Saturday, December 13, 2008
Monday, November 10, 2008
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
looking back at winter in Idaho
As a child in Idaho I can remember back forty years to the cold winters with snow butt deep to a tall Indian.....We were not Native Americans,yet! We did have some Tall Indians!
Mother grew up on the prairies far below where we lived. She swears they could sled off the fence rows ;but she only grew up to be five foot tall.What does she know!
I remember Ice cycles hanging from the eaves of our log house that were taller than me.was always broken hearted when my brothers knocked them down so they didn't fall on me......we woke every morning to bedroom windows frosted on the inside...Jack Frost broke in while we were asleep and painted forest and fairy dell on our windows from his winter white pallet.
We were the proud owners of an army surplus 4x4 to drive through our hills in the winter. We had horses to pull it out when it got stuck! I remember Dad burning off a set of snow tires in two weeks trying to get home in the deep snow.It was a dirt road and he was to lazy to walk. Walking was reserved for children. It must have been to deep to plow! Though, that new car he bought like clock work every two years; plowed a lot of snow by the time he was done with one.
I remember walking on the hard crusty snow to the bus stop, about half a mile down the road. Half a mile down and four miles up! That was fun till you hit a soft spot in the snow and filled your winter boots with the white ice crystals. we caught the bus at the community mail boxes. Our little community was comprised of our family and was a private community with no school bus nor snow plows above the bus stop.That was where we met several families who lived below our property who weren't related......I think! Though in the area we lived in and with our big family relationships seemed to change and flux with the changing of the moon....or at the whim of the moon shiner!
Grandpa dragged a plow behind his work horses for many years, before Dad discovered one of he drivers had a weakness for "shine!" He'd take that snow plow driver out a hot thermos of coffee about half filled with "Shine". From there on he didn't plow to straight, he did plow deep! He also plowed all the way to the top of our mountain. At the peril of his job being taken away from him for using the county plow ant fuel to plow an extra five miles!
It wasn't a good idea to follow his job to closely while leaving the hill. There were some interesting "drop off" on one side of the road.You could roll a car quite a ways down if you got over to far. At times he got pretty close...That must have been some pretty strong coffee, the old man brewed!
The walk on the crust of the snow wasn't all that bad..we had several stops to make to get us warm. We needed to carry in wood for our Grandmother and feed the horses,and the pigs who's sty was near our uncles house.If the wind was right and he was on the correct shift he would give us a ride to the bus.Mostly we walked snow, sleet, or wind storm.On really cold cold days we could hear the trees pop like rifle fire. They would freeze and explode! I was always afraid I would be standing near one when it went OFF!
One of the kids decided he COULD put his tongue against one of the mail boxes in below zero weather...Of course his wet tongue against the extremely cold metal stuck like glue.
"HEWP! HEWP!" He bellered as soon as he heard the old school bus growl it's way up the mountain road. "Do't eve m hwere." He tried to yell without moving frozen lips of tongue stuck firmly to the metal....The boys were getting desperate....zippers were ready to come down, I don't know for certain what they had in mind cause they made me turn my back and hold my mittens over my eyes...
They waited as long as they could. One remarked in Soto voice "You can't do that Joe;the bus is full of GIRLS." I never did ask just what it was they could not do!!!
The bus driver stopped the smoking growling old bus....the door came open..Stone faced he climbed from the bus..He ordered us onto the cold bus. Our feet Never thawed out the whole ride.....Never EVER! The seats crackled under us as we plopped down on them they were so cold....We sat very still with our hands clenched together as though in prayer..WE knew he was gonna' tell our Dad we somehow caused this travesty and Everything would "Hit the Fan!"
For a moment he stood like a statue, He tooo looked like he was frozen in place....The child screamed just once as he snatched that kid off the frozen mail box; leaving hair hide and all, the remnants of a child's frozen tongue firmly attached to the old mail box. I swear he talked like he was frozen solid to that chunk of metal for the rest of the school year. We all had a good laugh when we saw him with a make shift bandage on his tongue......An old wash cloth was tied to his tongue...and knotted right at the top!
Mother grew up on the prairies far below where we lived. She swears they could sled off the fence rows ;but she only grew up to be five foot tall.What does she know!
I remember Ice cycles hanging from the eaves of our log house that were taller than me.was always broken hearted when my brothers knocked them down so they didn't fall on me......we woke every morning to bedroom windows frosted on the inside...Jack Frost broke in while we were asleep and painted forest and fairy dell on our windows from his winter white pallet.
We were the proud owners of an army surplus 4x4 to drive through our hills in the winter. We had horses to pull it out when it got stuck! I remember Dad burning off a set of snow tires in two weeks trying to get home in the deep snow.It was a dirt road and he was to lazy to walk. Walking was reserved for children. It must have been to deep to plow! Though, that new car he bought like clock work every two years; plowed a lot of snow by the time he was done with one.
I remember walking on the hard crusty snow to the bus stop, about half a mile down the road. Half a mile down and four miles up! That was fun till you hit a soft spot in the snow and filled your winter boots with the white ice crystals. we caught the bus at the community mail boxes. Our little community was comprised of our family and was a private community with no school bus nor snow plows above the bus stop.That was where we met several families who lived below our property who weren't related......I think! Though in the area we lived in and with our big family relationships seemed to change and flux with the changing of the moon....or at the whim of the moon shiner!
Grandpa dragged a plow behind his work horses for many years, before Dad discovered one of he drivers had a weakness for "shine!" He'd take that snow plow driver out a hot thermos of coffee about half filled with "Shine". From there on he didn't plow to straight, he did plow deep! He also plowed all the way to the top of our mountain. At the peril of his job being taken away from him for using the county plow ant fuel to plow an extra five miles!
It wasn't a good idea to follow his job to closely while leaving the hill. There were some interesting "drop off" on one side of the road.You could roll a car quite a ways down if you got over to far. At times he got pretty close...That must have been some pretty strong coffee, the old man brewed!
The walk on the crust of the snow wasn't all that bad..we had several stops to make to get us warm. We needed to carry in wood for our Grandmother and feed the horses,and the pigs who's sty was near our uncles house.If the wind was right and he was on the correct shift he would give us a ride to the bus.Mostly we walked snow, sleet, or wind storm.On really cold cold days we could hear the trees pop like rifle fire. They would freeze and explode! I was always afraid I would be standing near one when it went OFF!
One of the kids decided he COULD put his tongue against one of the mail boxes in below zero weather...Of course his wet tongue against the extremely cold metal stuck like glue.
"HEWP! HEWP!" He bellered as soon as he heard the old school bus growl it's way up the mountain road. "Do't eve m hwere." He tried to yell without moving frozen lips of tongue stuck firmly to the metal....The boys were getting desperate....zippers were ready to come down, I don't know for certain what they had in mind cause they made me turn my back and hold my mittens over my eyes...
They waited as long as they could. One remarked in Soto voice "You can't do that Joe;the bus is full of GIRLS." I never did ask just what it was they could not do!!!
The bus driver stopped the smoking growling old bus....the door came open..Stone faced he climbed from the bus..He ordered us onto the cold bus. Our feet Never thawed out the whole ride.....Never EVER! The seats crackled under us as we plopped down on them they were so cold....We sat very still with our hands clenched together as though in prayer..WE knew he was gonna' tell our Dad we somehow caused this travesty and Everything would "Hit the Fan!"
For a moment he stood like a statue, He tooo looked like he was frozen in place....The child screamed just once as he snatched that kid off the frozen mail box; leaving hair hide and all, the remnants of a child's frozen tongue firmly attached to the old mail box. I swear he talked like he was frozen solid to that chunk of metal for the rest of the school year. We all had a good laugh when we saw him with a make shift bandage on his tongue......An old wash cloth was tied to his tongue...and knotted right at the top!
Saturday, July 12, 2008
July In Idaho
I don't ever remember another July in Idaho when the honeysuckle has bloomed in my back yard. They are usually in bloom in early June....
I have a four foot tall tomato with at least twenty buds on it.....but it has yet to set on ONE tomato......I've had salad from my yard...lettuce, dandelion, and other wild things.
Gary's corn is about six inches tall.. To say the least it is not doing well. Strange year in Idaho. I haven't been swimming yet.
I like the lakes when they are cold. Soon they will be to warm to cool me while I swim. I have broke out the old Exercycle bike. I have my cardio glyde. I've been working at them . Getting old is not for the faint heart. Being so fat is probably why I have not been in the lake....Even at sixty I'm vain..."Vanity thy name is OLD woman." I don't REALLY think that is the way that quote went. It is close enough!....
