Well, it's John and Joe again. Hello. Uh, we haven't talked to you for a few weeks. Uh, where we live, it's hot. So very hot. We're, uh, cooling down. One of the things that, uh, we've talked to people about is they like to know our, our story, and we have a, we have a good story and they want to know about the older days. And Joe and I thought we would share. Some of our personal things that happened to us when they were, we were young. And, uh, maybe you've had these happen to you. Maybe you know, people or you know, some way you can, uh, coincide with. But first if you forgot, uh, we're going on our 37th year of marriage. Yes, we are happily, uh, we have, uh, we've been blessed four children between the two of us. We have eight grandchildren. That's between the two of us. That's right. And we've got, uh, four, four great-grandchildren. Correct. So, you know, we're, we've been around the block, so to speak. So anyway, I guess where we need to start is in the beginning and, uh, the beginning was, uh, I was born in Springfield, Illinois. And I know a lot of you have had trouble and don't like the goodwill, but my father. Was executive director of the Goodwill in Birmingham. Give you a little background on Goodwill. Goodwill was formed in the late 18 hundreds in Boston by a gentleman named Edgar Helms, who in association with the Methodist Church, set this goodwill up. They had offices, uh, throughout the United States. My dad was assigned to Birmingham, so we went from Springfield to Birmingham. And, uh, he had his place there. He, he was the director and he had handicapped people and I mean, really handicapped. They were, I can remember Tony who had no legs, who went around on a four wheels on a board of blind people, uh, deaf people. Uh, just a lot of problems, but. Do you ever with artificial limbs? Artificial limbs, and every day at the Goodwill? They started off with the chapel service, and they did that in the morning. And my dad was a, uh, a licensed minister, but he did not have a church. You know, he could preach, but, uh, he, he wasn't assigned to church. They had the, they had the, uh, local chapel and then every day at lunch, they had a hot lunch meal. Because a lot of those people didn't get, didn't get anything to eat. And I remember there was a gentleman there, his name was Mr. Stoddard. And Mr. Stoddard was kind of like the, uh, night watchman and he lived in the building and there was a great big freight elevator. And I was a kid 11, 12 years old. I enjoyed riding up into an elevator, but I made friends with all those handicapped people. And I think that's one of the things in my life that helped me become. Accepting and patient and uh, you know, that kind of good stuff. But anyway, that was, uh, that was that. Then my dad passed away quite early in his life. He was only 49, and my mother tried to take care of the family, but suffered a nervous breakdown. My brother, sister and I were put in the Methodist Children's home, Selma, Alabama. And, uh, you probably think this was a terrible thing, but it was a good thing in that, uh, I met a lot of people. We did a lot of things, uh, met a lot of friends. Uh, we still have friends who were there, uh, then all these years later. And, uh, the leader or the, the director of that, uh, children's home at that time had three children. One of them has passed away, but we're still in touch with the other two. And he used to, at dinner time, you could sit at his table and you were, you could take chances. So he was like your dad. Now, did you, uh, have a small, uh, kitchen that you ate in? You mean in our, we had a, in your, your dinner? Well, dinner. Our dinner was in the main house. Well, our breakfast was in, um, our own home. We had a house, mother house, father, three bedrooms with three boys each, and we shared two rooms, shared a bath, and then, uh, we had a breakfast there, but we ate our dinner meal at the, uh, main building. Mm-hmm. And they used to ring a bell when it was time for dinner. And one of the things that I was, and none of you could believe it to know me, I was a barn boy and a barn boy. Now this is a city boy, a city. Got up in the morning. I was, uh, 13, 14, went over. They got, we picked up an old army truck and, uh, went over to the farm and we had a dairy. The home had a dairy and a garden, and so we milked cows. I never was successful in milking cows, so my job was pushing the wheelbarrow full of feed and I would, uh, shovel feed and for the cows to eat where they were being milk. In the trough. In the trough. Well, you know about that because you know about farming. So I did that in the trough and then we went back to our house and we got breakfast, and from there we went to school. So that was, uh, it, it seems bad, but it wasn't, and, uh, learned a lot from that experience. So what did you do after that job? After that, uh, home sent me to a college Birmingham Southern College. I was there for a year and a half. Um, my mother was struggling in St. Louis and, uh, I said, there's no way I can be going to school, and her struggling with two other children. So I left school, went to St. Louis, got my draft notice and went to the Air Force, which was the next best thing. Of course, the best thing is having Joe as my wife. Another good thing was getting in the Air Force because I learned a different career than what I've ever done before. So, Joe, now