WTBL - Walking the Blue Line

WTBL Walking The Blue Line (00:12)
Hey

everyone, hope that you've had a good week and that everything's going well. We've been taking care of errands and chores this week. Feeling maybe a little nostalgic.

this week we're going to do little different. We were just going to talk about ourselves and where we've come from and a little bit like that.

We're coming up on Easter weekend.

and always makes us think of family and friends because we try to get together and this particular week we had a family member pass and so kind of brings you around to the old days. Yeah well for me Easter was usually pretty big. Mom always did big Easter egg hunt and hit our baskets and then we'd go to church and then we'd come home and have a big dinner with Dad.

Sometimes he would help make it. Sometimes he'd just be there to eat it. I do remember one year though that we were out hunting eggs. Dad that's probably hid them and we found all but like one and we couldn't find it. And dad's like,

I ate one. we're like, ⁓ okay. We're

About two or three months later, my mom's walking around the yard. She's like, hey, I found the Easter

probably wasn't much worth eating at that point I don't think so, but it was just funny that dad was like, all right, I'm

my dad would hide eggs and baskets for me occasionally I remember one year in particular getting an actual live bunny

We lived in a trailer park though, so there wasn't anywhere to really keep it. It takes me back to, you know, the 1970s growing up in the early 70s. Seemed like mobile homes were a big thing in terms of most people I knew at least lived in mobile homes and ⁓ housing wasn't like it is today.

We didn't live in one until we moved to New Mexico and then we lived in one off and on for three years. Then all the rest of the time we lived in regular homes like brick or stick build. I know my mom and my sister used to tell stories of when I was really young about two years old living in an old farmhouse and it had a basement and I apparently fell down the stairs a number of times I split my lip open and that kind of thing but

I don't remember living in that house. So from about the time I'm three years old on pretty much until you and I got married, I would always lived in trailer houses or actually the majority of my time, my father wasn't very well off and he liked to move around a lot. So we had a camper trailer and the first trailer we lived in was a 18 feet long, eight feet wide.

little camper trailer Tiny tiny yeah, and that happens to be the trailer that we were living in at the time that he Got the rabbit for me, so we have this little rabbit cage out back There was probably more stuff on the outside of the house than there was on the inside of the house at that time in life I remember when we got our rabbits. I actually don't think it was on Easter, but we did have rabbits numerous times

but we were living in this little house in Trotwood in Ohio. my mom took an old sandbox that me and my brothers and sisters had, just a little wooden one, and she's gonna make us a rabbit house. I'm like, what? How are you gonna turn this sandbox into a rabbit house? Well, she did though, all by herself. She cut a door What she did is she flipped it upside down, cut a door out, put some hinges on it.

And then you could move it around kind of like a chicken tractor. Oh, right. So when the rabbits weren't either in the house or running around the backyard, we'd put them in this. I remember being really impressed with my mom turning that sandbox into a rabbit house.

you just had to have some ingenuity in order to, figure things out and make it work. Both my mom and my dad were like that. we never had that much money. We were never like poor, middle class.

But you learned how to make do with what you had. after we moved away from the trailer park, we moved way out into the woods. My dad got a job working at a mine and they wanted him to be the night watchman. So we were probably like 20.

Five thirty miles outside of town way up in the woods where this phosphate mine was at in the backwoods of Montana So you didn't go into town every couple of days? You know it was like once every couple weeks You would actually make it to one of the towns to stock up on groceries So you had to have some ingenuity to fix things and for a young kid

if you wanted to have toys or something like that, you kind of invented your own games. You know, a stick was your best friend. Rock or a can or something. My dad wrote a book and he spoke about those things.

an interesting fact is both our fathers were 15 years older than our mothers.

And that was true for both and both of them had us not previous children, but us My mom was 30 31 and dad was 45 and yours was something like that. Yeah, my mom was 30 and my dad was 44 well, I think she was 29 when she got pregnant. Yeah He was 44 when I was born. So yeah quite a bit older fathers I remember going to town and it would make him so mad because

They'd ask him, so little boy, you spending the day with your grandpa? And he would get so mad. It was like, this is my son. I don't know if that happened to my dad or not, it was weird that we both ended up together and that was both of our parents. And the other interesting thing about us is

your dad died and then six weeks later my dad died. So we lost our fathers very close together. And then our mothers, my mom died and it wasn't six weeks, but it was six months almost to the day. It really technically was to the day in Washington, but she was in Montana. within that one hour, six months apart, we lost our mothers. Yeah.

quite a few little things that we shared in common, guess, part of the reason why we've made it this long together ourselves.

