Extraordinary Stories

1944 (1) Act of kindness (12) Acting (2) Adoption (4) Adventure (766) Advertisement (6) Africa (1) Aging (14) Agriculture (47) Airplanes (9) Alphabet (5) American Red Cross (1) Americana (116) Amish (43) Ancestry (5) Ancesty (2) Animals (43) Anniversary (4) Antigua (10) Antiques (14) Apron (1) architcture (1) Architecture (36) Art (175) Art? (8) Arts and Crafts (69) Athletics (6) Automobiles (40) Awards (7) Banking (2) Barn raising (2) Baseball (103) Basketball (3) Batik (1) Beaches (89) Becoming A Citizen (1) Bed & Breakfast (2) Bee Keeping (6) Beer & Breweries (2) Bikes (3) Birds (9) Birthdays (34) Blindness (1) Blogging (5) Bookbinding (5) Books (12) Boxing (2) Brother Steve (12) Buisiness (3) Business (5) Canals (1) Cancer (14) Candy (30) Caribbean Islands (9) Caribbean Villas (15) Cats (5) Caves (1) Census (1) Chesapeake Bay (61) Children (28) Chocolate (4) Christmas (57) Church Adventures (122) Cigars (1) Circus (3) Civil Rights (8) Civil War (6) Classic Cars (7) Climate Change (5) Clubs (1) Coin club (2) Coins (1) Collections (73) Comedy (3) Comic Books (5) Commercials (1) Comnservation (2) Conservation (41) Covered Bridges (3) Craftsmanship (12) Creamsicle the Cat (11) Crime (16) Crisis (312) Cruise Travel (6) Crying (1) Culture (4) Dancing (1) Danger (16) Daughter Brynn (58) Daughter-In-Law Barb (7) Death (5) Death and Dying (65) Destruction (2) Donuts (1) Downsizing (2) Dunking (5) Easter (3) Eavesdropping (1) Education (48) Energy (15) Entertainment (165) Entrepreneurial (62) Ephrata (1) Etchings (1) Eternal Life (4) Facebook (5) Factories (4) Fads (6) Family (261) Farming (37) Father (42) Father Time (68) Favorites (88) Firefighting (1) Flora and Fauna (28) Fond Memories (490) Food and Cooking (171) Food and Drink (111) Football (16) Forgetfullness (3) Former Students (10) Framing (30) Friends (359) Fruits and Vegetables (3) Fun (4) Fundraiser (6) Furniture (1) Games (7) Generations (3) Gifts (1) Gingerbread houses (1) Giving (8) Globes (1) Golf (3) Good Luck (2) Graduation (1) Grandkids (136) Grandparents (3) Grandview Heights (29) Great service (3) Growing Old (8) Growing Up (187) Guns (2) Handwriting (3) Hat Making (2) Hawaii (49) Health and Well Being (61) Health Care (4) Health Hazards (110) Heartbreak (7) Heroes (26) High School (142) History (777) HO Railroading (4) Hockey (4) Holidays (134) Home construction (7) Horses (2) Housing (3) Humorous (71) Hurricanes (1) Ice and Preservation (2) Ice Cream (8) Inventions (34) Islands (4) Italy (12) Jewelry (3) Job Related (62) Just Bloggin' (56) Just Wondering (19) Juvenile Diabetes (5) Labor (3) Lancaster County (542) Law Breakers (8) LDubs In-Laws (3) Lefties (1) Libraries (1) Life's Lessons (175) Lightning (1) Lists (72) Lititz (18) Locomotives (1) Lodging (1) Love (4) Magazines (2) Magic (1) Maps (2) Marching (2) Market (5) Medical (161) Memories (28) Middle School (3) Milk (2) Minorities (1) Money (3) Mother (54) Movies (6) Mt. Gretna (1) Music (118) My Brother (19) My Wife (260) Neighbors (7) New Year's Day (5) Newspapers (4) Nicknames (2) Nuisance (3) Obsolescence (5) Occupations (2) Old Age (1) oldies (1) Pain and Suffering (12) Panama Canal Cruise (13) Parish Resource Center (14) Patriotism (3) Penmanship (1) Pets and Animals (99) Photography (220) Pizza (1) Plastic (2) Playing Trains (2) Poetry (2) Politics (27) Polution (3) Postal Service (2) Predators (2) Presidents (11) Pride (4) Printing (81) Protesting (3) Public Service (65) Questionnaire (1) Quilts (1) Race relations (6) Rain (1) Reading (4) Records (2) Religion (10) Retirement (4) Revolutionary War (3) Robotics (1) Rock & Roll (4) Rodents (2) Saints (4) Sand (1) Scouting (2) Sex (1) Shakespeare (1) Shelling (2) Shopping (24) Simple Pleasures (122) Slavery (6) Small Towns (4) Smoking (1) Snickedoodle (1) Snow (1) Son Derek (27) Son Tad (33) Son-In-Law Dave (27) Soup (1) Spices and Herbs (1) Sports (139) Sports and collectibles (1) Spring Break (1) St. James (2) St. Martin/Sint Maarten (306) Stained Glass (3) Stone Harbor (4) Story-Telling (26) Stragers (2) Strangers (4) Strasburg Railroad (1) Stress (3) Stuff (4) Suicide (2) Sun (1) Surfing (1) Tattoos (4) Teaching (49) Technology (90) Television (6) Thanksgiving (2) The Arts (6) The Beach House (62) The Flag (1) The Future (5) The Shore (78) This and That (23) Timekeeping (7) Tools and Machines (25) Tours (2) Toys and Games (31) Track & Field (1) Tragedy (8) Trains (19) Transportation (18) Travel (16) Trees (2) Trending (2) TV Favorites (23) Underground Railroad (10) Unit of Measurement (1) USA (2) Vacation and Travel (545) Vehicles (80) Vison and Eyesight (2) War (14) Watches and Watchmaking (5) Weather (48) Weddings (3) White House (1) Wisdom (3) Yearbooks (12) York County (3)

