OT: At Last, the Snow has Arrived
Wendy Chatley Green
For some inexplicable reason, a...@peavine.com (Jensen) wrote:
:I love it when it snows.
My husband finally received his next project--Holland, Michigan.
He's up there now, knocking the rust from his winter driving skills
(and maybe a few parked cards <g>.)
Meanwhile, the mercury in the Austin thermometers hit 74F
yesterday.
--
Wendy Chatley Green -- wcg...@cris.com
Kathie Meyer
In article <69f0lb$78m$1...@sanjuan.islandnet.com>,
a...@peavine.com (Jensen) wrote:
>[cc: Doug]
>
>The snowstorm that hit Seattle hard yesterday has just
>arrived here in Vancouver.
And Pullman.
Yesterday, I had an interview with a local artist about his
assemblage art gracing his property. It is a castle made
entirely from scrap metal, mostly welded steel. There are
parts from an old Bendix washing maching, muffin tins, the
car doors from an Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight, a grain auger
screw, grain storage bin, and the front fender off an old
grain truck. This was the artist's MFA thesis and I'm
writing it up for an article on alternative spaces for art
which, around these parts, is pretty much outdoors. This
castle is featured in two books, _Fantastic Architecture_
and _Strange Sites_ if anyone is interested.
The artist is a self-described "dump picker" and a generous
soul, so after the interview and an inside tour of the
castle, he sent me on my way with a base for a whirly-gig I
need a base for, an old clothesline thingee, and some
cuttings from his Concord grapevines. During the interview,
while sipping on homemade spearmint tea made by his wife,
you could see deer on the hillside and quail feeding right
outside the living room window. It was truly a perfect
afternoon.
Anyway, I really needed to get this interview done as the
deadline is Thursday and the artist's place is on a country
road. So, I was very grateful to sneak the interview in
between snowfalls and get home before this one, the worst
yet, came upon us. Remind me though, that if a Wrevel ever
comes to pass in Pullman to put this place on the list of
activities.
Kathie Meyer
It's only supposed to last for a day or so; I don't imagine
>we'll see a repeat of last years snowfall.
>
>Doug -- Wayde and I were wondering how you are faring in
all this. I
>thought perhaps it would be screaming busy at work for you
but Wayde
>thought no, the techie types don't usually get affected.
>
>It's very beautiful outside my window. I'm sitting in my
kitchen nook;
>it's surrounded on three sides by floor to ceiling glass.
I've got part
>of a manuscript a friend asked me to have a look at and
there I sit, in
>winter's beauty.
>
>*sigh*
>
>I love it when it snows.
>
>cheers,
>
>jen
>
>the jam
>http://www.thejam.com/
>Vancouver's Source for Independent Music
Dorothy J Heydt
[Snow]
Down here in the Bay Area, on the other hand, it's been raining.
And raining and raining.
The creek outside my kitchen door has risen from its usual six
inches to about four feet.
Since it would have to rise another twelve feet to reach the
door, however, and before it got there it would spill over the
garden into the street, I'm not seriously worried.
The major weather-related complaint at my place involves the
three-year-old and the five-year-old who live upstairs and have
to stay indoors because of the weather. You can hear them
bouncing off the walls, ceiling, AND FLOOR at all hours from
6 am to about 8 pm.
Dorothy J. Heydt
Albany, California
djh...@uclink.berkeley.edu
(My account might go away at any moment; if I disappear, I haven't died.)
Mary Lincoln
On 13 Jan 1998 17:17:57 GMT, djh...@uclink.berkeley.edu (Dorothy J
Heydt) wrote:
>[Snow]
>
>Down here in the Bay Area, on the other hand, it's been raining.
>
>And raining and raining.
>
Santa Cruz got 3.23" in the 24 hour period ending 4:00pm, 1/12/98.
It has stopped raining now, though there is rain in the forecast for
tomorrow morning.
Mary
Now is the time for all sane men to
give up and join the majority.
************************************
Jan Flora
I love it when it snows too. But I have eight feet of standing snow here now.
Would you like some of it? I went out to fill the bird feeder outside
my office window the other day (after I shoveled the snow away from
the window, so I could tell if it was snowing again or not), got off
my compacted trail to the bird tree and went in hip deep.