Jacob,paid us a visit with his second Daddy, last night. He tells me ."he is lucky cause he has two daddies. Most little boys only get ONE."
The child put five miles on the exercise bike. Dug a bike that belongs to Stephen or Axston. It was deep inside the shed.he really and to work for it. He rode it all over the place as fast as it's little tires would carry him.....
He also went to the park where He hung from the bars and ran over under around and through the play ground equipment while we watched it became at once, Tom Sawyers island...Treasure islands walkway...and a ship to ply the deep waters of Northi Idaho!!! He did calesthenics, he climbed the "childs mountain1"He hung from rungs and fell on his head!. He tires me out just watching him. He rode my cardioglyde machine too....He pulls the handle all the way down so it touches his forehead! In that position the back of the machine goes way up.....It's like a "do it yourself"teeter totter!......He is quite a guy, our Jacob.
I am told the elder children are going to camp this week. This means I had to go get Stephen a pair of shoes to wear to camp. He had nothing but flip flops. You know the kind we used to call thongs. His mother was going on about his shoes being left at camp on a recent camping trip with the family. I was amazed she let him go. Ace was "to grounded" to go. cause he got bad grades in school.....expletive deleted....
Camping with Grandpa and his Uncles was pretty important..I think there was much more to this than we will ever know...
At any rate his shoes, she was so upset over were found. They had holes in the soles...poor kid. I guess if you have nothing a bit of something is better than none at all. I don't understand her thoughts....but TJ was going to buy him a new pair..I bought him a couple pairs to wear now and will get him a nice pair for his birthday....in case he leaves them at church camp....Which is all together likely with this little guy. He is a normal six year old..Shoes are not a priority.
He sure liked catching crawdads with Uncle....The first thing Jacob did was pick one up wrong and it grabbed him! He was not as thrilled with Crawdad fishing as Stephen! Auntie took them rock climbing....wading and picking wild berries...they roasted wieners and marshmallows...they sang camp fire songs. There was no stress and loads of laughter....
As an aside,Stephen's other Grandmother was at the public pool in St. Maries and yelled clear across the water, at her foster daughter....Eve....what are you doing out here without your thongs..you get in that room and get your thongs on RIGHT NOW.....needless to say she garnered much attention at the public pool in St. Maries. Her daughter who is in her early teens, was not exactly thrilled! I doubt any man there was thinking of shoes.....
I remember in the fifties when those dumb things came out. They were so uncomfortable with the big chunk of rubber that came up between your big toes....They were all the rage!.....Now Thongs appear to me to be just as uncomfortable.....even if it is not your toes that is rubbed upon............
It should be time for the deep purple huckleberry to appear in our forests. Most people are not aware that the huckleberry you see is probably on a bush that is up to a hundred years old. The Native Americans used to burn off the hillside so the bush would grow less leaves and more berries...the Asians were killing off the plants by hacking the tops off the plants while they were in bloom and shipping them back to Asia to be used in flower arrangements. I hope they have made that practice illegal. I used to get mad at people who broke off the plant and took them into camp; berries and all ,to be picked in front of the camp fire.
I don't really know if either practice really hurt the plant. In light of the Native American practice of burning the bushes down every few years it probably did them little harm. Huckleberries are a natural antioxidant and are reputed to lower one's blood sugar if one is diabetic. I love the smell of the syrup and the pie cooking. I'm not to wild about the flavour.
Mom makes a wonderful huckleberry pie...The smell of them cooking will always be one of my fondest memories......Huckleberries have never been domesticated so they will grow in peoples gardens...Perhaps there are just a few things and secrets that don't belong to man......
Sarvice Berries grow abundantly in my back yard. The Native American used them in pemmican. They pounded and pounded them till they were ground fine and mixed the juice berry and all into suet from venison and other dried meats, somehow,they made patties of it. I have researched and researched them. Still I can find little or nothing about them. I am waiting for them to ripen this year. I want to run them through my juicer and make Jelly from them . I think they are probably to seedy for Jam. I've never found a recipe for them. Most people don't know what they are. I like their tart taste. I've propagated them in my yard for years and years for their early flowers, which are much like the(Idaho state flower) Syringa or the "mock orange" flower that is so abundant in Idaho. They make lovely yard flowers...I also want to make some rose hip jam..I have spread the Cherokee rose seeds all over......they have such a wonderful fragrance....they were named such, for every tear that was held so close during the "trail of tears"..we shall see how much of this I get done.......
I seem to do a lot in the day time......but it seems like so little gets done....perhaps I am just by nature......"a piddler!"
I have a four foot tall tomato with at least twenty buds on it.....but it has yet to set on ONE tomato......I've had salad from my yard...lettuce, dandelion, and other wild things.
Gary's corn is about six inches tall.. To say the least it is not doing well. Strange year in Idaho. I haven't been swimming yet.
I like the lakes when they are cold. Soon they will be to warm to cool me while I swim. I have broke out the old Exercycle bike. I have my cardio glyde. I've been working at them . Getting old is not for the faint heart. Being so fat is probably why I have not been in the lake....Even at sixty I'm vain..."Vanity thy name is OLD woman." I don't REALLY think that is the way that quote went. It is close enough!....
Jacob,paid us a visit with his second Daddy, last night. He tells me ."he is lucky cause he has two daddies. Most little boys only get ONE."
The child put five miles on the exercise bike. Dug a bike that belongs to Stephen or Axston. It was deep inside the shed.he really and to work for it. He rode it all over the place as fast as it's little tires would carry him.....
He also went to the park where He hung from the bars and ran over under around and through the play ground equipment while we watched it became at once, Tom Sawyers island...Treasure islands walkway...and a ship to ply the deep waters of Northi Idaho!!! He did calesthenics, he climbed the "childs mountain1"He hung from rungs and fell on his head!. He tires me out just watching him. He rode my cardioglyde machine too....He pulls the handle all the way down so it touches his forehead! In that position the back of the machine goes way up.....It's like a "do it yourself"teeter totter!......He is quite a guy, our Jacob.
I am told the elder children are going to camp this week. This means I had to go get Stephen a pair of shoes to wear to camp. He had nothing but flip flops. You know the kind we used to call thongs. His mother was going on about his shoes being left at camp on a recent camping trip with the family. I was amazed she let him go. Ace was "to grounded" to go. cause he got bad grades in school.....expletive deleted....
Camping with Grandpa and his Uncles was pretty important..I think there was much more to this than we will ever know...
At any rate his shoes, she was so upset over were found. They had holes in the soles...poor kid. I guess if you have nothing a bit of something is better than none at all. I don't understand her thoughts....but TJ was going to buy him a new pair..I bought him a couple pairs to wear now and will get him a nice pair for his birthday....in case he leaves them at church camp....Which is all together likely with this little guy. He is a normal six year old..Shoes are not a priority.
He sure liked catching crawdads with Uncle....The first thing Jacob did was pick one up wrong and it grabbed him! He was not as thrilled with Crawdad fishing as Stephen! Auntie took them rock climbing....wading and picking wild berries...they roasted wieners and marshmallows...they sang camp fire songs. There was no stress and loads of laughter....
As an aside,Stephen's other Grandmother was at the public pool in St. Maries and yelled clear across the water, at her foster daughter....Eve....what are you doing out here without your thongs..you get in that room and get your thongs on RIGHT NOW.....needless to say she garnered much attention at the public pool in St. Maries. Her daughter who is in her early teens, was not exactly thrilled! I doubt any man there was thinking of shoes.....
I remember in the fifties when those dumb things came out. They were so uncomfortable with the big chunk of rubber that came up between your big toes....They were all the rage!.....Now Thongs appear to me to be just as uncomfortable.....even if it is not your toes that is rubbed upon............
It should be time for the deep purple huckleberry to appear in our forests. Most people are not aware that the huckleberry you see is probably on a bush that is up to a hundred years old. The Native Americans used to burn off the hillside so the bush would grow less leaves and more berries...the Asians were killing off the plants by hacking the tops off the plants while they were in bloom and shipping them back to Asia to be used in flower arrangements. I hope they have made that practice illegal. I used to get mad at people who broke off the plant and took them into camp; berries and all ,to be picked in front of the camp fire.
I don't really know if either practice really hurt the plant. In light of the Native American practice of burning the bushes down every few years it probably did them little harm. Huckleberries are a natural antioxidant and are reputed to lower one's blood sugar if one is diabetic. I love the smell of the syrup and the pie cooking. I'm not to wild about the flavour.
