Ike Godsey's Store - A good place to meet

Ike Godsey (Joe Conely)



In an earlier, perhaps easier time, before supermarkets and malls, each neighborhood, village, or town was served by one or more general stores. Those stores typically served the community in many important ways. They acted as the communications center housing the post office and frequently the store had one of the few phones in the area. Most stores had its pot-belly stove, checker board, and many had a pool table. The store both bought and sold goods providing an outlet for locally grown produce, animals, homemade items and crafts. Sometimes the store keeper acted as barber, blacksmith and banker for the townsfolk. With the advent of automobiles, stores sold gasoline and sometimes the storekeeper made minor mechanical repairs.

Walton’s Mountain, Virginia was no stranger to this tradition, for it contained the most celebrated country store in American literature, Ike Godsey’s General Merchandise. Ike’s store played a pivitol role throughout the entire Waltons series for it served as the social and economic anchor of that mountain community. In creating the Godsey store, Earl Hamner drew upon his boyhood memories of two country stores; the Commissary at the Soapstone Factory where his father worked and the S and H Store located up the road from his home and operated by the Snead family.

Ike Godsey has been part of the Waltons from the very beginning, First in the novel, The Homecoming, and then in the two hour movie (pilot of the series) of the same name. In The Homecoming Ike was played by the fine character actor, Woodrow Parfrey. The following year, the part of Ike Godsey was given to Joe Conley and for tens of millions of Waltons fans, the two have become almost synonomous.

Source: http://www.the-waltons.com/ikesty.html

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

COMMENT

My intent for this thread is similar to the Random Thoughts thread.

There are a lot of items we all may like to post, but don’t want to start a new thread.

Ike Godsey’s store, where everyone in the community would meet on Walton’s Mountain, provided a place where people met and swapped stories of all kinds.

I loved watching Walton’s Mountain every Thursday night as a kid and have the DVD’s now.

Thus, my idea for naming the thread: Ike Godsey’s Store.

Now here’s a place we can pass along anything that is thought-provoking, funny, sentimental, spiritual, beautiful, and above all CLEAN.

If you want to argue, be sarcastic, act ugly, be profane or post anything that wouldn’t be appropriate or tolerated at Ike’s, then please start your own thread and go to it.

Welcome to Ike’s.

Kent

 

Baseball's Greatest Play

Make sure your speakers are turned on.

http://www.keepingapace.com/blogarchives/sports/baseballs_greatest_play.php

Kent

 

Little Old Lady and the Atheist

There was a little old lady, who every morning. stepped onto her front porch, raised her arms to the sky, and shouted: "PRAISE THE LORD!"

One day an atheist moved into the house next door. He became irritated at the little old lady.

Every morning he'd step onto his front porch after her and yell: "THERE IS NO LORD!"

Time passed with the two of them carrying on this way every day.

One morning, in the middle of winter, the little old lady stepped onto her front porch and shouted: "PRAISE THE LORD! Please Lord, I have no food and I am starving, provide for me, oh Lord!

The next morning she stepped out onto her porch and there were two huge bags of groceries sitting there.

"PRAISE THE LORD!" she cried out. "HE HAS PROVIDED GROCERIES FOR ME!"

The atheist neighbor jumped out of the hedges and shouted:

"THERE IS NO LORD. I BOUGHT THOSE GROCERIES!!"

The little old lady threw her arms into the air and shouted: "PRAISE THE LORD! HE HAS PROVIDED ME WITH GROCERIES AND MADE THE DEVIL PAY FOR THEM!

Kent

 

Wow!! I had never heard about this. I guess I was almost 8 at the time. What a moment in history. Thanks for sharing. Ya learn something new everyday (or you're dead..LOL)

 

Letter to the Editor and The Response Back

Luke AFB is west of Phoenix and is rapidly being surrounded by civilization that complains about the noise from the base and its planes, forgetting that the AFB was there long before they were. Apparently, an individual who lives somewhere near Luke AFB wrote the local paper (June, 2005) complaining about a group of F-16s that disturbed his day at the mall. When that individual read the response from a Luke AFB officer, it must have stung quite a bit.

The complaint:

"Question of the day for Luke Air Force Base: Whom do we thank for the morning air show? Last Wednesday, at precisely 9:11 a.m., a tight formation of four F-16 jets made a low pass over Arrowhead Mall, continuing west over Bell Road at approximately 500 feet. Imagine our good fortune! Do the Tom Cruise-wannabes feel we need this wake-up call, or were they trying to impress the cashiers at Mervyns early bird special? Any response would be appreciated."

