McGee: Things sure have changed

It was a great day for yard work.

link Grant McGee

The Lady of the House was pulling weeds and trimming bushes, I was mowing.

I turned to see her waving a beer bottle at me.

“A little early in the day for that, isn’t it dear?” I said with a smile.

“Not my brand,” said The Lady of the House. “I’m just amazed at how powerful these winds are that they can blow a beer bottle over the fence and into my roses. I wonder how it got here.”

“MAYBE SOMEBODY NEXT DOOR HAD A PARTY,” I said in a raised voice. “Neighbors sure have changed since I was a kid.”

“A lot has changed since you were a kid,” she said.

When I was a boy my family lived next door to the Hunleys. Mr. Hunley worked at the General Electric plant across town and Mrs. Hunley was a school secretary.

They had two daughters and a dog named Duchess who lived way back in their back yard and barked and barked and barked for what seemed her entire life.

“You know I just can’t see Mr. Hunley having a brewski and chucking the empty bottle up against our house,” I said. “Or having his car in the driveway and the radio playing the newest tunes from Nashville cranked to the max for all the neighborhood to hear.”

“And I just can’t imagine Mr. Hunley or any neighbor parking their cars in their yard,” I continued. “People parked their cars at the curb or in their driveway.

“I mean the only thing that ever bothered me about the Hunleys was I think that dog of theirs barked continually for 13 years,” I said. “And yet it didn’t seem to bug me.”

“That’s because it wasn’t barking 15 feet from your bedroom window,” said The Lady of the House.

I turned to walk back to my lawn mowing.

“Yep,” I said. “Things sure have changed.”

“Oh look,” I heard The Lady of the House say, “Here’s another one…”

Grant McGee is a long-time broadcaster and former truck driver who rides bicycles and likes to talk about his many adventures on the road of life. Contact him at:

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