Mom makes a wonderful huckleberry pie...The smell of them cooking will always be one of my fondest memories......Huckleberries have never been domesticated so they will grow in peoples gardens...Perhaps there are just a few things and secrets that don't belong to man......
Sarvice Berries grow abundantly in my back yard. The Native American used them in pemmican. They pounded and pounded them till they were ground fine and mixed the juice berry and all into suet from venison and other dried meats, somehow,they made patties of it. I have researched and researched them. Still I can find little or nothing about them. I am waiting for them to ripen this year. I want to run them through my juicer and make Jelly from them . I think they are probably to seedy for Jam. I've never found a recipe for them. Most people don't know what they are. I like their tart taste. I've propagated them in my yard for years and years for their early flowers, which are much like the(Idaho state flower) Syringa or the "mock orange" flower that is so abundant in Idaho. They make lovely yard flowers...I also want to make some rose hip jam..I have spread the Cherokee rose seeds all over......they have such a wonderful fragrance....they were named such, for every tear that was held so close during the "trail of tears"..we shall see how much of this I get done.......
I seem to do a lot in the day time......but it seems like so little gets done....perhaps I am just by nature......"a piddler!"
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Just another day in Paradise!
I have been on Youtube again.I adore Youtube.If nothing else you can go listen to the music of childhood..No matter when your child hood happened to be!
I also like all the instructive clips. If you want to remember how to make a certain crochet stitch. It's probably there. If you want to remember how to make something your Mother cooked. Chances are it will be there!
With the gas prices on everyone's lips. The food prices are going up..Come ON! Not EVERY egg costs a dime more every time fuel costs go up!! Anyway! It had to be said.
I broke out the "bread machine." I never had any instructions to that thing!I also broke out the old cook books.I'm nearly sixty years old. I haven't used a cook book in a lot of years! I guess it was time. I didn't know I was a "depression" cook all my life. I got lazy when all the kids grew up!So I went to the old style this week. Four bucks for a loaf of bread was more than I could stand!
I went to the outlet store where I could shop for "bargain" canned goods. My salad, is not "up"
I also like all the instructive clips. If you want to remember how to make a certain crochet stitch. It's probably there. If you want to remember how to make something your Mother cooked. Chances are it will be there!
With the gas prices on everyone's lips. The food prices are going up..Come ON! Not EVERY egg costs a dime more every time fuel costs go up!! Anyway! It had to be said.
I broke out the "bread machine." I never had any instructions to that thing!I also broke out the old cook books.I'm nearly sixty years old. I haven't used a cook book in a lot of years! I guess it was time. I didn't know I was a "depression" cook all my life. I got lazy when all the kids grew up!So I went to the old style this week. Four bucks for a loaf of bread was more than I could stand!
I went to the outlet store where I could shop for "bargain" canned goods. My salad, is not "up"
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
I lie on my back in the green meadows of childhood!
Do you remember lying in the grass in your yard or in the meadow watching the clouds go by? Idaho sky is the brightest of blue in summer. I lived on a mountain top close to the clouds. The hay smelled so sweet, the vetch and elderberries are always in bloom in my memory!
The cotton ball clouds would float by, my imagination would give them shapes. Sometimes they would be castles high in the air..sometimes trees or animals.
In those high meadows I could be anything I wanted to be. I could out run "Superman!" I could out hide "The Shadow!" Even as a girl I could out shoot "Marshal Dillon!.." I had no "yen" to be the lovely "Miss Kitty!"
She worked in a bar, even though the good marshal cared for her and she was respected through out the town, she was still a "dance Hall girl!" As such she was not "Quality!"...He might have parked his horse out front all night.....and rented a room, but Ole' Mat Never married "Miss Kitty!"
Most of the Good ole' Radio Characters were MEN! No one wanted to emulate "Lois Lane" she was to stupid to stay out of trouble and to near sighted to see who it was hiding behind that pair of glasses!....
"Our Miss Brookes," Never got a date...Who was a girl to look up to? Even "Blondie" was married to a lazy bum who wouldn't get out of bed in the morning!
All in all, it is no wonder our generation became very independent....they went from those role Models to "Rosie the Riveter" who worked to support all the men at war. Our Mothers learned that trousers were comfortable....and they could do more than the laundry! They learned to be partners with their men instead of dependant..A lot of men resented it completely! A lot of men embraced it! Unfortunately my Father was NOT one of those!
Dad was a man who believed the best way to keep a wife was"barefoot and pregnant!" When he found he had a very independent daughter who wanted to do everything the boys could do....and DID! I don't know what he thought!
Be aware I never owned a pink ribbon for my hair. I never knew what a pair of "Mary Janes" were! I only got "hand me downs" from my BROTHER; I had no sisters!!!
I probably NEVER owned more than three dresses in my child hood! My socks were always half up and half down and I always had a scab or two on my knees! I could fist fight, ride a horse, and never owned a girls bike till I was 10...I abandoned it for a motor bike as soon as I got a license at 12!
Dad taught me to run a big cat.He taught me how Operate farm equipment with the boys. Mom taught me to crochet and sew and Grandma taught me to pray!
I taught myself to read. Without books I would have been lost in the world of "Spin and Marty!" And "Howdy Doody!" There was no place for me. I was to young for "The Nelson Family!" and to prudish for Elvis!
By the time I was a teen I lived with a transistor radio in my hand! It went with me where ever I went...I was unhappy as I could be, because I couldn't hear it over the roar of my trail bike!
If you have never rode a motor bike full bore into the south end of a bumble bee who was going north! You have Never had a face big as a basketball from his sting....A fat lip that would put a Ubangi to shame! You just haven't lived!
My older brothers were 12 and 13....one had a day light only license and one could drive at night. The two of them earned and bought a flat bed truck by logging in the woods around our hills. They did their own mechanic work, cut the short logs, hand loaded them and drove them to the mill! (Can you imagine your 12 or 13 year old doing this?)
When Dad signed for the ole' lumber truck he did two things....He enabled the boys to get their logs to the mill, and he created the scourge of our hill! As mechanics they were no great shakes! The road was narrow, curvy and gravel! They were young and used both sides to keep that old truck loaded and on all fours! To be going up that road when they were coming down was to take your life into your hands! Sometimes that truck had brakes....Other times they just brought her off the mountain in low gear on compression....It had some REAL grades too! I think that was about the time Grandma started teaching me how to pray!
The cotton ball clouds would float by, my imagination would give them shapes. Sometimes they would be castles high in the air..sometimes trees or animals.
In those high meadows I could be anything I wanted to be. I could out run "Superman!" I could out hide "The Shadow!" Even as a girl I could out shoot "Marshal Dillon!.." I had no "yen" to be the lovely "Miss Kitty!"
She worked in a bar, even though the good marshal cared for her and she was respected through out the town, she was still a "dance Hall girl!" As such she was not "Quality!"...He might have parked his horse out front all night.....and rented a room, but Ole' Mat Never married "Miss Kitty!"
Most of the Good ole' Radio Characters were MEN! No one wanted to emulate "Lois Lane" she was to stupid to stay out of trouble and to near sighted to see who it was hiding behind that pair of glasses!....
"Our Miss Brookes," Never got a date...Who was a girl to look up to? Even "Blondie" was married to a lazy bum who wouldn't get out of bed in the morning!
All in all, it is no wonder our generation became very independent....they went from those role Models to "Rosie the Riveter" who worked to support all the men at war. Our Mothers learned that trousers were comfortable....and they could do more than the laundry! They learned to be partners with their men instead of dependant..A lot of men resented it completely! A lot of men embraced it! Unfortunately my Father was NOT one of those!
Dad was a man who believed the best way to keep a wife was"barefoot and pregnant!" When he found he had a very independent daughter who wanted to do everything the boys could do....and DID! I don't know what he thought!
Be aware I never owned a pink ribbon for my hair. I never knew what a pair of "Mary Janes" were! I only got "hand me downs" from my BROTHER; I had no sisters!!!
I probably NEVER owned more than three dresses in my child hood! My socks were always half up and half down and I always had a scab or two on my knees! I could fist fight, ride a horse, and never owned a girls bike till I was 10...I abandoned it for a motor bike as soon as I got a license at 12!
Dad taught me to run a big cat.He taught me how Operate farm equipment with the boys. Mom taught me to crochet and sew and Grandma taught me to pray!
I taught myself to read. Without books I would have been lost in the world of "Spin and Marty!" And "Howdy Doody!" There was no place for me. I was to young for "The Nelson Family!" and to prudish for Elvis!