The response:

Regarding "A wake-up call from Luke's jets" (Letters, Thursday): On June 15, at precisely 9:12 a.m., a perfectly timed four-ship flyby of F-16s from the 63rd Fighter Squadron at Luke Air Force Base flew over the grave of Capt. Jeremy Fresques.

Capt. Fresques was an Air Force officer who was previously stationed at Luke Air Force Base and was killed in Iraq on May 30, Memorial Day. At 9 a.m. on June 15, his family and friends gathered at Sunland Memorial Park in Sun City to mourn the loss of a husband, son and friend.

Based on the letter writer's recount of the flyby, and because of the jet noise, I'm sure you didn't hear the 21-gun salute, the playing of taps, or my words to the widow and parents of Capt. Fresques as I gave them their son's flag on behalf of the President of the United States and all those veterans and servicemen and women who understand the sacrifices they have endured.

A four-ship flyby is a display of respect the Air Force pays to those who give their lives in defense of freedom. We are professional aviators and take our jobs seriously, and on June 15 what the letter writer witnessed was four officers lining up to pay their ultimate respects. The letter writer asks, "Whom do we thank for the morning air show?" The 56th Fighter Wing will call for you, and forward your thanks to the widow and parents of Capt. Fresques, and thank them for you, for it was in their honor that my pilots flew the most honorable formation of their lives.

Lt. Col. Scott Pleus
CO 63rd Fighter Squadron
Luke AFB

- - - - - - - -
Verification and the rest of the story: http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/wakeup.asp

Kent

 

Dog Tricks - Kids will love this

TYPE IN a command and see what happens... sit, roll over, down, stand, sing, dance, shake, fetch, play dead, etc. and...it's also very cute even if you type in a command that's not recognized.....


Make sure you type in "Kiss" too, but do it last.

http://www.idodogtricks.com/index_flash.html

Kent

 

The Funeral

As with many funerals, it was a cloudy, rainy day.

The deceased was a little old lady who had devoted her entire married life to fussing at her poor husband.

When the graveside service had no more than ended, there was a tremendous burst of thunder accompanied by a distant lightning bolt.

The little ol' man looked at the pastor and calmly said, "Well, she's there."


Kent

 

Origins of some Ye Olde English sayings & customs we still use

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May and still smelled pretty good by June 20. However, they were starting to smell so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children - last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water."

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the dogs, cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained, it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs."

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. That posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could really mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying "dirt poor."

The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on the floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they kept adding more thresh until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway. Hence the saying a "thresh hold."

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes the stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme, "Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old."

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man "could bring home the bacon".

They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and "chew the fat."

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning and death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or "upper crust."

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock them out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a "wake."

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a "bone-house" and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they thought they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the "graveyard shift") to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be "saved by the bell" or was considered a "dead ringer".

I verified some but not all. Still makes for interesting reading.

More at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~genepool/sayings.htm

Kent

 

Squirrel Relocator

When a buddy sent this to me the other day, I watched it at 1 am and just about woke up the whole house with my laughing. It just struck me funny and I love squirrels.

The little rascals had no idea about the trip they were going to soon take.

Kent

http://s69.photobucket.com/albums/i46/uptowndallasdave/?action=view&current=Squirrelrelocater.flv

 

Adrianism for today

Folks, I've got to hit the rack. It took a little longer to unwind from my shift tonight than normal.

But I'll leave you with a quote from Dr. Adrian Rogers:

"God's work, done in God's way will never ever want for God's provision or God's protection."

Kent

 

I really like this thread! :-D


The puppy link was great!! that was so cute! :lol:

 

Ecclesiastes 3

http://www.biblesociety.ca/free_scriptures/escriptures/ecclesiastes3/ecclesiastes3.html

Kent

 

That was beautiful. That was the song I walked down the isle to as well. I emailed that to a friend that is going through an especially rough time. This is the mother of the girl that ran away a few weeks ago. Things are mending well but each day faces new challenges.

 

From sea to shining sea...

http://www.jacquielawson.com/viewcard.asp?code=1545489532

Kent

 

Amen to this one! Great quote Kent...thanks for sharing this one!

