CATV Install East Indianapolis - something doesn't smell right here (early 1980's)

 This happened years ago when I was an cable TV installer. Sometime in the early 1980's when CATV was initially being installed.  I was in the bad section of town and when I came up to the house I noticed a bit of an odor. They showed me where they wanted the tv and I told them that it would work out best if I could bring the cable through the basement.

They said that I probably wouldn't want to go down there, but I insisted that it would make the job a lot easier for me if I could route it that way. I opened the door to go down and I found the source of the odor - about a foot and half of raw sewage was down there. Pipe must have broke months before and was never fixed.

Becky was helping me and we actually figured a way to get the cable through the basement - using a landing and piece of furniture to get the cable up through the floor.  Not a pleasant job, but we managed.

As we were winding down the install, we found out about at least part of the problem of that household. The phone rang and a young teenage daughter answered. When she got finished, she hung up and announced to her mother, "It's the VA again, Daddy got drunk again last night and they took him there."

I could not fathom how the family could live there like that. Felt sorry for the kids - they seemed to take the situation as normal.  

Grandpa Jack racing the Dodge

 We rode up to Marion with my Dad - grandpa Jack.  He is not one to be silent for long and we talked about various topics.  I happened to ask him if he remembered people being busted for drag racing on Highway 70 when it was being constructed.  I had recalled seeing the article in the paper when I was growing up.  

He could not remember the exact year, but he bought a Dodge that was like a 1954 model.  It was a sedan and they somehow squished a V-8 engine into it.  He said that it was not really made for a V-8, but they made it fit and there was only like a inch or two space between the engine and the fender wells.  So it was a small but fast car - it was like all engine.  He also said it had a unique transmission. You could run it as an automatic, or you could shift it like it had a clutch.

So a guy with a chevy had an engine with 2 carburetors.  He thought that he was the fastest in town, Dad thought he was the fastest. So they raced and Dad won.  They raced a second time with the same result. 

Dude was hopping mad.  So dude had an idea - lets race backwards!  Well he did not know it but Dad had experience with tow motors and had done a lot of factory work moving stuff around - forwards and of course backwards.  So the two cars lined up, rear bumpers forward and of course Dad smoked him.  Dude laid rubber getting out of there and never challenged Dad again.

This was the same Dodge that Dad used to date my mother.  503 is a curvy road between Lewisburg and West Alexandria.  It has several hills. He used to pass cars on a blind curve - never knowing is a car is coming from the other direction or not. Mom used to get frantic - and finally got him to stop doing that.  Knowing Dad now, you would never think that he was dare devil who drag raced, ran in demolition derbies and passed on blind curves.  But at one time - he was that guy.

Tardy graduations to Julia

 

Ms. Julia Myers,

Tardy – I will bet that is a word that you have not heard in a while. Well I apologize for being tardy with your graduation present. 2020 has been a tumultuous year for everyone, and it is not finished yet. This is the first time I gave out a graduation present in September. As the expression goes – better late than never.

Well there is no doubt that when the family gathers around for the holidays that you will have a topper story of all topper stories. When your Dad talks about how bad the blizzard was back 1978, you can roll your eyes and say “Hrrumpth, that was nothing – let me tell about my senior year – it all started in the spring of 2020.”

Then you can go on about how you had the pandemic of 1917, depression and job loss of the 1930's, and race riots of the 1960's all in one year! Oh, you had a few snow drifts and had to go without Pepsi for a week, we had no toilet paper – for a month!

And like all good stories you need to grow this over time. Right now it is a seedling but in 20 years you can retell the story with a few embellishments. The story of 2020 will one day grow to a mighty Oak. You can say that you had to do school from home. They used passenger pigeons to send the work to you and then you wrote up your homework, tied it to the leg of the pigeon and sent it back. An oxcart used to come down the road once a week and picked up all the Covid dead and dumped them in the gravel quarry. How you used to barter a cut and manicure in a back alley for a roll of contraband toilet paper. With the right nurturing you will be able to keep future generations of kids enthralled with tales of 2020.

Well after this summer I am sure that you are ready for 2020 to be over and to get on with your life. I understand the plan is to be a hairdresser. Someone like me would give you little business with my diminishing quantity of hair. But I hope that you find a good shop and a loyal clientele. You will learn all the business – both good and bad, of the town where you set up shop. Maybe you can write a book about all the gossip – after you retire of course. I admire anyone who can keep up with all the trends. I can remember when blue hair was a permanent gone bad, now it is something that folks will pay extra for. Keeping up with fashion is something that I gave up on long ago, as you can tell by the way that I dress.

Well I am about to conclude. As I tell all graduates – neither a borrower, nor a lender be. Live within and actually below your means. No one is going to give you a pension, so start that 401k like now. Money is not everything, but being wise with money will make your life easier. Everything in moderation, alcohol, food, even love. I hope that the future treats you well and that you can retell the story of 2020 many, many times.

Letter to Lilly

Lilly, congratulations upon your graduation. In a year that has seen a review of the Great Depression, 1918 Flu Epidemic, and the Race Riots of the 1960's it has been quite the threshold into adulthood. And the year is but half over, one wonders what other great calamities await us all in the second half of the year. But for now there is a pause and it is a time to celebrate as best we can the closing of one door and the opening of another.

Education is best looked upon as a bootcamp, myriad trials and mental marches where teachers and peers prepare you for the long slough of life. Some will teach you what to do and others are a reminder of what not to do. Only 10% of what you learn, you will actually use as an adult. So choose the right 10% to remember.

And the endless ladders where you get that 1^st step and gradually pull yourself to the top, only to find another ladder. Kindergarten was the 1^st step into grade school. Then came middle school and finally high school. But wait now there college and its rungs. Then comes your career and its rungs. Same with relationships – another ladder to be climbed one rung at a time, learning and growing as you progress. If you stay stationary then you will grow stale, but if you continue to push yourself and grow then it becomes a continuous improvement project where you become the best Lilly that you can be.

I think that your choice of veterinary medicine as a major in college is a wise one. You don't have to listen to your patients complain as a doctor would. They might howl a bit though. The one thing that I can recall from being on that college campus was that they would play 'Old Rocky Top' at every opportunity. You will either learn to love it or hate it by the end of your time there.

Old people are great at giving advice. It is learned from a life time of making mistakes. Oh to go back in time and correct all the wrongs. Be that as it may, listen to your elders, well except when we drink. Your aunt and I can tell some pretty wild tales. But here goes: Neither a borrower or a lender be – keep that student loan debt to a minimum. It is quite a lodestone to carry about ones neck. Don't get that new car, when a gently used one will suffice. Live below your means and save. Don't be like the Federal government and just spend, spend, spend willy nilly. We were able to retire early because we saved and lived frugally.

All things in moderation. Love, alcohol, shopping, don't let any one thing obsess your life. Have fun, I think your generation will find fulfillment in experiences. So set a bucket list now of the things that you would like to see and do. Then set aside the time and money and do a trip to Europe, a hike on a section of the Appalachian trail, a trip to the sewing machine museum in Nebraska – just be wild like that.

Oh, I could wax on, but by now you are ready for another beer and ready to spend the enclosed $50. Your aunt and I will be watching and hoping for the best for you. Best wishes for success where ever the road leads you.