You were talking about living in the little bit of camp trailer. I was born in Dayton, Ohio, and then...

at an early age, I think I was in second or third grade, we moved to New Mexico. And we lived in New New Mexico for three years off and on. we didn't have a telephone.

we lived close to Carrizozo, but we were in the middle of the desert at the foot of a mountain, Carrizo Mountain. It was beautiful, but man, was it so different. In Ohio, we had a stick-built house.

Telephone we had family very close at least my mom's family was very close actually the my aunt that just passed away looked a lot like my

they were only about a year apart and So when we moved to New Mexico we were in a trailer and it was one of the biggest ones at the time that was a single wide

it was a three bedroom two bath house with the kitchen and living room and

I could remember if you needed to call or talk to somebody. it kind of had to be planned. one time my grandma got sick

the family had to call our church and the preacher drove all the way out, which I think was like about 10 miles. I don't, I'm not

he had to come out and tell my mom, Hey, you need to go into town and

Grandma ended up being okay, Well, I don't think our lives were quite as rustic as you would see on the Waltons, but not quite Not that far off

think about the time I got to high school was when the very first satellite televisions

Came out and there was like a couple of kids in school that had satellite TV. Those were the rich kids. I could remember that too. I never had a satellite TV I think until we moved into this house because we were in town we had cable

I can remember when MTV first came out. ⁓ man, if you lived in town and you had MTV or HBO, lay around and watch movies, we never had any of that when I was growing up. Not in my house. Well, and the first even cable TV was a little different because you had a controller box and it would be...

Probably in the main room where the main television was so I decided well I'm gonna run a television to my back bedroom and Of course I couldn't use the controller box. I basically just had wire so some of the channels would come in okay,

late at night if you were lucky you could flip over to HBO and you'd get a staticky picture you could kind of tell what was going on. but

You couldn't get a clear picture, but it really wasn't much worse than the TV Antenna pictures that we used to get. roll, you know, we'd be watching it and start

it was interesting time to grow up. I know looking back that I feel that I had a childhood which wasn't a terrible childhood, but so different than what

Anyone today would experience you lived quite the unique life Earlier mentioning my father being the night watchman of the mine. Well This mine didn't have a gated entrance to it or anything like that So on the weekends and at late at night one of my favorite toys was the mine cars And this particular mine

because my dad worked at a few different ones, but this particular mine, they didn't have a electric engine or anything. You actually had to push it by hand. Oh really? Yeah. And so- one of those pump one thing? No. Oh, it was different. No, it was like you stand behind it and you push it. so- It was heavy, it was loaded. Oh yeah. It would take three or four guys to push it out of the mine in order to get it out there.

about the last 50 feet of the track were a little bit more sloped and so I would try to push it up to the top and then I could ride it down and it would run into the stops and that stop would help it dump but with no ore in it it would just stop and then I had just enough strength by myself to push it back up to the top. CPS would have a heyday with that nowadays right? Oh OSHA, CPS.

You went to work with your dad quite frequently, didn't you? Absolutely. in those days there probably was an OSHA but it wasn't nearly as regulated as it is today or them checking up on the the work sites and so My dad wouldn't hire a babysitter or he couldn't find a babysitter. Maybe he couldn't afford one. Couldn't afford one exactly and so he would just take me to work with him and then

A lot of the guys were real understanding and typically he would put me with the guy who ran the little electric train. And so we would go back in underground about a mile and a half. And I'm only like six, seven years old at the time, maybe five. And so the majority of the day I would just ride the train car in and out of the mine while they'd load it with ore. then they would actually, we wouldn't even come all the way out of the mine.

come up to a dump spot when they had these great big trucks that would back into a mine shaft that was big enough for a big dump truck to make it in and they would back in there not quite a quarter of a mile and then they would tip the ore train over and let the ore slide down a chute called a stolp and ⁓ the ore would land in the back of the truck and then they would

hauling on out to where they were putting it on actual rail cars to send it off for processing. But I would ride that back and forth. And then when I'd get bored, I'd go out to the parking lot and try to catch the squirrels or... Did you get one bite you or something? Yeah, I fell asleep in the parking lot leaning against a tire one time and I happened to have my lunch in my lap. And when I woke up, there was this little chipmunk.