By the time I was a teen I lived with a transistor radio in my hand! It went with me where ever I went...I was unhappy as I could be, because I couldn't hear it over the roar of my trail bike!
If you have never rode a motor bike full bore into the south end of a bumble bee who was going north! You have Never had a face big as a basketball from his sting....A fat lip that would put a Ubangi to shame! You just haven't lived!
My older brothers were 12 and 13....one had a day light only license and one could drive at night. The two of them earned and bought a flat bed truck by logging in the woods around our hills. They did their own mechanic work, cut the short logs, hand loaded them and drove them to the mill! (Can you imagine your 12 or 13 year old doing this?)
When Dad signed for the ole' lumber truck he did two things....He enabled the boys to get their logs to the mill, and he created the scourge of our hill! As mechanics they were no great shakes! The road was narrow, curvy and gravel! They were young and used both sides to keep that old truck loaded and on all fours! To be going up that road when they were coming down was to take your life into your hands! Sometimes that truck had brakes....Other times they just brought her off the mountain in low gear on compression....It had some REAL grades too! I think that was about the time Grandma started teaching me how to pray!
Friday, May 16, 2008
I'm getting lonely here!
You never link, you never write! I don't know if any one else is enjoying what I write or if I am writing just for me!....If I'm writing for me.....I won't worry about spell check!!!
There once was a cabin way up high in the Idaho Mountains...This cabin was surrounded by Douglas fir, spruce, and pine. "Every day living," was not as it is now. There were no computers, there was little TV. We took our baths in a wash tub in the kitchen, the water was heated on top of the wood stove in that kitchen. There was no electricity in the house.Laundry was done with a Maytag wringer washer in the front yard....
I think they all leaked, oil. This one was hooked to a motor and the agitator went round and round till it was shut off. The water that filled it was not hooked to a tap as ours is today but was filled with buckets of hot hot water.
"Blue Cheer" was the favorite laundry detergent At our house, when she bought laundry detergent instead of making her own. Most times she just shaved a half cup or so off a bar of lye soap that was also made in the yard. No one wanted the fumes from soap making in the house. Fumes from Lye soap can be quite caustic when it is made in a closed area. Back then all the fat from cooking, rendering and any other waste oil from the kitchen was saved for soap making....It was best to use before it went rancid....so soap was made about once a week if the housewife was a good steward of her home. Lye was made by pouring water through wood ashes usually from her kitchen cook stove...There by getting the ash bin cleaned the same time the waste oil from the kitchen was used up!
"Blue Cheer," when it came on the market had little gifts inside for the "discerning" home maker. There might be a pretty glass, a cup, saucer, or a dish towel stashed deep in the recesses of the box of soap. It was like the prize in the bottom of Cracker Jacks....for home makers.
In that era when gas was about 30 cents a gallon and every service station vied for your business, they too, gave away glasses, cups, saucers etc. They also washed your windows, checked your oil, and made sure your tires were properly inflated all while pumping your gas for you! In Oregon it was still not legal for a car owner to pump their own gas, last time I visited there. I have to admit that has been several years ago. It was charming and very nice to have someone else do the pumping! I liked it! Though I am not sure I would LET someone else check my oil, or the liquid in my battery! I'm not a trusting soul! I like to see for myself just what is keeping my old car on the road! I know what it is......IT is my GARY!...
Because it was not every house that had TV reception, or even batteries for the radio; all the time ,it was a wise child who learned to read aloud at an early age. It was hard to churn butter, or knead bread while turning the pages of a book. The reader in the family kept the others entertained and was every bit as important as the kid who dried the dishes,or helped change cloth diapers on the little one. It was possible to hold a baby while reading aloud if you sat at the table to do so. That was an important job also and freed Moms from being the only parent ! It was however impossible to change a dirty diaper while reading the big print in "Grit Magazine!".....Who ever was reading was spared that duty...It was never the "reader"who changed those nasty cloth diapers and washed them out in the bucket! The younger a child learned to read the less important they were in the scheme of running a clean and well organized House hold! I learned to read at about 4. I can't say I read big books. I read what ever I could to keep out from under foot. It also kept me from being the one who was wielding the dish cloth or pealing potato for diner. I was no prodigy, I was lazy! I liked to read. I didn't like to peal potato or do dishes!
The chore I was best suited for was dusting. I could get all the low places near the floor that were hard for Aunts, Mothers, and Grandmothers to get to. I could also see the dust. I was short enough to be level with most of it!
The boys in our home kept the wood cut in summer, and chopped in winter. They kept wood for Grandparents, Aunts, and Mom! We thought we were pretty special cause Mom had a part of the boys bunk house to hang cloths to dry. That meant they had to cut, chop, and fetch wood for the stove in that building also. It wasn't a big building but if they wanted to have clean dry laundry the fire had to be stoked when ever she was washing. In winter it had to be stoked all night long to keep them warm, it was not big, it was not insulated either!
The cows had to be milked summer and winter! The milk buckets had to be kept clean as did the jars. Mom, liked to sit ours in a big pot of boiling water so the gallon pickle jars she stored milk in were sterile. The milk kept better that way. In winter she kept it in a big cupboard outside. I think it was double walled, between the walls was filled with saw dust so the milk was cold but not frozen, in summer it was kept in an old fashioned ice box. We never lacked for milk and Mom sold the extra for more "Blue Cheer!".....
We also grew a garden in our back yard. This was not so hard to keep up with. We all had our own rows that we best keep clear of weeds and make sure it was watered. I liked onions cause they were easy to tell apart from the weeds! We would have had a much easier time with our garden if we didn't live in an "open herd" area.
A lot of the farmers didn't keep their cattle fenced. We were expected to keep our garden fenced to keep the cattle out!
One of the neighbors had a bull, I can still remember that mean old bull looking in the window at us. He seemed to be waiting for us to walk the mile or so to the bus. We couldn't walk the short way, Grandpa's still was on that route. We had to walk the "Hill" road.....Grandpa assured us the swamp was full of cotton Mouth snakes and there might have been a gator or two in that swamp, also. Then there were the "dart" snakes!....
The only thing to impede our progress on the "hill road" was the occasional bear, cougar, coyote, herds of Deer, elk and the occasional bull come over the hill from Hidden Valley! That was one big bull too. The neighbor bought it to improve his heard and paid some unreasonable price for it. I think it was all of three thousand dollars of one stupid bull that liked to chase small children! He was a Hereford bull! He was big, He was brutish, and belying his size he was quick on his feet! All autumn that year he chased us down the drive and down the hill . We went at a dead run past our Uncles house, past our Grand parents house, Past some cousins home and another cousins to the bus stop! We weren't even safe there unless the cousins who lived closest to the bus stop came out with a kettle and pounded it with a big spoon to keep the bull at bay!
We had no phone, so Dad would catch that bull up and drag it over to the next valley to it's owner. That man's cattle spent most of the year either eating our garden or scaring us kids out of at least one years growth! Dad got tired of catching it UP, and hauling it over the hill. Dad was not known for his patience. One night we saw him catch that old mean bull. Dad was even scared of him. It made about the third time that week we cowboy'd that bull over the hill and onto his own range. Dad was cursin' a blue streak! I saw him go out with the weapon. I thought for sure there was going to be a range war. We heard the echo down threw the draw when the bull bawled long and loud!....
Dad came back in, to put away his weapon! The bull was still standing up. He was still tied to the army surplus 4x4, we used to get around. He was walking kind of funny. That was the last time we saw him......The neighbor said there was something dire happened to him....cause when he got home from his last run he was no longer a bull.....there wasn't much call for expensive steers on our hill....He was a big one.....I bet he made a lot of ground meat.....he was to tough and stringy for anything but hamburger!
There once was a cabin way up high in the Idaho Mountains...This cabin was surrounded by Douglas fir, spruce, and pine. "Every day living," was not as it is now. There were no computers, there was little TV. We took our baths in a wash tub in the kitchen, the water was heated on top of the wood stove in that kitchen. There was no electricity in the house.Laundry was done with a Maytag wringer washer in the front yard....
I think they all leaked, oil. This one was hooked to a motor and the agitator went round and round till it was shut off. The water that filled it was not hooked to a tap as ours is today but was filled with buckets of hot hot water.
