Good Thoughts

[Deleted]

Definitely interesting Michael....wood floors from both ooasts. : )

Did you friend Lester load his mom's rifle before he decided to use it to rob the local 7-11?

My cousin Rodney showed up on the greyhound bus one day when he was about eleven or twelve with an assembled sub machine gun in a paper grocery bag. My dad was pissed and wouldn't let him bring it into our house. Rodney wasn't going to give it up so my dad hauled him out to my grandpa's house. Don't think I ever heard what happened to the gun after that but Rodney stayed with grandpa all summer and I never saw the gun again. I'm sure my grandpa took care of it.

[Deleted]

Michael,

Interesting stuff reading the history of houses and people. So much life. So much loss.

Is there a lot of coal around there? Coal stoves, hot water with a coal stoker....that was a very comfortable house to live in. Coal burns so hot compared to wood

I'm trying to figure out what a Skelgas combination range is exactly and there seems to be two options....one is a coal/wood combination and the other is a coal/gas combination. Now I'm wondering if Mrs. Hart had access to a gas stove from 1932 on or if it was a wood combination one.

When did gas make it's way into the mainstream anyway? I should google.

[Deleted]

Here it is....gas stoves came along in the early 1850's. Electric stoves came along in 1912. The modern electric refrigerator was patented in 1914. By 1944, 85% of Americans had a refrigerator.

www.thepeoplehistory.com/appliances.html

As a sidenote, did you know that the women's rights movement really only gained momentum as more modern labor savings devices for households came into being? There was a cultural shift where domestic abuse rose proportionately to the increase in household labor savings devices...which in turn led to women becoming more organized and campaigning more for rights.

On farms and on homesteads, labor, for both men and women, continued to be part of the lives of rural Americans and so the same cultural shift didn't occur the same way. When your a partner and everybody is valued it's a different world...a different way of living.

Which is why I still don't understand all the back and forth with campaigning for this women's right or that women's right and probably never will. I get the whole equal pay for equal work thing....truly I do. I get what's fair is fair but I've never needed a group of people to try and tell me what they think is fair for me.

I do think it goes back to the culture we grew up in. I was always treated as if what I contributed was part of the whole and an important part of the whole.

Guess I wandered off track there...as I so often do. : )

[Deleted]

Dec 20, 2014 11:51:27 GMT -5 @jolene said:

This is a video tour of where we live now in the 'burbs of Houston - Sugar Land, Texas.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkYrLCO70H0

This part of Houston looks really nice...as you know I love the Woodlands...keeps me out of the city.

My God Houston is huge its like 50 lanes going 20 different ways all at 80 mph.

The obits in the paper there are at least a full page or two.

Sugar is a big deal in Texas...guess it comes from the freight trains in Kansas and Colorado...they run forever.

Sugarland the band just got sued big time for last years stage failure...I bet they are from there.

These are just a couple of things that I know about Sugar land...now with the addition...

of knowing some really cool folks down there!

[Deleted]

Dec 20, 2014 11:44:36 GMT -5 @jolene said:

This one is my hometown - Clay Center. It's also the county seat and you have a nice view of the court house in this one minute aerial view of the downtown from 2008. Piotique day is a Clay Center only holiday....invented a long time ago to commemorate both the pioneers and old days (antique). Every year they have a parade and a festival.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tazldbchvgc

I always wonder why home towns seem so homey...I suppose it is the fact that it is home...I love it!

Look at all the usage that this town has had...it shows the truest form of community.

The silos are a landmark for towns all through that region...but by golly Clay Center is all by its lonesome.

I bet that the people there have to depend on each other...lots of trading...survivors.

The series "Jerico" is one of my favorite shows...about Jerico Kansas...sure can't find it.

I believe that people are just a reflection of their own environment...

Folks from Kansas are lean...tall...and very strong...just like a giant sunflower!

[Deleted]

Dec 20, 2014 14:28:40 GMT -5 @jolene said:

Michael,

Interesting stuff reading the history of houses and people. So much life. So much loss.

Is there a lot of coal around there? Coal stoves, hot water with a coal stoker....that was a very comfortable house to live in. Coal burns so hot compared to wood

I'm trying to figure out what a Skelgas combination range is exactly and there seems to be two options....one is a coal/wood combination and the other is a coal/gas combination. Now I'm wondering if Mrs. Hart had access to a gas stove from 1932 on or if it was a wood combination one.

When did gas make it's way into the mainstream anyway? I should google.

