I'm a bachelor again

Frank Fusco

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Mountain Home, Arkansas
....at least for the next ten days. In a few minutes, I'll be driving wifey to the bus. She is going back to Chicagoland for her high school class reunion. Very excited. I refuse to go. #1 reason, I never again want to go back to Chicago or suburbs. It's where I grew up and things have changed. Too many roads, shopping centers, industrial centers, traffic, pollution, high crime rates, everything costs too much, etc. Last time we were there we stayed at an 11 story high resort motel. From the top floor, looking out, I didn't recognize a thing. And this was exactly the neighborhood where I grew up. Where the hotel stood used to be fields I hunted pheasants in. Enneyhow...while she is gone, I'll clean out the freezer. That's how I eat. Lots of single items in there once 'saved'. If still edible, I eat. If not the raccoons will enjoy. I get to drive her car and save some gas money compared to my truck. I'll stay busy, mostly in shop. Oh...#2 reason, I have no desire to compare stock investments, kids going to expensive colleges, Caribbean vacations, ownership of fancy condos, expensive cars, etc. with my status in life. Might be an excuse, but I put value on other things less materialistic.
 
I'm with you Frank. I would be doing the same thing - spending long hours in the shop and eating whatever was in the fridge that wouldn't bite me first. Enjoy!
 
Frank....I can sympathize with you. I,too, eat out of the freezer when the LOML is away. I too don't recognize Chicagoland. I left there 25 years ago. I'm often in the western suburbs of Milwaukee going to a company school. About 10 years ago I left the motel I was staying in and drove
I-94 to I-294 (the Tri-State) to I-55 and down to my ILs home near Bloomington, IL. At 0500 on a Saturday morning, the traffic on 94 was as bad as I remembered it on a Friday night at rush hour. I didn't recognize any of the exits and I used to drive around 2,000-3000 miles a month running around the Chicagoland area on business. It had changed a lot in just 15 years I'd been away at the time.

Now I leave that same western Milwaukee suburb....go west on 94 to Madison and go south on 90 IIRC to and take IIRC I-39 throuogh Rockford and south. Takes the same amount of time...no toll booths....and a whole lot less traffic.
 
Frank, have fun bach'n it! Hope it won't be a difficult transition when you wife returns. :D

My wife and I lived in Chicago for 3 years when we were young and having to much fun. Some of the best years of our lives, but even our old neighborhood (Andersonville, on the norh side of the city around Clark and Foster for those familiar) has changed quite a bit. Most apartment building are now overpriced condos and many of the great shops/restaurants/bars that we loved because they were old and still "not hip" or that busy are now gone and all look to trendy for us to enjoy. We only moved 7 years ago. :eek:

Again have fun and be safe while livin single!
 
Frank,
I have to agree with your assessment - of Chicagoland and class reunions.:D The last time in the area I ran into the same issues as Ken. Traffic used to subside somewhat during the day between the rush hours - no more.:( Very different place than in my youth.

Have a good time, just make sure the house is cleaned up before your wife gets home!:D:D

Wes
 
I'll never forget the 'moment of crystallization' when I made the decision to move away from the Chicago area.
We lived in the western suburb of Downers Grove. I was working in downtown Chicago as a news photographer for the Chicago Tribune. Coming home, one hot July afternoon, the traffic on the Eisenhower Expressway ("expressway", that's an oxymoron :( ) was stopped. Gridlocked solid. I sat for a couple hours. Cars were overheating and steam was coming out of many with busted hoses, etc. People were taking off their clothes and sitting on top of their cars to get some fresh air. The stench from fumes was terrible. Finally, I got sick and had to vomit onto the road. Saying the experience was awful would be an understatement. At that point, I decided this was no way to live. We were leaving. It took about two years before we actually made the move in 1970 but I have never looked back.
 
I've tried on several occassions to determine if man can live on brats alone. The LOML doesn't like em, so when ever she has to go out of town, I live on them the whole time.

Gotta agree on all them "important" things them folks want to discuss. I pretty much "invest" all my money in woodworking toys. Don't have to worry about the value of my investments because they are intended to go down anyway.
 
I can understand what you're saying, Frank. It is kind of strange though the way different classes act at the reunions, and maybe it depends on where the classes are located. I went to school in a VERY small town for the first 10 yrs and then to a larger small town school (28 miles from there), for the last 2 yrs. of HS. My wife went all 12 years here where we live now, which is still not "Big City", but 30 times larger than my largest town. Since she has always been on her reunion committee, I have attended most of her reunions with her, (that is, when I was working here and not wandering around some other part of the world), and her reunions are well planned, and pretty good, as reunions go, but I have noticed quite a lot more "Yuppie Acting Folks" (I call them) at her reunions than at mine.

Even though my class graduated only about 90 students, we had a full range of vocations including a couple of 30 + year NASA Engrs, Several very successful Chemists and other Engineers, Ranchers, Independant Oil Operators, one Golf Pro, two career Military, several Teachers, Nurses, Sales people, Pilots, Truck Drivers and laborers, but "not one" did that "Yuppie Act" at the reunion. I have only attended 5 of mine altogether, three of the smallest, and two of the larger school's reunions. The atmosphere at mine has truly been great and the visiting and "catching up" with the life activities of each other was with a sincere interest in what each one had been doing, with NO tendency of trying to pry into the other's financial successes or failures, or brag on how well they had done with theirs.

