Last names have completely flown out of my head, but there are a slew of kids and counselors who I remember well. One last name that does stick in my head belonged to the owners Dee and “Uncle” Ed – since they had the same last name as me. Their daughter Kathy was a very attractive young blonde in her early 20′s. Then there was Norma, who was the strictest and most no-nonsense of the bunch. Charlie was a bit geeky, but nice and cuddly - the type of guy that kids loved to crawl all over.

Dee and Uncle Ed – at their house

On certain days of the Summer, we would board a van and be taken over to Ed and Dee’s house, where we would partake in various fun activities such as swimming in their pool, kickball, badminton, cookouts, and talent shows. The boys were relegated to changing into their bathing gear in the utility room, while the girls got to go into one of the bedrooms inside the house. This was about the only time anyone was allowed inside the house. My aspiration was always to find that window to the girls’ changing room.

On one occasion, I threw Chad Dodd’s baseball glove in the pool, and he tried to attack me. On another, I brought along my Bible, and in a particularly reflective, religious gesture, skipped swimming so I could read it at the picnic table. But perhaps my favorite memory at the house was when I was ‘pitching’ during kickball and caught a kicked ball between my knees – which meant that the kicker was out! Probably the most amazing second of my life.

Swim time at Dee and Ed’s! Chad Dodd is waving on the right. Wendy Luckenbill is in black still standing on the ledge.

Outside was a tiny playground with a little jungle gym, slide, sandbox, and a couple other pieces of equipment. I met an adorable shy little three-year old there one time, and proceeded to win her over in the sandbox. The next time I returned, I tried to bring her some chewy peppermints and pennies, but alas, she never came back.

I didn’t appear too excited about Indian dress-up day from 1979. Yonnie, unknown girl, big David, Jen, Lisa Sulfridge, me.

We went on several other field trips in the area as well. I recall a few trips to Caesar’s Creek where we would go out on Uncle Ed’s boat, a few fishing trips, a day at Skate World, trips to Indian Riffle park, and possibly Delco Park. Sometimes we would walk – but I can’t recall where we went.

Fishing day. Wendy shows off her catch, while I wait to see what the other kid is catching.

More fishing from 1981

Jen, unknown guy, Lindy’s sister Trish, unknown, Wendy showing off their catches

Since Discovery House was in Kettering, there weren’t many kids from my school there…but there were a few. To wit: Lisa and Matt Sulfridge, Erin and Joel Rudd, Sanjeev Sanai, and Wendy Luckenbill. Other kids who I can recall vividly were (the younger) David (who when he irritated me, I would give a back-of-the-neck stun-gun to), Yonnie, (hot) Jen, (troublemaker) Mandy, (heavyset) Lindy and her sister Trish, Chad Dodd (with wet glove), Big Mike and his brother Little Redhead Jeff, Older (KISS fan) David, and Frankie. And of course, I know there were many more who I would recognize if I could go back and re-live those magical days.

Field trip gathering. Big David is hanging out of the car window. Kathy is the blond adult. Jeff is the redhead standing second from right. Wendy is crouching on the far left. I am crouching fourth from left. Frankie is wearing red, white, and blue two kids away from me. Jen is kneeling second from right. The others…who knows?

As for Discovery House itself, I can still remember my introduction to it, which began in the basement. There was a castle clubhouse with a slide built down there. A record player with an assortment of records was constantly playing – with Morning Train by Sheena Easton sticking foremost in my head. I loved getting inside the castle and inviting some of the cuties, like little Jen, inside.

Upstairs were several rooms where different age groups could be separated. There were nooks in the entry way where we could put our stuff. One of the older kids named David shared an interest along with Charlie, Kathy, and me: the rock band KISS. We often brought in their records and merchandise for an informal show and tell. Star Wars trading cards were also a popular commodity.

I hadn’t entered the doors of Discovery House since the early 1980′s. My guess would be that I stopped going there after the completion of the 1981 Summer, although Mom seems to think I went a little bit later. On Thursday, May 6, 2010, during Erin’s weeklong visit, we stopped by there.

Neither Erin nor her family have any recollection of her attending Discovery House, so I maintain that they only went very, very briefly – perhaps even only a week. I was hoping that by visiting, she might recall something. We only expected to check out the exterior, and sure enough we were approached by a lady from inside who was questioning why we were roaming around on the property.

