I went to town to buy a couple of gates at the local feed and farm store this morning. Two of the guys came out to load my gates and as we were strapping them down, I commented to the older guy that I didn't recognize him. He rambled off several close relatives all of whom I'd known. Turned out his family lived close to my little hometown 55 years ago and we'd ridden the same school bus(I graduated when he was in first grade). When I asked if it was him or his older Brother who had fallen into a piece of farm equipment and got a serious hand injury, he said "Wow, that was my Brother and a long time ago. I'm surprised you remembered".
You never know who you know(or who knows you)
- Thread starter Mobuck
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So true. Saturday wifey and I went to our local Menards for some stuff and as we were loading the Jeep some guy walked by and my wife recognized him from her community school years 40+ years ago. He and his wife had moved to a small town less than 10 miles from us, so we sat and talked in the parking lot for a bit. Ya just never know...
anybody you meet pretty much knows somebody you know at least where ever you live. And if you go out of the country and meet a stranger it is just a few extra steps to finding a connection.
One of the members on this forum, "graygun" now lives in the Texas hill country. During a conversation here one day I mentioned the creek I used to keep my rowboat in. He replied he knew that very creek and used to live near it. One thing lead to another and come to find out, when his actual name appeared, he and my brother were friends. He had lived a couple blocks away from my brother. It is a very small world
Fox Mike- PM sent. Thanks
Back in the '90's I was the Administrator of the county owned nursing home in a rural county in central Wisconsin. The facility was located in the county seat, a town of about 2,000 people. I commuted 55 miles each way from Milwaukee at the time. On my first day in the job the Chairman of the County Board told me that the most important word to remember as I started work here was "genealogy". I asked him what he meant, and he said, "You will find that everyone around here is related to someone else that you meet. You might find yourself griping about some lazy worker that you want to fire, only to find that the person you are talking to is the uncle of that person." As time went on I found out how true this was and the problems that this could cause.
We retired to some property in southern Colorado a few years ago from Denver. We have a neighbor, single guy who lives a couple lots down and had chatted with him briefly a couple times. Over Christmas I brought him some baked goods that we made and decided to finally swap phone numbers and get together after the holidays. When he saw my last name he asked me if I knew a Sarah with my last name, who happened to be my daughter. Tentatively curious about how a guy my age knew my (at the time) 25 yo daughter, he told me that they had been house mates several years ago and we started sharing facts about her boyfriend at the time and other details that confirmed we were talking about my daughter. It turns out he and I had met when they were sharing a house, 8 years ago and 200 miles away. We now live a mile from each other.
Badger Matt
Single-Sixer
Reminds me of my first deployment. We stopped and talked with a cobbler who asked where we were from. Texas we answered. "My brother is in Texas. Perhaps you know him."
Earlier I mentioned GRAYGUN and was asked by a member if I knew how he was since he hadn't been here for a while. I contacted him and he replied today that he is fine. He has just slowed going on line except for YouTube. Said he may drop by shortly
Very good news.
Armybrat
Buckeye
In the early 1950s when my family was stationed at Fort Brooke in San Juan, Puerto Rico, a film crew was on the post golf course filming a segment to be used in a travelogue (remember those? They used to be shown at movie theaters prior to the feature films).
It so happened that my Mom was playing a round of golf that day with her friends, and the crew filmed her making a pretty long putt (pure luck she said).
We never did see the travelogue in any of the theaters we attended, but five years later when we were stationed in Taipei, Taiwan, my Dad was talking to an American consulate friend who was the son of one of my Mom's golf partners in Puerto Rico.
This young diplomat told Dad that he had recently been on business in Hong Kong and happened to go to a movie theater one evening.
Yep, after the usual newsreel, a travelogue started up and lo & behold, there was his mother playing golf in Puerto Rico and watching my Mom make that long putt!
He actually stood up in the theater full of Chinese & British moviegoers and shouted, "That's my mother!".
It is a small world indeed, but did not seem like it back 65+ years ago before instantaneous worldwide satellite television and the like.
It so happened that my Mom was playing a round of golf that day with her friends, and the crew filmed her making a pretty long putt (pure luck she said).
We never did see the travelogue in any of the theaters we attended, but five years later when we were stationed in Taipei, Taiwan, my Dad was talking to an American consulate friend who was the son of one of my Mom's golf partners in Puerto Rico.
This young diplomat told Dad that he had recently been on business in Hong Kong and happened to go to a movie theater one evening.
Yep, after the usual newsreel, a travelogue started up and lo & behold, there was his mother playing golf in Puerto Rico and watching my Mom make that long putt!
He actually stood up in the theater full of Chinese & British moviegoers and shouted, "That's my mother!".
