Yesterday

[nonobaddog]

I had the opportunity to spend some time visiting the area my family is originally from today.

It's funny how certain moments can take you back decades as if they just happened.

Some great memories of that place.

My cabin up north is close (couple hundred yards) to where I grew up. My Dad retired in 1966 when I got out of high school and moved into town but I get to go back there frequently. I know those woods very well and every foot of the creek. It is a privilege to go back there and remember.

 

[BigRed]

My cabin up north is close (couple hundred yards) to where I grew up. My Dad retired in 1966 when I got out of high school and moved into town but I get to go back there frequently. I know those woods very well and every foot of the creek. It is a privilege to go back there and remember.

I may have some appreciation of what you mean.

I got to be a "building crew staff" under the supervision of my Grandfather and favorite cousin for a summer when building my cousin's house in the back of a woods.

Cousin has since sold the property, but new owners let me hike some of the trails today.

No 22 in hand though.

Great memories.

 

[Mgderf]

"Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away,
now it seems as if they're here to stay, oh I believe, in yesterday..."

 

[BigRed]

Good day in the woods today.

 

[tomcat13]

 

[BigRed]

View attachment 218061

I remember very well when I was a little kid on a trip with my Dad.... He said we were going to stop at McDonalds for a fast bite.

I thought I was going to see Ronald McDonald and all characters I had seen on the tv commercials. Instead, all I got was a ****ty "hamburger" and a crappy excuse for a "milkshake".

Back on the road I told Dad McDonald's was not what I thought it would be. Thus began a story about marketing and advertising that would go on for years....he was no proponent.

The best burgers were usually found at what folks today would dismiss as "greasy spoon diners".

Fast forward several years....

On a trip with our youngest....detoured to back roads after the interstate was closed due to a really bad wreck.

"Let's just take the backroads instead of sitting here".

So we did and ended up having breakfast in a little local joint that Mom would likely dismiss as a "greasy spoon diner". We had an excellent breakfast.... daughter said, "I don't think Mom would like this place".

"Probably not"

"It's really good"

"Yep"

Travel time wise, it may have taken us longer to get home than had we just sat there and waited for the jam to clear, but we would have missed much.

Fast forward some more years, that girl as recently as last week calls Dad to ask, "Hey, you want to grab breakfast tomorrow?"

Good times.



Of course, Mom still makes the best dinner....she comes over for that.

 

[BigRed]

Got a call from an old friend last night....guy was passing through for work. Called to ask what my morning looked like and if I had time for coffee.

"Well work has been a ***show...would have to be early".

"Say when"


Pro Tip:

When an old friend invites you to breakfast, regardless of how beat up and ****ty you may feel, the best answer is "YEP...say when".

 

[BigRed]

game night



Getting to do one with the oldest young one...

For some young folks who may not be in the know here...

Game night is not playing games on some network where you do not know people but think you do.

Game night is where folks sit around a table in person, talk, offend, laugh, see how all are doing, check and ask on things that need to be addressed and taken care of.

The game is nothing more than an excuse for the good stuff.

 

[tomcat13]

Shooting with Dad.
One of his Favorites was a Springfield Trap Door (45-70 Govt).
I was about 8 & on our 1st trip to the Range with it, I Begged him to let me try it.
After his 1st Shot with it, I Scrambled back to the "Safety" of our Fairlane Station Wagon.
Never seen so much Smoke coming out of a Firearm!
I can still see him looking over his Shoulder & Laughing.
He's been gone almost 12 years now & I still Miss him Every Day.
RIP SSGT RMM

 

[BigRed]

Mentioned the beauty of Indiana in another thread....

Sitting here by a fire on a cool fall evening in Indiana, some brave crickets still chirping, moon waxing towards Jupiter in the sky, good dog by my side....It's the kind of evening enjoyed with Grandfather and Dad in years gone past.

Sometimes, when I stop to do it, I can step back decades in an instant.

 

[nonobaddog]

I miss the America I grew up in.

 

[Indyhd]

I miss the America I grew up in.

I think we all do, especially if you grew up in a small town. I grew up out west of Valpo in the country and wish I could go back there and the simplicity of life as a youngster and teen years.

 

[Mgderf]

"...all my troubles seemed so far away.
Now it looks as they're here to stay, oh I believe, in yesterday."

 

[nonobaddog]

I think we all do, especially if you grew up in a small town. I grew up out west of Valpo in the country and wish I could go back there and the simplicity of life as a youngster and teen years.

Yes, I also lived in the country, the nearest town had a population of 118 way back then.

 

[Bugzilla]

Grew up in Schererville by the Iliana Speedway in the ‘60-‘70’s. Most common response was where is that!

 

[BigRed]

Grew up in Schererville by the Iliana Speedway in the ‘60-‘70’s. Most common response was where is that!

Managed to put together a few contiguous paper routes for The Hammond Times years ago... Tickets to Illiana were plentiful.

That was back in the day when the carrier was invoiced for the product and had to collect receivables from his customers.

Let a customer stretch you too far? That's on you. Payables invoice is due. Guy moved without paying his bill? NFG...your invoice is due.

