Doll-A-Day 2017 #354: Pig Pen

  Wow. Only 10 more days to go in this year of dolls. I'm this close to completing a whole year,with no missing days. I didn't manage that the last time I did this,but then there were alot of things that prevented it last time, including my dad passing away. But, as close as I am this year, there is something now that may prevent me from finishing...
  Have I ever mentioned that I have a back problem? Ok, that's an understatement. I have a lot of back problems. Way back in 1983 or 84 I shredded,(Complete with ripping sound.), my back, lifting something at work. I was in agony for ages,and my back has never been the same. It hurt so bad that I felt sick,and the pain was so relentless that I would go home at night and just lay in the floor and cry. There was no escape from the intense pain and it just drove me insane after a while But I never missed a day of work.That was pretty stupid actually. I would have healed a lot better and more quickly if I had rested my back. I had a worker's compensation claim going, so I could have been paid while I was off too. But that felt wrong to me. Now I think I should have taken time off.
  At the time I had a lot of tests done to see exactly what was up with my back, and found out that I never really had a whole back in the first place. Apparently I was born with only a 'rudimentary vertebrae and rudimentary joint' in the lower part of my back. So probably not a good idea to be lifting heavy stuff in the first place.
  Then I hurt my shoulder at my next job. I was a cashier in the electronics department. We were expected to stock the shelves too,and if the stuff wasn't put up off the selling floor by the end of the day, we were in trouble. I used to carry TV sets up a 16 foot ladder to stack them three TVs tall on the shelf above the actual selling floor. At 5' tall and 105 pounds,that was undoubtedly more than I should have been doing.  But I learned that if you aren't the cute flirty girls, the stockroom guys wouldn't help you do squat. My shoulder got strained or sprained or something. I had such intense pain I used to sit behind the counter when I got a chance, and shove the corner of a microwave box into my shoulder blade to relive the pain. My back occasionally went out too. I nearly passed out from the pain once when I leaned over to get something out of the showcase for someone.(The customer panicked and asked if I was ok. The manager of the store,who was standing next to me, totally ignored me.)
  So ever since then my back and shoulder go out on me occasionally. Ken still freaks out when he thinks about the time, right after we moved into our house, that my shoulder went out, and the pain was so intense I could hardly speak. With all the box shifting I've been doing lately, lifting, and being on my feet a lot,my back has been bad lately. Last night I could hardly get into bed. Our bed is a pretty tall old four poster that was old when it entered in my family when I was a kid. I have been telling Ken that when I get old I'm going to need a step stool to get in and out of bed. I really could have used it last night. When I tried to go to bed I ended up dangling with one knee up on the bed and my face in the bed, screaming every time I tried to get the other leg onto the bed. Eventually I forced myself up, but I'm sure the neighbours heard me do it! I spent most of today in bed unable to move.
  So hopefully I'll be able to get around enough to keep up with the posts throughout the end of the year.
  Today's doll is from one of my favourite Christmas shows,"A Charlie Brown Christmas".

He's Pig Pen. Luckily I had these photos of him already taken. I discovered recently that I had two of them! (That happens sometimes!) I took these of the one I sold,or I wouldn't have a doll for today.

This doll was made by PMI. They made quite a few of the characters. I'm particularly fond of Pig Pen, with his crazy plastic hair,the Linus and pumpkin patch set, and the teacher's desk included in one of the sets. It talks,with that 'whaa whaat' Charlie Brown's teacher's voice.

He's trade marked UFS: United Features Syndicate.

He's 5" tall.

You have to love all the dirt marks and his hair. I love the bit in "A Charlie Brown Christmas" where Freida complains that Pig Pen's dust is taking the curl out of her 'naturally curly hair'. Charlie Brown responds,"Don't think of it as dust. Think of it as maybe the soil of some great past civilization. Maybe the soil of ancient Babylon. It staggers the imagination. He may be carrying soil that was trod upon by Solomon, or even Nebuchadnezzar." Then Pig Pen says, "Sort of makes you want to treat me with more respect, doesn't it?"You can watch "A Charlie Brown Christmas" HERE.
  Hopefully I'll see you tomorrow!