The Old Man on March 31st, 2008
Working inside a three story building one weekend, my son wanted to go with me. I told him ok. He was still a little young then but always a good helper. We were working on the third floor of a building with ThyssenKrupp Elevators. It took most of the day to finish the job, I was doing. My son Gordon was helping me take all my working tools back to the truck. After putting all our tools in the ThyssenKrupp Elevator and we went down to the first floor. After loading the truck we had to lockup the building. On the way back in Gordon said “dad I think we left a drop cloth upstairs” “oh yeah” I replied, so back in the ThyssenKrupp Elevator and off we go to the third floor. After 
getting the drop cloth and taking it back down to the first floor. I told Gordon don’t push any buttons on the elevator (Oops to late!). I was outside the elevator when the doors closed. The elevator started up I reached for the button outside pushed it but the elevator doors didn’t open. They were no lights on up stairs. By this time Gordon was screaming his head off let me tell you that boy had a big mouth. He was scared, I ran up the stairs to the second floor, Gordon still screaming. He wasn’t on the second floor. I ran up the stairs to the third floor. He was not there. Knowing Gordon he is still pushing buttons. By the time I got back to the second floor I could here the elevator still moving, and Buddy still yelling and crying. Standing there wondering what to do, the door open and I said “thank God”. He ran out of the elevator; you should have seen the look on that boys face. It took a few minutes to calm him down, but he was ok.
I was the one that was huffing and puffing, after running up three flights of stairs.
The old man says.
I know your kids would not do any thing like that. Right, right.
The Old Man on March 24th, 2008
Long time ago I was told this story by a friend. I was a volunteer fireman when I lived in the Holden heights area of Orlando Florida. We met every Wednesday night at the fire station for practice. After our meetings some of us would go over to Chastain’s restaurant located on South Orange Blossom trail. It was a nice place to go and relax after our meeting. What I’m going to do is pull two names out of a hat for this story. Their names will be referred to as Ronald, and Willard.
We were sitting at our table drinking our coffee when Ronald said “I have a story to tell you”. Some one said “it better be a good one”! “It is!” Ronald replied.
Willard and I went boat riding yesterday. We had been riding around for about two hours and we decided to stop out in the middle of the lake to have some lunch. We were talking about how nice it was, clear skies, and the wind was calm.
Willard was operating the boat, after finishing lunch. Willard asked me if I was ready to go. “Yep lets rock and roll!” I replied. I was sitting on the bow with my legs hanging over the front edge staring out over the lake. Willard had to start the engine. The motor was running and the boat cruising across the lake. I noticed that the shore line was getting closer. I figured Willard would turn the boat away from the shore at the last minute. The only problem was that the boat was getting closer to shore and Willard was not turning the boat! As the boat got closer I decided to turn around and holler at Willard. As I turned around and looked Willard wasn’t in the boat! I turned back around but it was to late. The boat ran ashore and I was thrown off, amazingly I was not hurt. After getting to my feet I looked out over the lake. Willard was out in the middle of the lake waving! He had fallen out of the boat when he cranked the engine!
If you want to know how it happened. Willard was standing up in the boat when he cranked the Evenrude outboard motor. You now know the rest of the story.
The Old Man on March 17th, 2008
My Uncle Hansel was in the navy during World War Two. He was a cook on one of the Navy ships. He used to come over to our house and make soup for us all sometimes. One thing about my uncle, he could be very funny at times. I remember this one day he came in and had two big bags of groceries. “What are you up to uncle Hansel?” I asked. ‘Going to make some really good soup for dinner!” he replied. As I walked back into the living room Dad asked, “what’s he up to now”? “He’s going to make soup.” I told my dad. Dad started laughing, and mom had this little smile on her face. I didn’t know what their laughter and faces were all about. Uncle Hansel was in the kitchen rattling pots and pans, and starting to cook. After about thirty minutes the smell coming from the kitchen was great! It smelled so good that it was getting me all hungry. Hansel walks in to the living room asked mom if she had a bigger pot. Mom said “yes” and then went and got it for him. She asked Hansel the one she brought out was going to be big enough, he replied “yes, Hazel that one will be big enough”. A short time passed and things seem to be going fine in the kitchen. We could here Hansel talking to himself. We were curious what was going on in that kitchen. We found out, when Hansel walked back into the living room and asked mom “Do you happen to have a bigger pot”? We all started laughing! “Yes Hansel! I have a wash tub out on the back porch”! Dad said “son now do you know why I was laughing earlier?” Mom said “son this happens every time, Hansel makes soup!”. When Hansel finished cooking the soup he had a pot as big as a foot tub! We could have fed the hold neighborhood! Being in the Navy and having to cook food for an entire Navy crew is all he knew how to do! He was unable to scale down his wonderful soup to be fitting to serve a small family. At home he always gets carried away when cooking soup!
Oh, Uncle Hansel’s soup is some of the finest in the land. Its lip licking good.
The Old Man on March 12th, 2008
Wendell, Bobby, and James, that’s our names. Mud lake is located just west of Rio-Grande, and north of Holden Avenue. At one time there was a dairy farm in that area, I believe the name of it was Daughtry’s dairy. We rented a house close to there. My brother and I lived close to the lake, and Bobby lived about a mile and a half from us. During that time it was a heavily wooded area around the lake and a lot of thick underbrush. One day we decided to walk around the lake. Walking around the lake it was a little scary but being very careful where you walk it was ok. We had walked about two thirds of the way around the lake. There was this big log lying on the ground, we jumped up on it and were walking down the log. We stood there on the log looking around and talking about the lake, how nice it was, and talked about going boating. We decided we had better get on home it was getting late. We started to jump off the log when we looked down there was this big, I mean big alligator lying on the ground (we didn’t jump). We stood on the log looking at the size of the alligator. The alligator had one eye, and three feet. We walked to the end of the log and jumped off we were running when we hit the ground. We hurried 
home, and told mom about the [one eyed three legged alligator.] She told us to go and tell Mr. Daniel about it, we did. He told us he had been missing one of his calves. He got his gun and went down to the lake, he told us to stay at the house. In a few minutes we heard the shot gun go off. He came back and said the alligator was dead. We went home. My dad and my uncle were there we told them what had happen. They went down to the lake and took a look at the alligator. When they came back home they told my mom the boys were right it was a one eyed three legged alligator! The alligator was ten feet six inches long. What happen to his eye and foot, we will never know that story.
Always remember…..look before you jump. You never know what may be lying on the ground.
