I'm sure that I can never remember all of these in one sitting, so this will have to be an ongoing topic, writing about them when I think of them.
1. "cheese the racket" I admit to you that I have always thought that this line was one of the stupidest lines I had ever heard, and I haven't changed my mind on that. This statement was used in a gruff manner by either of my parents to express their desire for me to shut up. They never would have said shut up, but it sure would have made better sense to me if they had.
2. "Well, I'll swan!" This was an expression that my mother would use to proclaim her surprise at some fact or sight. For instance, let's say the neighbor may have painted their house a strange color of blue. Mother might look out the window and say, "Well, I'll swan!" I recently experienced hearing that same expression in a Tom Selleck western movie, spoken by one of the characters. What a treat to hear it again! Ron had never heard it before, and I had not heard it since my mother died. Since coming south to live I have discovered some possibilities as to where it began, but I have nothing concrete to prove it. It may have something to do with the name Swanee which is prevalent in Georgia.
After further review from the dictionary:swan
34 ENTRIES FOUND:
1) swan (noun)
2) swan (verb)
3) swan (verb)
3 swan verb
swanned swan·ning
Definition of SWAN
intransitive verbdialect
: declare, swear
Origin of SWAN
perhaps euphemism for swear
First Known Use: 1784
Well, I'll swan!
3. "addle-do" Actually what my Mom was saying was "that'll do", meaning hush, or no more behaving like that. John, Jay and Jill all thought that she was saying "addle-do" and thought this was pretty strange and funny. So did I, kids.
4. "Grab a root and growl." This was an expression my mom used when feeding a larger group, always family. It must have been a very common thing to say in her family, as everyone would give a big smile and dig into the food. I have never heard anyone but my mom use this term, but I have heard it said in old John Wayne movies.
I have realized that I have a friend in Georgia, Debbie Bell, who says this. I was just wide-eyed the first time I heard her say it, and now realize she says it every time we are ready to eat. It's such a thrill for me to hear it!
5. When shopping with mom we always met people that she hadn't seen in a while. When asked how she was she always responded, "Well, I can't complain, but I do anyway."
6. Mom was almost always ready to go, to jump in the car and go someplace. The ony thing that would need to be done was to put some shoes on because she loved to go barefooted. So, if anyone said, "Lucile. Do you want to go to the store with us?" Mom would reply, "Just let me dress my feet."
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Fishing and Hunting With Daddy
I wish with all my heart that you could have heard my Mom and Dad laugh. They both had an infectious, hearty laugh that would fill your heart with the same pleasure that caused it. Their lives had been filled with tragic heartaches and losses, and yet they nourished their capacity to enjoy life with delight at the humor that one finds as they trod on through it. My Mom loved God, worshipped Him in her life and in her singing, and so there was a constant peace and joyfulness about her. My Dad was angry with God for taking two of his children away from him, so his life was less than peaceful, and his moments of joy came and went with the people that he chose to be with. Still, the love and contentment that my Mom and Dad shared with one another was one of their greatest times of laughter and fun.
My Dad was not an educated man, leaving school after the 8th grade, but he was a hard working man and was very personable and social. He had a working knowledge of mechanics, so he was employed for some years as a car mechanic for Ford when we lived in Auburn. When we moved to Falls City he again worked for Ford Motors, but then put his talents to good use by selling cars, rather than fixing them, and then finished his life working for a car parts store. He was good at everything that he did, but I think one of Dad's flaws was his temper and pride that, many times, got in the way of being a reasonable man. Dad was never fired, but if he felt he was being offended in any way he could walk away and never look back. He was a civil man, but if you ever crossed him you lost his respect and friendship. He never spoke badly of you to others, but he would never recommend you either. He held grudges until the day he died, but he did it quietly.
Hard work and special talents do not guarantee high salaries. I remember at one time my attentive ears heard that my Dad brought home $50 each week. I had no idea at the time what that meant, but I was able to assemble all my facts to realize that we certainly had to do without a lot of things. My parents did a lot of things to make up for their lack of funds and to pay bills. My mother sewed almost all of my clothes, and hers, including our coats and jackets. My dad did all the grocery shopping, using Mom's list of necessities and his knowledge of where he could find the cheapest meats and vegetables. We had a big garden every year and canned what we couldn't eat. Our freezer was filled with fish and wild game that Dad brought home. We were friendly with many people who farmed and we purchased sides of beef and chickens and hams at much less than we would have paid in the store. Twice I remember my Dad shooting a deer, and we feasted on the meat for months. All these things, and much more, were done to help make ends meet financially, and I really appreciated none of it. I had no idea then just how hard my parents worked every day, though I do believe that I came away from their examples with a very excellent work ethic.
Many times after work when Dad went fishing on summer evenings he would take me along. Mom went in earlier years, but her knees kept her from climbing some of the river banks where we fished, so she would stay home if she knew it would be difficult. Some places were easier to get to than others. I loved going fishing with Daddy, especially when it was just the two of us. When you're fishing on a river bank there can't be a lot of talking going on or the fish won't come around. But when we did we talked softly, and he would share stories with me or just talk to me a little bit about his day. Often he played little tricks on me just for fun. He laughed a lot when we were together fishing.
Many times we fished with Dad's friend Vern Malick. Vern was Dad's best friend who owned a car body shop. They were both fun, terrible teases, and I was a very good target because I was shy and quiet, very gullible and naive. I became friends with Vern's daughter Carol who was a year older than I, and she was none of these things, so I'm pretty sure I was brought along for the comic relief, which was fine with me. I loved it because I loved them and I loved the attention I got from them. And they teased me with love.
I think I must have been eleven or twelve the night that Dad and Vern and I went fishing on a small creek just east of Salem, NE. It was a beautiful early fall evening, still warm but fall was in the air. There weren't a lot of trees surrounding this area, so the autumn moon, which was directly behind us, filled the sky with it's light with little to break the view except an old grain barn. This barn stood against the moonlight like a giant A with short wings on the side. The moon made the barn loose all of its detail and it was a black shape with a spooky air about it, especially if you're a twelve year old girl.
Soon Dad and Vern began to tell ghost stories, and I wished they would start a fire so I didn't feel so cold and alone in the dark. Their eyes twinkled as they told a story of three hunters out in the woods years ago. One of the hunters had been accidentally shot and died in the hunt, and the other two had carried him back to their cabin, lit a fire for comfort, and then began to mourn the loss of their friend. Along with the fire for comfort they also produced a stash of whiskey that they had brought along for the long cold nights, and they began to drink it and talk of the friendship that the three had shared over the years. The more they talked, the more they drank, and they began to feel sad that they couldn't share their strong drink with the deceased. An idea came upon one of them, and they decided to prop open the dead man's mouth and pour a little whiskey down his gullet. The more they drank the more they talked and the more whiskey was shared with their dearly departed.
At this point I remember my Dad and Vern had paused in the story for some reason because I had to ask my Dad if that was all of the story. "Oh, no. That's not all!" And then they picked up where they left off knowing that they had me right where they wanted me. I was totally fixed on the story and the pictures that I had created in my mind of those two old hunters and a dead man.
All of a sudden the dead man, full of whiskey that had been poured into his throat, sat straight up on the table where they had laid him out. The two remaining friends left all behind and scrambled out into the cold night and forest never to be seen again.
By this time my Dad was laughing so loud and so hard that there was no way we were ever going to catch a fish that night. Of course, his laughter had nothing to do with the story. It had to do with the look on my face at the thought of a dead man sitting straight up on a table. They laughed and laughed and then explained to me that the body full of alcohol would cause the muscles to contract and make the body involuntarily move. Well, then I was fine, but they had had their fun for the night, at my expense, and so we went home empty handed. No fish to clean that night.
Another evening my Dad and I were alone on the Nemaha River, a few miles between Falls City and Salem. It was a very popular fishing spot, and surprisingly there was no one else there that night. It had just begun to get dark. All was quiet, and Dad and I were enjoying the sounds of the summer night. I noticed that Dad had begun to look over at me quite a bit, but he said nothing. Trying to behave I didn't ask why. We sat quietly. He kept looking at me and he began to grin. I know my Dad well, and I knew he was up to something, but I had no idea what. All of a sudden there was this loud, screeching sound right behind me, and the next thing I knew I was up to my knees in the edge of the river, soaking wet from the splash, my hair dripping. My Dad could hardly stand up to help me out of the water because he was laughing so hard. He had watched a tiny screech owl walk up behind me, not realizing that this very still statue was a real person. It must have finally realized I was there, made an alarmed and frightful scream and ran for the brush. After I was out of the water, and the truth was known, that I was not going to be eaten by some huge animal, I had a good laugh about it, but it took a long time for me to stop shaking and calm down. It took a long time, months...years, for my Dad to stop laughing about it. And, again, we went home empty handed.
I hunted with my Dad for years as well. He had given a .22 caliber rifle to me, and I wasn't a bad shot. When he flushed birds I was often able to hit one, but I think only because I got lucky. What I was able to do was hit a squirrel if he sat still long enough on the tree limb. He wouldn't take me deer hunting because he didn't think I could sit still long enough or be quiet enough. We did a lot of road hunting, but you can't tell anyone that because it was illegal. Still is, I think. I didn't like to rabbit hunt, though I went along, because I couldn't hit the stupid things because they ran so fast and jaggedly. I also had pet rabbits at home, so I was a bit loathe to kill one, no matter how tasty they were. I could eat them, I just couldn't kill them.
One very cold winter day we went out for squirrel. He had parked the car along a roadside and we had walked but a few feet when Dad stopped and pointed silently at a small tree maybe thirty yards away. On the bare tree limb sat a red squirrel munching on his lunch and watching us very carefully. I stopped, checked my rifle, and then I aimed it at him. And he just sat there and looked at me. I knew what my Dad was thinking, and I was trying to take the shot, but I couldn't. That dumb squirrel was looking at me! Right at me! And he was still chewing on his lunch. The look in his eye was almost a trusting look; trusting that I was not going to hurt him. And I didn't. I couldn't shoot him. That was the last time I went hunting with my Dad. I knew I would never be capable of shooting another animal, so there was no sense in going. Dad wasn't mad or even disappointed. I'm pretty sure he understood.
