I guess about age 12 or so. I had a 22 rifle, no idea where it came from.
Those were the days of Steve McQueen on TV, I think it was called Bounty Hunter. HE had a sawed off shotgun that he carried in a holster. I was impressed, so i decided I would have a sawed off gun also.
It was a single shot 22, i sawed a peace off the barrel, then a peace off the stock, then another peace off the barrel, then removed the stock altogether, then cut another peace off the barrel. In the end i had a peace of the barrel and the bolt and the trigger left :). It was about 6 inches long.
It still fired a bullet, but as the barrel was about 2 inches long it didn't have very much power, although I'm sure we could have killed our selves playing around with it. Its a wounder nobody got hurt.
Ive been in touch with my buddy rick from back in those days and now some 50 years latter he remembers shooting that gun in our basement and he recalls thinking about it the next day and how dangerous it was.
i remember carrying it around in my pocket and shooting at anything the looked like a target, bottles were the best, loved to see them smash into peaces. I'm sure we broke some windows with it also.
I remember shooting at the street light on the corner of 12th street and Sutherland ave. when it was dark i would shoot at the light and the bullet went so slow i could see it going thew the air and bouncing off the light. i shot few bullets at it that bounced of then threw a rock and smashed it to peaces. that happened many times over the years. Never did get caught
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Footprints in the bank
Late 1960s,Sherwood Park,Edmonton,Alberta.
It was in the first days of my brick contracting business.
In those days i didn't have a mud mixer, mixed all the mud by hand. I had learned this trick from Ope and Opey, bricklayers i had worked for as a helper. I made a mud box put the sand and cement in the open box and then jumped in and stomped around the mix up the mud.
This day i was mixing black mud, put in the black color, and jump in stomping around in the mud till it got all mixed in an even color.
It was freezing at the time and of course a lot of mud frozen on my boots. In this case it was black mud
In the middle of the day i had to go to the bank. I jumped in my truck and headed to the bank. While sitting in the truck the heat thawed the black mud on my boots.
i arrived at the bank jumped out of the truck and went into the bank, i walked all the way across the bank to the teller and did my business and as i turned to leave i saw where i had come in the bank and there was a trial of black footprints coming from the door right to me. I didn't look around to see who was watching me, i just put my head down and walked strait for the door, leaving another set of footprints behind me.
As I was going out the door i looked back and could see every step i had made in the bank. I didn't waste any time getting to my truck and getting to hell out of there.
How i hate that negative attention :(
It was in the first days of my brick contracting business.
In those days i didn't have a mud mixer, mixed all the mud by hand. I had learned this trick from Ope and Opey, bricklayers i had worked for as a helper. I made a mud box put the sand and cement in the open box and then jumped in and stomped around the mix up the mud.
This day i was mixing black mud, put in the black color, and jump in stomping around in the mud till it got all mixed in an even color.
It was freezing at the time and of course a lot of mud frozen on my boots. In this case it was black mud
In the middle of the day i had to go to the bank. I jumped in my truck and headed to the bank. While sitting in the truck the heat thawed the black mud on my boots.
i arrived at the bank jumped out of the truck and went into the bank, i walked all the way across the bank to the teller and did my business and as i turned to leave i saw where i had come in the bank and there was a trial of black footprints coming from the door right to me. I didn't look around to see who was watching me, i just put my head down and walked strait for the door, leaving another set of footprints behind me.
As I was going out the door i looked back and could see every step i had made in the bank. I didn't waste any time getting to my truck and getting to hell out of there.
How i hate that negative attention :(
Monday, January 17, 2011
Strange stuff 2
Punkin wanted me to have everything i wished for. I had to be carefull what i wished for, as my wish may come true
I ounce told her i thought hege hogs were neat little animals, we had seen them on TV.
Sometime later I came home to find a hedgehog in a cage on the table. It was mine:)
I ounce told punkin i had seen a movie when i was a kid. The charge at Feather River , and as we watch the westerns chanle i said( maybe oneday they will show that movie. It was the first movie i called the best movie i had ever seen.
low amd behold, about 2 months later, there it was on the westerns channel.