Once we explained, she happily allowed us to come inside and look around – and revealed that she was in fact Kathy – once hot, blond Kathy, daughter of Ed and Dee who had worked there so many years ago. Kathy not only remembered most of the kids who had attended back in the glory days, she remembered many of their last names (some of them even sent their kids there later), and more importantly had photos!

The Tigger and Rabbit wall mural was there when I was a kid. The computer wasn’t.

We went down to the basement, where the castle still stood, and Kathy pulled out a stack of poster board collages that she had created for each year back since 1975 when Discovery House had first opened. Although neither Erin nor Joel could be spotted, there were a few photos of me as early as 1979 and as late as 1981. I didn’t want to press my luck and ask to borrow them (especially since they were glued onto poster boards), but I did take as many photos of them as I could.

If I had had the chance, I would’ve taken Erin inside the castle when we were kids. I’m sure of it.

It was a great visit and I thank Kathy wholeheartedly for the tour and trip down memory lane. She made Erin and I promise that if we ever got married, she would be invited to the wedding.

Reunited with Kathy on the stoop of Discovery House

Return to Memory Lane Thursday…

Return to the Summer of 1979… (under construction)

We ventured to Youngstown, which, although in the same state, was over four hours away, in our black 1949 Hudson. No one seems to have many specific memories of the trip, other than the many Hudsons that came from around the country. Dad recalled the Essex that Max and Esther had towed to the meet in order to prevent extra miles from going on it. Max had a lot a cars and obviously a lot of money.

Dad took pictures of many of the cars that were at the show, but the ones here are the most interesting to the casual Catsafterme buff. These also illustrate the convention as I came to remember it: hanging out at the playground at the Holiday Inn and the swimming pool at the Motel 6. In fact, my aunt Darlene went along on the trip for this very purpose. This allowed that Denise and I would have a babysitter at the pool for the day while Mom and Dad could go off and participate in the club activities. Then we’d meet up for lunchmeat sandwich lunches in the afternoon and probably go out for dinner in the evening.

Two-year old Denise inches her way into the water

Braving the danger of the twisty slide

Denise towels off. That may or may not be Dad behind her.

I was obviously getting pretty brave. Diving would come next year.

Denise reluctantly braves the slide at the Holiday Inn playground

Mugging it up at the playground merry-go-round. I barely noticed the Hudsons behind me.

This was all fine by me. I didn’t care if we were in Ohio or if all I was doing was tooling around in the Summer sun. This represented vacations as I liked them. To just get away, stay in a motel, and be free was what I liked best. However, I wasn’t all that happy when Darlene met a boy from Kentucky named Darrell who took some of her attention away from me. Darrell even made her a leather bracelet and mailed it to her sometime later. Thankfully, he eventually got out of her life altogether after the bracelet incident.

Other than the last three months in the year of my birth, this was the only year of my life that did not see me crossing the border of the state of Ohio.  Although there are few memories or photos of the trip, it is one that lives on in my head during which I had a lot of fun. And that’s really all that counts.

And just for the record, this is the 1000th posting on the Terrible Catsafterme.

1978 will continue as I begin First Grade…

The Summer of 1978 was a relatively quiet one. We had just moved into our new house on Winterset Drive a couple of months earlier, on Denise’s second birthday in fact – April 8. My Kindergarten class let out on June 19…and the world was mine for the taking. I hadn’t started any sort of day care at this point because Mom wasn’t working at this time. She wouldn’t return to her job at Connelly & Company until October. So she was home with Denise and me every day for this one and only time on Winterset.

Getting used to my new surroundings by hanging out in the kitchen

Denise is not old enough to be ashamed of the orange laminate on the kitchen countertops

Mom gets ready to spend her last Summer as a stay-at-home Mom

Mom was a bit worried about our finances though, so I think she was anxious to get back to work. We had nearly completely drained our savings in order to purchase this new house. She wasn’t working and Dad was hellbent on building an additional two car garage, which he started just about a month and a half after moving in. This would provide him for a ‘working garage’ to house his black 1949 Hudson…as well as several future cars.

Consequently, we didn’t do much of any sort of traveling. In fact, I believe that this is the only year of my entire life that I didn’t travel across state lines. (1971 is debatable; I was in my Mom’s belly when they went to Florida). Instead, we made do, playing around the house and neighborhood all Summer. I had my friends Chris Demeter, Kenny Carroll, and Carlos, Cormac, and Christina Acevedo at the end of Winterset to entertain me. Denise had Mom to entertain her. Below are are a smattering of (mostly discolored) photos illustrating a typical day of outdoor activity around the house during the two-month Summer ’78.

