AP Wonders: What Could Be Causing “A Surge In Violence” In America’s Cities?

[Smokin Joe]

@roamer_1  @Smokin Joe

Some very poignant things.

Some days I got to wear my own shirt. Somedays I had to wear my older brother's. And then other days I had to wear my little brother's shirts.  A hand me down to hand me up life.

I started working when I was 12. It was a simple concept. My dad told me if you really need something beyond what I am providing, get a job.  I've worked hard since.

My goal is to reach...theirs. Not money. Not fame. A maker of that thin veneer we call civilization. I don't care how many people die to make that.

Like always.

And it took only 33 years after that to hear my dad tell me he was proud of me.

Hand me downs when i was little, but I soon out grew my older brother's clothes. Mom was real good with a sewing machine and mad us some shirts, mended pants almost constantly. We fished, crabbed, dug clams, were hunting by 9 (ducks and deer), and worked for our own spending money on the farms (Grandfather's and Great Uncle's) all summer from the time we could do anything useful. Got my first 'real' job at 14 (labor laws) working on a marine construction crew, driving sheeting to make 'summer money' which had to last the rest of the year. We weren't dirt floor poor, but didn't live anywhere close to extravagantly. I remember one new car, ever. We were considered 'hicks from the sticks' by the more urban cousins just 25 miles away, but we slept in our own bed, and never went to bed hungry unless we were really in trouble, and ate really well as a result of being pretty good hunters, fishermen, and crabbers.  Fred, I'm not bragging, I know we were blessed, because we always had enough.

I'm not sure my dad has ever said he is proud of me in so many words, but things he has said hint at it. Unlike most of the clan, I went far away and built from the ground up. There were a couple of others in my generation who did the same (cousins), and that was special when we got a chance to correspond. Only two of us left now, in that group. Money and fame are fleeting, will-o-the-wisp goals, really. Better to love and be loved.

[roamer_1]

@roamer_1  @Smokin Joe

Some very poignant things.

Some days I got to wear my own shirt. Somedays I had to wear my older brother's. And then other days I had to wear my little brother's shirts.  A hand me down to hand me up life.

I started working when I was 12. It was a simple concept. My dad told me if you really need something beyond what I am providing, get a job.  I've worked hard since.

My goal is to reach...theirs. Not money. Not fame. A maker of that thin veneer we call civilization. I don't care how many people die to make that.

Like always.

And it took only 33 years after that to hear my dad tell me he was proud of me.

@bigheadfred
We were up and we were down... but my belly was always full of good food, even when I could tell the money was getting tight... I never saw 13-patch pants. Mamma would cut em up for patches or quilts when they hit 12. She put denim patches on all my flannel (elbows) before I even wore em.

I don't remember not working. Farm kids have chores no matter what... and I was in the shop with my old man handing him tools and holding the dumb end as far back as I remember. I knew how most things work inside before I was in middle school. And I was driving the pickup and tractor with a hay wagon, and probably the 2 ton before that too. I had a paper route besides chores, and was watching farms for vacationing farmers when I was still too young to drive myself there.

But I remember those times as the most idyllic. The more broke we were, the more we did together, and that is where family came to the fore. Endless hours shuckin corn and popping beans sitting in the shade on an old telephone pole alongside the driveway with my mother and my siblings... endless hours picking huckleberries with the men standing guard against bears... Going down holes and in tight spots that were fit for only a kid, knowing enough to make do with the old man yelling down instructions. We made do, and learned how to make do in every way. If it broke we fixed it.

Use It Up, Wear It Out, Make It Do, Or Do Without.
It's a beautiful thing. And probably one of the most important things one could ever learn.

[Smokin Joe]

@bigheadfred
We were up and we were down... but my belly was always full of good food, even when I could tell the money was getting tight... I never saw 13-patch pants. Mamma would cut em up for patches or quilts when they hit 12. She put denim patches on all my flannel (elbows) before I even wore em.

