the ifirst day

yes, it is true. i slept with another woman. for four days. my mother. I entered the world on21 December11947.  the winter solace and the shortest day of the year.  we would light my birthday cake candles early, just for light!  Tomorrow is my 63rd birthday and there will not be that many candles as it would be both a fire hazard and set off the smoke detectors, In reality, our family of 10 got into the habit of celebrating a birthday on the closest Sunday after church as that seemed to be a day free of work and/or school

Back to the first few days.  mom and I spent 3 days in the hospital, which was the custom back then. I think I weighed in at 5.5 lbs.  Out of the 5 boys my parents had, I was the only one who was breast fed.  i don't know why, it was so.  Really not the best tasting food, but I certainty liked the containers:)  I remember my younger brothers being bottle fed: the bottles were glass and, along with the rubber nipples and collars were boiled in a tall aluminum pot and one was removed while still hot with a pair of tongs which looked like a bent out of shape scissors with rubber tubing on one end to keep from scoring and breaking the glass. Formula: you made your own, usually with whole milk to which dark karo syrup was added. 2% milk was not thought of yet by the industry-they could take half of the cream of whole milk, make butter, then charge you for both milk and butter.  ya gotta love American greed(industry).  Anyway, breast milk was suppose to be better health wise, but I certainty had my share of childhood and later, age related illnesses. Measles, chicken pox, tonsillitis(they were removed when I was 5 years od-it was THE thing to do' and I almost bleed to death.  and, of course a cyst in my right upper arm which primitive surgery left the right arm two and a half inches shorter than the left-a pain when buying shirts or a suit coat.  how that was discovered and how I feel it was all part of God's plan, to save my life later, i will leave for another time.  Anyway, me and Mom spent my first birthday and Christmas in Allegheny Valley Hospital.  I then went home to be greeted by my brother Bill, who was 17 months my senior.  As far as I know, my parents rented a 3rd story apartment-a ugly colored, huge house next door to grandparents Valencic's.  It would be at least 6-7 years till my dad built his first house with funds donated by his parents and also t land given to them.  The property owned by my grandparents and how it was laid out into a land of gardens and fruit treat and grape vines is a magical story in itself and I will attempt to describe it next time. For now, my grandparents owned a house on Brackenridge avenue (2nd avenue and a sidewalk with land growing just about everything on each side-the side walk went all the way to River Road(or first avenue) Accross the street from River Road was Brackenridge Park. To the left. it went all the way to the water compamy, and to the right, it went to Dresser stadium, which was in the neighboring town of Tarentum-and when the other side of this baseball diamond/ football field with bleachers and a score board ended, Tarentum park started and the park was almost the length of the town.  And if you walked across the park you came to our summer hang out-the Allegheny river.  Our side had a steep dirt embankment with willow trees and over our head weeds, which had our many trails.  we always started fires to be used to throw potatoes in, which we would eat out the center's and leave the charred outsides.  The fire's were also great to throw aerosol cans and co2 cartridges in-then run like crazy before they exploded  The river was probably a mile wide and the other side had a smaller but steep embankment which, once you reached the top was a pair of active train tracks and then the rolling Allegheny hills-they were full of sulfur flowing water-orange and smelling like roten eggs. also, there were pockets or caves from companies, in years that past, were looking for coal to mine-which there was none to be found.
I'll relate some of our adventures along and on the river in another installment.  For now, understand, there was no close or convenient way to cross the river until, when we were in 6 or 7th grade and the Tarentum bridge was constructed-about where the Tarentum park ended  It was a toll bridge; half way across you had to give an attandent ten cents or a ticket from a booklet you bought to continue.  After the cost of the bridge was paid for 3 times over, it was decided to remove the toll house!

Next: the land of "milk and honey" granddad's many gardens and fruit trees while grandma took care of planting flowers.