Claustrophobic

I have hated having my head covered since I was very young. When I was about 11 years old I was sleeping outside our home in the field near our big swings. Wayne Johnson was sleeping out with me. I had my father's WWII sleeping bag which zippered up so your arms and legs and whole body was inside. The only surface showing was your face. We were goofing off and thought it would be fun to bury ourselves in a double bag. The second bag would be put over the first bag in a reverse direction. I agreed to go first and my WWII bag was put on and then Wayne took his bag and put it over my head and drew it down to my feet. Wayne then jumped on top of the bags and me. I started to panic and I am thankful that Wayne didn't keep me in the two bags. Even today when I think about the experience I get a horrible feeling. I don't know if this was the start of my claustrophobia in regards to having my head covered but I don't like blankets or pillows on my head and I hate to see people piling on each other in any type of celebration.

Awards

I have been very fortunate to receive some recognition during my life. Most of the recognition was because of my career as an educator. In 1995 I received my first principalship at Baldwinville Elementary School. This small school of about 350 students did not have a library. I decided that I would try to establish a library for the children. The main problem was that there wasn't any money in the budget to help with purchasing books. Through different methods I was able to get about 2000 books donated and purchased for the library. We also had to catalog these books and put then on shelves in a room in the basement. When I left Baldwinville for another principalship I was honored when they named the new library after me.

Arriving at Fallbrook School in Leominster in 1997 it was great to be back in Leominster. Fallbrook was a school that was still having some difficulties in the state mandated test scores for Fallbrook was ranked number 3 out of 3 elementary schools in Leominster. There was also a sense of Fallbrook not being a great school and we had a great number of parents choosing to sent their children to other schools rather than attend Fallbrook. In 2000 the local newspaper (Fitchburg Sentinel) held a contest where their readers could write in and vote for the best of the best in many different categories. Fallbrook School was voted Best of the Best in regards to elementary schools in the entire region. Our test scores also rose to where we had the best scores of the three schools in Leominster.

In 2001 I was nominated by a parent for Inclusive Administrator of the Year in Massachusetts. My family and myself were invited to an award ceremony where I received a inscribed red apple.
In 2008 I was honored with The Courage To Speak Foundation's Community Award. I had become actively involved with that organization thru piloting a new drug awareness program at Brookside School.

Growing Up!

My parents bought their home on Wheeler Road in Ashby before I was born. I was the third child. My sister Donna was born in 1944 (June 30) and my brother Bobby was born in 1946 (March 27). I guess the expression Irish Twin explains my birth. I was born 11 months to the day after my brother Bobby's birth. I weighed in at 9 pounds 9 ounces. It has been always interesting to be the same age as my brother for one month each year. My mother told me that I was a very quiet baby and I did not seek attention. My mother was 25 years old with a 2 1/2 year old, a 11 month old a new baby. The back of my head is flat - probably a combination of Finnish heritage and my mother being very busy with two toddlers and being thankful for a quiet baby in the crib. I have very few (2) baby pictures and no picture of me alone. My sister and brother are always there. About 20 years ago I made a decision to get my own baby picture and I had a copy made with my brother and sister cropped out. I was the baby of the family for 10 years before my brother Jeffrey was born. My mother had at least 1 (maybe 2) miscarriages after my birth. I was an extremely shy child who was easily embarrassed with my face turning very red. I had a problem with bed wetting that last until I was 7 or 8 years old. I tried so hard not to wet the bed but it would happen time and time again. My Aunt Irma would take care of me and my brother when my mother was in the hospital. I remember my cousins coming into the room and asking my brother and myself to go out and play. I had wet the bed and didn't want them to know about it. My aunt was very kind and would clean me up and clean the sheets. Bed wetters have a lot of issues and I remember being very embarrassed when my mother would hang the bed sheets out on the clothesline with evidence of stains.
My elementary school years were spent at Ashby Elementary School. My first grade teacher was Mrs. Heikkala and my memories of her was she was kind except when she would enter the boy's bathroom or when she made every child eat all of their lunch. In grade 2 we had Miss Day who would twist your ear if you did something wrong. The next few years were teachers with limited memories for me. I do remember Mr. Keaveny in 7th and 8th grade. He took an interest in me and I had many future meeting and talks with him. Mr. Keaveny had very strong hands and he would crush your hand with his handshake. He also would startle a class with a slam of his hand on a desk to get your attention. I attended Notre Dame High School for my 9th, 10th and 11th grades. I never enjoyed my time there for I was not an outgoing person (still extremely shy) and made only a few friends but these friendships were only at school because we all lived in different towns. Living in Ashby isolated me from school friends and distanced me from the kids in Ashby. My brother Bobby created some difficult times for the brothers(teachers) at Notre Dame. He was asked to leave his Senior year with about 8 weeks to go before graduation. I took the opportunity to ask my dad if I could go to Ashby High (Lyman School pictured above) for my upcoming Senior year. My first day at Ashby High was interesting because the homeroom teacher Mr. Ganong was extremely stern and cross when he first met me. His behavior lasted for about two weeks until he stated that he thought he had to deal with another "Bobby". I enjoyed my Senior year and played varsity soccer (goalie), basketball (center) and baseball (pitcher and third base). I also happen to meet a special person at Ashby High School. There was a very cute junior girl who expressed an interest in me. I was soon off to college at Fitchburg State.

