My Childhood Experiences Run Full Circle
85
Words of a Child
I still recall from an early age touting that “I’m not getting married, I’m going to be a bachelor”. I remember being asked many times the question of when I was going to get married and other jokes about a girl friend, always culminating in the eventuality of me getting married. It seemed like a continual family joke as my parents and grand parents found never ending humor in a little kid making such a proclamation.
I was a little “horse trader”, always looking to trade something I had for what ever you had, it was just what I did. It often caused my father to just grin and shake his head when he thought I had traded down hill. Never fear tomorrow was a new day and there were times he asked if I didn’t feel like I had taken advantage of another kid. There were other times the party line would ring our number with a parent wanting back what had been traded, my Dad would see to it, straight away. I knew the deal had to be undone, no matter how I felt, as I felt I never made a deal that wasn’t “even steven” or a “square” deal.
Home On the Edge
My Birthplace and Home Town is Gone
My Pop was a Marine, son of Dutch immigrants, Gramps was a Pentecostal Preacher, Pop was a brother of 12 siblings 4 being sisters. I never met his Dad, he died when my Pop was 12. Gramps preached on Sundays and cut and dragged timber from the woods of Tennessee, in an area between three small towns, Henderson, Finger and Sweetlips. They didn’t get church paid “Parsonages” or salaries, as now for the most part do.
After Gramps died the family returned to Poplar Bluff, Missouri where they had started.
They lived in an old shack on “Pikes Slew” just outside of town. As a child I visited Granny on the slew and with the exception of electricity, nothing had changed. The shack had an old out house and water was still hand pumped from the well and baths were a # 10 wash tub with a few gallons of water and a rag with soap. My Pop called them airplane baths. I didn’t get the joke for several years to come. A dab under each wing and a scrubbing of the cockpit was the description, good old Pop, could make a joke of anything. He rarely ever cursed or spoke crudely. As a first grader, I was asked what my Pop did for a living, not knowing I asked him and he told me that he just drove around in a truck and told dirty jokes. The next day in class I repeated his comment after all I believed it. This was the first of parent teacher meetings of several I would experience.
It was the depression era as well as the coming of WWII. One by one the sons enlisted and joined the fight, mainly for the money to send home to feed the rest of the family.
Granny went to work as a cook for the school.
After the war my father loaded an old pick up truck and headed for Arizona to gain work in one of the copper mines. He worked his way up from a truck driver to a shift foreman over the coarse of 40 years. Working for Kennecott in a small town called Ray. We were forced from there to another small town the mine company was responsible for creating as they were claiming the mineral rights under Ray, and now I often joke I’m from nowhere. Where the town sat is one deep strip-mining hole.
Radio Tribute to MY Home Town Take a Listen
- Sonora and Ray, Arizona, Rest in Peace - KJZZ 91.5 FM - Your NPR News Station
James Garcia reports on two towns destroyed in order to create accomodate an ever-widening copper mine.
The Old Spanish Miner
We were poor, but I never knew it, so was everybody else. We were equal so it seemed just normal. My upbringing was Marine Corps strict and I was a “drug kid”, 3 times a week I was drug to church, twice on Sunday and Wednesday evenings. This took priority in our life. My Pop walked the walk, God, family, country and work.
He raised me to be a doer, we didn’t call “the guy” for anything, and we did it ourselves.
I took my first job at 10 years old. Every day when school let out, Theopholis Miller (an old family friend) picked me up after school and took me to the mine. We worked cleaning the office and aid station buildings, emptying trash and sweeping and mopping floors. On Saturdays we waxed and buffed the floors and did a special job on the restrooms. I was paid fifty cents a day and a dollar for usually 6 to eight hours on Saturdays. I thought I was rich, after all it paid better than collecting soda bottles along the roadways.
This is where I found out about the “Old Spanish Miner”. I overheard conversations of some of the men working the mine, about an old miner and they were taking a collection to buy groceries and take them to him. I enquired about this man wanting to know more.
The old mines in the area fascinated me and one of the ministers at the Baptist church I attended often took church youth on outings into the desert. Mr. Amos had a ’56 Chevy Bel Air, we would meet at the church, sometimes 10 of the kids would show up. It was probably a funny sight to see the car packed and 3 or 4 of us riding in the trunk with a piece of rope holding the lid that would bang us in the head as we bounced down the road to where we would set out and hike into the mountains visiting and entering old mine tunnels along with the ruins of small towns. I spent many days and hours during my youth back packing and sight seeing these old places. For this interest, hearing of the old miner I got excited and had to know more.
After quizzing Pops about it I was finally granted permission to accompany the two men who took food weekly to miner. At the time he was probably in his early seventies, much too old to do much digging in his tunnels. He spoke broken English and mixed it with Spanish. His name was Radulfo Viato After snooping around, I found his homestead to be fascinating; his lifestyle fell into my childhood dreams. Apart from being a confirmed bachelor I added a gold miner to my dreams. I was going to make it big, with a gold mine.
