More Memories From Our Mad House!

Top: Valerie, Marcia; Bottom: Kevin, Jonathan; Middle: Stephen, Bethany

This blog is taken from a Facebook discussion among siblings -- our "kids", who had a marvelous time sharing random memories of their growing up years!

You may wish to read the previous blog about the things our children remember after 40 years or so, also. All I can say is that we have some delightful people in our family. I've loved reading of their memories and that has sparked some of my own. Grandchildren, maybe some of you are keeping journals. What a great idea to do that and be able to pass along the highlights of YOUR life to the next generation.

TIME WITH DAD:

Jeannie and Stephen Buza

Stephen:  I remember being ten and going hunting with Dad, walking through the snow, carrying my own firearm. Very early on it was an ancient .22 single shot, while my Dad carried his .32 Special lever action, which I think he's still sad to have go...tten rid of. Later, my dad had his Remington .30-06 and I carried a Savage over-under with .22 magnum on top and .410 on bottom. I'd have the .410 with birdshot in the chamber, but a couple of slugs in my pocket, just in case. We'd walk along the Pumpkin Ridge Road, check the fields. I nearly always walked behind him and if there was snow on the ground, I'd do my best to step in his footprints, but boy did he have a long stride! I'd practically have to jump to get to the next footprint, and so I'm sure I wasn't being particularly quiet. I remember the first time I saw my dad shoot a bird near the old collapsing house that we weren't allowed to go in (there's NOTHING left there at all now -- even the stone cellar has collapsed). I remember walking behind my Dad toward the upper field when a partridge flew out from an apple tree and my dad hit it while it was flying. I remember shooting a number of birds through the woods back there with my Dad. But what I remember most about it was just being with my Dad. He worked a lot, was on call a lot, when I was young, so to get two or three hours just the two of us being manly men was pretty important when I was ten. At some later time, my younger brother built a path through the woods that met up with an old skidder trail and, eventually, Pumpkin Ridge Road. It was a lot easier to get through the path than wend your way through the woods and not be sure exactly where you'd wind up. When I could hunt on my own, I used to go out along that trail with a rake in October and rake up all the leaves and dead branches so that it would be a very quiet walk through the cedar swamp that you passed through. I snuck up on a few deer and many birds and showshoe hare while on that path. Or course, to get there, you had to cross the footbridge, and that was only there because my brother (aka "He-Man") put the granite foundation in place by himself.

Stephen Buza http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4NS7gChzvk

Find Your Wings - Mark Harris

http://www.youtube.com/

Stephen: How time flys raising children

Valerie: I love both those songs. What a blessing. And all the stories. What a blessing. I am sitting here with two boys playing chess, one little girl doing a math activity, and a very little boy drawing a creepy ogre that looks like it came from ..._Where the Wild Things Are_, and I'm getting ready to read a story about beaver. (_Flat Tail_ by Alice Gall Crew and Fleming H. Crew, a brother-and-sister team who had a childhood a lot like ours and grew up to write nature books together.) It's in the simple things of ordinary that life is good.

Bethany Buza Sykes   ‎I know this story is from my teenage/ early twenties years. I remember Dad and I going to Bangor to buy a new tractor. You and Mom had always agreed on amounts to spend on things....You went a little overboard, because this "on...e" was so much better. Now I must go back to the night before. Mom and Dad had gone to the grocery store and Mom wanted some grey pupon mustard instead of the boring old frenchies mustard. Dad told her it was silly to spend that much more on mustard. So as I was standing by my father and he made the decision to spend more then $1.50 on the agreed amount for the tractor purchase...I simply looked at Dad and said maybe next time you might want to let her have that Grey pupon...we had a great laugh over it, and of course had to tell mom who whole heartily agreed that she should have it next time.

Kevin: I built my deck ... 10' by 42' across the front and 6' by 28' along the side. Loved doing it too. When I do projects like that people have asked where I learned how to do that stuff. I always tell them I learned by watching and helping my Dad with his projects. I loved holding the boards while he cut them, etc. Those are precious memories for me: helping Dad with some project. I remember times watching Dad working outside and taking some cold water or iced tea out to him so he could cool down.

