Home to Ohio.....briefly

Here we are in the great state of Ohio where I was born and reared and could not wait to leave.  I personally felt that there had to be more to life than work, work and more work!  Remember I’m half German.

I tell friends that I started working at seven years old and they ask me what I was doing.  Well, I started picking strawberries for Virgil Yeager.  The strawberries had to be ready to go to the market by noon so we started at 6:00 AM!  We got paid 50 cents for a carrier—that would be eight quarts.  In the afternoon we hoed the next year’s crop to keep the weeds at bay or we also picked raspberries.

I had a lawn mowing route when I was 11 years old and walked with the mower—sometimes three miles to get to the lawn!  I remember these were friggin’ big yards and if I got paid $10.00—was a lot—because I didn’t get paid that much!  Linda also had her own lawn mowing route.  I pointed out to Patricia a couple of the lawns I used to mow.  While I was busting my buns mowing lawns, she was busy in England reading and getting smart!

Trust me—our upbringings could not be more dissimilar.

When we weren’t picking berries, hoeing or mowing, we had to help at home with our own garden.  We were self sustaining because we grew all of our vegetables, got our milk, some meat, butter and cheese from Grandma and Grandpa.

My father decided when I was 11 and Linda was 12 that he (and therefore the rest of us) would go into a business of making apple crates.  He thought we had too much time on our hands I guess.  This wasn’t a “family discussion” it was a “you will” make apple crates.   Linda and I had to make 25 pairs of ends each day after school.  He had welded the frames, ordered the wood, sawed the wood and we made the “ends.”  Irmgard (stepmother) nailed the rest of the crate together.   To this day I can use a hammer and nail quite well.   

My paternal Grandma and Grandpa lived about seven miles away and had a farm that had about 16 acres.  They went to market with their produce and my Grandma sold eggs and raised and butchered chickens.  She also made the most incredible chicken noodle soup with homemade noodles!  The chickens were not caged and were fed food that made the egg taste incredible and the yolk was orange—not yellow.  There is nothing like the flavor of those eggs!

My Grandpa plowed with draft horses, butchered hogs in October, smoked bacon and meat, milked the cows and went to market every Saturday.  I remember that they also had a “route” and had regular customers that they delivered things to.  I used to love going to the market with them because it was something different and fun because I got to go to “the city” (Youngstown)

I have very fond memories of my Grandma because she had to take care of us when our mother was killed in a car accident.  I was seven and Linda was eight and our brother was a baby.  It was clearly a defining moment in all of our lives.

Linda says that it was one of the best years of her life when we lived with Grandma.  That year we lived with Grandma we both went to Canfield school.  It was a much bigger school and we had to take a school bus.  Before, we walked to school and could come home for lunch.  Grandad and Grandma's house burned down later (no-one was hurt) but everything was destroyed except the barn.  So of course we took pictures of the barn that still exists.

It’s funny—or maybe not—but Linda remembers different things than I do about our early years.  She was always willing to do what she was told to do without question—me—not so much!  I got into a whole lot more trouble than she ever did and I’m sure those of you who know me well do not find this surprising. 

We were brought up in the era of kids are to be seen—not heard; you ate what was put on the dinner table at 4:30 when your father came home from work.  After dinner Linda always washed the dishes and I always dried the dishes!  Don’t ask me why.  Also, dinner was called supper. 

I spent my entire life in Ohio outside.   From the moment I got up to when I went to bed, I was always outside.  My mode of transportation was mostly my bicycle.  I rode the hell out of my bike.  That’s something that has stayed with me too I love riding bikes—with motors or bicycles.  That remains with me today too.  I prefer to be outside.

Linda got a bike for her 5^th birthday and it was taking her way too long to learn how to ride it so I had to take over.  She won’t admit that I learned to ride before she did.  My sister’s personality is so different from mine—Patricia often says that she thinks I was adopted.

The expectation was that you grow up in Ohio; you get married, have children, stay there and die there.  I remember as early as 12, that that was not going to be my life.  I knew there had to be more to life than what existed in Ohio and I was going to make sure I figured a way to get out of there.