Departure and Gaining My Foundation
As time went on, I visited the old guy as often as I could then one day “the” letter came, it was 3 months before my 18th birthday, I was to report to the Army induction center only 3 weeks after finishing high school. I visited Radulfo one time after that. He was either 80 or darn near it. I never thought once the last would be the last.
I quit school after a major fight with Pops, he was preaching that the draft was 2 years and if he let me go it would be 4 years. He said being a Marine wasn’t worth multiple tours in combat I would get with the Corps. Even after being spit on, I would disagree to this day.
At 17 I passed the GED test and enlisted in the Marine Corps rather than face the draft and the reporting to the Army, 30 days after my 18th birthday. I preferred to follow in my fathers’ footsteps.
Myself, Pops and my Senior Drill Instructor found it humorous that a letter was sent out regarding me as AWOL from failure to report to the Army recruiters’ office in Phoenix.
I remember getting the letter from home that the old miner was found dead one night when the men had gone to deliver his groceries. I was sad, but hardened to death. Memories of him faded away during my 8 years in the Marines, and the 26 months I served in theater. I never thought much about him until 1988 when I looked at and put my money on this 200 acre plot of land. Even then it was a bet for financial gain, that the $525.00 an acre would turn to much more in dollar value. These lands are rich with history of both Indian and early settler history and their get rich quick schemes. I suppose times are changed, but mans grasping at the wind is ever going forward. Until they realize the truth of life, they will never be satisfied.
Seems as though things have now traveled full circle, I am a confirmed bachelor, after a couple of failed attempts at married life. I'll still trade just about most anything. I've never hit a lick at gold mining, though. I'll always be a Marine and forever the Marines will be my family. This plot of dirt is my only home, it's paid in full, but I'm a temporary fixture here, in the end I'll leave it for greener pastures.
Marines the Volunteers
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You are the first! That was quick. Thank you, all old soldiers are Brothers it is a bond that those outside the ranks may not understand.
Fair winds and following seas! God Bless
Dear 50 Caliber,
Thanks for sharing your story. I always knew you were the real deal and it is a privilege to know you... I love the way you spin a yarn!
Pop, thank you for the kind comments and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoy Breakfast at your place! I really was thinking it just ramblings of an old fart.
Have a great day, God Bless.
Sometimes I have to agree about being single. I'm 32 and never been in a real relationship - much less married. My brothers and mother have had way to much trouble so if I don't find the "right" one, I just ain't gettin married.
Thanks for the great life history. It's neat that you obtained exactly the kind of life you always wanted. Inspiring as always 50.
Thank you Alexander Mark. I recon some of us just aren't meant to be hitched. I think at one time I tried to fit the mold, but just couldn't seem to do it.
This choice seems to suite me just fine. I hope you find your niche if you haven't all ready.
God Bless you in your endevors and thanks for visiting.
Thank you so much for your service.
Keep on hubbing!
Dear 50 Caliber,
If this is what you call ramblings of an old fart, keep up the great work. You rock 50 caliber, you really do!
Thanks for the background, 50Cal, I've a few years service as well. It widens your view on life doesn't it.
A great hub, - from the heart.
Regards.
Sorry about not tending the Hub and getting back late, but afternoons on Sundays I take my dogs for a jeep ride and sometimes we get tangled up.
eovery,
Thanks for visiting and letting me know you were here.
B Pop, you are a kind and wise man. I bet we could burn a day or two trading words.
Old Firm, good to hear from you. Being a service member from
any walk of life marks one indelibly. I remember your first comment, it was on the nail head, when you described my reasons. Thanks for visiting.
I have been to Henderson, Tennessee several times.
Thank you for your service to our country.
I very much enjoyed reading about your life. Now I know you better. Gold miner, huh?
Hello James,
I've been to Henderson back in 1991, one of my Dads brothers lived there after he was discharged from the Army. He and my Dad went to watchmakers school together. He found work in Savanna, Tn. at a Local jewelry store and worked there until he died. My brother lives in a small town between Henderson and Savanna named Adamsville. I spent about a week, I had accompanied my Pop to the funeral.
Pop, showed me some of the sights, like Shilo. An area that is full of Civil War History. The hydroelectric dam and lock system there is also something I found interesting.
What took you to Henderson?
Gold mining, not my cup of tea, it seems like way to much work. I still find the local history and remnants of these parts very interesting, and a time when the settlers were truly grasping at the wind.
My Daddy's from Lexington. When I was a boy my granddad took me all round those towns. This past February I revisited all those places and stopped to see 2nd cousins in Henderson and in Clarksburg.
Wow, I looked on Google, Lexington is only minutes away from my brother and Henderson. I think one of my fathers sisters may still be alive and in Henderson. My grand tour was mostly to an old grave yard outside Henderson to see Gramps' grave and the Shilo Battle field and a Dam and lock for boats.