It didn't snow at my house on Dec. 5, Dec. 24 and Dec. 30. The other
days, it snowed. Enough is enough. I'm short. I'm afraid I'll fall in
and they won't find me until spring.
Jan in Alaska, where this much snow isn't normal
In article <69f0lb$78m$1...@sanjuan.islandnet.com>, a...@peavine.com (Jensen) wrote:
>[cc: Doug]
>
>The snowstorm that hit Seattle hard yesterday has just arrived here in
>Vancouver. It's only supposed to last for a day or so; I don't imagine
Douglas Wyman
a...@peavine.com (Jensen) spoke to the community saying:
>
>Doug -- Wayde and I were wondering how you are faring in all this. I
>thought perhaps it would be screaming busy at work for you but Wayde
>thought no, the techie types don't usually get affected.
>
ice storm and the expedition to Grass Mountain. Usually our techs
don't get called out into the mess any more than any other weather.
Now that I'm an office bound type, I duck out early when it snows.
My (our) techs are given four wheel drive vehicles and are expected
out no matter what the weather.
One of my funnest (new word?) times at WSP was one winter when snow
covered the pursuit driving course at the academy. They had packed
it down and given it a glaze of ice. Then we got to have at the
course with out different vehicles. The only drawback was that we had
to replace the marker cones we knocked down in a maneuver. I took out
about 100 feet of cones in one bad swerve. Yahoooooooooo!!!!!
Doug (a taxi driver at heart)
====================================================================
Douglas J. Wyman <dwy...@halcyon.com> HTTP://www.halcyon.com/dwyman/
====================================================================
Kemnitzer,Trollman
And to think I was thinking of starting a new thread.
On Tue, 13 Jan 1998 18:41:49 GMT, mbe...@earthlink.net (Mary Lincoln)
wrote:
>On 13 Jan 1998 17:17:57 GMT, djh...@uclink.berkeley.edu (Dorothy J
>Heydt) wrote:
>
>>[Snow]
>>
>>Down here in the Bay Area, on the other hand, it's been raining.
>>
>>And raining and raining.
>>
>Santa Cruz got 3.23" in the 24 hour period ending 4:00pm, 1/12/98.
>It has stopped raining now, though there is rain in the forecast for
>tomorrow morning.
A local children's songwriter went a long way with a song whose words
were "It rained and it rained and it rained and it rained and it
rained and it rained"
What I like about the rainy season: beautiful colors. Gorgeous
fruiting bodies on the moss. Flourishing lichen. Camellias, tulip
trees, quince blossoms. Green hillsides. Active amphibians. (we went
on Stanford land with a docent last weekend, _in the rain_, and had a
high old time catching salamanders and letting them go) Cauliflower,
broccoli, and asparagus at their best. Lemons.
What I hate about the rainy season: foggy joints. Leaks in the car
and house. And laundry. Oh how I hate rainy season laundry. Piles
and piles of wet clothes and you can't use the clothesline and the
dryer breaks every blessed year and you have to go to the laundromat
and the really cool espresso laundromat is full and you have to go to
the Disneyfied espresso laundromat which has newer machines but
horrible ergonomics and no place to move around and loud terrible
music and the attendants aren't nearly so cool, but at least you can
get East Bay newspapers for some exotic reason. And it keeps on
raining and you drop somebody's favorite blanket in a puddle.
I took a literal car full of laundry to the laundromat, not once but
three times this week.
But when I walked home from City Hall yesterday the streets were
blooming. (and City Hall itself -- producing a bumper cop of oranges
this year)
Lucy Kemnitzer
Erin
>What I like about the rainy season: beautiful colors. Gorgeous
>fruiting bodies on the moss. Flourishing lichen. Camellias, tulip
>trees, quince blossoms. Green hillsides. Active amphibians. (we went
>on Stanford land with a docent last weekend, _in the rain_, and had a
>high old time catching salamanders and letting them go) Cauliflower,
>broccoli, and asparagus at their best. Lemons.
The only two things I do not like about the rain here is the mildew
all over my antiques, walls, and shoes, and the water level of the Bay
when it doesn't stop. THAT is going to be a problem next time we get a
24 hour downpour. We're too close, me thinks, for these rains.
