Hobo

Our house on 116th street was a couple of miles from the railroad yard. The trains were coming and going all the time. it is a big yard. There were passenger trains but the biggest part of the yard is freight trains with the box cars. At night I would hear the train whistles when they were moving from track to track. I would imagine far away places where those trains went.

I remember when I was about 12 years old my Mom was out in the yard stretching the curtains. In those days when you washed the curtains you stretched them while they dried. A kid that was "on the road" showed up and my Mom gave him something to eat. Her advice to him was to go home to your Mom.

When I was going into the 10th grade I was about 15 years old. I had a little problem with my father. I knew I was probably going to get beat on. I don't remember what I did. So I decided rather than go home and face him that this was the time I would go and ride a freight train. I talked it over with my friend that was the same age. He was actually a relative that lived a dozen blocks from us. We used to go camping and lots of places together. I told him I was leaving but I didn't tell anybody else. So I headed for the freight yards. I didn't know anything about catching trains or riding the rails. I had to find out in a hurry, which I did. I got into a box car and pretty soon we were off. I was off into a world that I hadn't experienced before and into the unknown. I don't remember now the early part, where we went.

I had to learn how to catch a car. At that time there were a lot of hobo's on the road because it was the tail end of the depression and a lot of people were using the rails as a way to get from one place to the other. At that time there were single men, a few single women, and families riding the rails. i was not alone. There was always somebody that could tell you what to do next. I learned how to get on a box car. You had to get on the train after they were moving because there were railroad detectives trying to keep the people off the trains. You had to get on while the train was going slow enough. There were different ways to climb on. There were ladders on the side. You had to run along and grab one of the rungs of the ladder and pull yourself up. Riding the rails can be quite dangerous. When you swing up on the ladder you could swing between the two cars and fall back on the track and under the wheels. The old hands knew how to do it. I didn't realize that and I didn't find out until some time later when I was travling that the railroad companies put out a schedule. There was a train schedule with the times and directions and tracks.

I traveled around fro a while. There were times when I hitchhiked as well. That could very interesting. That is how I started driving. I was riding with one fellow and he said, "here, take the wheel." You meet all different kinds of people.

Then there was a problem of your meals. All I had was a pocket full of change. The thing  I found the most satisfying was a bowl of chili. I could go in a restaraunt and have a bowl of chili for a dime or 15 cents. I had to stretch out what money I had. Then I would have to try to find some kind of work. The work that was most available and obvious was in the restaraunts washing dishes. I did a lot of that. I had to learn how to use a dishwasher. It takes a certain amount of caution because the water was so hot you could burn yourself. There was one restaraunt that I went in and I worked but didn't have a place to sleep. The owner let me sleep in the basement. That is what I did. I tried to find cardboard and I had aquired one blanket and I slept on the floor laying on top of cardboard and newspaper. It was the cold time of the year so this was better than being outside.

There were times that I slept in the boxcar. If you took your shoes off and laid them next to you somebody might take your shoes. So I would put my shoes together and tie the laces around them and use them as a pillow. There was more than one night where I would go to the police station and ask if I could spend the night there. These were small stations in small towns, ususally. They would let me come in and sleep in the cell and in the morning they would let me leave. There were also flop houses where they had beds. It cost 50 cents for the night. This one place the room was separated with wood petitions and wire mesh. After I was laying there for a little while something was biting me. There was one light hanging on a wire from the ceiling so I turned it on and picked up the pillow and the bed bugs were crawling all over the pillow. So I got up, put my clothes back on and I went out to the office where they had rented me the bed and I told them they had bed bugs, give me my 50 cents back. No argument. He gave me my 50 cents.

92nd Birthday

My birthday was very nice. The kids all came over. We sat around and talked. My Grandson Michael called from Virginia. He is in the Navy like I was.

At both dances they announced my birthday. So I had birthday after birthday after birthday.

Now 92 years is over and we are starting on the 93rd and hope for the best.

More later.

Adventures on the house

I have been having adventures on the house. Oh my goodness!!!

Several months ago I had all of my floors replaced with wood flooring. It had been a long time since the flooring was done.

Schumann Falls - A couple of weeks ago I came home and heard a hissing sound and the bathroom was full of spray! The water was shooting up the wall. It was too much for me to get in there to shut off the valve. I had to locate the valve at the street to turn off the water there...by then the damage had been done. Lorene and Alaine came over and we all swabbed up as much water as we could. Alaine sent out the alarm to the rest of the family. Ken was on his way to look at the plumbing problem, Donna and Jack came with their shop vac to try to soak up the water from the carpets.

When the insurance company came to dry everything out it turned out it had saturated the sub-flooring in the bathroom, entire kitchen and eating area, part of the living room, and two bedrooms. What a mess!!!!!

As we were cleaning up and getting estimate I looked around and came to realize I had better put on a new roof as well.

Lots going on around here to get all of this fixed up!!! I wish it was as easy to get my old body fixed back up....

The following Wednesday or Thursday I went to the dance and told my dancing partner about getting flooded out. The word spread throughout the dance about my flooding story.

I really came to appreciate my family for all of their help in getting things straightened out. In this case blood really did turn out to be thicker than water...Thanks everyone. Thank you all of the help you have been.

I Am Still Here!!!!!

It has been quite a long time since I posted.

Last November I spent a few nights in the ICU on a ventilator starting on a Sunday night. But, by the next Thursday I was back at home.

Here is a little bit of the story from Lorene's point of view:

On Friday afternoon I went to Lorene's and spent the night. I was not feeling good. By Saturday morning I still wasn't feeling good and it was very painful to walk. I drove home. Lorene followed me in her car. Alaine came to my house thinking she would take me to see her new office that was being remodeled. But instead, she talked me into going to Emergent Care at Group Health.

