to go on

just a little more about grandma's house: it stood about 15' above the sidewalk, with steps leading to a cover porch, which was painted black. The only time the front door was opened was to get the mail-even the newspaper was thrown on the back porch.  Granddad was famous for his use of paint: as soon as one of the porches faded from sunlight or began to chip, another coat of paint.  same thing inside of the house, especially the bathroom.  Wainscot-wood strips going from floor to about 3' feet and then a chair rail must of had about 20 coats of oil based, gloss white paint.  Two large closet doors were impossible to close;and if closed, impossible to open- again-to much paint.  Same with all the rooms of the house.  I am convinced that the multicoats of paint is what held the house together.  The only room of the house that was finished professionally, was the living room-new plaster walls and ceiling with wall-to-wall carpeting.  the dinning room, kitchen and the 3 bedrooms upstairs were the rough, ready to fall down smooth plaster walls with a slab of linoleum on the floor with a throw rug by the bed.. I take that back: their room was also refinished, along with carpeted steps(to steep to be safe) with two full sized beds: they slept in the same room but in separate beds, probably from the time Uncle Lou, their youngest of 3 boys was conceived. From the time I knew them their relationship was platonic. I have some ideas why, but not now.
Downstairs, the kitchen was for preparing meals, at a sit down yellow, chrome legged table with yellow padded, plastic covered chairs. Remember, vinyl didn't exist yet.  There was one thing I always wanted(but didn't have a chance at) was a kitchen cabinet with glass doors, a pull out cream colored metal shelf which, on one end was  metal and wood block which was to clamp on a nut grinder, poppy seed grinder, or a meat grinder. I never know grandma was paced in a high rise nursing home and everything was grabbed up bu two of the kids and the kitchen cabinet was sold for $50 bucks to some bastard.  There also was an ash tray and a chair on the side.  Granddad smoked Camel cigarettes.  It was the only room in the entire house where smoking was allowed-not even outside.  Supposedly, years ago, his teeth hurt, and no one could afford a dentist during the depression era, and a coworker told him if he smoked, it would help with the pain. He smoked till shortly after his forced retirement @ 65from PPG-Pittsburg Plate Glass Co.  He made windows for B-52 bombers for the government. and then quit on New Years Day.  Actually, he had a mild stroke, and the old family doctor, Dr. Pacek, said,"Frank, your like a man with $5,000-you can spend it all it once (die now) or a little bit each day-he chose the later. he ate hard tack candies and played with gum(rubber) bands, to keep his hands busy.  GRANDMA SAID SHE PICKED UP GUM BANDS EVERYWHERE! Stupid caps lock,  but granddad's pride let it stay as a New Year's resolution.  He was scared to death(no pun intended) of death and he died in his sleep, in his favorite living room chair in December, 1977.  The Lord was kind to him.  He once asked me what I was reading in the paper: I said, "the obituaries-I wanted to see if I was dead yet! He went nuts! Grandma always figured she would go first, but she lived just a few days short of her 94th birthday.  The next post will be about the wonder full back porch, facing the rolling mountains, smelling sweat ozone during a thunder storm, as we sat on the glider, eating cherries, and spitting out the pit out into the ground! And the great variety of vegetables, fruits, and flowers.  Side note: and maybe back then granddad already knew what science was to discover: the tobacco mosaic virus was identical to the tomato virus.  If you smoked and didn't have clean hands and/or clothes, chances were that you would lose your tomato crops that year.  Interesting, huh? Granddad was a whiz at growing things.  I think if he put his thumb in the ground, a hand would grow.  And he turned all the dirt in his garden plots by hand with a shovel, starting in the spring when a truckload of manure/straw was delivered to turn in the soil for fertilizer. Next: prize wining veggies and fruit trees that had different varieties grated on an existing branch.  And, of course the grape arbor that was large enough to park a car under. It had a homemade bench (the usual 20 coats of gloss green paint!) and the many, large grape vine leaves, was a welcome relief from the summer heat,