of...Good night.

19 Jan

Sorry about the picture, I hope this better, I am not happy with todays effort, just not what I wanted to publish, maybe tomorrow will be better.

16 Jan 08

Sorry, hit the wrong button: here it is

Picture left to right
Mary Ware Rogers(mom) Stew Rogers, Me, Great Great Gramp Ware(to most of you) Walt Wilk, Arlene Ware Wilk, Sandra Wilk, Gramp Ware, James Ware, Andrea Ware, Madeline Ware. The picture was taken at G & G Ware's living room....Anyone who doesn't agree with me can write me with a possible correction...

jan 16 2008

Today will be short, just a few lines to give those of you who have not been able to id the folks in the picture. Here it is....

Day two Ware History

Good afternoon, I see that some of you are interested in the picture wonder who is in it. As I told a couple of you, ask your mother, she should know most of them. Or you could ask Diane as I think she has a good idea of who most of them are. There are one or two that may be a little hard to get. Hint, the picture was taken in the early 50's or almost 60 years ago. I'll let this go for another couple days and then I will send the info on who is who.

I need to talk about our grandparents and who they were. First I'll start with Gramp, he was a gentle giant, a very large man, with huge hands, prop ably the one thing that stands out about him physically. He was a quite man, never did I see him mad or even raise his voice. I'm sure he may have but not that I can remember. Like many of his generation he read the newspaper cover to cover and was very well informed of world affairs which always was hard for me to realize, that a hill farmer would know and be interested in such things. There was a big stand up radio in the kitchen and that was another way he stayed informed. TV came much later. At some point in his life he dropped a piece of metal roofing on his foot and this was a constant source of problems for him until the time he died. For some reason the foot never healed properly and as a result he lost his foot a little bit at a time for years. This did not stop him from continuing to work the farm. Many a day he could be seen on the tractor with his cane across his lap. Gramp liked to hunt deer as did everyone in the family, but I remember Uncle Cal saying that he was a really bad shot and missed more deer than the average hunter.The following story may be something I dreamed up but I think it's true, who knows. In the wood shed at the house for many years and may still be there was a really big set of horns, either an eight or ten point that if you ever saw it you would remember them. This was from a deer that Gramp shot when my mother was still at home so that was a long time ago. As the story goes She and Gramp were out back beyond the sugarhouse by the cuban lot and they spotted the deer and Gramp simply shot it, one of the biggest taken on the hill ever. There was one that was bigger during that time but rumor had it that it was taken after season one year. Not by anyone in our family. So I guess he was a good hunter, even if he wasn't a good shot. Gramp and Gram were Baptist and members of the North Tunbridge Baptist Church, but during my life time I do not remember them attending services. Don't know much about that. Gramp had one brother, Wilmer, who lived on the other side of hill behind the barn, he too was a farmer. I do not know much about the family history other than his father was Arthur and mother Rose, I did know Arthur but Rose had passed several years before me being on the scene. Gramp didn't have any vices other than chewing tobacco, never knew him to take a drink, they did make their own root beer and always had ginger ale around. There was always chocolate around somewhere in the house, Hershey candy bars were the norm and Gram hid them in the cupboard behind the kitchen stove. Gramp had the big Hershey bar around somewhere, I don't know if they still make them that big. Gramp was a good,hard working farmer. In his later years he would go to the barn and sit in the wheelbarrow and supervise milking, as I said a gentle giant.

Tomorrow I will touch on Gram, and then I will be ready to go to chapter II of the folks on the hill, as they were not the only people who lived on the farm during this period of time. I know you all know who I'm referring to but I have a picture that will bring that chapter to life....Stay tuned....

Ware History I

I don't know what is going on with this post, but I hope it starts with a picture that is to small, but click on it and it will be bigger. I'm interested to see if you can identify the people in the picture.

