I spent less time with my Grandpa than with my other grandparents because he was always out doing stuff. When my grandparents moved to California they bought some land and built nine houses on it. One they took for themselves, one they sold to my parents, and the rest they rented out. Grandpa was kept busy doing the upkeep and repairs on the rental units.
Here’s an plot of the street I grew up on:
When Grandpa wasn’t fixing things, he was growing things. On his little plot he grew corn, squashes, cucumbers, various fruit trees, and boysenberries. At first, he also raised chickens, but they were gone by the time I was born.
I’ve been back to my old street and his houses have stood up remarkably well. He obviously knew what he was doing as both a farmer and a contractor.
Before moving out to California and becoming a “gentleman farmer”, Grandpa was a chemistry professor at a college in the Washington, DC area. I always had a hard time picturing my overall-clad grandfather in a suit teaching a bunch of premed students, but that is how he supported his family.
During the time I knew him, my Grandpa seemed nearly ageless.
If you want to know more about my Grandpa’s early life and haven’t seen his stories in my previous posts, his adventures are detailed under “Grandpa’s Memoirs” in the menu at the top of the page.
Tuples and Attributes 