From Day 0 - Part Four

Ah, but I am getting ahead of myself yet again.

Sometime just before my first sister was born, I was treating my Dad's John Deere Model A tractor as if it were a jungle-gym. Oh, the glories I could sing of; balancing on those huge tires; bouncing on the seat; sitting on the very front top of the radiator; swinging upside down from the steering wheel... Well, maybe not that last one. While attempting this trick, my leg slipped and gravity had its way with me. While plummeting to the ground, my head had a chance encounter with the flywheel cover.

Some people believe this is one of the primary causes I am the way I am. Honestly, I believe a more probable cause would the head trauma suffered from running full-steam into a very stationary cottonwood tree. But, again, getting ahead of myself.

The man you see on the right caused a great deal of trauma in my childhood. Living in a rural area does not lend itself to a plethora of television stations, especially in the early 70's. Our black & white television could receive channels 4, 6, 8 and 12; CBS, NBC, ABC and PBS respectfully.

Mornings when there was no school were spent doing early morning chores, watching Sesame Street at 8, Captain Kangaroo at 9, and then off to some tomfoolery out of the house.

What to my horror when Captain Kangaroo... The CAPTAIN!!!! How??? Why????!?!?! The Captain was preempted for the Watergate hearings!!! OK, I am over it...

My kindergarten through sixth grade was spent at this little school in rural Illinois, just west of Eliza, Illinois.

Since my kindergarten class was only a half day, the dozen or so five year old bundles of energy were driven home on a short little panel van, alternatively in a little yellow bus.

Yes, I rode the short bus.

This is where I discovered girls.
This is where I discovered that I was not cut from the normal skein of cloth most others are.
This is where I discovered that I was a budding geek.
This is where I met my first girlfriend.
This is where I met a very good friend that died in a motorcycle accident.
This is where I changed a thousand lives.
This is where I met my lover.

Nice cliff-hanger, eh?