THIS OLD HOUSE

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Tuesday,  April 2, 2013

THIS OLD HOUSE…..

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THIS OLD HOUSE…..

A TV SHOW about fixing up houses?  A song by Stuart Hamblem about the frailty of human life compared to a falling down house. 

 The original Gospel song This Old House

In my driving today I passed once again an old 1930’s style house with a big porch, a half story over the house.  I had been in such a house when I was young.  It was the parsonage (where the parson and his family lived) over on Elmwood Street next to the church I came of age in.  I thought that house, green and white in color with wood siding, and a big farm type kitchen was warm and wonderful 

The house I passed today was probably such a home, with lots of land around it, for at the time it would have been built Garfield Road would have been a dirt country road outside of Mt. Clemens.  Sterling Heights was not even thought of at that time. Perhaps Warren to the south had or was soon going to be designated a town.  Utica, north and west of the house was a city. 

Anyway this house has been abandoned for many years.  I don’t know if I ever saw it occupied, although I probably did in my early years in Macomb County.  It’s the kind of house where you could imagine pies baking in the kitchen, children playing in the yard.  Bicycles leaning against the porch, and perhaps a lot of flowers, yes flowers and a garden in the back and bushes in front.  There were probably chairs or even a porch swing on that once lovely old porch. 

Now is sits abandoned.  You can tell that maybe at one time it was a two-tone paint job as the house in my memory was.  At some point someone had boarded up the windows from the inside.  Not a wise choice, as there is no glass anywhere in the windows that face the outside.  Someone perhaps inspired by the scene in the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” where the two main characters throw stones at the windows of the house they will someday inhabit have thrown stones at this house and made wishes if the glass broke.  Lots of wishes.  No glass  No dreams.  A month or two ago I observed an accident where a young woman in a small gray car flipped the car and it landed upside down on what was left of the lawn of this house, once a home.  The girl was OK, but shaken. 

Today I wondered if anywhere in the county or the state there were people who remember the joy that once lived in this house when it was a home, and feel sad that it no longer serves a family.  Maybe the house never had joy.  Some houses are like that.  I remember knowing a couple, who are probably gone now who lamented that where their old house sat in this same area there was then a restaurant, now a shopping center.  Not many houses left on old Garfield road these days, but this old humble once a home house sits, waiting for when it too will no longer be there to remind folks of former times, not so long ago. 

IN THAT GREAT GETTIN' UP MORNING, FARE THEE WELL

My clock radio goes off at 7 AM.  (It goes on some time after 5) It went off about the same time the thunder went boom.  What an awakening.  Change in pressure brought tremendous sinus headache.  So glad I found the Excedrin yesterday.  So glad I took my bath/shower last night (I have an aversion to sitting in a tub of water when lightning is going on all around me.)

Well the Excedrin is taking hold and the storm outside seems to have eased up as well.  I have one more bill to get ready for the mailbox, if and when I am able to make it the fifty steps or so down the road to mail them.  There is a card for Mama Bear who I hope is doing better in the hospital.  There is the Association fee, which I always forget, usually, and

 a doctor bill, somewhere in there.  

We have really needed rain, and this morning's rain was quite welcome.  I am guessing that the wind that accompanied it has knocked both of my flower pots off the porch, and possibly messed with my chairs as well, but I will deal with those later. Right now the job at hand is upstairs oriented.  Get the bills ready to mail.  Get rid of the malaise the sinus headache has caused, and get ready for the service guy who is due in two hours.  I am guessing that he will not be able to do the check on the outside part of the AC unit, but he will be able to bring and change the filters on the furnace and check and oil the fans etc.  So glad to have the extra money, thanks to my frugality, because I could not do these jobs myself.    BUT  I have to clear out the basement so a man can be down there.  I have been doing laundry and who knows what is hanging on the line.  Plus I do not want to decapitate anyone with the lines themselves.  AS soon as the headache is gone.  And it is going.   

Also, need to call Medco about my diabetic strips.  Such a pain.  Why can't these be filled like other things?  At the drug store.  A small difficulty, and the insurance does pay a big amount for them, so I guess they can get feisty.  

The weather report just said storms all day, but 93 degrees.  Wow.  Except for the lightning sounds like one could take a shower outside today.  Strange weather.  Too hot yet rain.  At least I don't have to water the lawn. 

Last Visit to Chippewa Junior High

In Foreground, Former, Teacher, Principal and Superintendent, Mr. Andrew Polkadylo talks with construction worker, while former secretary looks on.  Some of the crowd exploring the old buildings.

