Exhaustibated!

I'm A Senior....You're A Senior....Everyone's A Senior...

Well....almost everyone's a senior.

And what does that have to do with anything?

Because the above word applies to us, and to them and to all who are seniors.  Here a senior, there a senior, everywhere a senior.  Look high and look low, you will see a senior.  Sitting on their butt, resting their legs, or just enjoying the sunshine on a sunny day.  Or maybe sitting in one of those artsy coffeehouses sipping on a java and maybe eating a nice sweet roll or a piece of pie.

What you might ask does this have to do with anything?

Well it does, because my new word really describes the senior "crowd" which we seem to be a part of.  According to the AARP, once you get to that magic number of age 50, you are a senior.  That puts a lot of us in the mix.  AARP is describing us as old at age 50.  So how do they describe us at age 60, or age 70 or age 80....."over the hill and through the woods" I suppose.

I personally think we should be called the "Exhaustibated Crowd"....not the "seniors" of the world....and definitely not the "oldies".  "Exhausitabated Crowd" just sounds so sophisticated...much more so than those other negative terms usually applied to the over 50 crowd.

Let's get down to business and use "Exhausitbated" for all of us seniors.  After all it  truly describes many of us....ME ME ME ..... and if you don't know the meaning of my new word.....(drum roll please))))))))

It means "Just too tired to give a crap".  Ain't it so!

Old Pictures

Picture of Cramers.  I would guess it was early 1960's or late 1950's.

Note the sign has A-C for Allis Chalmers.

This is the building where Mel Lockwood later had store which burned.

 

 

 

Tripp Lumber Yard on the south side

of the square.  Early 1960's.  The buildings where the lumber was stored are to the left.  And clear to the left is the little

red shingled house where Frank Bless lived, with the Presbyterian church in the far left distance.

 

As I go through life, I find that many words and phrases just turn me off.  I hear this stuff and think "where the heck did that come from".

I know I've mentioned this before.  But some of these really bug me.

For instance one phrase I hear all the time is "hand prepared".  I see this on restaurant menus.  If you really think about it, I question whether there are other ways the menu item could be prepared ... like "foot-prepared" or perhaps "prepared by R2D2 the Robot"?

Another of those ugly set of words (in my estimation) is deal breaker.  What is a deal breaker?  Does it mean a deal which is going to financially ruin you?  I think it always has something to do with a negotiated something or other, but if the deal isn't taken, what happens?  Will the sky fall?  And if the deal is taken, will the person win a prize? And what about the phrase "a little pregnant".  What is a little pregnant.  You are either pregnant or not pregnant. 

But the best one I've heard lately is "let me hold that for a minute" and used when two persons are having a conversation without even having anything in their hands to hold!!!  So I guess you are asking the other person permission to let you hold something which is invisible.  And if the other person doesn't grant permission, is the second person who wants to hold the "whatever" for a minute, stealing?    Geeze! Perhaps you can see why I am confused with these terribly strange phrases which are subject to all kinds of interpretation.   And, I don't think I'm going to find answers to all of my questions and thoughts on this subject.  So I guess I will just go on frowning when I hear the dreaded phrases because I really don't know what the person doing the talking means.   And that person probably doesn't either.  Aghhhh!

Thanks for coming to my blog.

 

Tis the season to be thankful.

I am.

Thankful for my family and thankful

for my friends and thankful

for my readers.

 

Blessings to all.

 

Have a good holiday.

What You Sayin' Bud?

So many things from my past creep up on me.  It gets to be "I remember that".... or  "My (whomever it was) said that".

Some words and phrases I remember were vintage sayings.  Some were slang of the time.  One term I loved as a kid was "skedaddle" and another was "scalawag".

I remember when a bum or a bummer was a hobo who was probably drunk on his hind end.  Now it means something totally different.  I remember Groucho Marx and the funny things he said....like when he said....I don't care to be a member of a club that accepts members like me.  How funny is that....he was a true man of the times, with a "funny" to respond to any conversation.

"Discombobulate" is another funny word I remember from the past.  I think it means a person feels like he/she is a million pieces floating in space and very confused. 

Who could forget when the Sound of Music brought forth the ever popular word "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious".  One of the best words ever.  Hard to spell but easy to say and cool besides.  Just the "bees knees"!

I love the phrases which have a meaning you have to think about.  Like this one:  "I'm a secondhand vegetarian.  Cows eat grass, I eat cows". 