Henderson is a particularly beautiful little town.
James sorry for the delay, some how missed the button.
As for Henderson we didn't spend but an in and out drive, and I remember the Dairy Queen, my Dad had a thing for them and that was our only stop other than his sisters home.
I'm glad to get to know you a little bit. It's nice to meet someone who always knew what they wanted out of life, and went ahead and got it. Most of my family is like that, and we've had cause for very few regrets.
Joy At Home,
I'm not sure I always knew, Just due to the fact I made so many left turns with a few right turns thrown in for distraction, But if one makes enough left turns they will return to their origins. Some where in the Bible, something to the effect of a father teaching his offspring the way, they they will return to it, Proverbs I think.
I am at peace with my regrets.
Thanks for stopping by and letting me know.
50 Cal.,
Peace is worth more than most other things. Glad to hear the left turns have put you where you should be. You are obviously confident that this is so. Faith, some call it.
My husband and I are in the process of making our own haven - a place the kids can call home no matter what happens, no matter what doesn't happen. Friends, too.
I understand very well the urge to try mining...I have, now and again, though not for gold. I'm lucky in having a friend who has made the investments in time, property, and tools, and just invites me along for the fun. Maybe by the time I'm your age, I'll decide it's too much work, too!
Thanks for the stories. Blessings, and may you have more peace than you know what to do with.
Joy At Home,
thank you for being so kind.
As a kid I hiked many a mile and crawled past many blocked entrances of condemned mines and saw what was much work to have been done in their era, I just am happy with what I've got. Peace here is plentiful.
I salute you and Bless you!!!!! GREAT HUB!
drpastorcarlotta thank you for stopping in.
You have had a most interesting life! Need to make a movie about you, but then, Hollywood would screw it up somehow.
donotfear,
I'd hate the invasion of Hollywood, maybe posthumous would be ok. Thanks for reading.
I wanted to be a caveman when I was a kid. ;) Thanks for sharing your story, congrats on the well. Mine ended up at about 320 feet...
Justine76,
so do you go caving now?
thanks for reading!
Yep, I missed this one, but I am with donotfear. You should be a movie of the week.
bearclawmedia,
they could get Bruce Dern to star in it, I think he could do the "crazy miner dance" to scare folks off,
hehehaho...........
50 Caliber Dude- I want to be just like you when I grow up!
Some one needs to be heir to this hole in the ground!
Enjoyed your story very much 50 Caliber!
soumyasrajan, Glad you liked it and thanks for letting me know.
Really enjoyed your story and the way you saw life as a boy and where you ended up as a man. I am glad you enjoy peace in solitude .. we all need that. Thank you for serving our Country dear Calibar - our Country owes much to those who sacrificed their lives daily for our freedom.. how long the US will have it ... It doesn't look good. But our History was firmly rooted in values and sacrifice. Thanks for the Hub and for sharing your life. Good Read!
Mekenzie, thank you for the kind comments and glad you stopped by for a visit.
Wow, this is amazing!
Do you have any idea how often I go to and through Henderson? :) I lived in Jackson the first few years after moving to TN, I've been in Parsons for about the past 6 years. My daddy was born in TN, but we have roots in Poplar Bluff too. 50 Caliber, we might be RELATED somewhere down the line! :)
Next time you and James are visiting we should have lunch.
Pink Mingos, now that would prove interesting. While I've never attended the family reunions used to and maybe still do, alternate from a park near Henderson to a Park in Poplar Bluff. I'd have to look up the names in my phone/address binder, but as large as the family was/is It could be possible. I'd love to meet up with you and James but I doubt I'll ever leave this state again. I have to many things that depend on me being here and it's all I can do to go north for my fall/winter hunting trips for meat.
Brilliant hub really enjoyed it and I look forward to reading more of your hubs.
maggs224, that means a lot to me after reading a couple of yours that I really enjoyed. This was my favorite and it was the one that has the lowest traffic. I came to read as you can tell 14 months and only 6 hubs. Thank you for your kind words and stopping by.
50 - what a wonderful story. It's so good of you to remember the old miner, and to keep his memory alive there, where he lived and died.
Thank you for your service to our country!
Dolores Monet, I went back to the old shack he lived in 5 or so years back and a lot of his things were still in the old shack. It had began falling apart and some were rusty but with the dry humidity much was still good and I brought it home with me. He was my hero as a kid, we got along well.
Your Welcome,
Dusty
I really enjoyed this story Caliber and I love the way you write. Was quite fascinating.
ladyjane1, thank you as it is the favorite of mine, I guess so many good memories popped up of those years. My inspiration for life these days was out lined by those days. They are far from like them on the surface but the small pieces lay in here some where. Glad you liked it and I've got more but they are unfinished, I get a thought and start hammering the keys like they belong on an old Smith Corona type writer but then the fire goes out just before pasting it up. So they lay under the saved button for another day.