We drove up into Minnesota a couple of times on fishing trips, but mostly we stayed close to home. There were a couple of lakes in Nebraska where we went to frog hunt, and that was fun. The most fun about that was watching Mom trying to keep the frog legs from jumping out of the skillet as she cooked them. Again the muscles thing. When the muscles got hot from the grease it caused them to contract and they would leap out of the pan onto the floor, with Mom trying to catch them before they landed.
We spent lots of nights at certain creeks where we would catch crawdads and minnows for fishing the next night. And after a good rain I hustled over to our neighbor's yard where the night crawlers were so thick they made the whole ground look shiny when you shone your flashlight on them. Oh, what fun! You grabbed for the night crawler as he quickly slurped back into his hole, then you had to hold on tight to keep it from slipping out of your hands and disappearing. The neighborhood kids and I went home with buckets of worms and slimy mud and worm goo up to our knees and elbows. I can honestly say that catching night crawlers is one of the most fun things I've ever done in my whole life; right up there with riding a roller coaster.
The worst part of hunting and fishing is cleaning the kill. Thankfully my Dad never made me clean fish. I think he was a little picky about how that was done. He did make me bait my own hook, but that was no big deal, aside from the fact that sometimes I couldn't get my worm to hold still.
I was seldom excused from cleaning the squirrels that I shot. He always said, "You kill it, you clean it." Funny that didn't go for fish. But I'm glad. What I didn't like to help with were the birds; the ducks and the geese and even the chickens when Dad would bring home a live one, and Mom had to kill it, and I got to help clean it. Yuk. I hated the feathers.
One day Dad had three wild geese laid out on the kitchen table to be cleaned. He had already started the process, scalded the dead birds so the feathers came off easier. I said easier, not easily. It's a stinky, yukky job. All of a sudden Mom announced that it was time for them to leave; they needed to go vote. So guess who got stuck with the geese. They left, and I picked and I pulled and I picked. Now, I ask you. How long does it take for two grown adults to go to the polls to vote? I was almost completely done with all three of those stinky birds before they came home to relieve me. My Dad was so surprised that I had not finished yet. I'm convinced to this day that they took the long way there, the long way home, and stopped for a visit somewhere. I hated doing dishes, but I hated cleaning birds worse.
So, growing up I ate lots of rabbit, squirrel, quail, pheasant, catfish, bullheads, even carp, wild ducks and geese and deer. All furnished by a fun trip to the river or the open fields. These were wonderful times, good memories with my Dad, and I will cherish them always.
My Dad was not an educated man, leaving school after the 8th grade, but he was a hard working man and was very personable and social. He had a working knowledge of mechanics, so he was employed for some years as a car mechanic for Ford when we lived in Auburn. When we moved to Falls City he again worked for Ford Motors, but then put his talents to good use by selling cars, rather than fixing them, and then finished his life working for a car parts store. He was good at everything that he did, but I think one of Dad's flaws was his temper and pride that, many times, got in the way of being a reasonable man. Dad was never fired, but if he felt he was being offended in any way he could walk away and never look back. He was a civil man, but if you ever crossed him you lost his respect and friendship. He never spoke badly of you to others, but he would never recommend you either. He held grudges until the day he died, but he did it quietly.
Hard work and special talents do not guarantee high salaries. I remember at one time my attentive ears heard that my Dad brought home $50 each week. I had no idea at the time what that meant, but I was able to assemble all my facts to realize that we certainly had to do without a lot of things. My parents did a lot of things to make up for their lack of funds and to pay bills. My mother sewed almost all of my clothes, and hers, including our coats and jackets. My dad did all the grocery shopping, using Mom's list of necessities and his knowledge of where he could find the cheapest meats and vegetables. We had a big garden every year and canned what we couldn't eat. Our freezer was filled with fish and wild game that Dad brought home. We were friendly with many people who farmed and we purchased sides of beef and chickens and hams at much less than we would have paid in the store. Twice I remember my Dad shooting a deer, and we feasted on the meat for months. All these things, and much more, were done to help make ends meet financially, and I really appreciated none of it. I had no idea then just how hard my parents worked every day, though I do believe that I came away from their examples with a very excellent work ethic.
Many times after work when Dad went fishing on summer evenings he would take me along. Mom went in earlier years, but her knees kept her from climbing some of the river banks where we fished, so she would stay home if she knew it would be difficult. Some places were easier to get to than others. I loved going fishing with Daddy, especially when it was just the two of us. When you're fishing on a river bank there can't be a lot of talking going on or the fish won't come around. But when we did we talked softly, and he would share stories with me or just talk to me a little bit about his day. Often he played little tricks on me just for fun. He laughed a lot when we were together fishing.
Many times we fished with Dad's friend Vern Malick. Vern was Dad's best friend who owned a car body shop. They were both fun, terrible teases, and I was a very good target because I was shy and quiet, very gullible and naive. I became friends with Vern's daughter Carol who was a year older than I, and she was none of these things, so I'm pretty sure I was brought along for the comic relief, which was fine with me. I loved it because I loved them and I loved the attention I got from them. And they teased me with love.
I think I must have been eleven or twelve the night that Dad and Vern and I went fishing on a small creek just east of Salem, NE. It was a beautiful early fall evening, still warm but fall was in the air. There weren't a lot of trees surrounding this area, so the autumn moon, which was directly behind us, filled the sky with it's light with little to break the view except an old grain barn. This barn stood against the moonlight like a giant A with short wings on the side. The moon made the barn loose all of its detail and it was a black shape with a spooky air about it, especially if you're a twelve year old girl.
Soon Dad and Vern began to tell ghost stories, and I wished they would start a fire so I didn't feel so cold and alone in the dark. Their eyes twinkled as they told a story of three hunters out in the woods years ago. One of the hunters had been accidentally shot and died in the hunt, and the other two had carried him back to their cabin, lit a fire for comfort, and then began to mourn the loss of their friend. Along with the fire for comfort they also produced a stash of whiskey that they had brought along for the long cold nights, and they began to drink it and talk of the friendship that the three had shared over the years. The more they talked, the more they drank, and they began to feel sad that they couldn't share their strong drink with the deceased. An idea came upon one of them, and they decided to prop open the dead man's mouth and pour a little whiskey down his gullet. The more they drank the more they talked and the more whiskey was shared with their dearly departed.
At this point I remember my Dad and Vern had paused in the story for some reason because I had to ask my Dad if that was all of the story. "Oh, no. That's not all!" And then they picked up where they left off knowing that they had me right where they wanted me. I was totally fixed on the story and the pictures that I had created in my mind of those two old hunters and a dead man.
All of a sudden the dead man, full of whiskey that had been poured into his throat, sat straight up on the table where they had laid him out. The two remaining friends left all behind and scrambled out into the cold night and forest never to be seen again.
By this time my Dad was laughing so loud and so hard that there was no way we were ever going to catch a fish that night. Of course, his laughter had nothing to do with the story. It had to do with the look on my face at the thought of a dead man sitting straight up on a table. They laughed and laughed and then explained to me that the body full of alcohol would cause the muscles to contract and make the body involuntarily move. Well, then I was fine, but they had had their fun for the night, at my expense, and so we went home empty handed. No fish to clean that night.
Another evening my Dad and I were alone on the Nemaha River, a few miles between Falls City and Salem. It was a very popular fishing spot, and surprisingly there was no one else there that night. It had just begun to get dark. All was quiet, and Dad and I were enjoying the sounds of the summer night. I noticed that Dad had begun to look over at me quite a bit, but he said nothing. Trying to behave I didn't ask why. We sat quietly. He kept looking at me and he began to grin. I know my Dad well, and I knew he was up to something, but I had no idea what. All of a sudden there was this loud, screeching sound right behind me, and the next thing I knew I was up to my knees in the edge of the river, soaking wet from the splash, my hair dripping. My Dad could hardly stand up to help me out of the water because he was laughing so hard. He had watched a tiny screech owl walk up behind me, not realizing that this very still statue was a real person. It must have finally realized I was there, made an alarmed and frightful scream and ran for the brush. After I was out of the water, and the truth was known, that I was not going to be eaten by some huge animal, I had a good laugh about it, but it took a long time for me to stop shaking and calm down. It took a long time, months...years, for my Dad to stop laughing about it. And, again, we went home empty handed.
I hunted with my Dad for years as well. He had given a .22 caliber rifle to me, and I wasn't a bad shot. When he flushed birds I was often able to hit one, but I think only because I got lucky. What I was able to do was hit a squirrel if he sat still long enough on the tree limb. He wouldn't take me deer hunting because he didn't think I could sit still long enough or be quiet enough. We did a lot of road hunting, but you can't tell anyone that because it was illegal. Still is, I think. I didn't like to rabbit hunt, though I went along, because I couldn't hit the stupid things because they ran so fast and jaggedly. I also had pet rabbits at home, so I was a bit loathe to kill one, no matter how tasty they were. I could eat them, I just couldn't kill them.
One very cold winter day we went out for squirrel. He had parked the car along a roadside and we had walked but a few feet when Dad stopped and pointed silently at a small tree maybe thirty yards away. On the bare tree limb sat a red squirrel munching on his lunch and watching us very carefully. I stopped, checked my rifle, and then I aimed it at him. And he just sat there and looked at me. I knew what my Dad was thinking, and I was trying to take the shot, but I couldn't. That dumb squirrel was looking at me! Right at me! And he was still chewing on his lunch. The look in his eye was almost a trusting look; trusting that I was not going to hurt him. And I didn't. I couldn't shoot him. That was the last time I went hunting with my Dad. I knew I would never be capable of shooting another animal, so there was no sense in going. Dad wasn't mad or even disappointed. I'm pretty sure he understood.
We drove up into Minnesota a couple of times on fishing trips, but mostly we stayed close to home. There were a couple of lakes in Nebraska where we went to frog hunt, and that was fun. The most fun about that was watching Mom trying to keep the frog legs from jumping out of the skillet as she cooked them. Again the muscles thing. When the muscles got hot from the grease it caused them to contract and they would leap out of the pan onto the floor, with Mom trying to catch them before they landed.
