Southern question.

[Huaco Kid]

At the North Park hockey league,  where we had to be at 4am, in the third grade,  and had to shovel 1' of snow off, before we could even go,  because the Union guys were still in bed,  and not getting up until Monday,  because they were all drunk.

So we'd do that. 4th graders,  we never got paid union wage.

[Huaco Kid]

It was a "Dad" thing,  getting the little moron to practice.  At 3am.  Exactly when Dad was most magnificently drunk.

Sometimes,  the rink was "open", and all the Dads could stand inside and drink hot coffee.

Sometimes,  they got locked outside, at -20*,  mostly all drunk,  and they all loved their children's sports.

[Huaco Kid]

But Dad had been in the Navy.

His rule was, "If I have to get up at 2am, with a bottle of gin in me,  You ARE getting up and going to practice."

Which is an acceptable rule.

[Huaco Kid]

But Dad had been in the Navy.

His rule was, "I'll turn on the light and say "Wake up!". 

Once.

The second one was,  this song,  "OH HOW I HATE TO WAKE UP IN THE MORNING!!!  OH HOW I'D LOVE TO REMAIN...............",  as he was comng down the hall.

And then he'd flip the whole mattress over on top of you.  You'd get hit with a duffle bag full of equipment.

If he had to get up, you were getting up.

He was probably doing shots in the kitchen,  while I was falling down the stairs with 70 lbs of equipment,  in my face.

 

[Huaco Kid]

And our first team, Auld Brothers Lumber,  (we had purple sweaters with some goofy logo on it).

Our coach, John Kalinsky,  was a HUGE guy with long hair,  and we were very little,  so we didn't know.

And we lost the first several games,  27-0;  19-2; 12-1.

And we were just little.  So we didn't know what the deal was.

JK and the one coach got into a face-smashing argument before the game even started.  Must've been an old grudge.

We won the game, like, 2-1.

As soon as the final buzzer went off,  JK threw his clipboard,  like a frisbee,  way across the ice,  and almost bricked the other coach with it.  Game on.

JK was like a lumberjack,  flannel jacket,  and a mullett.

He and the other coach "discussed" it, at center ice.

Then we got hot dogs and ice cream.  Because JK was cool.

[Huaco Kid]

Onne time,  North Park Lake froze solid.  And we were at the rink, at 4am.

And so,  we happened to shoot all the pucks over the wall,  into the lake.  So each guy had to go down and get the puck.  So now there's no kids on the rink,  and 30 kids on the lake,  with goalies. Going all Gretzky, all over.

And Mr. May just let us go.

I don't think you could do that now,

[Huaco Kid]

And then,  one summer,  they drained the lake to dredge it.

So,  next to the rink,  in the lake,  was all dried mud.

And me and Tim (he got his finger cut off in the kawasaki) went into the mud with duffle bags.  (I don't know where, or why, we had duffle bags)

And we got 70,000 hockey pucks, that had all been shot in there over the last 40 years.

We carried them five mile back home.  The cops even stopped us, and looked at our bags of pucks.

We threw some at cars.  And horses, at the horse-show.

I think I've still got some of them.

[Huaco Kid]

We'd go to the driving range,  next to the horse-show ring,  and up over the crest,  where you rarely get caught,  and put 100 golf balls into our scooped t-shirts.

If you slice a golf ball,  across the equator,  with a Buck knife,  you can pull the skin off and have a tightly wound rubber-band ball.  If you cut them deeply,  they would "sizzle",  as all the bands were coming apart,  jumping around like a banshee.

If you should present a "sizzling" golf-ball,  upon a trail,  with horses coming,  or anywhere near the show-ring....  the horses really don't like that.

They buck off riders,  and kick gates down,  and generally  go psycho. 

So we only stole tennis balls,  from over the hill, at the tennis courts.

Threw some at cars.  And horses, at the horse-show.

[21 shooter]

8 hours ago, Huaco Kid said:

Mom was a Home-Ec teacher at a prestigious college.  She could cook wicked-good food.

But, sometimes,  she'd feed us,  I don't know,  we'd just look at it.

And I was the youngest,  out of reach of Dad, at the end of the table,  so if bro and sis stared at dinner too long (ever have cold stewed-tomato-soaked bread?  for an appetizer?  Eat it up, yum!), they'd get their face pushed into the plate of delicious food.  It takes the indecision out of the dilemma 

Dad's hand always came from behind,  where you couldn't see it coming.

It might be a slight head-slap,  for leaving the water dripping,  or a nudge,  into a face-full of cold tomato-milk bread.

Years down the road Dad and I were talking about how things change and I told him social services had this new thing called “time out” instead of a most likely well deserved hickory switch.  Said hickory switch or the dreaded limb from a yellow bell bush (you could crank a push mower with them!) being cut by yours truly.

 Where was this “time out” when I was growing up?  After a thoughtful moment he said “son, they had them in your day to.   I took time out to whip you or your brother when you needed it”.  He though that was funny, and it was.

Looking back he passed up several times outs he could have used.  

[Borg warner]

Where I live in the Great White North of Eastern Washington, The price of 50 pound bags of Rock salt and 50 pound bags chemical De-icer is pretty much the same but the chemical de-ice is so popular that prices ae competitive and sometims it's aactually chaper than rock salt.

So where we deal with snow and ice on a regular basis, nobody uses rock salt which doesn't work as good and causes corrosion and damages the soil. and as far as pipes freezing, you have to let the water run a little bit at night and whenever you're not home and sometimes even when you are, and ometimes you have to do it with both hot and cold, which I learned the first winter I was a home owner. I alos learned that Pex pipeing is better in freezing temps than galvanized or copper or PVC because the Pex pipe can expand without breaking.

 

[minervadoe]

On 9/22/2021 at 6:25 PM, Swampfox762 said:

Rock Salt???  For What, in Florida....??

And here, I thought it was for a shotgun load.

 

[railfancwb]

Leaving a faucet running a trickle during a cold snap last winter got one of my cats addicted to sink water. 

[Walt Longmire]

12 hours ago, 21 shooter said:

Years down the road Dad and I were talking about how things change and I told him social services had this new thing called “time out” instead of a most likely well deserved hickory switch.  Said hickory switch or the dreaded limb from a yellow bell bush (you could crank a push mower with them!) being cut by yours truly.

 Where was this “time out” when I was growing up?  After a thoughtful moment he said “son, they had them in your day to.   I took time out to whip you or your brother when you needed it”.  He though that was funny, and it was.

Looking back he passed up several times outs he could have used.  

We had this thing where you had to stand with your face jammed into a corner. For hours it seemed. The wall sweated with the moisture from your breath. Don't dare look around to see what anyone else is doing. I would have preferred a couple hacks from the Mahogany paddle with the 9 holes drilled through it.

[Walt Longmire]

I live in Alaska. I have never bought De-Icer.....ever. I do put buckets of sand from my gravel pit in the garage so when things get icy after a thaw freeze cycle, I can sand the driveway so I don't fall while running from a moose when fetching the morning paper. Broken ass bones hurt.