Fred Meyer the Family Friend

Another thing I spent a lot of money on was Comic books . And there were lots of comics to choose from . The Super heroes , GI Joe Comics , Daffy Duck and friends , Mickey Mouse ..I really can't begin to remember them all .

I was not good at keeping comic books pristine . That's like saying the ocean is salty , or my Brother really hated it when I discovered his current comic book hiding place. As a result in a few short months my comics would be torn apart , dripped on , stepped on , used to hit flies ,washed with my jeans , left at school accidentally or confiscated at school. One thing I can be assured of , I don't need to search my past to find a stack of mint comic books ready to be sold on Ebay.

Just about everyone I hung out with had comic books , and part of the fun of visiting our friends at home was reading their comics and trading them . I found Ii could get more mileage out of my trades by trading my Brothers .

Most of our comic books we purchased were purchased at a local Grocery Store chain called Fred Meyer's . For most of the week the little Grocery store on the corner worked quite well . but every two weeks after dad got paid we would make the 15 drive to the Burlingame Fred Meyer Store .

Finding any information about the History of this store seems very difficult here is what I do know about Fred Meyer Courtesy if Wiki : Fred Meyer, Inc., is a chain of hypermarkets founded in 1922 in Portland , by Fred G. Meyer. The company was one of the pioneers of one-stop shopping, eventually combining a complete grocery supermarket with a drugstore, clothing store, shoe store, fine jewellers, home decor store, home improvement centre, garden centre, electronics store, toy store, sporting goods store, and more under one roof.

All that was totally lost on Bob and I . If asked we would thought every town in every state of every nation would have a Fred Meyer . As it is with so much we were blessed and didn't know it.

We looked forward to the bi Monthly visits to Fred Meyer . And so did our parents . Freddy's had hit on a clever Idea that was humane and Family friendly. In the short run they probably lost money for this decision , but in the long run it garnered them generations of Faithful Customers .

Fred Meyer had a Comic book section that was as vast as the prairies were vast , and though I had never really seen a prairie , I knew vast when I saw it . The comic book section was directly in front of the Check out counters . Scores of spindle displays reached half way to the stars ...and gathered around these colourful monuments to children's literature , Bob and I would be left off with scores of other children . So while our parents shopped ( Protesting and whining child free ) we would sit under the shadow of the comic book forest and read comics . Yes we were actually allowed to sample the comic books before we bought them . To be sure many kids wee slow readers so it was imperative that the comic was purchased at the end of the shopping cycle, but both bob and I were also very good readers so we could easily toss off about 5 comic books , before we settled on one or two to take home . IN fact we rarely read the comic books we took home instead reading ones that we enjoyed but not enough to purchase . It was a good thing . One of my favourite family memories .

When mom and dad were done shopping they would collect us , we would pay for our comics and the they would be placed in the cart . The carts had a numbering system and each cart had two matching numbers . The clerk would give my parents one number and leave the other on the cart . Then we would go to where the car was parked and drive it up to the store. Mom would hang the number over her window , and we would pull up in front of the Fred Meyer . Carts filled with Groceries were lined up , and a young man would match our number on the window with the cart with the same number and proceed to load the groceries in the car .

Again a pretty neat system, the paring lot was filled with cars not carts , by working efficiently Freddy's was able to spend less on Carts , and you had the impression you were really being served .

On the way home , bob and I would good naturally fight , usually because bob would suddenly be reminded that he couldn't find the new Casper the Ghost Comic He had bought two weeks ago and would accuse me of stealing it .. I would defend myself defiantly drawing a fine line between stealing his comic book and the truth which was I used it in a sweet trade with Rex for his GI Joe commando Comic and a Road Runner ( Beep Beep) for a strawberry stained Casper the Ghost .

Family time ...was good time .

Interlude ....Thank you Lord for Prayers and Chemistry

Been  a few troubles  lately . Last week I started having issues with a tooth , turned into a full blown infection . For a while it looked as if I was hiding a golf ball in my cheek .

