Re: My Recollections---Long

[Guest guest]

I know I have way more patience with my granddaughters than I had with my own children.

why is that? I have all the patience in the world when it come's to my grandkids but still don't have much when it comes to my own kids. I wish I had more but I don't.

[Guest guest]

Kathleen - - - I'm glad you broke down and shared your "recollections" - - - and now that you mentioned the coffee in the red-eye gravy, I do remember that was how my mother and grandmother made it. Guess you can tell I have never made it myself - - - but I just might try it next time I have ham.

I didn't ever have anything to do with my daddy's guns - - but he did have a couple; I remember him shooting through a drawer in my mother's sewing machine one night to kill a BIG rat, and then nearly had a heart attack when he realized the bullet had gone through the paper thin walls and in the direction of the cow lot that was in back of the house. Fortunately it didn't hit a cow, but he was sure scared until he checked it out!

My thing was cooking and sewing - - and I enjoy doing both to this very day - - my husband says that men really get short changed nowadays when they marry a girl that can't cook and can't sew!! LOL And my granddaughters certainly fall into that category!! I hope they at least learn to cook before they get married! (They are 16, 15 & 11) so hopefully they have a few years to learn - - -

(((HUGS)))

Clara

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[Guest guest]

I'm glad somebody enjoyed it, Ann. I was afraid it would be boring.

Kathleen

> I really enjoyed this, Kathleen. It brought back lots

> of memories.

[Guest guest]

Clara,

That's what Grandma's are for. Teaching the grandbabies how to

cook. They have sooooooo much more patience that the mothers.

I know I have way more patience with my granddaughters than I had

with my own children.

My 5 year old and I made Jello yesterday. She used a duckie

cookie cutter to cut out shapes in it before she ate it. Lots of fun.

Lots of sticky fun.

Kathleen

> And my

> granddaughters certainly fall into that category!! I hope they at

> least learn to cook before they get married! (They are 16, 15 &

> 11) so hopefully they have a few = years to learn - - -

>

> (((HUGS)))

> Clara

[Guest guest]

,

It's probably because we know how quickly the children grow up and

move away! Besides, they are soooooooooo cute! And I can brag

about these and not be considered conceited. After all, they aren't

my own children, so I can brag with a free rein. LOL

Kathleen

> In a message dated 3/22/2005 4:56:18 PM Central Standard Time,

> Kathleen@... writes:

> I know I have way more patience with my granddaughters than I had with

> my own children. why is that? I have all the patience in the world

> when it come's to my grandkids but still don't have much when it comes

> to my own kids. I wish I had more but I don't.

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

They go home after a while too !!!!! AND we don't have ALL the responsibility of raising them !!!

Re: My Recollections---Long

I know I have way more patience with my granddaughters than I had with my own children.

why is that? I have all the patience in the world when it come's to my grandkids but still don't have much when it comes to my own kids. I wish I had more but I don't.

EMAIL SUPPORT TEXAS-STYLE!!THE CRAZIEST BUNCH OF "LOSER" ON THE 'NET'!!Visit us on the web: http://www.texastops.org

[Guest guest]

Randie,

You are sooooooo right! That makes a big difference. I don't have to

worry about those big orthodontic bills!

Kathleen

> they go home after a while too !!!!! AND we don't have ALL the

> responsibility of raising them !!!

> Re: My Recollections---Long

>

>

> In a message dated 3/22/2005 4:56:18 PM Central Standard Time,

> Kathleen@... writes:

> I know I have way more patience with my granddaughters than I had

> with my own children.

> why is that? I have all the patience in the world when it come's to

> my grandkids but still don't have much when it comes to my own kids.

> I wish I had more but I don't.

>

>

[Guest guest]

Kathleen, PLEASE print this and save it

to be passed on to your family. I'm fortunate to have had a granddad

and a great-great granddad and great grandma (Meemaw), on grandma's

side, who journaled. It's a delight to read their writings...

g-g-granddad's are about the family immigrating from Scotland and his

life as a veterinarian and saddle maker. Granddad's are about his job

surveying in Mexico for a couple of years during Pancho Villas' time.

Meemaw's are just what she titled "A Heap of Memories" about growing up

in Colorado and the Ozarks in Missouri.

Your family will appreciate hearing about your life growing up. Thanks

for sharing... I sure enjoyed reading it!

{{{hugs}}}

Janet

Kathleen wrote:

Ok, Clara. You just had to *make* me come out of hiding, didn't you? LOL. I was ok about not saying anything the "good ole days" until you mentioned red eye gravy. I love that stuff!!!!!!!!! Down here in south Texas it was made from the pan drippings after frying ham and we added strong black coffee. Oil and water don't mix. That's how it got it's name of red eye gravy. The coffee kind of stayed together in the middle of the skillet to look like a "red eye". Yum! I can't stand to drink coffee, but I do love my red eye gravy. I plan to have ham for Easter dinner. Monday morning you can rest assured I'll have some biscuits and red eye gravy. We had water gravy also. To this day I still prefer milk gravy diluted with half or more water.