We spent lots of nights at certain creeks where we would catch crawdads and minnows for fishing the next night. And after a good rain I hustled over to our neighbor's yard where the night crawlers were so thick they made the whole ground look shiny when you shone your flashlight on them. Oh, what fun! You grabbed for the night crawler as he quickly slurped back into his hole, then you had to hold on tight to keep it from slipping out of your hands and disappearing. The neighborhood kids and I went home with buckets of worms and slimy mud and worm goo up to our knees and elbows. I can honestly say that catching night crawlers is one of the most fun things I've ever done in my whole life; right up there with riding a roller coaster.
The worst part of hunting and fishing is cleaning the kill. Thankfully my Dad never made me clean fish. I think he was a little picky about how that was done. He did make me bait my own hook, but that was no big deal, aside from the fact that sometimes I couldn't get my worm to hold still.
I was seldom excused from cleaning the squirrels that I shot. He always said, "You kill it, you clean it." Funny that didn't go for fish. But I'm glad. What I didn't like to help with were the birds; the ducks and the geese and even the chickens when Dad would bring home a live one, and Mom had to kill it, and I got to help clean it. Yuk. I hated the feathers.
One day Dad had three wild geese laid out on the kitchen table to be cleaned. He had already started the process, scalded the dead birds so the feathers came off easier. I said easier, not easily. It's a stinky, yukky job. All of a sudden Mom announced that it was time for them to leave; they needed to go vote. So guess who got stuck with the geese. They left, and I picked and I pulled and I picked. Now, I ask you. How long does it take for two grown adults to go to the polls to vote? I was almost completely done with all three of those stinky birds before they came home to relieve me. My Dad was so surprised that I had not finished yet. I'm convinced to this day that they took the long way there, the long way home, and stopped for a visit somewhere. I hated doing dishes, but I hated cleaning birds worse.
So, growing up I ate lots of rabbit, squirrel, quail, pheasant, catfish, bullheads, even carp, wild ducks and geese and deer. All furnished by a fun trip to the river or the open fields. These were wonderful times, good memories with my Dad, and I will cherish them always.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
THE STOVE
Nebraska winters can be extreme and bitterly cold. Mild winters are only occasional, and always include at least a few days of very low temperatures and some considerable snowfalls. My memories of winters when I was a child consist of wonderful fun and playful times in snow and sliding on ice. And in the midst of those memories stands a large brown monster of metal planted firmly into the corner of the center room of our house. It was ugly, cumbersome, dark, and dangerous if you leaned upon it, but it was my favorite place on those cold mornings as I prepared for school. It was the gas stove that heated our house.
On a January or February morning in circa 1960 I would awake in my room at the back of the house beyond the kitchen. Even though it nestled next to the warm kitchen, it still was the coldest room in the house, and that's one reason I liked it because I liked sleeping in a cold room. I awakened beneath so many blankets I wonder I could even move. There was a sheet, usually flannel in winter, two or three blankets, a quilt and a chenille bedspread. There were a few years when I was blessed to have an electric blanket. When I poked my nose out from under all this protection I would immediately see my breath as I exhaled from my warm body. I would turn to my right and look directly through the only window in the room, and on the sill would stand about an inch of frost, and the frost trailed up the window panes about one fourth of the way. Oh, how I wished I could stay under all those blankets, but I knew there was no hope for that. So, I would scramble from my warm bed, grab the clothes that I laid out the night before, and rush to the dining room where I would huddle behind that huge, warm piece of metal to dress. It took no time at all for me to finish; I didn't dally any longer than I had to. I dressed very quickly.
The brown stove was the first place I stopped when I came in from school. I removed my knitted gloves or mittens and laid them on the coolest part of the grilled top so as to dry and warm them if I had to go back out. I came home every day at noon for lunch because we couldn't afford school lunches, and I hated taking a sack lunch. We lived twelve blocks from school, so I appreciated the warmth of that old stove.
Mom also used the top of the stove to keep lunch warm for Dad and me. My favorite lunch was potato soup, so the big pot would be there waiting for us. Mom had many other chores to do, so making lunch ahead of time and keeping it warm was easier for her. On Mondays Mom baked bread for the week, and she would keep the baked bread on the stove until after lunch so that we could have hot bread.
In the bathroom, nestled next to the large claw-foot bathtub, was a very small gas stove to heat that room, and the kitchen was heated by the oven. On really cold days Mom would leave the door on the oven open to help heat the room, and the oven was never turned off during the winter months.
I am very thankful for the wonderful conveniences we have today. We didn't have air conditioning when I was growing up, just a large square fan perched in a screened window. Most of my friends had heat and air conditioning in their homes. We weren't that fortunate, but the memories I have of that old brown stove are sweet and precious.
Friday, December 17, 2010
PEEWEE, A VERY CRAZY BIRD
There are many people in this world who make our days fun and different and exciting. I enjoy people, some people, and I especially enjoy those who make the days fun and interesting. If the truth be known, I really prefer dogs to people because they are so devoted and loyal, so full of love for their master, and never have a bad word to say to you. But this story tells of a creature that, at one time, made my life fun and different and enjoyable. This is a story about a real birdbrain, if I may say so. It's about PeeWee the parakeet, and how a little animal can make life exciting and fun.
PeeWee came to our house when I was about three years old. My first memory of him is being in his cage that Mom had placed in the bathroom window. This observation point was perfect for him. One direction faced directly into the backyard where he could commune with the outside birds and dream of freedom. With the window open anyone in the yard working could talk to him. The opposite direction allowed him to view straight through the dining room and living room to the front door. The only place he couldn't see you was in the kitchen or bedrooms. PeeWee had a great setting, a great imagination, a great personality, and a very ornery streak.
Our first attempt to train PeeWee was to teach him to talk. It took very little time before we heard the results of our efforts. Dad worked in the backyard a lot, and so he would pass the window and stop to say hello. "Hello, PeeWee." he would say over and over. "PeeWee's a pretty bird." This sentence was repeated continually by my whole family. And soon he was saying it himself. Then he began to say things that we weren't trying to teach him. The dining room was just a few feet away and soon he was heard to say, "Shirley. Clean up your plate. Shirley. Clean up your plate."
I'm not sure why we named him PeeWee, other than his size. Most of the time mom and dad were trying to get him to say "Liberace", the name of a famous piano player at the time. Mom would say, "Call me Liberace." But the whole sentence never came. He would say "Liberace" and then laugh, "yuk yuk yuk yuk yuk", which sometimes sounded like my mother and other times more like my dad. PeeWee laughed constantly, and always sounding like one of them. What was so unnerving was that he had the ability to understand what he was laughing at. If mom made a mistake in the kitchen she would say, "Oh, rats!" Immediately PeeWee would say, "Oh, rats!" And then he would laugh. My dad would tell us a joke, and PeeWee would laugh. He would say, "That's a good one, yuk yuk yuk yuk yuk."
PeeWee was allowed to roam the house on most days. We never clipped his wings, so he had full power to fly where he wished. Sometimes he would fly around from window to window, stretching his wings and laughing. He might stop long enough to look around and say "PeeWee's a pretty bird." Then he would fly some more. He especially liked hanging out in whatever room mom was, sitting on the window curtain or on her shoulder. He couldn't stay on her shoulder for long because she was always moving around, so he had to find a station for observation. Mom sang continually, and he loved this, so he listened and sometimes he would repeat a word. More often he would just chatter along in his bird chatter. He stopped when she stopped, and he chattered as she sang.
When we moved to Falls City PeeWee's cage no longer had such good views, so mom would take him in his cage to sit on the porch or hang on the clothesline. Here PeeWee chattered and whistled and talked all day long to his feathered friends. We had to watch for cats, but PeeWee warned us if one came into the yard with such shrieking and fluttering that we knew to hurry out to save him from someones lunch, though they couldn't have gotten to him in his cage. We brought him in nonetheless.
More about outdoors later. I told you that he was ornery, and so I must explain some of the antics we had to tolerate. PeeWee loved butter. We learned to keep a lid on the butter dish or we would find little peck marks all the way around the edge. He loved to chew on the curtain tops as he perched. Mom continually had to either chase him off or replace the lace curtains. The curtains didn't get replaced until they were totally ragged along the top from one side to the other. You could hear him chewing, and then he would laugh, because he knew he wasn't suppose to be doing it. Often those curtains had to be washed....bird poop, you know.
PeeWee loved to tease and play with my mother. He would dive-bomb her head while she was cooking, grabbing at a strand of hair as he passed. Then he would sit up on the curtain and laugh before he went back for more. He would talk to her, then dive at her head and perch and laugh. But one day PeeWee went just a little too far. My mom was making a big pot of vegetable soup and as she stood at the stove stirring and singing PeeWee decided he wanted to play dive and scoop. Mom heard him flying toward her and ducked, and PeeWee flew into the back of the stove, knocking him senseless, and falling directly into the boiling pot of homemade vegetable soup. Mom screamed, grabbed a large spoon and dove in after him. She wrapped him in a towel and went to the sink to put him in cool water. We almost had parakeet for dinner that night, but mom was quick enough to save our poor little baby. After he was calm and shivering and wrapped into a soft clean tea towel we were astonished to see a totally naked bird. PeeWee had not one feather left on his body. The boiling soup had completely stripped him, and he was the most pathetic sight you would ever see.
He couldn't eat; he couldn't drink. Mom nursed him back to health over the next few weeks with an eyedropper, making sure he drank plenty of water. Eventually he began to have a little fuzz on his body, then feathers. He began to eat a little lettuce as mom held it for him, then some bird seed. It took weeks, but he was nursed back to health, just as pretty as ever, just as ornery as ever, and with just as good a vocabulary.