I really hate  to spend money on me , but it became really necessary . Lori had some money she had saved up for her contacts and  she graciously , let me use it for Pain killers , anti biotics and Steroids .   Taking this full scale assulat on the infection coupled with hands on prayer on Sunday , and airborn prayer on Monday has turned the whole situation around .

In the midst of all that it seemed to be a pretty ugly week in the Social media areas I hang out in way too much .  There is a lot of anger out there ..and after a while it just wears me down . 

Lori and I are starting to get ready to get ready to head out to Oregon in early March , planning several stops along the way including a very much looked forward to family reunion with Loris Sisters , and their husbands and children . 

I will be spending more time in the next few weeks working on our verse of the day offereings to have ready for the days we are traveling .

Also I am still working on Photos from our last Oregon Trip   posting a few of them on this message today . 

Running on sugar ...

Having money in our pockets meant one thing ..we needed to spend it . I find it interesting that as I look back I remember much easier what I did to earn money than what I spent it on . and I have absolutely nothing to show in the tangible of what I purchased with my hard earned money .

Candy was a big part of spending , and we had lots of choices to tempt us . Some of them are still around Hershey Chocolate bars and Snickers , Three Musketeers were very popular . MY favourites seemed to vary from pay day to day ..I think my all time favourites were Big hunks and Ice Cubes . There were also some wax Candy favorites  ( red lips and teeth )  , we even had  Candy Cigarettes so we could be like our parents , and bubble Gum Cigars .  there were  once inch cubes of real bubble gum  ..which if left unattended could be used to build a house on .

A few blocks away from us was the corner Grocery store it sat on he intersection of Capital Highway and miles street . My Memory fades but I believe it was Colemans Grocery store . It was a small place with Candy in the front and meats in the back , a few bins of produce and lots of Cigarettes up front as well . The floors were wooden and the owners were always there ..It was a Husband and wife team ..hey lived in a house behind the store on 31st street .

Shopping for candy seemed to be a communal experience , its one of the few things I can remember my Brother and I doing together . After Cupcakes and kool-aide we would take some of our money , saving some for later , and walk or ride our bikes down to the Grocery store . We would then spend several minutes , drooling , picking up examining , the wide variety of candy available . Some was eaten with in minutes of Purchase , while some was hidden in our respective Hiding places for the lean days of Candy famine.

I don't believe we spent much of our money on Soda Pop . though it was readily available . Not sure why ... I Know we were rationed Coca Cola by my mother , we would have some as a special treat ...Another of my favourites was Orange Soda . and Strawberry cola . I suspect one of the problems with Soda was opening it . there were no twist tops then , a bottle opener was required . There were rumors of a Metal can but we did not see them until either very late in 1959 or into the 60's . I also do not recall very much available in the Salty snack food department either .

My Childhood was definitly sweet  ....

Money , Money , Money

  * unidentified boy helping with laundry

Bob and I were encouraged to help out at home and to earn our " allowance " . we had a lot of Chores that needed to be . For the most part Children were the energy saving devices of the 50's but we were high maintanince and we did have some side effects. We frequently needed direction , woul doften forget what we were supposed to be doing and needed to be fed .

Around our house chores included: Folding the Laundry , feeding the dog , Stacking the wood , washing and drying the dishes . During the summer picking vegetables gardening . I don't remember what we earned but it seemed as if we always had a little bit of pocket change for the Grocery store on the corner .

I think more than anything else we were encouraged to help out around the home ..it was expected of us , but our parents also understood the value of teaching us about work and money.

I don't know for sure when bob and i began working in the fields , and i don't remember if it was always Bob and I going out together ..or if I started first . I Just remember I was pretty young when I first started picking Strawberry's .

* Unkown Bean picker 1955
photo Courtesy of Flicr Member KuKak 

Portland is nestled along the Willamette river , one of the rare rivers that runs from South to North in the Western Hemisphere .. The cascades on one side and the Coastal mountain range on the other the Willamette valley is one of the most productive farm lands in the USA .

