All Names Changed

All Names Changed

      I grew up in a little Appalachian borough outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.   As in most communities there were the haves and the have nots.   And then there were the bottom of the barrel.   In Lotsville the bottom of the barrel lived in a section of town called "The Blocks".   They were one long shack put together in apartments.   We didn't have the vocabulary but they were actually decrepit condominiums.   The Blocks were made of black barn board and every window was broken, most were covered with cloth.   The entire structure leaned North.   

      When folks talked about The Blocks it was always mean with jokes about rats and cockroaches.     When it was finally sold and burned to the ground the joke was that rats and bugs scurried in every direction.   The truth was probably less dramatic but it was a mean place to live.

     The Roads' family lived in The Blocks.   Johnny Roads was about my age, probably older because he was held back.   It seemed everyone who lived in The Blocks was held back in school at some time.   I was allowed to play with him but not allowed to go to his house.   Most of my friends were not allowed to be with a Road's kid so Johnny and I didn't hang out a lot.

     Johnny didn't do well in school and it was generally accepted that he was kind of slow.   We all remembered the day that Johnny had to leave our little four room school for a "special school".   We all said that he failed out of school.   The next Fall I ran into him at Joe's barber shop.   We were both getting our back to school butch.   I asked if he were coming back to school.   He said since he had read all the books in our school so they were sending him to a new school.   I dropped the subject.   This was all before I was ten.

     Fast forward another decade or so.    I had graduated from college and had just been married a week or so.    My wife and I were driving in the mountains and I was showing her some of the old haunts.   We stopped at a little stand for birch beer floats.   While we were sipping, two large, new trucks pulled in.    On the door was stenciled Roads Roofing.   In half-a-minute a brand new shinny convertible pulled in.

     I made no connections and ignored this group.   It would have stayed that way until the man in the convertible said, "Johnny, Johnny Villotti."

     Then my mind opened up to large parts of my childhood.   It was Johnny Roads and he and I had a 15 minute chat.   At the end of it he stayed and I drove away.   He stayed to give a bid and impart some directions to his roofing crews.   It seemed that things were going quite well for the kid that failed out of school.   He talked about how well he was doing with only a little hint of bragging.

     Since I was going off to Virginia to become a teacher, I never forgot that lesson.

Character Review #3

I have introduced nearly 30 characters in my blog.   I'm taking some time to clarify and update them.

My Oldest - My first born, businessman, triathlete
My Youngest - My last born, the only person who has been a guest blogger
Mum - The lady with enough courage to raise my sibling clan, mother
Whistle Lew - Mechanic, jack of all trades, the old Italian, father
Bullwinkle - The glue that keeps all the friends together, named by my youngest brother

Six characters left to review.

Silver Sky

I figure I spend about 400 hours a year looking at the night sky.   Nothing like the 2000 to 3000 hours a year the ancient shepherds spent, but enough that I know a little.   Yet every so often I see or learn something new.

This isn't new, but I just realized something.   On days when there is just a wisp of clouds mixed in with the stars, I can see sunrise before any hint on the horizon.   Before any sign of light in the east, the wisp of clouds begin to reflect light and turn silver.   Sunrise is not far away.

The Commissioner would tell you that he also has a device for predicting the sunrise.   It's called a watch.  

That's not much fun.

Increasing Population

 One particular character that makes his way into the blog with regularity and frequency is Larry the Communicator (formerly Carhart Larry).    That is because he tends to "communicate" on topics.   He also is good about adding his intelligence to the world population.

Last night at 10:37 PM my future readership increased by one.   Raegen Harper Hunt left the comfort of her mother's womb and into her daddy's arms.   This is number four but who's counting.

Hurry up and teach her to read.

Good Bye Mongo

The story goes that he sat in the Detroit Lions locker room after a loss and smoked 5 packs of camel straights one after another until he got sick.   He eventually took a shower, dressed and went home.   He hadn't smoked a cigarette since.

Another story says he would bet on anything.   If you and he were sitting in a car at a stop light in the rain he would want to bet which drop would roll down the window the fastest.

My story goes that he was a renascence man.   A mean, tough competitive athlete on the field and an intelligent sensitive actor off the field.

But for sure...

                   ...No one ever knocked out a horse on screen before Alex Karras.

Those Who Walked Before

Walking in the hollow on a mild October morning always brings me in mind of Washington Irving.   He saw what was there and imagined something different.   He saw a man on horseback, late for home, carrying a pumpkin and imagined an American classic.   I see what is around me and wonder about those who walked before me, centuries ago.

I wonder about those who were allowed to grab land given to them by the government with the stipulation that they worked the land.   These people were called settlers and pioneers and were adored in our history.   Sometimes, when the winters were harsh, the government would throw their way a little feed for the livestock and food for the families.    When the original land occupiers (Native Americans) returned to chase them off,  the government provided military protection for these settlers.   Individual pioneers couldn't fight off a band of Indians.

I wonder about another time when the down trodden were given a chance to regain their dignity.   Folks that tried and failed were called pioneers and their names were sung in song.

Today, these settlers would be part of the "47% of our nation looking for a handout".

Character Review #2

More characters to explain.

Ma: The Commissioner's wife.   Major dog lover.
Annie Oakley:  A straight shooter that keeps me in her sights.   A trusted friend.
South Dallas Suzie:    My answer to Punxsutawny Phil.   A skunk.
Yellow Cat: A lost neighbor.   The fourth of the non-human characters.
Shortie: A lazy owl with an abbreviated call.  Last of the non human characters.
Doc and his wife: A neighbor with horses that live well and dogs who are well trained.
Techie Gordon: A walker who chimes in about walking with an edge.
Bean Counter: Long time friend and hater of my other blog.
Phunny Phil: A brother who is sometimes critical of my boring content.
Granddaughter Number #1: Never reads my blog but owns my heart.