Wednesday Hodge Podge

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1. Have you ever spent time on a farm? Tell us a little bit about it. 

My maternal grandparents owned a dairy farm... grandpa built it after WWI  for his bride    and  wanted  sons to help work it, but  only got 6 daughters..  My mother w as the oldest  and the girls  learned quickly to do man's work..

When I came along there were  2 aunts still living at home on the farm, although they were in college... I  was the oldest grandchild, but others came along soon there after so  as I grew older I had scads of cousin playmates. I was the city girl....I  wasn't  comfortable climbing fences and    running through  cow meadows..  but I loved gathering the eggs  and helping slop the hogs.  When the youngest aunt who was 6 years my senior was home on weekends I had to sleep with her.... She loved to tell scary stories about the old farm house and    get us all  rather scared  to  spend the night there  when she wasn't  there.  Sometimes I would have to sleep by myself downstairs in the front room.. the guest room... and I would be terrified... I didn't sleep a t all. It  was so dark in the country  and since there were no neighbors,  there were no shades.  The  rocking chairs on the porch outside the window would rock up against the  panes and  the sounds very frightening..But I did love  being there...  I have wonderful memories..  like the time we were chased by grandpa's bull and had to  sail over the fence into the  hay shed...  we were stuck there  for hours waiting to be  missed,  while the bull snorted at us through the slats... sounds  drastic, but it is a sweet memory  of being there with my cousins and I was pretty proud of my climbing prowess that  day!!! 

Have you ever grown your own pumpkin?

no

 Been on a hayride?

Yes,  at Christmas  a farmer with his tractor  pulling a long hay wagon would pick us all up..  small country church... and  we would ride through the country on Christmas Eve singing carols..
Imagine Christmas Eve in the snow    scarves, mittens and  toboggans!  And someone surely had a cocoa mustache!

 Driven a tractor?

No, not allowed

Milked a cow?

No,  grandpa didn't want us to spook the cows.. he was mechanized...  Now we helped  in the barn...  washing the  waste  into the slough and  pouring bucket loads  of feed into the  feed trough.

2. What's something younger you would like about you now? 

The innocence  of  a mind that can still thrill at the wonder  of discovery...the imagination  and love of  childish  things like fairies,  rainbows, and   clouds.

3. What are three things you'd like to do more often? 

1.I would love to be by the seas more...    We haven't planned a trip to the ocean in 11 years... we have  been to the NE coast  several times,  but not  just for the sea...I love to  oil paint and  set up easel and  paint by the sea!!

2.Get in the car and just drive and see where the road takes us.

3.  Spend more time with  daughter and grands! (12 hours drive)

Three things you'd like to do less often?

1. Experience less  days like yesterday  (Las Vegas) 

2.  Be concerned about  mine and other's  health issues

3.  Less crabby moods.... (I think it is a physical  thing!)

A lot going on right now!

4. What's on your nachos?

Everything except re-fried beans   YUCKY!

5. What's the most random thing in your purse or wallet? Does it need to stay there?

I just changed purses and it is  fairly organized.. I guess it is the rather large sheet of page  Hubs printed  for me of all the meds   and  supplements I take ... folded in my wallet.. Yes,  I need it for  appts.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Gosh, I sound my age in this post...well,  at age 67  I have seen a lot...  and  there are some things I wish my daughter could have experienced... like  visiting  my paternal granny at her house...   not as affluent as  my previous  grandparents  she was a widow.. I never knew grandpa.. He died the year before I was born...  They lived  way down in the country.  Dad was  born in a    log cabin  down in the holler...at least Granny lived  by the road,  but  she did have a kitchen sink,  but no indoor facilities.  We washed in a  huge tub in a room off the kitchen.And either used the chamber pot or made the trek out to the  the johnny!!!  I usually opted for the former!!!She had no central heating.. a wood stove in the living room,and  a wood stove with oven to cook on... but she truly was the best cook ever... She made  huge meals  for breakfast and dinner...We'd have  country ham and  homemade sausage every morning...she raised her own hogs.  For dessert we usually had my favorite  caramel cake,  and a  coconut cake.  On Sunday  she'd make fried chicken and   some type of roast...She was the most lovable    grandma anyone ever had.. I  always got to sleep with granny... she slept on 2 pillows and  under about 4 quilts   She was like a huge mountain beside me  and the  cover so heavy  it pressed me down into the feather  tick mattress.  And I loved it...  oh, how the wind howled on that ridge  where she lived.  But I was never scared.  But  early in the morning Granny would be up with the chickens  and I'd  snuggle deeper into the bed...  when called  I realized just why  my nose was an ice cube...was  dreading  kicking back the covers to make a dash for the  warm  savory smelling kitchen..  the floor was  icy and  the  house so chill,   but life  in her kitchen was heaven on earth!!

  There isn't any  way  good enough to  relate how marvelous it all was..  if you've never experienced  you'll just never know  life as it was    in those days in the deep country....

  but I cherish  the memories!!!