IN the 50's these crops were picked by a diverse group of farm workers . From the local Grade schools , and High schools ...and Migrant workers from Mexico.

IT worked like this : The first crop were the Strawberries ...early in the morning a bus would pick us up in front of Multnomah School . There would be about a dozen perhaps more of us there . Each of us would have our own lunch and water . The ride to the farm was about 45 minutes long . Stopping occasionally to pick up other Kids on the way . Our destination was a group of Commercial farms near St Paul Oregon . I don't remember the name of these farms . I do remember it was a Japanese family. When we arrived at the Farm we would be assigned rows of Berries to harvest . We would be given an empty flat to place the berries in and when we filled it up we would take it to a collection location , there we would have a ticket punched indicating we had a filled flat . At the collection location our flats would be checked to make sure that the Berries were ripe , no dirt clods or extraneous material in the flat as well . We were paid by the flat , and at the end of the day we received our " wages " in the form of cash . Often we would work side my side with Mexican children sometimes even families . IT was hard work , the sanitary conditions were horrible , the out houses reeked , and the water available at the Farms was nasty . But at the end of the day the cash was nice , and it was yours . After Strawbeery season there was the Bean Season. It was basically the same idea ..the buses from the Farm in this case Alderman farms would pick us up .

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Alderman Farms

As a twenty-four-year-old barrel maker from Michigan, Albert Alderman migrated to Oregon in 1846. A year later, he bought farmland five miles south of Dayton that would eventually become one of the nation’s largest row-crop farms. In the post-World War II era, Alderman Farms employed over 2,500 day laborers on a peak picking of pole beans. Most of the laborers were local teenagers; the farm was the summertime job for thousands of mid-Willamette Valley youth, particularly in Yamhill County.

Alderman’s son, Ennis (1870-1939), built the original 150-acre farm to 1,300 acres by the time it was passed to his son, Urie S. Alderman (1898-1964), upon Ennis’s death. Potatoes were the major crop in 1939; but wartime brought a demand for more crops, and Urie expanded into corn, beans, and strawberries. In 1946, the farm opened its own frozen-food plant. It was a community unto itself, with a service station, maintenance shops, sawmill, helicopter, cafeteria, and 750,000-gallon water tank.
At its peak in the late 1950s, when Alderman owned or leased over 3,000 acres of farmland, the farm set what was believed to be a record of picking 181 tons of pole beans in one day. Some sources said the farm produced 2 percent of the nation’s snap beans.
Pole beans were the most labor-intensive of Alderman’s crops, requiring crews to install and dismantle poles and wires and to irrigate and pick the crops. Alderman Farms hired about 750 pickers a season during World War II, but in the mid-1950s the bean crews grew to over 2,500. Buses brought pickers from as far away as Vancouver, Washington, and the present Lincoln City. The farm leased school buses, many from McMinnville bus operators Joe Dancer and Art Bennett, who also supervised the summer picking crews.
Extensive use of local youth (as opposed to migrants) in the fields was largely a creation of the wartime demand for food and labor. Oregon was a national leader in the use of youth employment during World War II. Summer harvest jobs for middle-class “townies” continued through the 1960s; but strawberry crews were reduced by child-labor laws in the 1960s, and farmers switched from labor-intensive pole beans to machine-harvested bush beans in the 1970s.
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Arriving at the Farm again we would be assigned a row , with beans we had a partner ..one on each side of the row . The beans would stretch up to 5 feet high , so many of the younger children who picked Strawberries were at a disadvantage ..I believe you had to be a certain height to pick beans . The snap beans were picked and placed in a sack ...as you picked more the weight of the sack grew ...the idea was to fill the sack and take it to a collection point where it was weighed ...sometimes these collection points were a good walk way ..most of us had two choices either fill up the sack modestly and spend a lot of time hiking back and forth to the collection point ,( time spent when you could be picking ) or to fill the sack to such a point that you could barely drag it to the scales . Sometimes if you were lucky at the end of the row you might run into a kind hearted adult who would help you with your load . many of the Mexicans working in the fields were kind hearted . The weight of each sack was noted on a ticket you carried and by the end of the day you were paid by the pound . One of the advantages of picking beans was the bean poles and plants afforded you some shade and protection from the Sun,
In addition to Strawberries and Beans we would occasionally pick Raspberries and Blackcaps ( a type of berry used in the printing of money ) . I picked in the Fields for four years ...the money I earned was mine to spend on frivolous things ...My parents still paid for our food and our clothes . .. IT was hard work ...I never really enjoyed it ..the best part was the ride home with money in your pocket and something else I can't describe , just a feeling as you slipped into sleep as the Bus rolled along .
The walk up the hill to our house seemed longer on these days ..but once through the door mom would have kool aide and cookies or cupcakes for us ...it was good to be home ..very good indeed .