"Blue Cheer" was the favorite laundry detergent At our house, when she bought laundry detergent instead of making her own. Most times she just shaved a half cup or so off a bar of lye soap that was also made in the yard. No one wanted the fumes from soap making in the house. Fumes from Lye soap can be quite caustic when it is made in a closed area. Back then all the fat from cooking, rendering and any other waste oil from the kitchen was saved for soap making....It was best to use before it went rancid....so soap was made about once a week if the housewife was a good steward of her home. Lye was made by pouring water through wood ashes usually from her kitchen cook stove...There by getting the ash bin cleaned the same time the waste oil from the kitchen was used up!
"Blue Cheer," when it came on the market had little gifts inside for the "discerning" home maker. There might be a pretty glass, a cup, saucer, or a dish towel stashed deep in the recesses of the box of soap. It was like the prize in the bottom of Cracker Jacks....for home makers.
In that era when gas was about 30 cents a gallon and every service station vied for your business, they too, gave away glasses, cups, saucers etc. They also washed your windows, checked your oil, and made sure your tires were properly inflated all while pumping your gas for you! In Oregon it was still not legal for a car owner to pump their own gas, last time I visited there. I have to admit that has been several years ago. It was charming and very nice to have someone else do the pumping! I liked it! Though I am not sure I would LET someone else check my oil, or the liquid in my battery! I'm not a trusting soul! I like to see for myself just what is keeping my old car on the road! I know what it is......IT is my GARY!...
Because it was not every house that had TV reception, or even batteries for the radio; all the time ,it was a wise child who learned to read aloud at an early age. It was hard to churn butter, or knead bread while turning the pages of a book. The reader in the family kept the others entertained and was every bit as important as the kid who dried the dishes,or helped change cloth diapers on the little one. It was possible to hold a baby while reading aloud if you sat at the table to do so. That was an important job also and freed Moms from being the only parent ! It was however impossible to change a dirty diaper while reading the big print in "Grit Magazine!".....Who ever was reading was spared that duty...It was never the "reader"who changed those nasty cloth diapers and washed them out in the bucket! The younger a child learned to read the less important they were in the scheme of running a clean and well organized House hold! I learned to read at about 4. I can't say I read big books. I read what ever I could to keep out from under foot. It also kept me from being the one who was wielding the dish cloth or pealing potato for diner. I was no prodigy, I was lazy! I liked to read. I didn't like to peal potato or do dishes!
The chore I was best suited for was dusting. I could get all the low places near the floor that were hard for Aunts, Mothers, and Grandmothers to get to. I could also see the dust. I was short enough to be level with most of it!
The boys in our home kept the wood cut in summer, and chopped in winter. They kept wood for Grandparents, Aunts, and Mom! We thought we were pretty special cause Mom had a part of the boys bunk house to hang cloths to dry. That meant they had to cut, chop, and fetch wood for the stove in that building also. It wasn't a big building but if they wanted to have clean dry laundry the fire had to be stoked when ever she was washing. In winter it had to be stoked all night long to keep them warm, it was not big, it was not insulated either!
The cows had to be milked summer and winter! The milk buckets had to be kept clean as did the jars. Mom, liked to sit ours in a big pot of boiling water so the gallon pickle jars she stored milk in were sterile. The milk kept better that way. In winter she kept it in a big cupboard outside. I think it was double walled, between the walls was filled with saw dust so the milk was cold but not frozen, in summer it was kept in an old fashioned ice box. We never lacked for milk and Mom sold the extra for more "Blue Cheer!".....
We also grew a garden in our back yard. This was not so hard to keep up with. We all had our own rows that we best keep clear of weeds and make sure it was watered. I liked onions cause they were easy to tell apart from the weeds! We would have had a much easier time with our garden if we didn't live in an "open herd" area.
A lot of the farmers didn't keep their cattle fenced. We were expected to keep our garden fenced to keep the cattle out!
One of the neighbors had a bull, I can still remember that mean old bull looking in the window at us. He seemed to be waiting for us to walk the mile or so to the bus. We couldn't walk the short way, Grandpa's still was on that route. We had to walk the "Hill" road.....Grandpa assured us the swamp was full of cotton Mouth snakes and there might have been a gator or two in that swamp, also. Then there were the "dart" snakes!....
The only thing to impede our progress on the "hill road" was the occasional bear, cougar, coyote, herds of Deer, elk and the occasional bull come over the hill from Hidden Valley! That was one big bull too. The neighbor bought it to improve his heard and paid some unreasonable price for it. I think it was all of three thousand dollars of one stupid bull that liked to chase small children! He was a Hereford bull! He was big, He was brutish, and belying his size he was quick on his feet! All autumn that year he chased us down the drive and down the hill . We went at a dead run past our Uncles house, past our Grand parents house, Past some cousins home and another cousins to the bus stop! We weren't even safe there unless the cousins who lived closest to the bus stop came out with a kettle and pounded it with a big spoon to keep the bull at bay!
We had no phone, so Dad would catch that bull up and drag it over to the next valley to it's owner. That man's cattle spent most of the year either eating our garden or scaring us kids out of at least one years growth! Dad got tired of catching it UP, and hauling it over the hill. Dad was not known for his patience. One night we saw him catch that old mean bull. Dad was even scared of him. It made about the third time that week we cowboy'd that bull over the hill and onto his own range. Dad was cursin' a blue streak! I saw him go out with the weapon. I thought for sure there was going to be a range war. We heard the echo down threw the draw when the bull bawled long and loud!....
Dad came back in, to put away his weapon! The bull was still standing up. He was still tied to the army surplus 4x4, we used to get around. He was walking kind of funny. That was the last time we saw him......The neighbor said there was something dire happened to him....cause when he got home from his last run he was no longer a bull.....there wasn't much call for expensive steers on our hill....He was a big one.....I bet he made a lot of ground meat.....he was to tough and stringy for anything but hamburger!
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Family memories
pictured is a one room school that still stands in Southern Idaho....a little town named Squirrrel...it is a good example of how they looked.....though this one is on the prairie.....and the "little house" is gone!...Ours was in the high mountains, I'm pushin' 60 and I barely remember it!Monday, May 12, 2008
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Walking with Bear!
We had a couple houses above us on the hill that contained our cabin! One Home was another log home built by another Uncle, but leased to a family of MANY children. I don't even know which children were his and which were hers. Some were the Children of a Daughter who started having children way to young then mass produced them!!!! I was allowed to enjoy the novelty of playing with children who were not related to me. To do this I had to walk the obligatory quarter to half mile up a steep hill....
This is actually a Mountain in Idaho. There was very little of what we think of as flat ground! It was all UP or Down! There was no amble over the flats for us! We were a thousand feet from the prairie floor in the forest! From the top of our mountain we could see from Coeur d' Alene to Spokane on a clear night.....All Nine farm houses stood out clear on the prairie floor!...Where there is now a city of houses.....That is another story! For another Day....
This is remembered as a beautiful spring day! I recall the spring flowers blooming in wild profusion on our hillside....I remember the red clay mud on the roadside. Red Clay that caused the road to be slick as winter's ice when ever it rained! This is the kind of red clay that was prized for brick works and built many homes in North Idaho. There was a brick works in our hills. The Catholic church in one town was built of the red clay from our hill!
The squirrels chattered their warning as I walked along paying no heed to the dust motes kicked up by my worn out school shoes. The breezes blew through the trees. I was brought to a standing stop watching a Doe and he fawn cross the road in front of me! I could smell the pine pitch in the trees, the flowers everything smelled like spring! There was very little novelty in seeing wild game on our hill. It was nothing new to see a doe and fawn race across the road. I stopped to watch their progress up the game trail running toward our orchard high in a mountain meadow! They seemed more hurried than usual. I attributed it to way the wind was blowing and perhaps their catching my scent on the breeze.
Spring is a time of awakening in Idaho's hills. Every flower that has waited for springs warmth to waken it from winters slumber added it's perfume and it's pollen to the thin air of our mountain.Winds spoke to me, each small animal left it's signature track in the deep dust of the roadway! There was much to study and hold my attention written in the dust along the road. Some of the animals who left their track were not so small. I espied bear, deer, elk ,porcupine,cougar, Bob cat and skunk tracks in the same dust where I left my track as I walked along!
I knew from the size of the track the approximate size of each animal.There were black bears just awakening from their winter slumbers to find they were mothers! When they waken these aggressive animals are very protective of their young! They don't care for humans on foot any time! We are at the top of the food chain in many ways in the Idaho Mountains.
The Mother bear mostly craves privacy and safety to raise her babies. Our forest was the perfect cover for her! We were taught early NOT to leave any garbage outside to draw the bears to our house. The many children of the leased house were city kids! They had no idea that a hot dog could feed more than a small child in the middle of the night! They had wiener roasts and left the buns and food lying around till morning!