I ounce told her i thought hege hogs were neat little animals, we had seen them on TV.
Sometime later I came home to find a hedgehog in a cage on the table. It was mine:)
I ounce told punkin i had seen a movie when i was a kid. The charge at Feather River , and as we watch the westerns chanle i said( maybe oneday they will show that movie. It was the first movie i called the best movie i had ever seen.
low amd behold, about 2 months later, there it was on the westerns channel.
Strange stuff happens
In 2000 my wife was killed in a car wreck.
The night before she died,her and i were going to Gainesville in her Cadillac. She was driving. The condition of the roads was very bad. There were potholes everywhere u looked. Punkin ( my wife) was driving all over the road to try and miss the potholes. Steering from one side of the road to the other. Some of those potholes were deep and you could easily damage your car if you hit them.
I didn't usually back seat drive , but this time i told her to go the other way to work in the morning. I said" You will get yourself killed trying to miss all these potholes
The next morning she got up and left for work, the last thing i heard was ( I love u Punkin) and i answered . ( I love u Punkin) We always called each other Punkin
Just like i had told her the night before she took the long way around to work.
She was about half way to work ( going the other way ,as i had told her.)
I'm sure she was listening to her funny songs she had recorded for her grand kids. she would have been happy and singing along with the CD player.
she was going up a hill and a car came over the top of the hill, doing 79 mph on the wrong side of the road. It was a supped up race car and she died instantly on impact.
The driver of the race car also died, turned out i knew the kid driving the car that killed her
i had met him many years before, in the early eighties, God and i were at his moms place helping out with some horse business.
I remember walking across the gravel driveway and there was a kid , maybe 10 years old., doing wheelies and racing up and down the driveway on little orange tractor, or maybe a 4 wheeler.
As I crossed the driveway the kid drove that machine up to me (nearly hitting me) and said ( watch this" as he did some wheelie or some race trick.
He did his wheelie and came back and asked me if i thought it was neat.
I told him," you shouldn't be doing that someday you might hurt or kill somebody doing that.
Many years latter, i think he was twenty four at the time, he killed himself and my wife with his race car.
A witness said the kid was following him, and had backed off to get up some speed to pass, He went by so fast the driver didn't even see him till he was passed, then he went over the hill on the wrong side of the road.
Police say he died in the back seat, I think he still alive when the police arrived , but just barely alive and died soon after.
At the time of impact he had been sitting on a Racine harness. His mother couldn't make him stop driving the race car so she told him" Ill buy you a racing harness if you promise to wear it."
Strange stuff huh?
The night before she died,her and i were going to Gainesville in her Cadillac. She was driving. The condition of the roads was very bad. There were potholes everywhere u looked. Punkin ( my wife) was driving all over the road to try and miss the potholes. Steering from one side of the road to the other. Some of those potholes were deep and you could easily damage your car if you hit them.
I didn't usually back seat drive , but this time i told her to go the other way to work in the morning. I said" You will get yourself killed trying to miss all these potholes
The next morning she got up and left for work, the last thing i heard was ( I love u Punkin) and i answered . ( I love u Punkin) We always called each other Punkin
Just like i had told her the night before she took the long way around to work.
She was about half way to work ( going the other way ,as i had told her.)
I'm sure she was listening to her funny songs she had recorded for her grand kids. she would have been happy and singing along with the CD player.
she was going up a hill and a car came over the top of the hill, doing 79 mph on the wrong side of the road. It was a supped up race car and she died instantly on impact.
The driver of the race car also died, turned out i knew the kid driving the car that killed her
i had met him many years before, in the early eighties, God and i were at his moms place helping out with some horse business.
I remember walking across the gravel driveway and there was a kid , maybe 10 years old., doing wheelies and racing up and down the driveway on little orange tractor, or maybe a 4 wheeler.
As I crossed the driveway the kid drove that machine up to me (nearly hitting me) and said ( watch this" as he did some wheelie or some race trick.
He did his wheelie and came back and asked me if i thought it was neat.
I told him," you shouldn't be doing that someday you might hurt or kill somebody doing that.