Sitting in my lap eating my lunch And of course I jumped and he jumped and he bit me and he took off running and I thought for a second I was gonna be able to catch him, but he got away probably actually a good thing He got away because he would have bit the crap out of me. But yeah and as well the guy who was kind of the night watchman and lived up there he had

These three bears that he was ⁓ feeding Yeah, there was a picture there of one wasn't there in your dad's I think I've got a picture I remember he was trying to feed he was feeding the bear or something. I'm like, yeah Yeah, guy his name was Eli Eli would go into town and the butcher shop would give him scraps free and so he bring

bunch of bones and black bears. Yeah, black bears. They're the ones that will usually eat you. Exactly. They're they're smaller and such. I mean, I was a kid. It was like wouldn't have taken anything for one of them to take me out. But they would come down and he would he would toss them meat scraps and they'd grab it and run off. But that caused them to hang out all the time. So when we were coming in and out of the mine, you kind of had to keep an eye out for where the bears.

And I thought growing up out in the desert was kind of rugged

my dad built this

I remember going in the barn a couple of times to get my saddle or my blanket and there was a rattlesnake curled up And one time there was a gila

Those things are dangerous too.

my poor mom, I don't think dad cared too much, but we used to catch the little lizards and horny toads, And the horny tones, they'd always flatten out or spit. We still catch them and play with them. And then we catch these little lizards and, brought them into the house a couple of times and got loose from me.

And so mom was not very happy. She's like, if that thing crawls on me in the middle of the night. And it didn't. But the next day we had to get up and go to school. so dad had to drive us like two miles to the road because we had to catch the bus. It didn't come down our dirt road. So he drives them. When he came back, mom was chasing this lizard all around the house. And she's like.

Lon, help me get this lizard and it's on the curtains. I guess they did finally get it. ⁓ man, did I get my butt chewed when I got home. Don't you ever. Yeah, I remember having some salamanders and such, but mostly for some reason I like to have gerbils and hamsters. And then when I couldn't find those, I'd actually bring field mice. And all my dad would get mad because the field mice were much

better at chewing out of the cage. And so a couple of different times these stinking field mice got loose in the house,

Oh, and they breed like rabbits. They're probably pregnant when you caught them. Wouldn't doubt it. Yeah. So once they're in the place, then it's hard to get rid of them. And yeah, I would get in trouble for that. Of course, you know, wouldn't stop me. And then a couple of months later here, I'd have another new batch.

there's one time was this funny story is that my aunt and uncle, Renda Ernie came out to visit him. and they, they had their kids and they were going to go to the grand Canyon and stuff, but they stopped and saw us. And so when they were getting ready to leave,

One of my cousins was we want a lizard or a horny toad to take with us. So we catch them and we put them in this shoe box. well, they got to have something to eat, So we catch all these ants and we put it in the shoe box and we put it in their car.

right when they were getting ready to leave, it was probably a really good thing. Thank goodness their mom, Renda said, is in this box? she opens it and there's this horny toad in there with all these ants So they threw that out

we we lived in some of the most kind of unique areas as well like you're talking about New Mexico and although most everywhere that I lived was

in

Montana I lived at a couple of different mine sites and then We lived at a rest

So if you've ever

out west. ⁓ yeah or state to state my family travel all the time That's what you planned your trips around sometimes Where's the next rest area where you can go to the bathroom get out and stretch your legs,

in between Dear Lodge, Montana and Missoula there's three sets of rest

And when I say a set, there's one on the eastbound lanes and one on the westbound lanes. And my dad had bid a contract in order to take care of them So he won the contract. He then became a janitor and one set of the rest areas had had so much vandalism done to them that the state of Montana's road department said,

Well, would you be opposed to just moving your trailer out there and living at the rest area? Because there's already a campground there. So they dug a power line and water and such for his house and hooked it up to the septic tank. And we had a trailer house along I-90 at a westbound rest area in the state of Montana. They had lived there for about three years. See, as a mom that would

strike terror into me like who's gonna stop and take my

Didn't you say there was either a river or a pond or something? You used to go fishing all the time? Yes, there was a manmade pond in between the rest area and the highway and that the interstate. And that's what they had used as a gravel pit.