I like your hubs and style as well so I thank you for stopping in my meager 6 hubs in 15 months, I really did come to while away the hours on the many subjects here. Reading is fundamental to my life and I enjoy it as I do your hubs.
Much love and peace through all your days,
dust
Dude- I remember reading this hub and commenting. I may have just hit enter instead of "Post Comment". Now before you start picking on me remember that I'm an ex-Jarhead Vietnam Vet with almost as much brain damage as you have.
Wow- you've written 6 hubs in 15 months! How do you find the time?
It's quality- not quantity. Some of my hubs I wrote many years ago-though! Later Bro!
Listen here you poetry man, I only let you post 'cuz I like you! haha I've got 20 hubs written, they need spell check and titles I may post them all in 1 day or never, just depends on my state of mindless........ go figure did I mention I'm half-fast?
50 Caliber, Wonderful heartfelt story! No doubt you are a hard dedicated worker and have had some very interesting experiences! I am sure that you served our country well! Solitude is great when you spend it with the Lord! Thank you for sharing, In His love, Peace & Blessings
DeBorrah K. Ogans,
Thank you Your presence here is greatly appreciated and I am honored you stopped by.
Dusty,
May you have a blessed Easter Day!
Love Ghosty!
Ghosty, thank you! I hope you enjoy a fine day as well! I was pushing to post a new hub, but it will be for another day. In the circle of the Fathers Love, 50
50 Caliber,
Great story of your life. Happy Easter and may God bless you. Thank you for your service!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tom, thanks for reading and thank you for affirmation of services rendered for a pittance from the tax funds.
Theater and the Marines, that's an intersting mix! Seems to me you had quite the upbringing, full of grace and humilty! thank you for sharing this.. it's a real treat.
Hey, you have to check out this hub!
http://hubpages.com/hub/Hubbers-We-Are-Our-Stories
Ken put together a real nice shout out to a few amazing hubbers here and your one of them! Are you surprised? I'm not! Anyhoo, Micky has decided to let me adopt him as my crazy uncle, and that means your stuck with me too! HAHA!
Blessings!
Summer, greetings from that land of the lost. Glad you stopped in. The word "Theater" is a word for military area of operation. Right now I suppose Afghanistan and/or Iraq would be considered "in theater" I'll be on Kens hub here shortly, I'm soaking up some coffee trying to get my brain out of the fog. Yeah, Mick is a trip, I may have to give him my job, he was able to find a relative and have them call my brother and then he called me. So Mick got me found from where he lives to where was, Yuma,Arizona. If he wasn't so much fun I'd knock him in the head.
50, another great story. I love AZ. I also love prospecting. lol. I can't wait to move to AZ.
Granny's House, you will love Arizona from the cold north to the hot southern border. Move while you have the zip to see it all!
I was just in Flagstaff in october. We drove down to Phoenix
I am a desert rat. I was born in Nevada.
Granny's House, that is a pretty drive and there exists some beautiful property there, way to expensive though, at least for a poor boy like me......
I enjoyed this hub a great deal 50. Two of my sons are former Marines. I won that lottery in 69, only one I ever won. My mom went down to the draft board and cried over her baby boy and they classified me 4-F. I never knew this until I was 40 when she told my wife. She may have saved my life, but I'll never know. Keep writing old son. Charlie
ralwus, I'm glad you did, it was probably my favorite and it rated dead last, but I think I wrote it for me. 4F was a blessing for you, she saved your life I guarantee, even when you come home your life is never quite right. People say I'm crazy and I reply I can prove it and smile. Thanks for visiting, I see many folks I know and a dear friend and brother Mickey Dee at your place, I'll have to get after him for not spilling the beans on a fine writer like you, when I grow up I want to be like you. Peace 50
Was just buzzin' around and saw this hub. What an interesting life you have lived ,and it has afforded you many good stories. I agree with some of the others. It should be a movie.I think you are a gentle old soul. You found real contentment. How awesome!
bayoulady, It is the best life for me that I could have dreamed for, plenty is plentiful and quiet abounds, I pray I am as you say, "gentle" and die that way, thanks for reading 50
Fascinating! Dusty, you really should write a book!
Thumbs WAY up, my friend!
Holle, a book? I just barely can force a hub now and again! More fun to set around a big fire in the fall, winter, and spring and tip a few with some tall tails, thanks, 50
I find it very interesting how youre life is so different from mine, how you were working at ten years old makes me appreciate how easy my life has been. Thankyou for sharing :)
tanzersrose, we all have differences, I suppose, I never really considered working at ten a hard way to go, it just seemed like "part of it", I just missed out on being a kid to some degree, but I got to quit being a clock puncher while I still had my health to use toward having my second childhood. So I see it as a give and get experience, not many people take advantage of opportunity to stop and enjoy what they gain. Instead they keep chasing the next dollar. I have been truly blessed in that regard. Thanks for reading and stopping to comment, 50
Dusty you are always great to chat with and chuck ideas and theories around with and now I can see where this solid grounding and open eyes comes from. I can't believe I have missed this hub previously. I can also see given what you have seen and fought for as a MArine how frustrating this current political quagmire of America is to you. That situation doesn't get nay better as they trash the US financial markets, no jobs and the beat goes on....
