A long, long road it is to Tipperary!

[Toto'sDad]

Yep, my grandparents lived near Fairfax between Niles St. and Edison highway. I remember passing the spot when I was a kid. I know Bakersfield isn’t a place that many people have high on their list of places to be, but I sure miss it…

You know the funny thing is, Bakersfield the same bastion of Okiedom it's always been, hasn't really changed a lot over the years. While most all of the glamorous spots in California have descended to the level county dumps. Pretty soon, or maybe already happening, you'll have San Franciscans selling out and moving here.

 

[Toto'sDad]

TD , how tall was your dad and how tall did you get?

I’ve seen that picture of you and your dad before and it kinda looks like you could smack him across the head with an ax handle and he would just grin and ask you if u were done

My Daddy was about Six feet one and half inches tall. I would eventually grow to the same height, eventually though in the last few years because of the effects of aging, I'm only about six feet tall, maybe a shade over.

Hard to tell in the picture, but my daddy was all lean meat. He wasn't skinny, he just didn't have any fat on him anywhere. He had perfect balance, I've seen him drunk, place one foot behind his head and stand on the other foot to prove he was sober to the cops. Most of the time it worked.

He was a tough hombre, no doubt about it. He took some awful beatings in his life from owning both a propensity to drink and gamble. I'll say this though no one man ever got the best of him, it usually took a team effort to get the job done.

 

[Toto'sDad]

While we're not THAT much different in age, TD, (I'm a little younger) I don't think our lives could be much different. I had a REAL "Leave It To Beaver" childhood......stable, settled, and "uneventful".......and I wouldn't trade places with you. My heart breaks thinking about how you lost your son, and I can't imagine how that feels......but I DO envy you your wife, and how you really seem suited and compatible. That's a blessing I've never really experienced, but I guess we can't have everything, huh?
Thanks for sharing.....and best wishes (and sympathies ) to your wife!

Thank you, sir, for all of your kind comments. I've had some hard times, and I've had some good times, but they've all been interesting! My wife is without a doubt the greatest blessing I could ever hope to have.

 

[AAT65]

Congrats on a wonderful life!!!

Tipperary made me think of this.



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Well now, you do know don’t you that Tipperary is in Ireland while both Glasgow and Edinburgh are in Scotland, and that these are in fact two different places (with a sea in between them)?

 

[Toto'sDad]

I've always liked reading the little blurbs of your life growing up and on the road. They remind me of something that could come out of Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men"; it's the kind of education you don't get anywhere else. Keep 'em coming TD.

Thanks for the kind words. Somehow, I remain connected to that old world, while trying my best to fit into the new one. Today, our home network, two computers, two phones, and two TVs has been acting up. I finally got it all working again. Being nearly 80, it's hard being the only tech here at the old home twenty! When I was a kid, I would never have dreamed about the stuff that nearly everyone has now!

 

[MarkieMark]

With great respect, I too enjoy the stories that take me back to another time.
I can relate in many ways.

I also enjoy studying old pictures of people from another period.
I often get a strong "vibe" or signal.

I learn things from re-visiting my own library so to speak...

On this day:

At the beginning:
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Your precious girl had a tidbit of info that you were not aware of.

Something there...
That is my read of the photo.

I am always interested in the "rest of the story"

 

[stxrus]

The sister reminds I’d Wednesday Addams. I mean that in a respectful and positive way.
A good friend of mine in Meridian had a sister that had that look about her. She always was thinking/plotting/conniving and ended up as an analyst with the CIA. We called her Wednesday and she embraced the moniker.

 

[JeffroJones]

She generally was!

I have a beloved grandson who has this exact look!
It says: "You think I'm a cute little innocent kid. You don't know nothin' 'bout me!"


:::

 

[zimbo]

The world we live in today is despicable in so many ways it's hard to even name them all. Just saw that Call of the Wild is now on the banned book list.

 

[stxrus]

When I first saw the title my thought was," No, it's really not. Probably a 10 minute drive and you get to go past All For The Better , Seven Hills, and Union Mt Washington."

Years ago, pre 2001 when we bought this house, we liven in All For The Better. I was in a GC in Cleveland and this Spicoli type at the checkout asked for ID as I was buying some things on a CC.
In perfect Spicoli voice he, after looking at my ID, something like, "Wow, man. Is that a real place?".
I just nodded and refrained from pointing out my drivers license had U.S. Virgin Islands Police Department printed at the top of it. At that time the PD issued licenses. Now it's Motor Vehicles. I so wanted to jack with him, but I didn't

 

[Toto'sDad]

My wife's family always had a car to travel with. I came to California on the back of a buffalo, (well at least part way). I was wearing my store-bought undies from Montgomery Wards!

 

[jackinjax]

TD, I'll be first in line at the ticket box to see the movie they make about your life... if I live that long.

 

[Toto'sDad]

TD, I'll be first in line at the ticket box to see the movie they make about your life... if I live that long.

JiJ, I hope you live as long as I have and then some. Willie has the perfect plan. Woke up not dead yet! That's what I try to keep doing.

 

[Toto'sDad]

Momma and her Mustang along the road we've traveled. It was always her favorite car.

 

[ping-ping-clicka]

My wife is pictured with her family when she was around seven or eight years old. She's the one on the far left. The only one in the pic of the kids that you can see wearing shoes is her sister on the far right. Knowing her, she probably traded something she had for them, she was a great trader! There would be one more addition to their family, her baby brother was not yet born when the photo was taken.

The pic below my wife's family is when I was about the same age as my wife in her family pic. It would only be a few months after this pic was taken that I would begin the adventure of my lifetime with my dad on the road, hitching, hopping freights, bumming around and hanging in hobo jungles. The trip would finally end near the most beautiful place I've ever been. Corpus Christi Texas.

I've said before, it was a different life I led than most of you, but I would gladly give up the modern conveniences to return to a time that I understood. Having said that, I am thankful every day for all of the adventures I've had in life, my LONG life with my bride, and that we have enjoyed going on twelve years of retirement. I reckon I don't have any complaints.
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thank you for sharing these event from your life.
sounds like you had adventure many people miss out on.
thanks again.

 

[Skyhook]

My wife and I couldn't be more opposite save for us both being born dirt poor. She had nine siblings; I was an only child after my older brother died shortly after being born. I would eventually return to visit where he is buried when I was fifty-seven years old.

My older sibling never was, due to a miscarriage.
Although, I suspect I wouldn't be here typing this if that hadn't happened.