Mother and Little Billy walked over to have coffee with Miss Alice many mornings after she got us on the school bus. Of course he would have had breakfast before leaving the house with her. One morning they got to Miss Alice’s before she’d had time to clear breakfast away. A couple of strips of bacon and a few biscuits rested on a plate on the Continue reading
1930s
The Coon Hunt
Notice the scarecrow man climbing the tree. This is my grandfather, Roscoe Holdaway. He must have been at least seventy years old at the time. The only thing that would have induced him to climb that sapling would have been the dead raccoon he’d just shot hanging on the branch high above his head. Note the rapt attention that coon is getting Continue reading
Joke
The retired railroad engineer didn’t have a lot going on, so he got in the habit of going to the movies into the afternoon. In fact, in one movie the bad guys were chasing the cowboy in the white hat when the train came by and separated them, letting him get away. He saw that one nine times. When he went to buy his tenth ticket, the ticket seller asked him why he wanted to see it again.
“I’ve worked for the railroad for forty years. I know that sooner or later that train’s gonna be late and I want to see what happens.”
Do you know how to really reblog?
Dirt is Good
Ilove dirt. This is some great dirt. It is the color and weight of chocolate cake mix, but I haven’t tasted it yet. I am moving a lot of this into the strawberry bed just outside my backdoor. This particular dirt is from a our four year old compost he heap where we dumped grass, branches, garden and kitchen refuse, bured a few varmints. Bud has turned this pile 3 to six times a year for the past four years with his garden tractor. It would have broken down much faster if I had left it alone, but I planted Cushaw, Yukon Gold Potatoes. And Sweet Potatoes in it last year, so he couldn’t turn it for a long time.
We have a three-year-old, a two-year-old, and a year old compost heap.
Snake-Handling and the Rapture(Part 2 of Starry Night, Kathleen’s Memoirs of the Great Depression)
You might want to go back and read this before reading Part 2
Starry Night (from Kathleen’s Memoir of The Great Depression Part 1)
“When me an’ my brother Jim was boys, we heard they was gonna be having a camp-meeting at one of them snake-handlin’ churches up in the hills. Now we didn’ want nothin’ to do with snakes, but we thought it might be interestin’ to stir them church folks up a little. We slipped out with the Rascoe boys an’ caught us up some cats an’ a dog or two an’ had’em in tow sacks. We slipped up on the back side of the church an’ climbed up, pullin’ them bags behind us. With all that singin’ and testafyin’, and speakin’ in tongues, them church folks couldna’ heard the devil comin’ up the river in a sawmill, so we didn’ have a bit o’trouble once they got started. Them folks was naturally doin’ some carryin’ on!
Well, we give’em time enough to get to really git serious about their religion before we turned them dogs and cats loose on ‘em. Them cats tore outa’ them sacks, like their tails was on fire, screechin’ and spittin’, with them dogs right behind ‘em. Some of ‘em ended up bustin’ right up in the middle of them snake-handlers. I mean to tell you, they threw them snakes down an’ they all run outside screamin’ an’ carryin’ on about the rapture. You wouldn’a thought anybody that messed with snakes would’a got so stirred up about a few dogs and cats!
Fido Buys the Farm
Joe found his dog lying out behind his car, not moving. He grabbed Fido up and ran him in to the vet.
Vet: “”I’m sorry. Your dog is dead. That’ll be fifty bucks.” Continue reading
Annie and the Hinsons
Pictured is Annie Lee Holdaway 1941
Excerpt from Kathleen’s Memoirs of The Great Depression
To my great sorrow, Annie had finished all ten grades in Cuthand. On Mr. Kinnebrew’s recommendation, she’d gotten a position as mother’s helper to Mrs. Hinson, his wealthy aunt who lived almost adjoining the Clarksville High School. Judge and Mrs. Hinson were one of the most prominent families in Clarksville. They’d had only one child, Laura, who was “sweet but simple.” They’d always doted on Laura, giving her a privileged, though very protected life. Unfortunately, Mrs. Hinson was hospitalized for a while when Laura was about fifteen, leaving Laura in the care of the housekeeper by day and her father at night. The gardener who clearly saw how they doted on Laura was able to woo and win her without her mama’s interference. Naturally, she fell for the first man to ever allowed to pay attention to her, even though he was nearly fifty. When he caught the housekeeper was too busy to notice, the old goat slipped her off to marry one afternoon.
He convinced Laura to keep the secret of their marriage until it was obvious a baby was on the way. Not surprisingly, for the sake of decency and their daughter’s happiness, the Hinsons did their best for Laura and her family. Laura wanted her useless husband. He had enough sense to know which side his bread was buttered on, so was always good to her and the children, though he never worked again. The Hinsons built her a nice house, adjoining theirs. Over the next few years, Laura had a large brood, but was never capable of keeping house or caring for the children, so Mrs. Hinson had a housekeeper to take care of the house and help with the children. Annie’s job was feed and dress the school kids off in the morning and make sure they got their homework in the evening. For this she got room, board, a small salary and generous bonuses. She had to be there Monday afternoon through Friday morning. It was a wonderful job for a high-school student. It broke my heart to see her catching a ride in with the mail carrier at six am on Monday morning, but was the high point of the week when he dropped her back off Friday afternoon, full of tales of the Hinsons, high-school, or life in Clarksville. She always managed to bring me a tiny gift or two, such or a damaged book or toy one of the kids no longer wanted. Best of all, was a piece of Laura’s candy.
Any story Annie brought me from her time at the Hinson’s was golden. Though Laura was simple, she had a gift for making candy. Hotels, stores, and high end business competed for the confections she she’d learned early to make candy at the hand of the housekeeper who raised her. Her husband was only too happy to serve as delivery man for her, selling all the candies Laura cared to make. What a stroke of luck for him! He’d married the goose who laid the golden egg!
Can’t Afford Urine! (From Kathleen’s memoirs of the 1930s)
repost:
After we finished our shopping, we walked across the square to the corner drugstore for ice-cream to pass the time for Mama to go see the doctor. We slid into a booth where I had to make a huge decision: chocolate, strawberry, or vanilla. I worried over it, quizzing Mama and Annie which was best, finally choosing vanilla, just like I always did. Annie let Continue reading
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