>
>What I hate about the rainy season: foggy joints. Leaks in the car
>and house. And laundry. Oh how I hate rainy season laundry. Piles
>and piles of wet clothes and you can't use the clothesline and the
>dryer breaks every blessed year and you have to go to the laundromat
>and the really cool espresso laundromat is full and you have to go to
>the Disneyfied espresso laundromat which has newer machines but
>horrible ergonomics and no place to move around and loud terrible
>music and the attendants aren't nearly so cool, but at least you can
>get East Bay newspapers for some exotic reason. And it keeps on
>raining and you drop somebody's favorite blanket in a puddle.
The steady beats of the drops hitting the windows, the comforting grey
of the sky. I like that the rains block the city sometimes and it
seems like we're in our own little private place. Then as they pass,
there are all the lights suddenly, and that's a fantastic sight too.
And I like that all these West Coasters don't know how to drive in the
rain, so I feel very competent on those days. And my stone patio frogs
are finally laying down layers of moss for the first time.
A banana slug fell on my head not too long ago, too. I felt I hadn't
experienced California until that day.
Erin
JoeBob
rit...@cruzio.com (Kemnitzer,Trollman) wrote:
>
>But when I walked home from City Hall yesterday the streets were
>blooming. (and City Hall itself -- producing a bumper cop of oranges
>this year)
Our City Hall in New Orleans produces some real fruitcakes, too.
===Bob Briggs
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Fuck being Politically Correct,
I own a handgun, which is much better.
(But Thank You for asking, anyway).
Mary Lincoln
><snip an account of rainy day highs and lows.>
>But when I walked home from City Hall yesterday the streets were
>blooming. (and City Hall itself -- producing a bumper cop of oranges
>this year)
I've gotta get out more!
Dick Harper
Wendy Chatley Green eloquently commented in misc.writing
> My husband finally received his next project--Holland, Michigan.
Sounds like my kind of planning. I used to have trips to places like
Pewaukee, WI, in January and St Petersburg, FL, in July. Austin, TX,
is currently 75°F warmer than northern Vermont. I guess I still
haven't learned.
--Dick
Erin
On Thu, 15 Jan 1998 14:11:08 GMT, rit...@cruzio.com
(Kemnitzer,Trollman) wrote:
>
>Welcome to the real California. (Did Jack or Sal warn you about
>earwig conventions in your door jambs, come spring time?)
Say huh?
Now, you're telling me that during the Spring, commercial jingles play
outside your door? Or is it people who can't get them out of their
heads congregate outside of the door and sing them to you?
Great.... My life is a living hell about to get worse.
Erin
Kemnitzer,Trollman
On Wed, 14 Jan 1998 06:43:18 -0800, er...@best.com (Erin) wrote:
>The only two things I do not like about the rain here is the mildew
>all over my antiques, walls, and shoes, and the water level of the Bay
>when it doesn't stop. THAT is going to be a problem next time we get a
>24 hour downpour. We're too close, me thinks, for these rains.
I forgot to say about mildew. That's because we're having a light
mildew year. Last year was a bumper crop and I went ballistic with
the chlorine bleach (the only cure I know. Mildew-X is nothing but
concentrated chlorine), so this year we're not getting as much.
> And my stone patio frogs
>are finally laying down layers of moss for the first time.
Me too, only my moss is on the water meter lids (100 of them), used
brick, and miscellaneous head-sized rocks.
Expect that moss to disappear during the dry months.
>A banana slug fell on my head not too long ago, too. I felt I hadn't
>experienced California until that day.
Welcome to the real California. (Did Jack or Sal warn you about
earwig conventions in your door jambs, come spring time?)
Lucy Kemnitzer
Kemnitzer,Trollman
On Tue, 13 Jan 1998 22:07:17 GMT, a...@peavine.com (Jensen) wrote:
>In article <69g7k5$b7d$1...@agate.berkeley.edu>,
>djh...@uclink.berkeley.edu (Dorothy J Heydt) wrote:
>>
>>The major weather-related complaint at my place involves the
>>three-year-old and the five-year-old who live upstairs and have
>>to stay indoors because of the weather.
>
>That's odd. Canadian kids don't melt in the rain or snow.
>
>cheers,
>
>jen
>(Go play outside and don't come home until supper's ready!)
