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Category: Family History (Page 2 of 3)

Who was who, where’s they go..

My short lived time as a short order cook…

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Back in 1969 I lost my draft deferment when I graduated from a local two year college. While I was waiting to get drafted, I realized that no one would hire you. Who wanted to invest training or whatever in some guy that would be in south east asia in 3 months. So when a friend who worked in a restaurant told me they needed a short order cook, I jumped at the chance.

What I knew about cooking at the time (and now) could be summed up in two words. Fish Sticks! I could cook anything at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Or so I thought.

Things went along kind of OK till the night of the Green Mayo. I didn’t realize at the time that mayonnaise had to be refrigerated and that green wasn’t it’s normal color. The next night the proverbial you know what hit the fan. About 25 people had called in wanting us to pay their hospital bills for food poisoning. Needless to say I got reamed pretty good.

About that time, My uncle Fred and aunt Boot dropped in to support their nephew and get something to eat. Pretty bad timing. The waitress told me they were there and wanted to see me, and see about what was best on the menu. I couldn’t take it. I confessed my abilities were a little less than stellar and convinced them to eat somewhere else.

They did… and I was drafted soon after that anyhow. Somehow I never got around to learning to cook. Its intricacies have always eluded me.

My wife is a pretty good cook though. Thank God!

greg

Some notes on Nellie…

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When Ma married Art Specht, he moved her out to the country. She was a city girl not used to a primitive existence. And since he was an over the road bus driver he left her to her own devices for days at a time. She had a stove, but winter just started and they had no stove pipe. She didn’t let that bother her though, the neighbor had a good stove pipe. He had a bakery in town and just came home for the summer. So Ma and Flo approriated the stove pipe. Things did good till summer came, and she had to put it back, but couldn’t get it back up so just left it on the porch. When the neighbor got back he hit the roof, but Ma’s baby was warm for the winter!

Marcy

Car Safety… a look back

modeltwreck

As a Saab Technician, I really get a feeling of being indestructable as I test drive new cars. The brakes are good… the belts hold you in and there are airbags all over the place. (At least 6 bags in the 9-3’s.) This is a false feeling as there are other things on the road that are killers, like semi-trucks.

But cars are a lot safer. My grandpa, Art Specht, got involved in a wreck in a Model-T Ford when he was younger. From what he says, a huge spike of plate glass cut up his face. There is a lot to be said for safety glass.

Seat belt are another thing. My first car, a 1952 Ford, had no belts, and when they started putting them in, I thought they were a nuisance. I only started using belts because I had a bad habit of driving absolutely as fast as I could go. I’m over all that now, however I wouldn’t think of crossing the street now without seat belts…

Then there are dual master cylinders. Up until 1968 or so cars had a single hydraulic circuit to feed all the brakes. This is fine till something happens, like a blown wheel cylinder or a failed seal in the master cylinder or a rusted out line. Then you have no brakes. (Well, you did have an emergency brake, but did you ever try to stop a car with one? Not to good.) I lost a Corvair like that, in order to stop I had to run into a building. (It was a Police station at that, but that’s another story)

Now cars have all these safety items, including stiffer cages. Not long ago a Saab Convertible rolled over a couple of times, and the roof didn’t collapse. And you could still open the doors. That would have never happened to a convertible made up to the seventies.

However, human nature being what it is, you would think this would lower the accident rate and whatever. Insurance companies used to give a discount to people whose cars had this safety equipment but they no longer do. They found out that people think they’re safe so they just drive faster…

greg

Boo Bear ready for Christmas!

Boo Bear ready for Christmas!

Boo Bear ready for Christmas!

Ashley’s baby Caiden is getting ready for Christmas… only 3 weeks to go. He’s in our living room today, Kathy and I are babysitting while Ashley and Joey are working. 6 months and a few days old, and he’s trying to get up on his feet already! Stay tuned for more exciting developements…!

greg

Grandpa almost got some new false teeth…

Back in the 60’s, Art Specht had some bought some ground in Missouri, specifically in the Ozark Mountains. Pa was a real rural guy. He grew up in some hard parts of Cincinnati (I think), but his heart was in the country. He liked growing his own food, and really liked organically growing things.

I remember when I was growing up, he kept getting a local newspaper from close to where the land he owned was. There were stories of the guy who had just shot a brown bear, and a picture of him standing next to his trophy. Lots of stories of encounters with rattlesnakes and the like. Pa loved that stuff.

I also remember his story of the country store. He said there was a big barrel in the corner filled with false teeth, twenty five cents each. You could root through that barrel till you found some that fit. He was all for it, till Ma found out that they were taken from people before they were buried.

Those Missourians were practical people!

greg

Jim Pfeiffer… Warrior


Big Jim in Pearl Harbor 1944

America does not have a warrior class like some past civilizations (like Greece or Rome), but in the last 60 years every able bodied man (and lately woman) has had a good chance to be one.

The day after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Big Jim and his buddies went down to the Federal Building to join up. Out of 6 of them they took two. Jim was 4F, and they wouldn’t take him. He went back to work at Wright Aeronautical, where his job exempted him from service anyway. Not taking no for an answer, he joined the Seabees in ’43, when they weren’t so picky…

He ended up with a cushy job at Pearl Harbor, running a supply depot for other Seabee units in the South Pacific. Jim and his buddies would continually steal the same jeep from the army, and repaint it in Navy colors and numbers, in order to have something to drive the nurses around in. Of course, they would eventually get caught and have to give it back.

He never had to shoot at the Japs, or get shot at by them, and I think that is a good thing. There are always too many guys that have seen too much. His service in the war, along with the rest of his generation, changed the world.

To me, the thing is, he didn’t have to go…
greg

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