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Post by Village Idiot on Mar 2, 2015 21:11:19 GMT -5
Clarence was a great guy, and if you wanted to talk with him, you'd better have a seat.
"Hey, Clarence, how's it going?"
"Well, you know, Todd, I'll tell you what. Things are a little different up here in Ioway than they were in Kansas. Now don't get me wrong..." pauses for a minute, "Now Todd, I'm not saying a thing about the folks up here. Why, it's not that at all. These are good people up here, you know, and as good as anywhere else, and, you know, there's good people everywhere. Beverly and I have made a lot of good friends up here, and I'm tellin' ya, if we didn't, we wouldn't have stayed 68 years. But we did, and this is our home." Pauses. "What I'm tellin' ya, Todd, is that at this time of year I remember that spring comes a couple of weeks earlier down there than up here in Ioway, and in February I kinda miss that." Pauses. "Ya know Todd, an early spring means a lot to a feller, but that's the way it is this time of year, you know? Me and Beverly have been happy up here for a long time, and there's a lot of good folks around here, and I'm not saying anything bad about anybody at all. I just think we're all ready for spring."
That's a long way of saying I'm ready for spring. But when I have time in the morning to visit with the table full of old men at the gas station in the morning, I enjoy the conversations, and I always have. Kim says I'm an old man waiting to happen, and I often wonder if I shouldn't have been born 100 years earlier. Clarence's explanation of wanting spring might require a lot of listening, but I often wonder if we've taken something away from ourselves by not having time to sit there with a cup of coffee and give everyone a long time to talk, instead of just saying "hello" in passing to someone we know. RIP, Clarence.
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Post by drlj on Mar 2, 2015 21:12:53 GMT -5
I think Clarence had a really good friend. RIP Clarence.
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Post by dradtke on Mar 2, 2015 21:15:09 GMT -5
Well, all my sympathies to Clarence and his family, but Todd, I gotta say, Kim's wait is getting pretty short now.
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Post by coachdoc on Mar 2, 2015 21:19:45 GMT -5
Heart warming thread. And we all are a lot closer than we useta be. Better learn how to listen. Ayuh.
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Post by RickW on Mar 2, 2015 21:26:42 GMT -5
I tried to go to my gas station, and sit around drinking coffee, talking. First, any time I actually tried to talk to someone, they looked at me kind of weird, and walked out. Two, after about 10 minutes, the young lady behind the counter told me that I was not in a restaurant, it really was time for me to go, and if I didn't stop harrassing the customers, she'd phone the police.
I think I need to get old somewhere else.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 2, 2015 21:49:19 GMT -5
Steps of the liquor store worked for me in Vancouver.
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Post by Village Idiot on Mar 2, 2015 21:50:04 GMT -5
I can't tell if you're kidding or not, Rick, but the reality around here is that there's a group of early morning men, then a group of late afternoon men. I stop by the Farm Service to get beer on Friday afternoon, and it's always the same old joke:
"Is that enough to get you home, Todd?"
"It is if I drive home slow and take the gravel."
Laughter, then a table conversation.
"Well, the gravel isn't all that bad."
"No, it's not" I'll say. "Last Wednesday I heard the highway was drifting up with snow, so I took a chance on the gravel, and it was clear as a bell. I even called Kim and told her to go home that way."
Then the table guys talks amongst themselves.
"Yea, I don't know what it is about that highway, but the county guys can't keep up with the drifts."
"I hear that when they made that highway, they didn't make the ditches deep enough."
"I heard the same thing, but if you think about it, Johnson's and Greaser's have those bluffs, and the snow blows right over."
"Yea, I remember in '11, when Jim spray painted the height of his drift. He got it at 12 feet."
"Yea, but he did it in pink paint. Jim trying to tell us something?"
General laughter.
And on and on.
As much as I'd like to retire, this is what I'll be looking forward to.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 2, 2015 21:54:27 GMT -5
I tried to delete my earlier comment as the tone didn't sit quite right in the circumstances but the forum edit thing froze. Sorry about your pal Todd.
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Post by Rob Hanesworth on Mar 2, 2015 22:09:34 GMT -5
The Hardee's here in town has an "old man table." I've seen them there a lot of times but even after I retired I never tried to join them. They seem a little closed.
