| 02/10/09 09:10 AM |
#268
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Jacob Fishman
Roy:
Do you remember the advertising jingle for Green Acres that was on the radio in the late 60s or 70s? It went "Green Acres in Valley Stream . . . "
Last summer I was at the Grand Canyon-North Rim (or maybe it was the south, it was the side with only one hotel, not 50). There was a convention of astronomers when I was there and they set up incredible telescopes for all to use each night. They could locate a planetary body by computer-gps, and there it was. Looking up at the dark sky you could see more stars, etc. then imaginable, but with the telescope, it was truly amazing. If this equipment was available while I was at college, the acid freaks would not have signed up for the astronomy class every semester in order to lie down on the floor, gaze at the cieling and moan at the weekly show in the planetarium. What a country!
Billy, you said you went camping out west with someone we went to HS with who has property out there. I cannot remem his name, but he lives in the Washington DC area. A friend of his is Peter Schwartz, who lived 2 houses away from Loretta Zullo on Heathcote Rd. (Loretta was certainly who the Beatles had in mind when they mentioned "Sweet Loretta Zullo" in Get back-thank you Sabina for reminding me). In any event, I would like to track Peter down and that guy could help me. He is one of the missing "Bruce and Roy" 300. Remember the Spartans vs. Xerzes-there were 300 of them too. (Sweet) Loretta will remeber Peter, he and I (or was it me and him) were not nice to her. I think it was "him" and "not me"; but he and I did much bad shit, so no doubt it was in fact "me and him".
That reminds me of a funny story. Peter had a go-cart, a nice one-he built it. He was very mechanical and I was in awe of his ability. He needed tires. The best tires came (i.e, were stolen)from wheel barrows. In our neighborhood, wheel barrows were available at the homes of people who had vegatable gardens. We would scope out a garden during the day, and in the middle of the night go back, with a small piece of hack saw blade. It took hours to cut the axle to get the tire. We did it in shifts. Cutting the axle with a dull piece of blade was lunacy. Of course we cut our hands, blisters, etc. It took hours, and all along we are scared shitless that the homeowner will not wake up, call the police or shoot us. Dog barks brought on heart attacks. We were nuts. 10 years ago one of my neighbors, Frank, brought me a wheel barrow tire that he got off a construction job. He noticed that my wheel barrow had a flat tire and brought me a replacement. I told him my story about me and Peter cutting the axle with a broken hack saw blade, etc. and said I will never, never do that again. No thank you. I am smarter than that! My neighbor Frank is also quite mechanical. He said I was crazy, flipped over the wheel barrow and showed me 2 nuts, one on each side, that held the axle to the frame. He said if the nuts are taken off, the axle will slide out and voila (Frank did not use French, I added that because I took French during my educational experiences) the wheel is off. I threw up. Peter was not in fact that mechanical.
The vegatable gardens were also good for the munchies. The best tomatoes, but many times they were not yet ripe (ugh), and sunflower seeds. I grow sunflowers now, and if I saw someone rip off the head, I would torture the son of a bitch, slowly. I guess I have gotten older.
I cannot get that Green Acres jingle out of my head.
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