Hick's Railroad Car shed is not fully furnished yet. I thought he was going to put train stuff in it. Like the boys' old Thomas the Tank Engine toys, and a couple trains that were Hick's, with little village pieces for putting around the Christmas tree.
It doesn't pay to think around Hick. Actually, doing anything around Hick doesn't pay. It's like volunteer work. Of the unrewarding kind.
Anyhoo... Hick sent me a picture of the inside of the Railroad Car shed. He was working on it during the rains Wednesday.
He's installing the floor. You might think that looks pretty fancy, for a shed that might rot from the walls in, due to rain, or have squirrels chew a hole near the roof. But Hick is a crafty re-purposer. This is laminate flooring he got from Back Creek Neighbor Bev when she had new floors put in. So it didn't cost Hick anything, and it wasn't being used.
I believe his previous plan involved plywood. Until he went to buy some, and told me that PLYWOOD COSTS $65 A SHEET! When it used to be $7 a sheet! Ixnay on the ywoodplay, I believe is how the learned scholars in Pigville say it...
What catches my eye is the contraption on the left. That has nothing to do with putting down laminate flooring, or trimming or measuring boards.
THAT IS MY CHILDHOOD PINBALL MACHINE!
Really. I think that's it. I don't recall how I wrangled it away from my sister the ex-ex-mayor's wife. The plastic toy pinball machine used to sit in my mom's family room. Now it sits in a themed shed shaped like a railroad car. I don't think Hick is opening a hangout for pinball-loving youth. So I'm not sure why it's here. Maybe he found another one at the auction, and unloaded it there while cruising down Shackytown Boulevard in SilverRedO.
Anyhoo... kids and trains got me to thinking about The Boxcar Children. One of my elementary teachers used to read it to us right after lunch recess. When we were all wound up, and sometimes sweaty, from running around the playground as kids used to do, playing kickball or tag on a blacktop surface slippery with gravel and hungry for knee-skin.
I LOVED The Boxcar Children stories! No matter how much we begged, we couldn't get more than one chapter a day out of our teacher. Checking them out of the library would put you out of order in the series. So there was nothing to do but wait until the next post-recess session. In retrospect, the premise of The Boxcar Children is kind of depressing...
I bet they would have loved a pinball game in their boxcar.
I just read "The Hardy Boys" Don't remember the boxcar books
ReplyDeleteI read some Hardy Boys, but liked the TV series better! There was a shelf of them in my grandma's house next door. Supposedly, they had been my dad's books, but he preferred Zane Gray.
DeleteI've never heard of The Boxcar Children. I have heard of the Railroad Children, which was eventually made into a movie, I think I saw bits of it on TV, when they were advertising it. Many moons ago and I can't remember anything about it, so it must not have been to my liking.
ReplyDeleteLooks like The Railway Children was a single book, set in England, made into a movie. I never heard of it. The Boxcar Children is a series of books about orphans living in a railroad car after their parents die. I think it was also a movie.
DeleteSeems the older I get, the more memories pop up. Odd things that didn't seem worthy of memory. When my dad was dying and restricted to the hospital bed in his bedroom I asked if he wanted a TV, a radio, anything, as it seemed so boring just laying there and dozing on and off. When I asked, he said he was just remembering things. He was 84, so he had lots of memories. I cherish those that he shared with me.
ReplyDeleteYes, we always have our memories. Sometimes a half hour goes by, and I realize I was lost in reminiscing. I laugh out loud at some of the predicaments my mom and I got into.
Delete