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Out First TV

It much have been around 1955 when we got our first TV. There was a lot of snow in the picture not outside, which you people that have never watched anything but cable probably have no idea how lucky you are. In those days you only had one channel to watch and it was WMFD Channel 6 and everything was in black and white. Not much to the programming ether, just the fact you could see a picture was entertainment enough back then.  With in a few years we had Howdy Doody and Buffalo Bob, Pinky Lee, The Lone Ranger, Mighty Mouse, etc.

Posted by ESO on Friday September 23, 2005 at 09:49PM

Ham Radio

About the time we got our TV, my best friend's father got his Amateur Radio License. His call sign was K4RVE, strange the tidbits we remember. Mr. Walker worked at the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad (at the time was based in Wilmington). After work each day he would go into his radio room and enjoy his hobby. The only problem was that in those days TV's had very little filtering to stop interference and of course when he would transmit you could see it on our TV screen across the street. These signal always amazed me because I new I was seeing what was one half of a conversation that might be with someone on the other side of the world. This small nuisance to some peaked my interest in radio which eventually would lead to me working in the amateur radio industry for 16 years and getting an Extra Class Amateur License.

Posted by ESO on Friday September 25, 2005 at 12:57PM

Aunt Lottie

Our home that we moved into in 1954 at 132 (now 342) Mercer Avenue had been built in 1930 and was a large house with 3 bedrooms, kitchen, den, living room and bath. Aunt Lottie which was no kin to me but was rumored to have lived in the at house at sometime before we owned the it. Aunt Lottie seemed to have a fetish about washing her hands and did this quite often. I remember a many a night setting down at the supper table and my mother asking me to turn the water off in the bathroom where Aunt Lottie had just finished washing her hands and forgot to turn the water off. That was a problem for some reason she would not turn the water off once she turned it on which meant someone in the house would have to get up and turn the water off. At supper I was always elected to do this since my chair was closest to the bathroom. This could be a little spooky because by the time we had moved into the house Aunt Lottie had gone on to meet her maker.

Posted by ESO on Friday September 26, 2005 at 09:25PM

The Camp Fire

It was probably around the summer of 1957 and Jimmy Walker and I were building a camp on a hill in the woods behind the church between Mercer and Live Oak Avenues. We had picked an area on top of the hill in the edge of a pine thicket because it was hidden from view. Next to this pine thicket was a broom straw field.

After picking our location we began collecting small pines and stripping them of limbs to make the framing of a teepee like structure. To give it a little stability we used a large live pine in the southern wall. Once the framing was done we used green pine limbs with needles to cover the walls. After this was finished we dug an entrance under the north wall. Last we dug a pit the size of the inside about 18 foot across and 2 foot deep. The camp was finished and was hard to see even if you were close by.

Now it is time for the camp fire which all camps must have. We were in the process of gathering sticks to build the fire with when we realized we didn't have matches, so we sent Jimmy's little brother back to the house to get some matches. Upon his return we started the fire inside the camp made of pine straw. Now we were ready to cook, but again our planning feel short. Now this time we left Jimmy's little brother at the camp tending the fire, while Jimmy and I went back to the house to sneak hot dogs to cook. Just as we reached Jimmy's backyard we heard something. It was his little brother telling us to wait for him. As we turn and asked why he wasn't tending the fire, nothing we said really mattered at that point. Big columns of black smoke and flames were filling the sky. Thank goodness it was a different time back then, no police involved, but you can bet the fire was no hotter than the seat of our pants went our parents got finished with us. Luckily the fire only burnt to the road and was put out by the local VFD.

Posted by ESO on Thursday October 13, 2005 at 01:53PM

Catching the Train

The old Alantic Coast Line Railroad tracks crossed Mercer Avenue about halfway between Market Street and Wrightsville Avenue. The Blantons lived on the south side and Mr Russian lived on the north.

We would go down to the railroad bridge, an area we spent a lot of time play and on lazy summer day for a little excitement we would run along the side of a boxcar grab the ladder and pull ourselves up. The train was moveing very slow because of the area it was traveling through. Hanging on to the ladder on the side we would ride about a mile and jump off.The train was moving at a slow pace this far, not much faster than we could run, but if you made the mistake of not getting off before Pearsall Fertilizer you would be in trouble. From here the tracks were striaght and once the train crossed Kerr Avenue it started picking up a little speed. Kerr Avenue was your last chance, because the next crossing was Market Street and once the engine passed that point he was picking up road speed and the next stop was Jacksonville. Once we jumped train at Pearsall we would head back through the woods to the graveyard in Taylor's field. That is another story in itself.

Posted by ESO on Thursday October 26, 2005 at 11:10AM