quarry when they were building the freeway. now there was this big man-made pond there and they decided to stock it with fish. So right where I was at, I could go one direction and end up at the Clark Fork River and I could go the other direction and end up at the pond that was right behind the rest area.

so even during the wintertime, I would get a chance to go fishing and my best friend Rob would come over and we would go out in the middle of the night and we had ice skates. So we would take the snow shovels and clear off these paths on the top of the lake so that we could play tag on ice skates you'd have to

these little paths that we would ice skate around and then we'd find somebody to drill or we'd chop a hole through the ice and then fish and then we'd fish, ice fish. yeah, it was a great time. Although, like you said, looking back on it now, knowing what I know about crime is like, cow, we're living at...

Place where there's no way to track probably if somebody would have abducted you. not back in those days There were no cell phones no towers to ping there were no cameras along the freeways there was nothing

how many people went by and...

saw me out there just playing because my dad was in the trailer house or he was working Yeah, it was an all-day job. these Rest areas weren't terribly far apart, but they weren't like right next to each other So your dad did tons of driving back and forth between these rest areas cleaning them Yeah, and my dad was a workaholic No doubt he wonder where you got that wonder where I got that He would be up at four o'clock in the morning and he would go to work and he'd go

clean the two rest areas closest to where we live. And then during the school year, he'd put me on the bus and I'd go to school. During the summertime, we would drive down and we would take care of the other rest areas. So during the summertime, I had a built-in job during the years that I lived with him. huh, yeah. Yep, we were learning how to be a janitor because we would...

do everything twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening and pick up the garbage and mow the lawns and take care of everything that had to be taken care of. So it was interesting. I got exposed to a lot of different people. that reminds me of something you said. My dad was from the South and I lived in Arkansas. So obviously I have a Southern accent, a bit of one.

But you said that the first time you heard someone with a southern accent, you thought they were speaking a foreign language. did. These people come through from Kentucky, I think it was, and they sat down out on the bench and I was emptying garbage I walked by and I overheard them talking at first. And then one of them addressed me and asked me a question. Their southern drawl and accent was so...

strong, it was like, are you saying? Yeah, actually, it's not the deep south, but I have to admit, I've been to the south quite a bit, besides Arkansas, and it takes me a while sometimes to even pick it up. Now, most of my friends, I can understand them just fine, but you get down to Louisiana and I can understand it, but I have to really listen

It is a whole other language and if you're not used to it, it is very hard to follow Yeah, Tim Allen did a comedy routine about that meeting the guy from the South Yeah, exactly he's talking about it he's like I have to pull out my Yankee to rebel dictionary Here is like because you can't tell what they're saying

Well, it's funny because, like I said, I was born in Ohio and Ohio actually has its own accent. All of my relatives, I get back there and I'm like, yeah, I remember. I used to talk a little bit more like that. I don't know what my accent is now. I think it's just like a Duke's mixture or something, because I feel like I got an accent from all over the place. So they have a type of accent. My dad had his own accent.

And then going to Arkansas then there were there's another accent there and ⁓ lord when you go to New Mexico well, then you've got the Spanish and mine's all over the place. I guess

I don't know that I have any type of an accent. I'm sure that there's probably a Pacific Northwest People are listening out there. They're probably like, ⁓ yeah

I still have people come up to me and say you're from the south right now. I really I still have the accent. They're like, yeah Yeah, my kids always say I know when mom's mad because your accent comes out.

that or the full name you started calling your kids by their middle names or full names. They're they're in trouble You're in for a whooping now Me and my sister is talking about that my mom when we lived in, Ohio

This is where I found my love for willow trees except for when you got in trouble, this was a true thing. Your parents would say, go cut me a switch. Well, by golly, do not cut them one from the willow tree because them things are flexible. That hurts. I can remember getting whipped by those and man, I'd be dancing a jig and I'm like, you won't do this again. Probably

so many stories about my parents. I miss them so much. I was at home with my mom I was in my bedroom and I did something wrong mom came in and she was mad at me and she's gonna whip me and there's a window in my bedroom and I thought, I'm just gonna jump out this window and I'm gonna get away from her.