Albert and Mable Ware were farmers "hill Farmers" as the saying goes, meaning they had a farm on a hill, very little if any flat land. These farms where for many years the main stay of the Vermont farm. One who had a hill farm could look forward to a life of hard work, the Ware's were no exception to this rule.They scratched out a living milking cows, cutting wood and making Maple Syrup, in that order. On this farm they had five children, three girls and two boys. The youngest of the girls died when she was young of some unknown cause. The others, Arlene, Jim, Calvin and Mary all married and had families that I will detail later. Gramp and Gram lived a simple life as did most families of that time.I remember mother(Mary) telling that Gramp used to drive school bus for kids on their hill and the Spring road. Not that he had a bus but what ever he had for transportion was his bus. Out by the sugarhouse there is the reamains of an old "woodie" station wagon that was one of the vehicles used to tranport the children. They were not social folks, at least when I was old enough to know them, their life was on the farm and they didn't leave there often unless it was to go and get food or grain for the cows. I remember one summer when I was maybe 10-11, we all and I don't remember who we all was, but it was Gramp, Gram, me, Calvin, Shirley and maybe Collen but I think it was to early for her. Any way after finishing morning chores we all loaded into the back of the old truck and went somewhere in New Hampshire to pick blueberries. Now this was an all day trip and we all picked until our fingers were dark blue and we had enough blueberries to last the winter. The reason this was so exceptional was that Gramie Ware went with us. She very seldom left the hill, she didn't go to the store to shop or any other reason. I don't remember them coming to our house in SR, we always went to their home. Yes as a young fella I spent a lot of time up on the hill, working on the farm. I don't think I ever really did much but would go up on friday night and the folks would come and get me sometime on sunday. It was a big deal for me and when I left on Sunday Gramp would give me my pay, usually a nichel or dime which came from a bowl in the capboard across from the sink or in those days the water tank were great water from the spring came into the kitchen. No at that time there was no running water or indoor plumbing, that came later. That was a fun time, working in the hay fields, turning hay by hand with a pitchfork and then trying to help picking up bales. I guess I broke more than I loaded, always seem to pick them up by one string...In those days there was always a team of horses tht were used for many on the tasks on the farm, daily in the winter they would haul a sled to take out the manure, I used to "drive" the team in the barn as we loaded. I'm sure Calvin told the horses what to do, but I always thought I was a teamster. They also used the horses or horse to cultvate potatoes, I rode the horse, and of course they were used for suguring every spring.

Every morning after breakfast Gramp and I would load truck with the milk cans and go to the creamery in town. This was always a big treat because after we went to the creamery we would stop at the Store. In those days it was run by George Wood and he sold everything and anything that the local farmers needed. Two things about the store that stick with me were, one , there was always a big wheel of cheese on the counter that was cut to order and wraped in brown paper and second and of more interest to me was a big jar of chocolates, the drop type with white filling. These were a staple at the Ware house along with beach nut chewing taboacco. We got whatever gram needed plus what Ed Folsom needed, Ed is a topic for any time but must be part of my memories of staying on the hill.

I think this is enough for today and hopefully a good start on what I hope will be some interesting information for my loyal readers. For those of you who are my loyal readers I apoligize for the sometimes misspellings, the change of thought in mid sentence and general running of my mouth. Sometimes my mind runs faste than my fingers can type. I am having a great time doing this, brother Stew says I'm crazy and to leave him out of my musings, but I can't do that. So with that in mind let me add a current tidbit about my little brother. As you all know he now lives here in Fl near me, well he and Merry flew down and bought a car. Found one and got a great deal on it and was happier than a pig in ____, well Saturday night he called me and told me his car had quit on him and he barely got it home and needed to borrow my car until he could get his to the shop this morning.You know Stew, he worried all weekend about how much it was going to cost to get it repaird, so first thing this morning he went to a shop I told him to, the machinic said he knew the car and the lady who had owned had the same problem so he went to work on it...In two minutes he found the problem, a vacaum hose had come loose, he put a clamp on it and the car runs like new. Total cost $5.00,,Stew is now again a happy snowbird. The pimpmobile is back on road and at a price he could afford.

See you all again soon.