Bethany Buza Sykes Kevin people always ask me how I know how to do these "manly" jobs. My answer watching my dad and brothers...Helping my dad and brothers (probably more like getting in the way)
Kevin Buza When Ashley got her first vehicle, the first thing I did was introduce her to the concept of internal combustion engines, where the power comes from, how it gets translated from battery to spark combined with gas to create an explosion to p...ush a piston down from the force of that explosion and how that gets translated into rotational energy that propels a car. What fun it was for me... so much so that I've already started teaching the other two those same things, a little at a time.

IT DOESN'T COST MUCH TO HAVE FUN AT HOME:

Jonathan Buza We went out along side that trail and chopped a cedar tree down for the beams for that little foot bridge. The back is fine, considering all the stupid things I did with it I am certinaly blessed to not wake up to a sore back every day. God is good. I was quite fit when I was a landscaper. I wish I were that fit now. Everything is heading sort of like that old house. haha

Kevin Buza Oh, the sand pile by the old boat.... I loved playing in it until the red ants moved in!

Valerie Jacobsen I remember Mom cleaning up the yard, some old boards from a building project. She found a nest of baby pinky mice, and she put them in a jar and called us to come look. I remember kneeling by a rotting log with her and watching all the ants scurry to save their babies after we broke it open. Both of our parents were always aware of the kind of experiences that would enthrall a small child.

Bethany:  I remember when it came time for me to get my license Dad took me to the gas station and taught me to pump gas, and he taught me how to change my tires, check my oil and other fluids...because he was tired of having to do it for all the girls. As a matter a fact I changed a tire for my older sister about 6 years ago because I love her, and because my wonderful father taught me to do it (because he was sick of it....lol)

THE STORIES OF BATS (AND OTHER CRITTERS) ARE CLASSIC MEMORIES

Valerie Jacobsen

I remember one of the times a bat got into the house--and I remember that bats are among Dad's least favorite creatures. We were all in bed for the night, when I saw it swoop through the air over my bed. I screamed for Dad, and he came runn...ing. In the process of investigation, my brothers claimed to have seen it too, and described it as white and about a foot long. With that, Dad doubted our tales and told us to be quiet and go to sleep. I felt very well vindicated the next morning when I learned that after they went to bed, Mom and Dad heard the bat scratching and were awake long into the night looking for its hiding place before they finally found it, clinging to the back of a dresser drawer in their bedroom.
I also remember Dad shooting another bat in the bathroom. And I remember Mom unpacking from a camping trip when a larger garter snake crawled out from our things, and she had to call Dad home from work to capture it for her.

I remember Dad trapping a possibly rabid skunk in the cellar and removing it, trap and all, to take it into the woods and shoot it. (This is a little bit fuzzy. Is that how it happened?)

[My Note: The skunk was already dead when Dad removed it from the basement.]

Brenda Buza Dad or Jon will have to tell you about the bat experience when they were working on our Marshfield house. Dad was trapped in a lift and Jonathan 'playfully' told him there was a bat down his shirt... ugh!! We still laugh about it.

Valerie Jacobsen Dad can substitute the truth for my euphemism "least favorite creatures" if he so desires.

Michele and Jonathan Buza

Jonathan Buza  I might of missed liking a comment. I LIKE IT ALL!!! This is fun. It doesn't sound anything like me that I would tell dad there was a bat crawling on him. We were working on the shingles on the back side of the house. As I recall there... was an area that had been patched where an old door or window had been, and we were pulling some shingles to work the pattern of shingles together. Well upon pulling a few shingles five or six bats came out. Dad really doesn't like bats and he let out a scream. What a brat I said "there is one on you". But when I told him I was kidding he felt all better and we went back to work. I don't like bats either!

Wayne Buza Val mentioned the skunk in the basement up earlier in this biographical novel. The skunk had crawled in the basement and I think it had died there. But to be sure it was dead I used the hole and shot it. Then carried it out into the woods without touching it at all. DO you all remember the other skunk?