It is funny. When I was a kid we played outside, even in winter. We
were always wet in the winter and dirty in the summer.
But nobody owns raincoats or rainboots anymore, it seems like, at
least not nearluy functional ones, and it seems like kids don't even
have much in the way of jackets.
I don't know if it's the accumulated effect of new immigrants who
can't wrap their minds around the fact that Coastal California does
actually have weather in spite of its reputation, or just a more
indoor-oriented culture, or what. But you go into any elementary
school in the height of the hardest four-day storm of the winter and
you'll see no galoshes at all and maybe three umbrellas and four
raincoats.
So kids stay inside. A lot. Much more than you'd think if you're
thinking of surfers and skateboarders and skiers and stuff.
When I taught preschool it was especially hard --- parents sent their
kids with _no_ outside gear at all beyond a hooded sweatshirt or a
much too thick jacket purchased mainly for the team logo. And yet,
this being, of course, California, the "outdoor state," our classroom
was designed to depend heavily on using the outdoors.
Lucy Kemnitzer
Wendy Chatley Green
For some inexplicable reason, rit...@cruzio.com (Kemnitzer,Trollman)
wrote:
:On Tue, 13 Jan 1998 22:07:17 GMT, a...@peavine.com (Jensen) wrote:
:
:>In article <69g7k5$b7d$1...@agate.berkeley.edu>,
:>djh...@uclink.berkeley.edu (Dorothy J Heydt) wrote:
:>>
:>>The major weather-related complaint at my place involves the
:>>three-year-old and the five-year-old who live upstairs and have
:>>to stay indoors because of the weather.
:>
:>That's odd. Canadian kids don't melt in the rain or snow.
:It is funny. When I was a kid we played outside, even in winter. We
:were always wet in the winter and dirty in the summer.
:
:But nobody owns raincoats or rainboots anymore, it seems like, at
It's not just clothing that prevents outdoor play; it's lack of
imagination, an inability to realize possibilities, and a lack of
example.
One day, not long after we adopted our kids, I shoved them all
outside to play. It was a beautiful Spring day and they were in a
fenced backyard with a swingset, sandbox, two dogs (one of which would
fetch), and plenty of niches and corners for games.
Theses kids (8, 6, 5, 3.5 years) milled around by the back door
hoping that I would let them in again. All they knew was TV watching.
They hadn't had other kids to play with, no one had ever showed them
the basic outside games, and they couldn't figure it out on their
owns. We had to teach them how to play.
With most children restricted to inside thanks to safety
concerns, convenience, and (possibly) the same lack of skills on the
part of the parents/care-givers, the ability to "play" and experience
"make-believe" without a TV or computer game is rapidly being lost.
Towse
> >earwig conventions in your door jambs, come spring time?)
>
> Now, you're telling me that during the Spring, commercial jingles play
> outside your door? Or is it people who can't get them out of their
> heads congregate outside of the door and sing them to you?
>
> Great.... My life is a living hell about to get worse.
It's OK, folks.
Settle down. Settle down.
I sent little missy here a picture
<http://agweb.clemson.edu/Hort/HomeHort/BIStErwg.htm>
soze she can get a gander at what she'll be up against come springtime
in California.
"Watch out, though, little missy. Don't fall asleep on the patio or
they'll crawl in your ear and..."
<whack>
"Stop scaring the immigrants, Sal."
<memememememe> <ahem>
Springtime in California.
Golden sun. Fair skies are clear.
Blooming fruit trees. Ah, 'tis heaven, Just
Don't let earwigs crawl in your ear.
[Don't fall asleep on the patio *whatever* you do, Erin...]
<whack>
"I *MEAN IT* Sal!"
Sal
Dorothy J Heydt
In article <69ljm3$j...@bgtnsc01.worldnet.att.net>,
The "ears" earwigs go after are ears of grain. So go ahead and
snooze outdoors, once it stops raining, without worrying about
starring in a remake of Star Trek II.
chris mclaughlin
wcg...@cris.com (Wendy Chatley Green) wrote:
> With most children restricted to inside thanks to safety
>concerns, convenience, and (possibly) the same lack of skills on the
>part of the parents/care-givers, the ability to "play" and experience
>"make-believe" without a TV or computer game is rapidly being lost.
