by Phil Hylton

Created on: June 21, 2008

We live in a time when everything we need seems to be right at our fingertips ! Even when thngs go wrong, we always seem to have a 'backup'. When a tire goes flat on our car, we hve a spare, and usually someone to help us get the vehicle running again. When we have trouble with our clothes dryer, we just go down the street to the laundromat. When our cell phone refuses to transmit, we either go to our Computer to send Email, or to the always dependable land line. When one road is blocked, there is always a 'detour'. When it is too hot, we turn on the air conditioner. When it is too cold, we turn on the heat.

You may be saying, "Big Deal ! Doesn't everybody have those backups?" The answer is a resounding "NO!" There are millions of folks in this world with almost none of them ! This would be a good day to Thank our Creator for providing for us so well. And, in order to put feet to our prayers, we need to find someone who needs and deserves our help, and Give It To Them !

In 1933, Roanoke was a much smaller town, and it was common for folks to raise chickens and other fowl on their property at home. However, due to complaints from neighbors, our City Council spent considerable time at one of the meetings discussing how they could control the problem. As late as 1941, when we Hyltons moved into our home at 814 Hamilton Avenue, the practice of raising chickens at home was still prevalent. Right next door to our home there was a large chicken yard on the Bowman property, and Mr. Bowman was often seen feeding them and gathering the eggs from his hen house. Mama Essie could stand at the kitchen sink and look out the window, right into the chicken yard, and she did not always appreceiate the smell that came from the chicken yard.
Daddy Hylton also had a chicken or two that he raised in a small pen on his garden property on 8th Street, across from his home. Of course, nowadays, the only place we see the raising of chickens is in rural areas. Unfortuntely, most young children these days never see a chicken, unless it has been made into a KFC Specialty !

When we were growing up in the Wasena section of Roanoke, we depended on our bikes for many things, not the least of which was our mode of transportation when we were hired by Garland's Drug Store and S. R. Truman Grocery to deliver to the neighborhood. Although we did some of the work on the bikes ourselves, we often took them to Whaley's Bicycle Shop on Campbell Avenue, across from Jeffeson High School. They would always

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