PeeWee spent most evenings on my shoulder sleeping until it was time for bed. He cuddled into my neck as far as he could, snuggled his head under my chin or into his feathers, hunkered down, and there he stayed. Oh how I loved this bird. He was warm and funny and sweet. On really cold nights PeeWee would crawl into the front of my blouse and nestle on my chest to sleep. While he was awake and sitting on my shoulder he would talk and tell me how pretty he was, and how dirty. "PeeWee's a dirty bird. yuk yuk yuk yuk yuk." "Well, I'll be a dirty bird." We taught him to say this because it was a famous saying by George Gobel, a famous TV comedian. "Look out, PeeWee! Look out, PeeWee! yuk yuk yuk yuk yuk." "Gimme a kiss. Come on. Gimme a kiss." Then he would scoot over to my cheek and kiss me. He did this to mom, as well, but for some reason he never asked dad for a kiss. He would sit on his shoulder, but never ask for a kiss. He also kissed mom and I on the lips, and he was very gentle about it. PeeWee almost never bit, but I remember a couple of times when he got mad and bit me if I put my thumb on his feet to keep him from flying. Dad or mom would be going out the door and I didn't want him to fly out with them.
One summer day mom took PeeWee in his cage outside to clean it. PeeWee's cage was shaped as a rectangle, which made it easier for him to sit on the top and move around. It also makes it easier to hang bells and treats on the inside, and it is bigger than most cages. As mom pulled the sliding floor out the paper on it caught about halfway, and it tilted the cage just enough for a frightened bird to fly out and right on up into the apple tree. Mom called and called. PeeWee laughed and laughed. He talked and whistled to the birds, and when mom called him he laughed. This went on for hours. I called. PeeWee laughed. I tried to climb the tree, but he was so high up that I couldn't get to him. And he laughed. Mom and I were both frantic, but he just wouldn't fly down. Hours passed and then we didn't hear him anymore. He had flown away, and I cried myself to sleep that night. There could never be another bird like him, and my heart was broken.
After a week of calling and watching I finally gave up and realized that I was not going to see PeeWee ever again. By this time I was sure he was dead from exposure and not eating or drinking. But about two weeks later mom saw an ad in the paper in the Lost and Found that a parakeet had been found. Mom immediately called the number. Mom described PeeWee to the man, but other than being green and a parakeet, was there any other way to identify the bird, the man asked. Mom thought for a minute. Yes! Our bird has an identification band on one of his legs with the number 69 on it. That was it! They had found PeeWee. We hurried to pick him up at the sight where he had been found. The city was building a new elementary school, and one of the workers had found PeeWee sitting on the old merry-go-round. He was battered and tired, and he let the man pick him up with no resistance. We brought him home and treated him to the very best treatment ever. He was even allowed a little dab of butter to peck on.
It was a while before PeeWee began to chatter and talk, and even longer before he wanted to play dive-bomber. There was little laughter for quite a while. PeeWee was very glad to be home, and he wasn't in the mood for much nonsense. But he eventually perked up and was the same old tease, with lots of laughter and diving.
We also had to be careful when we ran our bath water to be sure the door was closed. He loved to dive through the water as it was coming out which invariably knocked him down. He was able to fly out of the water to repeat the process until he was too wet to fly. So we kept the door shut, and kept a small bowl of water on a table so that he could swim and splash safely and at his leisure.
PeeWee had a very large bell in his cage. Mom had received it from Dad and it had a small bottle of nice perfume attached to it. So, PeeWee inherited the bell, and he loved to place his whole body inside it and sleep. Inside the bell was a little ball on a piece of thick string, and he could beat on this bell with his bill and make a lot of noise, ringing and shrieking, and, of course, laughing at himself. He could see his image in the bell, and it was just a delightful addition to his many toys. While we were gone to town that day PeeWee decided to take a nap inside his bell. We can only imagine what caused him to get wrapped up in that string, but when we got home we found a bloody bird laying on the floor at the side of his cage. Somehow he had gotten the string with the ball on the end of it wrapped around and around his neck. When he realized he was caught he had flapped and fought his way, bell and all, down the side of the cage and onto the floor where he lay exhausted and not appearing to breathe.
We got him out of the cage and clipped off the string with scissors. He had beaten himself raw of feathers in many parts of his head and neck and wings. He was a sad, bloody mess. He was barely alive, and once again my mom spent weeks feeding him water with an eyedropper, hand-feeding him lettuce and bird seed. He slept on my chest whenever I was home from school, and I never let him out of my sight. His cage had always been covered for the night, but now I not only covered it, but I kept it close, either having it in my room or sleeping on the couch. And wouldn't you know it, PeeWee grew back to health, and was the same old stinker that he had always been. This bird had nine lives.
PeeWee said lots of words, some in sentences, some just words he heard that he repeated. He knew when to say "Give me a kiss." He knew when to laugh, especially at mom. He was one of the smart ones. I've seen many instances when people have tried to teach a bird to talk and they never do. I'm not sure if it's the bird's fault or the teacher's, but I know that he was quick to learn and he knew when to say things.
One thing my mom and I thought was one of the funniest things is when my Grandma who we lived with would get angry. She often would slam doors and move her furniture around in her room and stomp through the house from the bathroom and back to her room. When she did this PeeWee would laugh at her as she passed his cage. She would stop, give him a dirty look, make a scoffing sound and stomp on, to which PeeWee would laugh. He really was a bad, bad bird. And mom and I were bad for thinking this was funny.
One morning when I was 16 I was in the bathroom getting ready for school. The door opened and my mom walked in and sat down on the edge of the tub. She asked me to sit down with her, then told me that during the night PeeWee had died, that she had found him on the floor of his cage and that dad had immediately taken him out to the back to bury him so that I wouldn't have to see him. It took old age to kill such a fine bird. Nothing else could overtake him.
My life has been blessed with many pets that were dear to me. PeeWee was the first. He was the bravest. And he was the most exasperating pet I've ever seen. To this day I think of him and smile with admiration. PeeWee was a dirty bird.
PeeWee came to our house when I was about three years old. My first memory of him is being in his cage that Mom had placed in the bathroom window. This observation point was perfect for him. One direction faced directly into the backyard where he could commune with the outside birds and dream of freedom. With the window open anyone in the yard working could talk to him. The opposite direction allowed him to view straight through the dining room and living room to the front door. The only place he couldn't see you was in the kitchen or bedrooms. PeeWee had a great setting, a great imagination, a great personality, and a very ornery streak.
I'm not sure why we named him PeeWee, other than his size. Most of the time mom and dad were trying to get him to say "Liberace", the name of a famous piano player at the time. Mom would say, "Call me Liberace." But the whole sentence never came. He would say "Liberace" and then laugh, "yuk yuk yuk yuk yuk", which sometimes sounded like my mother and other times more like my dad. PeeWee laughed constantly, and always sounding like one of them. What was so unnerving was that he had the ability to understand what he was laughing at. If mom made a mistake in the kitchen she would say, "Oh, rats!" Immediately PeeWee would say, "Oh, rats!" And then he would laugh. My dad would tell us a joke, and PeeWee would laugh. He would say, "That's a good one, yuk yuk yuk yuk yuk."
PeeWee was allowed to roam the house on most days. We never clipped his wings, so he had full power to fly where he wished. Sometimes he would fly around from window to window, stretching his wings and laughing. He might stop long enough to look around and say "PeeWee's a pretty bird." Then he would fly some more. He especially liked hanging out in whatever room mom was, sitting on the window curtain or on her shoulder. He couldn't stay on her shoulder for long because she was always moving around, so he had to find a station for observation. Mom sang continually, and he loved this, so he listened and sometimes he would repeat a word. More often he would just chatter along in his bird chatter. He stopped when she stopped, and he chattered as she sang.
When we moved to Falls City PeeWee's cage no longer had such good views, so mom would take him in his cage to sit on the porch or hang on the clothesline. Here PeeWee chattered and whistled and talked all day long to his feathered friends. We had to watch for cats, but PeeWee warned us if one came into the yard with such shrieking and fluttering that we knew to hurry out to save him from someones lunch, though they couldn't have gotten to him in his cage. We brought him in nonetheless.
More about outdoors later. I told you that he was ornery, and so I must explain some of the antics we had to tolerate. PeeWee loved butter. We learned to keep a lid on the butter dish or we would find little peck marks all the way around the edge. He loved to chew on the curtain tops as he perched. Mom continually had to either chase him off or replace the lace curtains. The curtains didn't get replaced until they were totally ragged along the top from one side to the other. You could hear him chewing, and then he would laugh, because he knew he wasn't suppose to be doing it. Often those curtains had to be washed....bird poop, you know.
PeeWee loved to tease and play with my mother. He would dive-bomb her head while she was cooking, grabbing at a strand of hair as he passed. Then he would sit up on the curtain and laugh before he went back for more. He would talk to her, then dive at her head and perch and laugh. But one day PeeWee went just a little too far. My mom was making a big pot of vegetable soup and as she stood at the stove stirring and singing PeeWee decided he wanted to play dive and scoop. Mom heard him flying toward her and ducked, and PeeWee flew into the back of the stove, knocking him senseless, and falling directly into the boiling pot of homemade vegetable soup. Mom screamed, grabbed a large spoon and dove in after him. She wrapped him in a towel and went to the sink to put him in cool water. We almost had parakeet for dinner that night, but mom was quick enough to save our poor little baby. After he was calm and shivering and wrapped into a soft clean tea towel we were astonished to see a totally naked bird. PeeWee had not one feather left on his body. The boiling soup had completely stripped him, and he was the most pathetic sight you would ever see.
He couldn't eat; he couldn't drink. Mom nursed him back to health over the next few weeks with an eyedropper, making sure he drank plenty of water. Eventually he began to have a little fuzz on his body, then feathers. He began to eat a little lettuce as mom held it for him, then some bird seed. It took weeks, but he was nursed back to health, just as pretty as ever, just as ornery as ever, and with just as good a vocabulary.
PeeWee spent most evenings on my shoulder sleeping until it was time for bed. He cuddled into my neck as far as he could, snuggled his head under my chin or into his feathers, hunkered down, and there he stayed. Oh how I loved this bird. He was warm and funny and sweet. On really cold nights PeeWee would crawl into the front of my blouse and nestle on my chest to sleep. While he was awake and sitting on my shoulder he would talk and tell me how pretty he was, and how dirty. "PeeWee's a dirty bird. yuk yuk yuk yuk yuk." "Well, I'll be a dirty bird." We taught him to say this because it was a famous saying by George Gobel, a famous TV comedian. "Look out, PeeWee! Look out, PeeWee! yuk yuk yuk yuk yuk." "Gimme a kiss. Come on. Gimme a kiss." Then he would scoot over to my cheek and kiss me. He did this to mom, as well, but for some reason he never asked dad for a kiss. He would sit on his shoulder, but never ask for a kiss. He also kissed mom and I on the lips, and he was very gentle about it. PeeWee almost never bit, but I remember a couple of times when he got mad and bit me if I put my thumb on his feet to keep him from flying. Dad or mom would be going out the door and I didn't want him to fly out with them.
