I Was Just a Goofy Kid
When I was a kid, baseball ruled! I mean - everything was baseball and baseball was everything. Baseball cards all year... |
| My very first ever baseball card - 1972. On our way to the corner store one day early in the summer of 1972, me and my buddy Anthony made a pact to buy our first pack of baseball cars (10 cents a pack by the way), and when we opened our packs the team and player of the first card we saw would be our favorites. And that's how Duffy Dyer and the Mets became my favorites. And I loved the Mets 'til they betrayed me and traded him to the.... Pirates??!! Out of spite I became a Yankees fan! Oh, and I should include here - Anthony got Ron Cey and the Dodgers.  Practicing my pitching with snowballs at the big maple tree at the corner of the Hogan's yard... |
And Little League games at Center St. Park, the Washington Ave park and Arnot Park...
Yeah those were they days! Anyway, one game we often played in the street in front of 812 was called "trouble spot". It wasn't a particularly complicated game...we'd be playing catch and everyone once in awhile, right before you threw the ball you'd yell out "trouble spot!" and hurl the ball at your partner's known weak spot or a spot that's almost always awkward to catch the ball. You know - right at the belt buckle, or the nose, or the toes...anything to handcuff him. There really was no winner, cuz all you did was set yourself up for revenge. But that was part of the fun wasn't it?
People ask me what I do in the winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring. - Rogers Hornsby
What does all this have to do with remodeling the hallways? Well, quite frankly - nothing at all! But when I thought of a title for this post it made me think of those halcyon days is all! But back to 40 years later...with the wallpapering in the hallways and staircase done, it's time to finish prepping. One of the problems I noticed was a little bubbling in the drywall tape at one joint in the ceiling. No matter what I did, I just couldn't get it to work. And of course I didn't get a before picture, but eventually I came to the conclusion that I just had to cut out that length of tape...
So at this point I have the mud on and have to sand it. I know it's not a particularly exciting post, but I thought it would be a neat opportunity to put that little piece about baseball in there...Go Yankees!