I don't remember not working. Farm kids have chores no matter what... and I was in the shop with my old man handing him tools and holding the dumb end as far back as I remember. I knew how most things work inside before I was in middle school. And I was driving the pickup and tractor with a hay wagon, and probably the 2 ton before that too. I had a paper route besides chores, and was watching farms for vacationing farmers when I was still too young to drive myself there.

But I remember those times as the most idyllic. The more broke we were, the more we did together, and that is where family came to the fore. Endless hours shuckin corn and popping beans sitting in the shade on an old telephone pole alongside the driveway with my mother and my siblings... endless hours picking huckleberries with the men standing guard against bears... Going down holes and in tight spots that were fit for only a kid, knowing enough to make do with the old man yelling down instructions. We made do, and learned how to make do in every way. If it broke we fixed it.

Use It Up, Wear It Out, Make It Do, Or Do Without.
It's a beautiful thing. And probably one of the most important things one could ever learn.

Yep! We were far better off than even we suspected, or most people recognized.

[Sighlass]

Dang I love threads like this one...

[bigheadfred]

Dang I love threads like this one...

That is because this is home. And home is where the heart lives. Head for the Member's Lounge. Take a look at that house.

As I was writing that post I was thinking about how many people even know what an outhouse is? Or build one.

[bigheadfred]

Yep! We were far better off than even we suspected, or most people recognized.

Ya know? You are still, not were. I think you, you know that. And that is where I changed. I didn't try to be better off. Than the neighbor's. Because they lost all recognition. WTF did they have that I didn't already have?

Nothing.

[roamer_1]

[...] how many people even know what an outhouse is? Or build one.

Yes and yes.

I know exactly what it is to walk out to the outhouse. The outhouse stayed on our place for a long time after all the plumbing got fixed. Whenever the plumbing went bad, there was always the outhouse... And being out by the barn, and the shop out beyond that, it served its function for many years, saving the trip to the house. The last time it filled up, we just decided not to dig a new hole... that was maybe 15 years ago, and I regret not digging that hole. Sure, mostly it is just mamma living there now, but the barn and the coop are still active, and many's the time that outhouse would have proved handy. Even to this day.

[bigheadfred]

Yes and yes.

I know exactly what it is to walk out to the outhouse. The outhouse stayed on our place for a long time after all the plumbing got fixed. Whenever the plumbing went bad, there was always the outhouse... And being out by the barn, and the shop out beyond that, it served its function for many years, saving the trip to the house. The last time it filled up, we just decided not to dig a new hole... that was maybe 15 years ago, and I regret not digging that hole. Sure, mostly it is just mamma living there now, but the barn and the coop are still active, and many's the time that outhouse would have proved handy. Even to this day.

Most people today would crap beside an outhouse. And then, if this is irony, try to wipe their butt with an app on their cellphone, and manage to call their significant other. The ultimate butt dial.

[Sighlass]

That is because this is home. And home is where the heart lives. Head for the Member's Lounge. Take a look at that house.

As I was writing that post I was thinking about how many people even know what an outhouse is? Or build one.

Yes, it was a beautiful house (brick and rock foundation).... thanks for the suggestion...

We never had an outhouse at home in my day... Old house we used to live in (family) had one years before.... Old church (where mama is buried) still to this day has one (funny they found out it wasn't owned by church recently, but old farmer lets the church use it, once a year decoration).

Now days not many kids know what decoration is, especially if not from the South.

[roamer_1]

Yep! We were far better off than even we suspected, or most people recognized.

It really is a different thing from most folks I guess. To me, I had it made. And that is TRUE.
The proof for me is my niece and nephew... My brother drove out here from Nashville for the 4th, and I just saw he and his for the last time before they head back tomorrow... And his kids ADORE the farm. they were literally weeping with the thought of leaving and saying goodbye. I sat  with Daniel his boy, and he went on a mile a minute with how he loves it here... I don't know what it's like off this ol ranch, and even as shrunk down as it is (we always leased the north, far north, and south fields, which are no more), but he sure does, and yearns for it all year long. For him being a boy, it beats the living heck out of internet games hands down!  And my niece is such a tender soul, and has a deep love for animals... Getting her out of that barn was a full time chore.

