100th annual-versary

In the early 50s, I don't think I was even 8 years old, my father took me to a coal mine.  We took his 1949 Plymouth coupe up Fairview Canyon to the top of Huntington Canyon.  The coal mine had a horse-drawn hopper; I was given a helmet & loaded in the hopper, then with my Dad beside the drover, we headed into the mine shaft.  At the end of the shaft were miners ready to load the hopper with coal from the mine face; while the drover hooked the horse up to the other end of the hopper.  My Dad & I had to walk back-out, up against the wall to avoid the hopper as it came back and forth. (Also there was a crew starting a side tunnel with a drill.)
We couldn't ride-out because at the mine opening, the horse with the drover behind would veer to the side after the drover had pulled a pin releasing the hopper straight-ahead to hit a bumper, dumping the coal into the top of a chute - a coal truck could then be loaded from the chute below.
I wonder about the hazards to the horse; for example, the pin not getting  pulled - a horse once spooked may never work in the mine again.

Addendum:   This blurb not a MyStory but my Dad's story ...  in coal towns like CastleGate, they raised canarys for use in the mines, but there were canarys that never sang - sometimes the canary in the coal mine did not die, it just never sang again.

James A. BELL

HapBday!-)

Six-Niner-Romeo

The soaring club's Schweizer training glider - in it I soloed and got my glider rating. In it I never soared with eagles, but flew ridge lift with hawks - even spooked  and "chased" a deer on the ridge top.   My last flight in 69R was a ride with a friend  - a quick aero-tow to the ridge & back seeking lift, but not a bump; however, upon landing we learned of the excitement - there had been a earthquake while we were up-in-the-air.  (Note:  the earthquake epicenter was just NNE of the airport where the powers-that-be later put Jordanelle dam & reservoir - no fault was going to stop them.)
 The soaring club also had a single-seat sailplane (Cherokee II RM) which tried to put the fear of flying in me. In a spin, a wing would suddenly drop, flip upside-down, then nose to ground, but neutralize controls and it would just as suddenly return to normal flight. Then there was once I went red-line airspeed in clear air turbulence - realization: I was more afraid of the parachute on my back (it simply served as the seat back cushion).

25th plus 10

Valentines Day 10 years ago was our 25th wedding anniversary. Previously Joelyn said she wanted to do something special for our 25th - celebration, vacation, etc.; I wasn't keen on the idea.
That Valentines Day morning, I took Joelyn to her regularly scheduled, on-going appointment with her oncologist who wasn't aware it was our anniversary. This was the day Dr Regina referred Joelyn to hospice ... mid-day hospice was at our house with a complete support system:  scheduling nursing & an aide and a hospital bed & oxygen was delivered. That day was special, all right; especially since I still cannot believe I was married for 25 years.

Oh O

This was Mom&Dad's home in Lehigh; for me 5th,6th&7th grades.  It was new when we moved-in with white wooden siding.  There were 4 rooms - in the front was the living room with the bedroom on the right & in back the kitchen area with a side entrance to the driveway on the left and a bathroom. Maybe there was a bedroom closet, too.  It had a coal-fired, pot-bellied stove which only heated the kitchen area.  One winter morn I went to Mom saying I couldn't make my bed; overnight condensation had formed, ran down & froze my bedding to the wall. SO Mom bought themselves an electric blanket and that's how I got their heating-pad.
What was really unique was we had a telephone - a rotary-dial, party-line with a real operator. The prefix was POrter 8 (ie dial 768). It was new to me.  SO, one of first times I answered it, I told an older lady she had misdialed & she says don't get smart with me & hung-up.  The phone rings again & I answer, this time the same old lady accuses me of answering the wrong phone.  The third time, I let Mom get it - apparently the lady was dialing a number with a zero and dialing the 6 which was the "O".  She didn't use the zero because that was the Operator.
By the way, an original trailer for Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder shows a rotary-dial with only MN on the number 6 because some would dial a 6 for the Operator.

School's out

Between 3rd & 4th grade: That summer I had a crew cut & a baseball cap ... one day passing thru the kitchen, Mom tells me to take a bath; of course, I probably questioned Why? But I prepared a tub & when Mom looked in on me she had to laugh cause I was still wearing my cap. (My neck was probably the high water mark.) As the summer passed the cap got dirty from handling & the headband tattered throwing it over model airplane props when they start backwards - this got fuel on it too. SO once again Mom tells me to take a bath, this time while gathering-up clothes Mom grabbed the cap too. I asked Where's my hat? But Mom threw it away where I would never find it.

School daze

In kindergarten nap time was to spread out a mat & lay quietly. I do not think anyone got any actual sleep. But once I fell asleep on the merry-go-round during afternoon recess. In a daze I heard kids call out after the bell & I saw the last few kids go in. When I awoke the merry-go-round had stopped & no one was around. I snuck back into school at nap time & nabbed by my teacher. I was stood in the corner for the remainder of nap time. Let this be a lesson:  Do not get caught sleeping during nap time.
PostScript:  I don't think kindergartens (& 1st grade) does a nap time anymore and it may be a afternoon kindergaten thing.