If I didn't think about remembering the old times a lot, I would be "scobberlotching" .... probably gotcha on that one.

Oh well.   I think I will go mall watching and see how many I can see who "got hit by the ugly stick".  Of course I will "fly by the seat of my pants".  I might be "in the hot seat" though if I say something to someone about "being ugly as an eight day clock".  They will probably tell me to "shutyaface" and then I'll be "hotfootin it" back home before they "beat me to a pulp".  Lots of those ugly folks "think they are the cat's whiskers" that's for sure.

So sit back and think about your past and words and phrases you heard.  And don't forget about those funny tongue twisters we used to say when we were young.  My most favorite was " if you must cross a course cross cow across a crowded cow crossing, cross the course cross cow across the crowded cow crossing carefully".

blahht blahht...my tongue is tied now.


Old...Old...Old...Old...Old


I'm trying to find out more about old Sarah Jeffries who lived in the jungle tangled undergrowth up by the elevator....one block east.   I think she lived with her brother William Neeley before living alone.   Many of us knew her as the hermit.  Let me know if you know anything about her. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

History of the Gas Station East Side of Road

 

The following is what  I've been able to establish.  Can't guarantee it's right but it's close.

 

1.  Built in 1953, Oanafo (sp) Lowe.  Standard although someone said it was Texaco.  Is in the 1960 yearbook as Lowe's Standard.

 

2.  1957 Goat Taylor ran it as a Standard.  Not sure if he got it from Lowes and then it went back to Lowes.

 

3.  Reggie Harbin was next.  Was in the 1965 yearbook as the operator.

 

4.  Ed Hanson was next but not much is known about him.  He was killed by the AMVETS in a wreck while driving a 1967 GTO.

 

5.  Ed Backs but unknown dates although I remember him having the station when I was driving in 1966 or 1967.

 

6.  Glenn Tuttle.  Unknown date of opening.  Still owns the site but it doesn't have a gas station - is now a repair service and car sales (Tony Tuttle, son).

 

If you know any other information which disputes or adds to this, let me know.

 

Quote For The Day

No man knows how bad he is till he has tried

very hard to be good.

--C. S. Lewis

 

 

Time to get ready for Thanksgiving.  This year, and every year and every day,  I am thankful to be alive.  Next comes the thankfulness to be able to write this blog.  And finally, thankful for having readers who faithfully come to the blog to see if a new post is posted.  Thank you for that.  Without having you, the readers, there would be no need to continue.

 

May your preparations for Thanksgiving in the coming days be full of excitement and happy anticipation that you will be among family.   I will be having the Thanksgiving dinner this year...the first in a long time, but due to my daughter's surgery a few months ago and her inability to fully recover, I'm taking a turn cooking for my family.  

 

 I hope that I will be able to post at least one more post before Thanksgiving, but if not ~~~ Happy Thanksgiving.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for coming to my blog.

All rights reserved on all blog content.

 

Spatchcocked Turkey?????

What in the heck is a spatchcocked turkey?

Is that a turkey which has been spatched?  If so, what is spatched?  Does that mean the turkey has been smacked around and left for dead?  Or, does it mean that a hamburger spatula has been used to beat the poor thing?   Or, does it mean that a turkey went out and got drunk and was wandering drunkenly down the road and got spatched when a car didn't see the turkey and tenderized the bird beyond recognition.  Spatched huh?

After all, I've seen drunken chickens before.  I must admit the drunken chickens I saw were cooked with a beer can up their old hiney.  But, I've never seen a drunken turkey, and I think to get a drunken turkey, you would need to put a whole six pack of beer up that old turkey's hiney.

Now I'm sure if I analyze this word spatchcocked, I will be able to figure it out.  I looked up the word spatch and found it's a game according to the urban dictionary.  Oh, ok, so it means a game turkey that _____?______ .  Now, taking the second word cocked,  we all know what cocked means....so if I put the two meanings together, I still don't know what a spatchedcocked turkey is.  Cripes.  Someone is coining big and grossly weird words for the dictionary. 

Back to google.  Yep there it is.  It didn't give me a true meaning, but if you take the backbone out of the turkey, push the rest of the turkey down by the breast bone on a flat baking sheet with a rim, and bake it till done, you suddenly have a spatchedcocked turkey.  Rub that sucker with olive oil and put on bit of salt and pepper and supposedly, this is the best turkey and one which cooks super fast. 