13 Jan 2008

Have taken a few days off, I guess it what's called writers block, actually I've busy doing nothing, but hadn't felt the like writing. Friday night we went to dinner with Stew and Mary, had a good time, and got talking about the blog and Stew saying he couldn't remember anything, which I told him wasn't a bad thing. We got to talking at the table about old things, like who remembered all the stores on the old block before the fire. Of course they couldn't remember them all, but did a good job on most of stores, they didn't remember Bob Midagy(sp) hardware store and the other food store, Fran's, First National and the third_______anybody know, let me know, if no one remembers I'll tell you in a couple of days. We also talked about future blog topics, like two on two baseball, growing up in SR and what we did, good and bad. We all came up with some good ideas which I will put into words going forward. Mother said I should print this out and save it, but it will be on the hard drive until my computer crashes. Glad Mom went to Conn to support the native Americans, had bee awhile and I'm sure they needed the money she donated to them. Better luck next time Mom.

The next bit of history that I am going to make an attempt at will be about the Ware side of the family. This will be fun as I spent a lot of time up on the "hill" when I was younger. Those were some really fun times and I think I can come up with plenty of stories about those years and they will not be all deer stories, however there will be one or two of those. So be looking for these in the near future. I think it is time to go watch a little football and rest. Hope all is well with each of you.

8 Jan 2008

Its been a couple of days since I've had time to sit and do this, so tonight I will spend a little more time continuing with Dad.

Dad continued working for Ned Petingill for several years, doing many different jobs there. The company got out of the egg business and went into some of the first independent gas stations in the State under the "Petco" name. This was a concept that was way before its time. All the stations had an unique design with an inverted roof and all manned by women in red pants and white shirts. I think there were about eight or nine stations around the state plus others that sold his gas that he didn't own. Also he had a large fuel oil business. There were I think nine large storage tanks there is SR. This was a big operation, Dad was Dispatcher for the company and anything else that needed to be done, he was on call 24/7. When I was in my teens I worked there also, doing what ever no one else wanted to do. Somewhere in about 1963 Dad fell in the garage and hurt his back. This lead to surgery, which was done at the VA in White River. We thought the surgery went well but after a few days he was paralyzed on one side and that led to other complications and we thought the end of his working career. This was true for many years, but this did not keep him down for good. He went to work for Tip Top bakery as a mechanic for a few years until they closed down the bakery. During this time he wasn't in very good health but continued. His last job was working for Tom Kellogg, he was a gofer, he would get parts, take stuff to job sites etc. But failing health forced him to stop. Dad went through many health issues and endured much pain. One thing Dad had his whole life was a great memory, he never forgot anything and could tell stories for hours about people and places, I guess maybe I have the same trait. Most of what I remember comes from the stories and experiences I learned from him.

One story he never let me forget was the time that Bruce Stender and I went to New York. Bruce was in the AirForce at the time and was home on leave. Dad was in the hospital so we thought it would be fun to go to the famous"Hampton Manor" in Whitehall, yes it was a bar and at that time NY drinking age was 18 and anyone with money could get served. Well we went and maybe drank more than we should have and I came home in the wee hours of the morning and started up the stairs to go to bed when I heard a voice say, where the h-ll you think you're going. I didn't know but Dad had come home from the hospital and had been waiting for me. I really don't have to finish this by telling what happened but I didn't go anywhere for quite awhile after that...the other thing about that trip was that the band that night at the Manor was Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs, I still listen to their CD. That was my one and only trip to NY to drink.

In his later years he loved to go for rides over the hills of the area, at which time he would tell about who lived in each house, who lived there 40 years ago, he knew where all the back roads went, even ones that no one used any more. This was true even when he could not see, it was a real gift. I remember going places as a family and Dad singing old songs and playing car games like counting animals and getting points for different ones. Getting stuck in the snow trying to get up the hill by John Carpenters going to Gramp Ware. He would get almost to the top and start spinning, then back down the hill and trying again, this was an deal that could go on for a long period, but normally he would prevail and finally make it up the hill and on to the house, but it always took a bunch of swearing and shouting for us to shut up as we always thought we would end up in the brook and freeze to death.. I could go on for ever but have many other things to add to this babble. I'm not sure where I will go next but hopfully it will interest some of you. Good night.

