Friday, January 9, 2009

CHOCOLATE PUDDIN'

1-9-09...CHOCOLATE PUDDIN'

This little caper was brought to my memory yesterday and I have been pondering on it. Brenda and I played in a thicket between our homes. It was rather a special place to us. Secretive we thought. We had made a playhouse of sorts. Made a table from boards sitting on a 5 gal. bucket. Had chairs out of more buckets. We pretended we had parties. Elegant affairs if I can say so myself. Very few ever got invited to our 'parties' either.
Brenda's older sister liked to aggravate us of course. Don't all older siblings do that? She would show up and we'd chase her away. If she didn't leave we'd 'Tell on her' and let my Auntie take care of her. She would come without us knowing sometimes and listen to our childish prattle, as we served 'tea' to our imaginary guests. Then she would laugh at us and tell everyone how"SILLY" we were. Boy I tell you she could get our claws out fast. That is the reason when she showed up one day with our 'dinner' on a tray we were really flabbergasted. Didn't know what to think. There were two sandwiches. (Auntie had sent them) We had our mugs of tea. (Water). Also on the tray was a big bowl of Chocolate puddin'. Just off the stove she said. all creamy and yummy lookin'. We were still not trusting her very far though. Nope. We knew her well. Yep! She would do anything to get us mad. We inspected the sandwiches real good. But not the puddin'.!! We knew dessert was not to be eaten till last. She had a sandwich too and we decided to let her eat with us. Boy, now wasn't she being nice today. We couldn't hardly believe it. Shouldn't have believed it!! Nope! Sure shouldn't have!!
We all ate our sandwiches. I can't remember what kind they were now. Didn't much matter then either. We were eager to get in to that chocolate puddin'. Yummy our favorite!!!
She had brought two spoons from the house. "Aint you gonna eat no puddin" we asked. "Naw, I brought that for you". Heck fire we had never seen her so sweet. "You will have to eat outta the bowl", she said. Heck that was OK with us.
We both dug our spoons in. "What are those lumps" we asked. "Oh it probably just has a few lunps in it, wont hurt nuthin" she said. The anticipation was gettin' the best of us so we put a big bite in our mouths at the same time. Spit, Splutter, gag, OH MY GOSH!!! What is that? She started gigglin' her head off. I mean she was outta breath from gigglin'. We still didn't know what she had fed us but we knew it was not edible and our claws were out big time!!! One of us, or maybe both, can't remember, threw that bowl of chocolate, whatever it was, right in her face and it rolled down all over her. We ran to tell on her but she got there first. "Mama look what they did to me" she whinned. "What in the world is that stinkin' stuff" my Auntie asked. Heck we didn't know what it was. "She told us it was Chocolate puddin Auntie" I said. Well Auntie knew what it was. "Did you girls eat this"? She asked. "We just took one bite and we spit it out Mama" Brenda said.
Auntie looked at big Sister and started laughin'. Well Heck Fire, What is she laughin' for we thought. We were madder n' hornets. Sure wasn't funny to us.
Auntie only laughed for a few seconds and she turned deadly serious. "You two go in the house and wash out your mouthes real good" Which we were glad to do. From the back porch we could hear Auntie light in to older sister. "You deserve that horse manure (Auntie called it what it was) in your face and you can wear it for a while." "But Mama" she started. "NO BUTS. You get out there on the grass and sit there for one hour". "NO Mama, please let me wash off". "NO, not till I say you can, now do as I say".
Well now we knew what we had eat a bite of and we did some gagging of our own. Auntie gave us a glass of kool-aide and a cookie. We basked in our glory as we watched big sister sit out there with horse manure dryin' on her. YEP!! She just hadn't outta' done that! NOPE!!!

