Ace Wisdom

Having blogged about “The House On 6th” was like releasing a genie from the bottle.  It has been a trip down memory lane as the family slowly, very slowly began sharing memories.  There were a lot of comments about the “witches house” so I just compiled “one-liners”.   Enjoy.

Hidden Closet behind the bookshelves in the living room.

Walk-up attic creating the 3rd floor of the house and the illusion of “large”.

Side entrance to house designed for horse drawn carriages.

Large climbing trees in the back yard.

A Tonka truck corral under the trees in the backyard (Grasshopper No.3’s domain).

An inclined driveway from the street that launched bicycles and “Big Wheels”. It was the hit of the neighborhood kids!

From the memory of Grasshopper No.3, lots and lots of grass.  He had to cut it!

Lilac bushes that lined one side of the backyard and for one week each spring, created what heaven must smell like .

Bench seat in the front windows of the house.

Of course there was the “mother of all clothes chutes”.  It handled all the bedding with no separating from the 2nd floor down to the basement.  It handled clothes hangers and newspapers, too.

The concrete pad off the back of the house served as the patio for parties, graduations, “grilling out”, and family celebrations.

Custom built swing set for Grasshopper No. 4 and N0. 5.  Sadly, we moved to Appleton before No. 5 got much use of it!

An open staircase to the second floor for dreaming about the brides that would eventually be descending from upstairs.  I said dreaming!

There are lots and lots of things like dismantling an antique stove, removing wallpaper and  installing 200 amp electrical service so that the toaster didn’t blow out the 15 amp fuses.  My goal was to capture enough memories of the house to challenge your own thoughts.  The years in the house were a journey.  Enjoy.

Love,

Dad

 

Your Mom and I got to attend a State High School Trap Shooting tournament on Saturday in Mayville, WI.  High schools that sanction “skeet shooting” as a sport is a rather new endeavor and has lots of interest.  Grandson Dominic and his cousin Bailey were both entered in the tournament but on different teams.

A skeet tournament envolves releasing clay pigeons from a mechanical device and the shooter trys to hit the disk as it sails away.  Sometimes the disk goes straight, sometimes left and sometimes right.  Sometimes the wind blows unexpectedly.  You get the idea.  Lots of unknowns.

Dominic’s “other Grandpa” has taught him well.

The shotgun shell is filled with little No.8 beebees that release normally in a 30 inch spray pattern.  If you hit the clay pigeon in it’s center it just explodes.  Dominic and Bailey like the “explosion bit”.  An alternative is to shoot a wider 36 inch spray pattern which gives a better chance at getting a hit but “nicking” a pigeon isn’t any fun.  I need to give a “risk/reward” speech.

The tournament requires 100 attempts to shoot a pigeon.  There are four 25 bird rounds and a total score is used.  Dominic started 24/25.  He missed a pigeon as it sailed right.  Then (ta da), he hit 25/25.  It was the first time he ever achieved that.  I guess you are awarded a special pin or patch in recognition of a perfect round.  He finished 24/25 and 24/25.  Total pigeons destroyed- 97/100.

Cousin Bailey got 94/100.

The tournament takes place over several weeks so the State results won’t be tabulated for another week.  I’m told that there is always someone who hits all 100 of his/her targeted birds.  Dominic’s 97 score will probably get a “top ten”.

I mentioned girls in the competition.  There were many, many young ladies.  Now there is a thought.  Imagine dating a girl who knows how to shoot a gun.  It gives a brand new meaning to demanding respect.  Whoa!

Have a good week.

Love,

Dad

Grandson Grant celebrates his 19th birthday on Sunday.  He graduates high school in less than a month and then it is on to Iowa State.  Busy time!  Lots of dreams!  Scary! Happy Birthday Grant!

Grandson Dominic participates in the State High School Skeet Shooting Championship on Saturday.  I’m told that when the “bird”, which is a clay disk, is pulled and launched into the sky, if the shooter nicks the bird it is considered a hit.  Dominic allegedly destroys the disk.  It literally explodes.  Yeah, right.

Sunday is also Mother’s Day.  Show your mom “the love”.  She is one of the few people in this world who cares unconditionally.  You are lucky to have her.