 

Connections and a fugitives angst

As the confusion from the Explosion began to fade away ..several things became clearer . The tree was still standing ..Rex was getting his breath back , most of the kids had scattered . and the tree was on fire ..so was the ground beneath it as embers dropped onto the dry leaves and grasses .

Having a fire extinguisher was not part of my plan , so it seemed reasonable to leave the woods . And it was at this point that all the excitement , all the joy , and enthusiasm for my experiment took a turn . I had thought that the means I Had employed , the breaking into my parents bedroom , stealing shells , covering my tracks , would have a much better pay off . to be honest I was terrified ...the fire was very real and it was not going to go away .. I raced home ...afraid to go into the house I Hid in the small space between our garage and the Garage next door . From here I could see a neighbourhood prodded to action as the sound of the volunteer fire men and their trucks could be heard in the distance .

From the woods to the Fire station was less than a half of a mile ...it didn't take long for a response ...Hoses were coupled to a nearby Hydrant , fire lines were laid back into the woods ...the fire had moved out and up ...if unchecked it would have singed several houses ..but it was quickly knocked down .

It was after the fire was put out that the " investigtion " began . For the rest of the day I cowered behind the woodpile , fearing it was only a matter of time before they would come for me . And this fear was genuine and it was paralizing ..Rex who had seen me dive into the hiding place came by to tell Me he had heard that Wayne Twitchel had told the firemen and plice He thought i was responsible .

I never could confirm this ...I had always wanted to ask Wayne about it , but never had the chance .

Wayne lived up the street from me . I always remember him as being somewhat awkward , tall and had a noticeable stutter ...we would occasionally see each other on the way to school , I don't think I had any negative feelings about him ..we just moved in different orbits . Wayne seemed to excel at throwing things . BY things I mean baseballs and Footballs . IN little league He was one of two of the most feared pitchers we would stand up against . BY the time He got to High School He was a Legend . In High School He earned 9 letters in Basketball , Baseball and Football . after High School he was drafted by He was selected by the Houston Astros during the 1st round of the 1966 Amateur Draft, but would make his Major League debut with the Brewers on September 9th, 1970, appearing in 2 games that season. The following year with the Phillies, Twitchell pitched in 6 games, posting a 1 win 0 loss record, with a 0.00 ERA in 16 innings pitched. He reached the pinnacle of his career in 1973 with the Phillies, when he notched 13 victories, 10 complete games, including 5 shutouts (third in the league), with 169 strikeouts, and a 2.50 ERA, earning National League All-Star status. Twitchell concluded his career after appearing in 4 games with the Mariners in 1979, compiling a 48 win, 65 loss record, with a 3.98 lifetime ERA, in 1,063 innings pitched. Following his playing career, he returned to Wilson High School where he served as a pitching coach and worked in the real estate industry. He was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 2006. He died from cancer. (bio by: C.S.)

