Jump to part: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - Menu
Part 6
March 18, 2002 4 PM
If I am not mistaken the photo above was taken
at the Weddle house we lived in on Long Street a few blocks East of the
high school in Sweet Home, OR. The house was still there in July
1998. One thing I recall about living here (mostly because my mother
loved to tell about it), is that Doug would frequently take his clothes
off and run down Long Street toward town.
I don't remember the girls name, but I do remember
living in this house. It was a big two story building that had been
divided into apartments. The old Roxy theater was across the street
(Long Street), but is gone now; the tavern is still there, but I'm not
sure of the name. I never could get Bill's Tavern and The Bohemian
Club straight. The house is long gone, but it was on the north side
of Long Street - a little West of 12th Ave..
It seems that my mother never took a picture
at the front of this house that wasn't a double exposure. If you're
old enough to know what Kodak 120 film is, you know that it will also fit
a 620 camera. Mom just never figured out which exposure numbers to
use. Doug threw the Teddy Bear I'm holding into the creek one day.
So.... I threw his into the privy pit!
I'm not really sure of the date on this photo, but I know it was taken in the living room of our house in Foster, OR. Mrs. Moore had a clothing store in Sweet Home. It was on the South side of Main Street, just East of 12th Ave., and the first building on that block.
The rocker on the right had red leather upholstery,
and was one of a pair given us for Christmas 1943/44. The floor standing
ash tray to the left is one of the many things my mother got with S&H
Green Stamps. Notice the crack in the linoleum, it was finally replaced.
This photo was taken at Grandmother Houk's home in Redmond, OR, circa 1946. Years later Doug married Delores, and they had two sons.
For some reason I cannot remember the names
of any of these boys who came to my 9th birthday party in 1948. Doug
is closest to the camera.
This photo was taken in Sweet Home, OR, circa 1953. Doug built this bicycle from "junk" parts. I remember the day he had a flat front tire. He dismounted it and found the tiny puncture in the inner tube, but didn't have a patch kit. He had such a hard time finding the puncture and didn't have anything to mark the location. I suggested he clamp his vice grips over it. Long story short; he clamped the vice grips so tight that it made more holes. I thought he was going to kill me.
It was while we lived here that we would hitch-hike to Lebanon to pick strawberries and beans. It didn't pay a lot, and I recall we made about $5.00 or less a day. I also remember that for 50¢ you could get a loaf of bread, a quart of milk, and get change back! Cigarettes were 25¢ a pack.
Joe Miller was a long time friend of Doug's. His father had a building supply business 5 blocks South of us on 12 th Ave. in the center of town. Doug is on crutches because he injured his right foot. He was breaking up an old capacitor with a hammer, and it bounced off and hit his heel.
The three of us dug a cave down at the Santiam
River one summer. It wasn't going fast enough for Joe, so he went
to his father's store and got some dynamite. Using ¼ sticks
of dynamite did speed things up. When the rains came the earth gave
way. Fortunately nobody was in the cave when that happened.
It's my understanding that Joe blew himself up about ten years after this
picture was taken.
I don't seem to have any pictures of us at this location; just our half of this duplex. The car in the car port is a green Kaiser Manhattan that belonged to Mrs. West who lived on the other side. This is where we lived when Doug quit school to join the Navy. It was here that I got my Novice Class ham license, and if you look closely you can see my antenna wire coming out of the (front) side window. This house no longer exists; neither does the street. The High School athletic field now occupies this property.
Mrs. West had a Philco tv set that could just barely pull in KOIN-TV CH6 in Portland. My ham equipment did cause a little interference until I made a high pass filter for the Philco. The next day Mrs. West was yelling at me again to stop messing up her TV. I asked her what she did to the filter. She said that she had taken it off because she was afraid it would burn up her TV set! I told her what she could do with her TV set, and I never spoke to her again.
The photo above was taken at Doug's storage
lot in the spring of 1994. This was the only fenced storage facility
in Aurora at the time. (I still have the shirts we are wearing.
I also still have the 1988 Potniac Grand AM LE.) It just occurred
to me that Doug's black bicycle cost about $14.00 and my black Grand AM
cost almost $14,000.00!
I forget exactly when this photo was taken, but it was either late 1996 or early 1997. (It was after the city switched to the new garbage cans - which you can see lower left in the picture.) In case you think this cat has something to do with Microsoft I need to explain the name.
In September 1990 a stray cat walked into my house - to stay. At the time I was having a new underground phone line installed for my MIDI Music BBS; which runs on Wildcat! software. Well now! I had a real "wildcat"; couldn't get near him for several months, but he wouldn't go out of the house either. So I named my wildcat Midi. I told Doug about this, and not long afterwards he acquired a black cat from the local animal shelter. While talking about his "new" cat on the telephone we came up with name Ms Dos, and it stands for "Most Sophisticated - Domestic Ornamental Stuff". The cat in the photo above is an updated version acquired in 1994; the original Dos was road kill.
There is yet another Ms Dos. Because
they would not allow the real Dos in ICU.... I searched San Diego County
and finally found a stuffed animal that is a black cat. The only
photo I have of Doug with this Dos was taken in the hospital. If
you really want to see this picture... click here.
In July of 1997 Doug had a small visitor.
It would be the last time he saw his grandson. In this photo Doug
is sitting where he spent most of his time the last few weeks he was at
home with me. He also slept here because he could not lie down in
his bed. A few weeks later his body temperature dropped dangerously
low. When I got him to the ER his blood pressure was "not much" over
"not much more"; he had a bleeding ulcer. He spent five days in the
ICU, a few days in post ICU, and the rest of his life in various rooms
at Paradise Valley Hospital, National City, CA. He died in his sleep
early November 6, 1997.
This is where I found Ms Dos when we came home
from the hospital for the last time. She had never been on this table
before, and has never been on it again. Behind her is the framed
newspaper article that was printed about Doug's "Firewood to furniture"
business in Aurora, OR (click on the picture to see an enlarged image of
the newspaper which is readable). Her right shoulder is resting against
his new sewing machine. To this day it sits where he put it and has
never been used.
This photo was taken looking West - toward
the freeway. What a view! That is The Oregon Trail in the center
of the picture. To the left is the road that goes to the freeway.
The next photo was taken just around the bend in the road.
If you should visit the Oregon Trail Interpretive
Center in Baker City you can stop here on your way back to the freeway
and say, "Hi!", to Doug. He's just on the other side of the fence,
and I'm sure he'd like to see you. (It's 0.6 miles from the driveway
of the OTIC.)
