[RKDinOKC]

Not sure were it comes from Granddad on Dad's side owned an ran the small town laundromat/cleaners the other ran the local sale barn (auction) and was the town Barber. Don't remember much about them, they both passed before I was school aged.

All I remember about my Dad's dad was he had a nice little house with a white picket fence and very nice flower gardens all around the house and fence and that some of the flowers were snap dragons. He had a cook/housekeeper. Oh and the one time i got to go with Dad and Grandad drivin out in the country. It wasn't too far in such a small town. We stopped and put a mason jar with a dollar in it on a tree stump, then came back by later and the jar was full of Grandad's stump water.

I remember Mom's dad taking me fishing, played dominos with me and liked watching Lawrence Welk. I could catch, scale, and filet fish before Kindergarten. He also took me with him around to all the little cafe/coffee shops. Remember he could take a straw and shoot the paper sleeve off of it like a dart and hit the waitress in the butt every time. Also remember one of the diners having marsh hare stew on the menu. When I ask they told me it was muskrat. I still didn't know what it was. They had great cheese burgers though, and grandad always got pie at that place.

My grandads lived across town from each other and I used to walk the 8 blocks from one's house to the other's. Got in trouble several times on that walk. The town square and main street was halfway in-between. I wandered into the police station and was found playing checkers with the town drunk through the bars. Wandered into the courthouse and interrupted court. They threatened to throw me in jail and I told them my Dad told me I couldn't go play checkers there any more. They just shooed me out the door and told me not to come back without my parents. Also was found wandering around in the back of the funeral parlor, there was a body being embalmed. The funeral director explained what he was doing, said I should go home, and to come back and visit any time. I never did. Also got run out of the pool hall. My parents somehow always found out about my adventures.

The only time I was ever embarrassed or felt bad was when hollering through the screen door at a couple that was renting a garage apartment from my Mom's deceased husbands mother, we called her Grandma Jackson. I embarrassed myself when I remembered they were deaf and yelling hello didn't do a bit of good. Whenever I would stop to see Grandma Jackson, she would make me take a bath, then a short nap while she fixed bacon, eggs, toast, and pie or cake, then sent me on my way.

Wouldn't let little kids walk around by themselves like that today!