A guy in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, is marketing a video that teaches
kids how to play. He figured it was the best way to reach his
audience, using a familiar medium.
My kids best playmates are homeschooled kids: they tend to
know how to play and require little supervision.
In the schools, phy ed is becoming an academic subject.
See how many days the kids spend in actual activities
and how many they spend watching videos and taking tests.
Odd to have written tests in P.E., if you ask me.
Chris
John V Ashby
In article 203...@news.cruzio.com, rit...@cruzio.com (Kemnitzer,Trollman) writes:
>I don't know if it's the accumulated effect of new immigrants who
>can't wrap their minds around the fact that Coastal California does
>actually have weather in spite of its reputation, or just a more
>indoor-oriented culture, or what. But you go into any elementary
>school in the height of the hardest four-day storm of the winter and
>you'll see no galoshes at all and maybe three umbrellas and four
>raincoats.
One of the joys of teaching in the winter. Thirty mixed infants and
sixty mixed wellingtons.
john(whose boots these are I think I know)
Dorothy J Heydt
>I don't know if it's the accumulated effect of new immigrants who
>can't wrap their minds around the fact that Coastal California does
actually have weather in spite of its reputation, ...
My experience has usually been as follows:
(a) They're tourists, they've been told that California is the land
of perpetual sunshine, and maybe if they'd gone to Los Angeles or
San Diego they'd have had better luck finding it; but they're in
the middle of a San Francisco summer and they're dressed for a
San Diego summer and the poor things are freezing to death.
(b) They're, typically, graduate students or something from the East
Coast. They may have heard that the California climate is different,
but they haven't thought about it much. Certainly nobody has pointed
out to them that California, this part of it anyway, has *three*
seasons, not four. Spring, summer, and fall. They come in in the
fall, settle down to their graduate work, and the leaves gradually
fall and the weather chills down some, might even frost occasionally,
and then the rains start and it's all perfectly acceptable fall
weather, and they just go percolating along ....
And then we hit the beginning of February (used to be the middle of
February, but we've had global warming) and all of a sudden it is
SPRING. The trees burst into bloom. The weather warms up. The birds
start singing, the flowers start blooming. It hits them like a ton
of bricks. They neglect their work, wander about dreamily, read lots
of minor Elizabethan poets, fall in love with the nearest unlikely
object, and flunk out of graduate school if they don't watch out.
dhe...@eurekanet.com
On 15 Jan 1998 18:30:28 GMT, djh...@uclink.berkeley.edu (Dorothy J
Heydt) wrote:
>In article <69ljm3$j...@bgtnsc01.worldnet.att.net>,
>The "ears" earwigs go after are ears of grain. So go ahead and
>snooze outdoors, once it stops raining, without worrying about
>starring in a remake of Star Trek II.
Unless, of course you store your rice in your ears.
Melissa (where else, right?)
Towse
Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
>
> In article <69ljm3$j...@bgtnsc01.worldnet.att.net>,
> The "ears" earwigs go after are ears of grain. So go ahead and
> snooze outdoors, once it stops raining, without worrying about
> starring in a remake of Star Trek II.
Sheesh, Dorothy. Just trying to acclimate the immigrant to California.
Next thing you'll be telling her the redwood chip people don't purposely
make "playground bark" that size because they're in secret cahoots with
emergency room doctors.
And poison oak. Make sure you teach the young'uns what poison oak looks
like.
Oooooooh and, Erin, did I tell you about the time when I was a kid
picnicking up on Mount Diablo? The grumps were schmoozing around the
picnic table and realized the sprouts were off somewhere and sent uncle
Jack to find us.
He found all the young Towses in a ring around a rattler and my brother
a-poking it with a stick. Hey, we were just back from Brazil and had no
idea what a rattler looked like or why we should care.
Serious advice: Once the days get hot, don't let the young 'uns go
running off through the wild all by their lonesomes.
And teach them not to tease rattlers with sticks.
Good advice for newsgroups too.
Sal
Eric Bycer
Wendy Chatley Green (wcg...@cris.com) wrote:
: For some inexplicable reason, rit...@cruzio.com (Kemnitzer,Trollman)
: wrote:
: :
: :It is funny. When I was a kid we played outside, even in winter. We
: :were always wet in the winter and dirty in the summer.