The house next door to us was being built during our first Summer on Winterset. This location also provided countless hours of amusement, playing amongst the mounds of dirt, creating tunnels and raceways for our Matchbox cars.

Dad tosses the football in our backyard. I have no idea who might be capable of actually catching it at this stage in our lives.

Kenny didn’t ever mind being the Indian. Our patio had not yet been carpeted.

Bev, Susan, and Chris play with me on our short-lived swingset. Chris still needs assistance on devices such as these.

Denise goes for a swing with her Bert and Ernie finger puppets

Playing in the driveway, in front of the new garage that was being erected. We had to re-position the basketball pole from the rear of the turn-around to the side of it.

Oh, yes. There was one other thing that kept me occupied during this time. I had joined an early Summer t-ball league. As with most sports throughout my young life, I wasn’t all that good. So Mom and Dad bought me one of those makeshift tees that could be affixed atop a toilet plunger. We would set this rigged device in the backyard and I could practice my awkward swing. one fateful day, I was practicing my home run posture when two-year old Denise ventured right into my bat’s swing path.

The next thing I know, Mom and Dad were yelling at me, my bat was making contact with Denise’s skull, and a big patch of skin on the side of her left eye was swelling up much like the croaker chin on a frog. It was turning purple right before my very eyes. Dad couldn’t ever stand to see Denise or me hurt, so Mom had to get Bev to accompany her to the hospital while he stayed back and watched me at home. Fortunately, there was no permanent brain damage and soon the swelling went down and Denise was left with the cutest little shiner I’ve ever seen.

Denise’s shiner, but more importantly, the long-forgotten dancing Mickey Mouse toy on the dining room table. This photo was taken on June 3. Mom captioned it “Denise’s 1st Black Eye”. I wonder how many she thought she’d end up getting??

Okay, who can resist this? Taken the same day as the one above. Different hat. But anyways, directly behind Denise’s head is the vacant lot/woods caddy-corner to our house. I built a fort in here, stored my bottle cap collection, doused Stevie Mayne in the stream, and managed to the very top of a huge pine tree, much to Mom’s dismay.

Kenny’s Mom, who adored Denise, took this photo in her front yard…and quite possibly was coaxing her to exact revenge on the perpetrator…

We all got tired of looking at the cute black eye, so we forced Denise to wear shades whenever she rode her tricycle around town

Not long after this, Mom rewarded us with a trip to Kings Island. As I recall, Darlene went along with us and all I remember is seeing a show where a giant chicken pulled down the pants of a man (supposedly) from the audience. I laughed about this all the way home and described this scene in detail to my Grandma when we dropped off Darlene, who was just 15 years old at the time.

Meeting one of the Banana Splits at Kings Island. I’ve never known which one this is.

Denise sees me licking Scooby-Doo and is consequently ready to vomit

Although, we didn’t do any crossing of the state lines in 1978, there was one trip that we did take in mid-July, bringing Darlene with us on this venture as well. She must have liked us.

Up next: the Youngstown Hudson National…

Denise enters the terrible twos

Denise’s array of loot. Boogie Shoes was front and center

We were actually quite busy around move-in, with not only Denise’s birthday, but a couple of other activities as well. Dad took me to a coin show at the Grange on sunday, April 16. My cousin Debby’s fifth birthday was on April 21st, and we held a party for her on that Friday.  Dad also began preliminary work on building another two-car garage in our backyard, holding a meeting with American Garage on April 26. My cousin Lori, who was seven years old at the time, had her First Communion on May 7. I began an early Summer t-ball league on May 30, with my practices being held at 6:30pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Shaw Elementary. My first game was on Tuesday, June 13. I sucked.

The only other event that my parents even bothered to photograph was a visit from my Dad’s childhood friend Mike List along with his wife Mary and baby. I remember this evening of adult conversation, and I was always pleased when we had company of any kind.

The Mike List family sits on our couch

Overall, I had settled nicely into my new digs – enjoying my bright room with the multi-colored swatches of carpet, collecting Sesame Street records, going to see Superman at the movies (and in my head, inventing the concept of DVDs – or more accurately Laserdiscs – as large record albums that could be slid into a machine that would allow you to watch movies on television), exploring the woods, and playing with my new neighborhood friends Kenny Carroll and Chris Demeter, who I met for the first time on one of our bus rides home.

