Spoons & Chicken House Fires

I was going to post about spoons. I've been missing a spoon to my everyday stainless. I really thought I'd thrown it away in a senior moment. When the kids were little, I wouldn't have been suprised to find it in the yard or the playhouse. We didn't have a sandbox. Too many outdoor cats, if you get my drift.

I don't very often have eight people at my table and my guests don't really care if the silverware matches. What they do care about is that the food is good and plentiful. That's a story for another time. I've been fussing about that spoon for a while, so today I cleaned the drawer and there it was with the baby spoons. Hooray!

Before I got to the spoon post, I had to go look out the window to see what the dog was so upset about. I smelled smoke, but that's not unusual. I have a neighbor down the road who burns his trash. Then I noticed that my neighbor to the north had a garden hose trying to put out a fire in his shed.They had a heat light inside for their puppy that may have started it. They didn't need my help and it was too far gone to do anything but keep the wind from spreading it. By the time I got my camera, the fire department arrived to knock down the flames. There was just a smoldering 50 year old chicken house to douse.


and I know this because my husband and I owned that place for the last 20 years. I sold it to a young family a year ago. I just got tired of being a landlord to people with an excuse for everything. The place originally belonged to a lady who raised chickens and dressed poultry for her living. There were 4 falling-down chicken shacks and we tore down all but the best one, leaving it for a storage shed.






We had very strong winds again today, so it was lucky that the young woman was home and saw the fire. Even if she did call her husband instead of the fire department! It could have been very bad as the wind was blowing in my direction.

My husband was a volunteer fire fighter for 20 years, so he worked with a lot of these fellows. They sure do a good job. Most people don't know how little they get paid. Mike used to be out all night for $8.00 and have to shower and go to work when he got home. He carried the bodies of people he knew out of burning homes, suffered frostbite in freezing temperatures. Sometimes, they don't come home as many firefighter's widows know.

Spring?

We didn't get as much snow as predicted, which was a disappointment as we really need the moisture. The storm slipped south of us and gave them 12 inches of snow. It did give the kids a snow day and made travel less hazardous for those who had to go to work. I procrastinated all day about going outside, but the poor dog needed his supper and a run. The wind blew so hard, there are drifts and then places without any snow. I took this picture on the sheltered side of my garage. Maybe these daffodils will survive when it's 40 degrees tomorrow.

Signs and Superstitions

We are in a blizzard warning. The forecast yesterday was for 20 inches and has declined during the day until about 5 inches are currently expected. However, the 40 mph wind will make it seem like more. The forecasts have been driving me nuts with the changes. My daughter's family had planned to come tonight on their way to a funeral in Colorado Springs. Well, the Springs is actually getting a pretty big storm so the whole trip was cancelled. I'm disappointed, but it was a wise choice.

Can you imagine living 150 years ago with no advance warning? You might have known there was going to be snow, but how would you anticipate the severity of the storm? I imagine there might be signs that they watched for. Do you know what they were? My husband's Granny Cecil believed if you saw a black wooly worm you were in for a hard winter. Her name was Celia Marcella, but her brothers called her Cecil. She was extremely superstitious. She'd go blocks out of her way to avoid a black cat. She always went out the same door she entered by. To do otherwise, would be bad luck. She wouldn't let me thank her for the gift of a plant, that would cause it to die. She would never give you a knife for a gift because it would cut your friendship. If your hand itched, you were going to get some money. Have you heard of these? Are you superstitious?

Sometime back, Mildred of Nalley Valley posted about the Jesus Loves Me song. My 2 year old grandson was sitting with me when I played the video. After that, it has been "Jesus song, again?" Even in the car, he wanted me to play the Jesus song on the cd player. His mother has been trying to teach him the words. Here he is watching the video over and over again. I've been away from posting for over a week while his family stayed with me. First the movers were packing their house and then while they moved to Oklahoma and we unpacked nearly all 25,000 pounds of their stuff. Saturday, his other grandparents came to see the new house. Grandma Betty, who plays for her church, played a few tunes sans sheet music for him. His parents just bought the piano before the move. Guess what song he wanted to hear. Oh, and notice how he directs the music and his sister's voice in the background.

I love these lamps

I have these two lamps that don't really match anything in my house, but I can't bear to part with them. Just looking at them pleases me, so I guess they qualify as art. The aren't family heirlooms, I bought them both at auctions.

Trumpets, taps, bologna and skirts

My mother reminded me that I had played taps at during the Memorial Day service when I was a teenager. She said I told her that I would never do it again. I'd forgotten all about it. My girlfriend's dad, Efford, was a trumpet player. He came to the ballgames and set in with the Pep Band. He loved playing his horn and he was very good. For some reason he couldn't play at the cemetery, so he talked his son & me into it. Nick (the guy on the left) played near the the soldiers and I echoed back from the edge of the cemetery. After a little thought I remember why I hated it. Being an airhead kid, I didn't take into account that even though it was May, the early mornings could be very chilly. I probably went out there in shorts and froze my knees off.

I don't know why I ended up playing the trumpet, though technically I had a cornet. When we started band, we blew in several instruments and the band instructor told Mom what instrument would be best. Instructors always told me that I had good tone, I think it really meant that I couldn't count. I did play first chair as a senior. It must have been experience that got me the gig, not talent.

Efford also gave me my first job. At 14, I didn't really even know that I wanted a job. He asked if I'd come to work for him at the meat market on Saturdays. I worked 8-5 for a $1.00 an hour. He had me using the electric slicer to slice cold cuts and bacon. Lunch meat didn't come pre-packaged. We wrapped it in plastic and then rubbed it over a hot iron to seal it. My other job was to cut up whole chickens. They came packed in ice in a big box. Oh, they were soooo cold! I wonder if that's why the cold hurts my hands so much today? My friend, Cindy, Efford's daughter worked there after school and Saturdays, too. She got to run the band saw and the meat tenderizer.

Those machines were so dangerous. It's a wonder neither of us lost a finger. We wore white butcher's coats that were longer than our dresses. Those were still the days when we didn't wear slacks to work or school, but we wore skirts as short as we could get by with. I worked there until I was 16.

I'm looking at my hairdo. I probably used Dippity-do and slept in plastic rollers to achieve that look.

Hamburger Face

Oh, wow, what can I say. I won't admit to being lax. I was going to post about how miserable I have been for the last 2 weeks, but it sounds like a lot of bloggers have had illness also. I started with a cold and bronchitis, began recovery, got the flu, survived that and ended up with hamburger face. I've been hiding out for a week and didn't even go to work. I've always been plagued with fever blisters when I get sick, too much sun or stressed. This is the worst I have had since I was in the 3rd grade. Added to that, there is evidently bacteria that lives in your body that can come out on your skin and start to attack that so my nose looked like raw hamburger. Such a pretty word picture, isn't it? I hope you aren't eating. I went to church last Sunday and people asked me if I fell down. Then on Ash Wednesday they still asked what happened to my face and I thought I looked much better! I'm going to try work tomorrow and see how many people I can gross out.