: :
: :But nobody owns raincoats or rainboots anymore, it seems like, at
: :least not nearly functional ones, and it seems like kids don't even
: It's not just clothing that prevents outdoor play; it's lack of
: imagination, an inability to realize possibilities, and a lack of
: example.
: One day, not long after we adopted our kids, I shoved them all
: outside to play. It was a beautiful Spring day and they were in a
: fenced backyard with a swingset, sandbox, two dogs (one of which would
: fetch), and plenty of niches and corners for games.
: Theses kids (8, 6, 5, 3.5 years) milled around by the back door
: hoping that I would let them in again. All they knew was TV watching.
: They hadn't had other kids to play with, no one had ever showed them
: the basic outside games, and they couldn't figure it out on their
: owns. We had to teach them how to play.
: With most children restricted to inside thanks to safety
: concerns, convenience, and (possibly) the same lack of skills on the
: part of the parents/care-givers, the ability to "play" and experience
: "make-believe" without a TV or computer game is rapidly being lost.
Great posts, all. I grew up in Phoenix, AZ. The average summer high is
in the 105 range. Our parks and backyards had few, if any, trees for
shade. They wouldn't grow, at least not without more help than the City
of Phoenix would give them, so when summertime came around, it was hot.
Damn hot.
And still we played outside. Sure, there was the occassional case of
heatstroke. I remember one time I got it. Not fun.
During the "winter", where temperatures got all the way down to the 40s,
everyone played outside.
As for myself, I always liked snow and rain.
The colder the better.
Of course, I stopped playing outside when "Superman" ran beneath a slide
and smashed his face into a support bar, nearly causing "Superman" to
lose teeth. Worse than Kryptonite, I tell ya.
Eric Bycer, Jedi Knight
Now I only play football and other sports outside. With a mouthpiece.
Dorothy J Heydt
In article <34ca342b....@news.concentric.net>,
Wendy Chatley Green <wcg...@cris.com> wrote:
>
>
> With most children restricted to inside thanks to safety
>concerns, convenience, and (possibly) the same lack of skills on the
>part of the parents/care-givers, the ability to "play" and experience
>"make-believe" without a TV or computer game is rapidly being lost.
>
know how to play. They run and jump and stomp and holler and bounce
balls and chase the cat and have a wonderful time. Now if they would
only learn to SHUT UP (I know, I know, it takes years).
The Judge
On 15 Jan 1998 21:53:08 GMT, byc...@futures.wharton.upenn.edu (Eric
Bycer) wrote:
>Of course, I stopped playing outside when "Superman" ran beneath a slide
>and smashed his face into a support bar, nearly causing "Superman" to
>lose teeth. Worse than Kryptonite, I tell ya.
(warning: another boring old fart reminiscence ahead)
I grew up in the midwest, Muncie, Indiana. Lived three blocks from
the White River, which had a pretty good current to it. A block away,
a fair sized woods, and on the other side, a baseball field.
Basketball hoops on every garage, and lots of alleys.
We played outdoors all the time. Busted teeth? My baby teeth were
knocked out faster than they could grow out. Fell on the back of my
head trying to play basketball with some big kids (nine year olds) and
fractured my skull. Broke my arm once falling out of a tree in the
woods, and broke a collarbone doing the same thing a year later. Damn
near drowned several times in the river. And just about blew my head
off blowing off firecrackers in McCullough park on several occasions.
By the time I was twelve, me and the buds were toting .22 rifles
through the woods, hunting squirrels, or just blasting away at
anything that moved.
Stephen King, a man my age, once remarked that it's amazing the kids
of our generation survived their childhoods at all. I heartily agree.
Near as I can tell, my parents never worried much, unless I came home
too twisted or covered with too much blood.
Best,
Bill
Douglas Wyman
Towse <to...@null.net> spoke to the community saying:
>
>And poison oak. Make sure you teach the young'uns what poison oak looks
>like.
>
I took Army basic training at Fort Ord. Our platoon was detailed to
police (clean up litter) a hillside beside a road. One of the guys
picked a bunch of litter out of some unusual leafy plant. Now, this
guy also had a habit of reaching inside his boxer shorts and
scratching his private parts.
He and most the rest of the platoon didn't know that the oils of the
poison oak plant were so easily transferred from one part of the body
to another.