Many years latter, i think he was twenty four at the time, he killed himself and my wife with his race car.
A witness said the kid was following him, and had backed off to get up some speed to pass, He went by so fast the driver didn't even see him till he was passed, then he went over the hill on the wrong side of the road.
Police say he died in the back seat, I think he still alive when the police arrived , but just barely alive and died soon after.
At the time of impact he had been sitting on a Racine harness. His mother couldn't make him stop driving the race car so she told him" Ill buy you a racing harness if you promise to wear it."
Strange stuff huh?
Saturday, January 15, 2011
My earliest memorys
I have always thought my earliest memory was of me being held in my mothers arms on 12th street, 762 east 12th street. North Van.
Jimmy Nickle had bought a new car and he was showing it to Mom and her sisters.
Jimmy made some kind of joke and when everybody laughed, I laughed even harder.
Then everybody thought it was funny that i was laughing so hard when there was no way i could have understood the joke.
I remember Jimmy Nickle poking his finger at me and asking "What was i laughing about?" I remember turning red and being very embarrassed
The only thing that doesn't make sense about this memory is, I have a memory of that new car in my mind, it was a 1957 Chevy. i remember the yellow color and the white color on the side of the tail fins. If this was so it had to be in 1957 or at least 1956. That would make me at least 10 or 11 years old. What was I doing in my mothers arms at that age? I do remember being called mamas boy, nut i think being carried around at ten years old is a little much.
But i do have the picture of that chevy in my memory, O well. i guess memories can get changed and exaggerated over the years.
i remember 1957 was centennial year in BC, i remember Century SAM being painted like graffiti all over the sidewalks downtown,
I remember Dave Jackson ,my brother and I, running up and down Lonsdale Ave, the main street in North Van, with rolled up newspapers burning like torches.
We would use them as swords for fighting each other , there was sparks and fire flying everywhere
Sadly my last memory of Jimmy Nickel was many years latter when i had come to North Van for a visit. I guess i was in my twenties then, I was walking thru a bar on third street and i recognised Ole Jimmy Nickle sitting at a table by himself and he looked pretty drunk. I hadn't seen him since i was a kid, and i guess i was a little embarrassed, so i never did say anything to him, just kept on walking. Till this day i wish i had stopped and talked to him that dad.
On that same trip thro the bar i also recognised Kenny Rodgers.HE was a kid from 3rd street that i had spent time in reform school with. He was now the bar tender in this third street bar. i also didn't say anything to him as he looked at me and i could tell he did not recognise me.
It would be interesting to take a trip back to North Vancouver now that i am in my 60s but i am sure i would not find one person i new
I don't think i will ever return there, but i guess there is aways the possibility. Most of my life i liked to travel everywhere, but now i am quite content to stay home here on the farm in Valley View TX.
Jimmy Nickle had bought a new car and he was showing it to Mom and her sisters.
Jimmy made some kind of joke and when everybody laughed, I laughed even harder.
Then everybody thought it was funny that i was laughing so hard when there was no way i could have understood the joke.
I remember Jimmy Nickle poking his finger at me and asking "What was i laughing about?" I remember turning red and being very embarrassed
The only thing that doesn't make sense about this memory is, I have a memory of that new car in my mind, it was a 1957 Chevy. i remember the yellow color and the white color on the side of the tail fins. If this was so it had to be in 1957 or at least 1956. That would make me at least 10 or 11 years old. What was I doing in my mothers arms at that age? I do remember being called mamas boy, nut i think being carried around at ten years old is a little much.
But i do have the picture of that chevy in my memory, O well. i guess memories can get changed and exaggerated over the years.
i remember 1957 was centennial year in BC, i remember Century SAM being painted like graffiti all over the sidewalks downtown,
I remember Dave Jackson ,my brother and I, running up and down Lonsdale Ave, the main street in North Van, with rolled up newspapers burning like torches.
