LIGHTING IN THE 40's

10-28-10...LIGHTING IN THE 40's

We lived in Rural Ar. In the late 40's and early 50's things were rough and everything we got or accomplished was new and big to us.

I'll never forget the day we got electricity in our house. We were the last in the area to get it because we were at the dead end of the road and had to wait until the workers got there with the lines. I suspect also there was a problem with Daddy getting enough money to pay for the installation.
We had coal oil lamps and I remember sitting at the kitchen table to do my homework with one of them in front of me. As a matter of fact I have that same one right here on my dresser. I chipped the globe one night messing with it when I shouldn't have been. That chip is there to remind me.
The crew was working up at the end of the road that morning very early setting poles and stringing wires. Daddy walked up that road all day until they got it to our house. After I got up I took every step he did. It was a fascinating thing for me to watch but I suspect not near as great as it was for my Daddy. After all he knew what it would mean to us and I didn't. I just thought the lamps we used were all there was. I can still see my Mamma and Daddy's faces when they finally got the power on and going. Daddy had hired his cousin to help him wire the house. There were wires hanging from the high ceilings with a light socket for the bulb to be screwed in. It had a chain on the end to pull to get the light on. One of the workers came in the house to be sure it was working. Daddy lifted me up and let me have the honors of pulling the chain for the first time. That humble but joyous look on my Parents faces was the one I saw every time there was an event like that in our lives. Humble people who appreciated everything they had and never were envious of anyone else who had more. That was the reason I was and am so proud of that house and everything that went along with it.
It was still daylight when it was finished so it was turned off and we waited till dark. That was a wonderful moment when that room lit up. I thought that was the brightest light I had ever seen in my life and I guess it was.
Till then we had a big ol' battery operated radio. Daddy had somehow got an electric one from somewhere and had it ready. I think someone gave it to him for some work he did for them but I'm not really sure.
NO plug ins on the wall. There was an attachment between the bulb and the fixture with a place for plugging in a cord. I didn't get to do that, Daddy did because he said it was dangerous. The radio was plugged in and a station found which wasn't very plain. The old battery one sounded better they said. But on Saturday night Mamma tuned in the Grand Ol' Opry and she was tickled pink Daddy said.
Oh my goodness those days were magical for me. I thought I was the luckiest girl in the world. Know What? I still think that. YEP!!!

WADING THE DITCHES

10-24-10...WADING THE DITCHES

Brenda and I waded the ditches when it rained in the summer. But we only waded after we got permission from our Mama's so they could watch us closely. Well usually we got permission first. This one day both our Mama's were busy so we decided not to bother them and go ahead. MISTAKE BIG TIME! We got in the ditch in front of my house. The ditch went all the way to the end of our (well I don't know what it was called then) block which was a lot farther than we really meant to go. Then we got out and went to the other side of the road. I like to think that we really thought this led back home, but I'm not sure we were thinking at all. Our Mama's never let us go that far and they certainly wouldn't have let us sit down in the ditch. The ditches were very deep and it had rained a lot so they were half full and the water just gushed out the end of the tile. We liked that. “Wow Brenda, ain't this fun”? “Yep sure is”! We didn't have any idea how far from home we were but we did know not to talk to strangers. An old man walked by right then and though he knew who we were we didn't know him. “Hey Girls”. “Brenda don't answer him.”

“ No I wont” she said. “Girls, you better get out of there. Do your Mama's know where you are”? “Of course they do” I said. “Don't talk to him Clydene” Brenda said. But he kept standing there. He was very old we thought and we can outrun him if we have to. “Girls, come on now there might be snakes in there”. “Brenda he's lying to get us out so he can get hold of us, just sit still till' he goes away”. He stood there for what seemed like an eternity to us then walked on. We Thought! “Brenda He's gone come on lets go home”. I raised up to look and there he was looking down at me. Brenda was pushing on me to hurry and all at once she screamed the loudest scream I've ever heard and fairly pushed me so hard my face hit into the bank of the ditch and buried up in slimy mud! “Sputter, Sputter, Gurgle, BRRREEENNNDDDAAA stop it that man is there”. “CCCLLLYYYDDDEEENNNEEE, there's a snake crawling on my foot”! “I don't care Brenda get back down before he gets me”. “NOOOOOOO! It'll bite me”! The old man was sitting on a rock where I suppose he was planning to watch us till our Mama's got there. And he knew they would be looking for us. He knew us and he knew our Parents. He was very old I guess because he tried to jump up when Brenda hollered snake and couldn't get up very fast but he too started hollering for someone to help. I thought he was a crazy little girl killer or something so I sure wasn't getting out of that ditch. NO WAY NO HOW!!! I said “Brenda get back down in there and I'll get that snake and throw it out at that ol' man. After it bites him then we will run home and get our Mama's”. I