We used to eat "wilted lettuce". Which is simply lettuce wilted with hot bacon grease. My grandparents lived to their early 80's when average life expectancy wasn't but about mid-40's. I think it was all the exercise that farming gave them and kept them going. They never owned a motorized vehicle.

We had tumble weeds south of San as late as the early 50's that I remember. We may have had tumbleweeds later than that, but that's the last I remember them blowing through. I grew up outside the big metropolis of Devine, about 30 miles south of San . It is a lot bigger today than it was when I was kid.

My grade school did not have running water. We had "out houses". Our teachers hauled water in wooden barrels. We each brought our own drinking cups. In the second grade our teacher must have been "rich" because she brought an oscillating fan to our classroom and we felt fortunate because not all classrooms had them.

I was given Castor Oil (not Castroil---that goes in engines). I had Black Draught. Had to swallow Vicks, but much preferred it rubbed under my nose or over my chest.

When my grandfather chopped off his thumb (all but a flap of skin) he dipped it in coal oil and it healed just fine. Nobody ever thought of going to the emergency room. What was that anyway? I never heard of one til I was grown. If you broke a bone you saw the local doctor.

I was given Lidia Pinkham's remedy. Or was it Lady Pinkham's? I can't quite remember the name. Forerunner of Midol for you "youngsters".

Grandma took Geritol in her 70's.

Never had to drink turpentine.

We used Flit Spray in a pump can to kill flies which were said to spread polio. A big concern back then.

We bathed in a #3 washtub as we didn't have running water either. We had to haul water. I remember when Daddy and his brother drilled a well in the back yard and we hit water...oh blissful day! Then sometime later when we got an indoor bathroom...Wow! We were "uptown"!

No air conditioning in our little 20 feet by 20 feet house. That's all there was to it. We were blessed with a 9 inch oscillating fan. One fan for the whole house. Still managed to get an upright piano in the living room.

And Daddy's loaded rifles were on the wall and we never touched them unless told we could. Or unless we needed them to protect ourselves from 4 legged or 2 legged varmints. We were never hurt by them nor did we accidently or intentionally kill anybody. I was taught at the age of 7 how to shoot and when to shoot...which is just as important. Daddy used to hunt and fish and we ate what he brought home. I loved it when he went deer hunting. I love venison.The first time I went fishing I was 6 WEEKS old. LOL. I must have been a big help. I can remember rabbit and squirrel hunting with him when I was 3. I had my very own cork gun. I must have been a pretty good shot because Daddy used to tell me to let him have the first shot at the rabbits or squirrels and if he missed then I could have a try. I really got a lot of rabbits and squirrels with that old cork gun. It was only after I was grown that I figured out he didn't want the sound of my cork gun to scare off his prey and that he really hit them with his gun and it wasn't my cork gun that brought them down. Haha! I had a great father!

Daddy slept with a pistol under the mattress. Mama did too when he was out of town, which wasn't often. I was there one afternoon when she used it to scare off a guy trying to get into our house. She made a believer out of him and he never came back.

I can remember walking along with my father who had a pistol in a holster strapped to his hip just like in the old westerns. I have a picture of the two of us hand in hand walking when I was five. He was wearing his pistol, boots and his Stetson. I was wearing my cowboy boots and hat also. The boots were to protect against snake bites. As you can guess, I was a reall "Daddy's girl". Many times as we walked along he took out his pistol and shot a rattler. Ugh! I remember the Sunday morning Mama was getting some clothes out of a dresser and found a snake in the drawer. I hate those things. Daddy ended its life then put hardware screen over the bottom of the dresser so no more snakes could get in. They were prolific back then. It made for an exciting story in Sunday School that day, though. The world isn't safe today and It was not a safe place back then either.

Daddy worked on cars. I was his shadow. He taught me the names of all the tools he used. When he was under the car, he ask me for a certain tool and I'd hand it to him. When he worked on brakes and I was still real small, he had me sit in the floor of the car and press on the brake pedal to "bleed them". I thought I was nearly grown when I was tall enough to sit in the seat and press the brakes.

Mama preserved fruits when we could get them. Canned vegetables that we grew. It was my job to weed the garden. When the carrots were ready to by picked, that was my job too. I got tired of pulling a few carrots at time when I was about 6 so I decided to pick them all at once and be done with it. My parents weren't very happy about that. LOL. Never did that again.

We had a place in the back of beyond where we burned our trash.

Those are some of my recollections.

Kathleen

[Guest guest]

And I can brag about these and not be considered conceited. After all, they aren't my own children, so I can brag with a free rein. LOL

I know I "talk" about mine way too much for some people but I just keep "talking" anyways....LOL