On Tuesday a large group of former students and staff went back to their childhood, or teenage hood.  We gathered at buildings that once were separate, now connected physically as well as in memory.  The connections and the subsequent change in where the main entrance was located made it difficult for some of us to find our way to old classrooms and favorite places in the building.  For me it was 54 years since I last set foot in those buildings.  We walked carefully for deconstruction had already begun.

Link to VIDEOS OF TIME CAPSULE OPENING, From Port Huron Times Herald 

This link is from the Port Huron Times Herald and may not work for non subscribers.  I think they allow about ten reads a month for free.  

Opening of the final time capsule

Meeting friends from the fifties.  Vicki still looks young!

Sign over entrance

Some of the crowd hanging around remembering

Yours Truly and another student

A good motto. As a former Middle School Teacher, this puts tears in my eyes. 

This used to be the Breezeway between Nokomis and Chippewa I ran down this cement ourdoor hallway to catch the bus when I attended Nokomis.  Looking from Chippewa toward Nokomis

 Entrance to Middle School.  Moved to front of what used to be the breezeway between the two buildings.

I think this is from the middle of what used to be the main entrance to Chippewa, looking toward 32nd Street.  Mrs. Limberg's room is at the end of this hallway.

Room 107,  My old homeroom.  All classrooms in both Nokomis and Chippewa had outside doorways.  Fire drills were a snap.  I see that carpet was added recently.  

Lots of memories in this room  Here is where I sat with my best friend, Marilyn Leonard, and memorized poetry to win some kind of points.  Marilyn was a genius,  literally.  Her academic prowess challenged me to do things like memorize all of those poems, some of which I still remember. 
This was home room for two entire years. 

Inside Room 107, at approximently where my desk was located.  I sat by Marilyn and Karon Anderson.  Other classmates included Carol Fenner, Bob Scheffler, Neil McConnel, Mary Ann Recker, Karen Heath, Patsy Cefseski, Kent Fenner, Sharon Atkins, Sally Short.  I was just trying to see how many names I could remember.  Quite a few.  The teacher's desk was at the front.  I think my sister had Mrs. Limberg too.  I am not sure if I am spelling her name right. 

Mr. Andrew Polkodylo was my ninth grade home room teacher.  Later on he was principal and superintendent of Port Huron Township Schools.  Not sure how that worked after everything was consolidated, but he has been a guiding force in Chippewa having an annual or almost annual reunion for several years each September.  

Mr. Robert Coulter, who was superintendent when I was in Kindergarten was present at the first reunion I attended at Mary Jean Penn's farm in Jeddo, six years ago.  No reunion this year because the movers and shakers of this have their fiftieth this year. 

Breezeway all closed in

 

My old room at Nokomis, seen through the doorway and display case.  I actually worked as a student on displays in that case.  Pretty neat display case.  Easy access.  Cool School from this educators point of view.  I went to 4th, 5th and 6th grades here.  Mrs. Backus, and Mrs. Wright.    (This is the room where we learned to duck and cover for Air Raid drills in the 1950's)  

Doors to the outside made fire drills a snap.  

We ate lunch in this room too, brought in from Chippewa on a steam cart.

Hallway in Nokomis.   I remember it as rather beige looking.  Like this color scheme better.  Remember lining up to use the bathrooms and drinking fountains in these halls.  Also, mud and dust from the playground.  We had a huge playground.  We could play all the way to Indian Trail.  Recess duty must have been a challenge.  Played Duck duck goose, in the winter.  All kinds of tags.  Learned how to play softball and hop scotch, marbles and jacks on that playground, part of which was the breezeway between Nokomis and Chippewa.

I cannot remember which building had the Hiawatha stone, but from the Times Herald article, I am guessing this was the cornerstone for Nokomis Elementary.

Around the corner of Nokomis at some of what was our playground.

Pine Trees on the Left rear are believed to be some of the trees planted by my sister's class, or perhaps trees that sprang from them.  I mean 60 year old pine trees would be pretty old. 

Hard to believe that all of this land belonged to the school.  In the background you can see the football goal posts...  Or are those soccer? 

In background,  Wagensiel  Gymnasium, then vocational building, then end of Nokomis.

This was quite a campus, and if campus means "field" it is a good term.

One of the construction trucks from the company that will take down our old school.  Menards, plans to build a huge Home Improvement and Garden store here. 

