Monday, March 23, 2009

More Moving #14

We were lucky to have rented a house before we moved to Grand Haven, Wayne s teacher knew the people. What happened is the woman that owned the house passed away and left the home to her son. He did not want it because he lived and worked in the upper part of Michigan, about two hundred miles away. Derk was the son, he wanted us to take all the furniture, which was better than mine, so I told him yes.

Wayne s new job was with Gardner-Denver Corporation, it had two other companies in the United States. I went to work at Michigan Plastic Company, I also worked for them for awhile when we lived in Muskegon on Glade Street. I quit because I could not keep a sitter, they did not like the hours or wanted more hours. I took second shift, the boys would only be by themselves two hours, Doug was 12 and Ron 9 years old, thank goodness nothing ever happened, the year was 1972.

Outside of my husband having back surgery, nothing eventful happened at this house but we did have a lot of fun. In 1973 we bought a house on Robbins Road, the kids liked it a lot, Doug was going into Jr. High, so the school was by us and Ron did not like to change schools, until he found out he could have his friends over anytime. The house had a big woods out back and they explored to their hearts content. Ron climbed pretty high up in a tree and a branch broke, he cut his lip on the way down and broke his left arm, I will put a photo of this on my photos. We had a lot of parties, actually the girls at the shop decided to have a party every Friday, taking turns at each of our homes, this idea only lasted about a year, we were not heavy drinkers like them.

We lived here about three years and had many a fond memories. We had purchased a camper that slept six, we went camping almost every weekend, our favorite camp site was Whiskey Creek, no the creek was not flowing with whiskey, there use to be a distillery up around those parts years ago, there was a 1800 home on the property, the only building still left of the homestead, it still had the old brass bed upstairs, still in good shape. I started a new hobby, it was looking for old antique bottles, the ones you find in old dump sites, we did alright and accumulated a lot. We would pack a big lunch on weekends and all of us would go look for a dump to dig, the boy's took their BB guns and shot the bottles we did not want. We always did a lot with the kids, they remember the trips we took and we set around to this day reminiscing about those times. Doug always tells us how thankful he was for all the memories we made for them while they were growing up., he said that was the best time we ever had.

Gardner Denver sent out a notice they were moving to New Jersey and the employees that wanted to go with the company would still have a job, only a certain percent went, because you had to find your own place and move yourself. Wayne started looking for a job immediately, even though he really liked to work for this company, we could not afford this move. Once again we lost the house and found a two bedroom duplex. One day Doug had left for work, when all of a sudden he came back, he found a newborn baby squirrel lying in the road, he brought it home. He said he almost ran over it with his car (my car), it looked so helpless and blood was coming out of its nose, probably when it hit the road.

We raised that baby squirrel, at first in a bird cage, on a heating pad with towels on top. Feeding him was a real problem, I thought I would choke him on milk, I made up the same milk formula that I nursed my kids on. When he got bigger my husband built a big cage for him, we put a small piece of fire wood in the cage so he could climb on it and some med. size branches to crawl up. I wanted him to know the smell of the outside, this is for when we released him, because outside does not smell of rugs. I kept fresh dirt in the pan every day and you won't believe this he went to the bathroom in it, every time we let him run the house he would head for that pan to do his business, tell me squirrels are dumb, he was a grey squirrel, with white belly.

22 comments:

Gigi Ann said...

Oh my! another move?

Gigi Ann said...

Now to finish my comment. My husband interrupted me and I was just starting my comment. I know what it is like raising children, there is always one with a broken bone somewhere along the way. And the story about the squirrel is just so sweet. I guess squirrels must keep neat, and tidy homes, up there in their tree houses. ;)

I also enjoyed reading about the little town in your post #13.

Have a great week.

Ann

Renie Burghardt said...

I'm enjoying the progression of your story, Margaret. The camping and looking for old bottles must have been fun, since your son still has nice memories of those times. And what fun to raise a baby squirrel. They can get quite tame. I know from personal experience.

Have a great rest of the day.

Renie

Patty said...