The main reason for this visit was to check in on my sister who has some major medical problems.  We basically wanted to check in on her and see how she was doing and time it with our visit to Chicago.

We flew into Pittsburgh, which is the closest major airport to where we were going.  My sister, Linda and her husband, Raymond picked us up and we headed off for an hour trip to get to her house in Greenford. 

Pittsburgh Airport is relatively new and quite large.  I remember before they built the new airport that you would basically step out onto the street after you had picked up your bags.  They must have had a few travelers killed that didn’t know that when you exited the airport you were immediately on the road but now there’s a shuttle from the terminal to the baggage claim and it’s a state-of-the-art airport.

We didn’t arrive at Linda’s house until late in the evening so it was off to bed after greeting her huge collie dog named, Sonny.  He’s the biggest collie I’ve ever seen and very sweet.

My sister has a three-story house that she’s lived in her entire married life.  She raised her four children there and they are all living close by and have their own families.  Linda’s home also abuts our father’s property.  Linda has approximately 2-1/2 acres and my father has about 1-1/2 acres.  Mowing the lawn takes on a whole new meaning. Raymond’s father’s property also abuts their property and it is a farm that has approximately 60 acres, an old farmhouse and a barn.  It has been sold to a local mogul and he’s planted soybeans to be sold for feed for cattle.  Below is the house I grew up in and Raymond mowing the back 2 acres.

Linda’s house is directly across the street from what was the Greenford High School and where we both went to school for our entire 12 years of education.  The school has apparently also been sold to the same local mogul who bought Ray’s family farm.

The town has not changed much since I lived there.  People are content—I guess—to stay there, raise their family and select their funeral home, cemetery and pay for their burial plot in advance!  Linda told me where she and Ray will be buried and also where my father and stepmother will be buried.

Their day starts by meeting their friends at Mickey D’s in Salem (for the rest of us that would be McDonalds).  They meet from about 8:30 and chit chat till around 9:30 or 10:00 and then they head home or go on to a doctor’s appointment or run other errands.  We never joined them because it was too early in the morning, I am not a Mickey D fan and I don’t know her friends and didn’t feel I could participate in stimulating conversation so early.

We had a great day at one of the local farms that was having a crafts fair and all the fabulous fresh produce was hard to resist - so I didn't.

Linda was very generous with her car and we had access to a cute little VW bug during our visit.  Shortly after our visit, Ray totaled the VW by going into a ditch.  It didn’t help his knees any and now he has an infection in one leg and possibly the other.  He has a bad ticker and arthritis so he didn’t really help his health situation.

We ate well in Ohio and I did the cooking except for the night Patricia made one of her  (and Linda’s)

favorite meals—shepherd’s pie.  We lighten it up with half turkey meat and the other half beef.  We all enjoyed it. 

Corn was in season and it is truly the tastiest corn you will ever eat.  Linda had a lot of tomatoes too so I made some salsa and we ate tomatoes every day.  We drove around the countryside quite a bit and I appreciated for the first time the beauty of the rolling hills, the huge barns, all the great produce ready to pick and, here's a surprise, the slow pace !!!    The people were also incredibly friendly.

We took an excursion one day and went to Geneva on the Lake.  We had a great lunch at the Firehouse on the lake which would be Lake Erie.  It’s in Ashtabula County and the county is known for having the most covered bridges in Ohio.  We picked up a map and went on a mission to find them.  We managed to see about four of them and they all have a different character but are all in great shape and in fact many of them have been rebuilt and will last into the next century and beyond.

We also saw signs for a winery so out of curiosity we stopped.  The setting and the building were beautiful; however, the wine was underdeveloped and flavorless.   California has no reason to be concerned!

After four days in Ohio we packed up and Linda and Ray took us back to Pittsburgh Airport and we headed on to Chicago.  I think our visit was a pick me up for my sister and at least I hope so.   She’s looking forward to coming to Florida to visit us to get out of the Ohio winter weather so I think we can arrange that.