Billy I have seen much change in this country it has been wild since the last president sat down., 50
Hey there Dusty - you have surely lived a fascinating life! Your story is great and well-written. Thanks for sharing this humbling and beautiful life history.
Love and peace
Tony
Tonymac, I appreciate you stopping by and your comments of compliments as well, Peace and Much Love capped with good blessings, Dusty
I can remember as a boy always trading what I had to hope for something better or of more interest. Growing up poor in a part of town where our fists had to do the talking for us was certainly a wake up call for me.
As I grew I learned how to survive in the streets, yet pulled myself up to a higher education by hard work and by stumbling on a great mentor.
Your story is told and you served with honor for your country. You owe nothing to no one my friend and you stand proud and self sufficient. You made your way in life and went through the fire. I've been there with two failed marriages and a lot of grief after the divorces.
I truly believe when one decides on marriage, one should take a year course on how to stay married, it may deter many from entering those matrimonial vows or at least teach them how to stay married and the ramifications of divorce.
This is a great short version of your life, however I know there is so much more hidden beneath your gold miners hat. I would love to read more of your life experiences, maybe you will consider sharing some of your many adventures. Peace my brother.
Saddle Rider, a humbling review of a scant version of the circles I've turned. My last marriage ended with a car wreck, as she did a 180 in the rainy wet freeway ending in the entrance to Costa Mesa, it was I-55 and it has been changed since the wreck from ending on asphalt streets to a freeway into that area by off ramps and then ending as the entrance to highway 1 that runs the coastline and has changed since then as well. None the less I was in a failing marriage as the system in California of one single reason of "irreconcilable differences" so I'm afraid it would have gone anyway as I was still in shock as I am now. I find living alone my best bet.
I do agree about the courses on marriage, as just quitting is today's answer to problem solving in a marriage and most any endeavor in life.
I hold much under the surface as I'm doing life without parole. I live trapped to an extent of my past and there are parts that won't let go of me, making me best left to live alone. Perhaps in the future I'll let go of the base of my existance.
I thank you for checking me out, as a kid from nowhere as it was destroyed and is now a hole in the ground. I just realized that it mirrors my life, another hole in the ground, HA! seems things never really change.
Much Love and Peace to you and yours, bro' may you be blessed with never ending happiness,dusty
How I would like a little corner on the edge of that land of yours, with just the bare necessities, including my computer and piano. Just me and the rocks and the ground under my bare feet, and of course some kind of water well or pool or fountain. That must be paradise. Nice to meet you!
Martie, I guess it depends on what one deems as paradise. By the time one makes all the switch backs on the sand road to get out of town to here it's 54 miles. A 4x4 is a have to have. Then you have to consider water and electricity, and a septic system. I pulled more than a rabbit out of the hat to get this done, I was literally Blessed for all this to come together there is no way I could have met all the people that it took to make this happen. There is a reason I am out here, I don't know yet what it is, but I have faith I'll find out. It is rustic to give it a modest description of pretty rough and definitely totally done from salvaged metal from 100 year old mine buildings and crashed semi trailer lining around the walls holding the insulation in place. Visitors say paint and it would look better and I say I don't paint and me and the hounds like cleaning the floors with a water hose and drying it with a fan and doors open, but that is for spring time. Thanks for reading and commenting, 50
"I am at peace with my regrets." Wish I could say that 50, I'm almost there some days and then a memory comes poking its nosy self into my mind and I'm off again on a trip through the what-ifs.
I'm with saddlerider though, if you ever decide to turn loose of some more of that base of your existence, I'll be here. And, salvaged metal holds its own beauty - just have to have the right eye for it.
Poohgranma, being at peace with them doesn't mean you don't have to shew them away every now and again.
I like my salvage metal pretty good, like me we seen our better days. Thanks, for reading, 50
Ha ha - ain't that the truth! Knowing how to shew is the thing I guess. I used to worry a lot about appearances, mine and the "stuff" we accumulate but I quit doing that a while back. I realized how blessed I am to have a roof that's not leaking and a body that works most of the the time. Take care now, 50 and see you around.
I appreciate you sharing this one, I very much enjoyed it!!!!!
Shelvajay, I appreciate you reading and letting me know, peace, 50
Interesting article and story you actually shared in here.Nice article and thanks for writing.
FOREX NINJA, thanks for reading, I appreciate the comments. Peace,50
Good Mornin Dusty,
I loved reading about your childhood and growing up..it sounds as if you were rich beyond..just with the values and work ethics that were taught. Can't buy those no matter how much money someone has. Confirmed bachelor huh? Their loss! :) Have a good day..thanks for sharing!