Brenda Buza The "other skunk". We had gone to Grammie Ruth's and Grampie Jim's for the weekend. When we got home it was dark and more than one child was asleep. Dad and I went inside with some people and our "gear". And when we opened the door to the entry way it wasn't latched and a powerful odor struck us -- it was SO strong we didn't recognize what it was. I was inside the house and Dad went back out to get another child or children. In the meantime, I thought something moved under the chair in the entry way and I leaned down to come eye to eye with the skunk just as Dad was getting to the outside door. I remember yelling "SKUNK". Dad went outside and I went inside. To make a long story short, we fought that odor every time it rained for a long while afterward.
Dad: Mom was lucky. I came eye to - well the other end of the skunk. I think his "tank' was already empty by that time.

Jonathan Buza Dad, I don't think lucky has anything to do with looking at a skunk on your porch no matter which end your looking at. haha I remember when you were going on a fishing trip to the Allagash and you told me you would pay me to dig worms. I'm not sure how many hours I spent flipping over rocks and boards and digging holes. Seemed a little like robbery seeing as that was the sort of thing that little boy did anyway.
Dad: I cannot believe that your father would be numb enough to pay you to dig worms. Certainly you are making that up.
Jonathan Buza My prices were cheaper than buying bait and you were busy. haha

[My Comment: The point of paying a little boy to help out once in awhile is to help instill in him the value of working for what he has. Some duties were expected because you lived there. But having the opportunity to make a little money now and then is good -- on the other hand, I don't think "allowances" help develop character. I think when you compensate someone because they breathe helps breed and entitlement mentality. Of course when you want something done and don't have time to do it yourself is a perfect opportunity to develop some character in a child!]

TENTING AND ALL

Brenda Buza

I'm a little surprised that nobody has talked about the tenting and travel experiences we had as a family. I liked those times SO much because there was no 'phone to interrupt our fun. Do you remember the time that I went "on strike" at Perdido Key? I had this pity party because everybody was having fun going from beach to pool to hot tub, etc, while I was doing laundry, cleaning the condo, making meals etc. So I made a dish of pineapple and took it with a book out onto the deck. . . I think it was 7th floor. The Gulf was beautiful and I could see the dolphins doing their gymnastics. Time went by and some people came in for supper -- but there was nothing. Somebody came out onto the deck and asked what was for supper and I told them, "whatever you fix." The room went silent. But in a bit there was some movement. I think somebody made tacos the whole time I sat there and did not enjoy my book or the scenery because I felt so guilty.

Barbara and Kevin Buza

Kevin Buza Camping.... in one of our recent church small group meetings our "icebreaker question" was "Tell about a camping experience." So, I told about borrowing a van, packing a tent, and heading for Florida to camp on the beach, only to arrive an discover that the tent poles were sitting outside the barn way back in Maine. 

Brenda Buza So, Kevin, we bought another tent that went flat in a rainstorm and soaked all of our clothing and bedding ... did you tell that part? What a wild tenting experience THAT was.

Stephen Buza Haha... I don't remember that tenting issue. Is that because I was in Florida already?

Kevin Buza ‎... and then Hurriance Elaina came through as I recall.

Brenda Buza I think you weren't with us, Stephen. It was the night before Valerie's graduation. We had to go to a laundromat to dry everything and then on to a motel room. Weren't you at home working at that point?

Stephen Buza If it was the night before Valerie's graduation, then i was living on campus. 

Brenda Buza OK -- short memory fuse here.

Marcia R. Buza I remember the tenting experience and the rainy tent......Maybe Mom and Dad were discouraged about it....but, I remember that I didn't feel affected by it....I remember being scared about the hurricane, though.

OF CATS AND DOGS AND PERCEIVED "PUPPIES"

Stephen Buza I still think that dogs are boys and cats are girls.