It is a small world indeed, but did not seem like it back 65+ years ago before instantaneous worldwide satellite television and the like.
any ruger
Blackhawk
Graduated in 1968 475 in my class. Wor 30 years in the mine with 2 guys I didn't know graduated with me .
If you worked for a huge multi-national, and was transferred several times there is a good chance that you can remain somewhat anonymous in this world of ours. You certainly don't live near any relatives.
How often does someone ask you if you know 'so and so' who also works for the company with hundred of thousands of employees))))
J.
How often does someone ask you if you know 'so and so' who also works for the company with hundred of thousands of employees
))))J.
BearBiologist
Hunter
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2021
- Messages
- 2,108
I was at a Climate Change summit meeting for the Inter-Mountain Region (area between the Rockies and the Cascades). It was a meeting of scientist/managers from the PNW. I was sorta a sarcastic SOB as usual and the moderator was a friend of mine. I had said earlier that I didn't need another GS-12 or Gs-13 PhD doing analysis but rather 3 or 4 GS-9 biologists in the field collecting data before I would believe. He introduced me as the next "Field Supervisor of the Dutch Harbor Field Office" (in the Aleutians). As the break, a man came up to me, said he had heard of me, read some of my analyses. was a hydrologist in Denver with BOR (Bureau of Reclamation), did work in the Yakima Basin and could we have a beer and discuss our work. We found we were staying at the same hotel, so we decided to meet in the hotel bar, after we adjourned.
After lunch, he was introduced as one of the speakers. He was John Vaca (Vacca?) and had shared the Nobel Prize for Climate Change. We met that night and looked at actual, yearly, long-term data for reaches of the Yakima River. No need for an off-the-thread diversion on Climate Change but I came away aware that there was a problem and that we needed more data to assess the problem. I had been on the fence before this.
After lunch, he was introduced as one of the speakers. He was John Vaca (Vacca?) and had shared the Nobel Prize for Climate Change. We met that night and looked at actual, yearly, long-term data for reaches of the Yakima River. No need for an off-the-thread diversion on Climate Change but I came away aware that there was a problem and that we needed more data to assess the problem. I had been on the fence before this.
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bobsyouruncle
Blackhawk
I have a common name and a lot of people think they know me, some times its not funny or happy, law, collection agencies, etc, etc, and when I say I'm not the guy, well, thats what they all say
I spent 14 years with USDA knocking on doors in NE MO. Apparently many more folks remember me 'visiting' than I remember being at their place(not surprising-one of me but thousands of them). Not sure if that's good or bad but I must have made an impression.
It's a small world for sure!
While living in New York, I joined the U.S Navy and at boot camp there was a guy in my company who was my best friend's brother! It was very cool going through boot with someone I knew well.
I lived in upstate New York is a place named Woodland Valley 6+ miles well outside of a little town (back then pop ~150) called Phoenicia. I fished within 50 yards of our house which (as well as dozens of others) was built by a local old codger who owned a lumber mill. His grandson lived just up the hill from us.
Well I moved to the West Palm Beach area and took a job as a photocopier and microfilm service tech. My first week there I saw a guy who was the body double of the codger's grandson and while I was marveling at the similarity between them he shouted my name, ran over and I'll be! it WAS his grandson.
Imagine coming from an extremely rural mountainous area with a year round population of a few dozen, moving some 1400 miles away and meeting someone you knew so well?
While living in New York, I joined the U.S Navy and at boot camp there was a guy in my company who was my best friend's brother! It was very cool going through boot with someone I knew well.
I lived in upstate New York is a place named Woodland Valley 6+ miles well outside of a little town (back then pop ~150) called Phoenicia. I fished within 50 yards of our house which (as well as dozens of others) was built by a local old codger who owned a lumber mill. His grandson lived just up the hill from us.
Well I moved to the West Palm Beach area and took a job as a photocopier and microfilm service tech. My first week there I saw a guy who was the body double of the codger's grandson and while I was marveling at the similarity between them he shouted my name, ran over and I'll be! it WAS his grandson.
Imagine coming from an extremely rural mountainous area with a year round population of a few dozen, moving some 1400 miles away and meeting someone you knew so well?
BearBiologist
Hunter
- Joined
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Not people who knew me but something similar (and weird!). I had a '67, bronze Chevy Impala while in SoCal. It had Lakewood High School, Long Beach City College, & Cal State Long Beach (NOT the newer CSULB sticker). It caught fire one night and burned up. The first time I moved to Washington State (about 4-5 years later), I was driving up I-5, around Seattle and an IDENTICAL car, with same stickers in the same places passed me in the fast lane!!!!!
