9-14-09...BACK YARD SWIMMING POOL
By Golly we had a swimming pool when I was a kid. Yep! We were up that jiving with the best of them. Yep!!
On hot days Mama would draw water from the well and fill a big wash tub.
Some people had fancy ones for their baths like this one but we only had the tubs Mama used for washing clothes.
We could play in or out of the water. Splashing around like ducks. Speaking of ducks we had two white ones. They loved our swimming pool too if they ever got a chance to get in it
Those old wash tubs were used for so many different things. On special occasions they were filled with crushed ice from the ice house and cokes were placed in the ice. Wow! Those were the coldest cokes I ever drank. Yummy!!
Any time Mama got a new one the old one was put to use also. Water was put in them to water the cow and horse. Sometimes the top was cut out for a shallow one to feed and water the chickens in. One with leaks was used to sew tomato seeds in the spring. Water was added to keep the dirt moist while they grew. Chicken manure was mixed in the garden dirt and placed in the tub. No potting soil and Miracle grow then. Around the first of June the tomato plants were planted in the black dirt Daddy had plowed up in the garden. Later tender plants were covered with the tubs in the garden if a late freeze was expected.
Occasionally some women would use a leaky one to plant flowers in but that didn't happen a lot. Those tubs were too useful for them to get rusted out for just a flower pot. At least that's what my Daddy said and Mama agreed with him.
We made use of everything in as many ways as we could. I have an old wash tub hanging on a nail out on the smoke house. People have tried to buy it from me to plant flowers in. NO WAY! That tub is going to hang right there as long as I have anything to do with it. YEP!!!!
9-14-09...RIDE ON THE CLOUDS!! Isn't it funny how kids can get weird ideas that grown up never suspect. We didn't have TV but someone gave Mamma some magazines once. I didn't really see anything I wanted to read but I was fascinated by some of the pictures.
One picture that stands out in my mind was of a baby riding on a cloud. The beautiful baby was lying asleep on the big fluffy white cloud. Oh Man now I made up my mind to do that. I could just feel myself floating around on that cloud.
I asked Mamma one day how I could get on a cloud and she tried to explain to me that I couldn't but I wasn't having that at all. Then I asked her if the clouds ever came down closer to the ground. She said yes that she believed fog was the clouds close to the ground. Well OK then, I thought. I'll just wait till I see fog and I'll just climb on and go floatin' about Heaven. Shoot Fire, the first time I saw fog after that I didn't see any pretty clouds to climb on. Heck I couldn't see much of anything. That sure nuff' wouldn't work!!!!
I tried to get Brenda in on it but she told me I was goofy and I couldn't convince her to help me till I showed her the picture. She still didn't want anything to do with it. Guess she wasn't the dreamer I was.
One day I was in the big Elm tree in our yard where I played often. The biggest fluffiest cloud I had ever seen was right above me. Heck fire I just knew with me being in the tree I could just climb right on that cloud. I climbed farther up but still couldn't touch the cloud. Now it seemed to be on the other side of me so I started climbing over that way and lost my footing. I still had hold of the limb with both hands but my feet were floating around in nothingness. I finally got my footing and looked over to the cloud which had floated on farther away in the wind.
I was just devastated to have missed my chance to ride on a cloud.
When I finally showed Mama the picture that made me think I could ride that cloud she finally got through to me that was just advertising. ( I think it was toilet paper but I'm not sure). Mama was upset that I had been doing something so dangerous. She said, "Clydene you can't believe everything you see or hear. You need to learn the truth of things before you go head strong in to something like that".
Well Mamma that statement is still true today and maybe more so. For not only young minds but older ones too. It is getting harder and harder to know what we can believe. We just have to be careful. YEP!!!
9-13-08...MY TONGUE WILL BE THE RUIN OF MEMy mouth overloads my brain often.. At the time I really need to keep my mouth shut it just erupts in to stupidness and goes spewing out like a volcano.
Someone gave me a gift once. Now I swear I thought it was a prank gift. You know a white elephant gift? I burst out laughing and said "Oh this is sooo, stupid." The hurt look on her face should have jolted me back to reality but Nope! Not me. I just kept on making comments and having fun. Heck I thought that was what was expected of me. Hey this is a joke, Right? Well, Duh! No it was not a joke. I started spluttering and back tracking trying to cover up my stupidness. Every word that spouted outta' my mouth just rammed both my feet deeper down my throat.
One day a friend had gotten a new dress. I didn't particularly like the dress but of course I wouldn't have said so. When we got where we were going there were other ladies all around us. I looked down and saw what I thought was her slip showing and very politely pointed it out to her. She informed me that was part of the dress and was not her slip. My mouth went in to high gear then and I said, "Oh my goodness, are you sure? I've never seen such a thing. Something is wrong with that dress". We were both embarrassed and she was miffed. Good Grief me and my big mouth.
Then there was the wife of my good friend and neighbor. I had practically grown up with him and he knew me and my mouth well. He and his wife had been separated for a few months and just got back together. They came by my house and I noticed she was pregnant. I asked her when the baby was due not thinking a thing about it. I mean that's what you ask don't you? Just an automatic question isn't it. Thing was she had gotten pregnant while she and my friend were not living together. He was the Father. Anyway I said you look like you are close to delivery. She got up and ran out of my house. My friend explained it to me. I guess it is obvious what she thought I thought. Good Grief!! Chalk one more up to my big motor mouth.
Not too long ago in Church I was commenting on how a Mother and Daughter seemed more like sisters. The Daughters young son said. "Are you saying Grandma looks young, or are you saying my Mom looks old." Here goes that never ending spurt from my mouth again. I said, "I'm saying they look like sisters". Well now heck fire. Through the week I got to thinking. How stupid can you get Clydene. When I saw them again I was trying to explain myself and said to the Daughter, "You don't look old at all". Then I turned to the Mother and what I meant to say was "You look very young". What I said to the Mother was "You don't look young at all". OH MY GOSH!! If I could bridle my tongue I would be so much better off!!! My tongue just flaps way too much don't ya' know?? YEP
9-13-09...AccountabilityMy parents always made me accountable for my actions. I knew they would but I was a little stubborn spitfire.
One day I was standing before my Mamma telling her a ball faced lie about something I had done. She knew I was lying, and I knew I was lying. Mama just decided I WOULD!!! tell her the truth. Hey! Where did you think I got my stubbornness?
I can't remember what I was even lying about but I do remember that I fessed up and what my Mamma said afterward. "Clydene if you always tell me the truth then I'll always know I can trust you. What if someone would tell me something bad about you and I couldn't be sure whether to believe you or them? That would be a hard thing for me and I would be hurt. But if you always tell me the truth then I will always know I can believe you and I can take your side on anything". That has never left me. I think about it often. The impression it left on me has always carried me through everything. I detest being lied to, being lied about, and being called a liar. Those three things make my blood boil hot.
It always hurts to be second guessed and have a friend question what I am saying. A true friend or family member would never think twice about believing every word I say. Yet when someone will at times begin to question me and show signs that they are not believing a word I am saying and even start out to try to prove me wrong, it is devastating. I have some in my life right now who do that to me. I know they are not true friends but I can't just walk away from them. I just feel bad for them that they were not raised to tell the truth the way I was. My Daddy said all the time, "People who doubt, and don't trust anyone are the ones not to be trusted. They are judging you by their selves". You got that right Daddy. I find that out more every day I live. YEP! We gotta' be accountable for our actions and our words. We just need to watch our mouths!!!!
