MILITARY SCHOOL

Our mother was a school teacher, as was her mother and one of her sisters, so education was important in our family. Things were going fairly well until I got to 11th grade, then the wheels started to fall off my wagon. Classes were starting to show failing grades, skipping school was a regular event, fishing was more important, as well as drinking, smoking and fighting. One day upon returning home, I found our big oval dining room table filled with school catalogs. Mother said "You're going to military school. Pick one and Carson Long isn't there, it's too close to home." You talk about getting hit between the eyes. WOW! Military schools were plentiful in the southern states during the 50's and 60's but weren't as popular in the north. What to expect? I had no idea except it didn't sound good.
To begin with, Rebels outnumbered us Yankees about 20 to 1. That made life a little harder, because the Civil War wasn't over as far as they were concerned. Walking down a corrider saying "Throw away your Dixie cups, the South will never rise again" was not a good choice. I soon found 25 Rebs that were willing to get me to change my tune.
Adjusting to life away from home was a rough road, as much of a wise guy that I was. My parents made me stick it out and I'm glad they did. I was not exactly a model cadet but I got good grades. If you got an excessive amount of demerits or did a bad thing, you had to spend your town leave time marching around the outside of the gymnasium with a rifle. There was an officer there to make certain we stayed in line and kept marching properly. My senior year, most of my town leave was spent with a rifle, marching round and round.
Despite my poor behavior, it was the best thing my parents could have done for me. I hated it there but realized the value when I got a little older.
There were 300 cadets attending school while I was there. We formed a tighter bond than most high school kids do, as we lived in the same building and were all together every day and night. There were boys there from all over the United States and from South America and Europe.
Homecoming at the old school is a bigger event than at most public schools. We return to the campus for a weekend in October and tell old stories till we know most by heart. One year, an old classmate asked why we remembered so much from our time there and in such detail? I said because we were at the peak of our learning ability while we were at school. We studied very hard, including a forced two hour study hall five nights a week and one of those nights was Saturday. We retained what we learned there, as well as things about our daily life. When rehashing old tales, some of them seem like they happened yesterday.
My mother saved my old uniforms but I don't know why. They didn't fit me for more than a year before they shrank too much. Itchy old wool uniforms, anyhow.
No matter how we felt at times, our parents always seemed to know best.

Money Search

When we were kids, our summers were spent at Colonel Denning State Park which is 9 miles north of Newville PA. Newville is the center of the universe, in case you were out of school on the day that was announced.
This area of the mountain is commonly referred to as Doubling Gap, as the mountain makes an s and doubles back on itself. Most of the locals call it Dublin.
There were four of us, three boys and a girl. The girl was the youngest and I was the oldest. Those were wonderful, carefree days. Sleeping under the stars many nights, sitting around campfires, hiking through the woods, learning about all kinds of wildlife. Dublin was not a high volume destination during the 1950's except on Sundays. We pretty much had the run of the whole area to ourselves.
One day, the park crew was cleaning up the area around the spring where we got water. One man said "Look what I found" and held up a roll of paper money big enough to choke an elephant. Our eyes must have been falling out of our heads the way the men were laughing. We started an immediate search of the area but were told that the men had already been over it. We were sent to search the rest of the park and boy did we ever! All day, we went from one end of the park to the other, looking everywhere. We were very disappointed when we pooled our money and didn't have a dollar among us.
The next morning, we were at it again, bright and early but didn't find any money at all. That ended the great treasure hunt for us.
The man who had "found" the roll of money never forgot that incident. He died about 35 years later and reminded me of the discovery up until the last time I saw him. We both laughed many times over how he had pulled one over on a bunch of kids.

Ole Buford Name

It seems only fair to let you know how I got the name of Ole Buford.
Most of my life was spent in the trucking industry, both as a driver and in management. While working in truck safety, one of the duties is to do road patrol to ensure your companies drivers are being good little boys and girls while away from the office. One day I looked on the dispatch computer and saw that two of our drivers from the Ohio operation were heading into Carlisle, PA from Atlanta,GA. I hopped into my car and headed south on I-81 until I saw our two trucks heading the other way. After getting behind them, I just stayed back about a half mile and clocked their speed. They were driving within the limit and practicing good driving habits. Being farm boys, they were chatting on the cb about what the farmers were doing along the way. All at once the lead driver said "Look, there goes Ole Buford". I thought who is that? Then the second driver said "No, there are too many antennas on the car". I watched traffic going the other way and soon saw a car just like mine with one more antenna than I had. Mystery solved, I was Ole Buford. They said they better behave due to the fact that they were approaching Carlisle and you never know when Buford T Justice would pop up. Well, Buford had been behind them for 25 miles and they didn't realize it. I took a short cut from the interstate and was sitting behind my desk when they walked into the office. I never said a word about Ole Buford.
Anyone who may not know, Jackie Gleason played Sheriff Buford T Justice in the movie Smoky and the Bandit. He chased a truck across numerous states and wound up with a patrol car that looked like the loser in a demolition derby.
A week after this incident, I went to our Ohio office to have a driver safety meeting. The tables in the conference room were set up in a big square and I took a seat facing the two drivers I had followed the week before. Since there were new people in the group, everybody stood up and introduced themselves. I went last and looked straight at the two unsuspecting drivers and said "My name is Buford T Justice". They both slid down in their chairs trying to find a hole in the floor. Everybody laughed, including me. Paybacks are such fun sometimes.
The trucking operation was disbanded in 1993. Right before I left, there was a bag on my desk one day and inside was a cap that said "Buford T Justice" on it. I still wear the cap from time to time.

Welcome

Right now, I am sitting here like a kid at his first dance. What do I do now? Hopefully, the chills running up and down my back will disappear. They never did the night of my first dance. Boy, was I nervous. Guess I'm still shy and quiet! LOL. You know, I can't remember dancing that first night. Just standing around with a bunch of guys hoping some girl would ask me to dance but scared stiff that one would. How many dances did I attend without getting out on the floor? No idea but the number has to be very high. Wall flower. Oh, how I hated being called that! Shouldn't have been upset because it was the truth.
My best friend is a 12 year old dog named Bear. He is part Lab and Newfoundland. He is mostly black with a few white patches and now some gray hair. If you see Bear, I can't be far away. He stays very close and follows me from room to room or outside. If I leave without him, he lays down right inside the front door and waits for me to return. Bear is very obedient and listens better than any other dog I have had. Boy if I could find a woman to listen like he does! That will cause some remarks to be fired at me but that's okay.
With time, this blog should take shape and make very little sense. Please come back and see what nonsense I get into.