My column last week ended with stuff I’d taken off Facebook. Seems right then this week to just keep going. “I just ate a kid’s meal at McDonalds. Boy was his mother ever mad.” Now that sure doesn’t sound like Peggy. Craig must have done that.
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Then I saw one that brought back lots of old memories. It was a question of anyone still ironing handkerchiefs anymore. I know I don’t but I sure ironed a lot of them. Mom had fixed up an ironing board for me and I ironed back in the days before electricity. She had the little irons that were separate. Then you used a little handle to pick one of the irons up, then when that cooled down you just went to the stove and got a different one.
Note that was summer and winter so a fire in the cookstove was a necessary item back them.
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Someone wondered if they separated their paper money or just stuffed it in their billfold any old way. I recall learning a lesson and that was in the days before I got married. I worked for Erickson/Holiday and they never used a cash register. It was just, see a car drive in, rush out to pump gas, check the oil, wash the windshield, and all the other windows too.
Not only did you carry cash in your pocket and change in a little coin holder strapped to your belt, you also armed yourself with coupons good for ten or twenty-five points. These could be saved and traded later for items on display or pick anything in the showcase. It was a battle then about buying gas at a “full service” station or the quick just gas stations like Ericksons.
Generally going to the full service station you waited sometimes for the owner or employee to crawl out from under a car he was working on.
Back in those days a “buck’s worth” or two was a pretty common buy. If we were lucky it would be a Pontiac or Buick and when they told you to “fill’er up”, with luck you might squeeze $5.00 worth in.
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Spending the week waiting and waiting reminded me of my situation last summer. I’d forgotten all about that. I’d had surgery and had a Pacemaker installed. Once out of the hospital and Rehab Center I got home just aching to drive my car. Then I was told by law I couldn’t drive for 90 days. Well, I had 30 in, but the next 60 were bad. I managed for a while just to push my walker downtown and back. I even made it to Kwik Trip for milk.
Then I got an electric scooter which was a bit better. In fact I said I’d sure love to have it again this summer for the Corn Festival parade. I’ll have to be checking that out.
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There has been a lot said in the last few weeks about getting something for your dog before the Fourth of July. I thought it was only our old dog “Jack” that didn’t like fire crackers. After the first couple of bangs he was gone and we never saw him again until days after the Fourth was over.
It did work well for squirrel hunting. When you shot, he was gone. In a few minutes he was barking somewhere else in the woods where he had one treed. Sure worked good and always plenty of squirrels to enjoy.
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Another thing that has popped up a couple of times recently is something called “term limits”. My only comment would be to say, don’t wish too hard, you might get stuck with it. When you actually take a closer look it is a lot shorter time than you’d think. Normally it will take a couple of years just to get acquainted with the organization or governmental unit you join. You may have to spend time letting people get to know you and what you wish to accomplish.
Living in Port Aransas all the winters we spent there was a good example of how things might go wrong. What might seem like a great idea had been tried before and failed. Having someone with knowledge can help avoid making the same mistake over.
What is wrong is people are not voting, or reelecting someone that isn’t doing their job and you don’t want to hurt their feelings or you aren’t doing your civic duty and following what is being done or not being done by the governing body.
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This seems to be the week of tragedies. First it was the train wreck in Missouri and next was the semi filled with migrant workers.
As I read through some of the stories about the train wreck it appears to be a case of something is wrong, but no one did anything about it. Such things as a difficult angle, which could have been fixed from raising the road, and lack of cutting weeds and trees growing along the track. I guess we are immune to such problems as we don’t have any train tracks except along Highway 13 from Marshfield north. Let’s just hope we never get in the news.
The tragedy in Texas is a hard one to explain. When we were spending winters in Texas a similar situation happened there. There is a customs checkpoint as you reenter the United States. We had walked across the bridge and then drove across. Both ways we were checked for ID.
Then half way between Harlingen and Kingsville is another where you might get carefully checked. I almost got into trouble one time when they wanted to see inside my trunk. It took me a few seconds to realize I had to put the car in park before I could make the trunk button operate.
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In this case the semi cleared both checkpoints and drove further north in Southern Texas before abandoning the tractor and trailer filled with people. I don’t think they all died, but it sure made for some sad reading for a few days. I guess what was interesting was to find out only a part of the people were from Mexico. The rest from other parts of Central America. I think it is a good lesson to learn something. We might think things are bad, but lo and behold we live in paradise.
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