Wednesday, October 29, 2014

The Great Pumpkin Patch


Despite all of the fun I was having, purely from tearing back and forth across the country like a bat out of Hell (yeah, I really did go there, Pete) with its tail on fire, I would still become bored from time to time, and that is when I would take my turn at tormenting some greenhorn over the radio.  Some of my favorite targets were drivers of Schneider trucks, which were nick-named pumpkin trucks because of generally being painted orange.

I hit the jack-pot one day while having to behave myself north of Columbus, Ohio on I-71.  For after seeing a bunch of pumpkin trucks ahead of me, I asked over the radio if it was true that I could make a lot of money driving for Schneider.  Lo and behold, one of their drivers answered me by saying that it was indeed true.  I then asked him if he would tell me the truth about something, and after he said that he would if he could, I asked him if it was true that one of the bonuses for signing on with the outfit was that when a person completes one year of safe driving, they are given the location of the great pumpkin patch.

Yeah, I suppose you would have had to have been there, and I am sure glad I was.  For there was nothing but dead silence over the radio for a good five minutes after I asked about the location of the great pumpkin patch.  I mean, even the stuff that had nothing to do with the conversation I was having with that Schneider driver shut down.

Finally, someone else said that possibly learning the location of the great pumpkin patch was enough to get them to at least think about signing up, and then the radio went silent again.  Since no one ran off of the road from laughing too hard, I think a good time was had by all—except for maybe the Schneider drivers within radio range, of course.

That was an excerpt from [The Sixteenth Crumb] of The Crackerhead Chronicles.  Alas, my chicken-haulin’ days are long gone in my side mirrors, but the great pumpkin patch is still out there.  By the way, if you are a big Snoopy fan, it might be worth your while to make it back by this site next Monday (November 3, 2014).







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18 comments:

  1. Dear Charlie, Lucy, Schroeder and gang...and of course, Snoopy! :)

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Lee!!! You were probably much sharper than we were, but Arlynda and I are now amazed at the level of sophistication displayed that went completely over our heads back then. A couple of examples of this is Lucy pointing out that the contract she offered to guarantee that she would not pull back the football was invalid because it was not notarized, and there was also Charlie Brown citing denominational differences as being the reason why he believed in Santa Claus and Linus believed in the Great Pumpkin.

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    2. "Peanuts" used to be my favourite strip....I couldn't wait to read it each do; and often cut special ones out...it was such a unique, brilliant comic strip. So many quotes came from it. Good stuff.

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    3. Thanks for stopping by again, my dear Lee!!! Yeah, you really were much sharper than us back then, and we have been going downhill since. Sigh.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Adullamite!!! You were the one handing out rocks--weren't you?

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  3. I loved holding our son on my lap and watching The Great Pumpkin. Thanks for reminding me of a great memory.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Stephen!!! That is most certainly a precious memory that I am glad to help remind you of.

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  4. Hi Y'all!

    BOL!!! My Human wishes she'd been listening in to that call!

    You rarely see those orange trucks here in the Southeast...I always thought they were hauling pumpkins, that's why they were orange! ROFBOL!!!

    Y'all come by now,
    Hawk aka BrownDog

    P.S. Stop by tomorrow when I look back over my week.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, Hawk!!! I don't know how many company trucks Schneider has now, but back then (over 20 years ago) they had over 6,000 and seemed to be everywhere, all of the time. Well, at least there seemed to always be several in every area I was in, which most certainly included the whole of the deep south. Be assured that I will check out what you have been up to the past week.

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  5. Nice clips. Some are filled with wonderful memories.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Lady Lilith!!! Yeah, they really do.

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  6. it doesn't take much to amuse some people but those people are rarely bored :)

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Ann!!! Hey, was that a shot? Sic 'er, Gibbs!

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  7. Your a sweet heart... loved you story about the pumpkin trucks LOL

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Dee!!! Oh my, Michigan used to be completely infested with them. (LOL?)

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  8. I'd completely forgotten about these cartoons. That must've been quite a moment!

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Mike!!! I was shocked to see "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" listed on one of our cable channels last night (I think). I can't remember the last time I saw where it was broadcast.

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