Sunnie
Sunnie,
good morning to you as well! I look back and see just how rich I was! If we had, had money, I never would have known the value of $0.02 cents and a tow sack full of pop bottles, I was a scavenger for things everybody wanted to buy. I made inventions, I think my best was putting a steering wheel from a car on a bicycle. I did mine, my Pop said "that's stupid" and was aggravated that I'd mess up my bicycle like that. Then kids started seeing it as I rode up and down the roads and wanted the same "cool set up". I went and asked the old man about getting more steering wheels from his mass of old wrecked cars and pick ups, '40s models mostly. He wanted to know why? and I showed him my bicycle and told him I wanted to sell fixing bike up like that.He laughed and shook his head, the told me get all you want. It wasn't long in the carport using y dads tools, I was in business, at 3 dollars each I did at least 15. Pops made me put half in the savings account he had set up for me, I didn't much like that part but it was one of those lessons he taught that paid off later in life. I remember the little diner in town that sold pizzas, the first we all had ever seen or heard of. I used some of that to get a $1.25 large pizza and a Coke, then sat down to a cheese pizza and ate it all. I didn't know what pepperoni was or the host of other stuff either so I just ordered a cheese. Things that are everyday stuff now were mysteries back then, something like a pizza, after telling my friends they all thought it sounded good and Old Bob at the diner was selling the fuzz out of them and they became just another thing in life as a year passed. The part I remember best was walking in and ordering a meal and paying for it all by my lonesum, it felt good to be able to do that. I learned from my Pop, the wages of honest work was money. I was a horse trader and a door to door push mower lawn mowing kid for 25 cent a lawn, or the redflyer wagon in tow with a bucket rags, brush and soap for washing a car. If I needed money I had been taught to work for it cuz if you asked Pop he'd say no unless I did some work around the house, if there was nothing to do he'd make something up like taking a push broom and bailing wire to hook the water hose to it and scrub the house. Always something. Good was rewarded with good and breaking the rulz was a pain in the a$$, literally ha ha.
Thanks for the visit! dusty
Wow Dusty I love these stories! It didn't hurt you one bit working when you were younger did it? You were quite the inventor. I love the bicycle story.. I have a confession! I use to work in the Tobacco fields around 1975..yep! It was South Ga and it was the only job that was around at that time. We worked on the Harvester. We worked from 5 am to 7 pm at night. We got paid $12.00 per day and I bought my first car. It was a army green four door Ford Fair lane. I was the only girl on the harvester so sometimes I got to drive the tractor. At the end of the rows all the guys would run and jump in the pond skinny dipping. I would sit on the harvester and wait until they came back. One time my brother jumped in with everything off except his socks..lol My dad was in the service at a near by military base but we lived in a tiny southern town for about five years. So we worked like the other kids did.It was hard work but oddly fun too. The owners of the field would cook us lunch and it was the typical southern meal and sweet tea. Thanks for letting me share..Awesome memories.
Sunnie
. . . well, I just love you! Care to try for marriage #3?
:):) Magnificent story told like only Dusty could tell. Loved your dad's line "A dab under each wing and a scrubbing of the cockpit was the description". This hub read like a movie - descriptive lines, written from the heart. You are one of "the guy's" very best! You are, what you are ~ a desert angel. Thank you for serving our country and fighting for me. You don't need to pan for gold ~ you ARE gold. . . rated up and pushed every one of those buttons (just so I don't push any of yours). Love you, 50 - :) vocalcoach
Sunnie,
I don't know how I missed your return and adding some more fun to swapping stories. I was asked not to long ago, if I hit the lotto for multi-millions of dollars what I'd do with it it and if I'd leave here. I said nope, I'd stay right here and just build a big iron fire pit with the stuff that would keep 10 or 12 comfortable sitting around a fire then round up my favorite story tellers and fly them all in for a week of good food and take my story stick and pass it around for turns of "tales off the top" I think that would be great fun, then give all some cash, get a 1964 VW Bug convertible and spend the rest on a soup kitchen and a salvage outlet for dent and bent and a "bust a bale" clothing outlet, all in one large building to help the needy and get someone to run it all, then retreat to here whee I belong, with all I need already have. I don't mean to snub anyone by saying "favorite", but I can't lie and say I don't have favorite writers here. Hosting it yearly with the door open to all who can get here, that would be cool in my book.
You'd be here! Sorry for the late reply, I've been to the Sawbones for a valve job on my engine and today is my first back home in I think about 15 days,
Love and God Bless,
dust
vocalcoach, was that a proposal? :) How much time do I get to think on it? he he
I figure I'm a "Desert Rat" more than an angel. I'm glad to be back and you've officially made me blush, I could feel the heat of extra blood in my face. You've done what's not been done right there in some time. Thank you for the high praise, but remember, it really came from my Father, the Jewish Carpenter, Lion of Judah, and sacrificial lamb who works through all who will allow him to. I'm betting you know that with out me saying it.