This was one of the things that was strictly forbidden at our house! One never left food out to draw the bears and small animals close to the house!
We had a Mama squirrel who lived in our attic with her babies...she would run down the logs to tease the cats. She could be so quiet that she could sneak past the ever vigilant cats to get pine nuts and other foods for she and her babies in broad daylight! She drove our cats wild! I watched her by the hour. This was about the limit of wild things Dad liked in the yard. The squirrels, chip monks and Mom's wild cat ;she hand fed occasionally were on the edge of our world and his patience! The rest were considered food! He was raised in those hills and knew how to feed his family without the local grocery! Cougars were Not welcome! Mom's Lynx was tolerated because they were rarely seen and he rather liked it. It was big enough to keep the larger pests like raccoons, skunk,and Porcupine away from the house and barns!
We actually lived off Mom's big garden,the orchard, wild craft berries, home raised meats and wild game from our fields and meadows. There were some rules Dad lived by....one of which was, you never took a game animal with young to small to survive without it's Mama.
You did not feed the animals to chum animals to you. That was not fair game! If an animal became a danger to your family or your farm beasts it was on it's way OUT....We had many cougars on our mountain! In most cases cougars and bears did not come around our house much.They were wise enough to stay away from the farm steads!
This was an "open herd" area and they had ample choice of farm animals that were not kept up by farmers who cared nothing about other peoples Gardens! I think in Dad's mind some of these cattle WERE fair game! I know the cougar and bear took them often and violently!
Once it got to the table, I was to young to tell what was beef and what was NOT! I also know that Dad rarely butchered his own beef or hogs! Our table was always laden with a variety of foods. We grew potato, and other vegetables,we picked wild mushroom, grape and elderberries. We flourished in our cabin in the hills.
As I walked I could hear the songs of wild birds....the wind whistle through the leaves and trees of our hill and the trains whistle from many many miles away. A trick of sound waves made it sound as though it was coming down the track near by. From the top of our hill it made a mournful whistle, a ghost train way below us.
This is actually a Mountain in Idaho. There was very little of what we think of as flat ground! It was all UP or Down! There was no amble over the flats for us! We were a thousand feet from the prairie floor in the forest! From the top of our mountain we could see from Coeur d' Alene to Spokane on a clear night.....All Nine farm houses stood out clear on the prairie floor!...Where there is now a city of houses.....That is another story! For another Day....
This is remembered as a beautiful spring day! I recall the spring flowers blooming in wild profusion on our hillside....I remember the red clay mud on the roadside. Red Clay that caused the road to be slick as winter's ice when ever it rained! This is the kind of red clay that was prized for brick works and built many homes in North Idaho. There was a brick works in our hills. The Catholic church in one town was built of the red clay from our hill!
The squirrels chattered their warning as I walked along paying no heed to the dust motes kicked up by my worn out school shoes. The breezes blew through the trees. I was brought to a standing stop watching a Doe and he fawn cross the road in front of me! I could smell the pine pitch in the trees, the flowers everything smelled like spring! There was very little novelty in seeing wild game on our hill. It was nothing new to see a doe and fawn race across the road. I stopped to watch their progress up the game trail running toward our orchard high in a mountain meadow! They seemed more hurried than usual. I attributed it to way the wind was blowing and perhaps their catching my scent on the breeze.
Spring is a time of awakening in Idaho's hills. Every flower that has waited for springs warmth to waken it from winters slumber added it's perfume and it's pollen to the thin air of our mountain.Winds spoke to me, each small animal left it's signature track in the deep dust of the roadway! There was much to study and hold my attention written in the dust along the road. Some of the animals who left their track were not so small. I espied bear, deer, elk ,porcupine,cougar, Bob cat and skunk tracks in the same dust where I left my track as I walked along!
I knew from the size of the track the approximate size of each animal.There were black bears just awakening from their winter slumbers to find they were mothers! When they waken these aggressive animals are very protective of their young! They don't care for humans on foot any time! We are at the top of the food chain in many ways in the Idaho Mountains.
The Mother bear mostly craves privacy and safety to raise her babies. Our forest was the perfect cover for her! We were taught early NOT to leave any garbage outside to draw the bears to our house. The many children of the leased house were city kids! They had no idea that a hot dog could feed more than a small child in the middle of the night! They had wiener roasts and left the buns and food lying around till morning!
This was one of the things that was strictly forbidden at our house! One never left food out to draw the bears and small animals close to the house!
We had a Mama squirrel who lived in our attic with her babies...she would run down the logs to tease the cats. She could be so quiet that she could sneak past the ever vigilant cats to get pine nuts and other foods for she and her babies in broad daylight! She drove our cats wild! I watched her by the hour. This was about the limit of wild things Dad liked in the yard. The squirrels, chip monks and Mom's wild cat ;she hand fed occasionally were on the edge of our world and his patience! The rest were considered food! He was raised in those hills and knew how to feed his family without the local grocery! Cougars were Not welcome! Mom's Lynx was tolerated because they were rarely seen and he rather liked it. It was big enough to keep the larger pests like raccoons, skunk,and Porcupine away from the house and barns!
We actually lived off Mom's big garden,the orchard, wild craft berries, home raised meats and wild game from our fields and meadows. There were some rules Dad lived by....one of which was, you never took a game animal with young to small to survive without it's Mama.
You did not feed the animals to chum animals to you. That was not fair game! If an animal became a danger to your family or your farm beasts it was on it's way OUT....We had many cougars on our mountain! In most cases cougars and bears did not come around our house much.They were wise enough to stay away from the farm steads!
This was an "open herd" area and they had ample choice of farm animals that were not kept up by farmers who cared nothing about other peoples Gardens! I think in Dad's mind some of these cattle WERE fair game! I know the cougar and bear took them often and violently!
Once it got to the table, I was to young to tell what was beef and what was NOT! I also know that Dad rarely butchered his own beef or hogs! Our table was always laden with a variety of foods. We grew potato, and other vegetables,we picked wild mushroom, grape and elderberries. We flourished in our cabin in the hills.
As I walked I could hear the songs of wild birds....the wind whistle through the leaves and trees of our hill and the trains whistle from many many miles away. A trick of sound waves made it sound as though it was coming down the track near by. From the top of our hill it made a mournful whistle, a ghost train way below us.
We were taught never to run from a wild animal. If we came face to face with something wild and fierce we were instructed to freeze in our tracks and just stand very very still! No Problem. My legs wouldn't work any way!
I could hear something coming out of the wood in front of me. The doe and fawn made nearly the same noise when they ran through the old burn and brush that was our home. What ever this was; seemed to be good sized cause it was no respecter of real estate or forest floor! I knew better than to take to my heals and try to out run it before it got to the road! I stood with the farm house behind and below me. I thought perhaps it was another doe, we had many deer on our mountain. We also had a lot of cattle. One bull in particular was to be avoided..
I stood stark still to wait for what ever it was to arrive....I knew it was very very close! I knew I was afraid. Just as Mama bear and her baby stepped onto the road,at her full and menacing height it dawned on me that something chased that doe and fawn from the forest! NOW I KNEW what it was. I also knew it was a meat eater. I was young and tender!!! That didn't leave a lot of choices. It was a bear. She looked very big and very frightening to a small girl in pig tails. Her baby was cute. He was also cause for her to be more protective than normally she would be. We were schooled to NEVER EVER get between a Mama and her cub! I stood stark still and stared at her. She stood stark still within full reach of me. A tasty morsel of a child. She sniffed me up and down. This process brought her much closer than I was comfortable with! I only moved to shiver in my tracks!
When she was done sniffing me, she knew she had me thoroughly frightened. She shoved her baby ahead of her. I wanted to keep walking toward the neighbors. She let me know with a look and a growl I was to walk in the same direction she was taking. If I was going home alive I was going to join her on HER walk in HER direction! I KNEW who was BOSS! I turned around to retrace my steps toward our cabin in the woods! She carefully kept her cub on one side and me on the other. I did my best to lag behind her. She didn't care for that......When I got to far behind she turned and growled! I KNEW what she was telling me! "Keep up kid, or I'll eat you HERE!"
We walked a long way like that. Her cub was in the lead, she was in the middle and I inched along behind! I inched till she let me know With a growl which gave me a look at her big teeth,it was in my best interest to "KEEP UP!"