you can talk a little bit about you growing up. Well, I grew up in a small town, Ambler, Pennsylvania, and uh, my mother and father had a grocery store. My mother ran this grocery store. My father ran a Huckster truck and in the summer I would go with my father. And sell a cord to people, and we had a great time. We would sit, we would harmonize in the truck singing and having a good time. Well, one day we came home and we had a lot of people in our yard. My sister had taken matches from the kitchen, wrote up paper to look like a cigarette. Attempted to smoke that and, and wasn't able. So she put it be a man came down the street, she put the cigarette behind her, dress her back, her dress caught fire, and she ended up having three degree burns on her back and arms. Now she had to go to the hospital and she lived in the hospital for 18 months. Uh. Poor Betty. It was a, a terrible thing. They had to put her in a, uh, soundproof room to change her dressings. Well then, at any rate, uh, every day my mother and dad took me to the hospital. I sat in the wait in the, uh, hallway, uh, where my sister was. And, uh, that was kind of our life, uh, not a, a good life after. Having so much fun before. Now, you did homework while you were in the, uh, homework hallway. In the hallway, yes. Yep. And then Betty was able to come home, but she got measles and then we were quarantined. So I was sent over to my, a home that my mother and dad owned where the, the, uh, store was because my uncle, aunt, and uncle lived there. He was, my uncle was unemployed. Okay, so my mother and dad let them have the house. And so every time Betty got sick, I was sent over to that house to stay. You were qua. Now does anybody get quarantined anymore? I don't think so. I don't think so. Didn't they used to hang a sign on the house and Yes, they did all that stuff you could. She got chicken pox and I had to go over there to the other house and, uh, and my, I was able to sleep in the room. I thought I would sleep in the room, in a bed. With my cousin, but she didn't want me in bed with her, so I slept on the floor in her bedroom. So, so it was not a happy time for us and, uh, our, our, our home life changed completely. My dad was very unhappy with my mother. He felt that mother should never have allowed that to happen. So I, uh, grew up in that atmosphere and. I graduated from high school, got a job at the, actually, uh, Esby and Madison owned the town, uh, and you were employed at, in the, at the, uh, Esby and Madison facility. So I was working in the, uh, uh, traffic department. And I felt that I could do a little better. Better. I was making$18 a week. My dad took 15 of that, and the other three, I went to the fabric store and bought fabric and made my clothes. So you had, uh,$3 to and all week. That was kind of a lot of money. Wasn it? I don't think so, John, but I had a roof over my head and I had food on the table. Now we, we talk about our kids today and. How they kind of have it pretty much made and, uh, feel, they feel entitled, feel entitled, and we look back and, and say, well, you know, those were the way it was when we grew up. So just, it's just a different atmosphere. Uh, I, I, we had no TV to watch. We had obviously no cell phones, no computers. My main thing was a crystal radio and also a big radio that I used to tune in. And try to hear station identifications every half an hour, an hour to see how far away I could pick up stations. So, well, I remember first TV said my Uncle George and Aunty had late of two doors away from us. Uh, and every Friday night we would go and sit in their, in their living room, watch this seven inch screen, uh, and they were wrestling matches. That's, that's what they did, didn't they? Yes. I had the same thing when. When I used to go with my dad to work, we used to come home at night just during the summertime and we'd walk to the streetcar. We had no car, but we would walk by an appliance place that had a TV set in the window and on the sidewalk, all these people were standing watching this black and white tv. In fact, I remember when I was a kid just sitting at a store on a folding chair watching, uh, that, uh. A thing they put up when they're not having tv. It's a test pattern, test pattern, test pattern. And I'd watch that test pattern for a couple hours thinking, thinking something was gonna happen, but it never did so well. Speaking of cars, we, my dad had a car, but uh, my dad said that is for business and not for pleasure. So we were not allowed to ride in the car. So you walked, we walked. I walked too.'cause we didn't have a car. My dad had an accident in the car when I was little. I was sitting on books in the front seat, you know, with no seat belts hit the, hit the windshield. And, uh, I, I claim I have a hole in my head, which Joe says it's not. But, uh, from that accident and all these 90 years, something years ago. But I wanna tell you that, uh, my, my sister Betty. Even with her burns, uh, she recovered from that, had, uh, very few, uh, uh, veins in her back. Uh, but she had varicose veins in her, in her legs, but she did marry and she had three children. Mm-hmm. So, uh, God was good. Unfortunately, she passed away a few years ago, so yeah, she did down in Florida with cancer. With cancer. In fact, Joe's both sisters, uh, passed and with, same thing with. Those sisters had cancer and my brother