Ok ok....now the question is how the heck do you take the backbone out without totally butchering the turkey...it didn't tell me how to do that.  And, I really wonder how the heck you can spatchcock a 21 pound turkey, push the sucker down by the breast bone and get the whole thing on one baking sheet with a rim?  Am I supposed to use a large piece of tin from the barn roof to get something big enough???  I don't have a baking sheet that will hold the turkey, let alone fit in my oven. 

So ..... what a dilemma.  I want a spatchcocked turkey, and don't know how to do it and can't fit it in the oven to cook it.  And, I sure don't want to have a drunken turkey and waste a whole six pack of beer.  This delimma means that we will have a plain old huge 21 pound turkey, cooked in it's own juices. 

But I know that when I get the big bird ready to cook,  I'm going to put popcorn in his cavity, pop him in the oven and listen for the popcorn popping.  When the big old turkey's butt blows up and blows the oven door off and then flies across the room, I'll know he's done.


Something Old and Something New

 

This doll is from the 1950's.  These are called ponytail dolls

and were available at dimestores all over the nation.  They were made in japan and all had reddish hair in a ponytail, except for the ones which were sold with a brother, and he had only a hat on and no ponytail.  This particular one is a mechanical one which you could wind up and it would dance.  I own the above doll and love it.  In fact I own many ponytail dolls.  I used to go to Woolworth's in Springfield, and while my dad was having a piece of pie, I was buying ponytail dolls with the money he gave me to go spend. 

 

 

 

 

The doll on the right is one from my childhood....a Saucy Walker,  from 1956.  She's wearing a new coat which I made for her a few years ago.  The doll on the right is a fairly new doll.  As you can see, the quality of the older doll was much higher quality than that of today's doll.  Sure there are current day dolls which are of high quality, but they cost a ton of money and a child can't play with them.  Most Saucy Walker dolls had some rough play and still look good today.

 

 

 

 

Greenview residents will most likely remember the Greenview Review office on the north side of the square.  It was owned by Jack and Willie Ruth Luscher.  In this picture is their daughter Kathy when she was pretty young.  Note the Arlee Theater sign in the window.

 

 

 

Going south out of Greenview.  Taken when the highway had not been built.  Note the big stone Wernsing mansion on the right.

 

 

 

Quote For The Day

The best advice is this:

Don't take advice and don't give advice.

--Author Unknown

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for coming to my blog.

 

 

Peace and Freedom

Because of our Veterans.

Thank you my friends and relatives who served.

Faretheewell

Faretheewell.......

Gotcha!  I bet you were thinking I was telling you faretheewell for good.  Excuse me but that's farewell.

But right now I will use Faretheewell as a kind of goodbye.

Faretheewell to the month of October.  It's been here and now it's gone.  It was here today and gone tomorrow kind of thing.   The goblins got it and chawed it up and spit it out because October really is a boring month!  What exactly goes on in October, to be excited about??? Oh I know....the trees start turning their beautiful colors of red and gold and are on the trees for a couple of days and then turn brown and fall down.  This means you must fit your tender little hands around a rake handle (no, do not fly away on it either).  Rake 'em up my friend.  Until your hand has big oozing blisters because you can't find a pair of gloves that fit or maybe can find only two left handed gloves and you are right handed.  Faretheewell to October.

Faretheewell to the d*mn fox who lives in the woods behind our house.  That little sucker does those vixen calls at all hours of the night and sounds like a woman in labor.  I thought foxes only did those vixen calls during mating season.  Apparently the foxes around here must be horny little dudes cause the wild vixen calls had been ringing loud and true but, at least for the last month, we haven't heard them.  Thank goodness and faretheewell.

Faretheewell to the big sagging butt.  I'm trying to lose it, but the word O L D keeps coming back to haunt me.  The older you get the harder it is to do anything.  So...maybe sagging butt is beautiful but if it does leave me, faretheewell.

Faretheewell to my next birthday.  I absolutely decided that I've had enough of those dang things.  What good are birthdays anyway??   All they do at this age, is get you closer to a permanent home out in Elmwood cemetery.  Yep, that place is waiting but for crying our loud, if those birthdays stop, maybe I can hold off going to the big place.  Thus....no more birthdays please and thank you and so long birthdays....find another sucker.