My Mother’s life didn’t turn out as expected.  She married earlier than her parents would have liked.  I think having four kids overwhelmed her and her husband dying early embittered her.  Yet,she persevered.  She was smart (she got straight A’s in high school).  Because our family never had much money, my mother’s view was from the bottom of the social heap.  I thought I’d share some of my Mother’s insights about money with you (it could be her belated gift).

Money begets money.  It means, if you have money, you have a better opportunity to earn and acquire more than someone who is poor.  Really?

The rich get richer and the poor get kids.  This is from a Mom who was struggling to survive and noticed that families with lots of kids generally didn’t have a lot money.  The rich don’t spend on kids.  They keep more of their money.  Dah!

The world is filled with “10 cent millionaires”.  This was her description of people who acted like they had lots of money but were one step from being broke.  They had cars, houses and country club memberships on borrowed money.  Nothing has really changed except credit cards now create the same illusion of wealth.

You can be insurance poor.  You can spend so much money on insurance that you have no money for yourself.  Don’t do this!

A penny saved is a penny earned (she borrowed this from Ben Franklin).

So, you see, my Mom was really pretty savvy and street smart.  This was a Mom who kept extra cash in “apple and pear shaped sugar jars”.  My lament is that when all her personal things were disposed of, there was money hidden somewhere.

Happy Mothers Day to all you Moms out there.

Love,

Dad

 

 

 

North 6th Street.  Sheboygan.  Great location.  Home.

In 1973 your Mom and I decided to move to a different house.  We wanted a bigger lot and a location that “might” increase in value over time.  The northeast side of Sheboygan was a great residential area with lots of old homes.  We found a place that was priced right (but it needed work; God, where have I heard that before?).  We bought the Clemens house.  It got its name from the attorney that had lived there for many years.

The 6th street home was the first residence where our whole family lived together at one time.  Grasshopper No.1 and No.5 were born 17 years apart, so the “all together thing” was short lived.

We took a musty old home and remodeled the old, dated kitchen before we moved in.  We upgraded a family room, stripped wood, painted, wallpapered and  patched every other room in the house, including building a closet in a bedroom.

We entertained 3 high school graduations there and a wedding.

Grasshopper No.5 was born while we lived there.

We cleared the way for one of the longest paved concrete driveways in Sheboygan that ran all the way from the street deep into our property.  Our property depth was 212 feet.

We built a large two-car garage that was able to house cars and boats. Then, Grandpa George built a custom backboard fitting the shape of our garage roof and holding a basketball rim and net.

With Grandpa George’s help, we chopped down lots of old apple trees in the back yard and even 2 huge old chestnut trees, that allegedly were planted from chestnuts brought over from the personal garden of a German Czar.  We needed room for our driveway and garage.

Every Sunday afternoon, a long, old red cadillac would pull up our driveway.  Nana and Grandpa were just out for a ride and thought they’d stop.  Every Sunday?  They were actually a delight to have around.

Sunday’s were barbeque.  I’d use the old Kingsford charcoal, lighter fluid and a match.  Whooof!  It might singe your eyebrows.  I kept trying to keep the fire hot and Grandpa George was convinced it was too hot, so he kept dousing water on it.

I became unemployed on 6th street.

All our children learned to play piano on an old ‘player piano’ from Nana and Grandpa’s house.  Too bad the player mechanism had been removed.

And there were animals.  Squirrels in the wall.  Bats in the fireplace. Gerbils for pets.  There was a fox terrier dog named Pepsi that lived with us for 6 months.  We decided to part ways with the dog and find him a better home.  It was “squirrels, gerbils and bats, oh my”. I couldn’t resist that!

The house was sold in 1985 and it has changed hands several times since.  No matter who owns the property, it was “our home”.  I’ve got the memories to prove it.  I’m sure you do too.

e-Mail me your favorite 6th street memories.

Love,

Dad

My car is considered “the ultimate driving machine”.  It is superbly engineered.  Nice lines!  Great performance.  Lasting quality.  Oh, yeah did I mention it doesn’t have a spare tire.  I’m not sure why the spare has been omitted.  Something about taking up too much space.  Maybe it relates to weighing 20-25 pounds and that means using too much gas over the life of the car.  Really?  Why would I want another car without a spare?  A Buick is looking better.

