A well-worn path led down the hill to the toilet located far enough to cut the odor and avoid contamination of our well.Β Mama was vigilant about sanitation and shoveled lime into the pit to aid decomposition and screened the open back to foil her chickens who considered the flies and maggots a tempting buffet.Β Chickens are not known for their Continue reading
Day: January 29, 2015
Missing my Mom on her Birthday
I love this tender story from Lorieb!
Loreeebee on health & wellness, nature, gardens and grandkids
Today, June 9th, Β would have been my momβs 85th birthday. Β Although she died twenty years ago, it seems like just yesterday to me. Β Iβd like to share a funny story she told me once about her birthday being on June 9β¦
I donβt remember how old she was when she pulled this stunt, but I still chuckle when I think about it. Β My mom grew up on a farm in Osnabruck Center, Ontario. Β June 9 on a busy farm meant potato planting time, so every birthday although she dreamt of birthday celebrations, she planted potatoes instead. Β One June 9th, she thought she would take the bull by the horns and plan her own birthday celebration, so invited some friends to her home after school.
Her mother apparently did not miss a beat, came in from the garden where she was planting potatoes, and started making sandwiches and a cake.
Iβ¦
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Farm Life: Gotta Have Guts
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Daddy loved home remedies and dosed his kids and livestock readily. Β Β Mother did run interference for us on cow chip tea and coal oil and sugar, but did let him load us with sulphur and molasses for summer sores. WeΒ never gotΒ summer sores,Β probably because weΒ reeked so much we didn’t tempt mosquitoes. IΒ do appreciate Mother for putting her foot down when his ideas got too toxic. No telling what kind of chromosome damage she saved us. Continue reading
You Catch More Flies
The school was buzzing about the play.Β The community was putting on a play at the school.Β The adults, not the kids!Β According to Sarah Nell, the snottiest girl in school, her mama was the teacherβs best friend.Β Her mama was going to be in the play!Β Maybe my mama could be in the play.Β I flew home at noon to tell the news.Β Mama was shocked!Β She squashed that idea like a bug. βNo, Iβm not going to be in a play.Β I am not interested in that kind of foolishness!Β I have more to do than get up and parade myself around in front of folks like I think Iβm something special. Now wash your hands and eat.Β Youβve got to get back to school on time.β
I was very interested in that kind of foolishness.Β βWell, can we go to the play?Β It only costs a quarter for adults and a dime for kids. Theyβll have an ice cream social afterwards.
βNo.Β That would be close to a dollar for all five of us.Β Our rent is three dollars a month.Β I am already doing Miss Lonieβs wash to pay that.Β We donβt have money to waste on a play.Β Itβs going to take me all day today to finish Miz Watsonβs dress.Β I need the dollar I get from that to put on the bill at Miss Lonieβs store.Β Iβm hopinβ there will be enough scraps left from Miz Watsonβs dress to trim that dress Iβm makinβ for you.Β I have two matchinβ feedsacks saved back for it.βΒ She went on with her budgeting plans as my spirits plunged, knowing I wasnβt going to the play.Β I dawdled my way back to school not wanting to admit to Sarah Nell I wasnβt going to the play.Β I neednβt have worried.Β She wasnβt interested in me, anyway.
The evening of the play, I watched the comings and goings at the schoolhouse enviously, as long as Mama let me stay outside.Β For once, living almost on the school yard was not an advantage, giving me a prime view of all I was missing.Β Had I even suspected what I was missing, Iβd have grieved even harder.Β It seems Sarah Nellβs mother was in the middle of the performance when Sarah Nell swallowed a fly, along with her ice cream.Β Panicking, she raced to her mother on the stage.Β Just as Sarah Nell reached the heroine, she vomited copiously all over her, bringing the performance to an end.Β There was no encore.