Sunday, June 27, 2010

Sunday Stills: History


The Sunday Stills Challenge this week was history or something over sixty years old.  I have lots of old stuff but none of it inspired me. Perhaps it needs to be a photo with a powerful history.

A tiny bit of who I am and what made me an animal person revolves around this sign.  Bob and Ruby owned this gas station, my Mother would drive up and Bob would come out and put gas in the car, check the oil and wash the windshield.  

You see Bob and I shared a dog, her name was Patsy/Princess.  I named her Princess, Bob had named her Patsy.  We lived over four miles from this gas station.  One day a German Shepherd showed up at our farm.  I was forbidden to feed her, so I snuck her food out my bedroom window. I climbed out my window and joined this dog in the grass on summer evenings, I told  Princess all of my secrets, and she listened patiently, sometime sighing as she laid her head in my lap.  My Mother could not figure out why this dog kept coming back, as she would chase it off.  Princess visited off and on all summer, she and I were good friends.  She would be with me for a few days and then she would disappear.  As it turns out, one day when we stopped for gas at Bobs Texaco Station, she came running out to the car to greet me, licking my face and wagging her tail. Bob was shocked.  He had purchased her as a night watch dog, the only problem with his Patsy was that she took off every few days to parts unknown.  From then on she was tied up at the station, I visited her..but it just wasn't the same.

This Texaco sign still stands at the old gas station, every time I drive by, I can feel  the old ghost of two dear friends..Patsy/Princess and Bob.  Ruby is still alive, she always recalls our shared dog story with a smile. To this day, I miss that dog, even though she wasn't mine to miss..we had a connection, a powerful one.
 Texaco first put up these signs beginning in 1938:)

11 comments:

  1. What a great story. I like the picture of the sign too.

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  2. Awe, your story brought a tear to my eyes. I can just see you sitting with her telling her your secrets. It's a shame they tied her up. I feel for both you and the dog. I'm such an animal lover, especially when it comes to dogs. I guess especially so today, as my lil guy is quite under the weather. We had him neutered on Friday, and he's not coping very well.

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  3. What a great story and memory! Thanks for sharing it.

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  4. What a sweet story. I remember the old Texaco TV commercials for the fifties. :)

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  5. We don't have Texaco here, and it always looks like a coyboy movie when I see a sign like this.

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  6. She should have been your dog, and she was in your heart, and I believe, she picked you and you were hers! what a neat memory! I think I would have done the same thing as a kid, and probably now as an adult!

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  7. What a great story. The sign lives on like a monument to the past.

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  8. I'd have done the same thing....good history!

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  9. What a great story and memories.

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I love your comments! I am glad you stopped by! Connie