Shep and the Bunkhouse and Ice Under the House

Shep made the bunkhouse in a smaller trailer than we had. Ours was 8feet wide by 30 feet long. Shep rented a standard trailer at the trailer court. It was 12feet wide by 22 feet long.

Shep was my friend in college. He was the second son of the third of five families of Dr. Elkind in Denver Colorado. He had to scramble and dance for everything he had in college.

Shep was the consummate entrapenuer. He rented the blue and white trailer about three spaces away from us. It was one that burned down on the night that we were all in the trailer. He took the space of the bedroom in the back and divided it into two spaces in each space he made a 2x4 bunkbed.. The front livingroom area had room for the piano, he played by ear but could read music and could get a job almost anywhere as a piano bar player. He used the piano to practice what he would play that night at the Western Bar, a bar and grill on the South Side of Tomichi Blvd. That was a job he had during this era. On top of this, he bought a dog he named Aerie that was half German Shepard and half St. Bernard. The dog weighed in at 175 pounds. It curled up on the kitchen floor. It was a very cozy set up.

Roommates bought into the project by the month and he had a going concern. He was a landlord of a property he rented. A few of his roomates stiffed him and he was out of the sublet business.

Shep was there to help dad "remodel" our little trailer one summer. We got a plywood bench table to replace the plastic dinnete and the flopper couch. The Couch was replaced by an elegant plywood bench where a single bed couch cushion of bright green and blue held its own at the end under the birch cabinets. The plywood couch and the table all came out of a single sheet of 3/4 inch plywood.

When the bunkhouse trailer burned down I think that he was long gone from the trailer and no one was renting it at the time. The landlord was the lady that owned the trailer complex.The fire department that come to chop into the roof was all volunteer. So they had at it with major enthusiasm. They chopped into the roof and got the last ember. They could not believe how packed in it was.

The firs in this trailer was in the grease trap hood. Extreme cold weather and grease do not mix.

Some years later we had some problems with our trailer. The water pipe broke coming up to feed the trailer. It was way under the trailer and just below the washing machine. Over the night it produced a huge iceberg. The plumber had to be called to turn off the water feed. They used a blow torch to cut through the ice to turn it off. They said that they would be back when the ice melted so that we could have water again.

We called up Dad and he said you better get to a motel. The 50 high had a room for us and we moved in temporarily at 8 dollars a night. It was warm and had an actual black and white television in it. We stayed there for 8 nights.

I bought a cute little norelco electric heater with a fan. I hooked it up to the electricity and ran it 24 hours for 2 days. It did not phase it. The ice was as large as before. I called up the plumbers again. They said that the only thing that would work would be to go get a kerosene space heaters with a blower from the rental shop. These are those gig round jet looking things that you see in really cold football games along the benches. They said be careful not to burn down your trailer in the process.

It took 3 hours with the space heater and the ice was gone. It cost 45 dollars to rent the heater. I called the plumber up and they hooked us up again. I wrapped all of the pipes with tape that had an electrical heater in it and we okay the rest of the winter.

In the mean time added 4 more blocks to our walk to school in 30 below zero weather. Our method was to walk with our faces covered as best we could.. there is a real reason for a ski mask. We would take it off and dust off the ice from our breath as we made it to Blackstocks, 10 blocks away. After we got a little warmer with warm air trapped inside of our coats we would walk to the corner of Chipeta Hall and repeat the same procedure. Once on campus we could then button up and get to Taylor Hall or any of the other classroom buildings before we needed to do that again.

Stay warm this weekend. Love Pat