We never did the camping thing, but my sister and her family loved it. They took off on Friday evenings as soon as my brother-in-law got home and went about 20 miles away to camp. Then they would get everything packed up and take off for church on Sunday mornings and then go on back home. I personally could never under stand what she liked about it. It just seemed like so much extra work on her part. Plus I wasn't much of an out doors person. Roughing it would be sleeping with my bedroom window open. LOL

Sounds like you, hubby and the boys has some nice times. And it does make for fond memories. Hope you're having a good week.

RHYTHM AND RHYME said...

You ceertainly like moving......any plans on moving in the future? I used to love to move but these days it seems very stressful.
Have a nice day.

Yvonne.

Judy said...

You all moved more than anyone I know. It is amazing that you raised the squirrel and he used the box for a bathroom. I have hundreds of them around here. I always have to go back and read what I have missed on your blog so I can stay up to date.

Dog_geek said...

Awwww, I loved reading about you raising the baby squirrel - how sweet for Doug to save it and turn around to bring it home.

We had a camper when I was growing up - some of my favorite childhood memories are of our family camping trips.

The Furry Kids said...

We're finally all caught up on your bloggie, Miss Margaret. :) We're really enjoying the stories.

The Furry Kids & their The Mom

My Littel Island said...

Thanks girl this lived me upp i have so sick for 2 wk u ar doing a beautiful job on you storry it is raining so this just hit the spot thanks LOA

Becky said...

Thanks again Margaret for sharing your memories with us. I love reading about your adventures.
B.

Denise said...

MOVE is a 4 letter word to me........ I was an Air Force brat and I k now what it is like to move. Then I married an Air Force man and moved another 10 years.........Mercy.........

I love your stories and the squirrels is a funny one all those memories......... AND I love love love to go camping!

Thanks for coming by and being faithful while I have been taking care of sick parents and sick me! I am blessed to have so many wonderful friends.......

caspersmom said...

We tried to go camping with our kids a few times. I used to when I was a kid and thought it would be good for our kids to experience. One thing though, Frank, my husband, did not like camping so we got a camper. He didn't complain as bad. Before we got the camper we were going to take a camping trip for two weeks. When we got to Carlsbad caverns it was so blasted it hot we did not want to stay in a tent. Got a motel. When we got to the Grand Canyon we camped one night and rained and more rain was coming so we took the tent down when it dried. So on to Zion and Bruce Canyons. They were having flash floods. Got a motel. Well, our two week vacation ended in one week. Ran out of money eating out and motels. It was something to remember though.

The Cat Realm said...

Thank you so much for stepping by! It is so wonderful of you to tell all these stories - this way conserving them forever!

Mary Isabella and Kiley too! said...

I am caught up with the stories. I love each one of them. You are a very good story teller. Waiting until next time...m..

Merle said...

Dear Margaret ~~ Another good story, but another move for the family. Thanks for your e mail. I
had intended to post tonight, but I have had a few callers. I hope your weather warms up and you just have to be patient. Spring is very near now.
Take care, my friend, Love, Merle.

Anonymous said...

Ahhhh....now we see where the title "Old Digger" may have come from. :) My son fell out of tree too when he was 11 yrs. old. He and his friends were building a fort. I will never forget that as long as I live. He was in the hospital for a week. Have a great weekend Margaret.

Sandcastle Momma said...

I am loving your stories. It's wonderful that your sons have so many great memories of their childhood. It really proves that even when times are hard that you can still have so much love and happiness. Can't wait for the next installment!

Margaret Cloud said...

Thank all you friends for coming by and commenting.

DeniseinVA said...

That's such an interesting post Margaret. They all are. I do love reading them. Thank you so much for sharing your life with us.

Femin Susan said...

I'm enjoying the progression of your story..... Thanks for sharing.....

Lilly said...

Thanks for another interesting instalment Margaret. You did move a lot didnt you which is something you had to do. It certainly made you able to deal with the hand life dealt you. This would make a great book you know.

Margaret Cloud said...

Thank everyone for being so loyal to my stories, I am trying to wrap it up by next week.

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