An unwanted Journey

[papabear]

I am 2 weeks away from 68. Probably a few here older than I am but not many.
My Mother is still alive and well. A few days ago we were laughing about something her mother said shortly before she died about her life.
"I came to Texas in a covered wagon and have seen a man on the moon. I have had a good life."
We talked about what we have seen and I thought about the difference in safety and threat level I have seen in 60 + years of good memory.
As a kid in early grade school we walked or rode a bike 2 miles to school. No it was not in the snow and up hill both ways.
Parents never had a worry. After school we changed jeans and shirts then hit the fields, vacant lots, and was back to the house for supper. Saturdays and summer we went to the school yards and played ball, were away from the house all day and we did not have a telephone or TV until I was in school several years. Safe all the time.
When wife and I married I did not even carry keys. They stayed in my log truck, shop was never locked. Did not have one. House not locked unless we were gone for a week end to see parents or other family. No worries in East Texas. I don't know about the cities then.
We have gone from there to armed in our churches. Carry 24-7 everywhere legal. Sometime by the middle of the first Clinton corruption several of my friends kept an AR in their vehicle. I did not but sure found no fault w/ their decision.
Now since Southerland Springs shooting started outside I have one in my truck too. One stashed in the church and magazine on my belt and another member has one on his person. We do active threat drills that range from verbal disturbance, anger at preacher or an X, to shooter assault. We have a fortified safe room for our kids.
Who would have thought 60 years ago we would be here today.

[miketx]

All the result of regressive liberal scum.

[TXAZ]

Not that far behind you, and there is some good news: 
While murder is about the same as it was in the 60’s (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_the_United_States)
the sensational reporting is way up, in part due to competition for viewers, driving sensationalism up, plus politically inspired fake news. And it’s important for those  political organizations who need a banner cause like gun con to spin up every instance of evil assault glocks that can kill 100 with a single trigger pull.

If you watch Crooked  News Network, yea we should all hope for higher taxes to write more ineffective laws.

[JohnnyDollar]

I about 10yrs behind you, and my childhood was the same.

I have spent time thinking how my grandkids just can't have the same childhood we had, and it's kind of sad.

[308nato]

I remember the days growing up in the late 40's  and 50's  with out having to lock doors and played out side till dark with no worries.
Rode my bike everywhere.
I remember the mailman going house to house summer and winter walking threw the heat of summer and the cold of winter.
My aunt would always have a glass of lemonaide or in winter a cup of hot coffee for him also.
Lot of good memories from back then.
In a couple of weeks I will be hitting the big 78.

[papabear]

I remember the days growing up in the late 40's  and 50's  with out having to lock doors and played out side till dark with no worries.
Rode my bike everywhere.
I remember the mailman going house to house summer and winter walking threw the heat of summer and the cold of winter.
My aunt would always have a glass of lemonaide or in winter a cup of hot coffee for him also.
Lot of good memories from back then.
In a couple of weeks I will be hitting the big 78.

Knew you were one of the few here that was older than me but did not think 10yrs. What day in January??

[TXAZ]

Dang Dennis,
we've got to get you on Boomer sooner than later!

[308nato]

I remember the days growing up in the late 40's  and 50's  with out having to lock doors and played out side till dark with no worries.
Rode my bike everywhere.
I remember the mailman going house to house summer and winter walking threw the heat of summer and the cold of winter.
My aunt would always have a glass of lemonaide or in winter a cup of hot coffee for him also.
Lot of good memories from back then.
In a couple of weeks I will be hitting the big 78.

Knew you were one of the few here that was older than me but did not think 10yrs. What day in January?


I was born Jan 12 1940

[308nato]

Dang Dennis,
we've got to get you on Boomer sooner than later!

Yeah hopefully on the next meet up ,hope there won't be any traffic problems.
Really looking forward for the next one.

[Alte Schule]

Turned 65 last month. My father was a career military man and we moved every now and then. Kentucky, Kansas, Alaska (when it was a territory) Europe and a couple of other places. We had a place in central Texas though that we always called home and I would pop in to school there every other year or so. Picked up with the same friends as if I never left.
During the summer playing baseball with a tennis ball and making our own rules or basketball at the outdoor playground at the elementary school were a favorite pastime. Arguing about Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris or Johnny Unitas was a way of life.  From 8-11 we roamed the hill country with abandon BB or pellet guns in hand. No one cared. Only rule for all of us was to be home by supper time. Didn't need a watch as the sun and our bellies told us when that was. Learned how to fish and smoke cigarettes (a habit I gave up long ago) at a pond in a old rock quarry and fish for white bass in the spring on the Colorado and Lampasas Rivers.
First .22 rifle at 12, Glenfield autoloader from Gibson's Department Store that I still have, and shotgun (16 ga. bolt action) and dispatched plenty of snakes, rabbits, quail and dove. Walked to my buddies house with one or the other many times and no one cared and no one said anything but hello.
In high school what firearm was in the pickup truck rifle racks parked in the school parking lot depended on the hunting season. That was students and teachers. Talk on Monday wasn't only about who scored the winning touchdown but also who limited out on their bird hunt or who got that elusive buck.
Rural Texas in the sixties and early seventies was a different world. Long gone and, sadly, no going back.

