More from the Back Porch

"Bob's post has gotten me to thinking which is good because I've been a useless blob for weeks now."

I doubt that.

"Poppy had a refrigerator on the back porch and I thought, as a youngster, that this was most interesting. There was a refrigerator in the kitchen AND ANOTHER ONE on the back porch. Such luxury!!"

Yes, and I almost mentioned the refrigerator…but I thought the previous post was long enough. That, and I wanted to tie in straight to the fireworks while it was still kind of timely.

What I remember about that fridge…
It was bigger than the one in the kitchen,
I think it ran on Propane,
And on the top of the left side our uncle Buddy had written something in magic marker, in his secret code. The letters had extra lines, slashes or curlicues on them, but it looked something like

VBBS

Bud had showed me his secret code alphabet once, and I sure wish I had drawn a copy (I’ve been interested in alphabets and codes since grade school). Anyway, “VBBS” was his code for LSSI, which stood for “Loyal Southern Sons International”. I don’t know if this was something he and his friends came up with, or if it was all in his head. I do recall us play acting a meeting once, where we were supposed to stand when the national anthem was sung. Bud then stood and started to sing “Dixie”, and I just sat there looking at him. (That’s not our national anthem!)

He kidded me about that, something to the effect of “What do they teach you kids in that school up north?”. That LSSI meeting only happened once, a fun diversion for a summer afternoon. I do remember hearing various members of the family say “The South shall rise again!”.

More than once.

"I don't recall what exactly was kept out there early on…"

I’m not sure, but I suppose whenever he’d get a good buy in bulk quantities, or when he was given more food than the other fridge would hold. Maybe Connie would remember. Or your mom.

And I don’t remember how Poppy came to have that second refrigerator in the first place. Maybe it was given to him.

"...but I do recall some Buckhorn being there later, I suspect to help manage whatever ailment eventually took Poppy's life."

Buckhorn was cheap, and it wasn’t that good a beer. Er, um…so I heard. Yeah, that’s it.

"Bob, I also remember your mom being laid up on a bed on the back porch after an ugly encounter with some sizeable thorns during one of your visits. I don't recall any details except that as, again a young boy, it seemed like she had to stay in bed an awfully long time."

Mike, I had forgotten that, but yeah…sizeable wasn’t the word. I’d never seen thorns more than an inch long until then. She got infected from that, and was in bed some days. It ruined that trip to the farm for her, and I seem to recall we delayed our trip home an extra day or two.

I also slept on that bed during another trip, and I remember it being the tallest bed in the house. You really had to climb up to get on it.

"I do remember the fireworks displays that we had at the farm - it was great fun! It seemed as if the dark would never come."

Truly, the high point of the day.

"I remember watching my dad hold a roman candle out to his side while it discharged and thought that was one of the coolest things ever"

I had forgotten until you mentioned it, but I remember your dad getting into the fireworks show. What a time…not only the fireworks, but lightning bugs and a darker sky with more stars than you could see in the city. And we had the energy of youth without all the cares of adulthood.

"I begged and begged to be allowed to do that and finally he let me...And when it was all done, it wasn't as much fun as I thought it would be. Bob, was the balsa glider actually your first rocket? Do you have Bud to thank for your hobby?"

Well, not really, though I’m not sure now what year we did the bottle rocket powered glider flight. That glider was mainly Bud’s project.

As for model rocketry, I discovered that in 1967 when a classmate of mine told me “There’s these really cool rockets you can buy in the hobby store. You put them together and they really fly”. I found an ad in a magazine, it was either “Boy’s Life” or “Popular Science”, so I sent in for an Estes catalog.

(Do I still have my first Estes catalog? Why, yes!)

My birthday was approaching, so I asked for and got an Astron Alpha. Then later for Christmas, my dad surprised me with a homemade launch system and a tool box I used for my first range box.

Now I could go on and on, The Hobby has given me a great deal of fun over the years. But that would make this a long post indeed, so I’ll save that for another time.

And of course, there’s much more I could say about those days at Poppy’s farm. Great times, but they sure went by fast. So, I’ll post this much now, and compose more later.

So Mike, what’s your favorite memory about Grandma, Poppy, Uncle Bud…their house and the farm?