Hey F.O.T.E.'s!
I'm panting. (puff, puff) I've just sat down from another 2 hour time block of packing/sorting/decluttering. The days we were sick surely didn't help us along in this project, but I feel like I'm making better progress now. Today, I cleaned out the (dum, dum, dum) Storage Closet. Yes, it was as scary as it sounds, LOL. That was the closet where everything got shoved, when we didn't know what else to do with it. Do any of you have a closet like that? LOL Anyway, that was a JOB!
In cleaning out that big closet, I found a paper where I'd written down (years ago) an account my mother used to tell. Nowadays, Mother's memory is very dim. We have watched over the past several years as Alzheimer's has stolen parts of her life. Reflecting on that fact, I'm everso thankful that I took the time to sit down with her, while she was still "sharp-as-a-tack," and capture a sliver of her life. I'm going to type it below, just as I had written it then...
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the Great Depression. Mother tells me about life with her many siblings during that dark time of American history. She tells me about being teased at school for wearing "flour sack" dresses and how she wore shoes with cardboard to cover the holes. But, on the other hand...
Oral history has yet to reveal to me which of the 11 Keele children began the romp, but knowing them as I have, I suspect most of them eventually joined in. You see, there was a calf--minding it's own business, I'm sure--in a field on the small Keele farm. Somehow, someone conceived the idea of what I now call "cow skiing." (Please, don't try this at home.)
One at a time, the children grabbed that poor calf by the tail and ran, being half dragged and laughing, behind it. The hilarity continued on as the calf pulled the kids around the field, their feet touching the ground only now and then. Those awaiting their turn watched from the fence.
Oral history has also failed to present me with the final culprit left holding the smoking gun. Or, tail, as it were...
A strange thing, oral history, as I still don't know who made the executive decision to give the tail a proper burial, thinking 'surely Mom and Dad won't notice' that the animal was lacking an appendage.
To the dismay of the children, the tail was, indeed, missed and corporal punishment ensued.
Yes, it *was* the best of times and the worst of times...especially for a calf on a small farm in TN."
Now, I don't want y'all to think I'm endorsing cruelty to animals. And you should know that the calf did fine without that tail, though I'm sure he'd have rather had it. LOL I think the thing that has always struck me funny about the story is that the children didn't think their parents would notice, LOL. I think we parents get the reputation of having "eyes in the back of our head" far too easily. :-)
Well, I need to go tackle another room. Any of you know where you can rent those big dumpsters they use on construction sites for the rubbish?? ;-)
Y'all keep your wool dry,
The Ewe
Quote of the Day:
"Isn't it funny how that, no matter where you want to go, your feet lead you straight there??" --Musical, waxing philosophical