[papabear]

Well, 308Nato I am 2 days and 10 yrs behind. 14th 1950. Did not think you had but about 5 on me.

[papabear]

Turned 65 last month. My father was a career military man and we moved every now and then. Kentucky, Kansas, Alaska (when it was a territory) Europe and a couple of other places. We had a place in central Texas though that we always called home and I would pop in to school there every other year or so. Picked up with the same friends as if I never left.
During the summer playing baseball with a tennis ball and making our own rules or basketball at the outdoor playground at the elementary school were a favorite pastime. Arguing about Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris or Johnny Unitas was a way of life.  From 8-11 we roamed the hill country with abandon BB or pellet guns in hand. No one cared. Only rule for all of us was to be home by supper time. Didn't need a watch as the sun and our bellies told us when that was. Learned how to fish and smoke cigarettes (a habit I gave up long ago) at a pond in a old rock quarry and fish for white bass in the spring on the Colorado and Lampasas Rivers.
First .22 rifle at 12, Glenfield autoloader from Gibson's Department Store that I still have, and shotgun (16 ga. bolt action) and dispatched plenty of snakes, rabbits, quail and dove. Walked to my buddies house with one or the other many times and no one cared and no one said anything but hello.
In high school what firearm was in the pickup truck rifle racks parked in the school parking lot depended on the hunting season. That was students and teachers. Talk on Monday wasn't only about who scored the winning touchdown but also who limited out on their bird hunt or who got that elusive buck.
Rural Texas in the sixties and early seventies was a different world. Long gone and, sadly, no going back.

Yes sir Alte Schule. Pretty much the same. I don't remember exactly how old I was w/ my BB gun. Do remember I could barely cock it w/o help. We had our Gibson's too. About 12 w/ my 22 also. I do remember for sure I was 14 when I got my own 30-30 and my first deer w/ my own gun that year. Got one the yr before w/ a borrowed one. Well I do hope we have a generation of young patriots that will keep up the fight and maybe our GrandOnes will have a free America to live in.

[Axxe55]

awesome thread! 

in about a week, i turn 55, so in comparison i'm sort of the young guy here! now i grew up mainly in and around Houston since that iw where Dad was working at during my younger years, but spent most of the majority of the summers here in East Texas. i loved the small town life, and everything about it. many of the things others here have mentioned, are the way i remember them being back then as well.

when my grandfather got cancer and got sick, we moved up from Houston to be here near my grandparents and to help out. Dad had planned on when Papa got well, and was doing better, that we'd move back to Houston. well Dec. 1974 he passed away, and Dad inherited the farm where we ended up moving to, and then i spent my jr. and sr, high years going to a small town school. but the time i was close to graduation, i couldn't wait to get away from the farm, and farming and farm animals. spent many years afterwards roaming over a lot of Texas working, and never really putting any roots down. now many years later, i'm back down here living on the farm, or part it, and enjoy my lifestyle, and the things i was running away from, are now the things that i want back and want to be a part of my life.

life can still be very good in small town.

[Gilgondorin]

in about a week, i turn 55, so in comparison i'm sort of the young guy here!

Happy Birthday to a fellow Februarian. However, Gilgondorin's one of the younger crowd; he's still not out of his 20's yet.

So far where I'm at we've had over 20 incidents requiring police helicopter over-watch since the beginning of the year. We regularly hear gunfire in this neighborhood at night, and there's been roughly 6 murders in the last 2-3 years around here. Just yesterday some kid that lives in a neighborhood about 5 minutes away from mine made the news for walking in with a .40 pistol and shooting at his dad three times and skipping one off the side of his head. Every other week somebody is complaining about having gotten their car broken into. The police chief of Converse city officially declared a rampant organized crime problem to be in the area when one 15 year old kid was shot and killed by a 47 year old man over drugs, and then a few days later one of the people attending his funeral was shot and killed by someone else at the whataburger like 2 minutes away; I heard the gun shots from that incident inside my room for crying out loud.

I'm jealous AF of you guys that get to live in Mayberry with Barney Fife and his one bullet, because this is bullcrap; my "remember when" is "remember when the only thing we had to worry about was violent stray pit bulls, and not violent stray crack dealers?"

[JohnnyDollar]

in about a week, i turn 55, so in comparison i'm sort of the young guy here!

Happy Birthday to a fellow Februarian. However, Gilgondorin's one of the younger crowd; he's still not out of his 20's yet.

<snip>

I'm jealous AF of you guys that get to live in Mayberry with Barney Fife and his one bullet, because this is bullcrap; my "remember when" is "remember when the only thing we had to worry about was violent stray pit bulls, and not violent stray crack dealers?"

