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For the second time in my blogger life I actually got three people to leave comments. I was so excited, I carefully read them all and because I am as blind as Mr Magoo, I accidentally deleted one of them.
Crap. Don't ever read first thing in the morning. I can't see during the day let alone first thing in the morning.
So, I go to the help desk and now I have to figure out how to retrieve this deleted comment.
And, I will. Sometimes it takes me a whole day, but I can usually figure crap out by searching, searching, searching.
I don't give up easily.
Gotta go now and find my Dollar Store readers so I can "undelete" that darn comment.
Talk later,
Annie
I remember driving with my Grandpa somewhere when I was a little kid and it was raining like crazy.
"How would you like to be driving in this weather with no windshield wipers Annie?"
"Oh Grandpa, that would never happen".
As we drove he told the story. I sat in the front seat listening to every word.
"When I worked in Buffalo at Buffalo Forge, we used to drive to work every day in our jalopies. We had no windshield wipers. Now remember we had to drive in the winter too."
"Oh yeah Grandpa, then how did you see?"
"Oh, we just hung our heads out the window".
I sat there trying to picture this man driving all the way to Buffalo with his head hanging out the window.
"If you were lucky, you would have a rider to help you get there. One would drive and the other would help watch for the ditches."
"We always dressed warm too. No heat either."
"Oh Grandpa".
"Annie, I am not kidding, you were darn glad to get to work in those days, it was warm once you got into the plant".
I would try to picture freezing to death driving an hour to work while sticking my head out the window.
He wouldn't say any more all the way home. He was a pretty quiet guy except for those stories that would pop up every now and then unexpectedly. I was always ready to listen. It was one of the very few times in my life that I would actually be quiet.
These stories would be repeated many times over and over. I would always act like it was the first time I heard them to show respect. I was like a little sponge, soaking in every word.
I miss that old guy with those stories.
I took a few minutes this morning to find info on Buffalo Forge. I found a cool site with info about the history of the plant. If you like history, click here Buffalo Forge If you don't give a crap, just forget it.
Talk later,
Annie
I stumbled across this last night. It was so hot I couldn't sleep so I wasted time on the computer. This is a really awesome collection of photographs from the Great Depression.
I just love the clothes they wore then. You can just see the hardship on their faces.
I don't think people today have a clue as to what those folks endured.
As a kid I would listen to my Grandpa tell stories. Most of the kids would wander off after about 10 minutes of a story, but I would sit there and listen carefully, trying to remember every word. Some stories would be repeated to me over and over. I would always sit and listen.
My Gramps is gone now. I wish I would have written down some of those stories.
Click here Great Depression, to see these beautiful photos.
Talk later,
Annie
Yesterday I ran into my favorite second hand store.
Amvets.
It's the greatest second hand shop in the world. I love it because it is so big you can usually find what you are looking for. I wanted some yoga pants and came out with a cart full of great crap.
I got to the check out and a woman walked by me. She was smiling and talking to one of her co-workers.
I just had to stop her.
"Oh my God, you are still working here?"
She looked at me.
"Oh my God, it's you!, where have you been".
"Oh, I moved away for a while, you will see me in here again".
"Great to see you!"
"Hey, I have to ask you, how the heck long have you been working here?"
"30 years this year".
You could here a pin drop. The other customers were staring at me. Probably because they couldn't give a crap how long she had been there and maybe because NO ONE works at the same place for 30 years.
She ran off waving her arm.
This woman is incredible. She told me she was 61 years old. When I was a kid my Dad would take me to this store and we would poke around in there. I would buy clothes, he would buy "Dad stuff".
That lady was always on the register, laughing and smiling.
When I went to college at Bryant and Stratton, I would stop in there to get clothes for school and suits for interviews.
I always looked for that lady.
When my older kids got old enough for school, I would pick up a lot of things for them for school.
Same cashier.
Now 30 some odd years later this woman is still there. Still smiling with her dangling earrings, still chatting with the customers.
I think this is amazing. I wish there were more people in the world who could find happiness in their work like she does. When you look around there are so many miserable people, crabby and cranky, when you meet someone like her, you don't forget her.
I gotta go and unpack my bags of goodies.
Talk later,
Annie
Yesterday I got a call.
"Annie can you help unload a few loads of hay?"
"Sure", I answered. I sort of miss it anyway.
I helped unload a few loads of hay. We piled it in a pole barn with no unloader. Just man and woman power. The kids chased after kittens as I tossed hay bales. It's like riding a bike, it all comes back to you.
My eyes started to sting as the sweat was pouring down my face and the guys must have noticed I was on the verge of a heart attack so they decided to take a quick break.
No time to run Annie to the hospital for heat stroke.
While we were chugging down some water, somehow we got talking about teeth, or the lack of them.
You get the best stories on days like this. I love stories, especially ones about things that happened before I was around.
Yesterdays story went something like this, told by an old time farmer who has all his teeth.
"When I was a kid my Dad had a cousin who used to drink alot. He had bad teeth. One day he decided to pull out his bad tooth so he drank a bunch of home made whiskey".
"He went to the barn, got the proper pliers and pulled out the tooth". "After he sobered up, he realized he had pulled out the wrong tooth".
Laughter.
"So, the next day he drank some more and pulled out the right tooth."
We proceeded to finish the hay.
Sometimes you wonder how true these stories are. All these folks are long gone.
Their stories live on.
Thanks to things like "throwing hay".
Talk later,
Annie
Today I am having company, I am so excited it's not funny. Now if I was an organized person, I would have had some blog post written ahead of time so when I actually have things going on I could just post something that I wrote ahead of time.
Oh yeah, sure.
Maybe someday I will actually do something like that. You know, act organized, act like I have my crap together.
If I was organized I would have new pictures from my camera that I was supposed to send into get fixed. It sits on the counter, begging to be mailed.
I will let you know when I do.
It will probably take a while so don't sit around waiting for anything that even resembles an "organized Annie".
Can't be too phoney.
Gotta go now and pretend I clean my house every day.
Talk later,
Annie
