A fond summer memory... think it was about 28 years ago this week... (semi-coin-related)
lordmarcovan
Posts: 43,873 ✭✭✭✭✭
I remember one year my grandfather had us all out to his farm in the mountains of North Carolina. He had seven or eight of us grandchildren, so rather than give us all birthday presents individually, he would have the Grandchildren's Birthday Party every year, around the first of June.
All the boys got one kind of present (I still have two of the knives I got- one's a custom made Randall that would be worth some $$ today), and all the girls got another.
He always had some sort of inventive party game. This one particular year, he had set up an old horse watering trough and filled it with fine white sand. He put a whole bunch of Ike dollars in the sand, probably several rolls worth, and most of the coins were Bicentennials. (This was around the time of the Bicentennial, after all- I started collecting coins later that year, on Thanksgiving day). Then he let each kid have a certain amount of time to go through the sand with a sifter. Grandaddy stood there with a stopwatch, and the littler grandkids got a longer time to sift. I was the second oldest grandchild, so I didn't get to sift as long as my younger sister. I got about eight or nine of the Ikes, but she really racked up- she got thirteen or fourteen, I think. Maybe more. But since I wasn't a serious collector yet, I spent most ofl the Ike dollars I found. I do remember saving a few of them for a while- come to think of it, maybe I'd found more than eight or nine. Anyway, I do remember looking at a Redbook some time later, and finding both Type 1 and Type 2 reverses on the coins I'd sifted out of Grandaddy's horse trough.
That was a really cool idea Grandaddy had (come to think of it, maybe the creative credit belongs to my step-grandmother, his third wife, but Grandaddy was the guy with the stopwatch). We always did fun stuff like that during the Grandchildren's Party. Then afterwards, we'd put on our bathing suits and go down to the old swimming hole in the river. It had rock cliffs you could jump off on one side, and a sandy beach on the other. The water was so cold it would take your breath away, and was so clear you could see the rainbow trout swimming at the bottom, almost thirty feet below the water. I remember one year I took one of those floating aquarium thermometers into the water with me at the swimming hole, on one of the hottest days of the year. The water temperature was 52 degrees.
My grandfather died in 1987, and my last surviving grandparent passed on in 1993. How fond are my memories of fine summer days like that, when I was freshly released from school and had not a care in the world! God bless you, Grandaddy, and all the ones who've moved on, now. We'll have another big party when I meet you on the other side!
All the boys got one kind of present (I still have two of the knives I got- one's a custom made Randall that would be worth some $$ today), and all the girls got another.
He always had some sort of inventive party game. This one particular year, he had set up an old horse watering trough and filled it with fine white sand. He put a whole bunch of Ike dollars in the sand, probably several rolls worth, and most of the coins were Bicentennials. (This was around the time of the Bicentennial, after all- I started collecting coins later that year, on Thanksgiving day). Then he let each kid have a certain amount of time to go through the sand with a sifter. Grandaddy stood there with a stopwatch, and the littler grandkids got a longer time to sift. I was the second oldest grandchild, so I didn't get to sift as long as my younger sister. I got about eight or nine of the Ikes, but she really racked up- she got thirteen or fourteen, I think. Maybe more. But since I wasn't a serious collector yet, I spent most ofl the Ike dollars I found. I do remember saving a few of them for a while- come to think of it, maybe I'd found more than eight or nine. Anyway, I do remember looking at a Redbook some time later, and finding both Type 1 and Type 2 reverses on the coins I'd sifted out of Grandaddy's horse trough.
That was a really cool idea Grandaddy had (come to think of it, maybe the creative credit belongs to my step-grandmother, his third wife, but Grandaddy was the guy with the stopwatch). We always did fun stuff like that during the Grandchildren's Party. Then afterwards, we'd put on our bathing suits and go down to the old swimming hole in the river. It had rock cliffs you could jump off on one side, and a sandy beach on the other. The water was so cold it would take your breath away, and was so clear you could see the rainbow trout swimming at the bottom, almost thirty feet below the water. I remember one year I took one of those floating aquarium thermometers into the water with me at the swimming hole, on one of the hottest days of the year. The water temperature was 52 degrees.
My grandfather died in 1987, and my last surviving grandparent passed on in 1993. How fond are my memories of fine summer days like that, when I was freshly released from school and had not a care in the world! God bless you, Grandaddy, and all the ones who've moved on, now. We'll have another big party when I meet you on the other side!
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Ken
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Thanks
It doesn't beat your "day in the park" story though!
peacockcoins
Can't fool me though, kids with money are always happy and it is a memory that has lasted and will for a lifetime!
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Great story!!!!!
Michael
I too had a real children's Grandaddy, he always made items for the kids. He made handy little tools, neat woodworks, signs, and he did have a Childrens haven at the Russian River in NOCAL. We'd spend the whole summer swimming, fishing, hiking, catching frogs, snakes, and being harrassed by the bats. Fond memories---thanks for reminding me.
nice story.
YIKES! That hurts just thinking about it!
Well written and well told.
John
siliconvalleycoins.com
Thanks for sharing,
Ray