More (Not Quite So) Old Slides

Old Days...

When we were out this morning, this truck caught our eye.












Great Grandmother Huber (Dorothy) worked for Pollock Paper in Houston, for about 30 years.

Houses I've Lived In

Here's a list of the places I've lived... that I can remember.

Brenham, TX (don't know the address) - 0 to 9 mo
Bristol Road, Ft Worth, TX - 9 mo to 6 yr
Donaldson Avenue, San Antonio, TX - 6 yr to 7 yr
333 Quentin Drive, San Antonio, TX - 7 yr to 8 yr
215 Coyle Place, San Antonio, TX - 8 yr to 10 yr
415 Shadwell Drive, San Antonio, TX - 10 yr to 11 yr
231 Laddie Place, San Antonio, TX - 11 yr to 12 yr
West Hall, Schreiner Institute, Kerrville, TX - 12 yr to 13 yr
#3 Methodist Encampment, Schreiner Institute, Kerrville, TX - 13 yr to 20 yr
2801 Whitis Avenue, Austin, TX (The Campus Guild) - 20 yr to 23 yr
1305 Bickler Road, Austin, TX - 24 yr- wedding
5109 N. Utica Avenue, Tulsa, OK - year 1
(Pat & Ron Halcomb's house) Tulsa, OK - year 1
E. Marshall Street, Tulsa, OK - year 2
10601 East 23rd Street South, Tulsa, OK - year 2 to 5
Bridgeton, MO - year 3
2805 South 94th East Avenue, Tulsa, OK - year 5 to 9
12627 Shadyridge Lane, Farmers Branch, TX - year 9 to 12
1912 Richland Drive, Richardson, TX - year 12 to 30
Ruhland Avenue, Redondo Beach, CA - year 30 to 31
310 The Village, Redondo Beach, CA - year 31 to 34
22883 Nadine Circle, Torrance, CA - year 35 to 35
Wildwood Travel Trailer, USA - year 35 to 36
401 North Old Orchard Road, Lewisville, TX - 36 to 38
Saluda-Paynesville Road, Hanover, IN - year 38
6320 Virginia Parkway, McKinney, TX - year 38 to 40
Where we are now, McKinney, TX - year 40 to now

Hold the Wire!

Another thing we did along with mud tacks was 'hold the wire'. This was much more daring, since the main characters were in plain view.

Two of us would stand on opposite sides of the street. Just as a car approached, the two would pantomime tugging on an invisible rope between them, while the rest of us would chant "Hold the wire! Hold the wire!". If everything worked just right, the car would screech to a stop to avoid yanking the arms off two dumb kids and dragging them under the car.

Of course, everyone would run off into the dark, scoot around houses and fences and rendezvous in Uncle Bud's back yard to exchange the 50's version of 'high fives' (which hadn't been invented yet.)

Usually, though, the car would only slow down a little, until it was clear there was no "wire".

Now and then, the car would actually speed up as it approached!!

Mud Tacks

Every month or so my family would drive across town to visit my Aunt Dorothy and Uncle Bud Love and our three cousins Tommy, Larry and David. Tommy was about my older sister's age, and I was between Larry and David.

One of the things we would do for entertainment after dark was "make mud tacks". This was a highly exciting and (we thought) risky endeavor.

We started by going out in the back yard and loosening up some dirt in a little hole - Uncle Bud's back yard had lots of interesting things, but no grass. We'd add water, and mix up a batch of stiff mud. A lot of the artistry was in getting the mud to just the right consistency - kind of like modeling clay.

Next, we would scoop up the mud and proceed to the street in front of the house. Essex Street was an ordinary neighborhood street, with normal neighborhood traffic. There were no street lights near Uncle Bud's house. We would wait until there were no cars in sight, then dash out and place the mud tacks. These were little globs of mud stuck on the asphalt and then shaped up into a sort of point, hopefully resembling large tacks sitting point up in the street.

We would continue making tacks until headlights were spotted, at which point someone would shout "car!!" (sort of stating the obvious, I see now.) Everyone would madly dash for hiding places around the front of the house - hidden, but able to see the mine field of mud tacks. We would wait with anticipation to see what the driver would do.

If the car slowed down, we had succeeded! If the car drove right by without slowing, we had failed. But failing had no emotional impact - it was still exciting, and we attributed the lack of slowing to a dull driver who didn't notice our dangerous looking obstacles.

The penultimate victory was the very few times the driver actually stopped and got out to see what these things in the road were. Then we would all run wildly around to the back of the house to avoid the possible wrath of an adult driver - filled with giggling and self-congratulations at our triumph.

Hide n' Seek

When I was about 10 or 12 years old we often played Hide n' Seek in the evenings. Here's how it worked.

There would be a gathering of cousins, when our parents would get together, usually at Uncle Bud & Aunt Dorothy's house in south San Antonio, or at our house on the northwest side. Or it could be a group of neighborhood kids. A normal crowd would be 5 or 6 kids.

An "it" would be chosen, by counting one-potato, two-potato, or by argument. Also, Home Base was designated - usually a tree somewhere in the yard. Whoever was It would then hide their eyes and count to an agreed-on number (50 or 100 typically; if It was a fast counter, he would be required to count to a higher number). While It was counting, everyone else would run off and find a place to hide.

When It reached the appointed number, he/she would shout "One two three, here I come", and commence to Seek (search) for the Hiders. Upon spotting a Hider, It would shout "One two three on Jimmy" (or whatever the Hider's name was). At that point Jimmy (or whoever) was "out", and then became an ally of It, and became an additional Seeker. If a Hider could sneak up and touch Home Base without being called out, he/she was then Safe. At some point, It would decide enough was enough, and would shout "All-ee all-ee in free", at which point the remaining Hiders would reassemble at Home Base to begin another round. (I don't remember the basis for deciding the round was over.) The next It was then designated - I think by being the first to be found.

I learned that the best strategy for hiding was to find a shaded spot (for example, under a bush or the corner of a porch step) and to be very still. Our eyes are good at detecting movement, even in low light, but not so good at seeing shapes hidden in random backgrounds. Of course, this plan worked better after dark.

I was never very good at sneaking in to Home Base - I always seemed to get spotted as I made the final desperate dash to the tree.

Sometimes I hid so well that the game ended without my realizing it, and everyone would go home or start playing some other game. It was exciting to be hunkered down in a shadowy spot and have a Seeker walk by not more than 3 feet away without being detected.

But it was kind of disappointing to find I'd been overlooked in the final count.