Subj : Life was: Bits & Bobs [1]
To : Dave Drum
From : Ruth Haffly
Date : Thu Jan 23 2025 11:59:09
Hi Dave,
RH> You don't have to have been the biological parent to be a good/great
RH> parent.
DD> Guess not. It's pretty much a matter of not being selfish and sharing
DD> your life with the child.
RH> With all the ups and downs that go with it. We've got 2 grand kids
RH> graduating 8th grade this year. Time was, they would end their
RH> schooling there and go to work. Now they're both going to high school
RH> and (maybe) college or a tech school. We'll be there to share the
RH> occasion with them.
DD> I ditched high school to join the Navy. After my enlistment was over I
DD> worked at various things until the local community college opened -
DD> so, I signed up for classes and continued to work. Helped comvert the
DD> student newspaper to a real (tabloid sized) newspaper from an 8 1/2 X
DD> 14 folded sheet. We sold advertising to defray the costs of printing,
DD> etc. Went for a year and one quarter. Didn't sign up for classes in
DD> the winter quarter.
DD> The dean of students called me about signing up for classes and was
DD> taken aback when I told him they didn't have any courses I wished to
DD> take. He said "But you don't have your degree." So I explained to him
DD> I was not at all interested in a degree. That I had come to the school
DD> to learn. Don't know if he ever "got it".
My older brother went to a 4 year school and majored in partying so they
asked him not to come back for the last 2 years. This was a kid who was
National Honor Society caliber in high school, studied instead of
partying and so on. Got away from home and the drinking age was 18 (He
turned 18 about a week after starting college.), school was in the state
capital with lots of other than school things going on.
OTOH, I struggled thru high school (ended up 12th of 63 in class
standing) and went to a small, private college. Struggled there also but
did graduate with a major in sociology, minors in art and psychology.
DD> Did your folks use caps or corks? When I messed about with brewing my
DD> own beer I used a capping tool and never had a problem. Some of my
DD> friends/acquaintances who used their own method of capping had the
DD> occasional "blow its cork" episode. Especially during the dog days of
DD> summer.
RH> My parents had a capping tool. Put the cap on the bottle and lower the
RH> tool around the cap, sealing it. Tool was sort of like a drill
RH> press--pull a lever to lower the mechanism that crimped/sealed the cap.
DD> Sounds like mine. The hard part was finding bottles. The brewing and
DD> soft drinks industries were moving from deposit bolltes to single use
DD> throwaway containers - which do not re-cap successfully.
I don't know where my folks got the bottles but as long as I can
remember, they had enough to bottle a batch of root beer. I remember the
bottles for deposit--small ones got you .02, for large ones you got a
nickel.
DD> 8<----- SHIFT ----->8
DD> This is very close to Popeye's "Blazin' Heifer" sauce. Benson "Popeye"
DD> Jones was Springfield's best, most popular BBQ joint owner/pitmaster.
DD> The Blazin' Heifer was a dipping sauce rather than a mop.