Faretheewell to the dang white tail deer around here.  I would love for the government to enact a Deer Be Gone law today.  That law should say that if a white tail deer appears in front of you, hit him, knife him, shoot him, spit on him, poke him in the eye,  throw paper wads at him,  pepper spray him,  hog tie him or any other thing that will get rid of them.  Right now it's "dodge deer time".....just like the old dodge ball game.  You can't go anywhere without seeing a deer cross the road.  Sure those deer go through Rutting stages and like the foxes, they are looking for a hot doe.  And, wouldn't you know it, the rutting moon came in October 29 this year, so these dang deer already have a lot of really hot testosterone running in their veins.  Those hot does are doing it doncha know.  So lets get rid of of the dang deer......Faretheewell - I wish!

Farethewell....well dang I looked up the meaning and it means a "state of perfection."  Well dang it I used it wrong.  But I just coined my meaning.....and I can use any word I want, any way I want....so there.  I ain't rewriting this post .....


Old Time Stuff I Remember

Just the other day I did a "I remember about Smitty's tavern, so why not do one on the "lower tavern".  I used to go in there too.  You might get the impression I spent a lot of time in the taverns....I really didn't, but when I did go in the taverns, they made a big impression on me.  The smell, the fights, the bar stools, and whatever.  And, when I was a kid I was my dad's shadow....where he went, I went.  So if he went to the tavern, so did I.  I didn't become a drinker per se so, I guess it didn't do much harm.

The lower tavern was north on the main street which went down the center of the downtown area.  It was located just south of the old red building which was what we used to call the old hotel, which actually was the Bracken building in the founding days of the town. 

During my youth, Gene and Marie Steinmetz owned the tavern.  This couple shared the duties of running the tavern.  They were a fun loving couple and were family friends.  Gene and Marie lived in the building to the immediate north of their tavern.  Their residence building was a narrow little building and had a big window in the front with long gold colored curtains which completely blocked out an outsider's view of their living quarters.  Marie always left a light on behind the curtains.

I actually didn't go into this tavern as much as Smitty's as this tavern was known for its fights and wild and loud talk.  And Gene, as well as Marie, put up with much more than what Smitty did when it came to letting the peeps who drank too much stay and drink more.  In fact, and to document history, one time my dad got hit with a beer bottle in the lower tavern because a man by the name of Asa H. was mad at my dad.  My dad was simply sitting on a stool having a beer.  This man hollered at him and my dad turned around and this Asa guy hit my dad on the cheek bone with the bottle, and then turned and hit the bottle on the bar to break the bottle and came towards my dad to cut his throat.  My dad was still dazed and couldn't defend himself.  Other men in the tavern grabbed this Asa fellow and held him until the Constable came.  He went to jail.  And, if I remember right, this was over a cattle deal which fell through.  I think this Asa guy might have run a meat market and wanted to buy cattle to butcher and a deal just couldn't be made.  Shows you what drinking too much does for a person.  Needless to say my dad had a huge goose egg and a severely black eye for a long time.

In the mid-1960's Gene and Marie sold to the tavern to Gene Banister.  He bought it for  his wife Louise to run while he was working as a truck driver in Michigan.  Not long ago I talked to Gene Banister and, he told me he paid $13,000 for the tavern but didn't buy the residence next door.  Gene and Marie Steinmetz continued to live in that building.

Gene  Banister also told me that he thought that Gene Steinmetz was from another state, but he thought Marie  originally was from Waverly.  Gene B. also said he thought that Gene Steinmetz bought this lower tavern from Jim Gilmore from Petersburg, but Gene B. didn't know a date.  Gene Banister said he eventually sold his lower tavern to a man from Springfield but couldn't remember his name.  He said that Baugher's eventually bought the property as well as the living quarters to use the land as a storage area for their implements.

I haven't been able to find any photos of this place but maybe one day I will.  In the mid 1980's we bought a river cabin down by Altig Bridge from Gene and Marie Steinmetz and had some good old times there.  We used to invite them out to have breakfast cooked over a wood fire.  We would talk about the old days.  After Gene Steinmetz died in 1987, Marie lived in Athens and we occasionally visited with her.  She was a character believe me!  She died in 2011. 

 This picture shows Marie in her later years. 
     




Quote For The Day

The cure for boredom is curiosity.

There is no cure for curiosity.

--Dorothy Parker

If you really want to have a good time, get out your dictionary and look up words.  The longer the word, the funnier it is.  Take for instance the word
"fibbertigibbet".  That word is a long word and it's funny to boot.  I bet my last quarter that you didn't even know that was a word....did you????

Well it means a whimsical person.  And when you look it up, you might see my picture.  But of course, it you do, you must cut out that picture and put it inside your cabinet to run the gremlins and rodents out of your cabinets.  Now don't you wish I hadn't whisked that word "fibbertigibbet" upon you??!!