You know Jo...I know that I should have paid more attention to the details and the people...but I'll give you what I have and you can make some sense of it.

There was an old coal chute around back that you could sneak into the house if you ever needed too...I don't know why because the doors were always unlocked.

Though as kids we had an imagination that if we ever escaped the jail that this would be an awesome getaway.

The coal chute led to what we called the monster...later known to me as a coal fired boiler...it was in the scariest part of the basement in front of a crawlspace where there were humps and rocks.

I don't know what the humps and rocks were...they looked like graves...every time I would try to wiggle back there someone would shut off the lights...so I never went.

That is mostly my imagination...though the spirit stories that I have are not simply bumps and rocks and noises...

So back to the boiler basics...

I don't know when these coal fired boilers were converted to a boiler with natural gas...but they still looked pretty old and this was in the 1970's.

The fancy oven was gone...replaced with a gas range...a lot of stuff was in the garage/shed...it was probably in there.

A lot of the original furniture was still in the house...fancy stuff that we used...thinking back now.

Something about steam radiators...they will heat a home...all the way through to your marrow.

I remember looking out from the front window at snow 3 foot deep...surrounded by steam heat...in a house of stone.

The walls of this place was at least a foot thick...I know that you couldn't drill through it...no way.

I also remember seeing dowel pins everywhere...I know that they had nails but all the woodwork just seemed to fit.

So here you have a house that is prone to creaking...has steam pipes in it rattling...and graves in the basement...all that stuff is just normal living...

with the exception of graves under your house.

[Deleted]

Dad was an Orphan...he didn't have any history other than the one he made. Dad was a cowboy...a real one...he was a soldier...a real one...a dad...a real one.

He was born in 1919 and was adopted in 1928 by Mr. Smart of Claremore Oklahoma. Mr. Smart owned the sale barn and put dad to work...had him learning all sorts of things there.

Mr Smart would send a bunch to trade horses by wagon to Kansas...Arkansas...Missouri and Texas...dad would sleep under the wagon and dig through dumpsters at every town.

Oh...remember this was the depression...he found one brand new shoe in one town and another brand new shoe in another...both brown and both fit...so there you go!

I know that after the war he returned to Oklahoma and left for Denver with mom on a bus with just a seabag...I remember talk of the Denver Botanical Gardens a lot.

I kinda found out where his possible sister built that...dad was till angry from the war and I suppose the Denver relationships with them didn't take.

He managed to get a piece of property in Westminster...called Goat Hill...that's where we were raised...he never spoke of his family and now its too late.

He was probably the hardest working man I ever knew...up at 4 and go to work at the Denver Brick and Pipe company in Golden Colorado...working on fixer uppers in the evenings and 2 days of the Bonanza flea

market on the weekends. He said he made more money at the flea market than he did in 5 days at the brick yard...needless to say...dads pipes were huge...muscles everywhere.

I remember his friends from work trying to get him out of the house...he would say no...I have work to do...and he did and he would.

Mom and Dad worked hard out there for 30 years before selling out and moving back to where they started...

[Deleted]

WOW...I found a link to the old brickyard!!!

www.gardnerhistory.com/brickyardhouse/history.htm

[Deleted]

Michael,

Sugar Land is named after Imperial Sugar and was a factory town. It's only been an official town now for 50 years and over the last 15 years we've lived here, the population has grown from under 40,000 to over 85,000. The reason everything looks so new is because most of it is.

That said, we live in a subdivision that was built in the early 1970's. Our particular house is a 3-2-1 (3 bedroom, 2 bath, 1 garage) ranch style home that comes in just under 1,000 square feet. We bought it for $62,000. It's worth about $100,000 now.

Since race is so much in the news these days, I'll add that most days I'm in our own particular neighborhood, usually on foot because I walk a lot and it's easy to walk to the park, the grocery store, the library, the mailbox, the donation box, the Walgreens...all within a 3 mile loop.....and it's a rare thing for me to see any other white faces except my hubby and son. Which isn't an issue in my world. I've lived in a world of color for most of my life and especially the last thirty or so years.

It makes me sad to have the race baiters from the political spectrum and the universities work so hard to bring strife and division into the public spectrum. I mention the universities because a week ago there was a protest in Brooklyn where police were injured trying to stop protestors from throwing full garbage cans into traffic. They were also chanting death to cops and those that were arrested were a university professor and graduate students working on their Ph.D's. People who are far removed from the situation itself and yet they're the ones who are causing more harm.

You notice that the families of those who died are speaking of peace. Who are publically acknowledging the pain for the families of the police officers who were assassinated this weekend. You know they feel the pain of loss and are standing up with courage and dignity.

