The Second, Second Best Blog

Christmas in the ’50s was magical. Dad worked for Doyle Motors in Susanville, Mom at the hospital in Herlong. I don’t think there was a lot of money to spare after house payments and groceries for seven. In the days leading up to Christmas my brothers and I would watch the presents accumulate under the [...]

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What is needed in abundance to raise five boys with strong healthy bones and never risk them suffering the effects of rickets, as my father did as a child? Milk. Lots of fresh whole milk. I don’t remember exactly how and when my parents acquired a cow but they did. Even though we lived out [...]

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“Wait a minute Dad”, I said to my father as he began a left turn into the Eldorado Ranch driveway off of US 395, less than a mile west of Standish, California. He was driving the family station wagon, a 1956 Ford Country Squire, with all seven of us aboard. He had been stopped, waiting [...]

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