 

 

Thanks for coming to my blog.

All rights reserved on all blog content.

 

Happy Halloween

Lots of Old Wife Tales in This Town

 

You probably know lots of old wives tales ...

As I was growing up in Greenview, lots of old ladies used to get together for church meetings and other lady functions to talk and drink coffee and eat cookies, cakes and pies. Grammy told me they also talked about old wives tales....and were always exchanging information and to see who had the best old wives tales.

As both grammy and I aged, I loved to sit with her and hear her tales about everything. She was in her nineties but she was sharp. She knew lots of things so I was always curious and always had a piece of paper around to jot things down. I asked Grammy about some of these old wives tales and the following are some of the tales she told me.....and for some, she swore by them as did a lot of the older folks around Greenview.

1. If you sneeze you must put your hand over your mouth to prevent your soul from escaping. Be sure someone says "God Bless You" to drive the devil away or he will enter your body. (hmmmph...I'm gonna cover my mouth for sure)

2. The old wives sneeze tale: Sneeze once for sorrow; Sneeze twice for joy; Sneeze three times for a letter; Sneeze four times for a boy; Sneeze five times for silver; Sneeze six times for gold; Sneeze seven times for a secret that never will be told. (note: Allergies probably caused the sneezies)

3. Hold a buttercup under your chin and the color will shine on your face and this person will become rich in the near future.
(Note....I did this several times, but to no avail.)

4. If you hear the cry of an owl, someone will soon die. (false)

5. If you crack your knuckles, you will get arthritis. (Note...I asked and doc said this is not true, but he said don't crack your knuckles)

6. When you drive by a cemetery you must hold your breath or you will breathe in the spirit of someone who recently was buried. (false)

7. If a bird flies into your home, there will be a death in the family.
(false....the bird was probably following a bug or trying to build a nest in your door wreath.)

8. Touching a toad will give you warts. (Note....false)

9. Fish is brain food. (TRUE; omega 3 fatty acids fish oil boosts brain power)

10. Bad Luck caused by:

• spilling salt...throw some over your left shoulder to redeem
• putting your shirt on wrong side out
• rooster crowing at night
• bad luck all day if your left foot comes out of bed first
• 7 years bad luck for a broken mirror
• bad luck if you give away an item which was a wedding present
• bad luck to the household if umbrella opened inside the house
• bad luck to stare at the moon over left shoulder
• bad luck if you sing before breakfast
• bad luck if you find a five leaf clover

Grammy knew best so I listened and believed in some as she did. It's not always easy to ignore something you heard as a child. We were impressionable then and as far as I'm concerned, I still believe in some of these! Maybe I never grew up!

Miscellaneous Vintage Photos

(on most photos, you can click on photos to get an enlarged view)

 





 



 

 

 

This was printed in the Petersburg Observer in 2004.

 

 

 

 

 

The Pavilion at Chautauqua

 

 

 

 

This was when the old skating rink was torn down.  This

building was contracted by the Armour Packing Company in 1923 and operated as the Armour Cheese company.  Four years later, the cheese operation was moved to Wisconsin and this building became the home of the New York Dressed Chicken Company.

Later in years this became home to a dairy, a skating rink and an auction house.

 

 

 

 

 

 

John Marbold.  The founder of the Marbold farmstead.  John was born Johann Wernsing on May 7, 1800 in Hanover Germany.

 

Because his childless aunt could only pass her estate, without thegovernment seizing it, to a legal heir with the same surname,

the aunt adopted Johann in 1820 and his name was changed to John Marbold.  John's brother lived in Petersburg and returned to Germany to convince his brother John to moved to America.   John's wife had died in 1843 so he was apparently ready for change.   John and his children moved to Petersburg and lived there for 3 years before moving to Greenview to buy 200 acres from Charles Montgomery.  He began to build a home called Elmwood.  The home was built 1850 to 1853.  John's wife was Marie Shearborn and they had six children.

 

 

 

 

 

Mrs. H. H. Marbold (Margaret Hackmann) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

B. F. Marbold, son of H. H. Marbold. 

 

 

 

 

 

Springfield Drive In which was off old route Business 66, otherwise known as 31st street and later known as Dirksen Parkway.  This drive in was located behind Guiffre Buick.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for coming to my blog.

All rights reserved on all blog content.

 

 

 

If today is your birthday: