The first house we owned in Newfoundland was very old and drafty. My father threatened many times to abandon it. It had no basement and the floors were very uneven. Sometimes in the spring, water came up through the floor. The barbershop in our community of Garnish was where the men hung out when I was a boy. This one night after my dad had returned from the Grand Banks fishing, I accompanied him to the barber shop. Someone said to my father, "Merrill, is you coming in the woods with us tomorrow?" My father said, "No, b'y, I can't. You b'ys get up early and I don't have a clock. It's broken." The other man said, "That's not a problem, my son, I'll get you up." So my father agreed to go. The following evening we were again at the barber shop. The barber looked up from cutting someone's hair to ask my father if he was going in the woods again the next morning. "No, " Dad said. When asked why not, he replied, "What a time he had gettin' me up this marnin.' He beat on the door, he beat on the window, he took a stick and beat on the side of the house. I finally heard the racket and got up." "So what's the problem?" asked the barber. "I'd like to go again," Dad said, "but I don't think the house could take it."   Submitted By: NULL