More and more Michael, I believe in government and activism being closer to the people who live it. I'm all for the people in Ferguson Missouri going to the polls and voting for the type of change they believe will help them in their day to day lives. The only way a protest at the Mall of America in Minnesota will change anything is, IMHO, a worse travesty....giving more power to federal law enforcement and the US Justice Department. I get that is the end goal for the race baiters and the university activists but I can't say that will help we, the people. I think it just makes things worse.

These days, we live in a safe neighborhood but it's only since we moved to Texas that I/we've lived in neighborhoods where shootings weren't common. I've stepped over blood on my doorstep more than once and been shot at more times than I care to think about. On one block I lived on, the cops would sit down at the corner convenience store and wait on a second patrol car to get there before they'd come up my block to respond to calls. Just wasn't safe for them to come up my block without backup.

I understand I have a weird perspective of things but the university crowd and race baiters....they need to quit making things worse for the folks who are living in the neighborhoods where crime is a real danger. It's not all cut and dried in bad neighborhoods. I've seen my neighbors not only beat up the ambulance drivers who showed up to respond to calls but go after the cops ...and I've seen it take four cops to subdue a big and drunk man who didn't want to be arrested. Watched it all from ten feet away.

Okay, I'm done now. : )

Loved the link for the brick factory. That is soooooo cool. So there was a local coal mine there in the early days.

...and your house was a fortress. What a wonderful thing to have foot deep walls...I'd have avoided the basement in the dark too. : )

[Deleted]

Jo I want you to know

I read every word you wrote

As time is of the essence,

a short Christmas note

I really don't know

where they got the coal

Railcar after railcar.

always from the North.

it was our black gold

it was our warmth

just like the old house

this forum feels like home

anyone here that visits

should not feel alone

I must run

and answer the phone!

perfect if I say so myself.

[Deleted]

Preparedness Tips: A Mother’s Wisdom

By James Stevens on December 23, 2014




I learned about preparedness and survival kits from my mother. She was wisdom personified and always seemed to know what to do, no matter what the occasion!

I truly regret it took me so long to realize it. As a fledgling Boy Scout, my troop was going on a long-awaited and unprecedented early spring camping trip. At last, I was going to join the older guys whom I not only admired, but secretly revered. The last thing I wanted was to be embarrassed by being unprepared.
Preparedness Tips Passed Down from my Mother

When I asked Mother what to take on my extended outing, she replied in her soft-spoken manner, “You need to wonder what could happen and be willing to pay the wages of going into the wilderness. Take some water, Wranglers®, weenies, wipes, warm clothing, weather protection, a weapon, a wayfinder, whatever, and keep a watchful eye…”

Did she ever have a way with words! Let me elaborate on her guidance. Evaluate these points in relationship to your own emergency preparedness.
Wonder
preparedness, critical thinking, outdoor survival, survivial skills

Preparedness requires critical thinking.

Mother was suggesting I ponder what part of my intended experience I might not be able to control. It was the beginning of my education to learn to assess what problems might occur in the field (or in my life), such as:

to which wonders of nature (read: disaster) I’d be vulnerable
to what other creature––man or beast––I might encounter, and/or
to the kinds of personal problems I might have in the wilderness…

She wanted me to plan for the worst, hope for the best, and be able to deal (eventually) with whatever happened.
Wages
decisions, preparedness, survival skills, survival

Weighing your options and making informed decisions is the key to preparedness.

That meant that I must be willing to pay the price to make this trip––time, effort, and risk. From the available alternatives, was this the most practical, prudent, and provident undertaking for me? I had to decide if it was the most intelligent thing to do at that moment—and what about the longer-term consequences and implications of my actions? Even at that early age, I had already been made aware of the consequences of being unprepared. Mother was indicating the price of not being prepared for the future eventualities in my life.
Water
water, hydration, preparedness, survival

Bottled water is one of the most vital prepper supplies you need with you at all times.