Valerie and Paul Jacobsen

Valerie Jacobsen One of my very first memories after Stephen's birth--I'm pretty sure I was less than two--was coming downstairs to find that our dog had puppies in the night. I was delighted beyond description.

Mommy, on the other hand, was disgusted. Those weren't puppies and she was mad at the dog for what she'd left on the floor! [My note: Kiki was a pretty young puppy when Stephen was born and was not interested in being house-broken.]

 Does anyone else remember that dog? Mom told me recently that Dad had to shoot her because she had gotten in with a porcupine and was suffering so badly. :-(

I remember thinking that dogs were the boys and cats were the girls of the same species. A little inconsistent, I know, but there you have it.
I remember thinking that if you turned off the TV the little people inside would be frozen in place and would pick up where they left off when we turned it on again.

[My Note You called the dog Kiki. You must have thought she was a cat!]

Valerie Jacobsen Well, I knew she was a dog, but I thought a dog was a kind of cat. 

Brenda Buza One of the first words Valerie said was "down". She would roll up a newspaper, shake it at the dog and yell "down".  I worked for a few weeks before he was born and Ruth Sprague was the babysitter -- that is where Valerie learned to tell the dog to get down.

Kevin Buza LOL. I knew there was a dog prior to Honey, but could not remember it. [My note: Dr. Shaw gave us that dog. He raised labs and used them for duck hunting.]

Stephen Buza

Valerie Jacobsen So my first kitten was Nickel-huppy-kiki. Nickel was the name Mom suggested, for the gray spot on her head and puppy-kitty was her species. 

Stephen Buza Actually, I might have been trying to feed the dog instead, and the cat pounced.

Valerie Jacobsen I mean him. I thought the cat was a girl when I was little because, again, cats were girls.... Yeah. I woke up in the middle of the night, suffocating with him sleeping on my face. I pushed him away in such a panic that he hit the wall with a very loud thud. And I was about 13 then. This is after he came back from his long, mysterious adventure.

Stephen: My hatred of cats started there. I was young, maybe 5 or 6, and I had a piece of gristle that I was taking out to give to the cat, but it was dark out and I couldn't see her, so I was just holding it in my hand with my arm outstretched. So...mehow, she bounded up the steps, leapt in the air, and grabbed onto my hand with both paws, clawing me pretty badly. I still have the scar on my right ring finger. Never liked cats after that, and I can't think of any redeeming qualities they have that might have improved this over the years. 

Marcia R. Buza I don't remember the dog prior to Honey

Valerie Jacobsen I think that dog was gone before Kevin was born. Not 100% sure though.

Wayne Buza: IS this thread public or family? IT must be a public thread. I am not related to. ANYONE here and none of these things ever happened. Well I do remember a bat or two

Brenda Buza The only time I enjoyed cats was when they lived in the barn. They would keep the mouse population down and they had no tables or cupboards to climb on. They were contented climbing in the hay and coming into the stable when I was milking (by hand, of course). I liked squirting a little milk at them and they would lap it in mid air. That was fun -- my opinion? Cats do not belong inside houses, LOL.

Stephen Buza http://ablestmage.wordpress.com/2008/03/13/random-image-cow-milking-squirt-to-cats-mouth/

Random Image: Cow Milking Squirt To Cat’s Mouth

ablestmage.wordpress.com

Brenda Buza: EXACTLY, Stephen! And they sit there and WAIT with pleading eyes.

RANDOM FUN AND BIRTHDAYS

Brenda Buza I can remember all being in our living room and laughing until we ached. Stephen and Jonathan could have us ALL in stitches!! 

Brenda Buza We had birthday for Kevin in a motel with a pool a few times; I remember a birthday for Jonathan at a picnic table along the New York turnpike. I think Jon was 3. We were on our way to Illinois to see Gramma and Grampa.

Bethany: Okay, so I love to look at rocks, I love looking at all the different shapes, sizes, and colors. I wonder if it came from all that rock picking when the house was moved?

Christopher and Bethany Sykes

Stephen: Heh.. Maybe. I did my share or rock-picking in the gardens too.