My Father's Parents

William Hay (Grandfather) --Jane Scott (Grandmother)-- Robert A. Hay (Father)

My grandmother died in 1946 before I was born. My only memories are a picture of her and a few oral stories from my father. My father's parents showed little if any outward sign of affection or emotion towards their children. This characteristic was also very evident with both my mother and father. My father did tell me that his mother did love the family camp on Stinson Lake and spent her summers there. My father also said his mother was very sickly until her death. My grandfather started the family business (Fitchburg Plumbing Supply Co. Inc.) with a partner. He must have brought out the partner early in the relationship. My grandfather lived to the age of 85 and died in 1970. My most vivid memories of my grandfather in the 1950's was his Olds 88 car and taking a ride in it on a highway at a high rate of speed (probably 70-80 mph). I also remember that my grandfather had a friend (Jimmy) who would drive my grandfather around in his Olds. I don't know if my grandfather even had a license. Another memory is that my grandfather retained his Scottish Brogue and for me he was very hard to understand. Another memory was that he had a full head of white hair at the age of 85. My grandfather fell and broke his hip in his 80's and he lost one of his legs from that fall. He is buried with my grandmother in a Mausoleum in Fitchburg near Electric Avenue. My father's stories about his father told about his kindness to his fellow man. During the Depression several people owed my grandfather money. He ended up taking ownership of their homes with the promise that when they got on their feet they could get their property back. My grandfather was the founder of the "poor house" in Fitchburg on Watatic Road. He was president of that organization for many many years. My grandfather was actively involved with helping the poor for many years from the 1930's to 1970's. I feel that his legacy is that many family members have been very active in volunteering for community activities over the past 60 years. My grandfather enjoyed his drink (Scotch) in the last year's of his life (probably his whole life). It was said that the patrons of the bar or club enjoyed seeing him enter for he generally bought a round for the house.

My father's cousin (they never met) has done family research and it is on line. Doug Hay lives in Canada with his wife and two children. I met Doug on line thru my family searches. Doug's information can be found at http://members.shaw.ca/doughay/

Information about my grandparents birth areas can be found at http://www.anesfhs.org/links.htm

Memories of my Mother's Parents

My memories of my mother's mother is nearly nonexistent for my grandmother Senja Sophia (Maki) Aho for she died (age 55) from complications from an automobile accident in the early 1950's. The accident happened near Fitchburg State College at the corner of Congress Street and Myrtle Avenue. I have no memories of her other than seeing pictures of her. She is buried in Smithville Cementary in N.H. As a young girl she boarded a White Star Line ship (cost $49.14 passage) departing from Liverpool on July 13, 1912. Her name was Senja Ruohomaki which was shortened I assume at Ellis Island to Maki on entry into the United States. She was originally from Finland and she settled in Rockport, MA before marrying my grandfather.My grandfather John P Aho lived until the 1960's. I remember my grandfather lived with us in Ashby when I was very young. I believe he worked at the Fitchburg Foundry where his son Leo also worked. My memories of him was that he was kind and friendly with very ruddy looking cheeks and a reddish nose. He liked to drink and it probably was a leading cause of his death. The last few years of his life he lived in a one room apartment in Fitchburg near the Boulder. My mother was the sibling that took responsibly in managing his financial affairs. My most vivid memory of my grandfather was his work in our backyard that was overgrown with 3 foot briers and weeds. He used a two handed Scythe which he also used to do the same type of work on the front yard that the family camp on Lake Stinson in NH.