One summer day mom took PeeWee in his cage outside to clean it. PeeWee's cage was shaped as a rectangle, which made it easier for him to sit on the top and move around. It also makes it easier to hang bells and treats on the inside, and it is bigger than most cages. As mom pulled the sliding floor out the paper on it caught about halfway, and it tilted the cage just enough for a frightened bird to fly out and right on up into the apple tree. Mom called and called. PeeWee laughed and laughed. He talked and whistled to the birds, and when mom called him he laughed. This went on for hours. I called. PeeWee laughed. I tried to climb the tree, but he was so high up that I couldn't get to him. And he laughed. Mom and I were both frantic, but he just wouldn't fly down. Hours passed and then we didn't hear him anymore. He had flown away, and I cried myself to sleep that night. There could never be another bird like him, and my heart was broken.
After a week of calling and watching I finally gave up and realized that I was not going to see PeeWee ever again. By this time I was sure he was dead from exposure and not eating or drinking. But about two weeks later mom saw an ad in the paper in the Lost and Found that a parakeet had been found. Mom immediately called the number. Mom described PeeWee to the man, but other than being green and a parakeet, was there any other way to identify the bird, the man asked. Mom thought for a minute. Yes! Our bird has an identification band on one of his legs with the number 69 on it. That was it! They had found PeeWee. We hurried to pick him up at the sight where he had been found. The city was building a new elementary school, and one of the workers had found PeeWee sitting on the old merry-go-round. He was battered and tired, and he let the man pick him up with no resistance. We brought him home and treated him to the very best treatment ever. He was even allowed a little dab of butter to peck on.
It was a while before PeeWee began to chatter and talk, and even longer before he wanted to play dive-bomber. There was little laughter for quite a while. PeeWee was very glad to be home, and he wasn't in the mood for much nonsense. But he eventually perked up and was the same old tease, with lots of laughter and diving.
We also had to be careful when we ran our bath water to be sure the door was closed. He loved to dive through the water as it was coming out which invariably knocked him down. He was able to fly out of the water to repeat the process until he was too wet to fly. So we kept the door shut, and kept a small bowl of water on a table so that he could swim and splash safely and at his leisure.
PeeWee had a very large bell in his cage. Mom had received it from Dad and it had a small bottle of nice perfume attached to it. So, PeeWee inherited the bell, and he loved to place his whole body inside it and sleep. Inside the bell was a little ball on a piece of thick string, and he could beat on this bell with his bill and make a lot of noise, ringing and shrieking, and, of course, laughing at himself. He could see his image in the bell, and it was just a delightful addition to his many toys. While we were gone to town that day PeeWee decided to take a nap inside his bell. We can only imagine what caused him to get wrapped up in that string, but when we got home we found a bloody bird laying on the floor at the side of his cage. Somehow he had gotten the string with the ball on the end of it wrapped around and around his neck. When he realized he was caught he had flapped and fought his way, bell and all, down the side of the cage and onto the floor where he lay exhausted and not appearing to breathe.
We got him out of the cage and clipped off the string with scissors. He had beaten himself raw of feathers in many parts of his head and neck and wings. He was a sad, bloody mess. He was barely alive, and once again my mom spent weeks feeding him water with an eyedropper, hand-feeding him lettuce and bird seed. He slept on my chest whenever I was home from school, and I never let him out of my sight. His cage had always been covered for the night, but now I not only covered it, but I kept it close, either having it in my room or sleeping on the couch. And wouldn't you know it, PeeWee grew back to health, and was the same old stinker that he had always been. This bird had nine lives.
PeeWee said lots of words, some in sentences, some just words he heard that he repeated. He knew when to say "Give me a kiss." He knew when to laugh, especially at mom. He was one of the smart ones. I've seen many instances when people have tried to teach a bird to talk and they never do. I'm not sure if it's the bird's fault or the teacher's, but I know that he was quick to learn and he knew when to say things.
One thing my mom and I thought was one of the funniest things is when my Grandma who we lived with would get angry. She often would slam doors and move her furniture around in her room and stomp through the house from the bathroom and back to her room. When she did this PeeWee would laugh at her as she passed his cage. She would stop, give him a dirty look, make a scoffing sound and stomp on, to which PeeWee would laugh. He really was a bad, bad bird. And mom and I were bad for thinking this was funny.
One morning when I was 16 I was in the bathroom getting ready for school. The door opened and my mom walked in and sat down on the edge of the tub. She asked me to sit down with her, then told me that during the night PeeWee had died, that she had found him on the floor of his cage and that dad had immediately taken him out to the back to bury him so that I wouldn't have to see him. It took old age to kill such a fine bird. Nothing else could overtake him.
My life has been blessed with many pets that were dear to me. PeeWee was the first. He was the bravest. And he was the most exasperating pet I've ever seen. To this day I think of him and smile with admiration. PeeWee was a dirty bird.
Monday, October 25, 2010
TAKING VACATIONS?
My, how times have changed! Perhaps it's because growing up in the 1950's was already so pleasant. But, I suspect that the reason our family took so few vacations was that we couldn't afford it. Actually, the word vacation just wasn't in our family vocabulary, or just not considered at all. There was work to do, and it was done six days a week. Sunday was for church and rest. There were one or two times that I think I can say we were on a vacation, but not often, and certainly not every year.
I don't remember my dad even taking days off, or having a set vacation time every year. He went to work every day, even when he was sick. He had no "sick days", and I don't believe he had "vacation days" at any of his jobs. We just stayed home. We had short trips on weekends, but those were always to family within driving distance, and we went fishing in the summer evenings. That was dad's relaxation time, not to mention it filled our freezer for winter meals. He also hunted on winter Saturdays, and I went along most of the time, and my mom would come along sometimes. We hunted squirrel, rabbit, quail, pheasant, ducks, and deer. I didn't go along when he went deer hunting. That required too much sitting, and you had to be very quiet and still. Quiet I could do. Still was another story. The commom quip from my day about me was that I had "ants in my pants". Winter meals were pretty much established by fishing and hunting, and of course, there were canned vegetables and fruits from the garden.
I looked forward to Falls City's "4-H Fair Days" every year. During these three days of parades and a carnival on main street (Stone Street) there was a rodeo every evening, and during the daylight hours there were 4-H entries at the auditorium that were being judged, winning ribbons, and people wandering around admiring all the entries. I was in 4-H for many years, so I always had baked entries, hand sewn clothes, and crafted items. There were many farmers in the area, and so there were livestock entries, rabbits, and other domesticated animals. Those three days were usually the highlight of the summer. They were the first week of August, just before State Fair and County Fair, and we always had so much fun, even though I wasn't allowed as much money for the rides as other kids. But I did my best to save pennies. Rides were usually 5 cents, some were 10. My dad would give me 50 cents, and I made it last most of the day. The best part about a small town is that I could go to the fair without my parents. My dad worked in the downtown area, so I always had access to him. If it was a good day, and he was in a good mood, I just might be able to stop by his store and weasel another 5 cents, but he had to be in a good mood. It helped if there were other people around.
Almost every year my mom and I traveled by Continental Trailways (bus) to visit my Grandma Campbell. I remember twice we took a train. That's my idea of a vacation. My grandmother lived with her son Raymond and his wife Marian and their son Jerry. I really loved going to their house. It was always fun. For a while they lived in Waxahatchie, Texas, and that is when we traveled by train. I was very young, but I remember it very well. We usually went at Christmas time, and in southern Texas it was usually pretty warm, so there was lots of outdoor time with Jerry and his friends. My grandmother would sit with me for hours to teach me things like embroidery, and crocheting. We did crosswords together, and the whole family played board games every night. My uncle would challenge me to spell really long words on the blackboard they had in their kitchen, and he would tease me constantly about everything. I loved being in that house.
They moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma later, and I loved going there as well. Their home was a Cape Cod style brick, with a wonderful climbing tree in the back. Mom and Grandma and I would sit on the back patio for hours and drink iced tea and talk and sing hymns. I was a little intimidated by my Aunt Marian. She was about four foot ten, talked so fast you really had to pay attention, chomped ice incessantly, and was a stick of dynamite. She and my uncle were both Baptist preachers, and they were fun. But I didn't mess with her. I did exactly what she told me to do.
When I was about nine or ten my dad planned a fishing trip to Minnesota in September. September in Minnesota is pretty cool, and I remember a bit of rain that year. We all went up together and the lake and fish odors, and the autumn damp smell will be in my memory forever. There were no other children to play with because the normal tourist season was over, so when I wasn't out on the lake with my dad and his friend I would be in the little cafe that was on the grounds. This is where I learned to slow dance. The daughter of the owner of the campground worked in this little cafe, and she was a teen, probably fifteen. She was just old enough for me to think I wanted to be just like her. And I was company for her. So she played the jukebox or the old piano they had there, and taught me to dance, and especially to waltz.
Being on this trip was the first time I had ever seen a chipmunk, and it was the very first time in my life that I was allowed to wear something other than a dress or skirt. My dad was very old fashioned and strict, and I wasn't even allowed shorts in the summer. We were in Minnesota, almost to our destination, when my dad asked my mom if she had enough warm clothes for me. She said that I had a coat and a sweater, but she thought I would still be cold out on the lake. Dad hadn't even considered this, so we stopped at a store in the next town, and they purchased for me my very first pair of jeans and a hooded sweat shirt. As far as I was concerned, it might as well have been a princess dress. I was so happy to finally have pants, and I wore them every single day I was there. Mom washed them out and hung them to dry or I would have worn them dirty.