I love you as well, ~Hugs~
dust
Dusty- you kicked ass with this- i don't want to hear you whining about can't write- that vulture don't fly!
i believe a hound tellin would be in order as follow up.
I really enjoyed this Dust- this made me smile in familiarity. the town names... three small towns, Henderson, Finger and Sweetlips. ha! Finger and Sweetlips- classic.
too bad about your home town- that would just have to piss me off! kinda freaky like a twilight zone episode.
imagine that- givin up a town for pennies. :)
i'll watch the radio broadcast now that the "The Band's" cd has finished.good damn music.
had a town called "Slapout" a little over yonder where i put down stakes for a bit in alabama. got the name from a local country store owner who had since passed away and put in the ground over at the baptist cemetary
- folks'd come in to his place and want something from dry goods or maybe cotton seed and that fella would tell them "sorry, we're slapout!" they say the old cracker was a good man who helped out the poor with anonymous food donations, color didn't matter.
i was thinkin maybe returning to the deep south. the desert sounds fine to. i was talkin to lib about finding a solar generator for this place. might as well be as self sufficient as we can. the navy base here might sell surplus.
i felt the story about the old Spanish man.
excellent write all the way around. thanks for the view into your life Dusty- Trade On!
peace bro- greg
Greg, Bro', this was my favorite write, it didn't score to well. Seems if I put death or other gruesome crap in a title folks run to see it, we live in a place that thrives on the obituaries and day after day stories about "wieners". I guess it's like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Qua4FS7E1Y&oref=ht
makes for a great hub ROTFLMAO, ENJOY!
Thanks for checking me out I got a 3 pager going right now on a hunting trip and I get a little long winded as I put stuff in that happens and it takes a while to get where I'm going so maybe a broken up page at a time to keep a readers attention? hell well see. Peace and love bro, dust
Thanks, Sir - for the beautiful "slice of life" story!
Airplane bath - LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Man, that's fascinating and sad - a town used to be where there is none anymore. It's like the history of the place is gone, or only found in stories like these.
Wesman, thanks for reading. Yeah it sucks knowing that I ain't got no home, but I'm a desert rat so sand cactus and all that's unique to Arizona is home and under my skin. dust
Dusty, I like your desert. I can't remember the name of the town that I spent the night in in Arizona a few years back - but it was close to California, and I thought it was a lovely place.
Just last year though - I nearly ran out of gas in the desert late at night driving a Ford Ranger pickup pulling a trailer with heavy shit, like a piano, inside it. Man, I sputtered up to a gas pump on fumes. An hour or two later I hit the big city, and turned North up a highway towards Flagstaff. Man, Flagstaff is a totally beautiful place - I'd love to live there too.
Wesman, you stay and get enough sand in your craw you'll be here for a spell I-17 north to Flag is a nice ride, cold winters up there though, dust
Hey Dusty - I figured I'd ask: With all the trees and such in Flagstaff, is there enough humidity and such there that people 'round there use air conditioners? Surely they've got a hot humid Summer?
I sort of like all of that Western Desert. I'm intrigued about life out that a way.
Wesman, humidity is not much of a problem in Flagstaff or any part of the state. Air-conditioning is widely used as a way to cool and I figure up there they deploy gas pack units for winter. I grew up with swamp coolers and gas heat. When I hit spots in the south humidity just sucks, you sit in an A/C cooled place and step out for a smoke and your glasses fog over until they come up to temp. and swamp coolers don't work. I can work like a dog out here and the sweat evaporates as fast as you can produce it. Visiting the south I soak a t-shirt just standing in the shade. We have the monsoons coming usually in July, warm rain in bulk and the best lightening shows of anyplace I've ever been, awesome cloud to cloud and I'll set out in the rain and watch all night if they will continue that long. Their is no place like Arizona. Buy a subscription to "Arizona Highways" magazine and then start hunting a place to move into. Just ask WillStarr and other desert rats. If you have the coin there are halfway places of pert near perfect year round temps. here it's 10 am and 100 degrees and will hit 112 shortly. I can still get lift to fly but I've seen 126 degree days where getting off the ground with a chopper is hard to do with a two blade bird. I need to upgrade to four rotor blades but to much cash for me today, hell the JP5 to just go play is often more than I can afford.
You looking for work in the A/C business? dust
Dusty!!! Now you've spilled it! Man, when you gonna tell us all about your chopper!!!!!!!?????????????
I had no idea!
Yeah, I'm busted broke - and got pissed off at the guy I was working for. I did too much for him for far too little, decided I was being used (which was obvious to everyone - but I only recently got around to being bothered by it) - and quit.
I'm forever thinking about moving out of here - but it might be a while before I'm actually able to do anything like that.