Well, let me tell you my mom was agile I jumped out that window and she came right out after me and she caught me and busted my butt all the way into the house I probably deserved it. I remember a couple of different Discipline sections, but not cake Turner pancake turn my mom used a metal pancake Turner on me one time And we went around and around in the kitchen and she was just as fast as I

Could not get away from it. Yeah, but I definitely deserve that one looking back on it. I recall one time I talking about the switches though is My grandfather taught us how to make fishing poles. Yeah, cuz they're flexible. Yeah, and we were up in the mountains my grandfather had a mining claim where he was gold panning and

He decided to take me and my sister up there and we were going to stay with him for a few weeks over the summertime vacation. And I think it was probably only our second day there. My grandfather had already given us a warning. He's like, now you don't go too far from this house here because there's been this bull moose that's been running around and those things are dangerous. So you guys stick close. he showed us how to make these fishing poles with just a little bit of fishing twine

he made a couple of them for us and my sister took off up the Creek in little ways and I stayed right there by the house because that's what he told me what to do and the next thing I know my sister is screaming bloody murder you can hear my grandfather goes running in the house grabs the rifle comes running out and here she comes up over the little rise with this fish that's about three inches long dangling from her homemade fishing

Which is funny because if you see Zella later in life she was all about it. Yeah, she became probably a pretty good fisher person but it all started with that little baby baby fish, yeah, she was freaking out. was like yelling, screaming and you could hear her voice echo up and down the creek. was like he thought the bull moose was chasing her. We miss Zella too. His sister was one of

The best storytellers, his sister and my dad, my gosh, they could have you rolling on the floor with the stories they could tell. Exactly, and they definitely had some interesting ones as well. my dad was a sharecropper, so I'm just one generation away from a sharecropper. His family grew up sharecropping

My dad always said his dad and mom had kids so they could have more people working out in the fields and my dad actually wrote a book about it. Right. And I'm one generation away from the reservation because my grandparents had land given to them on the reservation by the government. And then my father made a break from there. But in his early years, for those of you that may watch,

Some of the Taylor Sheridan shows there's one out there. 1923 is where the girl gets sent to Well, my father was actually of that generation and him and his siblings all spent a year or two living at the convent and he talked about how horrible the conditions were and

being beaten as well as being separated. The boys and the girls couldn't have any contact with one another. Even if they were siblings. And I know someone else who was in that same era and he talked about how that went on and how they were separated and didn't even hardly get to see each other during the holidays. he said that they got to visit for 15 minutes at Christmas time through the fence. they let the...

brothers visit the sisters They took them away from their families and off the reservations or off where they were used to living what they did to the children was pretty heartbreaking. Yeah, there were multiple reasons for it. Some of it was the aspect of trying to convert them to Christianity. The other aspect of it...

which was probably my father's situation, was more that he was born just before the Great Depression. And when the Depression hit, a lot of the families didn't have any money to feed their

people were starving everywhere, you know and My dad would tell stories about ⁓ how all the jackrabbits got Infested with some kind of disease and so they couldn't eat them and I think they get paid like five cents

a rabbit skin so they would go out and they'd hunt jackrabbits and they'd come in and he said you know there'd be buildings where the entire side of the building was just Dead jackrabbits and such but they had to get rid of them in order to to get rid of the disease And so it was a you know a really tough time It was my dad and his book speaks of how poor they were and how

it was hard to have good hygiene and He said he was hungry his whole life until he finally moved away. it was a rough life. It's completely different than what we know. you think of it, cars were still in their infancy dad said when he was allowed to go to school, he didn't have the pencil and the paper and all of that because his parents didn't have the money.

they had maybe a one room school house and yeah, I know that one of the funny stories that my dad used to tell and I think you were saying something about your dad as well, but my dad living in Montana, it snows most of the school year and so they didn't have a school bus back in those days. You had to walk or you had to ride a horse and there was a teacher that at his school that had a model A and so.

He would tell them, bring your sleighs to school and I'll give you a ride home. But his one caveat was that if you fall off, I'm not stopping for you. So they would figure it out how to get home. He would bring a bunch of rope and they would tie all of their sleighs to the back of his car and away from school they'd go and and he would take a route to drop you to the kids off by their.