One last look at Chippewa with the new entrance where the breezeway used to be.

A photo of my car.  When I drove in here and parked, I realized this was the first time in my life that I drove a car in this parking lot.  

Later on I realized that this parking lot was not the one I remembered from Chippewa.  This was actually the new lot from when they joined the two buildings making one massive campus.

The old lot, I found later and will show you if you read further.

To the left Old Chippewa in front the enclosed breezeway.  Ladies in yard picking plants for souveniers.

The Old front door of Chippewa Junior High School  Clock Tower, without clock in back.

This is a driveway that goes behind the school all the way to Wagensiel Gym.  Chippewa Woods to the left, still giving shade on a very hot sunny day

You can see one of the doors to a Chippewa classroom on the upper right

My car in the parking lot or close to it of the old school

From Indian Trail.  Nokomis, the Vocational Building and Wagansiel Gym

My sister's pine trees...  we think.

A better look at the trees.  Hard to take photo as there was traffic....  When they built the Cut Off, and later I 94 and I 69 some of the trees were sacrificed, according to Mr. Polkodylo  He remembered the planting of the trees.

Sign on Wagensiel Gym

At ages 10-14 I used to climb those stairs to get to the gym and the library and the lounge area housed within....  Didn't think anything of it!!

Back of Vocational building.   Chippewa on the right

Back view of Chippewa

Chippewa Woods, where I first noticed white birch trees and learned that it was not right to peel the paper like bark.  Also saw Trillium in these woods, another special plant.  Also fell into the creek while crossing on a log.

A fond farewell to Chippewa Junior High, and Chippewa Woods next to it.  We were such lucky kids to have spent our "formative" years is such an idylic setting. 

I seem to wax eloquent that noone on Facebook might appreciate, yet I have the need to write.  Today is a beautiful Tuesday morning.  I am getting ready for the day.  The tub is full of nicely scented water thanks to my friend Cathy sharing some bath salts she was given but won't use, since she is a shower person.  Coffee is at my side.  Cup two to be enjoyed.  Coffee pot is off.  Cat is fed. 

List of to-do's is mental.  Buy new Styrofoam dishes to feed the cat with.  Such a good system.  His dinner today is in a disposable plastic dish.  Finicky eater that he is, I hope he will eat his breakfast.  So far all he has asked for is attention, and perhaps a lift to a higher closet shelf as I work to get clothes ready for the days activities of attending a funeral and perhaps a ceremony for Chippewa Junior High School.  Twas a tough choice to make, but figured honoring the dead was more important than remembering my own childhood.  I think I made the right choice.  

I awoke early today, partly because it was cold in my room....  Unusual for almost July, but it felt good.  Closed some windows.  Made the coffee.  Was a little nauseated, so the coffee and protein bar have helped considerably.  Did some research on an old song  Old Buddha by the Imperials.  

That song would be very politically incorrect in this decade, but not so in the 80's when my Charismatic friends and I first enjoyed it, as a protest for all of the Eastern religious cults that were invading our culture at that time.  I did some research on the Moonies, finding that the term itself is not PC.  Not anymore anyway.  Discovered that the Unification Church has a lot of political clout and has been quietly working its way into many organizations and media outlets in our society.  Finally found a statement of doctrine and find that Moon's claim to be the second Messiah is something I cannot embrace.  Some other doctrines seem a little off to me as well.  The state of my own church and churches like it, is quite distressing as well.  The idea of a theocracy is scary to me.  That concept seems to be lurking on the horizon of my life. 

 I decided to search Itunes radio for a good Christian radio station, that has teaching as well as music.  I don't mind contemporary music in small doses, as long as there is good teaching and sounds that draw me in rather than repel.  Found a station in Texas.  A-1 91.3fm KDKR Your Station for Life    128 kbps    Texas's Christian Teaching, Talk, and Praise Station.  So far so good.  Lots of teaching.  A little music.  

I actually found some clothes summery enough yet dressy enough for today.  I really must go over my closet clothes and weed out the bad and keep the good.  I seem to be getting a lot done in my house in preparation for next month when Yvonne comes to visit.  A new chair has provided a place where I can sit and read and sort and watch without hurting my back.  It may also provide a place for Yvonne to sleep comfortably the few days she is here.  The new shower spray makes it easier to wash hair and the drain being fixed in the sink is so wonderful to have.  Grab bars are being installed on Thursday.  Things are fitting together.  I smile.