Loomis, Steven, IC3

I thought I'd give an example of what happened to me by FOLLOWING THE RULES: 

I was born at Mercy Hospital in Cadillac, Michigan in 1950. (my joke is... I was born in a 1950 Cadillac)...

But, not being athletically inclined, the only club I was involved with as a youngster was a local Cub Scout Troop. In 1960 we moved to Columbus, Wisconsin. Once again, I joined the local Cub Scouts. I just never got caught up with the Scouts and in the summer of 1961 we moved again but left my Scout membership behind. 

We moved to Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, in the summer of 1961. A town of about 10,000 Busy Beavers... so said the billboard on the highway entrance to town. It was back in the days before the bypass skirted around our small town. So, because you had to drive through our main drag "Front Street" most travelers know where Beaver Dam was. 

We purchased the old Laughlen Home. A three-story house with a full basement. It was built in the late 1880's and had a slate roof. The third floor had never been fully finished and we used it as an attic for storage. Old man Laughlen had been a blacksmith and behind our house was his livery stable. I spent a lot of my childhood in that barn. My father had the ground floor concreted and we stored several cars including a '33 Chevy Master, '34 Chevy Standard and a '59 Edsel Ranger. Then one day my father bought a staircase from a house what was being demolished. With some fitting we installed it and now the second story of the "barn", as we called it, become readily accessible. I nearly lived up there and it was a great place to do my many 4-H projects. 

A couple of years after we moved in, the Meyer family arrived. They were a huge family who had sold their farm and moved into town. Mr. Meyer was the County Dairy Agent, the oldest kids, Dean and Dane, became my friends. The family started up a neighborhood 4-H club and, of course, I joined, as my father had done four decades earlier. I would spend the next six years in that club, the "Busy Beavers", until I joined the Navy in 1969.

4-H, for those of us that lived in town, offered all kinds of non-agricultural programs. I did years of woodworking, electrical and electronics, photography and small engine projects. Each one came to a close at the county fair each August and I would have multiple entries in each of the categories.  

It was an adventure, and was what you put into it. My years of woodworking, electrical and photographic projects all rewarded me with County Awards and a stack of 1st Prize Ribbons at the county fair. One woodworking project was so well received I was sent to the 1967 Wisconsin State Fair and with it and I won a 1st Place Blue Ribbon. It also won Best of Show at our County Fair. It was a large mahogany shelf made from scraps from my uncle's wood pile at the Chris Craft boat plant*. My electrical and electronics projects influenced me and I was an IC Electrician in the Navy. The photography projects I did also helped when I decided to go to college on the GI Bill. I have a degree in Visual Communications and was employed as an audio-visual specialist and photographer since I was 25. It landed me jobs as a medical photographer, and as an audio-visual specialist for Lockheed in Saudi Arabia, plus the position of managing the media resources for a public school district in central Phoenix for twenty five years. 

I had a good time as a 4-H member. Ribbed by the FFA boys, kidded by the Boy Scouts... but neither of those organizations were co-ed. Who do you think got the last laugh?

What I am getting at is... do yourself a favor, or at least give your kids a challenge to learn a trade. Something to fall back on rather than a welfare substance...

So, I say... following the rules will get you further than not following them. I hope you can teach your kids the difference. Thanks for stopping by.

*Both of my father's brothers, the twins, were professional carpenters. One built houses and the other built boats (Chris Craft boats of Cadillac, Michigan, my birthplace). 

- - - I enlisted in the Navy during my senior year of high school (1969) and a year later I volunteered for duty in Viet-Nam (1970). I retired without a single welfare or unemployment check... Just saying. 

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Did I ever tell you about the day we moved to Podunk (Sicko).?!
The kid next door was named Larry, Larry Damm. I told him that was a funny name. He told me to knock it off... But at the time, Bonanza and the Cartwrights was a big hit so I told him he could add wright to his name and become Larry Dammwright. He socked me in the mouth. I went home with a fat lip and my dad asked me what happened to my face. I told him it was the Damm kid next door and my father hauled off and smacked me one. I said that I would never go back to that Damm house again and dad smacked me a second time. And so I told him that was their name. He went next door and told Larry's father he was sorry they had such a damn funny name. Well, Dad came back with a black eye and I never said nothing about it. But, I was glad when we moved again the next summer. This time we moved to a town called Beaver Dam... I never said a dam thing to anyone about that either.