We'll start with my Mr. Barr.
Odell is going to turn 90 this August. He lives about 4 houses down from me in this house:
behind this set of old auto garages, which he still owns:
behind the garages and to the right of the house, is a broken up old greenhouse. To the immediate right of the garages, is a white building/garage that used to be his flower shop. He sold flowers for a living and it sounds like he rented out the auto garage to other folks.
So, Mr. Barr is a willowy man, about 5'8" or so, I am guessing. He has about 7 or 8 of his teeth left, and does not wear dentures. He always wears a ball cap. Because he has so few teeth and no dentures, it is sometimes kinda hard to understand what he says, so you have to listen real close sometimes.
I see him a lot now that the weather broke. He walks nearly a half a mile, always with a walking stick, to the bus stop and takes the bus up to a shopping center called Westown. There is one of those economy grocery stores, a CVS pharmacy, a post office, a dollar store and a few little family owned clothing shops. There used to be some restaurants and such, but most have gone under. This is the poor side of town and things are tough.
Mr Barr has now gotten to where he will yell or do some type of whistling if he sees me in the yard and I do not see him. I love talking to this guy.
He has given me and mom two tomato plants this spring and I just gave him some of the Persian cucumber seeds that I ordered from Reimer Seeds.
Last week he stopped by and was telling me about his white girlfriend down in TN near Nashville where he grew up. He was from a big family. I think somewhere between 8 to 12 kids, not sure, and he says they were the only black family for a 3 mile radius. He told me they were not sharecroppers like most black folks around there during that time. His daddy had worked for the railroad and those were good quality jobs. He said he had pocket money in the summer and would come up north here and goof off as a teen.
He moved into that house what sounds like in the late 40's or early 50's.
His wife (second) is currently in a nursing home. I have never met her.
Today he pointed out a "medicine" plant by my gate. He was pointing to the poke that mom asked me, just yesterday, if I was going to cut and use. She said I needed to get those leaves NOW. Well, Mr Barr said he used to come down here and pick it for the older folks in the neighborhood. I don't know how long ago this was, knowing him it was 2 years ago!
He is a fun guy to talk to and I got a big scare a few weeks ago. For some unknown reason, I was up at midnight, sitting on the couch. I saw a cop car go by with lights flashing. That doesn't really happen a whole lot here. I didn't pay too much attention until the second one came by and was going slower and I could still see the lights flashing. I looked out the window to see the car stopped about 15 feet past my driveway - in the same direction of Mr. Barr's house.
We'll I got worried, hearing other sirens screaming in on us, about my Mr. Barr. I grabbed my shoes and ran out the front door. Just as I reached my steps, I saw big flames shooting up above the IF, in the very direction where his house is.
I tell you I was so scared I had tears streaming down my face long before I got to the cop car. The cop said it was the garage building and as far as he knew Mr. Barr was fine.
Well it was only about 2 minutes before Carter (I'll give you a run down on her another time) was standing next to me, worried about Ramona, another older lady that lived right down there.
We waited for about 30 minutes and no sign of ambulances, so we felt good about Mr Barr and Ramona's well being and we went home.
Next morning I went down to his house and knocked but no one answered. I think his daughter who lives less than 2 miles away probably came to get him. It smelled like kerosene.
Mr. Barr said somebody had been asking him to sell that garage that used to be his flower shop to them and he kept telling them no. He told me that his house does not have water or a well anymore. He gets his house water from the old flower shop building which is on city water. He said he saw the people who wanted to buy it messing around there earlier in the day before the fire. He thinks it was arson because they were mad he wouldn't sell it.
I don't know, but I was sure glad he was ok.
Well, my hand has rested enough, gotta get back out and finish mowing the yard.
I had no idea that walk behind mowers could have such a range of total weight. I used mom's last summer and then in the late fall I bought a new mower from Sears.
Well, my mower must weigh a good 40 pounds more than hers. It is a real bitch to mow along the steep angle by the road and it is just harder to maneuver altogether. To top it off, the power assisted wheels control is just on the right side, so you can only use one hand to hold the handle down.
I'll be glad when most of my grass is converted into something much more sensible.
Oh, I told Mr. Barr that mom was "weed and feeding" her grass and you should have seen the look on his face! I tried to gently explain to her the reasons not to - just related to the true health of her grass and soil, and not budging. Sees too many marketing materials and is convinced that is the way to go.
Grrrr. Get ready for mowing every 4 damn days.
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