Around year 2000

While doing family research on the Hay family I attempted to learn some information about my mother's family (Aho). My mother showed me some mementos saved from her father and mother. Her mother Senja Maki came to Ellis Island around 1904 on a ship that was part of the White Lines (same line as the Titantic). Her mother's last name was Rahumaki (spelling??) and was changed to Maki at Ellis. My grandfather's name as I was growing up was John P. Aho. I never knew what the P stood for. My mother told me that my grandfather's name was John Pertiaho (spelling??) and it was probably changed at Ellis Island. I believe that the last name of Aho in Finnish has a translation to mean something dealing with a field. If so, it is interesting that my mother married a Hay. Another interesting fact was found while looking at my mother's birth certificate which indicated that she had a longer name than what the family knew while growing up. Her name was Dorothy Virginia Edna Aho. The Virginia was not known by family members. When I asked my mother about it she simply replied that was her name but she never used Virginia.

Band Concerts

Growing up in Ashby we had one thing to do during a summer night on a Wednesday. Ashby had a band concert at the center of town between the two churches. Nearly everyone would come to run around and see your friends. The Bernhardt Band would play songs for the older people who would listen in their cars as well as bringing their lawn chairs. Bernhardt's had a food wagon that sold drinks, popcorn, candy and other items. Porter Dodge or one of the other police officers would be directing traffic as well as guiding us across Main Street to go to the Ashby Market. We would often run behind the church and visit the graveyard in the back. At a summer camp (Lapham) there would arrive about 30-40 kids who would walk about one mile to get to the concert. I think these kids came from the big city and they spent their summer in a small town. Many fond memories of having fun on a Wednesday night in a small town!

Getting To San Diego

The United Airlines flight from LaGuidia to Washington D.C. was twice delayed and it looked like we would miss our connection to San Diego. I arranged a second flight out of Washington but it would require an overnight stay in Washington. The first connection out of Washington was scheduled to leave at 1:33 pm and our flight landed around 1 pm. We had a chance to get on the plane but we had to get our carry on luggage and then get on a train to the terminal. We rushed to the train with several other people. Well, after waiting about five minutes the worker there informed us that the train was out of order. The group quickly then moved to find a tram but no one could direct us. We finally found the trams and it was around 1:20 pm. The C and D trans didn't start until 1:30 pm. Linda was talking to Kelley and we still hoped that we could make the flight. D tram was starting first so five of us hopped on and we had heard that C and D terminals were attached. Arriving at terminal D we started to run towards terminal C when the PA announced our names to report to terminal C23. We were still in D and it looked like C23 was too far. I arrived first at C23 but no one was there and the door to the plane was locked. Luckily, Kelley and Paul convinced them to go to the door and let us in 20 minutes late. We didn't get many friendly smiles as we found our seats. But, we were off to San Diego.

San Diego 2010

Cabrillo National Park

Family trip to San Diego took place during the February vacation. Our main purpose was to spread Aaron's ashes in a place he loved!

Aaron, We Love You!

How Not To Cook A Chicken

During a summer night a group of neighborhood kids were sleeping outside. One of the older kids (Roger Stone) had a car. Roger, myself and a couple of other kids decide we would go swimming at the reservoir. We had to push Roger's car away from the house so no one would know we were using the car. Off we went and after a while we were hungry with no money. Roger suggested that we sneak up to his house because his father had hundreds of chickens that were used by the VFW at Saturday night chicken barbecues. So we quietly entered into his cellar and took two frozen chickens from his father's freezer. Off into the woods to Broadvines where we planned to cook our chicken meals. We started a fire and put sticks into the frozen chicken. Need I tell you that we were not aware that you can't cook a frozen chicken. Well, the effort was fine but the results very disappointing. We were still hungry when we went back to our sleeping bags.

That's the Breaks

As a fifteen year old I played baseball for Ashby in the Babe Ruth League. We had a game in New Ipswich, NH and it had been a rainy day. I was playing third base and there was a large puddle in front of third base. Early in the game I was playing third base about 18 feet beyond the base and away from the puddle. There was a runner on base (Rollie Place) and the hitter drove the ball into right field for a single. Rollie was trying to go to third and there wasn't even going to be a play on him. He didn't want to slide into the base (the puddle was there) and therefore he slid into me. His slide snapped by left leg at the ankle with my foot now at a right angle to my leg. As I laid on the field someone had found a country doctor to look at my leg. Two of my teammates had got sick just looking at it. The doctors said he thought it was broke. I remember thinking that the doctor's reply was like duh! for no ones foot and leg could be at right angles without something being wrong. Well, they picked me up and put me in the back of my father's Rambler and off we went to Burbank Hospital in Fitchburg (about a 30 minute trip). Dr. Arons Simon was the doctor who was working on me. I was given a shot of something that numbed me from my hip to my toes. Doctor Simon was trying to snap the bones back into place. He couldn't do it and a second doctors helped him snap it back. The cast went from my hip to my toes. It was the end of the school year and I missed the last few days of school as well as having to do finals. The cast was on for about 8 weeks. I still can feel where the break was even today.

Circle of Life

My wife first met me in high school. We started to date when I was 18 and she was 17. We dated for less than a year and Linda broke up with me. I was devastated but life went on. I continued my education at Fitchburg State College and Linda got married and had two children Kelley and Aaron. Fast forward about eight years. Brian Walsh, Chip Schneidner and myself were clubbing at the Cinima Lounge in Leominster. It was very crowded and Brian asked me to go with him to scout out the room. I had to go to the bathroom but Brian insisted that I go with him to the far reaches of the club. As I followed Brian I looked to my right and about 25 feet away there was a bright light shining on a familar face. Linda was sitting with a friend. I walked over to say hello and ended up marrying her about a year later. My life circle was complete!

Blizzard of '78'

Today it is snowing and school has been cancelled. February 7, 1978 Massachusetts had one of its worst winter storms. Tons of snow for 32 hours, electricity was out and 1000's of people were stranded on the highways for traffic didn't move on the highways for three days. We lived at Imperial Avenue in Leominster. When the storm ended I went outside with Kelley and Aaron and we create a huge giant dinosaur from the piled up snowbank. It was a great looking dinosaur! I thought it would even look better if it had color. We got all of our green food coloring and mixed it with water and we spread it over our dinosaur. It looked spectacular for the first day. Little did I realize that the green color would turn yellow. Our dinosaur looked like every neighbor dog had visited and left his mark. We now had a beautiful "yellow" dinosaur.

Our backyard was built up with a series of railroad ties that created a five foot drop off at the end of our yard. With all the snow the drop off was filled to the top. I told the kids to watch me. With a running head start I leaped into the abyss rear end first. Little did I know how deep it really was. I sank to the bottom with my feet in the air. I soon realized that I was in trouble for the snow was all around me and I was buried. I realized that the kids couldn't help me and they might even leave me there. Luckily I squirmed about and finally got upright and lived another day. I was very frightened by the ordeal of almost being buried alive!

Helping Dad

My father raised steer for about 3 or 4 years. He put an electrical fence around his field and he built a small shed near the pond. The first year he had them delivered to his field. The two steer of about 400 pounds each got loose and my brother and myself were assigned the job of getting them back. They had drifted to the Amadon Farm about mile down Wheeler Road into Townsend. We took the Fitchburg Plumbing Supply Company truck and some rope. Soon my brother had lassoed one and off and running he went. No way could he stop that steer from dragging him thru cow chips. Luckily for him my brother finally let go. I was just laughing as Bobby was being tossed around by that steer. Mr. Amadon then told us he would get them onto his truck.
Another time my father and mother were going on a trip and my father wanted me to feed his steer which at that time weighed about 1500 pounds each. I went with my father to learn how to feed them. My father told me to step inside the fence and bang the two metal pails together and the steer would come. Little did I know that the steer, which were standing at the top of the field loved meal time. When I hit the 2 pails together, their ears when up and they started to run down the hill in my direction. I soon had 3000 pounds of beef heading right at me. My back was against the fence and I had no where to go. The steer put their hoofs into the ground about 10 feet from me and slide right up to me. My father was laughing as the sweat fell off my face. Just think, if one of them had hit a cow chip it would have put me thru the fence. Next feeding I STOOD OUTSIDE THE FENCE!

Don't Eat the Mushroom

Each summer while growing up my family would spent a week or two in New Hampshire at my Uncle Bud's camp on Stinson Lake. My mother's sister Edith and her family would quite often be there with us. Uncle Ed was one of my favorite uncle's because he liked to play with us and he would use card tricks to entertain us. Uncle Ed would also go mushroom hunting on the trails up Stinson Mountain. The kids would always go along on the hunt. Uncle Ed would show us the mushrooms that he used in his cooking. The underbelly of the mushroom was solid and orange/yellow in color. When we brought him a mushroom with open slots underneath he would always tell us it was a poisonous mushroom. Uncle Ed Werona was Polish and loved to cook Polish recipes with his mushrooms.
Many years later while I was teaching I would take classes into the woods in the Townsend area with a fellow teacher Paul Tresaloni. As we entered the woods, Paul noticed mushrooms growing and he to loved to use mushrooms in his Italian cooking. Paul went to pick the mushrooms and brought them back to me to see. All of his mushrooms had underneath slots!

Magic Word

The family was at our house on Starr Street for some celebration many years ago. My brother's daughter Amanda was about three year's old and she asked for a drink. I looked at her and said "What's the magic word?" Amanda again asked for a drink and again I said "What's the magic word?" After a few seconds of ponder she looked up at me and said "Pepsi?"

Keeping Busy

The kids in the neighborhood always had something to do during all the different seasons. In spring we always looked forward to April 1st for that was the start of fishing season. Getting up early and off to Broadvines or Willard Brook or a small brook off of Turnpike Road that had native trout. Broadvines was our favorite area for it was very isolated with great trout fishing. One day I was fishing with two friends when the current increased and was rushing over the rocks (little did we know that someone had opened the dam at the pond that fed this brook). The fish were very excited and snapping at everything includes our fishing lines. We reeled one after another in over that next hour. We all got our limit (12) that day in record time. Broadvines also had a few pools that lead to us diving in and having a great swim during the warmer summer days. Spring was also the time when the sap from the Maple trees would be running. We would tap the trees and put a sleeve in the hole to collect the sap in buckets. My Aunt Lil would have a fire pit set up in her yard where the sap would be boiled down into Maple Syrup. It would take many hours to get very little syrup but we had fun doing it year after year. Spring also lead us to the pond in our back yard were nature was renewing itself. Catching polliwogs to trying to grab a turtle to fishing for a catfish to skipping stones were some of the things we did to stay busy. Spring was also the time to visit the initial tree area to climb the rocks and explore the caves. Jake Jacobson taught us how to make whistles from a small tree branch. This took patience and time but we always enjoyed the feeling of making something that worked. Spring also was the time for baseball. All the neighborhood boys would meet up in Ekola's field to have a game. The ball was generally taped and the bats had screws and tape to hold then together. The older kids would help the younger kids.
Summer was a time for sleep outs to Kick the Can. Each day the kids would gather at our house to play Kick the Can. Our house had many hiding places so it was a great location to play this game of hide and seek. The whole neighborhood would show up and it was a game played many times during our summer days.

Summer was spent at Willard Brook (pictured above) with friends and family. The Red Cross offered swimming lessons in this spring fed lake. The only truly organized sporting event would be Little League and Babe Ruth. In my teens years our back field was very active with our field cars. I bought a 1952 Chevy with a stick shift. The Johnson's had a car and Dennis Stone had a car. We raced hour after hour around the 1/2 mile field track. Sometimes we created so much dust you couldn't see the houses on the street. We slept out in our sleeping bags in the fields in the area as well as in the cabin my father built in the pine grove.

Fall was a time to go apple picking at Saari's Orchard. We would sneak into the apple orchard and fill up our shirts with juicy red apples. We also would have crab apple fights with long wooden tree poles. We would attach a crab apple from a tree in our yard to the 15 foot pole and then whip the apple a few hundred yards across the field at the other person.

Winter also lead to sliding or skating in our back yard. The pond was busy during the day as well as the night. The back fields have wonderful hills for sliding.