Bethany:  Once upon a time there was this pretty little three year old girl with beautiful blonde curls! Her big brother asked if she wanted to play barber. She didn't really know what that was, but she said yes. When brother was all done the little... girl went proudly to show Mother how beautiful her hair was. The mother saw only one little ringlet hanging down by her ear...the rest were on the floor at her brothers feet. Mother cried and cried and then took the little girl into the barber shop and said to the barber can you fix her? Poor Mother, Poor Little girl, and Poor Brother. Although I would imagine if mother had not have cried the little girl would have thought nothing of having only one curl on her head.

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED WITH THE NEIGHBOR'S GARDEN?

Bethany:  Oh yes! Oh and your story about having lunch from the garden...I always loved to do that! Just have to remember to pick from your own family garden, right Jonathan? 

Jonathan Buza Why where did I steal vegetables from? 

Stephen Buza This sounds vaguely familiar.

Valerie Jacobsen I remember the Grays' cows getting in our corn.

Jonathan Buza Ohhhh That explains it. Must be that I figured if his cows could eat our corn I could snag a few peas and carrots from his. haha I don't remmeber making like a hobbit and stealing farmer maggots crops

Bethany Buza Sykes ‎Pearlie Gray we got caught of course, and got in big trouble.

[My Note: I don't remember if/what Jonathan did something with Everett Gray's garden. But I remember the gentleman, himself, carrying a huge bag of peas up to me and apologizing profusely for what his cows had done in our garden. They had devastated about 12 rows of gorgeous corn. That was kind of him to try and make some sort of restitution. And beyond that . . . did you, Jonathan?]

Kevin Buza ‎(cough) Halloween candy (cough), November 1st

Stephen Buza Jonathan was enterprising. He figured all of the households within a mile would be stuffed to the gills with leftover candy the day AFTER Halloween, so he went around with a pillowcase and collected. I'm quite sure he got ten times as much candy on November 1st as he got the day prior. 

Kevin Buza I always thought he was a genius for doing it and didn't understand why Mom & Dad were upset. Spirit of an entreprenure right there.

Jonathan Buza Just trying to do my civic duty. 

[My note: Jonathan, you have always had a rather well developed sense of logic -- and justice.] 

Marcia R. Buza I wanna go back!!! Back to then...please?......It would be really cool if in Heaven God would let us see back to times like these...

ECLIPSE OF THE MOON, COMETS, AND ADOPTED DAUGHTERS:

Bethany Buza Sykes I remember Mom and Dad allowing us to drag a mattress outside by the barn and lay on it to watch an eclipse late at night, and again when Haley's comment came around....It was so cool!  I remember thinking what a great party it was to be awakened in the middle of the night (probably 9-10pm...hehehe) to go see it and laying on the mattress looking up at the sky it was just awesome.

Valerie Jacobsen I think the star party was probably after I went to school.

Bethany: The comet was I think my early teens 

Kevin Buza . . . the comet came through to mark my graduation from high school (and Val's from college)... 1986.

Marcia R. Buza I remember that Mom made Beth go for a walk with me cause I was lonely and Beth was so mean she told took me down to the bridge and told me I was adopted and she said if I said anything to Mom about her not wanting to go for a walk with me that she would cut my dolls hair off....thats how it happened, right Beth?????

Marcia Buza

Bethany Buza Sykes  NO< I did cut your dolls hair off because you never would let me play with it, and you were mean to me on that walk....although as usual Bethany cried about nobody playing with her, and her big sister was told to play with her and then the walk where I found out that I was adopted and I was going to be beaten up if I told mom anything....of course you never would have, but I figured if Jon could cut my hair I could cut your dolls hair...:)

Marcia: lol.....I love you Beth......now, I would love to go for a walk and talk.

Bethany:  As would I...we loved each other then too, but i think I felt like everyone didn't need alone time of there own...I was such a brat sometimes, but aren't we all.

[My notes: did you tell each other you were adopted? Both of you look to much like family for that one to have any lasting impression, don't you?]