He spent a few miserable days quite swollen and painting his
private parts continually with calamine lotion. Oh, and enduring
the derisive laughter of the rest of us.
It *did* cure him of his scratching habit.
Doug (he was cute but oh so dumb)
Wendy Chatley Green
For some inexplicable reason, ice...@iw3p.com (The Judge) wrote:
:
:I grew up in the midwest, Muncie, Indiana. Lived three blocks from
:the White River, which had a pretty good current to it. A block away,
:a fair sized woods, and on the other side, a baseball field.
:Basketball hoops on every garage, and lots of alleys.
:
:We played outdoors all the time. Busted teeth? My baby teeth were
:knocked out faster than they could grow out. Fell on the back of my
:head trying to play basketball with some big kids (nine year olds) and
:fractured my skull.
How reactions to such incidents of childhood have changed:
1950s--get kid to hospital; buy him a present to help him feel better
1990s--sue the owners of the basketball hoop
:Broke my arm once falling out of a tree in the
:woods, and broke a collarbone doing the same thing a year later.
1950s--get kid back to the hospital; invite surgeon over for martinis
since you now know him so well
1990s--sue the owners of the woods
: Damn
:near drowned several times in the river.
1950s--ground kid from river for a week or so
1990s--sue whoever owns the shoreline where you almost drown and the
Corps of Engineers for not "improving" the river
: And just about blew my head
:off blowing off firecrackers in McCullough park on several occasions.
1950s--get more M80s and a bigger garbage can
1900s--sue the manufacturer, the importer, the merchandiser, and the
purveyor of said fireworks. Sue the local government for not making
them illegal.
:By the time I was twelve, me and the buds were toting .22 rifles
:through the woods, hunting squirrels, or just blasting away at
:anything that moved.
1950s--"You be careful or you'll shoot out someone's eye"
1990s--sue the gun manufacturers, sellers, and get counseling to
remove bloodlust from child's psyche
:Stephen King, a man my age, once remarked that it's amazing the kids
:of our generation survived their childhoods at all. I heartily agree.
:
:Near as I can tell, my parents never worried much, unless I came home
:too twisted or covered with too much blood.
You probably had more fun than most kids today.
Kathie Meyer
In article <34c0c429....@news.slip.net>,
ice...@iw3p.com (The Judge) wrote:
>We played outdoors all the time.
We had a huge field across the street and down a little bit
from our house. A huge apple tree for tree forts. An empty
warehouse except for some old newspapers you could slide
down like it was a hillside. Loads of Scotch Bloom and
blackberry vines. There was a tunnel in the blackberry vines
that led back into a secluded, sheltered spot. I think at
one point while reading _Travels with Lizbeth_ that is where
I pictured Lars.
My brother and some friends tried to burn up a dead rat they
found down there once and ended up setting the field on fire
for a brief moment until the fire department came. Another
neighbor kid and his friends found a guy from the nursing
home closeby had used a tree to hang himself.
Kathie Meyer
chris mclaughlin
lou...@mail.wsu.edu (Kathie Meyer) wrote:
>My brother and some friends tried to burn up a dead rat they
>found
You had rats to burn???!!!!! Why, we wuz so poor that if we
found a dead rat, we'd smoke it ever so careful-like, burning
waste products from the ol' toxic chemical dump where we lived
in our paper-carton houses, and save it for Thanksgiving, and
share it with all our friends who wasn't in jail yet, and damn
grateful we were, you bettcha, especially when Pa (well, Ma's
boyfriend) give us the tail to play with.
The things we done with that tail!
Chris
Dick Harper
The Judge eloquently commented in misc.writing
> snipped a tale of busted teeth, fractured skull, broken arms and collarbone, near drownings, and firecrackers]
Had you grown up today with that litany, the hospital would surely
have reported your parents for child abuse.
--Dick
The Judge
On Fri, 16 Jan 1998 22:50:02 GMT, rbha...@together.net (Dick Harper)
wrote:
And if they had, my parents, generally of the milder sort, probably
would have abused my tail until I couldn't have broken a body part for
at least a month.
The Judge
(As it was, I think I was continuously scabbed, bruised, in a cast, or
erupting with poison ivy from the age of three until I discovered
booze, girls, and cigarettes....did I mention the rock fights...?)