Cast of Characters

I thought I would like to talk about the individuals who made up my neighborhood on Wheeler Road. Wheeler Road started in Townsend, MA and ended at Robbins Farm.
The Ekola's - Willard and Hortense (Tess) had two children Walter and Norma. Norma was the oldest girl on the street and was our babysitter. The Ekola's built a new house on the land next door to their farm house.
The James family brought the Ekola farmhouse and they had three children who were all older than me. Peggy was in High school with her sister Judy? in 9 or 10 grade. Georgie was a little older than me. They lived there only a few years. One winter Georgie was sliding on a toboggan behind our house and he hit a jump and landed on our pond. He walked home but he broke his back. When a new family moved in they had very young children and didn't socialize with the rest of the street
Next house was orginally the Hyvarinens (Otto and ??? -Elma Aho's parents) but it was purchased by Tom and Lois Walker. They had three kids (Pam, Tom, and Scott) who were 10 to 15 years younger than me.
The next two houses were my family and the parents of Willard Ekola. Matti Ekola was a chicken farmer with his wife and they lived right across from our house.
My house consisted of my father (Robert) and my mother (Edna) and my sister (Donna - 3 years older than me) my brother Bobby (11 months older than me) and eventually another brother (Jeff - 11 years younger than me).
The next house was my mother's sister and her husband. Aunt Lil and Uncle Norman Flinkstrom had six children (Charlie, Sally, Carl, Joanie, Kenny and Nancy) and Aunt Lil was my favorite aunt (more will be posted later).
The Jacobson's were next (Carl "Jake" and Ann) and they had a daughter Karla.
The Johnson's and the Hazard's lived across from each other. Roy and May Johnson had two sons Lee and Wayne. Phillip and Rosemary Hazard had 4 children. (Michael, Karen, Peter and Brenda).
Next house was the second Johnson family (no relation) and Cliff and Lillian had five children. (Gerry, Bruce, Eileen, Dennis and Kevin).
The Horan's were up the road a bit with Al and Pauline and they had two children Dwight and Debbie.
The last house on the street belonged to the Stones (Mr. and Mrs. Robbins lived at the end of the road but didn't have much to do with the other people on the street.) Harry and Bernice Stone had three older children who no longer lived with them (Kenny, Don and Shirley) and Roger and Dennis grew up on Wheeler Road.
I was closest in age to Dennis Stone (my age) and Wayne Johnson and my cousin Carl. So many of my adventures ended up with them. However, the neighborhood was very close and the older children took care of the younger children. I will get back to individual post about most of these neighborhood friends as well as their parents.

L to R Bruce Johnson, Roger Stone, Bobby Hay, David Hay,Charlie Flinkstrom and Cookie.

Hay Bales

As mentioned earlier the Ekola's owned a large brick home with an attached barn. Every year they would have their fields cut and raked with a hay baler. They would store the bales in the upstairs loft in the barn. My friends and I would sneak into the barn by a small trap door in the back of the barn. Once inside we would go about building hay bale forts. We would generally make too much noise and Mrs. Ekola (Tess) would hear us and come into the barn area. We would always know when she was coming and we would dive into the different forts. After waiting for a while she would go back into her house.
Fort building was something that we did in a variety of ways. My parent's land was divided by the fields and an old growth forest of pine trees. The pine grove had built up a layer of matted pine needles that made an excellent covering for our forts. We would gather up the down tree limbs and would make a fort frame by tying the branches at a height of 6 feet between a few close pine trees. We then would carefully lift the matted pine needles by using our hands to slowly get pine needle patches that were about 2 feet square. We then would lay these mats on the framework. The finished fort was very dark inside with only a small crawl space for an entrance and it had a very earthy smell. We sometimes built multiple frames and the fort would have 2 or 3 rooms. Generally, a few of the older boys in the neighborhood would destroy our forts after a few days by trying to run up the side of the fort. We actually once built a fort that was so strong that we could run up its side without destroying it. Fort building kept us busy many summer days.

Initial Tree

Growing up on Wheeler Road in Ashby was very different from what kids do today. There was limited television (3 channels, black and white, 19 inch and it was not available like today) and only a few organized teams or groups (cub scouts) for kids. We were responsible for entertaining ourselves. Into the fields and woods we would go. The Ekola's owned a big farmhouse with fields and woods. There were also fields and woods on my parent's property. There was also several small ponds in our neighborhood. Broadvines was a brook that was in the woods and it was a great place to play. I will talk about all of these things in other blogs. The spot that I would like to describe was the Initial Tree. In the woods below the Ekola's farm are some rock formations with very small cavelike areas. There is an outcrop of rocks with about a 40-50 foot drop. The kids would climb this area many times. There is a tree (Popular-Beech??) that had bark with a smooth surface. The kids had carved their names and initials into this tree since the 30's or 40's. I think Walter Ekola's initials were the oldest on the tree. Walter was the oldest kid from the neighborhood and was already grown up and married when I was very young. Each neighborhood kid would eventually be old enough to use their pocket knife to put their initials into the bark. There were no low branches on this tree and it had many initials over the years. I haven't been there for 40 years but I am willing to bet the tree is still there. I am sure you could find DH on this favorite neighborhood tree.

