6-19-09...SLOP JAR!!!
Do all of you know what a slop jar is? No it is not a jar that you keep slop in. It is really a tin bucket with a lid on it. I have no idea why they were called slop jars. Every one had at least 1. We had three in our house. They were white granite with red rings around the rims. In case you are still wondering ____________ Well I'm a gonna tell you! They were in our bed rooms at night. We could pee in them but the number two job we were not allowed to do. That way we didn't have to make a trip to the john (toilet) out back just to pee. It was my job to take the slop jars out every morning and dump them and rinse them out to use the next night. Not a pleasant job. Sometimes I tried to get by with out cleaning them out which consisted of using the water in the wash pan, where we had washed our hands, and using an old broom to scrub them out. Once a week they were scrubbed good with purex water by Mama.
Now I guess I thought the slop jars just magically appeared in our house or maybe they were just somehow there. Not the case as I found out. One day an older cousin and I were with Daddy when he went to The Oklahoma Tire and Supply store in Ozark. We had no interest in going in that store we were waiting to get out at the grocery store.
We didn't know what Daddy was going in there for so we watched for him to come back. We were in the back seat. Well when Daddy came out of the store guess what he had in his hand. You guessed it, A Slop Jar!! Now Daddy didn't have the thing put in a big sack like most people. Heck Fire No! My Daddy carried that sucker right out of that store for everybody to see. OH MY GOSH!! There he came down the sidewalk swinging that darn thing by the bail as he walked. Every time he took a step the bail squeaked. Sounded just like a screech owl. We were both trying to hide in the back seat. My cousin was long legged and took up a big part of the seat. When we started ducking down to hide we bumped heads the first thing. I shrieked cause it hurt. He put his hand over my mouth but I bit him and he let go and shrieked. We got in a wrestling match trying to get down in the seat enough not to be seen by all the people on the street who were pointing and laughing. ( By the way, It was us they were laughing at not my Daddy. I guess they had figured out what was wrong with us but Daddy hadn't yet. My Cousin pushed me down in the floor and tried to lay on the seat but his big ol' feet were hanging over in my face. He was barefoot so Guess what I did. Yep! I got one of those big ol' dirty toes in my mouth and bit the blood outta that sucker. Yep, sure did. His whole body jumped and he hit the top of the car with a thud. Now guys the cars then had no plush upholstery. Nope, It was hard.! He started bellering and hollering and I started giggling. In the midst of this Daddy heard us and he threw that durn slop jar as he came a runnin'. That thing skidded up that sidewalk sounding like screeching owls in a herd. YEP! It came to rest at someones feet Daddy said later. Me I didn't see a thing cause I was still in the floor of the car with my cousin sitting on me. YEP! When I could see Daddy was opening the door and peering in. ( No back doors so he was hanging over the seat) Daddy thought for sure we were hurt and with my cousin bleeding from the toe and hand plus a scratch on his hard head it didn't help. I was pushing trying to get him off me and giggling at the same time. My cousin got out because he had to so I could get up. Daddy said, “Go get that slop jar and I'll help Clydene up”. He sure nuff didn't want to go get it but Daddy said so. I said, “daddy I don't want to get out, Lets Go”.
Later I asked Daddy why he didn't have them put that thing in a sack so this wouldn't have happened. “Heck Why” my Daddy said. It was a lot easier carried that way”. Oh My Goodness!
Now I don't see why we were so embarrassed by it. Who knows? Silly to say the least. HUH? YEP!!