I had a problem, our house was down in a draw below us. There are trails, many trails from this road to our house below! Finally with a look of utter disdain she crossed in front of me and ambled onto the hill with her baby toward the meadow, orchard and the doe in the high hills above our home! I had been dismissed!!! I stood still to watch her disappear into the brush. THEN: I took the trail home. I needed a bath and a change of clothes! My brothers would Never let me live it down cause I wet my pants like that!...
In order to clear my "good name" I had to talk them into walking onto the upper road and examining the tracks we three made in the powdered dust that was the road to our friends home!
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Sunday afternoon!
Sunday! Baby sitting day....
He has grown and changed a lot, and even has a hair cut!...A "Daddy special" hair cut! Mama's haircut was a failure! So Daddy stepped in..
The little red head pictured here is quickly becoming a blond! It is growing in GOLD, instead of the Wheat Blond that was his Daddy's and his Aunt's signature! I haven't seen TJ hair in years! I have no idea what color it is! Aunt Jen is a red head like her Mama!
I love my son. One of the things I love about him is his total masculinity. One of the things I don't love is the way he shaves his own head! If he had gotten just a little closer I would have had a bald grandson!
Son shaves his head cause he always hated the curls.(No he is NOT a skin head! I don't think he is even KIN to any skin heads!) The girls just loved to run their fingers through his hair! He was soo pretty! So are the grandson's!
This Grandson passed his "half birthday" the other day! He is growing crawling and getting "Older" soon he will be a toddler! Then he will make us all PAY for the way we have spoiled him!!!!
Speaking of hair cuts, Gary is torturing that little dog of ours again!
Dog hates(!) a hair cut! He don't mind it, if a pretty lady is giving him his haircut. He has let it be known he don't think it is Gary's job! He don't like it and is fighting mad every time it is done to him it is an insult. It is an invasion of his little person! He wants it stopped! It don't seem to impede Gary's progress Much!
The dog don't bite groomers! He seems to know they are doing something for him! It's FRIENDs he bites! Daughter's in law are another taste subject for is poodle pallette!
Gary is having a bad day! He is so tired and looks like he is in pain! I have a "hair brained" scheme to fill a few of the old tires around here with Worm castings. I want to plant them full of lettuce, chard, salad greens etc! I'll probably get a fight from the city over my choice of pots!
I ask Gary if he had a few, He was ready to get up and go get them NOW! Silly Man! I don't need them at the moment! He don't need to do anything right now but rest and get over what ever is paining him! I would like him to come with me when I go to baby sit...for purely selfish reasons! He worries me when he admits He don't feel well! I can always tell! He won't always admit to IT! I have to play "Sherlock Holmes!" to know what is paining him! Usually I can ferret it out! He is a good man! He is NOT much of an actor!
Big Brother Got 77 dollars for that batch of aluminum cans! He is still collecting so I don't know if any one has won the bet or not! He is having fun and getting loads of exercise. He walked out six miles collecting cans a few days ago! Of course he lost track of how far he'd traveled. Walked back the other side of the road picking cans as he went! All six miles to his pick UP. He gathers and bags, leaving the bags sit when full so he can pick them up later. He only realized he'd walked 12 miles round trip when he wen to pick them up in the truck! Of course he couldn't walk at all the next day!!! I would think they probably should make that bet for a full dinner! They are sure working hard to win! It's a competitive (and dirty) world out there!
We were watching tv a few minutes ago. I just noted the sentence structure on some cell phone commercial. The tag line is "You will be the girl with the crazy father who can not get a date-----Because she didn't buy a certain cell phone plan!
Now REALLY! My english is not all that wonderful. I tend to use lots of red kneck slang! I also end sentences in prepositions! But! This guy is ugly. Even if he wasn't crazy, he probably couldn't get a date to the prom! Don't these people even listen to their own commercials! Awww America! Home of "CONUMERS gone wild!"
He has grown and changed a lot, and even has a hair cut!...A "Daddy special" hair cut! Mama's haircut was a failure! So Daddy stepped in..
The little red head pictured here is quickly becoming a blond! It is growing in GOLD, instead of the Wheat Blond that was his Daddy's and his Aunt's signature! I haven't seen TJ hair in years! I have no idea what color it is! Aunt Jen is a red head like her Mama!
I love my son. One of the things I love about him is his total masculinity. One of the things I don't love is the way he shaves his own head! If he had gotten just a little closer I would have had a bald grandson!
Son shaves his head cause he always hated the curls.(No he is NOT a skin head! I don't think he is even KIN to any skin heads!) The girls just loved to run their fingers through his hair! He was soo pretty! So are the grandson's!
This Grandson passed his "half birthday" the other day! He is growing crawling and getting "Older" soon he will be a toddler! Then he will make us all PAY for the way we have spoiled him!!!!
Speaking of hair cuts, Gary is torturing that little dog of ours again!
Dog hates(!) a hair cut! He don't mind it, if a pretty lady is giving him his haircut. He has let it be known he don't think it is Gary's job! He don't like it and is fighting mad every time it is done to him it is an insult. It is an invasion of his little person! He wants it stopped! It don't seem to impede Gary's progress Much!
The dog don't bite groomers! He seems to know they are doing something for him! It's FRIENDs he bites! Daughter's in law are another taste subject for is poodle pallette!
Gary is having a bad day! He is so tired and looks like he is in pain! I have a "hair brained" scheme to fill a few of the old tires around here with Worm castings. I want to plant them full of lettuce, chard, salad greens etc! I'll probably get a fight from the city over my choice of pots!
I ask Gary if he had a few, He was ready to get up and go get them NOW! Silly Man! I don't need them at the moment! He don't need to do anything right now but rest and get over what ever is paining him! I would like him to come with me when I go to baby sit...for purely selfish reasons! He worries me when he admits He don't feel well! I can always tell! He won't always admit to IT! I have to play "Sherlock Holmes!" to know what is paining him! Usually I can ferret it out! He is a good man! He is NOT much of an actor!
Big Brother Got 77 dollars for that batch of aluminum cans! He is still collecting so I don't know if any one has won the bet or not! He is having fun and getting loads of exercise. He walked out six miles collecting cans a few days ago! Of course he lost track of how far he'd traveled. Walked back the other side of the road picking cans as he went! All six miles to his pick UP. He gathers and bags, leaving the bags sit when full so he can pick them up later. He only realized he'd walked 12 miles round trip when he wen to pick them up in the truck! Of course he couldn't walk at all the next day!!! I would think they probably should make that bet for a full dinner! They are sure working hard to win! It's a competitive (and dirty) world out there!
We were watching tv a few minutes ago. I just noted the sentence structure on some cell phone commercial. The tag line is "You will be the girl with the crazy father who can not get a date-----Because she didn't buy a certain cell phone plan!
Now REALLY! My english is not all that wonderful. I tend to use lots of red kneck slang! I also end sentences in prepositions! But! This guy is ugly. Even if he wasn't crazy, he probably couldn't get a date to the prom! Don't these people even listen to their own commercials! Awww America! Home of "CONUMERS gone wild!"
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Cabin in the Woods
I have been off of here playing like it is really spring here in Idaho!.....
They are still skiing in the mountains.....and I still have some old snow
in my yard.....YES! YET!......but not much....I got out and cleaned the dogie fertilizer from my front yard this morning....He has done an admirable job of making sure there are
a few green spots out there! I give him Brown, Ahhhhhh! points!
My kitty has been out begging for some loves while I was raking this morning.....
Some his "points" had to be removed.....BEFORE the health department came by!
And Before my grandson tracked them through this house.....and into his!
Mama is a beautiful ,patient woman and has raised a lovely young MAN! There are some
boundaries! One of them in is a limit to the amount of Dog "tracks" he can WEAR
home! I'm on her side!
The wearing of the dung, gives son's Car a kind of "high" odor! I think he is
a bit narrow minded about that car to begin with! He and I are both a bit color
blind! He admits he is! I try to hide MINE! I say his car color is PEARL. Some car
sales man says it is Titanium! To me that is like saying it is "White." What is titanium?
WHITE! That is what it is! What is PEARL! Same shade of WHITE!
So, I got about half of my FRONT yard raked....sometimes I wish I didn't own
so much property and had MORE HOUSE....Someone once said that THINGS
expand with your ability to put them away! That is wrong! I no longer have
a place to put things away! Things keep expanding! Even I keep expanding,
but that is another different story! I have a house rule. NO MORE stuff can come
in her unless something like it GOES OUT! That's my story, and it sounds like
a good one! In theory it is good! Practice, however is another story,too!
