Trains

Here in Saratoga County there are railroad tracks that crisscross everywhere.  Many country roads here have RR crossings including the one I live on now.  When I was in school and riding the bus we went on one route that went past the tracks on Bockes Rd. in Greenfield.  Sometimes we would be fortunate enough to have to wait for a train!  All the kids would be so excited because if we could we would count how many cars went by.  Can you imagine the whole busload of children counting, 1, 2, 3 etc.. as the train went by.  Sometimes it was just the sleek and fast Amtrak which was not possible to count.  Most often is was the ponderous freight trains coming from Corinth or some other northern town.  All those train tracks lay dormant for years and years after the mills in Corinth and north shut down.  Now we have the Saratoga and North Creek Railway that comes through and I just love to hear the train going by.  I can't quite see it because of the trees but one of these days I'm going to go down to the tracks and record it coming by!  I have a video clip on my Facebook page of the sound of it.  You can listen to it HERE.  We are also planning on riding it this fall and go up to North Creek for a few hours and play tourist. 

Manners

I was brought up with fairly strict about manners.  I was taught not to interrupt adults, to chew with my mouth closed.  To use my napkin, let others be served first.  Sit like a lady, not to belch or pass gas in public.  Wear clean underwear, not to talk back to adults.  Say please and thank you.  I'm sure most of you know what I mean by the basics of manners.  I have to say I am shocked by the kids I see these days.  Talking rudely to adults, eating with their mouths open and with food in them.  Shoving and pushing by adults.  Always having to be first to get food at dinner time.  Being taught by adults to act tough and "gangsta".  Being encouraged to fight.  I have tried to raise my kids with manners.  My son I did pretty good, my daughter can be very rude to me but is polite in public and in school.  My stepson is a whole different story.  I told him today he must be a throw back to the Neanderthals and he didn't know what meant.  He thinks it is funny to fart out loud and in groups of people, especially at school.  He will jam large quantities of food in his mouth and let it dangle out while chewing.  I could go on all day about his behavior.  I find it just shocking and upsetting.  One of the big problems in my marriage is the behavior of this kid.  I try talking to my husband about it but he basically said that the kid is too old now to teach him anything?   I said "Are you out of your mind?  He is only 14.  This kid refuses to brush his teeth because he said it makes "food taste funny" after.
I need to see my counselor and talk to my stepson's counselor too before I loose my mind!

Baby got new shoes?

This memory is from when I was very young maybe 3 or 4.  My older sister Brenda and I were playing with the boy next door.  His name was George McIntyre.  George by the way is my friend on Facebook and has been living in Vietnam, I believe teaching English.  Anyhow we had a record player outside on the lawn near his yard and we were playing records.  For some reason I remember the song was something about Baby's got new shoes.  Maybe I'm wrong or confused.  I remember the green grass and it was sunny.  
 Maybe George will remember the record player and us playing records.

Fishing

My Mom taught me how to fish when I was a little girl.  We had a small creek that ran through the back of the property.  I loved the rare opportunities I got to run out and grab my fishing pole and dig up a couple worms  and head to the creek.  I learned quickly where the wily little brook trout loved to hang out in the deep pools and under the cut outs in the bank.  I had no style of course, I just dangled the worm in until I got a bite and yanked!  Most of the time I got nothing, but sometimes a fat little trout would come flying out and land in the bushes behind me.  The even got stuck in trees sometimes.  I bet those trout wondered what the heck happened!  I would run home with the fish to show my Mom most of the time.  We kept and ate the bigger ones and the little ones we put in the pond that my stepfather  had made.  I would love to go fish in that pond now, I bet it is full of trout!

Strange life

I was thinking the other day about what a strange life I have had.  I've been places and done things and experienced so much.  I know a lot of things in my life are and have been unpleasant but I feel like writing about them sometimes.  Not to place blame or to shame anyone but just to maybe help myself reflect and figure out why I am the way I am.  There is no way I can put things in chronological order.  So I will just put down memories and try to remember when these things happened.  I will mix the happy with the sad.  The bad with the good.  I have done many shameful things but many things I am proud of also.  I think it would be redundant to start with, I was born and try to recount things in order.  My memory is not that good!  I don't remember being born.  I know we were poor.  My Mom told me how poor we were and how my Dad and her struggled to raise three kids.  My Dad built our house we lived in.  It had tar paper on it as long as I could remember.  He dug the well himself.  I don't remember much about living with my Dad because we left when I was very young.  I can really only remember a couple of things that happened living with my Dad.  I am not going to start remembering things in this entry.  I guess it is just going to be a start.  An introduction of sorts.  This picture is of me and my sister.  I am in red.