Mrs. Murphy

Whenever I am frustrated having to wait for someone I always reflect about my wonderful memory of growing up and having Mrs. Murphy in my life. Mrs. Murphy worked for the Burnaps. In Ashby there were very few stores of any kind and Burnaps was a general store with groceries and a penny candy counter. In the other section of the building there was a soda fountain with stools, tables and benches. On Sunday my mother would bring my sister, brother and myself to the Unitarian Church for Sunday School. There was another church (Congregational) next to our church. I would end up being a member of both churches. Miss Wilder was the teacher of my class downstairs in the church. Quite often I was the only child to show up for the Sunday School lessons. I believe there were 18 kids signed up. Well, I often would balk when my mother said we were going to church. To convince me to go to church my mother would tell me that we could go to Burnaps after church and I could spend 10 cents at the penny candy counter. The candy counter was about six feet long with a glass plate front and it had several tiers with a variety of penny candies. Mrs. Murphy was in charge of the penny candy counter. Each Sunday I (0ther kids too) would spend ten minutes or more trying to pick out the candy that I wanted that day. I would pick something (squirrel nuts??) and then two minutes later tell Mrs. Murphy I had changed my mind. She would calmly take the Squirrel Nuts out of the bag and return them to their original location behind the glass that separated the kids from the candy. Mrs. Murphy was always kind with a smile and a willingness to wait for each child to make their selections. So today when I am waiting for a child to pick a book or a pencil in school and they seem to take forever, I always smile and say THANK YOU Mrs. Murphy.

The Dump

Today I brought our rubbish to the Norwalk Transfer Station. Going to a dump was a weekly occurance when I was young in the 50's and 60's. In Ashby there wasn't any pickup and you had to bring your rubbish to the local dump. My brother Bob and myself would often go with my father. We would load up his station wagon and off we would go. The town dump was at the end of Wheeler Road where we lived. Mr. Edwin Shepard was in charge of the dump when it was open. He would tell you where you could dump your rubbish. The neighborhood kids would visit the dump when it was closed to see if they could find anything of value. We also would throw rocks into the small pond at the base of the dump site. You might also see several rats running along in the rubbish. In the 50's they would burn the rubbish weekly to get rid of the paper waste. If you were outside our house you generally could tell when the dump was on fire. With the change in the laws about dumping waste the town had to closed the dump site. Today you would find houses built very close to the site. The town purchased land from Mr. Robbins who owned land all around the old dump site. The new dump site was within 1/2 mile of the old site but now they couldn't burn the dump and they would cover the rubbish with gravel every day. No more neighborhood play at the new site. Mr. Robbins was a farmer and his farm had a large barn and also had a slaughter house. The kids on the street always wondered what went on in the slaughter house. One day a bunch of us got the opportunity to go inside. We didn't stay long because of the site of butchered animals hanging as well as the smell!

First Day

Well, I am finally on my way. I have been promising myself for over a year that I would write about my life in a type of diary form and hopefully leaving a record for my kids and grandkids to understand a little about how my life was. My plan will be to write everyday a little about something that happened in my life. We will see how successful I will be!

Why did I title my blog One Small Degree. One degree in water temperature can means a whole world of difference. If water is at 211 degrees it is very hot. But you add One Small Degree and water begins to create steam which can runs huge machines that can climb or remove mountains. So, giving a little more of oneself can create wonderful things to happen.

First memory- I was probably about five years old and my mother was shopping in Fitchburg near the center of Main Street on Oliver Street near the fire station. Somehow, I lost my mother in the department store. So what should I do? I decided to go find my father. He was at work (Fitchburg Plumbing Supply Company) and it was at least a half mile down Main Street. Off I go to find Dad. I had to cross about five side streets as I walked down Main Street. After reaching Fitchburg Plumbing Supply my problem was I was on the opposite side of Main Street. I remember that I started to cry and a nice lady helped me across the street. I opened the door and quickly went up the stairs to the second floor to find my father in his office. My mother must have been frantic and my next memory is watching out the second floor window as a Police Cruiser came down Main Street with my Mother. We were finally reunited and I know that my Mother was happy to see me. She didn't even yell at me!