Here are a couple of discolored photos taken of our early days in the new house:

Mom and Denise

Me and Mom hanging out on the couch, perusing some book

As far as school goes, I continued at Fairbrook Elementary, but now as a bus rider. Since we had now moved out of the ‘walking range’ from Fairbrook elementary, I rode the bus for the first time to school. Our bus stop was just up the road at the Mulhern residence where Greg and Barry Mulhern, Kelly and Barry Nye, and Kenny Carroll all waited and picked on me a bit. Whereas I used to walk directly down Echo Hill to St. Andrew’s (where my kindergarten class took place), now the bus would stop at the school and I’d have to head through a tiny woods area, over a walking bridge, and into St. Andrew’s.

Apparently I didn’t do so well on the bus, as I recall that once when fellow kindergarten classmate Pat Leadingham was bickering with me from the seat behind, I turned around and slammed my bookbag over his head. Unfortunately, I brought along a metal spoon every day to eat my pudding cup for snack, and this bad boy broke the skin across his cranium. I was reprimanded by the driver. The folks weren’t very happy.

My last day of Kindergarten was on Monday, June 19. What follows is the report card that I received that year. Apparently my penchant for talking and giggling was already getting me in trouble. And I also needed work on my letter E’s. This was Mr. Mercer’s last year at Fairbrook Elementary. Fortunately, I had never met him before he retired.

As Kindergarten came to a close in early June, I was ready to plunge headlong into my first summer here in the Country Acres 9 neighborhood.

1978 will continue…

I remember being scared to death by the neighbor up the road, the mentally challenged Mark Trainer, who was lingering around on his bike in front of the house, watching us move. I remember meeting Kenny Carroll, who would take me back in the woods and introduce me to the trees…by name. Gosh, I would grow to love those woods.

It was in this house where I would spend my formative years, from this date in 1978 (at which time I was 6 years old) until the Spring of 1994 (at which time I was 22 years old). So for all intents and purposes, this house was where my life was rooted.

The previous owners of this house, which was built circa 1963, were the Caskeys and they had made one huge change to it when they turned the garage into what we would know as the family room – then added an exterior two-car garage. We would later add yet another two-car garage in 1979 where Dad could do restoration work on his cars.

Yes, over the years, the house underwent many changes while we were living here. As you peruse the photos below, you will note that it has a distinctively 70′s feel to it. My parents did a good job of updating it with the times during the 16-and-a-half years that it was in our possession.

The house before the additional garage. I used to love to balance my bike and ride along that driveway curb all the way up to the tree.

The expansive backyard. The fence and gate by the driveway would eventually be removed.

The living room. This room changed the least over the years.

The living room from the other angle. Most of this furniture ended up in my first apartment.

The entry way and front door, taken from the dining room

We quickly abandoned this carpet in the dining room and went with brown

These window trellises would last much longer than they should have. But this furniture which was brought over from Echo Hill would soon be replaced.

The most dynamic feature of the house, the stone fireplace

Mom and Dad’s room. Don’t be alarmed by the guns.

Denise’s room. Obviously this would look much different in later years.

Although Denise’s room was larger, I chose this room because I adored the multi-colored swatch carpeting. This never changed.

I adored this house, this neighborhood, the woods behind our house, the neighbor kids, my paper route, and just about everything else associated with this house. I was quite sad when I went back to have a look at the insides when it was up for sale in the early 2000′s and virtually every room inside had been dramatically changed. Since my friend Heidi lives two doors down from this house, I still the exterior often, but she has advised me that the current residents probably wouldn’t be too keen on letting me back inside.

3195 Winterset Drive, February 2008

Looking like a totally different house

Yes, this is where it all happened. This is where the F*rrell family grew up. It could have even been where Ashleigh was conceived. (Lord knows, we were like rabbits). I was here when I joined the Sons of the Desert. I was here when I went from K-12, then some of college. It was here that I was stalked by a madman. It was here that we made Shrinky-Dink Christmas ornaments. It was here where Denise’s boyfriend threatened – and then later tried – to kill himself. It was here that I first fell in love. It was here that my parents were divorced. It was here where Charcoal, Jet, Ollie, Nikki, and Laurel lived. It was here that I first came home drunk.

Everything - everything – happened here.

And as it happened, it happened here in this house…

1978 will continue…