So...Who is this Krunch boy, anyway???


Long ago, and far away in Story City, Iowa...A great event happened.  It was on a wet and stormy overnight on September 26th, 1975.

That which was Krunch happened.  Born at 3:30 a.m., Christian Ernest Caruth gasped his first breaths of air for the first time.  And it was good.  And everyone rejoiced.

On the next day, Mom rested.  :-)


Due to trouble in the family, though.  I've spent most of my life being brought up by my grandparents, Jeanetta and Donald.  Jeanetta is originally from Prarie City, Iowa, while Donald was a lifelong resident of Ellsworth Iowa.  There, the Caruth family had a farm plot for numerous generations.

So, I'm originally a farm boy, brought up on their twisted ways.  Meals were meat and potatoes, and whatever else either came out of the garden, or was slaughtered from the pasture.  Heck, we didn't even get our first color television until I was in the sixth grade.  (The main reason behind that was simply that we were poor.  Grandpa was a machinist at ALMACO machinery in Nevada, Iowa.   Before he had his stroke [it's been about 9 years this spring of 1999] he was doing manual labor and only getting paid $5/hour.  Kinda makes you think, especially when I'm holding down a part time job and making $6.50/hour already...).  And there were chores.   Chores galore.  Every morning...get up, feed the cattle, feed the chickens, collect eggs, feed the cats and dogs, and the biggie...shoveling coal into the furnace during the wintertime.  (Yes, this was an old house...something close to 100 years when we lived there).  Needless to say, I was about drop dead tired when I got to school.  


Speaking of school, I attended South Hamilton in Jewell, Iowa.  Started kindergarten there straight up to my senior year in high school.  And I must say, if given the chance, I'd have much rather gone to Roland Story or Ames.  But, unfortunately open enrollment wasn't an option then like it is now...  :-P


Then I moved on to Buena Vista College to try to further my horizons. Did I mention that I was poor earlier? Well, that's the main reason that I didn't last long there. 2/3rds of the way through, I went bankrupt in the funds department, and had to leave it all behind. Really other then some of the friends that I made, I sure as hell don't miss it either. The greasy food, the shitloads of work... Not much to be happy about. The only other cool thing there that I got to take part in was the television station there. I had the opportunity to work many of the basketball games while I was there, and not to toot my own horn too much, but I was the originator of the "BSPN Box". (Basically, I was the person that developed the running tally scoreboard for the basketball games. It's not much of a big deal these days because just about every TV production company does it...but in 94 it was huge. Besides the fact that it allowed the computer to have the new updated score on the screen about 10 times faster then it was before.)


Anyway...that icky part of my life is pretty much past now. Here I am, mostly grown up (if 6' 3" is your idea of tall...)

Grandpa is in the nursing home now. He never regained the use of the left half of his body after his stroke.

Grandma passed away August 6th, 2001.

So my roll in this anymore? Well, I'm left to handle the leftover financial situaion hovering around them...getting hospital and nursing home bills paid, etc. But I'd go insane if that was the only thing I did. So I work in Ames at Cub Foods.


Yes, a grocery store. I never thought I'd have all this education under my belt, and find the perfect job at the grocery store. But, I love it. Great people to work for, great hours (though I'm pushing for a few more), and good pay. (No way in hell I'm going to scoff at $10/hour!) I work in the Pricing department there. But I don't get to use the fancy computer scanners, no handheld FM units, or the main computer system either. No, I have signs and markers. I walk around with a cart...It has a desk surface on it. Then I have a box full of different sized signs, tape, stickers...etc. Plus the big fun...MY MARKERS! Boy howdy, these puppys will give you one nasty high if you aren't careful. The lovely part of the whole thing is reading the hazardous materialy sheet that goes along with them. Hell, perhaps 30 years down the road, I can turn around and sue the whole bunch for giving me something like lung cancer. But I can't complain. I've been there for over six years now, and have a nice stake in the SuperValu Inc. 401k retirement program. Not to mention that come September 18th, I've got two weeks of paid vacation to look forward to also!!!


Other than that, that which is Krunch is still being written. So, hopefully I haven't bored any of you who have read this far about my screwed-up life. :-)

--SirK


Take me back

Let's see some pics