I remember another time when we travelled to Tuttlecreek Lake in Kansas for a weekend fishing trip. This was just after a tornado had leveled a lot of the area around it. We saw a piece of siding from a house trailer that was speared into a tree. And I remember going to Joplin, Missouri a couple of times to visit my dad's sister, my Aunt Vera. This was in the Ozarks, and that was enjoyable because we not only went to her house, but we did some sight seeing. Beautiful country, and my mom almost got wiped out by a mama buffalo because she got to close to her baby buffalo. That was exciting. On our way home we stopped at some caverns called Bridal Cave and saw stalactites and stalagmites.
My dad had stomach ulcers, and once I remember he and my mom had to go to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, so they dropped me off at my dad's brother's in Iowa City. That was sort of a vacation, and I got to meet their friend's children, and grew closer to my Aunt Bettye. I also can tell you what music was popular at the time because my dad played the car radio a lot. He seldom did this, but on a trip he did because my mom enjoyed the music. I rememer hearing songs like Personality, and Don't Know Much About History, the first version, so this must have been in the late 50's.
I was allowed many times to spend weekends with friends and family who lived on farms. Those are wonderful memories, and I really enjoyed farm living. Once, when I was eleven or twelve, someone in our church paid for me to go to church camp with the kids. Initially I wasn't able to go because we didn't have the money, but someone came forward to pay my way.
Well, there you have it. I can't think that there were any other times that we left home for any length of time. Even leaving home for a day trip to visit aunts and uncles or even the cemeteries was like a vacation at our house, and we did that often.
Today, Ron and I travel to visit our grandchildren. We enjoy being around them more than going anywhere else. That family planned a trip with us to the ocean, which was my first time to see it, and that was lots of fun. Ron and I seldom go to places without our children. When you live away from all of them there is just no where else we want to go, though, I will say I do have this desire to see the Grand Canyon, and I am campaigning for the trip, but I'm not holding my breath. When I take a trip, I go alone lots of times, which is fine with me, but after about four days I get very homesick for Ron, and sometimes I cry and get a little cranky until I can get passed it. I always love going home.
I don't remember my dad even taking days off, or having a set vacation time every year. He went to work every day, even when he was sick. He had no "sick days", and I don't believe he had "vacation days" at any of his jobs. We just stayed home. We had short trips on weekends, but those were always to family within driving distance, and we went fishing in the summer evenings. That was dad's relaxation time, not to mention it filled our freezer for winter meals. He also hunted on winter Saturdays, and I went along most of the time, and my mom would come along sometimes. We hunted squirrel, rabbit, quail, pheasant, ducks, and deer. I didn't go along when he went deer hunting. That required too much sitting, and you had to be very quiet and still. Quiet I could do. Still was another story. The commom quip from my day about me was that I had "ants in my pants". Winter meals were pretty much established by fishing and hunting, and of course, there were canned vegetables and fruits from the garden.
I looked forward to Falls City's "4-H Fair Days" every year. During these three days of parades and a carnival on main street (Stone Street) there was a rodeo every evening, and during the daylight hours there were 4-H entries at the auditorium that were being judged, winning ribbons, and people wandering around admiring all the entries. I was in 4-H for many years, so I always had baked entries, hand sewn clothes, and crafted items. There were many farmers in the area, and so there were livestock entries, rabbits, and other domesticated animals. Those three days were usually the highlight of the summer. They were the first week of August, just before State Fair and County Fair, and we always had so much fun, even though I wasn't allowed as much money for the rides as other kids. But I did my best to save pennies. Rides were usually 5 cents, some were 10. My dad would give me 50 cents, and I made it last most of the day. The best part about a small town is that I could go to the fair without my parents. My dad worked in the downtown area, so I always had access to him. If it was a good day, and he was in a good mood, I just might be able to stop by his store and weasel another 5 cents, but he had to be in a good mood. It helped if there were other people around.
Almost every year my mom and I traveled by Continental Trailways (bus) to visit my Grandma Campbell. I remember twice we took a train. That's my idea of a vacation. My grandmother lived with her son Raymond and his wife Marian and their son Jerry. I really loved going to their house. It was always fun. For a while they lived in Waxahatchie, Texas, and that is when we traveled by train. I was very young, but I remember it very well. We usually went at Christmas time, and in southern Texas it was usually pretty warm, so there was lots of outdoor time with Jerry and his friends. My grandmother would sit with me for hours to teach me things like embroidery, and crocheting. We did crosswords together, and the whole family played board games every night. My uncle would challenge me to spell really long words on the blackboard they had in their kitchen, and he would tease me constantly about everything. I loved being in that house.
They moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma later, and I loved going there as well. Their home was a Cape Cod style brick, with a wonderful climbing tree in the back. Mom and Grandma and I would sit on the back patio for hours and drink iced tea and talk and sing hymns. I was a little intimidated by my Aunt Marian. She was about four foot ten, talked so fast you really had to pay attention, chomped ice incessantly, and was a stick of dynamite. She and my uncle were both Baptist preachers, and they were fun. But I didn't mess with her. I did exactly what she told me to do.
When I was about nine or ten my dad planned a fishing trip to Minnesota in September. September in Minnesota is pretty cool, and I remember a bit of rain that year. We all went up together and the lake and fish odors, and the autumn damp smell will be in my memory forever. There were no other children to play with because the normal tourist season was over, so when I wasn't out on the lake with my dad and his friend I would be in the little cafe that was on the grounds. This is where I learned to slow dance. The daughter of the owner of the campground worked in this little cafe, and she was a teen, probably fifteen. She was just old enough for me to think I wanted to be just like her. And I was company for her. So she played the jukebox or the old piano they had there, and taught me to dance, and especially to waltz.
Being on this trip was the first time I had ever seen a chipmunk, and it was the very first time in my life that I was allowed to wear something other than a dress or skirt. My dad was very old fashioned and strict, and I wasn't even allowed shorts in the summer. We were in Minnesota, almost to our destination, when my dad asked my mom if she had enough warm clothes for me. She said that I had a coat and a sweater, but she thought I would still be cold out on the lake. Dad hadn't even considered this, so we stopped at a store in the next town, and they purchased for me my very first pair of jeans and a hooded sweat shirt. As far as I was concerned, it might as well have been a princess dress. I was so happy to finally have pants, and I wore them every single day I was there. Mom washed them out and hung them to dry or I would have worn them dirty.
I remember another time when we travelled to Tuttlecreek Lake in Kansas for a weekend fishing trip. This was just after a tornado had leveled a lot of the area around it. We saw a piece of siding from a house trailer that was speared into a tree. And I remember going to Joplin, Missouri a couple of times to visit my dad's sister, my Aunt Vera. This was in the Ozarks, and that was enjoyable because we not only went to her house, but we did some sight seeing. Beautiful country, and my mom almost got wiped out by a mama buffalo because she got to close to her baby buffalo. That was exciting. On our way home we stopped at some caverns called Bridal Cave and saw stalactites and stalagmites.
My dad had stomach ulcers, and once I remember he and my mom had to go to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, so they dropped me off at my dad's brother's in Iowa City. That was sort of a vacation, and I got to meet their friend's children, and grew closer to my Aunt Bettye. I also can tell you what music was popular at the time because my dad played the car radio a lot. He seldom did this, but on a trip he did because my mom enjoyed the music. I rememer hearing songs like Personality, and Don't Know Much About History, the first version, so this must have been in the late 50's.
I was allowed many times to spend weekends with friends and family who lived on farms. Those are wonderful memories, and I really enjoyed farm living. Once, when I was eleven or twelve, someone in our church paid for me to go to church camp with the kids. Initially I wasn't able to go because we didn't have the money, but someone came forward to pay my way.
Well, there you have it. I can't think that there were any other times that we left home for any length of time. Even leaving home for a day trip to visit aunts and uncles or even the cemeteries was like a vacation at our house, and we did that often.
Today, Ron and I travel to visit our grandchildren. We enjoy being around them more than going anywhere else. That family planned a trip with us to the ocean, which was my first time to see it, and that was lots of fun. Ron and I seldom go to places without our children. When you live away from all of them there is just no where else we want to go, though, I will say I do have this desire to see the Grand Canyon, and I am campaigning for the trip, but I'm not holding my breath. When I take a trip, I go alone lots of times, which is fine with me, but after about four days I get very homesick for Ron, and sometimes I cry and get a little cranky until I can get passed it. I always love going home.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Roller Skating
Last week my grandson, Wesley, called me with some bad news. He and his brother Calvin, his sister Lelia, and his mom had gone out for the evening to a roller skating rink. This was the second or third time they had been roller skating, and they had fallen in love with the exercise. Their mom, Jill, had skated as a youth, and she was excited to introduce the activity to her children. They say that roller skating is just like riding a bicycle, you never forget how. Well, that is the good news. The bad news was that at the end of the evening, just before leaving the floor, Wesley had fallen and he had broken his left arm just above the wrist. 
I commiserated with him, telling him how much I wished I could be there to comfort him, knowing all the while that there is only so much a Grammy can do when comforting a thirteen year-old. Hugs are dangerous when there are broken bones involved, and suggestions of sitting on Grammy's lap would probably be met with a sarcastic roll of the eyes, though, with Wesley I might get a surprise. He does love his Grammy.
After our long distance conversation I began to reminisce about my younger days on roller skates. My grandchildren would no doubt consider my props quite primitive. And as I gaze upon the picture of what is considered a pair of "antique" roller skates, I have to chuckle. They look exactly like the ones I owned and used for years. Guess that makes me an "antique" as well, though I feel as if I could buckle those babies up and take off right now on them. And so begins my short saga of skating away hours of my childhood on my "antique" skates.
The most exciting ride I ever took as a child was on my bike. As I have written, I spent hours of my summer days exploring my little town of five thousand, and soaring down steep hills. But the second most exciting ride I took was on my roller skates. I had no siblings at home to grow up with, so many times I played alone, using my imagination to pass my time away. I also had lots of games and toys and dolls that I had fun with. But being outside and seeing the world around me was so much better than sitting inside on a beautiful day with a baby doll to dress and talk to.
