Back at school after the "Mule Year." I was pulling out of my miniature 'teen rebellion' and rumspringa period thru midyear and into the fall. I still missed being outdoors and 'free' but for the most part school was tolerable and a kind of vacation!
Nov 15, 1960 Tuesday
I hated to spend a pretty day like this in school. It was cold but pretty, really pretty. I didn’t miss much yesterday. School was pretty dull today. I was a few minutes late getting home so I threw leather on Trix and took off. I mailed a bunch of letters, my snap order included and did the chores out at the pasture. Mom and CM had done everything here which was a relief. I just saw Gug’s truck once today. Gosh I want to see him so bad. I wish I knew what he really thinks about me but I’d probably die if I did know. He’s a mean hombre. I wish I had seen my new hero today. I want to meet him. It’s positively a case of love a first sight. I’m going to write to several of the folks who had letters in the “Our Air Mail” column and I am sending them a letter too. I love to write letters and I want to make some more friends that way. I dreamed something about a guy with a real neat car the other night. I hope that is prophetic. That's what I need to make me get over Gug. And that is one thing I’ve got to do. It’s late and I’m tired so I guess I’ll close for today. Maybe something real thrilling will happen soon. Adios, Filly
Was it really colder then? Climate change or not, it seems to me that the weather has gotten milder though perhaps a few more extremes. Mingus Union sat on a ridge tip out over the valley and it was almost always windy up there which made cold feel much worse--that old wind chill factor. I'd been out in all weather for a year should have been used to it, though.
You have met Trix(ie) before, a favorite little mule who looked like a stuffed toy in the winter--just as fluffy and fuzzy as she could be and coal black with a white nose and a dainty Arabian equine face--bet her mother was an Arab. And yes, it was a real boon when Charlie Mike and/or Mom had done the home chores for me. Did not always happen and for sure it was almost never Dad who did it.
Who was the new hero I spoke of? Haven't a clue but I suspect it was a CTI driver that I had not seen before who caught my eye and piqued my fancy. And this was the beginning of my long-term pen pal project. In the end I probably got 250 letters from my entries in a couple of magazines and answered half or more at least once. That sifted out to maybe 4-5 long term gal pals and a ha;f dozen guys that ebbed and flowed as favorites over the course of some 4-5 years. Postage money--at 3-5 cents per letter most of the time-- was not easy to come by but Charlie Mike and I did nab or scrounge hundreds of pop bottles which we could turn in for a few cents.
Not much photo stuff here: My "office" corner in my room which by this time did have a table Dad had built for me, a smaller edition of the big dining table we began to use about 1955. I used the boxes on top then as shelves, I still have both tables. Charlie and I use the big one for our dining table and my smaller one is currently in the garage and part of my jewelry shop set up. One thing Dad did well was build stuff. Charlie Mike inherited that skill and many of our large shelf units are his work. I am a rougher 'carpenter' but can whip up a feed box or other outdoor fixture when needed. And oddly, school buses have not changed much! Here is a recent 'Blue Bird" in our area! It looks very much like the one I rode up the hill! I rode it the most and it was mostly driven by Mr. Pirtle. I just remembered that. Actually the CTI (Cement Transporters Inc) trucks have not changed a lot either; they are based in Marana, north west of Tucson along I-10 as they were then..
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