Boy, time sure is flying by! Halloween is behind us, Thanksgiving is next week, and all the stores are decorating for Christmas. We even have several Thanksgiving activities lined up for this week. Here comes the holiday rush....
HURTING FOR NEIGHBORS. The big community news around here happened Thursday night when Don and Betty Kate Henry’s chicken house burned down. It was a total loss. I guess I should explain why I am reporting this.
The Henrys are neighbors of ours. I have known them all my life. They live across the field in front of Aunt Mar’s house. The building I am referring to stood right behind their house. It was originally 30’ x 160’ and when they raised chickens housed about 8000 fowl. I remember going over there to help pick up eggs on occasion as a kid. In the late 1970s they sold their chickens and eventually started their peach/blackberry orchard. The empty chicken house became a shop for the farm, a place to strip tobacco and a front end for their orchard business. Mrs. Katie is a very creative decorator and put her talents into fixing up the place. After many years of improvements the “chicken house” featured a full working kitchen and a place to serve many guests which allowed them to operate a catering business during the off season. They had also built a nice guest room and an apartment for some of their unmarried immigrant labor. While the Henrys didn’t sleep there they actually spent about as much time there as they did in their house. We have fond memories of fun times there, as recently as Halloween night. But we’ve also had family dinners there over the years.
No one knows how the fire started but it was a full blown inferno by the time the Henrys were alerted to it. When the fire departments from Cross Plains, Orlinda, and White House got there the best they could do was protect the surrounding buildings. The worst injury I’ve heard about were some minor burns on one fellow’s arm as he was taking a shower and barely escaped the fire. Mrs. Katie had put a lot of herself into that building and I know the loss is especially tough for her.
MY BIG SCARE. The night of the fire a neighbor that lives behind Aunt Mar called and said she heard noises that sounded like they could be gunfire coming from Aunt Mar’s house. She also told us she heard their alarm system’s siren and saw a strange car in their driveway. Fearing they were in terrible danger I headed out. When I got outside I saw the fire lighting up the sky. The Henry’s chicken house is in line with Aunt Mar’s house from here and not knowing anything else my stomach sank as I then guessed the fire was Aunt Mar’s house. I was soon relieved but that sure was a scary moment. It turns out that the neighbor who called can’t see the Henry’s place from her house due to a stand of trees so it was impossible for her to understand the context of what she saw and heard (fuel explosions in the fire, sirens from the emergency equipment and curious neighbors turning around in Aunt Mar’s drive).
FINDING THE MISSING CREW. I had a really nice thing happen this weekend. As you know I have been very interested in learning about Dad’s service in World War II. For many years we’ve only known the whereabouts of nine of the eleven members of Dad’s crew. Several of us have searched for Irwin Moskowitz (bombardier) and Achilles Stathas (tail gunner) but with no luck. I recently discovered a web site devoted to preserving B-29 history (http://www.b-29.org) and signed up to be part of the discussion group there. I posted a query on these two names and within 24 hours someone replied with several potential addresses and phone numbers. This person happened to be correct on both counts and I got to talk to both men on the phone. It has been so nice for me to make these connections. Today I put out a query about finding the Star Duster’s ground crew. I have less info to go on there so it remains to be seen how that will pan out.
TELLING ON JENNA. Being an only child myself, the dynamics of a family with three children is always an adventure for me. I’ve always known that bossiness can be a trait of the first born and from our end of things Jenna exhibits this some. We have always accused Jenna of being a “little momma” over the years. This morning we were running pretty tight in getting out the door for the bus mainly because Ben was moving in granny gear and no amount of admonishment by Vicki was doing any good. Seeing this Jenna jumped in and starting nagging her brother to move faster as well. This made Vicki turn to Jenna and say, “Benton already has a Mother and I’m on the case.” Vicki was right in correcting Jenna but it sure took the wind out of her sails.
Ad then there was the conversation at supper tonight. Somehow we got on the topic of girls taking the last name of their husband when they get married. Vicki, in her explanation to Ben, used Jenna as an example with the last name of various boys in her class at school. She turned enough shades of red to give a chameleon a headache.
Joe