Flip side was I fired a few customers too... Route manager would call to tell me I couldn't...Route manager was wrong.

I learned a ton at an early age with that route....much of those kind opportunities are thought gone for kids these days. If there is a paper, it's an automated billing and a payoff to the carrier.

Maybe kids are simply too spoiled and too ******* lazy these days...Playing sports, clubs, etc. things that cost mom and dad and do not pay. (Guess what dad....little Johnny kicks that soccer ball well....but he's not as good as you make him think he is).

I remember telling my route manager how raising the subscription from $x.10 to $x.55 was a screw job to the carriers.

Most customers simply paid cash at $x rounded up to the next dollar. When the increase in price was less than a dollar, the customer usually paid the same... the increase came out of the tips the carrier got when the customer rounded up and said keep the change.

Route manager said if the price raised that much they would lose customers... I told her I can get more customers... all this pricing does is reduce my tips.

I leaned much in that little venture.

I also found that people who know the paper boy are more than happy to hire the same guy to mow their grass in summer and shovel their walks in winter.

Always had a little old lady that would invite me in for brewed iced tea in the summer and hot chocolate (the real stuff melted in milk) in the winter when I was collecting summer/winter.

She worked at a florist shop in the neighborhood. Care to guess who did all the stuff at the wedding to my wife?

Damn good days!

PS: Made a few bucks selling free tickets to illiana speedway along the way too. Some folks complained when they found out I had "won them". I guess they thought they should get them for free simply because I had "won" them through hitting sales goals.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

Managed to put together a few contiguous paper routes for The Hammond Times years ago... Tickets to Illiana were plentiful.

That was back in the day when the carrier was invoiced for the product and had to collect receivables from his customers.

Let a customer stretch you too far? That's on you. Payables invoice is due. Guy moved without paying his bill? NFG...your invoice is due.

Flip side was I fired a few customers too... Route manager would call to tell me I couldn't...Route manager was wrong.

I learned a ton at an early age with that route....much of those kind opportunities are thought gone for kids these days. If there is a paper, it's an automated billing and a payoff to the carrier.

Maybe kids are simply too spoiled and too ******* lazy these days...Playing sports, clubs, etc. things that cost mom and dad and do not pay. (Guess what dad....little Johnny kicks that soccer ball well....but he's not as good as you make him think he is).

I remember telling my route manager how raising the subscription from $x.10 to $x.55 was a screw job to the carriers.

Most customers simply paid cash at $x rounded up to the next dollar. When the increase in price was less than a dollar, the customer usually paid the same... the increase came out of the tips the carrier got when the customer rounded up and said keep the change.

Route manager said if the price raised that much they would lose customers... I told her I can get more customers... all this pricing does is reduce my tips.

I leaned much in that little venture.

I also found that people who know the paper boy are more than happy to hire the same guy to mow their grass in summer and shovel their walks in winter.

Always had a little old lady that would invite me in for brewed iced tea in the summer and hot chocolate (the real stuff melted in milk) in the winter when I was collecting summer/winter.

She worked at a florist shop in the neighborhood. Care to guess who did all the stuff at the wedding to my wife?

Damn good days!

PS: Made a few bucks selling free tickets to illiana speedway along the way too. Some folks complained when they found out I had "won them". I guess they thought they should get them for free simply because I had "won" them through hitting sales goals.

I never had a paper route, but this reminded me of when we did have a paperboy (when I was a kid living with Mom & Dad). Our paperboy lived just about a block down the street and was only a couple years older than me.

He had a Rupp Black Widow mini-bike for awhile (which was bad-ass at the time), and then moved up to a Suzuki 125 dirt bike. I know I laid each of them down in our yard at least once.

He let Dad ride the Suzuki down through all the back yards (nobody had any fences back then), and I remember thinking it was so cool that Dad knew how to ride a motorcycle.

It was cool when nobody had fences. My buddy and I knew some girls that owned ponies that lived about half a mile away and they would bring them over sometimes and let us ride them. My buddy lived maybe 4 or 5 houses to the west, and on the north side of the street behind my house, so our back yards were open to us.

Sometimes, when the girls would bring the ponies over, we'd "barrel race" them. Ride down to my buddie's back yard burn barrel, go as tight as we could around it, and race back to my back yard. I "wrecked" my pony once. Tried to turn it too tight and laid it down too. Pony was fine though, thankfully. I began to think that maybe I wasn't meant to ride mini-bikes, motorcycles or ponies.

 

[BigRed]

Got enough of them there for my Grandfather, Dad, and me.

What I wouldn't give to be popping cans with those guys in Grandpa's back yard this weekend.

 

[Bugzilla]

Pulling into a gas station, pumping gas and then walking into the building to pay for it with cash, or pulling into a gas station and the attendant walks out and pumps your gas. The Martin gas station that was on the south side of US30 next to the RR tracks just east of Dyer was the last station I remember who did that. I was a young kid at that time.

 

[jwamplerusa]

and the attendant walks out and pumps your gas.

^^^ I did that. Cleaned your windows and asked if you wanted your oil checked too.