Here's One from Tommy!

When they were around 11 or 12 years old, dad and Uncle Tommy were down in Caroline County during hunting season with their dad, my PawPaw.  Some of the boys’ friends were also with them when someone, but they didn’t know who, shot a deer on their property.  PawPaw told Tommy and his friends to go drag the deer back over to them.  Tommy said they were dragging the deer by its antlers back toward the road when these strange men came running up yelling, “Hey!  That’s our deer!”  Tommy and his friends dropped the deer and took off running toward the road.  Meanwhile, my dad came out of the woods on the other side of the road and saw Tommy come tearing out of the woods.  PawPaw drove up and threw open the car door and told Tommy to get in and lock the doors, which Tommy did.  PawPaw was standing by the car with the door open, holding his double barrel shotgun by his side.  The men ran up yelling that they were gonna drag that kid out of the car and beat his ass to teach him a lesson.  PawPaw said, “You’re not laying a hand on that boy,” as he raised his gun.  The men kept walking forward shouting threats.  Tommy stayed put in the back seat as his daddy had told him to do.  PawPaw said to the men in an ‘I dare you’ tone, “Take one more step forward,” when they did, PawPaw clicked the safety off the gun.  Tommy said that was the loudest noise he’d ever heard in his life, when his daddy clicked the safety off that gun.  "I’m half Indian," growled PawPaw, "and if you take one more step, I’ll shoot you dead where you stand."  The men stopped.  At this point, the Game Warden and several State Police had come rolling in from both ends of the highway.  Tommy didn’t hear this part, but dad says the State Policemen were saying, “Mr. Glascock, please put the gun down.”

Finally, PawPaw put the gun down and the men went off with a few cops while PawPaw talked to another cop.  “What would you have done if it was your son?” PawPaw asked the cop.  “Mr. Glascock,” he replied, “I would have done the same thing.”

PawPaw told his boys that if those men had taken another step, he would have ended up in prison.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Today is my dad's & his brother Tommy's birthday.  They of course could not care less, but we wish them a happy day anyway!

Johnny, 29 Palms

Tommy,  Japan

This Was All Dairy Farms/The Road Just Ended at Fairfax Circle

Amidst all the new homes, businesses, and roads, it's hard to believe that once upon a time it was all just fields and dairy farms around here.
I remember when the populated part of Fairfax seemed to end at Greenbriar Shopping Center:  there was a Gino's Chicken that stands out in my mind (along with a grocery store and such) and not much after that besides the neighborhood of Brookfield, which was where we lived when I was a kid (and wasn't there a Dart Drug in that shopping center?).
My dad and I were driving to Herndon the other day to have an early birthday breakfast with his twin brother Tommy and my cousin, Scotty (unbeknownst to both twins), and on the way there, as we drove along Fairfax County Parkway toward Herndon, Dad gestured around him from the passenger seat and said, "This all just used to be dairy farms."
What prompted him to say this was that I was presenting my argument as to why he should keep letting me put his stories here, and part of that argument was that many people are curious about what it used to be like and look like around here.  I mean, nowadays, could anyone get away with taking gas from an airport under construction without getting chucked in jail and fined, instead of just some clever soul switching signs on the tank to teach people a lesson?  (See "Free Gas!")  It's fun to hear about stuff he and his friends would get away with.  I enjoy hearing his stories, as do my husband and friends.  Dad is also a good storyteller.  Anyway, he got all shy on me and said to "wait until he kicked off" to put all his stories and pictures here ("You have a lot of pictures of me there ...why don't you put some of ... Peony?" he suggested).
Anyway, we'll see what happens.  At least he will still tell me stories.  I just may not be able to share them here for a long time!