curmugeon | My history

My history. I was born on Thanksgiving in 1947. I grew up dirt poor. I was raised in Surry Maine on the Toddy Pond Road just west of Alder Creek. We lived in a house my dad built on a piece of land my grandmother gave us. We did not have indoor plumbing. We did not have running water. We did have electricity.

My dad drove a 37 Chevy. He worked as a taxi driver. My mom was a housewife and mother.

We always had wildlife in our yard. As I grew up I saw raccoons foraging from our trashcan. I'd see skunks cross the yard. We would have deer in the backyard.

I spent a lot of time at my grandmother's house. We picked berries and had a garden for food. We would get milk from a neighbor and eggs from Grandma. I was,a happy only child.

I can recall vividly the day I came down with chickenpox. I was sitting in the kitchen in my red highchair. The tray was down and I was eating puffed wheat. I was in the sun. My grandma came by as she usually did and said to my mother that I looked like I had chickenpox. I was 3 years old. I started saying "chicken pops" and laughing.

We lived there till one day my dad came home and said he had bought a house. It was 1953.

We moved to Franklin on the Donnell's Pond Road. The house was a large old home on 3 acres.

To be continued.