Mother told me to take water. She knew you can’t live very long without drinking water. She made sure I carried extra water and told me how important clean drinking water was to camping health. My WWII metal canteen my Uncle Jimmie brought back from the Army was my fountain of trail health. Mother made me repeat to her how to obtain and purify additional water for drinking and cooking. She was very certain I understood that daily water consumption was necessary for health and sanitation purposes.
Wranglers®
preparedness, prepper clothes, jeans, wranglers

Sturdy, durable jeans like Wranglers are a prepper’s best friend

That meant having appropriate clothing for the occasion, depending on the environment. In my youth, jeans (we could afford the name brand Wranglers® only after the harvest was in the barn) were the working-class clothes in our ex-urban community. They were sturdy, longwearing, tough, easily maintained, and could be worn for man’s work––and that certainly included camping out! This admonition was also meant to include a regular change of underwear. I’m sure all of us were taught about that bit of hygiene….
Weenies
survival food, preparedness, survival skills, outdoor cooking

Weenies, pork and beans, and other easy-to-make comfort foods help you practice preparedness while eating what you enjoy

That was a reference to the need for nourishment. My mother knew my penchant for hot dogs, potato chips, and pork and beans. Her instruction to me was to take food that I:

would eat even under the stress of being away from the well-spread table she prepared for the family;
could easily prepare in the boonies; and
would normally enjoy.

Personally, I would have opted for her barbeque pork and creamy cole slaw––but that would have been totally impractical for the camping environment. Mother packed a supply of extra food just in case of some unexpected emergency that required no cooking, was comforting and familiar, easily digestible, and stored well without great care under adverse conditions. She included some homemade beef jerky, nuts from our backyard trees, hard peppermint candy, homemade granola, and home-dried fruits. Having familiar food to eat gives us comfort far beyond the cost of the food. Don’t take anyone else’s opinion about your emergency food supply––store what you like to eat and you’ll eat what you’ve stored.
Wipes
preparedness, wet wipes, hygiene, survival

Simple hygiene items like wet wipes are preparedness essentials



Intimated that if I ate during this camping trip, eventually the natural necessity for wipes would occur. Not to mention tissues for a runny nose from staying out overnight in the humid wilderness! Wipes were indeed essential then for any trip away from home––and still are! This was also meant to remind me about the need for good personal hygiene and grooming––a little soap and elbow grease to remove the dirt and smoke odor from my body. There is no greater comfort than being our best self––putting our best foot forward––handling whatever we encounter with panache and style.
Warmth
fire building, outdoor survival, preparedness, warmth

Keeping warm with fire, blankets and other heat-producing items is preparedness 101.

How can anyone be prepared if the elements are ignored? Today we have modern technology––so many new fabrics for clothing and camping gear, equipment for and supplies to help in this life-saving necessity.Of course, let us not forget the need for fire to cook food, purify water, and provide warm water for bathing. I carried the supplies for starting an emergency fire in virtually any weather. Mother had some handy fire-starters: candles, chemical heat tabs, and some canned heat from her chafing dish. Fire-starters were essential for igniting wet wood quickly to make a campfire––especially in an emergency situation. With a butane lighter, wax-coated matches in a waterproof container, a magnesium match, some lint from the lint collector in the dryer, some blocks of wax-impregnated fire-starter, you could start a fire anywhere!
Weather protection
tent, camping, preparedness, wilderness survival

A tent is a great way to protect yourself from the elements

This was the need for adequate shelter from the unpredictable spring weather in North Carolina––a tent and some waterproof matches. Mother also insisted on some kind of poncho or plastic cover to protect me from the rain and wind. Today, you’d probably opt for a large plastic trash bag with holes cut in the sides for your arms. Or, you could buy foil-like space blankets, those reflective emergency blankets that are never large enough to cover your arms and legs! It also meant having sunglasses, sunscreen for the lips and skin, and clothing for protection against the hot sun.
Weapon
preparedness, self defense, swiss army knife, survival weapon

Preparedness means being able to defend and protect yourself at all times.

That meant a brand-new Swiss knife attached to my belt for all to see––talk about proud! Nobody was going to mess with me and the complete arsenal at my fingertips. I was prepared for even a bear! Besides, it was a miracle-making tool just waiting to be unleashed, whether for opening a can of beans or soup, shaving a stick for fire tinder, or carving an X on a tree to mark the trail. It was absolutely important––a veritable rite of passage––that every Scout have his own knife for first aid, food preparation, minor repairs, and a sense of proud ownership. Because they occupied little space, mother put extra shoelaces, safety pins, needle and thread, fine baling wire, extra adhesive tape (before duct tape!), a hank of small rope, and some razor blades in an old aspirin tin––just in case.
Wayfinder
preparedness, navigation, map, compass

Navigation is an essential preparedness skill

This meant having the appropriate equipment, such as a wrist compass and a local area road map. At least I could find my way back to the camp, home, or anywhere on that map, should I become the victim of a snipe hunt with the senior scouts. Make sure you have maps of local streets, as well as maps of your destination, if you must depart from your home.