I "liked" and "disliked" your post at the same time, if that makes sense.

I feel for you, and it sucks to be in the city like that, my only suggestion would be to try to move further out.

I grew up in Corpus Christi, and my wife and I lived there for years, but the crime started getting bad, so we bought some acreage west of you,
out HWY 16 by Pipe Creek, pretty quiet out there. 
We also have a house down in Beeville, also very quiet.

I know that there is crime in both areas, but it's little enough that we have been unaffected by it, or even aware of it unless we read about it.

Both places are considered "boring" by the kids/grandkids.

 

[Shield45]

Gilgordin over exaggerated a bit.
Converse/Universal City/Schertz/Selma/San Antonio aint that bad.
I live in NE SA near the airport. Nacogdoches/wurzbach pkwy. Yes there is pretty much nigjtly news of shooting etc but we are a city of close to 2mil now when you include all the little outlying towns like converse etc.

Ive lived here longer than Gildorin has been drawing breath as far as years and its gotten a little more frequent but its been happening since I got here in 76.

 


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[Gilgondorin]

Gilgordin over exaggerated a bit.
Converse/Universal City/Schertz/Selma/San Antonio aint that bad.
I live in NE SA near the airport. Nacogdoches/wurzbach pkwy. Yes there is pretty much nigjtly news of shooting etc but we are a city of close to 2mil now when you include all the little outlying towns like converse etc.

Ive lived here longer than Gildorin has been drawing breath as far as years and its gotten a little more frequent but its been happening since I got here in 76.

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Although I'm not necessarily irritated at the implication that my concerns about crime in this area are over-blown, I felt it was necessary to respond thusly:

08/20/2015 - Corpse found floating in pond:
https://www.ksat.com/news/converse-pd-charges-likely-in-death-of-man-found-in-stock-pond
(This is happened right next to the Wal-Mart I walk to go get groceries from every other day. It's less than .4 of a mile from my house.)

12/08/2015 - One hurt, one killed in neighborhood shootout
http://news4sanantonio.com/news/local/one-killed-one-hurt-in-neighborhood-shootout
(This one happened in our subdivision like 4-5 blocks from my house; we heard the gun shots indoors.)

02/03/2017 - Drug deal gone bad; Murder suspect arrested:
http://news4sanantonio.com/news/local/police-converse-murder-suspect-arrested-in-drug-deal-shooting

03/16/2017 - Woman stabbed, bled to death begging residents for help:
http://www.kens5.com/article/news/local/police-arrest-suspect-in-converse-stabbing-death/273-423185347
(Happened across the street from my former high school.)

11/19/2017 - Teen shot dead over drugs:
https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/Teen-found-shot-in-head-at-Converse-apartment-12369995.php
(Same apartment complex as above, actually)

11/21/2017 - (Another) Teen shot dead after attending the wake of the kid from the article above:
http://news4sanantonio.com/news/local/deputies-name-suspect-in-murder-of-teen-killed-outside-whataburger

02/14/2018 - The kid that his father in the head:
https://www.ksat.com/news/man-24-shoots-stepfather-in-bed-converse-police-say

I couldn't find the article of the jackass they finally arrested for discharging a firearm in the city limits about a week/two weeks ago near the back end of our subdivision because he apparently liked to go joyriding around the neighborhood at night shooting his Draco AK pistol into the air, but he's probably the reason we got a visit from the police helicopter like 3 times in one week a while back (Note: He's what I was referring to when I said we were experiencing nightly gunfire; this isn't Vietnam : p). Whether that "ain't no thing" or not is where Shield45 and Gilgondorin will have to agree to disagree (although what's up btw; I could have sworn you were from Houston like the others... Hell, that brings the SA Esse's up to three now counting satx. ), because I've seen enough to make up my mind.

I would love to move to wherever the hell JohnnyDollar lives if I could afford it, because I'm willing to bet the number of times people get mowed down in the street less than a mile away from his house is probably way lower than here. Alas, barring a timely winning of the lotto, I'm stuck here. (I've been as far out as Tarpley once or twice on a weekend trip to my friend's grandparents' cabin a few years ago; the scenery really is beautiful and y'all grow some hellacious largemouth bass out there.)

[Shield45]

Never said it was crime free.
I see the chopper around often.
Heck not long ago guy shot his gf at home in the hood across a 100 ft wide ditch between mine and that one.

It HAPPENS EVERYWHERE.

I lived in Rockport a sleeply little town one would expect very little crime. Not so.

However I do plan to retire away from the metro.

Sorry if you took it I was calling you out.

As stated I have been in SA a long time and its not perfect but it aint Dallas or Houston.

For a city pushing 2 million we could be alot worse.

I do not feel unsafe or worry about it.

I do my best to protect me and mine and go on about what I need to on a daily basis.

In all my years in SA I have  never been anywhere I did not feel safe simply because I avoid putting myself there. 


 


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