and my sister have both passed. So we're the oldest and, uh, only still the ones left, so that's right. So we got job to do. We're just trying to figure out what it is. We did get an RSV shot. Joe got one two weeks ago or one week ago. Well, let me say, John said, Joe, you get yours first and if you survive, I'll get one. Yeah. Next week. So this past weekend we went in and. You know, I got it. And uh, the farmers said, oh, by the way, we've got new flu shots. Why don't you get a flu shot? So I got two bandaids on my arm and Joe only got one. I got a flu shot too. You got a flu shot. So now, now we both have to get tetanus. Tetanus.'cause I don't know why we're not gonna step on any nails, are we? Well, you never know. We're not barefoot running around. So, but you don't know what, what might happen. No you don't. Well, we gotta, we're not gonna get quarantined like you do. So. I remember when I was a kid, I had my tonsils out. Joe says, you've never had any surgeries. And I said, well, I had my tonsils and I rode the streetcar to the doctor's office and then the doctor's office, they took my tonsils out. My mother must have been with me, obviously, and I came back on the car and I remember, uh, having ice cream. Now see, I my girlfriend next door, they lived next door. She and I both went. So the hospital had our tonsils out and spent the night. Mm. And everybody on the floor said that they, they heard us singing and having a good time just before we had our tonsils out. And after that it was as quiet as could be. Well, you know, I was ahead of my time then, because people don't stay overnight anymore. No, they don't. Hospitals, you know, major surgeries, they're in and out same day. Mm-hmm. So I was, I was, you know, that was a long time ago. So I set a precedent. Yes, you did. I think, uh, I remember the doctor's office was in an office building in Insley, Alabama, and, uh, second or third floor that I can remember going there several times. But, uh, that was, uh, that was then, and this is now. Why did you go several times? Well, if ever I was sick, my mother would, you know, take Or did you just get hurt playing? Well, no, I never got hurt playing. When you, when you were shooting your shoot bbs? I had welts. Oh, but no skin bleeding, just black and blue marks. Oh, okay. When we used to shoot each other with BB guns, oh gosh. I did have a, uh, a red rider, I think, uh, BB gun with, uh, those little tubes of bbs you could put in there, and you shoot about a hundred BBS at a time. So I played the paper. Well, that's what makes you so gentle nowadays and me the way I am. So, oh my, well, that's a story. We've talked, uh, 10 minutes, but I want to end our, end our deal with a, with an antidote. Is that the right word I want to use? Yes, it is. Uh, we're doing this with a neighbor's p uh, permission. One of our neighbors went to the bathroom to, uh. Use the facilities and when they looked in the toilet, there was a frog in the toilet. So she immediately, uh, his went into hysteria and, uh, slammed the lid down and came back and raised the lid. And the frog was, frog was still there. Still there. Still there. So she went to the kitchen and got a roll of saran wrap and covered the toilet with Saran wrap. The next morning she called somebody for help and they came and the frog was gone. So I told her, I said, I think maybe the frog went in one of those little holes where the water comes out in the rim of the toilet and when you sit on, it's going be, it's going to come out and attack you. Well, I don't know if it ever did or not. I don't know if, I don't think she uses that too bath anymore. Think the Saran rep is still there. Maybe that's a good testimonial for. Use the surrender, right, because it's tight and you can see through it. Yes. So if the frog was in there, safety, I remember when we went to, uh, Florida, Kay. Our daughter, Kay was worried about the alligators. And, uh, she thought that, uh, we had put her in harm's way because she was on a, a ride. This was in South Carolina. Oh, South Carolina. That's right where we lived. Yeah. Yo head. And she was out in one of these boats where you paddle boat and crocodiles, alligators were in that pond and she hustled back and she says, dad, you're trying to kill me. So later that summer, I think there was a movie on about crocodiles in the sewers of Chicago. They're not crocodiles. Alligators, alligators, alligators and sewers of, and, uh, she was afraid that one of those alligators are gonna come up to the toilet because you know, a lot of people. Brought those back as little pets or something. Yes, they did. Put'em in their pocket or suitcase and flushed'em down and Lord knows where they went. But you know, they grew, they grew and, and came back. So. Alright. Joe, anything else we're gonna add to this? Uh, I think we board them enough. I think so. And you know, we wanna say we thank you for listening. Yes, we do. We got our statistics today and we're, um, I think we mentioned before we're in, uh. The Netherlands. We don't know who's listening to the Netherlands. We're in Canada, people are listening to us. And uh, we're in a hundred, what, 40, 48 cities in the United States. So, uh, John and Joe, uh, are getting around and we appreciate you listening to us and, uh, letting us, uh, tell you our story. Keep tuned. Keep tuned. More's coming. Yes. Talk to you later. Bye