Do the Right Thing

There are times in your life when you have to stand up for what you think is right. We were trying to sell our first home while buying a new home in Townsend. The buyer of our home ended up delaying the purchase while we had to go through with the Townsend sale. This left us in a difficult position of owning two homes. We had to get a temporary bridge loan to cover the cost. It took two weeks to settle the sale of our first home and payback the bridge loan. We paid back the loan and the bank said we owed more on the interest because we were late. We had paid the loan back at 3 pm on a Friday. The bank claimed that because we paid after 2pm the loan was paid back on the next day and therefore we owed interest on that day of about $120.00. I went to the bank with our agreement. which had no stipulation about a 2pm payment. The agreement stated that the loan had to be paid back by Friday. After about 20 minutes the bank manager agreed with my viewpoint and he eliminated the extra charge. The manager was not happy with us but what is right is right.

Life in the 50's

I was thinking about how life has changed since I was a youngster. I remember walking with my mother on Main Street in Fitchburg and going into Woolworth's Five and Ten. This store was always fun because it had a counter with stools where you could get a sandwich or a frappe. I remember seeing Freddy Place deliver ice to the stores on Main Street. Freddy the Iceman was about 5' tall and he would carry large chunks of ice to the store for that was how they keep things cold. My mother would walk us down to Trap Falls and we would pick up a bus to drive to Fitchburg. There was less need for a car because many products were delivered to the home. We had bread men, milkmen as well as a man from Barney Rosen who would bring clothes to your house. On Saturdays we would sometimes go to the movies in Fitchburg. There were several movie houses but the Fitchburg Theatre and the Saxon were generally the places we would use. The movies cost about 50 cents and you could watch the movie again for free because they didn't ask you to leave at the end of the movie. When I was about 12 I remember that the Saturday movie was generally a science fiction with titles like The Brain Eaters or The Creature From the Black Lagoon. I had many nightmares over this last movie.
Television was black and white with screens about 20 inches. Color TV didn't begin until about 1960 and in the beginning there were very few color shows other than Bonanza or Walt Disney. TV only had three channels and it wasn't on 24 hours a day. I remember the first TV I ever saw was in Townsend while visiting one of my mother's friends. The screen was about 5 inches and it was round. The images on the screen was very fuzzy with shadows. The wonder of it all!

My favorite Christmas was waking up and seeing a Silver 3 speed Schwinn bicycle in our living room. There were two of them for my brother Bobby also received one.

A Son's Hero

My father was a very difficult man to understand. He cared but had a hard time showing it. As a youngster he coached me in Little League as well as organizing winter basketball. He attended all of my sporting events as a youngster as well as my high school basketball games. He didn't attend my high school or college graduation. He didn't attend my wedding. I could never understand why but I accepted him for who he was. I had many conversations with him about many different topics. I always enjoyed our conversations and it is one of my greatest losses in not being able to talk to him. My father's life was shaped by growing up in the Great Depression as well as being a soldier in World War II. He didn't tell us any war stories even when we asked him about his Purple Heart. We knew that he had shrapnel in his face and body. We knew that he was blind for a while but he always said he received the medal because he cut his hand on a beer can. When the book The Greatest Generation came out I read it and I had a conversation with him. My father was in his late 70's and it was the first time he talked to me about the war. He stated that his group was trapped in a forest near Germany and they were running out of ammunition. My father's body and voice changed as he told the story and it was obvious that he was reliving the experience. Imagine a 23 year old knowing that he would soon be dead. The enemy was closing in and they had no chance. My father was physically shaking in telling that a P51 Mustang arrived and opened up a path for the soldiers to escape.
My father received the Purple Heart, a Bronze Star and he told a story that his Lieutenant recommended him for the Silver Star but my father refused for he felt that another soldier was more worthy of that medal. In reading about his 5th Division it was one of the most decorated divisions because of all of the action they saw. They were the first division to arrive at the border of Germany. My father told me that the were not allowed to proceed into Germany because the higher ups wanted General Montgomery's men to be first so my father's group waited for the British to arrive.
My father was my hero for I always knew that he would be there for me if I needed him. He didn't express his love by verbalizing it but it was always known by me that he did love his family.
When my father's valve near his heart started to fail he was rushed to the hospital. I was called and arrived at the hospital around noon. The valve was leaking fluid into his abdomen and he was being given morphine to help with the pain. I knew that his time was short and I decided to stay with him overnight. All of my siblings and family came during the day and then my father and me were alone. He had requested that the morphine be stopped around 5 pm. We talked a little and then he was tired and he fell asleep. I too fell asleep but I was awakened by a noise at 3 am. It was the last breath of my father as he died very peacefully. I whispered to him how much I loved him. I notified the nurse and then went to his room for my good bye. I called my brothers and sister to tell them about his passing. I had made a decision to drive to my family's home to tell my mother. As I arrived and entered the living room my mother knew what had happened. Then the family dog looked up to the ceiling area near the door to the bedroom and started to bark. A very strange feeling came over me and I felt as if dad was checking up on the love of his life.