We would use them as swords for fighting each other , there was sparks and fire flying everywhere
Sadly my last memory of Jimmy Nickel was many years latter when i had come to North Van for a visit. I guess i was in my twenties then, I was walking thru a bar on third street and i recognised Ole Jimmy Nickle sitting at a table by himself and he looked pretty drunk. I hadn't seen him since i was a kid, and i guess i was a little embarrassed, so i never did say anything to him, just kept on walking. Till this day i wish i had stopped and talked to him that dad.
On that same trip thro the bar i also recognised Kenny Rodgers.HE was a kid from 3rd street that i had spent time in reform school with. He was now the bar tender in this third street bar. i also didn't say anything to him as he looked at me and i could tell he did not recognise me.
It would be interesting to take a trip back to North Vancouver now that i am in my 60s but i am sure i would not find one person i new
I don't think i will ever return there, but i guess there is aways the possibility. Most of my life i liked to travel everywhere, but now i am quite content to stay home here on the farm in Valley View TX.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
The beginining of goats
HE had been here for a month or so and it was time for him to go back to Canada and his life there.
While I was out on the farm somewhere, he told Punkin,(my wife ) he needed to take the pickup and the trailer for awhile and he would be back.
When i came to the house i saw the truck and trailer were gone and asked Punkin where they were, She said , "O Percy said he need them to go somewhere i don't know where he went. I was a little concerned but more curious than anything.
Anyway , after awhile here comes Perc back with the truck and trailer. I asked : where u been man?" He said" got something for u man, look in the trailer"
I looked in the trailer and there were 3 goats :). I said"What in hell am i gonna do with goats"
He said "Well, you got everything else i thought you could use some goats too"
I really had no idea what i was going to do with them, we put them in a pen by the barn and i thought they were kinda neat but figured they were just pets.
Anyway i thanked The Boy for the going away gift and still had no idea what i was going to do with those goats
Some time latter one of them went missing, it was gone for 4 or 5 days, i figured maybe somebody had stolen it as there was no way for it to get out
Several days latter i heard i noise in the barn and found that goat tucked down in a hole between the hay bales, it had fallen in there and couldn't get out. It was a wonder it didn't die in there, no food or water for several days and it was tucked in where it couldn't move.
That was the beginning, several years later i was knee deep in goats and at one time had over 900 head :)
Friday, January 7, 2011
Im a goat farmer
At present i have about 100 head of goats. Most are Boer cross. I buy small goats at auction an sell at the same auction when they have gained weight.
DO i make money? Hell no.
Ive been in the goat business for about 10 years. Have spend over $100,000 on goats and never made any overall profit.
At one time i had over 900 head. i bought does and bred them. raised the kids and sold them at about 50 lbs.
I now buy them about 30 lbs. I found that raising kids was a loosing situation, with the cost of feed and medicine (mostly wormer) and rate of deaths
I have known many goat farmers over the years and learned that most, if not all of always seemed to have goats dieing for no apparent reason, as did I
I used to get bulk grain delivered by the ton, i got a good price on it even tho it was hauled some 1000 miles. it seemed like i always had a few sick goats and many died. Big and small.
I found out that other farmers had the same problem, they all fed grain
I know many farmers who sent the dead to labs to determine the cause of death. the answer from the lab was always the same. i sent many myself to the lab, the results were always the same. Inconclusive.........
In the last few years i have fed only pasture and hay. feeding alfalfa for protean rather than grain.
my death rate in the last year out of approximately 100 head has been, one goat got trampled by a horse, 3 or 4 were put down because of pink eye. ( i should have checked them more often) and one kid died of unknown cause. The kid was fed grain by my neighbour, unknown to me
DO i make money? Hell no.
Ive been in the goat business for about 10 years. Have spend over $100,000 on goats and never made any overall profit.
At one time i had over 900 head. i bought does and bred them. raised the kids and sold them at about 50 lbs.
I now buy them about 30 lbs. I found that raising kids was a loosing situation, with the cost of feed and medicine (mostly wormer) and rate of deaths
I have known many goat farmers over the years and learned that most, if not all of always seemed to have goats dieing for no apparent reason, as did I
I used to get bulk grain delivered by the ton, i got a good price on it even tho it was hauled some 1000 miles. it seemed like i always had a few sick goats and many died. Big and small.
