The Fayette Tribune, Oak Hill, W.Va.

Local News

July 25, 2012

Home to the Hills

As a child, it was easier to cool off

By Ricky Pack

— How cool is this? I am sitting at the top of the pasture, in my big bad Dodge Ram typing this article. I am parked in the shade of an old apple tree, listening to the Doobie Brothers. I am amazed that there are apples hanging from the branches. Nobody has taken care of them ever. Pop would let them grow and still there would be a harvest.

Grandma used to make the best apple pies and apple cobblers. It always seemed to me that the apples were so sour. After biting into one I would walk around puckering like a catfish. On the other hand Grandma would use a large amount of sugar to sweeten the pie. Grandma loved the sour apples. She used to say “Those are my best cooking apples.” That was for sure as a person couldn’t eat the apples raw.

We are on the backside of the power outage. We have been enduring this outage for six days. This is the Fourth of July and the power is supposed to be on tomorrow. Here is a question for you. When did the government change “Independence Day” to the “Fourth of July?” The answer is at the end of this article.

I have to admit that I am ready to have electricity again. My air conditioner is out of order and it is near impossible to get someone out to work on it. I have tried eight air condition repair shops, still no luck. OK, this is a shameful attempt to get someone out here to fix my AC.

When we used to spend our summers with Pop and Grandma we never had air conditioning. The creek was cold. We just threw on our swimming trunks and jumped in. I must be a hillbilly. Yesterday I hunted a wide and deep pool in the creek at Beckwith. I found one and the excitement of bathing in the creek almost overcame me. To jump or not to jump, that was the question. I could see Jake jumping in with me as we frolicked in that mountain water. When I told a friend and her husband they looked at me like I was crazy. They quickly offered me a shower at their house. I was torn, the battle raged on in my mind. Should I throw caution to the wind and bathe in the creek, or should I go the modern way and shower?

I have been told that I have never grown up. One lieutenant I was stationed with in Coronado, Calif., exclaimed to everyone in ranks that I was the “biggest 10 year old” she had ever seen. She was probably right. I was always getting into trouble when I had spare time. I chose the shower at my house.

It is remarkable how much hot water I could squeeze out of a water heater that was without power for six days. A Navy shower was the trick. The Navy shower consists of soaking yourself down real good and then shutting the water off. Then soap up everything, turn the shower back on and rinse off. That takes three minutes at best if you don’t linger.

One time, in the jungles of Guam, we had to take showers out of the back of a water tanker. I was the one spraying everyone down out of a three-inch hose. Suddenly the truck ran out of water. Senior Chief had just lathered up so much he looked like a white Husky dog, head to toe. You should have heard him growl when I told him we were out of water. To this day I don’t know what he did to get all of the soap off. I was glad I had already taken my shower.

As I write this, power is on in Ansted, Fayetteville, Gauley Bridge and Oak Hill. I am sure the people there are happy about that. The people of Chimney Corner still have water. To the workers of the Hawks Nest Reservoir, I say thank you. I know it took everything you had to make sure the water continued to flow.

The answer to the question is: I don’t know either.

Have a great day. Do a random act of kindness today and make someone’s day better.

(Pack may be contacted at rickypack@peoplepc.com. Letters to the editor regarding his column may be e-mailed to ckeenan@register-herald.com.)

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