Today, you can go online and get a detailed topographic map of the area you plan to visit––and carry it in a plastic freezer-grade zipper bag. Add to your compass other navigational tools, such as a GPS receiver. At www.earth.Google.com you can see it all from satellite––virtually live!

This category included the need to have a flashlight of some type, and because batteries and bulbs wouldn’t last forever, mother put spares of both in a little sealed plastic bag. Today, technology has made it much simpler––cheap battery-, solar-, and crank-powered lighting devices, so kerosene and propane are no longer the only lighting choices.
Watchful Eye
watchful eye, preparedness, emergency preparedness, survival skills

To be truly prepared you must be aware of your surroundings and know how to solve problems as they arise

This part was a little bit trickier because it was somewhat more philosophical, but I know it meant being prepared for any emergency. I practiced until I was compass-trained and ready to take the fifty-mile hike. I was also required to learn all the first aid information, up to and including how to cut the X for snakebite treatment. Thank heaven that treatment has been superseded since then!

It is indeed fortunate the Scouting programs put particular emphasis on first aid and emergency treatment. We always carried––and were trained to use––a first-aid kit. Likewise, we were also advised not to be lulled into an attitude of having a false sense of security. Mother was quite clear about staying away from danger instead of flaunting our bravery. Her take on that was a rule of ABC’s she repeated often, Avoid Bravado Constantly! That meant that I should do whatever was prudent to avoid injury or sickness in the first place.
Whatever
preparedness, relaxation, survival

Preparedness is important, but it’s also important to relax with enjoyable activities like puzzles, games and books

This category was for anything I wanted to take that wasn’t in the proscribed categories previously mentioned––like my genuine silver-plated Duncan yo-yo!…or the latest Marvel comic book… or jacks and marbles––whatever was important for my comfort and pleasure!
Watchcare
first aid, preparedness, emergency preparedness, group survival

Preparedness isn’t just about you – it’s also about taking care of those around you

This meant caring about the others on the camping trip. This was a quality my mother had in bountiful supply––she really cared about others, constantly on the lookout for someone who needed a lift. Her good neighborpolicy was in full force at all times. She practiced the true spirit of caring about the community at large, the neighbors, and her family.

So, my mother’s instructions sent me scurrying enthusiastically throughout all three floors of the house (including the dark basement where all those veggies grew in Mason jars!), looking for the equipment I needed to impress the older Scouts in the troop. As the seemingly essential items were located, I placed all the pieces of equipment and supplies into little piles on my upper bunk, and then called her for approval. This is where I learned how to choose what is essential, and how to focus on economy, efficiency, and personal well-being. Mother regarded all the gear and paraphernalia I had assembled. I remember her saying quietly, “All that pep without purpose is piffle!” She gently (well, not so gently that I soon forgot!) instructed me to sort all of my stuff into three piles. I was to place in the first pile the items I couldn’t do without, a second pile for stuff I thought I might need, and a third pile for the things I’d like to take with me. After I had arranged my piles as instructed, mother looked at the three piles carefully and made a couple of corrections in my selection. She then told me to return the stuff heaped in the second and third piles to the drawers and closets––and to place in the camp bag only the items in the first pile.

You know, even years later, mother’s words were my guidance when I traveled more than a million miles as an international business traveler. What I eventually learned is that the quality of any trip is being able to do without a great deal of non-elemental stuff.

[Deleted]

Michael,

Your mama had wonderful alliteration. : )

Reminds me of Eliza Doolittle's pa in "My Fair Lady"...I'm willing to tell ya, I'm wanting to tell ya, I'm waiting to tell ya.

[Deleted]

Dec 25, 2014 14:54:45 GMT -5 @jolene said:

Michael,

Your mama had wonderful alliteration. : )

Reminds me of Eliza Doolittle's pa in "My Fair Lady"...I'm willing to tell ya, I'm wanting to tell ya, I'm waiting to tell ya.

LOL Jo...all mamas are the same in some ways!

[Deleted]

[Deleted]

I'll be grabbing some good thoughts out of this bag of goodies for awhile...

www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/e/earlnighti159030.html

We will receive not what we idly wish for but what we justly earn. Our rewards will always be in exact proportion to our service.

Learn to enjoy every minute of your life. Be happy now. Don't wait for something outside of yourself to make you happy in the future. Think how really precious is the time you have to spend, whether it's at work or with your family. Every minute should be enjoyed and savored.

Any person who contributes to prosperity must prosper in turn.