Saurday Jan 5 2008

Good morning, it has been a couple of days since I have sat down and tried to write, haven't been doing much, watch golf on TV, hope you all saw Andrew on the Golf Channe
l. You had to be looking to see him, but he was there.

In today's history lesson, I will spend a little time talking about Nat&Essie's youngest child, Ernest(Spud) Dad. Dad was a farm boy who at the age of 16, lied about his age and joined the Navy, of course this was during WW II. Some of what I am going say may be incorrect but I think most of it is factual. I remember Dad telling that he was on the USS Bennigton, which was new ship and His whole family drove to New York City for the christening of the ship before they set sail for the Pacific. Think of that, a whole family packing up and driving to NYC to see their son ship out to war. Today it would not be a big deal to go to NYC but in the 1940's it was a major trip. Dad spent most of the war on aircraft carriers in the Pacific. He worked on the catapult, where they launched the airplanes and recovered them when they came back. I remember him telling stories about planes missing the deck and landing in the ocean. He never said much about the actual war and the attacks on his ship which is normal for veterans who have seen action. The ones who tell all the stories are the ones that never see any action..After the war Dad got married and settled in So Royalton, and lived all his adult life there. He first went to work at the VA hospital in White River, but that wasn't his cup of tea. I'm not sure in which order the next jobs came but in there was a time at the copper mine in Straford and working for Windsor County Feed..There was a story that Dad told about delivering grain at a farm and I was with him, and I was looking in a barrel that he was to dump the grain in and he did not see me and dumped the grain on me and almost covered me up, which may explain why I am the way I am.From one of these jobs
dad went to work for Green Mountain Egg Service, later to become Petco Oil Co. Both were owned by Ned Pettingill. Dad was a truck driver and would go all over the state picking up eggs from farmers. As a young boy I went with him many times, it was great fun riding in the big red truck. Never forget it, it was a 1958 Ford F-750 with lettering on the sides. But this truck was a lemon, I can't remember how many motors they put in that thing but in double digits.The eggs were brought to SR (30 dozen per case) and once a week, they would take a semi load to Boston. Also they picked up hatching eggs and they were taken to Wallingford Conn, to Hall Brothers Hatchery, I know because many nights I went with Dad to Conn, long ride before the interstates were open. One story about the egg days, one day a week Dad would go to New York and pick up eggs and deliver them to H P Hood, in Walpole NH. The New York trip was a fun time, we would leave around midnight and pick up eggs all night. On the way to New York Dad would always stop in Fair Haven Vt and the B&B Diner, where I would get a grilled english muffin and a chocolate milk. One night we were near Salem NY and the motor blew on the truck. It was about 3:00 in the morning, snowing and we were on a little two lane road with next to no traffic. After awhile a truck came by and gave us a ride to the nearest town, where Dad called probably Joe Dow and told him we were leaving the truck and hitchhiking home.First we got a ride with a guy who drove like H--l in the snow. We didn't say much as there was no traffic. He dropped us off in Rutland and there we were picked up by a man who was delivering papers for the Rutland Herald. He got us to Bethel and we started walking from there, about a mile up the road we meet Charles Stender, who at the time was driving truck for Decato Brothers. He stopped and turned around and took us back to SR. The end of this story was that we got home by about 6:30 and Dad made me go and do my paper route, don't know who was going to do it for me, but really made me mad.

I think I have rambled enough for today, tomorrow I will continue my history of Dad as there is a lot more I want to say on this subject.

Jan 2 2008

My first post for the new year and I have nothing to write. Had a quiet New Years eve, Addie here for the night and I was in bed shortly after 9:00. I had to work new years day and again today. Cold today, didn't get up to 50 all day. Had 11 golfers, crazy people to play in this weather. Will be colder tonight, maybe in the teens....Stew says if he wanted to be this cold, he would have stayed in Vt. He got up this morning and turned on his heat, only to find out he had none. A quick call to the air conditioning man and a few dollars he had heat....Think they are adjusting to their new home and having fun with all their new"old" friends in the park. I think they are about the youngest in the park. They were out for supper tonight so Stew could give me my daily bit of harassment. Tomorrow will be chilly and I should have time for some good information worth reading. Till then...