Morals from my Grandpa

Erica made the comment i never blog anymore...so this one is for her. In reading the news paper today i began to realize just where our economy is going.... Instead of getting on a soap box tangent here I will let you read the article yourself if you so desire...instead i am gonna tell you a story...a story of a time not so long ago when the poor people were poor and the rich thought that 100 dollars was wealthy. ...My Grandparents lived in a small town in Montrose Colorado. Dad must have been at on a tour of duty and I am not sure what mom was doing, but I remember many mornings where Grandpa and I walked Shane to School along the bike route that followed a canal through town. those mornings were filled with adventure stories told by my grandfather. Stories of cowboys and indians, battles with the mexicans, and many many horse stories. One morning we arrived at my grandparents house after our walk and grandpa told me today we were gonna "re shingle the chicken coop". Now the chicken coop was a small shed like building at the back of their property...bordering an alley i think. Us grandkids sharred the coop with the chickens as a play house for many years. I followed grandpa to the garage, now this garage was a childs dream place, so many things to look at and play with. Grandma used it as storage for her old furniture and stuff. A place I loved to join her in. Today we went to grandpas stuff and retrieved three shingles, a hammer, and his nail appron. Then off we went to the chicken coop with my four year old mouth spewing questions. "Why..." "Why...?" I do not remember grandpa ever getting frustrated with my questions he always gave me answers although some i was told not to repeat to my parents...hehe....this day the questions came from the reasoning of replacing shingles... After the "keep the rain out " questions I moved on to the "Why do the mexicans take the shingles grandpa?" His answer?.... "Well sweety ( he called me sweety lots) the mexicans come by at night and steal my shingles." "What do they do with you shingles grandpa?" I am sure the next question was... "....well they take them home and shingle I guess." at this point I was confused I remember looking up and down the alley for unshingled homes that may have grandpas shingles... When I asked him why he does not just leave the package of shingles out in the alley so the mexicans will take them and save him the work...he replied... "...well...I could do it that way, but then where is the fun. This way they get to steal my shingles, and I get the enjoyment of doing a job well done. WE are both satisfied." I did not realy remember that day until reading the article in today paper. Then the memory came back and I had to smile....those mexicans and my grandpa had a very unique relationship...but grandma gave us permission to throw rocks at them if they were stealing her eggs...but I am not suppose to tell mom and dad that...hehe