70s-child: July 2005

Sunday, July 31, 2005

Grizzly Adams, my hero.

"Deep inside the forest is a door into another land, here is our life and home.
We are staying here forever in the beauty of this place all alone.
We keep on hoping that maybe there's a world where we won't have to run, and maybe there's a time to call our own, living free and harmony and majesty. Take me home, take me home." Grizzly Adams ending theme song

While other kids dreamed of being Joe Namath or OJ Simpson, I fantasized about being Grizzly Adams. I dreamed of heading into the woods, building a cabin, and of course hanging out with bears. . ... I watched this show for 2 years. I don't really remember when this show was popular but i would say it ran from about '74 to '77.

Now I do live in a log cabin in the woods and I do have a beard. No bears but my dog is named Bear. And I don't make my own clothes. Other than that there are many similarities (except that I haven't ever been falsely accused of murder and i'm not a fugitive from justice).

Sunday, July 10, 2005

A 1973 Christmas present.

At long last, Captain Peg Leg!!!!!!!

Matchbox Fighting Furies Capt. PEG-LEG 1973 MIB!!!

I received this action figure in the Christmas of '73, so I was 6 years old. I had always remembered this figure but I forgot it's name and manufacturer. I just figured it out through some detective work on ebay (that's where I get many of my photos for this blog). This guy had a removeable peg leg with a 'treasure map' inside. I unscrewed his leg so much my mom would say: "Joe would you quit playing with that damn leg, you're gonna break it!!".
Mom had such a way with words.

Friday, July 01, 2005

"Someone left the cake out in the rain. I don't think that I can take it, cause it took so long to bake it, and I'll never have that recipe again."

MacArthur Park, Donna Summer

Don't expect much out of me for a quarter:

As a kid, I never got an allowance. That's something my folks weren't into. They were very generous with me, I never lacked anything, and usually when I asked for something they'd get it for me, but an allowance just wasn't going to happen. In '76, just before my folks split up, dad decided to give me a "job". It was sometime in January and the weather was pretty brutal, so he told me he'd pay me a quarter if I'd open the garage door for him when he got home so he wouldn't have to get out of the car and open it himself. We lived in a split level house (a raised-ranch), and the garage was in the lower level. The very first night, I was watching TV and I heard him pull in and stop at the garage door. I didn't want to leave my show, and it was pretty cold down there in the garage, and I was rather warm and cozy and comfortable sitting in front of the tv, so I basically ignored him. He honked. He honked again. And again. And again. Finally I heard him open the car door, open the garage himself, pull into the garage and slam the door shut. The way he slammed the door, I could tell he was angry and that I was in trouble. He came upstairs and just looked at me. Let's just say I lost my job that night, which didn't really bother me. A QUARTER??? I didn't get out of BED for that kind of money...