Driveways and as he is going by you need to let go Yeah, my dad said that once or twice he fell off and it was a long walk home in the two feet of snow I got some of those stories when in Ohio my mom had to work

My dad had his own business. so to get to school in the morning, they would wake us up and get us ready and, we had to walk to school. And I'm telling you, it was cold in Ohio. And, I can remember, grandma and grandpa lived in between our place and the school. Once in a we would either stop by their house or call them and say, can you take us to

A lot of times grandpa would but there's a couple times when grandma's like, no, he's not doing that today. Well, most of the time that I went to grade school at least, I rode a bus and didn't usually have to wait at the bus stop very long for it to pick me

So during the cold times, he would just sit there in the car and idle for the bus to show up. Yeah, my dad did that. It was like two miles for us. But there was another time where we lived out of town, not too far, but it was a good half a mile from our house to where the bus stop was. And my mother was working and I had a stepfather at the time. He was a long haul trucker.

most of the time we had to walk from the house down to the bus stop and I recall a two or three week period where every single morning the temperature was a minus 20 below, and we would have to walk from the house and We would have to hang out at the bus stop, for however long waiting for the bus to get there So you tried to time it just right and hope that you weren't too late

because then you're gonna be in trouble There was one thing I really hated though is when I was walking to school, which was only a year. I was always really little and skinny and I never had much fat on my bones back then. So I was freezing all the time, cold, cold, cold. And so by the time I'd get to the school, my hands, when your hands get cold, you can't move them, you can't hardly hold a pencil.

Guess what we had? First subject, writing. I'm like, why? And I always got horrible penmanship. You know why? Because my fingers are froze. And I would get so mad. I'm like, are you kidding me? I remember that just from recess. Because we would only have like a 15 minute or 20 minute recess. But we would go outside and in Montana, if.

Freezing cold and they wouldn't let you stay in you had to go outside if it was super cold Yeah, if it got super cold, and I don't know I don't remember in Montana what super cold was because we didn't have any snow days that I can remember when they canceled school or anything, but I do remember a couple of times where they're like allows too cold windchill factor and such we're gonna let you play in the gymnasium so then they would walk us over to the gymnasium and we we get to run around there for 15 20 minutes and

really, most of the time they would send you out to the playground and then you'd come back in and like you said, you'd have math or spelling or something where you have to use the dang pencil and you can't move your hands and goodness. I know, it was crazy.

there were a few days where it was too cold and they had all the board

The thing I hated about the time you get it set up and play one or two rounds, your recess is over. And so I really hated doing that.

plus I'm sure the teachers were wanting to get away from us for those few minutes. Well, I think it's kind of interesting going down memory lane when we were talking about like how rough our parents had.

You know compared to today's generation with cell phones and all of the internet television and such I think our generation We weren't spoiled but at the same time I look back on it with fondness. It was like man. were the days

if I have one complaint though is and I can't figure out why this went backwards

why every series only has eight episodes today versus when we were growing up. Like 20 or 30. the TV show Dallace had like 30 episodes every season. year. Yeah. You know, so. You only broke basically in the summer. Right. For the three months of the summertime, they weren't out there, but otherwise. And now you have eight to 10 episodes. And then they take almost a year off. I swear by the time.

Yeah, it comes back. I can't remember what they were talking about. wait, we gotta go watch the previous ones because I don't even... Who's this person? What is going on now? my gosh, it is very frustrating. Exactly. if you don't watch TV, that's good, There's a few people out there, but not many. But when you get older and you're not doing as much,

I really think that the fact that kids today can go watch cartoons anytime. don't know the struggle. It's real. having to wake up on a Saturday morning because that's the only day of the week. if you slept in, you missed it for the whole week.

there weren't 24 hour a day cartoons and special channels. you could just watch the same show. Oh, I want to watch it again. you play it again.

no, you didn't have any of that in the 60s and 70s Well, it certainly made Santa Claus is coming to town and the Christmas special Yeah exactly if you didn't catch the Halloween special of Charlie Brown or something like that on Halloween? That was it you're done. You didn't get to see it till I remember the anticipation of waiting for those shows our kids still like them because we raised them on that

Charlie Brown and Rudolph and one of my favorites is Santa Claus is coming to town

it's funny I you know those shows inside and out but just waiting that year to see it one more time right yeah well it's signified the the holiday season coming back Christmas is here

Thanksgiving or whatever holiday it was gonna be My family around Thanksgiving time we always had this big Shell family