My brother is quite well off, and those kids want for nothing... but they know what they are missing, yes they do.

[roamer_1]

Most people today would crap beside an outhouse. And then, if this is irony, try to wipe their butt with an app on their cellphone, and manage to call their significant other. The ultimate butt dial.

 

[bigheadfred]

Yes, it was a beautiful house (brick and rock foundation).... thanks for the suggestion...

We never had an outhouse at home in my day... Old house we used to live in (family) had one years before.... Old church (where mama is buried) still to this day has one (funny they found out it wasn't owned by church recently, but old farmer lets the church use it, once a year decoration).

Now days not many kids know what decoration is, especially if not from the South.

Last place I owned I got access to some good OLD pine boards. We had indoor plumbing. I used enough of that wood to build a two-seater...crescent moon in the door...for my garbage cans.

The funny part were the people who used it as an outhouse.

[Sighlass]

I dug up a picture of church's outhouses....

Just dodge the poison oak/ivy on the way there...

[roamer_1]

Last place I owned I got access to some good OLD pine boards. We had indoor plumbing. I used enough of that wood to build a two-seater...crescent moon in the door...for my garbage cans.

The funny part were the people who used it as an outhouse.

Mine is probably the last generation that snuck onto a farm late at night to move the outhouse back 6 feet. 

[bigheadfred]

Mine is probably the last generation that snuck onto a farm late at night to move the outhouse back 6 feet. 

Or put one in front of the entrance to the high school.

I don't know which one I liked the best at the entry. The cow. Or the outhouse.

[bigheadfred]

I dug up a picture of church's outhouses....

Just dodge the poison oak/ivy on the way there...

Looks like an outhouse to me. But I always liked the crescent moon cutout in the door. Gives it a more Grandeur appearance.

[DCPatriot]

I think one from the people...not from any law enforcement agency...is coming soon.

At the risk of upsetting you @txradioguy , I am at a loss why some tight group of Patriots haven't already gone 'Open Season' on so-called mainstream journalists and news readers who propagate Leftist ideology as a religion of sorts.   

[DCPatriot]

I certainly hope so. They won't go out where the rednecks are... They tried...
What I would leap for joy for, what I would shout in full-throated support of, is the black community turning on these thugs and giving them a proper beat-down. They know this ain't in their favor. Their homes and businesses are wrecked for years to come. If anybody has a bone to pick, and if anybody has the right, it would be them.

Uh...no!  That's not gonna happen.

Eighty percent of black households are without fathers.  No male influence there and mothers who are unable to cope have created generations of feral blacks who are unable to react to authority in a proper manner.

[Smokin Joe]

Mine is probably the last generation that snuck onto a farm late at night to move the outhouse back 6 feet. 

Not as much fun as tipping cows if you step back to admire your work...

[Smokin Joe]

At the risk of upsetting you @txradioguy , I am at a loss why some tight group of Patriots haven't already gone 'Open Season' on so-called mainstream journalists and news readers who propagate Leftist ideology as a religion of sorts.   

It isn't time. Everyone should have a list for when the rules come off. In the instance of a general 'loss of civility' the transponders on the van are a high value target.

[DCPatriot]

It isn't time. Everyone should have a list for when the rules come off. In the instance of a general 'loss of civility' the transponders on the van are a high value target.

LOL!  Funny you should suggest that.

As I've stated here recently, I don't own any firearms.   But sure as God made little green apples, I have that list made up.

...maybe it's from watching so many action movies.   

[sneakypete]

That's easy. The DNC.

[Gemmarose]

Dang I love threads like this one...

Same here.

[Gemmarose]

That's easy. The DNC.

You hit the nail on the head.

[Right_in_Virginia]

That's easy. The DNC.

   @sneakypete