I took a couple of friends out to my farm to just look around one day. We were standing on the porch which encircled the trailer. I had just told the one guy to not go any further because it wasn't safe. So, what does he do? He goes further. (the porch was the only thing we didn't remodel on that trailer)
I was talking to the other guy when we heard a loud CRRAA++CK! I looked over to see a fearful look on the first guys face (sorry I can't remember their names) and watch him fall through the porch! Then the whole section he was standing on started to crash in over top of him along with a couple of my dogs!
I ran to the edge to check on him. BIG MISTAKE! It starts to cave in as well. My friend, the rest of my dogs and I go crashing to the ground with the rest of the porch falling like dominoes! It was about an 8 to 10 foot drop. Fortunately I landed on my ass which has always had plenty of padding! I was even still holding a bottle of Gatorade that I had been drinking - didn't spill a drop!
We sat there a second or two taking stock of ourselves and then we all busted out laughing. Fortunately nobody was hurt. My dogs were all crowding around me trying to get comforted all at once, but we were all fine. I made sure my friends were OK and then we left for the track. End of story.
WRONG! The next morning I couldn't get out of bed. Every move caused excruciating pain. I dragged myself to the ER and got checked out. I had to have physical therapy for 2 months and for most of that I couldn't work. (greyhound training is a very physical job) I couldn't even get a job walking dogs at the track which is what everybody who recuperates does because it is sooo easy.
After we sent the pups away, we moved closer to the track. When you are working 18 hour days, it pays to stay as close to the track as possible to eliminate travel time.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2009
When we were kids...
we used to ask for a nickle everytime we went to the store. A nickel would buy you some good candy back then. You could get 5 pieces of bubble gum or 5 pieces of penny candy. It would also buy you smaller candy bars like a Reese Cup or Mallo Cup and the greatest candy of all ... those Jolly Rancher sticks! I loved those things. Then they came out with Dippers (the candy stick you dip in Kool-Aid). Also I loved to compose entries for the Razzle's contest although I never sent one off because my mom said the 6 cent stamp was too much to waste.
We went to the store a lot. Our green house (the one we lived in from the 1st. to the 5th. grade) was about a city block away from the store. Then we moved into our house (my parents built it in 1972). It was only 2 doors down from the store. The only thing between us and candy was the 7th. Day Adventist Church next door. We made several trips a day to the store. A couple times to get my dad's Lucky Strikes (oh yes, kids could buy cigarettes back then - surely you wouldn't expect an adult to go all the way to the store just for a pack of cigs!) and then the endless trips to get whatever we needed from the store for my mom. If we would have been smart (and we weren't) we could have saved alot of money up and got good stuff, but I preferred instant gratification back then just the same as I do now.
We waited for the bus at that store, playing chase everyday until the bus came. We hunted for pop bottles in the ditch next to the store so we could get the nickel for turning them in. We thought nothing of wading barefooted through that sea of broken glass with the bees buzzing everywhere to get the filthy pop bottle! It was worth it for that nickle! One of the greatest days ever was the day we collected enough money for each of us to get one of those new 2 liter pops just for ourselves. (I think they were 29 cents or something like that) That was when the government was telling us that they were going to phase in the metric system whether we wanted it or not because that is what the rest of the world was doing. (sounds like now, huh?)
I got my first job at that store. I was 14. I would get up at 6 a.m. twice a week and sweep all the trash and gravel off the parking lot. I would get 2 or 3 dollars for the 2 hours it took me to do it. If I missed even a few gravels I would have to do it again or I wouldn't get paid.
Then, of course, later on - I robbed it. But that's another story.
we used to ask for a nickle everytime we went to the store. A nickel would buy you some good candy back then. You could get 5 pieces of bubble gum or 5 pieces of penny candy. It would also buy you smaller candy bars like a Reese Cup or Mallo Cup and the greatest candy of all ... those Jolly Rancher sticks! I loved those things. Then they came out with Dippers (the candy stick you dip in Kool-Aid). Also I loved to compose entries for the Razzle's contest although I never sent one off because my mom said the 6 cent stamp was too much to waste.
We went to the store a lot. Our green house (the one we lived in from the 1st. to the 5th. grade) was about a city block away from the store. Then we moved into our house (my parents built it in 1972). It was only 2 doors down from the store. The only thing between us and candy was the 7th. Day Adventist Church next door. We made several trips a day to the store. A couple times to get my dad's Lucky Strikes (oh yes, kids could buy cigarettes back then - surely you wouldn't expect an adult to go all the way to the store just for a pack of cigs!) and then the endless trips to get whatever we needed from the store for my mom. If we would have been smart (and we weren't) we could have saved alot of money up and got good stuff, but I preferred instant gratification back then just the same as I do now.
We waited for the bus at that store, playing chase everyday until the bus came. We hunted for pop bottles in the ditch next to the store so we could get the nickel for turning them in. We thought nothing of wading barefooted through that sea of broken glass with the bees buzzing everywhere to get the filthy pop bottle! It was worth it for that nickle! One of the greatest days ever was the day we collected enough money for each of us to get one of those new 2 liter pops just for ourselves. (I think they were 29 cents or something like that) That was when the government was telling us that they were going to phase in the metric system whether we wanted it or not because that is what the rest of the world was doing. (sounds like now, huh?)
I got my first job at that store. I was 14. I would get up at 6 a.m. twice a week and sweep all the trash and gravel off the parking lot. I would get 2 or 3 dollars for the 2 hours it took me to do it. If I missed even a few gravels I would have to do it again or I wouldn't get paid.
Then, of course, later on - I robbed it. But that's another story.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Know any good euphemisms?
"Daddy, I jumped off the roof!!"
My stepdaughter, Katie, raced through the house screaming those words, which of course sent fear through our hearts. We jumped up running to her with a thousand thoughts racing through our minds.
1. How could she jump off the second floor and not be splattered on the ground!
2. Is she Ok!
3. Why is she not !
4. What possessed her to do such a thing!
I had all these thoughts and more all at the same time. When I saw her I couldn't figure out why she wasn't hurt! Here she was standing before me and babbling on and I was looking to see what was broken and what wasn't. Finally I said, "What in the world is wrong with you."
She said, "Pam, I got my period!" She was thrilled to . Her twin sister had gotten hers first and she had been desperate to get hers. (a mind set I could never understand in a million years myself - why in the world would anybody WANT a period?)
"Oh my God! I thought you were really hurt," I said. "Why did you come screaming through here hollering, I jumped off the roof!?"
She said, "That's what grandma calls it. The first time you get your period it's called, jumping off the roof".
That was a new one on me. I had never heard it before or since. Then she had to call everybody and let them know.
My stepdaughter, Katie, raced through the house screaming those words, which of course sent fear through our hearts. We jumped up running to her with a thousand thoughts racing through our minds.
1. How could she jump off the second floor and not be splattered on the ground!
2. Is she Ok!
3. Why is she not !
4. What possessed her to do such a thing!
I had all these thoughts and more all at the same time. When I saw her I couldn't figure out why she wasn't hurt! Here she was standing before me and babbling on and I was looking to see what was broken and what wasn't. Finally I said, "What in the world is wrong with you."
She said, "Pam, I got my period!" She was thrilled to . Her twin sister had gotten hers first and she had been desperate to get hers. (a mind set I could never understand in a million years myself - why in the world would anybody WANT a period?)
"Oh my God! I thought you were really hurt," I said. "Why did you come screaming through here hollering, I jumped off the roof!?"
She said, "That's what grandma calls it. The first time you get your period it's called, jumping off the roof".
That was a new one on me. I had never heard it before or since. Then she had to call everybody and let them know.
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