My formative years were spent in a cabin in the woods! A for real LOG
house. It was built at a for REAL house raising. The logs were taken from the
forest around the house! The mud that was used to mix with the concrete to
"chink" the walls was harvested from the Creek. (Pronounced Crick,if you please!)
The Creek that ran past the back window. The Creek where we played as children.
The creek from whence the frogs serenade was heard all my child hood! Dad and
his Brothers, various cousins and relatives put that house there!
It didn't have indoor plumbing, or electricity! But, it was there!
Mother Nature did her best to burn us out the first few weeks the place stood!
A fire came over the hill, after a lightening storm. If it weren't for the heroic efforts
of a few men in our lives that place would have been history before the "little house"
had it's own door! They stood on the roof of the big house with hoses and kept it
watered down while the fire raged around it!
We had all manner of wild plants growing on our land. Mom was never one
to waste sitting on her Laurels. Since my Name is Laurel. I must add that I
didn't care to be sat upon any way! Mom, planted a huge garden in back. She
Also planted cherry trees and apples. She canned, she kept chickens, someone
gave us "pet" ducks.
She could never get Dad to cover the spring. Do you know what mountain
spring fresh water tastes like after a few ducks have been swimming in it?
She tried to convince us we were eating Roast chicken! He did finally
comer the spring!
We kept cows,horses and a huge alfalfa field in front! I had a big old Tom
cat. Someone gave us a couple kittens. Dad was sure the Tom cat would
"get" those kittens! I can still remember him coming through the alfalfa field
yowling while he carried up a fresh ground squirrel to feed his new "babies!"
The bread delivery truck ran over one of those kittens. I wouldn't speak to
him again no matter HOW many maple bars he gave me! I was "plumb" mad
at him! His name was Don!
Years later I ran into a young man who was working as a security guard!
He looked Just like that delivery man! I couldn't resist asking him if he knew
a fella' named Don. He said, "Yeh! Me!" It was his son! I wasn't mad at him!
That Cherry tree got me into a lot of trouble! I love Cherries! Since it was all
cousins in that neighborhood. Some of the mothers were kind of, shall we say
for the sake of good manners, "lax" in the child rearing department! At least by
my obsessive Father's standards. There were a load of those kids! One who I shall
call Lon; drove a nail into the trunk of "my" Cherry tree! It killed the main tree!
I can't tell you how this distressed me! I was looking forward to a crop of spring
cherries! It was just getting big enough to bare fruit and along came Lon. Mean
Little Lon, Disliked Lon! Along came Lon with his little bitty hammer and nails!
He killed my cherry tree.
I can't say I was a nice little kid. I was an only girl among many boys. I think there
were only four or five girls in that whole generation! I was probably the most "Tom
Boy!" of all. Anything Boys could do I could do as well or Better! That included Scheme!
I waited till Lon came to our house with a toy car! A prized possession for
any of us at the time! We didn't get a lot of toys! Somehow I somehow managed
to drop his toy car into that Hole in the "little house!" YOU KNOW which
"little house" The one on the hill a ways from the house! The one with the
traditional half moon on the door! I don't think that would have got me the
whupping'! Not that alone.....I think the Whupping' was cause he FELL IN
Somehow! To this day he swears I pushed him! I don't remember that! I sure
remember the whupping!!!
By the way, to this day, I don't think he smells a heck of a lot better! He
was never a Rose!!!
The house is still standing. It is still lived in! The "little house" is gone!
That is just as well, cause to my way of thinking it always smelled just
like Lon!
By the way! The cherry tree came up from the roots! It is baring cherries
today! I never got to eat a ONE!
They are still skiing in the mountains.....and I still have some old snow
in my yard.....YES! YET!......but not much....I got out and cleaned the dogie fertilizer from my front yard this morning....He has done an admirable job of making sure there are
a few green spots out there! I give him Brown, Ahhhhhh! points!
My kitty has been out begging for some loves while I was raking this morning.....
Some his "points" had to be removed.....BEFORE the health department came by!
And Before my grandson tracked them through this house.....and into his!
Mama is a beautiful ,patient woman and has raised a lovely young MAN! There are some
boundaries! One of them in is a limit to the amount of Dog "tracks" he can WEAR
home! I'm on her side!
The wearing of the dung, gives son's Car a kind of "high" odor! I think he is
a bit narrow minded about that car to begin with! He and I are both a bit color
blind! He admits he is! I try to hide MINE! I say his car color is PEARL. Some car
sales man says it is Titanium! To me that is like saying it is "White." What is titanium?
WHITE! That is what it is! What is PEARL! Same shade of WHITE!
So, I got about half of my FRONT yard raked....sometimes I wish I didn't own
so much property and had MORE HOUSE....Someone once said that THINGS
expand with your ability to put them away! That is wrong! I no longer have
a place to put things away! Things keep expanding! Even I keep expanding,
but that is another different story! I have a house rule. NO MORE stuff can come
in her unless something like it GOES OUT! That's my story, and it sounds like
a good one! In theory it is good! Practice, however is another story,too!
My formative years were spent in a cabin in the woods! A for real LOG
house. It was built at a for REAL house raising. The logs were taken from the
forest around the house! The mud that was used to mix with the concrete to
"chink" the walls was harvested from the Creek. (Pronounced Crick,if you please!)
The Creek that ran past the back window. The Creek where we played as children.
The creek from whence the frogs serenade was heard all my child hood! Dad and
his Brothers, various cousins and relatives put that house there!
It didn't have indoor plumbing, or electricity! But, it was there!
Mother Nature did her best to burn us out the first few weeks the place stood!
A fire came over the hill, after a lightening storm. If it weren't for the heroic efforts
of a few men in our lives that place would have been history before the "little house"
had it's own door! They stood on the roof of the big house with hoses and kept it
watered down while the fire raged around it!
We had all manner of wild plants growing on our land. Mom was never one
to waste sitting on her Laurels. Since my Name is Laurel. I must add that I
didn't care to be sat upon any way! Mom, planted a huge garden in back. She
Also planted cherry trees and apples. She canned, she kept chickens, someone
gave us "pet" ducks.
She could never get Dad to cover the spring. Do you know what mountain
spring fresh water tastes like after a few ducks have been swimming in it?
She tried to convince us we were eating Roast chicken! He did finally
comer the spring!
We kept cows,horses and a huge alfalfa field in front! I had a big old Tom
cat. Someone gave us a couple kittens. Dad was sure the Tom cat would
"get" those kittens! I can still remember him coming through the alfalfa field
yowling while he carried up a fresh ground squirrel to feed his new "babies!"
The bread delivery truck ran over one of those kittens. I wouldn't speak to
him again no matter HOW many maple bars he gave me! I was "plumb" mad
at him! His name was Don!
Years later I ran into a young man who was working as a security guard!
He looked Just like that delivery man! I couldn't resist asking him if he knew
a fella' named Don. He said, "Yeh! Me!" It was his son! I wasn't mad at him!
That Cherry tree got me into a lot of trouble! I love Cherries! Since it was all
cousins in that neighborhood. Some of the mothers were kind of, shall we say
for the sake of good manners, "lax" in the child rearing department! At least by
my obsessive Father's standards. There were a load of those kids! One who I shall
call Lon; drove a nail into the trunk of "my" Cherry tree! It killed the main tree!
I can't tell you how this distressed me! I was looking forward to a crop of spring
cherries! It was just getting big enough to bare fruit and along came Lon. Mean
Little Lon, Disliked Lon! Along came Lon with his little bitty hammer and nails!
He killed my cherry tree.
I can't say I was a nice little kid. I was an only girl among many boys. I think there
were only four or five girls in that whole generation! I was probably the most "Tom
Boy!" of all. Anything Boys could do I could do as well or Better! That included Scheme!
I waited till Lon came to our house with a toy car! A prized possession for
any of us at the time! We didn't get a lot of toys! Somehow I somehow managed
to drop his toy car into that Hole in the "little house!" YOU KNOW which
"little house" The one on the hill a ways from the house! The one with the
traditional half moon on the door! I don't think that would have got me the
whupping'! Not that alone.....I think the Whupping' was cause he FELL IN
Somehow! To this day he swears I pushed him! I don't remember that! I sure
remember the whupping!!!
By the way, to this day, I don't think he smells a heck of a lot better! He
was never a Rose!!!
The house is still standing. It is still lived in! The "little house" is gone!
That is just as well, cause to my way of thinking it always smelled just
like Lon!
By the way! The cherry tree came up from the roots! It is baring cherries
today! I never got to eat a ONE!
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