 

polentardmafia1: yeah, but the mark will dissipate, and just think of the rush you'll get, albeit for just a second or two!

Kent

 

A brother like that

This story is good throughout the year.
Kent

- - - - - - - - - - - -

A Brother Like That - by Dan Clark

A friend of mine named Paul, received an automobile from his brother as a Christmas present. On Christmas Eve, when Paul came out of his office, a street urchin was walking around the shiny new car, admiring it. “Is this your car, Mister?” he asked.

Paul nodded. “My brother gave it to me for Christmas.” The boy was astounded. “You mean your brother gave it to you and it didn’t cost you nothing? Boy, I wish….” He hesitated.

Of course, Paul knew what he was going to wish for. He was going to wish he had a brother like that. But what the lad said jarred Paul all the way down to his heels. “I wish that I could be a brother like that.”

Paul looked at the boy in astonishment, and then impulsively asked, “Would you like to take a ride in my automobile?”

“Oh yes, I’d love that.”

After a short ride, the boy turned and with his eyes aglow, said, “Mister, would you mind driving in front of my house?”

Paul smiled a little. He thought he knew what the lad wanted. He wanted to show his neighbors that he could ride home in a big automobile. But Paul was wrong again. “Will you stop and wait where those two steps are?” the boy asked.

He ran up the steps and in a little while Paul heard him slowly coming back, carrying his crippled brother. He sat him down on the bottom step, squeezed up against him, and pointed to the car.

“There she is Buddy, just like I told you. His brother gave it to him and it didn’t cost him a cent. And someday I’m going to give you one just like it…then you can see all the pretty things in the Christmas windows that I’ve been telling you about.”

Paul got out and lifted the lad to the front seat of his car. The shining-eyed older brother climbed in beside him and the three of them began a memorable holiday ride.

That Christmas Eve, Paul learned what “It is more blessed to give….” meant.

 

Funny excerpts from Accident Reports

I remember seeing this when I worked at NCDOT many years ago. I came across it again and they're still funny.

Kent

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

1. Coming home I drove into the wrong house and collided with a tree I don't have.

2. The other car collided with mine without giving warning of its intent.

3. I collided with a stationary truck coming the other way.

4. In my attempt to kill a fly, I drove into a telephone pole.

5. I had been shopping for plants all day and was on my way home. As I reached an intersection, a hedge sprang up, obscuring my vision and I did not see the other car.

6. I had been driving for forty years when I fell asleep at the wheel and had an accident.

7. I was on my way to the doctor with rear end trouble when my universal joint gave way causing me to have an accident.

8. My car was legally parked as it backed into the other vehicle.

9. As I approached the intersection a sign suddenly appeared in a place where no sign had ever appeared before, making me unable to avoid the accident.

10. I told the police I was not injured, but upon removing my hair, I found that I had a fractured skull.

11. I was sure the old fellow would never make it to the other side of the road when I struck him.

12. I saw a slow-moving, sad-faced old gentleman as he bounced off the hood of my car.

13. The indirect cause of the accident was a little guy in a small car with a big mouth.

14. I was thrown from my car as it left the road, and was later found in a ditch by some stray cows.

15. A pedestrian hit me and went under my car.

16. I thought my window was down, but I found out it was up when I put my head through it.

17. To avoid hitting the bumper of the car in front, I struck the pedestrian.

18. The guy was all over the road. I had to swerve a number of times before I hit him.

19. The pedestrian had no idea which way to run, so I ran over him.

20. An invisible car came out of nowhere, struck my car and vanished.

21. A truck backed through my windshield into my wife's face.

and the best one of all...

22. I pulled away from the side of the road, glanced at my mother-in-law, and headed over the embankment.

 

Avalon - Freedom Tribute to our Troops

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGBlWqN73Gs

Kent

 

Inspiring 12 minute video

We all face challenges of varying degrees every day. And change—sometimes invited, sometimes unasked for—is often our biggest challenge. W. Mitchell knows about challenge, change, and courage—all first hand.

From co-founding a company that put thousands to work, from his election as mayor, from a fiery motorcycle accident that burned over 65% of his body, and from the airplane crash that left him paralyzed, Mitchell exudes grace, good humor, and powerful inspiration.

http://easylink.playstream.com/hawaii/w_mitch.rm

(Requires Real Player)

More info on him at www.wmitchell.com

Kent