We
started out with a wood framework, with a wood floor, and a tent stretched over
the top, with cots and mattresses to sleep on, kind of like camping-out. I was
soon learning to be a carpenter. We laid out a system of cement walls that stuck
up about 2ft. from the ground and they were about 5-6inches thick with
3-8”bolts imbedded in the cement and sticking up about 2,& a half “ inches
high. These bolts were about a foot apart. They were to hold the walls onto
this cement foundation. This was “Home-built” construction at its best. Boy,,,,
my Dad was a Whiz. If he didn’t know something, He found out-----------And---I learned it
all for my later life……. He was kind of
hard on me at times, but I forgave him in later, later years. I love my dear
old Dad, and I know he’s been with me at times in the years since he passed on
out of this life. Human bodies’ come-and-go ----but the Human soul NEVER dies it
goes on forever and ever and forever. It’s a big part of GOD,,,,I love
you,,,,,,dear, GOD>>> thank you---- thank you… In this life-time I have a very special lady
in my life, and I know that she and
I have been together many life-times
together,, our relationship is an on-going thing for the two of USS to work
with NO-ONE ELSE TO INTERFERE….. I LOVE
YOU MY –DEAR I CATHY BLESS-YOU………...Now back to my start in the BIG town of Zillah My Dad got funding from
the Signal Gas Company to
build our house and gas station. We got our house built, and moved in. Then we
dug a hole in the ground, and then constructed a small abode over the top of
it, and presto----- we had an “out-house” ----- an out-of-doors toilet to get
by with until we could get an indoor bathroom with toilet set up in the house
and connected to the city sewer, system. We also dug a big hole in the ground,
maybe 5ft. by 9ft by 7ft. deep and covered it over with tree limbs and branches
and “presto” we had a root-cellar. The
idea was to keep food-stuff cool. And it worked----- Every-thing my Dad came up
with, worked. Some of it, he learned
from his folks and growing-up but, some of it he learned on his own
endeavor. He was amazing…. I was 6 and 7
yrs old when all of this stuff was
going on, boy, it was quite a child-hood and then---- the gas-station got to
going, and I was out there at the gas-pumps and waiting on customers, pumping
gas, checking under their car-hoods, for the status of the engine oil and
water, washing the car windows, occasionally checking the tires for
air-pressure… I was 7yrs. Old. Within a short time my Dad was working on cars,
even taking the motors apart and rebuilding them, and I was right there, learning everything WOW what a
childhood . My old Dad even had an old
gas welder that I started playing with.
All this while my Mom was getting tired of having to use the “out-house “all
the time, So with me and Mom taking care of the gas-station and its customers,
he started in on the house again,--- the bathroom. He got an old used toilet
and bathtub and put them in, in place, with all of the proper plumbing---also a
kitchen sink with all the plumbing, and all of this plumbing ended up out in
the front yard in a deep, narrow ditch with a big concrete pipe in it , and
this ditch and pipe went down to the Old highway 410 , and in a round-a-bout
way ended up in the sewer plumbing coming out from the town of Zillah. Now we
had indoor plumbing, and my Mom could use the kitchen sink toooo, BOY’’’’we had
never had it so good. So far our house was only 2by4s and boards. My Dad said,
“He had to get it ready for the rainy weather. He went to the lumber yard again
and came back with a bunch of
black-plastic hunks of stuff that turned
out to be long rolls of tar-paper, which he covered the outside of the house
with, windows and all. My room was right behind the kitchen, and my window
faced the highway and Zillah, the highway curved around our place on its way
into town. This plastic paper made my room pure-dark, so I punched a hole to
let in some light. Sun-of –a-gun I
created a huge camera complete with moving cars, bicycles etc, and whatever
else might be going up or down the highway outside====FABULOUS and I could lay there and watch all of
this.
It
didn’t take the place of everything that I was learning out at the gas-station
though. My Dad was working on all the different parts of cars, trucks, tractor..farm-equipment
and whatever else that people might bring in that needed fixed. We fixed it.
Boy was I learning. All this time, I was
learning a whole lot more too. At night , I would sit in the house, perched on the floor, beneath the
radio listening to ‘radio’ adventure…..T. V. and all of this modern technology
was stuff of the future. Anyway I had Superman, Batman, Tarzan, The Lone
Ranger, Several other Super-Heroes, And then some funny-funky ones
---------------Fibber-Magge and Molley ,
Amos-and-Andy , My Little Margy and then some in between The Cisco Kid and Pancho -- Hoppalong
Cassidy , Straight Arrow, some were continued from week to week
, and some were a fresh new story each week. And on top of all of this were the Comic Books of
a lot of these characters, which I was
into by way of some of the shops and stores up in town. And we went to the movies at least once a week. And I had
my favorite movie STARS. These
days of the new millennium, we don’t really have a good choice of stuff
on TV to watch. We have to be very picky.
There are a few special channels that
have all the good stuff, and
that’s the one’s we focus on. Especially stuff put on by Larry Levinson----his stuff is always exceptional. Old movies, and old music out of the
1900,s that was when we had all the old
black and white movies---- before they had any color
what-so-ever___and we had John
Wayne and Gary Cooper and all the other old actors and stars when they
were young people. “Gone With The Wind
hadn’t yet been made----Liz Taylor hadn’t yet come
along Alan Ladd was a big star . Hopalong
Cassidy Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Superman.
Rocketman. On the radio , we had
Straight Arrow----My Little Margie , Amos and Andy, The Cisco Kid and Pancho, The Peacemaker, Tarzan-the bronzed-white-son-of
–the-jungle with his eerie cry of the great ape and they also had Tarzan in the theater with Les Barker
playing the part of Tarzan and they put a Jane character in to the stories for
Tarzans mate. Boy--- Radio==it used your imagination with the sound. And this was
all before television came along.
My dear-old- Dad always made it a
regular schedule for us to go to the movies at least once a week, sometimes,
more. It depended on what was on, or what
was coming on We never missed
anything special. Of course during the
summer months we were out in the orchards picking fruit for extra money, and
filling up on fruit in our tummies.
It was natures way of counter-acting all of the sweets and candy that I
was filling up on, so I never
ended up with diabetes or, any of that garbage. I’m trying to do all of this on
a computer, and BOTHER, it’s driving me up the wall -------------- In the
course of all of this. My dear old Dad went back to working on the house, he
bolted 2x4’s and 2x6’s down onto the cement foundations and then proceeded to
cut and nail 1x boards on top of these, and –----presto-----we had a
floor—then, WE laid out 2x4frame works in the shapes of walls and cut and
nailed 1x boards onto these, and raised them up so that we had walls and we
nailed these down to the floor, so that we had outside walls and interior
walls. At that time, it was all done with hammers and nails. 6 penny. 8penny,
10penny, 16penny and 20penny nails. If for some reason, a nail didn’t go in
properly bent over or whatever, we hooked our claw hammer under it, pulled it out and drove in a new nail. Our
hammers were double sided------one side for driving the nails and one side for
pulling them out. This was carpentry and construction. Knowledge and no-how
that has lent to my survival and perseverance
many times in past years. I’ve spent many years working in mobile-home
factories , which I very much enjoyed. I learned electrical, and plumbing, and welding.
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