Marcia R. Buza Speaking of after you went to school, Val........You were so good about writing to your siblings while you were off to school....and I remember you sending a good book about dating that I wish I had taken more seriously.....

Bethany Buza Sykes I have never been very good at remembering birthday's or writing letters....wish I had been though. Of course I was really good at writing so so so so so so so so so so so, etc, much.

Marcia R. Buza yeah....I remember the so so so so so letters that you wrote Beth!

[My note: Oh, Bethany! Those little notes from you to Valerie with about 4 lines of I love you so, so, so, so..... were SO cute!]

GODLY COUNSEL AND WISDOM PASSED AROUND

Marcia: . . . and I remember you [Valerie] sending a good book about dating that I wish I had taken more seriously.....

Bethany Buza Sykes I never really listened to the council of those that loved me, and were looking out for our best interest. The council of those in our lives and the council of The Lord God himself should always be listened to. It took me two failed marriages to realize that what I wanted and what God wanted were not in line with each other.

Valerie Jacobsen Sorry for that experience, but so thankful that God is so good to us.

Bethany Buza Sykes I thought I didn't need to take the counsel of my parents, church family or God. I thought this is my life, and I know what is best for my life. NO God knows what is best for my life. Even through my disobedience, God had a plan, and sent Christopher to me, but the hurt and pain I dealt with could have been so avoided if I had adhered to those that loved me, and prayed to the Lord for his will in my life. Marcia R. Buza I didn't either Beth. It takes most people most of their lives to realize that Gods way is always best. Amber asked me tonight why everyone always says that growing up is hard? We got the chance to talk about how growing up is alot less difficult if you listen to the council of your parents and if you make a choice to go Gods way...

Marcia R. Buza God was gracious to send Chris to you Beth. And God was gracious to send you to Chris for that matter.

Valerie Jacobsen Marcia, it's the only way to have all the wisdom of a grownup when you're not quite one. But Christians really never outgrow the need for godly counsel. We are made into one BODY, not as isolated, individual units.

Kevin, Jonathan, Dad, Bethany, Marcia, Mom, Valerie, Stephen

[My note: This is one of the chief reasons that I am keeping up with this blog. I hope through the stories and specific warnings that God will use our experience and the lessons He has taught us in life to help this new generation. While I realize that many people learn from their own sin and error and not from ours, we do have a responsibility before God to encourage, admonish, and correct the children that He has entrusted to our care. We pray continually that they will listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit and that they do not resist or grieve Him.]

SECRET PASSAGE:  





Stephen: When I was about eight, we were locked out of the house one time. Dad took me down in the basement and there was a little hole in the living room closet floor. Couldn't have been more than sixteen by twelve inches. The closet was where a... bathroom used to be and there was still a hole there (I'm not sure why the hole was rectangular). Over the top of the hole was a piece of chipboard, and on top of that was what felt like fifty pounds of shoes and boots and whatever other paraphernalia normally collects in the bottom of closets. I lifted it up, pushing all the shoes out of my way, climbed up into the closet and unlocked the front door. After that, I kept the bottom of the closet clear of shoes, because it was my escape hatch. I got good at climbing up or down through that hole. There were probably quite a few times after bath and pajamas that I climbed down through the hole, up through the cellar bulkhead, and out into the night and nobody was the wiser. I also escaped from siblings during hide and seek and was never found. It was easy to stop in the closet and drop out of sight into the darkness below. It was a pretty sad day when I was twelve or so and I could no longer fit my shoulders through the hole.

Grampie and Me (MANY Years After These Stories)

Kevin Buza Yeah, when that closet got converted I tried to put my foot in that hole. It wasn't happening, never mind my shoulders. Don't know how anyone ever managed to fit through it.

Wayne Buza I think the hole in that closet was a LOT smaller than 12x16. It was cut in the floor for the drain to the bathtub. It was put there before we bought the house and then not covered until we moved the kitchen into the living room and the living room to the kitchen, and made the pantry there where the hole was. I remember Stephen going through it to open the front door.