Day #17 - Grandpa Was a Carpenter

I learned this John Prine song 20 years ago, because it reminded me of my Grandfather on my mother’s side, George King. He wasn’t a carpenter, but he was a blue collar butcher turned orange farmer in Pomona, California. He was the epitome of a hard working man. He got up early and worked long days in the grove. I often got up when I heard him sitting at the top of the stairs of his two-story, 100 year-old farmhouse. He had his khaki work clothes on, and his cigarettes in his shirt pocket. He would sit and put his work boots on. I loved those calf high boots with the long laces and all those little hooks. He laced them up tight and then went down the stairs to work. Sometimes he let me follow him out back to the “yard”. It smelled of oil, diesel fuel and compost. His beagles would light up when they saw him.

The memories of the orange grove are thick and too many to list here. Orange farming has been a bygone era for decades in Pomona, and a mobile home park is all that remains of the 49 acres. I can honestly say in 50+ years, I have not eaten a naval orange that tastes as good as the ones from my Grandpa’s grove. I am grateful to have spent time with him and grandma when I was young, and this song keeps those memories alive.