Todd, your friend seems like a nice guy. Sorry about his death.
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Post by Cosmic Wonder on Mar 2, 2015 22:11:02 GMT -5
Living in a moderately sized city, we don't have those conversations at the gas stations. If we tried that I think someone might call county mental health on you. But at the bus barn,where we are mostly all geezers, the conversations and coffe flows. I have a seat at the "table of love" a mockingly named large table of old timers who have all known each other for years, and everyone there has an equal opportunity to give and receive grief from the other members. For instance, after my skateboarding accident that bloodied my face and sent me to urgent care, I recieved an award. A twig, labeled, "Tony Hawk 0, Mother Nature 1". I had hit a twig and went flying which was ok, but the landing was not so good. Anyway, over the years we have lost a few members of the table of love, to cancer and other things. It's amazing how close you can come to people who share your day to day life, Todd, it sounds like you lost a good friend and a great neighbor.
Mike
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Post by drlj on Mar 2, 2015 22:30:24 GMT -5
The Hardee's here in town has an "old man table." Many of us have reached the stage that, no matter where we sit, it is the old man's table.
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Post by Village Idiot on Mar 2, 2015 22:50:01 GMT -5
I tried to delete my earlier comment as the tone didn't sit quite right in the circumstances but the forum edit thing froze. Sorry about your pal Todd. Oh, come one, James. You're a good guy, we all know that, and there was nothing to edit.
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Tamarack
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Post by Tamarack on Mar 2, 2015 23:31:38 GMT -5
RIP Clarence. Lots of good stories at those tables and benches.
John McCutcheon wrote a song about them entitled "Yesterday's Fools"
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Post by RickW on Mar 2, 2015 23:47:11 GMT -5
I can't tell if you're kidding or not, Rick, but the reality around here is that there's a group of early morning men, then a group of late afternoon men. I stop by the Farm Service to get beer on Friday afternoon, and it's always the same old joke: "Is that enough to get you home, Todd?" No, being facetious, Todd. I don't know about big cities in the USA, but around here, there's no such thing as a gas station like you're describing. They are there to go to and leave immediately. They don't have places to sit around and socialize. If I tried to do what I was joking about, I'm pretty sure that's the reaction I'd get. There are senior centers. MacDonalds often gives seniors cheap coffee and let them hang out. It's a kinder and more relaxed world that has places like that.
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Post by mnhermit on Mar 3, 2015 8:08:05 GMT -5
I know the table Todd, seen 'em all around in MN and now in the pacific north wet. There's got to be a place in the world for geezers to gather and complain about the younger generation and how winters aren't what they used to be and summers are hotter/cooler than when they were kids. Sorry to hear Clarence wont be around anymore, RIP.
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Post by fauxmaha on Mar 3, 2015 8:18:03 GMT -5
Good stuff, Todd.
"As long as old men sit n' talk about the weather. As long as old women sit n' talk about old men"
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Post by mnhermit on Mar 3, 2015 8:28:10 GMT -5
How many of the old man tables started as middle-age tables?
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Post by Marshall on Mar 3, 2015 8:39:07 GMT -5
Good stuff all around. I chuckled at James comment. I relate to Rick's. And I love Todd's.
Gas stations here are not gathering places. They've all changed to quick marts. Get your gas, a cup of joe, and a donut and you're gone. later in the day it's a hot dog and a soda; or a candybar and chips. But it's all grab-and-go. Nobody lingers.
The places i see seniors hang out are the McDOnald's. Get a breakfast tray and go hang out in the corner seating. Not so much Starbucks. That's not a seniors place, Too pricey, I suspect. It's all youngsters on their lap-tops.
But there's so much traffic there's no easy gathering places. Bars still work in the evening. Every bar has its regulars and its ocaissionals. But that breeds other social issues, like alcoholism.
. . . , just mental meandering. You made me think of some things.
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Post by patrick on Mar 3, 2015 8:40:23 GMT -5
Now you've gone and made me miss my grandfather.
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Dub
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Post by Dub on Mar 3, 2015 9:46:24 GMT -5
Todd, You write like a Norman Rockwell painting. I love this thread.
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