I was having a harder time breathing than usual and my foot was very painful and I couldn't get warm. They said I had cellulitis in my foot and gave me some IV antibiotics and some pain pills to take home. At bedtime that evening Lorene gave me some of the pain pills and I went to bed.

I woke around one in the morning having a terrible time breathing. I had Lorene call Alaine. Then she called the Medics.

Next think I knew it was three days later and I was in the ICU. I had a tube down my throat and I wanted it out of there. The doctors and nurses wanted me to get used to breathing on my own and said I had to keep the tube in for a few more hours. Alaine was there with me when they finally took the tube out.

My whole family was in the ICU for quite a bit of the time I was there. Even my grandson, Michael, flew in from Virginia. They were all worried I would never make it home.

I can't remember much of the time in the intensive care unit and it took a while to get back to where I could function on my own. But....here I am still kicking.

I am even back to dancing a little and have been out to sing Karaoke with Lorene a few times.

More to come soon.

Italy September 26 - September 27

9-26-09 Saturday Day 15 yachts

Sorrentine - Peninsula - Rome

This morning we enjoyed a drive along the Bay of Naples before we continued north to view the Abbey of Monte Castino, famous for it’s roll in the world war two battle in 1944 where many men lost their lives. From there we made our way back to Rome for last minute shopping or a visit to a museum.

In the evening we had our farewell dinner put on by the tour company. It was a fun night with music, singing and wine drinking. Our fellow tourist wished us well and sang happy birthday to Lorene. It was her 87^th birthday. Dal and Jenny from South Africa sat by us and Joe and Theresa from Las Vegas next to them. We all new each other pretty well by now and there was much toasting. Two songs were composed to Tony, our guide and Eduardo, our bus driver, by members of our group. We sang patriotic and just fun songs. We drank just enough wine to loose our inhibitions and wandered off to our rooms with a happy glow on.

I would like to express my appreciation for the help and sympathy given to me by my fellow travelers on this trip. When ever I was having difficulty walking or couldn’t keep up, some one was there to lend a helping hand. My heavy back pack was hauled from place to place and at times the group slowed down to let me catch up. I thank all of you for your consideration.

9-27-09 Sunday Day 16

Final Day

In the morning we packed our bags and dragged them to the lobby. We ate an early breakfast and where on the way to the airport at 6:45 AM. It was time for the long flight home. We said our last goodbyes. Our wheelchairs attendants were waiting. They knew which way to go. Going though customs was no trouble because we were waved on through without opening our bags. We were in the front of the line boarding the plane and had a wheel chair waiting when the plane landed. The flight from Rome to New York was long and tiring but again we were wheeled to our next plane and on our way to Seattle. Lorene’s daughter, Deloris, meet us at baggage in the Seattle Airport and on the way home we stopped and ate at the Poodle Dog Restaurant. The trip was great but it was good to be home.

Italy September 23 - 25

9-23-09 Wednesday Day12

Taormina at leisure

We drove through the lava flow and then to the church in Sicily where, in the movie, the Godfather, this church was used as a setting for the marriage of Michael to the daughter of the local Don.

The path up to the church was steep. I was having trouble trying to climb it on my own. Clive, from Australia, and John, from Arkansas, each took one of my arms and practically carried me to the church door. John and his wife, Barbara, had owned a hardware store which they sold to go into retirement. Barbara had been the pharmacist in their store. She went to work at another store and is still working. John said, “That’s the hillbilly way. When you retire, keep your wife working.”

The church was small but beautiful inside. There was very nice paintings and wood carvings. The ambiance was pleasant and restful. It was not as overpowering as some of the large cathedrals were. Coming down from the church was not as difficult as going up but the cobble stones were still hard to travel on.

In the evening we went to another fish dinner. There was very good entertainment consisting of a guitar player, an accordion player and a man with a tambourine-drum who was also the vocalist. They played Italian and Sicilian songs with great gusto. It was a pleasant, fun evening.

9-24-09 Thursday Day13

In the morning we packed our bags and left them in the hallway to be loaded on the bus. We were finished with Sicily and returning to Italy. On the way to the ferry the traffic slowed down and finally came to a stop. The reason for the stoppage was that the road had become impassable because a landslide had shut down the only road to the ferry. We sat there a half hour while Tony was on the phone exploring our options on ways to get back to Italy. He finally was able to book passage on an overnight ferry back to Italy. This ferry was newer. The cabins were larger with wider bunks on both sides. We each slept on a lower bunk.

9-25-09 Friday Day 14

Isle of Capri Excursion

We ate breakfast on the ferry and, after some sightseeing, we boarded another smaller ferry to the Isle of Capri. We walked from the ferry dock to an incline car that took us to the upper part of the city. An optional tour had been planned but we didn’t go because Tony thought the walking would be too difficult for me. Lorene and I walked through the shops and found a restaurant to have lunch. This was a popular destination for tourists so the sidewalks and streets were crowded. There was no evidence of a world economy slowdown here.

We road the incline car down to the lower level and found a place where we could get an ice cream cone and eat it at a table under an umbrella. Some of the members of our group who had not gone on the optional tour began collecting on the empty tables around us. The waiters let us sit there because it was late in the day and the crowd wads thinning.

By the time Tony showed up with the excursion group, we were all together and ready for the ferry ride back to the mainland. We rode the ferry and were driven to our hotel. We were given our room key but couldn’t find our room. The desk tour attendant gave us directions but we were still lost. With the help of John, from Arkansas, we finally found our room. We had time to take a nap before collecting in the hotel dinning room for our evening meal.