A Hoarder (and Ex-Husband) Responds...
My dad just wrote:
You shouldn’t let your mother post on If I Were a Hoarder - she lies and also never saw particularly clearly.
For example, Houston Dodge got meat from the grocery store dumpster in Damariscotta, not the town dump, and it grossed us all out (no admiration from anyone).
Although as a factual matter, meat that is a few days out of date, still cold, in a winter supermarket bagged trash is probably fresher than say a standard French week-aged steak (but not an Italian marinated roast).
Also, he didn’t have old car “parts” around - he had complete cars and trucks, all dated 1915-1935 - things like old commercial vegetable wagons, various other trade vehicles - parked along a road through his woods (he was the son of the town banker, deceased and had a traditional Maine farmhouse, on 50 acres going down to the salt bay).
The ‘collection’ would be worth a fortune nowadays - like $2 -10k per vehicle. But he wasn’t mechanically apt so they sat there, saved from the trash and left to age gracelessly back to nature (most vehicles then had wooden bodies).
Houston was great at old barn post-and-beam construction and building boathouses. Experts would consult with him on 19th C American construction.
I believe that he had gone to the 1966 Newport folk festival and came back a changed maniac - maybe acid - but he was a character quite set in his ways, and a good fellow with deep skills to offset his oddities.
Susan’s perception is a poor caricature and a slander of the family name.
I think from here out I may have to ban both parents from posting on If I Were a Hoarder…
