Abt 1965 Nice Tree, Where did you get it?

In the back of the house and across McCain road where we would often hunt, there were pine trees planted all nice in rows. One day, Doug and I took a hand saw and cut one of them down for our Christmas tree. Who would know where we got the tree? Get that meter out again to take a reading. Needless to say, Dad was not very happy with us destroying personal property.

Abt 1962 FIRE! Robot Cammando

One Christmas Doug and I received a super gift from Santa. It was Robot Commando, which we called Robby the Robot (Not sure why, but we have always called it Robby even though that was a different kind of robot). This was the coolest toy in the world. It had a motor that made the track drive move him forward and backward. He had a wire to a remote that if you yelled FIRE, it would open a hatch in his head and shoot a rocket. As the robot became more familiar, we realized just blowing silently into the remote would do the same thing with the rocket. Still a very advanced toy for the day we liven in. Check out this commercial advertising the toy. No wonder we thought it was so cool!

Abt 1964 Dar what flavor would you like?

When we were vacationing one time, back when cars only had 4/60 air conditioning, we stopped at a gas station for some pop and a bathroom break. We were big pop drinkers so we would get a mixed case that would last us a while. When we were about 20 minutes away from the gas station, we started to hand out our treat. Dave what kind of pop do you want? Orange. Doug what kind would you like? Grape. Dar, what kind would you like? DAR, what kind would you like? Hey, where is Dar? Oh no, we left her at the gas station. When we got back to the station the attendant was keeping her happy with a candy bar and her choice of pop. Check out this commercial for Nesbitts Orange. Sure brings back the memories.

Abt 1960 Stuck in the Basement

When I was five I decided to wander in the back fields in and around the barns. There was a home that burned down, but the basement was still intact. My brother Doug, friends and I used to play there together, so I went there to play. The home had a coal shoot that was fun to slide down. After sliding down, I realized that I was too short to climb out by myself. I was stuck. Let the screaming begin. About a half hour later mom came to my rescue me. Thank goodness for moms.

Abt 1964 Fun at the office

My dad had the coolest job. He worked himself up to Vice President of Engineering at Yard Man, Inc., a lawn mower manufacturing company. We liked to go to work with him on Saturday's when few were in the building. We would ride go carts out in the factory around all the equipment. The factory was about the size of a football field with many obstacles to avoid.

Another time we went to his office and were playing with his adding machine. This thing could multiply too. This was a bid deal. When you gave it the problem to solve, a bunch of arms would start swinging (like an old type writer) and the machine would make loud noised for a few minutes then print out the answer. One day Doug and I hit too many buttons too fast and it got all jammed up. I am sure it was expensive to fix and we were never invited to do math problems again.

Another time we were in the model shop on the factory floor. They had a pipe bender there. Dad would put a pipe in the machine and let Doug and me try to bend it around the mandrel. Of course we were unable to bend anything, so he would help. One time he bent it too far around the machine that it would not come off and we could not get it bent back to remove it. I am sure the model makers were not real happy when returning on Monday.

Abt 1962-70 Egor

As kids growing up, we loved to get scared out of our socks by playing "Egor". Dad (Rudy) would turn out most of the lights (sometimes referred to as “turn out the lights”), then would quick hide behind the couch or corner or stairs and stick his hand out real scary like and we would start to scream. He would then make his neck tight like Frankenstein and walk slowly after us, and we would scream more. Funny how we would ask to play over and over again until we wore him out.

Abt 1964 Erector Set

Each Christmas we would all beg to open one present early. Dad was not too keen on the idea, but Mom would always cave in. Each year the request would get earlier and earlier. One year, Doug and I begged and won. We got to pick the gift and asked for the heavy one that rattled. It was an erector set and was very cool. We spent all day building things, and then dad came home and came unglued because he knew we had opened a Christmas gift. After the fire was put out on our singed peach fuzz, we continued to build all kinds of fun stuff. It has a motor, batteries, wheels and all kinds of fun stuff.