Monday, January 11, 2010

The "You Can't Miss It" Story

It was an ordinary day. We had just moved into our dream house a few days earlier. For years we lived in Grandview Heights which is a beautiful neighborhood in Manheim Township, Lancaster, PA. We had a three story house on a shaded street. Behind us was another row of similar houses. Between the houses was a shared alleyway. Many, many times I walked down the alley to visit my friend Wayne P. Many, many times Wayne walked up the alley to visit me. I'm not sure about the up and down of the alley, we just said that. We were friends and coached baseball together for many, many years. When I walked down the alley to tell Wayne about our move out of the neighborhood, I knew it would be hard. And it was! But, we had found the house of our dreams. Actually the house of our dreams would have been along the Chesapeake Bay, but we couldn't afford that dream, so we moved into a house that looked the same, but was in Lancaster. Wayne and I talked about the advantages and disadvantages of moving. The biggest advantage was that we were moving away from our duplex neighbors who collected flammable materials and stored them next to their oil burner in their basement. One of their close friends told me one day, "You better move before they burn your house down." To get ready for the move I started to build some new furniture. A really neat coffee table with two display drawers and a sofa table with a display drawer which was the height of the back of the new sofa we were getting. When Wayne saw them, he asked if I could help him make a coffee table just like my new one. We used the same plans and bought the wood. Arranged to get together for the construction. The week-end after we moved, he came over REAL early on Saturday morning to go up to school where I taught, to make the table. It was still dark when he arrived and I left through my garage and hopped in his car. He backed out of my drive and all of a sudden, CRASH! "What the h**l was that?" he said. I turned around and looked out the window and said, "I don't know." We got out and....."Geez, you knocked my mailbox into the middle of the street! I guess I should put lights on it." This is not any mailbox, but the one that is a wooden unit that sits, or sat until a few seconds ago, almost five feet high and is about two feet square. Made from the same wood as my house. It housed a regular sized US Mail box. We picked it up and put it back in the foot deep hole that was now under the car. "No damage done," I said. "Let's get out of here before the neighbors call the cops!" I said, half laughing. You see, Wayne is a cop! It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

4 comments:

  1. you might want to anchor that mailbox down for next time!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Funny story, cousin! Your dream home! I am so glad!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Did Wayne P. help you fix the mailbox?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Funny thing about the mailbox. It was not harmed! We just picked it up and put it right back in the hole. No damage was done. LDub

    ReplyDelete