On June 10th 1972 Wayne faced Hank Aaron , Hank hit a home run # 649 Lacing Hank on top of the all time Home run hitters .

All this to say ..this world is much smaller than we thing of it ...we bump and press against each other and have no idea of how all that bumping and pressing shapes us and the planet .

As it turned out as the sun went down ..I crept home ..still anxious , still trembling ..I would never again steal my Dads ammo. The police never came to our door , I was not lead out in handcuffs ...but later my mother would be digging in the Garden and she would expose a hasty burial site filled with discarded shotgun shells and a maimed Hop along Cassidy Toy pistol .

Not only does life have a way of bumping into you ..it also has a way of catching up as well.

I was vacationing in Oregon when I heard of Waynes death .

It reminded me of this incident in the woods , of childhood gone all to soon . BY every account i read of Wayne He was a wonderful and humble man ..I would have very much liked to meet with him and share stories from those Multnomah days ...

I thought there was supposed to be a Kaboom

The day had turned warm ...Sunshine piercing the darkness of the forest ..under our feet the ground crunched it leaves that had lingered from the fall were dry and brittle beneath our feet . The same crowd had gathered , in fact it looked as if it had grown .. I was compelled to say a few words about the importance of reading and the Joy of Science ...if nothing else this might serve to push some of the kids toward doing their homework .

I placed the device in the carved out crevice . dangling from it was a fuse about 6 inch's long made by twisting several smaller fuses together , it was delicate , but should survive a quick ( hopefully not to quick ) burn . It had come to this , one perfect moment in the bright light of day a defining moment in my personal History , it was as if by this day , by this act , I , the leader of this band of brothers , these few these happy few , these lads with strawberry and peanut butter stained faces looking out at me from around trees and under brush piles ..I would become a giant in their crusted eyes .

No matches .

I had forgot them ...a momentary panic set in ..no matches meant no fire , no fire meant no fizzle to the fuse , no fuse fizzle no Kaboom .

I was forced to share my moment . I asked , nay pleaded , for matches , the noise was deafening as dozens of kids searched and dug deep into their pockets ..past gum wrappers , jaw breakers old fishing eggs , and finally one book of matches was produced .. It was glssy white with bright red letters , TIMS Septic Service ..Cherry 209-4567 , inside ..standing tall and proud one singular match ...the chosen one .

The moment had come ....trembling ,I struck the matched and was encouraged by the immediate response of the match head to the striking surface it burst into flame . I had made the fuse long enough to give me ample time to dive behind Rex ( he was much larger than I was and afforded me a greater degree of security ) . The fuse sputtered ..I looked at it pleadingly then ..like a deer at the sound of a car door it bolted it raced  along the entire length if the six inch fuse instantly ... consumed in a twinkling of an eye ...but my eyes were not twinkling , if anything they were fused wide open as I saw the smoke  race toward my oblivion ... It was as if the world suddenly stopped spinning , everything came to a dead stop , wind , sun , noise even the sparks hung suspended in air ....and in that moment my entire life hung in the balance .. granted it had been a short life , and recalling the memories did not take much time ...but there I was standing with that "holy moly" look on my face looking at a 6 inch fuse going into a 6 inch homemade firecracker filled with the propellant from 10 shotgun shells . Something took over and I snapped myself out of the moment and dove for cover . My body like that of a well trained Ninja ..catapulted in the direction of Rex who was busy digging his body deeper into the hardened dirt and leaves ...I missed my landing point landing on top of Him ...caught a good bounce and landed within a few feet of where I intended ...at that moment the tree seemed to explode . The concussion was huge .. Smoke and debri filled the air ...the tree seemed to groan and creak ...then i realized that was Rex ...The thought did occur to me that tree might actually fall , and if it fell it was surrounded by the children of the neighborhood plus visitors and the twins ...it would fall on someone and tonight there would be an empty place at the dinner table for someone . The realization that I might be the cause of this ..fused me into action . at the top of my Lungs I yelled out ...TIMBER!!!!!!!!! folled by a very wheezy runnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn for your lives cough cough , gasp gasp .

