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Leaving behind Knox College, Galesburg, Filter Queens, and the peachy predicament at Meadow Gold, I persuaded my fiancé to accompany me on one of the greatest risks of our lives, moving to Chicago for me to pursue a doctorate. I continued working at the dairy as long as I could, until two days before ourContinue reading “Pole Vaulting over College into Graduate School”

My previous post spent so much time on milk, ice cream, and a peachy predicament that I didn’t mention a side job in the summer of 1955. The Meadow Gold dairy found enough work for me to have a summer schedule from 11:30 to 3:30, a half hour for lunch, and then another four-hour shiftContinue reading “The Virgin Filter Queen”

After graduating from high school in 1953, I had easily landed an entry level position at Caterpillar. But at the end of my first year at Knox, in the summer of 1954, I couldn’t find a job, even after applying everywhere. The frustration of being unemployed and hearing turndowns day after day taught me aContinue reading “Milk, Ice Cream, and a Peachy Predicament”

Here is a post that begins with a joke about religion. If you are sensitive to religion jokes, you may want to skip this post. A Protestant missionary went to Alaska to convert the Eskimos. He tried to persuade these people to attend church on Sunday, and said if they didn’t, they would go toContinue reading “Choose How You Want To Go To Hell”

Maybe I learned risk-taking and adventurous decisions from my parents, who as teenagers, got married in 1930, at the beginning of the Depression. It took a lot of love and guts to begin a marriage during those hard times. Dad was never out of work, and Mom helped him in several retail food stores. InContinue reading “Weenie Burner”

In the last post, “Bulldozers, Check Pools, Dirty Tricks, and The Finger,” I briefly mentioned that in 1953 at Caterpillar Tractor Company, my first full-time job, I made $1.56 an hour, more than double the $.75 an hour I had made on my best summer job, detasseling corn. That calls to mind memorable cornfield experiencesContinue reading “Detasselling Corn and Brain Injuries”

Before story time begins, here are some daisies to delight your day. Now… In the summer of 1953, with a steady girlfriend, and looking forward to college, I needed to make as much money as possible to support my way through school, and plan for marriage. Caterpillar Tractor Company in East Peoria, a forty-five minuteContinue reading “Bulldozers, Check Pools, and Dirty Tricks”

Welcome to my blog. These entries, which will be posted about once a week, give glimpses of the author behind the books. They will also be posted on my Facebook account, so you can follow me there to keep up with my latest posts. Teenagers do the craziest things. Teenagers in love do the mostContinue reading “Hitchhiking for a Diamond”