When my farther in law died

[Further]

It was the end of the family place. Grandma had bought it back in the 30's and it had been home for a few generations. But the neighborhood had gone to hell, all the kids had moved away.

Grandma was long passed. Mother was a couple years gone. And now Daddy was gone. It was the end of an era.

The kids were sitting around the kitchen table, the table we had had so many good times around, divvying up the stuff, and trying to come to grips. I was feeling kinda extra and went out for some air.

Walking round the yard, stopped by a garden near the fence, just staring and thinking, not really looking at anything

A guy runs out of the house next door, runs up to me yelling "just peppers man, just peppers"

So I look at him, he's worked up about something, look back at the garden, and among the peppers are a few pot plants...

I look back at the guy, and say, yeah, just peppers.

So we talk a bit. He is the neighbor I've heard a lot about, huge help to my in-laws, nice guy. Gardener.

 

 

[jsharr ★]

Nicely told.  My grandfather moved the family to Corpus Christi in the early 40s. Built the house they lived in. Added on as the family grew. I loved visiting that place it’s still standing but the shares haven’t been there for a long time.

I remember helping granddaddy transplant tomatoes starts into his garden working in an improvised part of the garage he used as a greenhouse

[Scrapr ★]

My MIL is 90...91 in June. Still lives in her home by herself. Her husband Leo passed in 2017. Leo's dad bought the house in '25 or so. Leo bought it from his Mom when "Pop's" died. My wife was born there. When MIL passes that will be the end of the family in the neighborhood. I will have most of the responsibility in wrapping up Kay's estate...which will involve selling the house. That will not be a good day

[Airehead]

My mom’s family came over looking for a change of luck around 1723.  Eventually got some cheap land by the Chesapeake bay. No one wanted that land because it could be too wet and was too far from civilization. We still have that land. Lots of people lived and died there.  No one ever threw anything away. Just stored it. The first cabin eventually became a summer kitchen then a storage building then a pool house.  

[jsharr ★]

1 hour ago, Airehead said:

My mom’s family came over looking for a change of luck around 1723.  Eventually got some cheap land by the Chesapeake bay. No one wanted that land because it could be too wet and was too far from civilization. We still have that land. Lots of people lived and died there.  No one ever threw anything away. Just stored it. The first cabin eventually became a summer kitchen then a storage building then a pool house.  

Awesome we did not get here until 1770s and as far as I know, we moved around a lot.  

[2Far ★]

21 minutes ago, jsharrwick said:

Awesome we did not get here until 1770s and as far as I know, we moved around a lot.  

Mid 1800s for both sides, part of the Irish immigration tsunami. 

[jsharr ★]

7 minutes ago, 2Far said:

Mid 1800s for both sides, part of the Irish immigration tsunami. 

I did not know you were a cop.

[2Far ★]

They settled into central & western New York. A lot of farmhands/farmers for the first few generations. There was one killed in a boiler explosion at a locomotive plant in Schenectady 

[jsharr ★]

42 minutes ago, 2Far said:

They settled into central & western New York. A lot of farmhands/farmers for the first few generations. There was one killed in a boiler explosion at a locomotive plant in Schenectady 

We moved from NY to Ohio to Texas to Oregon to Indian Territory to Texas.  My grandfather had his pelvis crushed in a coupler accident as a locomotive mechanic in the 1920s 

[Scrapr ★]

1 hour ago, 2Far said:

 Schenectady 

did you have to look up the spelling on that? Because eye would