I found out that other farmers had the same problem, they all fed grain
I know many farmers who sent the dead to labs to determine the cause of death. the answer from the lab was always the same. i sent many myself to the lab, the results were always the same. Inconclusive.........
In the last few years i have fed only pasture and hay. feeding alfalfa for protean rather than grain.
my death rate in the last year out of approximately 100 head has been, one goat got trampled by a horse, 3 or 4 were put down because of pink eye. ( i should have checked them more often) and one kid died of unknown cause. The kid was fed grain by my neighbour, unknown to me
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Broken nose
Age 12 or so.
Brother Tom, Dave Jackson and I were playing floor hockey in the gym of a local church. We weren't supposed to be in there but had gotten in after Dave had played a game with a team he was on . Dave was the athlete of the bunch. belonged to the school teams and little league and any sports he could get into. He was good at the pole vault and always had us trying to do it, but I usually failed miserably.
Anyway we were playing floor hockey and Dave was about to make a shot on the goal. HE had his stick way out to his right side, i ran up beside him on his left side. he swung for all he was worth, the stick coming all the way around and caught me on the bridge of the nose. I was just the right distance away to catch the full force of the end of the stick.
i when down on the floor, i was stunned, got to my knees, my hands on my face, i pulled my hands away from my face and saw blood everywhere. somebody came with a t shirt and in seconds it was soaked with blood. i hollerd bloody murder and Tom and Dave took me to the bathroom and somehow the blood slowed down a little. by the time i got home how i was covered in blood and mom had a fit when she saw me. i was hurting like hell but i still enjoyed all that attention.
Mom took me to the hospital next day and doctor stuffed my nose full of bandage. i guess that how they keep the broken peaces in line till it heals.
The worst part of the whole ordeal was when i went back to the doc, and he pulled all of that bandage material out of my nose. doc kept pulling it out of my nose, at the time it seemed there was a mile of gauze in there.
The gauze did the job and my nose healed up pretty much the way it was supposed to. i can still feel a small bump on the bridge of my nose were it was broken but its not really visible
That was the only bone in my body i have ever broken. I never did get a cast on my arm :( like i always wanted :)
Well, i think i did get some bones broken in my foot or feet from horses stepping on them, but never did go to doc about it, so if they were broken they healed up with no help from doc.
Brother Tom, Dave Jackson and I were playing floor hockey in the gym of a local church. We weren't supposed to be in there but had gotten in after Dave had played a game with a team he was on . Dave was the athlete of the bunch. belonged to the school teams and little league and any sports he could get into. He was good at the pole vault and always had us trying to do it, but I usually failed miserably.
Anyway we were playing floor hockey and Dave was about to make a shot on the goal. HE had his stick way out to his right side, i ran up beside him on his left side. he swung for all he was worth, the stick coming all the way around and caught me on the bridge of the nose. I was just the right distance away to catch the full force of the end of the stick.
i when down on the floor, i was stunned, got to my knees, my hands on my face, i pulled my hands away from my face and saw blood everywhere. somebody came with a t shirt and in seconds it was soaked with blood. i hollerd bloody murder and Tom and Dave took me to the bathroom and somehow the blood slowed down a little. by the time i got home how i was covered in blood and mom had a fit when she saw me. i was hurting like hell but i still enjoyed all that attention.
Mom took me to the hospital next day and doctor stuffed my nose full of bandage. i guess that how they keep the broken peaces in line till it heals.
The worst part of the whole ordeal was when i went back to the doc, and he pulled all of that bandage material out of my nose. doc kept pulling it out of my nose, at the time it seemed there was a mile of gauze in there.
The gauze did the job and my nose healed up pretty much the way it was supposed to. i can still feel a small bump on the bridge of my nose were it was broken but its not really visible
That was the only bone in my body i have ever broken. I never did get a cast on my arm :( like i always wanted :)
Well, i think i did get some bones broken in my foot or feet from horses stepping on them, but never did go to doc about it, so if they were broken they healed up with no help from doc.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
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