My Oldest daughter met us there for a day at my last reunion, (my 50th), and both she and my wife said they had a wonderful time visiting with my classmates AND even my old Chemistry Teacher, (who was one of my Favorite Teachers even though Chemistry was certainly not one of my strong suites). I think my daughter really came, just to see if the rest of my class was as crazy as me.:rofl::rofl::rofl:

I guess what it really comes down to is that you can take the Kids out of the "Country", but you just can't take the "Country" out of the Kids. :D

Anyhow, enjoy your uninterupted Shop Time while you are playing "Bachelor", and as was already mentioned, be SURE the house is clean before Momma gets home.:thumb:
 
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I've tried on several occassions to determine if man can live on brats alone. The LOML doesn't like em, so when ever she has to go out of town, I live on them the whole time.

Gotta agree on all them "important" things them folks want to discuss. I pretty much "invest" all my money in woodworking toys. Don't have to worry about the value of my investments because they are intended to go down anyway.

Yes you can live on brats. I once lived on Texturized Vegetable Protein -the BBQ version for a whole month. Believe it or not, I would still like to buy a big tub of it. ;)

Frank, I live in a small town, just east of STL. One of the nice things about living in a small town, is that we have our own Power Generation Backup system. Yes, a bunch of really big locomotive engines that generate electricity when the power goes down.

Also, every year I go to West Chicago, for Ball Seed co's Field Days. Its amazing to think back just 10 years ago, there was mostly farm fields and sod farms. Now its all strip malls, condos and overpriced homes.

Joe
 
I donno.... My wife & I take tour buses full of high school kids to Chicago a couple or three times a year. I really love the Architecture, Buildings, Museums, Navy Pier, Theater, Hancock building, Dinner Cruises, perhaps you are shaken by progress passing you by, No I am not amazed by the Big City Life, but am interested in the things it offers. Have taken tours to different cities and was really amazed how clean Chicago is and felt content walking the streets at night, people are much more polite than you expect. (beat the heck out of any Canadian trips we have taken kids on.)

BTW We work as Travel Escorts for a local Tour bus line. North, South, East, or West... Travel America, Its the best. :eek: Sorry, had to put in a plug. :thumb:
 
I went to my 20th high school reunion, and I don't expect to go to any more. I wasn't a real social climber in high school, so I never hung out with any of the "cool" people, who, as it turns out, were the ones doing the "yuppie act" at the reunion. I stay in contact with the small handful of real friends I had in high school, so there's no need for me to waste a weekend hanging out with a bunch of folks I don't know and don't particularly care to know.

Frank, the changing landscape of our hometowns is somewhat of a given. Every time I go back to Albuquerque I see changes (some for the better, some for the worse), and I know if I were to move back there it would be different than when I lived there before.

I am pretty certain I won't miss LA a whole lot if and when I leave here for a smaller town.
 
I've lived a few larger towns, not like Chicago or NYC or LA

But you know what Wichita was too big for me, heck even Macon was to big. Come to think of it when the wife and I got married we lived in New Middletown and that was two big :rofl:

Class reunions? I have no idea what one I would go to IF i was invited. considering I went to 4 different high schools :D Personally I have no reason to go anyway.
 
An example of how things change, often dramatically, is the vanishing farm landscape. About ten years ago, we went back 'up nawth' to visit my wife's sister and bro-in-law in West Aurora. I didn't recognize anything except one farm. It was surrounded by new housing development for many miles in all directions. The farm was a couple hundred acres and had some unusual style barns. I sensed that it wouldn't be there much longer. So, I went over one day, cameras in hand and flagged the farmer down from his tractor in the field he was plowing. I asked if I could photograph his place and he agreed. I later mailed him a packet of the photos. I was told, a year later all was gone, replaced by bulldozers preparing for a new development. A year after that the former farm was covered with houses. I understand growth and development but don't always consider such as progress. Enneyhow, below is an example of what is now only a memory.
 

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Interesting photos of the farm, Frank. I'm glad you captured them.

I live outside a small rural college town. Population 2,500. What growth we have is pretty slow, but certainly still there.

I grew up in NYC. Had to take the subway every day to high school and college - lived at home and attended a public university. One day, climbing the long stair with someone's arse in my face, like it was day after day, I swore to myself that when I could, I'd get out of the city and NEVER have to live like that again.

I am blessed with my home in the woods...and have never been to a reunion.

Ken
 
Interesting photos of the farm, Frank. I'm glad you captured them.

I live outside a small rural college town. Population 2,500. What growth we have is pretty slow, but certainly still there.

I grew up in NYC. Had to take the subway every day to high school and college - lived at home and attended a public university. One day, climbing the long stair with someone's arse in my face, like it was day after day, I swore to myself that when I could, I'd get out of the city and NEVER have to live like that again.

I am blessed with my home in the woods...and have never been to a reunion.

Ken


Growth is inevitable. But, it is still sad to see farms dissapear and rich black soil, like Illinois is blessed with, covered with concrete and houses. We aren't going to make less people. They do have to live somewhere.
 
Use to go to the boat show that was held in McCormick Place (sp?) every year when I was in the business. Was always nice to get on the plane and head back home where the pop at that time was around 2000. Did have some good times in Chicago though, but I was definetely a small town hick in the Big City. Now when it comes to batching I always like the wife to leave during bbqing weather :) Then I manage ok:thumb:
 
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