All posts in the month of 'May2014'.

The “F” Word

One day when I was five years old, I was standing on the top rail of the six foot redwood fence that separated our property from Doc Steiger’s horse corral. I was offering the gentle old Palomino horse that was penned there some carrots, or sugar cubes, or whatever my mother had given me to take to him.  From the north side of the property I noticed an older boy mount the fence and walk along the rail toward... Read more

Fish Story

The first time Dennis and I went “fishin’” I came back home with a string of a dozen, or so, fish.  Dennis knew the names of the fish; we caught perch, blue gill, catfish and an occasional undersized bass of one stripe or another.  I proudly walked up to our Las Flores Ave house and summoned my mother. “Look Mom, I caught all these fish!” “That’s nice, honey, what are you planning on doing with them?” “Could we have them for dinner?”  ... Read more

Airnges

Someone asked me why I named my beautiful orange Manx cat Air-nges.  Well, here’s the story: When I was about nine years old some of Pappy’s relatives came from eastern Oklahoma to California to visit.  I think they probably stayed for a week or so out at my Aunt Kate’s and from there visited various family members.  I remember they had two boys a bit younger than me and they came over to our house a couple of times.  The... Read more

From My Rearview Mirror

So when I was about eight years old Pappy opened a plumbing shop across the street from our house at 108 Las Flores Ave., Modesto, CA.  At that time I was beginning to pressure my mother to allow me to join some of the older boys in the neighborhood at Dry Creek, which was about a quarter mile from our house.  By the time I was 9-10 years old, my life was full of adventure, alternating between playing with... Read more