212 The Extra Degree

Why did I title this blog as 212 The Extra Degree. I believe that each and everyone of us can always give a little more or do a little better. The analogy comes from the difference between 211 degrees or 212 degrees. Heating water to 211 degrees gives you hot water. Simply heating that water one more extra degree changes the water to steam. Capturing that steam in an engine powers railroad cars or powers a steam shovel that can move mountains. If each and everyone of us gives a little more will we be able to move our mountain? I think so!

So You Are Not Catholic!

I attended Notre Dame High School for grades 9 thru 11. There were four classes at each grade level. The classes were ability grouped and I was in the second group. Smart but not brilliant!! I was one of about six non Catholics to attend this school. All Catholic students had to take religion and the six students stayed in the class but used it as a study each day. Brother Oliver was the principal and at report card time he would go into each class and pass out the report cards to each student. When I was handed my report card I simply said "Thank you, Brother Oliver." After Brother Oliver left the teacher Brother John Charles was extremely upset. He stated how disappointed he was in what took place in the classroom. It seems that I was the only student to say Thank You and the Brother could not understand why the non Catholic seemed to have manners. I guess I should thank my mother for bringing me up right!

Sites I Like

speedcine.com Many free movies can be found on this site. Some of the sites you have to register.
Larry Ferlazzo Websites- google it- it has many excellent educational sites.
sling.com - movie site
veoh.com   - no commercials
wimp.com  - short videos
The Teacher List
more to follow....

"Basketball doesn't build character it reveals it"

"Basketball doesn't build character it reveals it" Author Unknown

There were 27 seniors at Ashby High. Twenty  girls and 7 boys. Many towns in the region had regionalized but Ashby held out. I went out for the basketball team which had not won a game in at least 2 years. It was fairly understandable when you have a small school going against much larger schools. One of my life lessons was learned in a game where Narragansett Regional High School defeated us in our gym by 103 to 27. NRHS had an outstanding team (league champions) that year and put in their first team to get to 100 points. As a 18 year old I recognized that their victory was hollow in that one doesn't have to embarrass your opponent. As a coach later in life I always tried to win but never embarrass an opponent.
We nearly won a game against Bromfield Academy in Harvard. We loss by a few points but we had a home game against them later in the year. We continued to lose big to nearly every team. Dick Mulligan, Lunenburg HS coach, brought his B Team to play us and it was a close game but we lost. I was impressed with Mr. Mulligan and his view that sports involves good sportsmanship towards your opponent.
Finally, we had Bromfield Academy at home. We finally won a game after over 2 years of losing. I personally had my best game of the year in scoring 20 points. A wonderful feeling for a small high school. Also there was a pretty little cheerleader that I started to notice who always did my cheer.