Wesman it is a 1966 uh-1n bell and is pending funds in a sale to a Texas rancher and is due for big dollar tear down and inspect and replace or weld on airframe stress cracks. If it were done it would be a 1.5m sale, I'm letting it go for .5m a low dollar but it made it a fast sale for more $ than I need and less a piece I don't need and can't feed. I could hold it and use my license to refurb and get FAA cert and in a year turn it around for a bunch of green paper that will be worth nothing by 2013 after obama is re-elected. I want the $ pre 2012 to turn into things you can touch and use.
I'll not doubt your wisdom!!!!!!!!
You are a VERY TALENTED WRITER! This was the most touching thing I have ever read and to think this is merely you telling your story. You could enter this in contests and walk away with the prizes. I'm sure there must be a western magazine out there that would print this in a heartbeat. SIR...you are a master of words.
Reynold Jay, I thank you for the humbling accolades, I'm glad you came by and read it letting me know you were here, I just read a piece by you and enjoyed your creativity as well, thank you, 50
Love it 5O cal! Also thanks for serving. Most of the males in my family were or still are in the AF. My nephew is in the Army in Korea now. It's a huge commitment from all of you who were so gracious as to put your lives in danger for people like me.
The photo of the mine is wild. Poplar bluff is like an hour from where I live - maybe less! There are still lots of farms in that area. My daughters grandparents live there and my oldest used to ride their horses in shows. Pretty cool. I do research related to property and ownership - there are lots of areas out here where yoiu have to make sure you retain the mineral rights. Lots of
mining still going on here.
Do you watch much TV? I love the survival shows - where they drip people off in Alaska and they have to find the means to survive for the winter. Excellent show and p.s. - I would survive:)!!
Up and everything.
realhousewife, no tv but I have seen a few episodes of survival shows on Hulu.com, I can see myself [if I was still in the city] setting on a couch watching those kind of shows but 15 or so years sans television I find other activities more entertaining a bout of Frisbee with the dogs makes for a lot of laughs, almost as fun as "wild burro wrestling" LOL. When I left Poplar Bluff it was still patched with standing timber and we used a portable sawmill for rail road tie cutting with various sizes of mill lumber out of the trimmings. My last trip there was a family reunion at "Bacon Park" and from Sikes to the Bluff it was flat land with no timber left, kind of boring. The "Call of the Wild" museum was a titty bar and the polar bears and other stuffed animals along with caveman exhibits were gone. Much had changed, they even tore down the round house where the trains were turned around, heck I would have figured it would have made a great place for a train museum, now just a thick concrete floor remains. I have a cousin who is/was dean of the college up St. Charles way? I'm trying to remember the name but he studied there as a geologist and ended up running the school. He came west on college funds with 5 others to the copper and gold mines in Arizona, taking advantage of getting into the strip mine where my dad worked and for a few weeks we went all around so they could get samples of all kinds of rocks. Arizona has some hidden places that are awesome to check out, I'll forever think Arizona is the best of the west in things to do and see.
Thank you for popping in and commenting, dusty/ 50
I always thought of the Marines as the Ones that could show anybody how to wear a uniform; and I am not talking about visual importance. There is a pride, an honor, something that just can't be explained in a good Marine. They actually stick together; something some of my former coworkers could have considered. One team, one fight; not only when it is convinient.
Not taking much away from the Army, but I've seen too many of them that have no pride in their uniform, in their history and themselves. And their standards lacked a lot at the base I used to live at.
Don't know much about the Navy, other than it didn't fix my worthless sister in law. But the SEALS are damn awesome too.
Air Force.... Hmmmmh. Technical experts a lot of times, but damn sure politicians at heart. The 'Old Schoolers' I damn sure respect, but it seems that rank goes to the head and reduced a lot of people to self-idolising, arse-kissing and blood-sucking bastards. Those I respected were often treated like shit because they didn't follow the political rules. But we would have followed them to war if we had to. Can't say that about that 46" waist arse I worked under at the end. IF he could have gotten out of the chair without getting stuck.
In some services the values are just not the same anymore. It's a shame. And when you are 'Gung Ho' and believe in what you do, you eventually get burned and/or burn out.
Cat R, interesting views, I have to say I saw few Army blouse a shirt for proper appearance, a Marine is chin up eyes ahead not afraid to look any man in the eye. You are not a Marine until graduation day. Thanks for reading and commenting, dusty
Good reading , I liked the part of all you boys riding in the trunk and it tied and smacking you all on the head hitting the bumps in the road, lol. That's funny.
nee, poor boys had poor ways LOL thanks for reading, 50
Hmrjmr1 Level 3 Commenter 2 years ago
Hooah 50 Cal, Great Story, one old soldier to a Marine I salute you! Few in their lives realize what they 'are' many confuse it with what they do, when you find what you are and have the courage to live it, the rest call you a special breed, I call you brother..