Boys don't have playhouses, so we called it a fort. I don't remember it EVER getting used but we appreciated daddy making it for us. It was just as sturdy as our house but you wouldn't want to stay there during an ice storm like we had in March 1960.
Today it's called Lockheed Corporation but then it was still the Bell Bomber Plant. He was probably around when they started the 'skunk works' their SUPER SECRET section that developed the SR-71 Blackbird but if he ever worked on it, he didn't say because daddy never talked about his work there.
But I know that he was good at technical drawing cause he drew the plans for our house across from Grandma and probably did the plans for their house in Sand Hill. He did intricate scrollwork (if that's what you call it) with a jig saw. He was a genius (in my mind) as far as numbers are concerned and always did his own tax returns (before there were computers to do the returns for you).
My father grew up during the depression and the arduous recovery period when the CCCs were created (and needed). They did public works all over the country including a stone firetower on the top of Wayah Bald Mountain in North Carolina (see the picture in the gallery). Most of the guys including my dad sent most of their wages home to their families and lived a very frugal life otherwise but one weekend he and some other guys (probably while building this tower for which daddy laid a stone compass pattern on the main floor) decided they'd walk into town and take in a picture show. They were in good spirits when walking home through the deeply wooded area when they heard what sounded like a woman screaming...but they knew it was no woman. It was a long way off so they just walked a little faster and probably stopped talking...concentrating instead on walking. In a few minutes they heard the scream again and there was no doubt what it was and what it was after....so they increased their speed again. Well, in a bit the cat was real close so they started running and thank goodness they were close to the camp by then so they crossed the bridge they had recently built and ran into the barracks. When they looked out the window they could see the large catamount (mountain lion) sitting on the handrail of the bridge they had just crossed.
When I was about five, my Dad took me with him on a trip to gather measurements to quote a big job to tile several barracks for the Army. When he finish measuring the job, we stopped at a little roadside diner for lunch. I don’t remember whether we went in or had our meal in the car. I got my first restaurant hamburger, french-fries and chocolate milkshake meal. He let me finish my milkshake as we continued our journey. Wow! That was wonderful! I slept a lot on the way home. It wasn’t air conditioned and yes it was hot but nobody had air-conditioning so we didn’t expect it and didn’t feel it to be an unusual imposition. His car had the little triangular roll -out windows in front of the main windows and we made good use of them. I'm embarrassed to say I don’t remember telling him ‘thanks’ in this life. THANKS DAD!