Falls City was primarily laid out in city blocks, all uniform in their rectangle shapes. Here and there would be a block of irregular shape, but you could measure your trip in our town by blocks. For instance, I walked exactly twelve blocks to school. (One of the most annoying things I remember growing up was having to walk a block out of my way and then back to get to my friend's house because the street I walked on stopped and picked up again three blocks over. I would have cut through, but there was a stream that I would have had to wade through, and the banks were too steep to manage.) My block was the standard, with six houses on our side of the block and two houses and a church on the other. There was an alley cut down the center.
Now, putting on these skates is a story in itself. You can see from the picture that it wasn't like putting on a pair of shoes as it is today, though when we went to the roller rink we did wear boot skates similar to the ones today. No, attaching these skates sometimes took some skill, a learned skill that came from trial and error and repeated applications. First of all, you couldn't just wear any old shoe with them. The shoe you wore needed a sole with a definite ridge around the edge. Tennis shoes or sandals just didn't work. Usually we wore an oxford type shoe that was very sturdy. Stepping onto the skate, the first thing to do was to buckle the strap, making sure it was not too loose, not too tight. Then we adjusted the metal grips on each side of the toe of the shoe. Here's where my trusty skate key came in. One end of the skate key was placed on the metal rod that turned, causing the grips to open and close. Again, it was important that the grips were not too loose or not too tight. The grips wrapped around the sole of your shoe, hopefully securing the skate. You're ready. You think.
Sometimes the skate fell off as soon as you stood up, and you would have to start all over again. Sometimes the skate would wait until you got half-way down the block before it fell off. Then you would have to sit down and start all over again. Remember, there are two of these skates.
Some days the procedure went off without a hitch, and I would skate around and around and around my block. To this day, fifty-some years later, I can tell you where most of the holes in the cement sidewalks were. I can remember the sections of sidewalk that had shifted over time, and so were not level. These are very important things to remember because these places in the walk needed to be navigated with care. Forget one silver dollar sized hole and it could send you sprawling, hopefully in the grass, but more than likely on the cement. I'll just say that I suffered many, many skinned knees and elbows in my day.
The church was fairly new at the time, and, along with the parsonage, it took up half of the block. Therefore, the sidewalk along this area was newer and smoother and a real delight for skaters. It also was on a slight decline, so going down that sidewalk in front of the church was so much uninterrupted fun. There were no hazards to watch for, just smooth sailing. But, as soon as you passed the parsonage home was one of the worst places on the whole block. One side of the sidewalk jutted up about two inches, causing you to have to remember to step over as you passed. What a memory I have! I can see that sidewalk in my mind's eye still today.
Crossing the alley way was a bit tricky as well because the alley wasn't paved. It was covered with rocks, so navigating around them took some concentration. Then on I went. I could say that I was mindlessly traversing my way, but that wouldn't be correct. I was always alert to the happenings around me. I checked out every yard, looking for something new to catalogue in my brain. There were sometimes dogs to evade, (no leash law back then), there were cats on one corner of the block to watch out for, but mostly there were dreams to be dreamed. It is a bit mindless, I guess, but I could go there for hours on end and never be bored.
Many times my friend Mary Casey was with me. When you skate with a friend the pattern is different. Sometimes we raced. Sometimes we were single file, traveling again in our own worlds. Sometimes we would skate the opposite directions trying to meet at the same place on each go round, scoring ourselves for accuracy. As I look back I can see how limited we were with our roller skates, but at that age we had no cares, we had nowhere to go. We were so happy with the monotony of traveling around and around our few square feet of our world.
Before I forget, I must retreat to the treasured skate key. If I lost my skate key, which I did sometimes, I didn't skate. You have to have one to adjust the skates. Oh, pliers worked, but they were too big and too awkward, and besides, you had to borrow them from Daddy which wasn't always easy to do. So, my skate key hung on a cord that I hung around my neck so that it was always with me. My roller skates tended to fall off often, and many times on the opposite side of the block, and way too many times sending me to the ground. I didn't want to have to round up my skate key at a time like this. And there was a special drawer at home where I kept my skate key (if I remembered to put it away) so that I always knew where it was.
I know this story seems to be a very mundane tale, but I can assure you that in an old woman's memory these were some of the most wonderful days. I had a very good childhood. My memories of it are so delightful and happy. I had wonderful parents, though I didn't think so at the time. They were happy and good to me. I lived in a happy home. Each of my days when not in school were filled with simple moments of simple pleasures. And on my roller skates, I was pleasured for hours.
I commiserated with him, telling him how much I wished I could be there to comfort him, knowing all the while that there is only so much a Grammy can do when comforting a thirteen year-old. Hugs are dangerous when there are broken bones involved, and suggestions of sitting on Grammy's lap would probably be met with a sarcastic roll of the eyes, though, with Wesley I might get a surprise. He does love his Grammy.
After our long distance conversation I began to reminisce about my younger days on roller skates. My grandchildren would no doubt consider my props quite primitive. And as I gaze upon the picture of what is considered a pair of "antique" roller skates, I have to chuckle. They look exactly like the ones I owned and used for years. Guess that makes me an "antique" as well, though I feel as if I could buckle those babies up and take off right now on them. And so begins my short saga of skating away hours of my childhood on my "antique" skates.
The most exciting ride I ever took as a child was on my bike. As I have written, I spent hours of my summer days exploring my little town of five thousand, and soaring down steep hills. But the second most exciting ride I took was on my roller skates. I had no siblings at home to grow up with, so many times I played alone, using my imagination to pass my time away. I also had lots of games and toys and dolls that I had fun with. But being outside and seeing the world around me was so much better than sitting inside on a beautiful day with a baby doll to dress and talk to.
Falls City was primarily laid out in city blocks, all uniform in their rectangle shapes. Here and there would be a block of irregular shape, but you could measure your trip in our town by blocks. For instance, I walked exactly twelve blocks to school. (One of the most annoying things I remember growing up was having to walk a block out of my way and then back to get to my friend's house because the street I walked on stopped and picked up again three blocks over. I would have cut through, but there was a stream that I would have had to wade through, and the banks were too steep to manage.) My block was the standard, with six houses on our side of the block and two houses and a church on the other. There was an alley cut down the center.
Now, putting on these skates is a story in itself. You can see from the picture that it wasn't like putting on a pair of shoes as it is today, though when we went to the roller rink we did wear boot skates similar to the ones today. No, attaching these skates sometimes took some skill, a learned skill that came from trial and error and repeated applications. First of all, you couldn't just wear any old shoe with them. The shoe you wore needed a sole with a definite ridge around the edge. Tennis shoes or sandals just didn't work. Usually we wore an oxford type shoe that was very sturdy. Stepping onto the skate, the first thing to do was to buckle the strap, making sure it was not too loose, not too tight. Then we adjusted the metal grips on each side of the toe of the shoe. Here's where my trusty skate key came in. One end of the skate key was placed on the metal rod that turned, causing the grips to open and close. Again, it was important that the grips were not too loose or not too tight. The grips wrapped around the sole of your shoe, hopefully securing the skate. You're ready. You think.
Sometimes the skate fell off as soon as you stood up, and you would have to start all over again. Sometimes the skate would wait until you got half-way down the block before it fell off. Then you would have to sit down and start all over again. Remember, there are two of these skates.
Some days the procedure went off without a hitch, and I would skate around and around and around my block. To this day, fifty-some years later, I can tell you where most of the holes in the cement sidewalks were. I can remember the sections of sidewalk that had shifted over time, and so were not level. These are very important things to remember because these places in the walk needed to be navigated with care. Forget one silver dollar sized hole and it could send you sprawling, hopefully in the grass, but more than likely on the cement. I'll just say that I suffered many, many skinned knees and elbows in my day.
The church was fairly new at the time, and, along with the parsonage, it took up half of the block. Therefore, the sidewalk along this area was newer and smoother and a real delight for skaters. It also was on a slight decline, so going down that sidewalk in front of the church was so much uninterrupted fun. There were no hazards to watch for, just smooth sailing. But, as soon as you passed the parsonage home was one of the worst places on the whole block. One side of the sidewalk jutted up about two inches, causing you to have to remember to step over as you passed. What a memory I have! I can see that sidewalk in my mind's eye still today.
Crossing the alley way was a bit tricky as well because the alley wasn't paved. It was covered with rocks, so navigating around them took some concentration. Then on I went. I could say that I was mindlessly traversing my way, but that wouldn't be correct. I was always alert to the happenings around me. I checked out every yard, looking for something new to catalogue in my brain. There were sometimes dogs to evade, (no leash law back then), there were cats on one corner of the block to watch out for, but mostly there were dreams to be dreamed. It is a bit mindless, I guess, but I could go there for hours on end and never be bored.
Many times my friend Mary Casey was with me. When you skate with a friend the pattern is different. Sometimes we raced. Sometimes we were single file, traveling again in our own worlds. Sometimes we would skate the opposite directions trying to meet at the same place on each go round, scoring ourselves for accuracy. As I look back I can see how limited we were with our roller skates, but at that age we had no cares, we had nowhere to go. We were so happy with the monotony of traveling around and around our few square feet of our world.
Before I forget, I must retreat to the treasured skate key. If I lost my skate key, which I did sometimes, I didn't skate. You have to have one to adjust the skates. Oh, pliers worked, but they were too big and too awkward, and besides, you had to borrow them from Daddy which wasn't always easy to do. So, my skate key hung on a cord that I hung around my neck so that it was always with me. My roller skates tended to fall off often, and many times on the opposite side of the block, and way too many times sending me to the ground. I didn't want to have to round up my skate key at a time like this. And there was a special drawer at home where I kept my skate key (if I remembered to put it away) so that I always knew where it was.
I know this story seems to be a very mundane tale, but I can assure you that in an old woman's memory these were some of the most wonderful days. I had a very good childhood. My memories of it are so delightful and happy. I had wonderful parents, though I didn't think so at the time. They were happy and good to me. I lived in a happy home. Each of my days when not in school were filled with simple moments of simple pleasures. And on my roller skates, I was pleasured for hours.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Cousin Robert Peck
There is little I remember about this day. Nothing sticks out in my mind beyond standing beside an austere white hospital bed. I don't remember it being a bright room; perhaps a little drab in atmosphere, but I do remember white sheets. I was barely old enough, or should I say tall enough, to see over the top of the bed, but I can remember standing shyly, watching as my mother and dad visited with my cousin Robert, his body lounging in the white sheets, a mischievous, ornery grin lingering on his lips. His eyes twinkled as he recapped his version of what had happened. He may have had an arm or a leg in a cast, I don't remember. I don't think I was supposed to be in that section of the hospital at my age, but somehow I was allowed in, or snuck in.
