 Russell, Kentucky It's a warm spring morning here in Kentucky and the thunder is booming. I made an early stop at a small city park- Sunday mornings are really quiet around here, especially when you have rain. The picture above is a wet sidewalk at the park- the brick pavers were bought by railroaders who worked nearby. Many of them aren't around anymore and I knew quite a few of the names. These were real men, guys who grew up on farms where you had to fix things rather than have them fixed. Where car motors needed rebuilding every few years and you did it in your garage or under the Maple tree out back. They knew where all the water pipes and electric wires were in their houses and their wives knew what bobbins were for. They changed their own oil, never changed brands, and could tell you how many miles till the next change without looking it up. They didn't brag and claimed to not be an expert on anything, but if you needed to build a wall then plumb and wire it- there was no need to call the contractor. All this made some very strong people- folks who knew what to do with a smoking car, a critter caught in the wall, an air conditioner that won't turn on, a window that needs replacing, a leaking roof, or a cat with a chicken bone in the throat. They aren't making many of them anymore. This is one of my most favorite paragraphs of all: 'I enjoyed their company: men who knew how to set the timing on a Ford V-8, who knew what Anzio was like, and how to rid your tomatoes of bugs, and how the big grain elevators were built without interior or exterior bracing. There was no slander in their conversation nor much gossip, a general reticence about themselves, but if you inquired about how to lay concrete, they might give you a whole seminar. Optimists.' Comment (5) | Permalink |
4x6photo.com | They changed their own oil.... | 12 March, 2006
