Forward
Before I
start this project, I want it made perfectly clear that I am not a writer or a
genius when it comes to writing. There
is no format to this and I am using a standard dictionary to correct my
spelling, so do not start analyzing this half way through. My thoughts jump from paragraph to paragraph
with no rhyme or reason. I tried to keep
the chronology of it intact however. The
entire purpose of this is to get my thoughts and experiences down on paper
before I forget things.
Just a
note, I started this on September 17, 1999 and worked on it on and off whenever
I got the chance or the computer to do so.
 |
| Me in Saudia Arabia on jobsite.......24 years old |
Jim Koch
I was
born in Burlington Iowa although I do not have memory of that
wonderful sounding place. Mom and dad
were coming back from Alaska from a trip or
something and on the way, back I popped out right on the Mississippi
River... You know...The Old Man, the Mighty Miss’s sip, Old Miss, Old Man
River, Yadda Yadda Yadda.
OK, so I
was born...and at a very early age, I might say. After that, total blank until...
My earliest memory I would have to say was in Woodland Park Colorado
where we lived for a short time. I was
trying to fill a water gun in the house.
My sister Julie was outside with one of her friends pulling the legs off
“Daddy long-legs” and I wanted to squirt them while they wiggled around. I guess the faucet inside was not my mom’s
area of choice and when she told me to go outside, I said what was on my mind
with a very colorful word inserted in the sentence. Soap has a taste you never forget. Who cares what brand it was? The bar was huge and scraped on my
teeth. I also remember Julie stepping
on a nail across the road from the house and a Shelton pony we had in the backyard. We got rid of it after it bucked Julie off on
day. What a dork; Julie that is; not the
horse.
We moved to Colorado Springs where dad was building a house in a
sub-division called Holland
Park. The house was at 1007 Ellstone St. It had a basement with
a wet bar that had all the fixin’s for any kind of ice cream concoction you
could think of. It also had a huge
backyard with a rock garden and fishpond that overlooked the foothills and the
notorious “Gullywasher”. The Gullywasher
was an area out by the cliffs that turned into a huge river every time it
rained. The water came down the pasture
area to the right of the cliffs and shot right off the edge. After time, the water dug a perfectly cool
canyon in the cliff. This was prime
territory for playing with your cars and certain death according to every
mother on the block. Either we were
going to be washed away and drowned or a wall was going to cave in on us. Please, the walls could not have been more
than 30 feet high and only crumbled a little when the wind blew. I spent a lot of time down there.
The neighborhood was just in
the process of being developed so there weren’t too many families around
yet. To help pass the summer, dad bought
everybody in the family dirt bikes. Mine
was a yellow Honda 50 trail bike and was the coolest thing in town. Julie also had a 50 but it was red. Mom and dad both had Honda trail 70’s. We used to take them out to the foothills
everyday and ride. Our house was right
on the edge of the development so it was easy to get to the field. Just open the backyard fence gate and off you
went. I’m not quite sure how old I was
at the time. I started first grade at Jackson Elementary School so I had to be at
least six years old.
Dad had a big plumbing business in Colorado Springs named
Jet Plumbing and Heating. It was the
biggest and busiest place around. I used
to go to the shop with him in the summer and hang around playing out in the
shop or the yard. He had a soda machine
in the office area that had a lid on top you had to open to get to the
bottles. After you put money in, you
could grab the top of a bottle and thread it through a little maze to the end
that had a flap door for the bottle to go through. If you didn’t put in your money, the door
wouldn’t open. I always cheated and used
the key that opened the side of the machine and grabbed them from underneath
free. I had a thing for Nehi orange
soda.
Sometimes in the morning, I would
tag along with dad on the job sites. We
always had to make our first stop at the “Wrangler” diner. Here dad would get with different people such
as contractors or employees and plan out the day. I always got the pancakes and yet another
soda. Hey, I was with the big boy’s
now. During the rest of the day, I would
munch on health food such as peanuts and soda.
The best way to drink a soda is to first pick the right soda. If you were planning to dine on peanuts also,
you had to use Pepsi or Coke from the bottle.
Once you made your selection from the above, you would take a small bag
of the finest Planters Peanuts available and put them into the bottle of
soda. The more fizz the better. There’s nothing like a mouthful of peanuts and
Pepsi swishing and crunching at the same time.
This saved time to since you were eating and drinking at the same
time. I was very efficient even back
then. One day we went to a job site that
had a bunch of scaffolding in a large bay area.
Of course me without my shoes.
Dad kept telling me to put my shoes on because of the nails lying
around. I found my way up on scaffolding
and was minding my own business when dad told me to jump down because we were
leaving. Of course, I jumped…. Right on
a big 6-penny nail. That puppy went
clean through my foot between my big toe and second toe about 3 inches
back. Funny thing is it only hurt real
bad for a few minutes and then went numb.
Well, during all of the screaming, dad was trying to pull it back out but
it wouldn’t move. After the foot went
numb though, he was able to get a pair of pliers on it and give it a good
tug. Didn’t hurt a bit. What hurt was the tetanus shot I had to get
after that. I swear the needle had a
square tip and was as big as a Q-tip.
No comments:
Post a Comment