Scores of kids took heed and the woods came alive ....

Meanwhile down at the school , my brother who had wandered down there to find me was still wondering where I was , and where everyone else was as well . Then he heard it ,,,the far off bomb not unlike a sonic boom but somehow closer to earth , in a sweeping motion He turned his gaze taking him up the hill on 33rd street till it rested on a singular puff of smoke to the left of the road near where Miles street dead ended into the woods . At that precise moment the air raid siren started its wail ..I can only imagine what was racing through Bobs mind ...as He tried to understand what was happening ...almost immediately he caught a glimpse of neighbourhood cats and dogs racing ahead of a group of children racing down the Hill ...Away from the smoke now growing more menacing .

Its kind of strange those who were there do not remember this as I do ...but we all remember the fire trucks ...

Mom's Super powers revealed

Lunch was interesting , With so many witnesses watching my every move i had no choice but to keep the " device " in my pocket . Keeping it in my pocket meant it was sure to be seen by my mothers xray vision . To be fair I could never really prove she had it ..but like a black hole is known by that which it affects around it ...My mothers secret powers ...frequently gave themselves away. The Xray vision was not the only power she possessed. Like most mothers and several of my teachers she had Ocular rear craniumitis , Mom also had an exaggerated sense of smell and could hear a ( or not hear ) a toilet flush from several rooms away . Mom wasn't as strong as some of the other mothers , but what she lacked in strength she more than made up in speed.

It was under her steely gaze, flared nostrils and keen hearing I was resigned to eat my lunch that fateful day. Bob came home late ,,he had been down at the school looking for me ..apparently He had misunderstood and thought I was going to the school to play. I assured him he must have heard me wrong , He also mentioned the school playground was eerily quiet . I commented that I was really impressed he was able to use the word eerily in a sentence . My humour was lost on Him as he started in on the Grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup placed before him, Mom made really good Grilled Cheese Sandwiches , Campbell's made the tomato soup , I Liked the Sandwich would have preferred to squeeze on of our own home grown tomatoes and heat it up.

As I was plowing through the first half of the sandwich I could feel my mothers eyes looking toward my right front pocket ...I tried to put as much of my stomach into the table as possible shifted my weight ,,as best I could ...it seemed to help , mom gave me just a causal glance ..but then I could see her Nostrils flare .

"What's that smell ?" she asked. At a time like this its good to offer a preemptory response I spoke quickly with certainty " Gee I don't know mom , but it definitely doesn't smell like gun powder " She gave me a quizzical look but continued on ...."Did you boys check your shoes before you came in ? " I immediately twisted my leg to check my feet , suddenly a sharp pain surged through my little seven year old body ,,,the " device " had shifted and was now pressing firmly against my boy hood ...and it hurt ...I mean it really hurt . Fighting back the pain ..I looked at both shoe bottoms,,,,they were clean ...Bob how ever had that holy crap how did that crap get on my shoe look ...Sheepishly he removed the show ,,,and took it out side ,,,returning to the table I gently reminded him to wash his hands ,,,he shot me a look ,

 

Two close calls ,,,,the inevitable happened ,,,my heart started racing ,,,the oscillating sound of the veins and arteries working in concert , began to rival the fortissimo of the 1812 Overture , I looked over at Bob ..by the blank look on his face I knew he could hear it , and if He could hear it ,,,mom was already calling my Dad ...Afraid to meet her gaze I feigned a look over her shoulder ...remarkably she seemed calm ...My heart was beating louder ...each new constriction of my Heart was a dead giveaway ...I was doomed ....it was then I realized the Sandwich was gone , and so was the soup ...with sweat rolling over my eyes I asked for permission to leave the table ....I left with Bob still on the last half of the sandwich , told him I was going to check out why no one was at the school , then slipped out the door .....time for a date with Destiny