My First House

 

• My dad used to fish at a place called Squaw Creek which is between Fox Lake and Round Lake. While traveling up there from Chicago, he saw a house for sale at J & R Realty. He bought the house, and I saw the house above and I bought it.
• built in 1968
• I called my wife and told her I bought a house.
• Our down payment was sweat equity; we helped finish the inside of the house by painting the rooms. The house was on 1616 Woodridge. It was $16,500.
• The builder and seller's name was Michael Angelo. Really.
• I replaced the front door with a solid wood door, and I added dead bolt locks.
• I planted a maple tree in the front yard which is quite large today.
• The guy next door called himself The Fox, and he woild call his friend Red Barron on his CB radio. "Red Barron! Red Barron, is that you?" I did make fun of that. One day I heard over my stereo, "Bill, your car lights are on." The needle on the record player could pick up the sound.
• I was a Bear fan and the Bear games were blacked out due to low attendance at the games. I had a TV antenna in the attic, and I used to turn the antenna towards Rockford so I could watch Dick Butkus and Gayle Sayers. Sweet.