THE 'SNIPE' HUNT

1-8-09...THE 'SNIPE' HUNT

I was remembering the time Norman and Paul put fish in the well, then proceeded to put my cat in there so he could eat the fish. Oh My Goodness, these boys were learning fast. But Brenda and I never did anything like that, and the Boys never did again either! They said they thought the cat could eat the fish then crawl out. The fish and the cat of course died and a while later the smell was horrible. Daddy had to draw the well dry and let it fill back up several times to take care of that problem. It was just an old well that went dry and we did not use anyway. But Heck Fire!!! Daddy finally capped the well off with concrete.
They didn't like my cat. One day he was off up the road and came home with a tin can tied to his tail. He was scared to death and ran under the house. Brenda and I crawled under there to rescue him but the poor thing was so scared we couldn't touch him. Now Brenda and I were honery but those boys!!! They were double honery I tell you!!
We all did things together too. Like catching june bugs and tying a long string of thread to one of their legs. We turned it loose and it would fly as far as the thread reached then come back. We were convinced the bug loved us and wanted to stay with us. We all did that but we turned the bug loose without hurting it very bad I suspect.
Summers were long and hot but they were magical to us. So much to do and see. We could all walk over to Hall Parks little store (about a mile I think) and just have a great time. If we had a nickle we bought penny candy, or maybe a pop sicle that melted before we could eat it all usually. Sometimes we all didn't have a nickle. Then we would share. If no one had a nickle that was OK too. It was just so much fun to walk over there.
We also all got our turn at 'snipe' huntin'. Bigger kids took younger ones on these 'hunts' down in the pasture, through the trees, bushes, and briars. They said the 'snipe' only came out just at dark so we had to be there at just the right time.
What is a 'snipe'? we asked when it was our turn to go. Oh we can't tell you they said but you will like them. How do we catch em' we asked. Well you get a big paper sack, and get you a stick. You stand in the woods and beat on your sack with the stick. The 'snipes' will hear it and they will come and jump in your sack. It might help if you holler, Cum'mer' snipes. Well heck that sounded easy nuff'. OK Lets Go!!! I know now that there were lots of instructions from our parents and also a threat if those instructions were not followed.
We climbed over the barbed wire fence and walked quietly down amoung the trees. It was dark but I think we all had cat eyes back then and we also knew every rock on the trail. Now be real quiet and listen we were instructed. HEAR THAT? I don't hear a thing we all whispered. Thats cause you don't know what a 'snipe' sounds like was our answer. There they are! Get ready! Now!!! Man we started beatin them sacks and hollerin' cum'mer' snipes!!!
Now the jist of it was while we were beatin' and hollerin' the older kids would take off and leave us there. We were supposed to be scared spitless then they would come get us. YEP!!! They just hadn't counted on our team out smartin' em'. Nope! Shoulda known, but they were not as smart as they thought they were. HECK NO!!!
We were beatin and hollerin and didn't know they had left but I told you we had cat eyes. When we spotted them off in the trees with big smiles on their faces we caught on. Well Brenda and I caught on. We had been told to stand right there and not move or the 'snipes' wouldn't come. We whispered and made up our plan while we kept beating. Slowly we started moving forward. We'd beat and holler a while then we'd move forward a little. Well those smart elecs didn't seem to know what to do. Without them knowing it we watched them. They were talking amoung themselves and decided they'd better follow us. Well That is what we counted on. There were four of us and only two of them so we had em'.
The boys sneaked to the side a little at a time. We started runnin' now to get ahead of the big kids. When we couldn't see them then we knew they couldn't see us. All this time Brenda and I were still beatin' and hollerin'. When we had veered off to the side enough we got real quiet and watched for them. Here they came and we knew they were scared they'd lost us. They started calling us. "Where are you"? Come on, we gotta go". Where are they? do ya think they went to the creek? Oh my gosh we better find um'. Oh My Oh My"!!! They were gettin' loud now so we just made our way back up to the house ans waited. We were sitting at the kitchen table gigglin' when they came thunderin up on the front porch. "Mama' we lost the kids, we can't find um' nowhere, they drowned for sure". They were cryin' and splutterin' just scared outta their gourds. We sneaked out the back and came around to the front and saw them there on the porch with Auntie. They were ringin' their hands and snot was flyin'. The four of us sneaked up behind em' and we all grabbed them and hollered, CUM'MER 'snipes'. Wooopppeee!!! One of them wet her pants, I thought the other one was gonna' pass out.!! Now They Were Scared so bad they couldn't even talk. We four laughed so hard we wet our pants. At least I know I did. Auntie was laughin' too. Boy Howdy We got em' good that time. Wheee! That was fun. There was never another 'snipe hunt' though. No more little ones for us to take, durn it!!!
We had so much fun down there by the RR Track on that dead end road. Love, Laughter, and Blessings really were overflowing in those good ol' days. YEP!!