William Robert Peck was a member of the U.S. Air Force and stationed at the SAC base in Omaha which, at the time was only fifty miles north of where we lived in Auburn, Nebraska. Robert was my mother's sister Leora's son, second son I think. My Aunt Leora had died a few years earlier, and my parents had a very deep, emotional attachment to all of her children. Robert was old enough to join the service, but while he was stationed in Omaha he spent many weekends with us, driving back and forth.
My story is just that; my story. He could have been many things other than what a little five year old sees, but this is how I saw him, and I adored him as I would an older brother.
Robert was a ladies' man, or so he made me think. The girlfriends he had at his beck and call were endless. Not only were there girls, but they were beautiful girls. When Robert spoke about his girlfriends his eyes twinkled, and that ornery, mischievous look was there, as if he knew secrets that he could never tell. He was an enigma to me, an ever-changing riddle that I was never able to answer. I was convinced that no woman could resist the charms of this man, but for the life of me, I can't remember once that he ever produced one of these women in our presence. I didn't notice or care at the time. I loved him dearly, and was so happy when he came to visit.
Robert was a tease. I think this is why I liked him so much, and I know I wanted to be a tease just like him. He teased me relentlessly. He told me stories, poked good-natured fun at me, tickled me, and called me names. He was the first to call me "Skinny Minny". Later, when I got a little older he would say, "Skinny Minny. She ain't skinny. She's just tall; that's all." I would gush with glee when he teased me, and I hated if he stopped. Robert told dirty jokes to my dad, and showed him girlie pictures. He was good to my mom, and he and his brother Ed sent gifts to my mom, and to me, while they were stationed overseas.
Too bad Robert didn't teach me how to know when not to tease or when to stop. I remember one day when I was about 10 standing at the front door of my grandmother's house where we were living. Robert was showing my dad a picture and I wanted to see it. I believe he was laughing when I first began to beg to see it, but the laughter stopped when I reached up to grab the picture and tore it; a big tear almost up the middle of it. He was angry, my dad was angry and embarrassed, and I was crushed. I couldn't believe I had done that. I was so ashamed and so sorry, but it was done, and I doubt that there was much teasing the rest of his visit.
Robert took me for a ride one day in his MG, and I was so thrilled that he would do that for me. I climbed into the low, black, bucket seat, and my legs and feet were straight out in front of me. I couldn't believe it! I had never been in a sports car before, and this was so exciting. I didn't realize how close to the ground you were, and how the world looked from down there, riding along as if you were in a little red wagon, but enclosed and going fast.
The hospital visit we were making followed a car accident that totalled his car, but I don't remember what kind of car it was. As I recall, it's a wonder it didn't total him, but he recovered and has gone on to live a full life.
It was a few years before Robert married, and when he did I can remember the shock that went through our household when we met her. Robert's wife was not at all what we expected him to bring home to us. Lois was tall, about six feet tall, she was a little on the heavy side, and she was not the beauty queen that all of us had supposed he would choose. Instead, Robert had chosen a good, solid woman of strength and good humor. She fit right in with us, happy and down to earth. I think she made him a very good wife, and she gave him two children while they were stationed in Germany. I think they were both very happy together.
Lois was killed in a terrible one-car accident on her way to work one day when they lived in Kansas. I think this was devastating for Robert and his children, and I have never heard him speak of it. His sister, Lois, related the news to us. Robert has since remarried a very nice woman whom he met through a camping club, I believe. I have met her and like her very much.
The best memories of Robert for me were his teasing and the love that I felt for him and from him when he came to visit. I have a picture of him holding me in his arms that I love. I love the look on his face when he looks at me, and I remember the love that I carried in my heart for him. I grew up, and life goes on, but my memories of Robert have not faded, just distanced.
Below I have included Robert's service information that he supplied for me.
William Robert Peck
yob;8-13-1929
ENLISTED USAF:2SEPT 1950
BASIC TNG LACKLAND AFB TEXAS
TECH SCHOOL FORT BELVOIR
William Robert Peck was a member of the U.S. Air Force and stationed at the SAC base in Omaha which, at the time was only fifty miles north of where we lived in Auburn, Nebraska. Robert was my mother's sister Leora's son, second son I think. My Aunt Leora had died a few years earlier, and my parents had a very deep, emotional attachment to all of her children. Robert was old enough to join the service, but while he was stationed in Omaha he spent many weekends with us, driving back and forth.
My story is just that; my story. He could have been many things other than what a little five year old sees, but this is how I saw him, and I adored him as I would an older brother.
Robert was a ladies' man, or so he made me think. The girlfriends he had at his beck and call were endless. Not only were there girls, but they were beautiful girls. When Robert spoke about his girlfriends his eyes twinkled, and that ornery, mischievous look was there, as if he knew secrets that he could never tell. He was an enigma to me, an ever-changing riddle that I was never able to answer. I was convinced that no woman could resist the charms of this man, but for the life of me, I can't remember once that he ever produced one of these women in our presence. I didn't notice or care at the time. I loved him dearly, and was so happy when he came to visit.
Robert was a tease. I think this is why I liked him so much, and I know I wanted to be a tease just like him. He teased me relentlessly. He told me stories, poked good-natured fun at me, tickled me, and called me names. He was the first to call me "Skinny Minny". Later, when I got a little older he would say, "Skinny Minny. She ain't skinny. She's just tall; that's all." I would gush with glee when he teased me, and I hated if he stopped. Robert told dirty jokes to my dad, and showed him girlie pictures. He was good to my mom, and he and his brother Ed sent gifts to my mom, and to me, while they were stationed overseas.
Too bad Robert didn't teach me how to know when not to tease or when to stop. I remember one day when I was about 10 standing at the front door of my grandmother's house where we were living. Robert was showing my dad a picture and I wanted to see it. I believe he was laughing when I first began to beg to see it, but the laughter stopped when I reached up to grab the picture and tore it; a big tear almost up the middle of it. He was angry, my dad was angry and embarrassed, and I was crushed. I couldn't believe I had done that. I was so ashamed and so sorry, but it was done, and I doubt that there was much teasing the rest of his visit.
Robert took me for a ride one day in his MG, and I was so thrilled that he would do that for me. I climbed into the low, black, bucket seat, and my legs and feet were straight out in front of me. I couldn't believe it! I had never been in a sports car before, and this was so exciting. I didn't realize how close to the ground you were, and how the world looked from down there, riding along as if you were in a little red wagon, but enclosed and going fast.
The hospital visit we were making followed a car accident that totalled his car, but I don't remember what kind of car it was. As I recall, it's a wonder it didn't total him, but he recovered and has gone on to live a full life.
It was a few years before Robert married, and when he did I can remember the shock that went through our household when we met her. Robert's wife was not at all what we expected him to bring home to us. Lois was tall, about six feet tall, she was a little on the heavy side, and she was not the beauty queen that all of us had supposed he would choose. Instead, Robert had chosen a good, solid woman of strength and good humor. She fit right in with us, happy and down to earth. I think she made him a very good wife, and she gave him two children while they were stationed in Germany. I think they were both very happy together.
Lois was killed in a terrible one-car accident on her way to work one day when they lived in Kansas. I think this was devastating for Robert and his children, and I have never heard him speak of it. His sister, Lois, related the news to us. Robert has since remarried a very nice woman whom he met through a camping club, I believe. I have met her and like her very much.
The best memories of Robert for me were his teasing and the love that I felt for him and from him when he came to visit. I have a picture of him holding me in his arms that I love. I love the look on his face when he looks at me, and I remember the love that I carried in my heart for him. I grew up, and life goes on, but my memories of Robert have not faded, just distanced.
Below I have included Robert's service information that he supplied for me.
William Robert Peck
yob;8-13-1929
ENLISTED USAF:2SEPT 1950
BASIC TNG LACKLAND AFB TEXAS
TECH SCHOOL FORT BELVOIR
VIRGINIA-LITHOGRAPHIC PRINTING
LAWSON FIELD FORT BENNING GA
MOUNTAIN HOME AFB IDAHO
WHEELUS AFB TRIPOLI LYBIA
SCOTT AFB ILLINOIS
OFFUTT AFB OMAHA NEBRASKA
TECH SCHOOL MISSILE ELECTRONIC TNG\
LOWERY AFB DENVER COLORADO
ASSIGNED TO MISSILE SCHOOL AS INSTRUCTOR
MISSILE LAUNCH SCHOOL ORLANDO AFB FLORIDA
MISSILE LAUNCH CREW HAHN AFB GERMANY
p.s.
Today, December 17, 2010, I went back to read through this memory of Robert, and I realized I have left out a very important part of his life. I don't know how old he was at the time, he must have been in his early teens, that he contracted polio. Polio was a very deadly and frightening desease back in the 40s and 50s, and it wasn't until Jonas Salk developed a serum to fight it that it began to fade away. One of the first vaccinations I received after I was born was the polio vaccine, which left a small round scar on my right shoulder. Robert had polio before the vaccine was developed, and I have been told that he spent months in an iron lung. You will have to research this monster of a machine to get any answers to questions you might have about it. I have no knowledge of how it worked, but I've seen pictures of it. Frightful!
Robert lived through this horror, but he was left with a withered arm and leg. I don't remember which side these were on, but I remember his hand and arm being shorter and very limited in its use, and he walked with a decided limp. How he got into the air force is a mystery. But I know he never allowed this to interfere in the things he wanted to do it life. I'm sure I neglected to mention this before because it was such a part of him that after a while you just didn't notice it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
-
Life is hard for some. Most of the time it is because of the choices we have made and the paths we have chosen. Other times it is becau... -
Last week my grandson, Wesley, called me with some bad news. He and his brother Calvin, his sister Lelia, and his mom had gone out for the e... -
There are many people in this world who make our days fun and different and exciting. I enjoy people, some people, and I especially enjoy th...