ma and pa stores

In the seventies, when I was in high school, a huge mall was built in Omaha, Nebraska. That became "the place" with all its shops and it even had three levels. That was the first mall I ever experienced and I still don't mind walking through a mall and looking at the clearance racks. But I have always had an appreciation for the little ma and pa stores.
The picture with this post is of the inside of an amazing store in Indianapolis, in the Broad Ripple section of town. It is a two story home and every inch, floor to ceiling, including two attics has been turned into an extension of...Bob... or Bob and his family. I've only been there twice but he has shown me all around the place including the ladder that he climbs to get into the attic where he stores Birkenstock and Earth shoes.
Last time we were at the "Good Earth Natural Food Store" there Bob was, out in the street with a bag of asphalt patch making a repair, because, as he said, "His standards are higher than the city's."
Inside he has organic food, bulk dry goods and herbs, medicines of all kinds, natural remedies and medicines galore and cosmetics that are, I assume good for you. There is too much to take in even after two visits. Neither of the guys in the picture are Bob, he was still making road repairs and wasn't available for the picture. He did find us in the parking lot as we were about to leave and inspected what we had bought.

Another recent discovery is Laughlin's Menswear in Brownsburg. The owner will find you a shirt, a suit, blue jeans, cologne, or hat. You name it, he either has it or can get it for you. He recently sold me a long sleeve shirt for half price that I liked, but it was too big. He told me to take it home, wash it in hot water, dry it on the highest dryer setting and if it's still too big, bring it back and he'll shorten the sleeves for me or give me my money back.
Nobody will give you the service that a ma and pa store will give you. No one has ever offered to shorten the sleeves on my shirt before. He said they do it all the time. These ma and pa stores are a dying breed. We need to preserve them if we can.

vegan from toe to ankle

When you live long enough to be an old man your feet hurt, so you're always looking for a better shoe. So I bought a reverse incline "Earth" shoe yesterday. The company motto is: "Different. Like You."

They have no idea.

The box my shoes came in also had the word "vegan" printed on it. I asked the salesman what that meant. (I thought I knew what a vegan is but I didn't see the shoe connection). He said, "That shoe is made without any animal products or by-products; that's important for some of my customers." Hey, if the shoe will keep my feet from hurting I'm all for it.

When I got home from my animal respecting shopping experience I saw a long anticipated package waiting on my doorstep. Inside was my Russian style hat made from a beaver pelt I had tanned and made into a glorious headpiece. I'm wearing it, even now, as I type.

There is a sort of odd balance and counterbalance in my personal existence.

things I learned from my grandkids

Little Z and The Princess came for a week-long visit. By the way, those are their online designations, I never call them that in person. Little Z is about 3 and 1/2 and The Princess is 1 and 1/2 years old.

This is what they taught me:

Little Z taught me a new word...Kewl. "That's 'kewl' pawpaw." He didn't spell it but that's how it sounded every time he said it.

Repetition is wonderful. We had the Disney cartoon version of Robin Hood in the car video player. Whenever we went somewhere, which was about every day, we had to start the video from the same spot. Little Z loved the part where the rooster sang a song about Robin and Little John. Pawpaw said, "But we've heard that five times Little Z." Little Z said, "But I like that part when the rooster sings."

Water ONLY in the car from now on. We have an overpowering sour milk odor in our car now that is unbearable. I think it came from a carton of milk from Culver's that I discovered upside down and empty on the floor in the back seat.

Toddlers look unsteady on their feet but they really have incredible balance. The Princess climbed four or five steps to a platform, then one more step to another platform, then one more step to a slide, all the while clutching a sippie cup, and wearing stylish tight blue jeans that forced her to swing her little legs to the side to get them up on the next step. She did this each time she went down the slide which was 40 or 50 times and she looked very cute every time.

Stall memaw's plans to take her morning shower until both of the grandkids have had their morning BM.

You don't need toys. To entertain grand children you just need to have some ordinary things lying about the house that you'd just as soon the grandkids didn't get in to.

Don't expect to pop into the office to get a few things done when you have the grandkids with you. Don't even think about going to the office. Take vacation time.

Just pay attention to them and enjoy their innocence.

Lost ... ?

I enjoy the Lost episodes. Unfortunately writers and producers seem more interested in creating more mysteries than they do in giving any answers to questions we've had for years now.

I think the name of the show should be changed now from "Lost" because they are no longer lost. They are "Trapped" or they are "Stuck" or they are "Indecisive" or they are "At Someone Else's Mercy" or they are "Pawns" or they are "Liars" or "Killers"...or ...

I read the news today...oboy...

On the same day in the news I learned that Southern Baptists and Roman Catholics are against climate change. At least they can get together on something. The new terminology of climate change instead of global warming is more comprehensive since the universe is unpredictable and the term climate change allows us to be against whatever it takes a mind to do...warm, cool or whatever. For the record I don't drive anything with more than 4 cylinders. I also do not have a patio heater of any kind.

I also read today of a public official in Boulder, Colorado who wants to get stricter on cats roaming around outside. He doesn't like it that they kill birds and small animals. So cats should be made to stay indoors. I agree, but mostly I object to them using the mulch in my flower beds for nefarious purposes.

I read that the Democratic candidate running second in the primaries would like the leading Democrat to be their vice president. This race is really getting funny.

There are also some new mortal sins according to the #2 guy in the Vatican. He didn't say it quite like it's been reported in the mainstream media, surprise, surprise. Still it's good to know that the same old sins that we've had for years are being updated. Some of the old sins are getting pretty worn out so it's nice of the church to think of some new ones for us.

Every day I read the news. It's really pretty entertaining.

an interesting gun show comment

I was so surprised. I was scanning back over some old posts and I saw a comment I hadn't seen before. I've copied and pasted the comment below. The comment is in response to a post I wrote about a gun show which you can read in full if you scroll down the page.

Anonymous said...

I dont understand what your trying to say? Do you understand that this is one of our rights? Do you realize that a lot of the people who participate in Gun Shows are collectors? I frequent gun shows, and I'm a female. You wont find a group of more honest & concerned people anywhere.You may have thought you saw a lot of easy sales going on-but, believe me-a sale is not taken lightly at a Gun Show.It doesnt matter if its an individual (selling a part of his collection ) or a Dealer-its all taken very seriously. Your article sounds very damaging -I dont like it.

9:58 AM

Dear anonymous,

Thanks for your comment. Maybe the reason you didn't understand what I was trying to say was because I wasn't trying to say anything positive or negative. I was just making some observations which I thought were amazing to me since it was my first time at an Indiana Gun Show.

Yes, I do know that the right to bear arms is one of my rights, one that I value highly. I hope others do too. I pay close attention to political candidates which I believe might take away my rights and unfortunately there are plenty of them this time around. I have a few guns which I use for hunting and target practice. I would own more guns if I could afford them.

Yes, I know that a lot of people at gun shows are collectors. I met several collectors at the gun show and found them to be very nice people. That didn't surprise or amaze me.

As far as "easy sales" I wouldn't know about that. The only sale I saw was the one I made.

Sorry, you thought my post was "damaging" and that you "didn't like it." At least you are honest, right? And maybe a little overly suspicious. And a little secretive... "anonymous."

Thanks for your comment. At the next gun show I'll be the guy walking around with two shotguns and an antique leather gun case for sale. The leather case is real nice. You could probably use it.