It used to be at the park and then it moved to the Rod and Gun Club

talk about nostalgia and just, you know, reminiscing on that stuff. It's really sad now because out of my mom's family, her sisters, there's only two sisters left and the rest of them and grandma and grandpa are all gone. And actually in my dad's family, I think they're all gone

You're the last one of your family here your mom and dad and your sister Exactly

Well, to just kind of wrap things up, obviously this wasn't meant to be a major biography of our lives, but nor a crime scene. You know, one thing I didn't touch on or why I, I came, became so comfortable with law enforcement was that

Even though we lived out in the wilds of Montana to some degree, it was all around me. was number one, we lived in an area where the Montana State Prison was. So pretty much everybody I knew was a prison guard or something to that effect. Well, almost all your family was. All of my family worked at the prison. is, still almost. Some of them still are. And then when we lived at the rest areas, the highway patrol stopped in and

Chatted with my dad all the time and one of my good friends when I was going to school in Drummond his dad He actually was the sheriff of the county and then One of our bus drivers the bus that I rode to and from school. He was a deputy sheriff and being a small little town

They hired him to drive bus as well kind of an extra duty

So it seemed like I spent a lot of time around law enforcement and that too helped propel my career goals towards law enforcement. But grew up

without any supervision. I was out in the wilds of Montana and enjoying it.

You know life for me could have gone very badly because I really had a lot of freedom and such growing up out where we did but It was an enjoyable area of the country I sometimes wonder how I got so blessed to be born in the Pacific Northwest of all of the places that you could be Born at

in this world. And so for me, I'll just do a little mini recap of it. I was born in Ohio. When I was in about second or third grade, we moved to New Mexico, and then we moved back to Ohio and then back to New Mexico. And then we ended up in Arkansas, which was in between.

graduated from Pea Ridge, Arkansas.

After I graduated and went to college I ended up moving to Missouri and then Alaska and then Oklahoma and then here, Washington. So I've lived several different places, did a little bit of travel. I not compared to some people, mostly all within the United States. I've been to Canada, but that's about it.

we had more freedom, I think, as kids back then. I can remember,

when the streetlights came on, you better get your butt

we came home from school and mom and dad were working and we would, hang out at the house later on when we were in Pea Ridge, mom and dad were usually, there

but in Ohio, a lot of times we come home and they're still working.

I can remember, going to the creek or playing with my friends, riding bikes, stuff like that.

I grew up not quite as rustic as you, but in New Mexico we really did. There were no phone, not much television.

figured out how to amuse yourself. I did have horses, I love that. I will say that now that I'm grown and have lived a few different places, I'm glad that I got to experience some of it. I wish I could have experienced more actually. I never did have a ton of money, so I was always trying to figure out how to pay the bills and stuff. when...

your senior in high school, know, they usually come around and ask all the seniors, where do you see yourself in 10 years or 20 years, you know? And I think I said I was gonna be a horse ranch owner

now my daughters,

have taken my dream.

Dallace lives on a mini ranch too. She's got five horses and she's graduated from college and Karissa has started a family and she has her horses at her house. And I'm just so proud of all of them. Kayla has her own place, but she doesn't have any

I'm just really proud of them to take my dream that I wanted. And they've actually gone farther with it than I, and Dallace is like 25 and Karissa is 27.

very proud of all of them, you know Kayla's supervisor her job and Dallace has gone into law enforcement and Kind of following in my footsteps, which is a big compliment as well as her husband is as well

And I don't think that was something he considered until he met me. No, I don't think Drew ever would have been a cop if it hadn't been for Dallace. Right. And Karissa has now started a new career. She's working with this company that actually does things for

Department of War. I was saying that she's moving up the ranks already.

All three of the girls have they've all gotten their jobs and they've and they've moved up the line right little by little But I mean they're doing very well exactly so so can't complain about things too much Well, we hope that you have enjoyed getting to know us a little bit and where we come from and why we're doing what

We're retired we're bored, no Well, Lyle is a work a aholic so you don't know what to do except for there is enough around this place to keep you going absolutely It's a mini ranch. So there's only something maintenance maintenance. Yeah well, hopefully you tune in again next week and I think that we'll probably have something back in the criminal justice

Until then, Happy Easter, God Bless, and take