just in case you think i make up these stories.... i heard from tommy nugent who was ( and in my mind, still is a 17 year old kid who was thrilled with race horses, worked in our barn, and i was terrified he would get too involved with the race "trackers" and not take advantage of the super brain he obviously had-- he is now dr.nugent, who once studied endorphins in kentucky.. to whom we gave the dane "cuba"
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Cheers to you and very nice to hear from you:
Yes, the racehorse in your basement was "Gal Friday." She was a filly we all loved. Kind and pretty and very nice and comfortable to ride. I loved that filly. You gave me a picture of her as a foal for Xmas one year with her mother..1972?
We took her out of the barn and put her in the warm basement because she had a fever and was sick and we were doing all we could to help her. The weather was severely cold and the vet suggested it. We didn't expect the rain, but despite the ankle deep water, she did just fine and recovered.
I hope you will edit this so as to not incriminate any of us, but I have a lot of memories of Chestnut Street.
I believe you and Lynn Cashman once somehow came home with a fire hydrant.
I remember Janine giving Tinker an English muffin each morning before the school bus came.
I also recall being stopped with you by North Reading, MA Police for expired plates in 1972. The renewal stickers were clipped to the lamp in the kitchen. I was 17 and you were teaching me how to drive a horse trailer. (You did a good job. I still remember and can drive anything). As I recall, you had 3 or 4 wrist watches on each arm, to be repaired, and a tv or two in the back seat in the middle of a crime wave involving horse trailers and tv's. I forget who got us out of that.
When you mention the pig, I want to remind you of how she came to be. I had a little green MGB sports car, of which I was very proud. You gave me a big jar of penny's one day and sent me up Rt 128 to the hog farm and told me to ask the farmer if he would trade a piglet for their weight in pennies. He said yes and that little piglet sat on my lap all the way home and we became friends forever. She did become big, though.
Cuba was my best friend for a long time. I now have 2 great Pyrenees dogs , I really would love to have another Dane, just can't now.
Over and Out....Tommy Nugent
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now that he mentions it... that story about the watches was very funny-- the police stopped us-- no sticker- tommy driving. i had been working on the remnants of my parents house and the jewelery box.... there were ab accumulation of watches- so rather than stick them in my pocket, i put them on and wound them up to see which ones were working... so when the policeman stopped us....and finished with the paperwork of ticketing us, it was just too perfect, --- i pulled up my sleeve and said "you wanna buy a watch?"- there was some confusion after that--
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and i also remember the firehydrant-- when i go in that shopping mall to this day, i remember that hydrant with the 4 foot of heavy iron pipe attached...both being horse people and accostomed to lifting 100 pound bags of grain-- lynn and i struggled with that thing- finally getting in our vehicle the whole time wondering if they had a surveillance camera--
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i hope tommy continues to remind me of stuff for the daily doggie !!!