Your Mom and I have had a “safe deposit box” for 40 years.  The box holds things that we just wouldn’t want to lose in a fire or natural disaster.  You know.  Things like personal records, baptisms, marriage certificates and insurance information.  We had the box at our local bank and it felt secure.  The boxes were in a locked area and you could examine the contents of your box in one of several private rooms.  When our local bank (M&I) was sold, the new bank (BMO of Canada) decided to double the rates for a safe deposit box.  So we switched the box to a small bank (formally) a Savings and Loan company.  We examined our box in a small “closet” but it was secure and it cost about the same as we had paid M&I.  In an effort to get closer to our home, we transfered again to our local Credit Union.  The price of the box is about the same but you stand in a corner of a fenced in area with little privacy.  Again the price is around the original M&I.  The next step is to keep our safe deposit box in a locker at the park and examine it during occasional picnics.

Did I forget to mention that BMO keeps contacting me to figure out how to serve me better.  Don’t double my safe deposit rates!

The Kentucky Derby is tomorrow.  Two minutes of racing between horses that nobody knows or cares about.  My excitement is tough to contain.

Love,

Dad

 

 

Grandson Dominic turns 16 tomorrow.  That is a magic date for something.  Oh, yeah!  Legally he can drive a car.  Happy Birthday Dominic.

Our hot water heater “puked” (to quote Grasshopper No.5 describing something breaking).  Would you believe it is rusting and contaminating the hot water.  It was installed seven years ago.  I’m told that 7 years is not an abnormal life.  Really?  It gets fixed tomorrow.

I got my belated birthday gift of highly nutritious cupcakes from Grasshopper No.2.  The cupcakes follow closely a Paleo recipe.  I have to say it was very good.  I think No.2 “jacked up” the frosting.

Lately it has been Paleo, Paleo, Paleo.  I know very, very little about the subject but it is affecting my life.  It has something to do with going back to eating what we were biologically designed to eat allowing us to tap genetic potential.  If you want more philosophic rhetoric, you are on your own.

Bottom line on Paleo.  Goodbye to grains, sugar or processed foods.  No bread, pasta, rice or corn.  Hello to meat, vegetables and seasonal fruits.  Sell your McDonald’s stock.

Our lawn is actually beginning to turn “deep green”.

Love,

Dad

 

 

 

 

 

Long ago when I was in my pre-teen years, “older” people would celebrate financial growth by buying a Buick.  Chevys, Fords and Plymouths were okay but to demonstrate you could afford something better, you bought a Buick.  I’m told that the color burgundy goes with the image but that is a more modern color.  In the late 1940’s and 1950’s black was predominent.

During World War II you couldn’t buy new cars because all the auto plants had been turned into war production (tanks, armored cars and even the famous jeep).  My Grandpa Chalk bought his Buick in 1941 and it was in the family until 1950.

Grandpa Chalk had two boys.  One was Bob, a pilot during World War II.  His dream was to own a Buick like his Dad.  He did.  It was a 1959 with large “wings” in the back.  It was ugly.  Bob hated it.  He had “exorcised” the Buick  fetish from his system.  Never again.

My Dad actually drove the family 1941 Buick after the War (Chalk had passed away).  He must have satisfied his need for a Buick during that time.  After that it was used Cadillacs preceded by a 1938 Chrysler Airflow.

Your Mom’s parents (George & Lyla) bought their first new car in 1954.  It was a big, long two-tone green Buick Roadmaster 4 door sedan that floated over bumps.  That Buick was like driving your living room down the highway.  Alas, it was the last Buick they owned.  After that Pontiacs and a used Cadillac.

Well, it is time.  There is this long history of Buicks in the family.  I remember the slogan “wouldn’t you really rather have a Buick”.  I have decided to shop for a Buick for myself.  Then I will have completed my obligation for my generation to carry on the Buick  tradition.  Besides, I would feel “right in vogue” as I pull into a McDonalds restaurant in the morning and join all the other retirees who also own Buicks.

Grasshopper No.3 has offered to tag along as I look for a different car.  Wait until I tell him my choice is a Buick.  He will be really surprised.  Really surprised!

Thank you the Birthday Wishes.

Love,

Dad