I pushed her down and reached down to get the snake. Heck that was better'n' facing that crazy old man. “Where is it Brenda”? I reached down in the water and grabbed A LONG STICK! “Brenda you nut, it's just a stick”. I was actually mad that it wasn't a snake. Wouldn't do no good to throw a stick at him now would it? Poor old man. I'll bet he was wishing right then that he had just walked right on by them crazy kids Anyway you probably know the rest of the story but I'm a gonna tell you anyway. Our Mama's had followed the screams and hollering right to us. They sat our Brothers down for the old man to watch.( Mama don't set them down there. That's a crazy ol' kid killer) and pulled us outta' that ditch likity'split'! They were so happy we were OK, kissin' and huggin' and cryin' that we thought they would forget the hide tanning. Well they sure didn't forget. No siree. We got it good when we got home. We knew we deserved it too. And we were so glad to see our Mama's that day we woulda' almost asked for a tannin'. Well almost. If we hadenta' got all those tannings we wouldn't have been as loved as we were. NOPE, WORLD'S GREATEST PARENTS. We sure enough had that!!!!

MISS SALLY

10-21-10...MISS SALLY

I talked to a couple of my school classmates just recently. We talked about School days of course. The conversation got on our First Grade teacher, Miss Sallie. There are conflicting memories but I just have my memories so that's all I can relate to. Miss Sallie had been a very gifted and educated teacher in her time. She was old as dirt I think and her mind tended to wander. My friend Ruby says she just loved Miss Sallie to pieces. My friend Tommy and I both remember her being very weird. My first grade was traumatic any way you look at it with me bawling every day and Brenda across the hall wettin' her pants. I had plenty of adventures but today it's Miss Sallie I'm focusing on. Miss Sallie had a big knot of hair that hung kinda' haphazardly on the side of her head. Probably was supposed to be on top but I think it slipped. She had big thick glasses that made her eyes look big and buggy. I don't remember much teachin' going on. She told us stories. She would take her desk chair and move it in the middle of the floor near our desks. She told stories like, Jack and The Beanstalk, The Three Little Pigs and other children stories of the time. I don't remember her telling them the way I heard them from my Parents, or anywhere else for that matter. She just scared the ever'lovin' stuffins' out of me. When she told Jack and The beanstalk she would act it out. She could just curl my toes with her FE-FI-FO-Fum and she would stalk around the room swinging that paddle as she was saying her Fe Fi Fo Fum in a gruff voice. Then she would go to someone desk an slam that paddle down. When she did that to me it jarred my teeth. I got up to run and she said “HALT You Swine.”By golly I halted. I was so sure her stories were all true and factual. The one story I remember her telling that wasn't any I ever heard then or since then was just horrifying to me. She said that when she got ready for bed each night a little elf, that lived in her watch, jumped out and hopped around her bed and chattered and giggled. Then she said when she got ready to come to school the next morning the little elf got back in her watch and stayed there all day. She would take that little gold watch off and put it up to her ear and listen. We got to listen too if we dared, which I did, and of course the watches ticked then. Sooo! The elf took form ,at least in my mind it did, and became reality. The one time I told someone about it they laughed at me and called me a liar. Guess I told the wrong person. Miss Sallie never married and lived with her Mother next door in the house she was probably raised in. She took us over there all the time and I was just scared spitless. I couldn't really remember but I thought her Mom was still there and My Friend Tommy confirmed that she indeed was. I got a clear picture from his description of her. Solid white hair pulled up on her head in a not too tidy bun. Kinda big and has long hairs growing out of her chin. That old house as I remember it was like the story of Hansel and Gretel that Miss Sallie had told us. So Of course the lady was the witch in the story as far as I was concerned. I hated going over there but My Friend Ruby told me she just loved going. I remember one day I said to my friend Billie, lets run, we gotta get outta here. She was ready to go and we started to do just that but Miss Sallie saw us and told us, Come on now girls, we are having an adventure, there is more to learning than books. Well for my part of that I'd rather have been back where the books were! I just knew that little elf was lurking around there getting ready to jump on my back and chatter in my ears and I sure didn't want that. The house was dark, drab, and musty smelling to . She took us in a bedroom. I remembered the elf and bolted again. She said “Come back little girlie, you can't get out”. Horrible Horrible Horrible. I realize now that Miss Sallie must have taught us something, that is just not the part I remember. Surely to Goodness we learned, at least some of us did. As I remember there were about 15 in our first grade class but 9 of us is all that made it to the second grade. And it was us 9 for the next 11 years. We graduated in 1962 and we aint any of us no dummy. We had to of learned. That was Miss Sallies last year to teach. The next year Miss Bonnie was the first grade teacher. Miss Bonnie had never married either. Sometimes I think those were the smartest people but they were weird to me then and still are. Yep my first grade of school was certainly a big adventure. But I did OK. No worse for the wear. Yep did pretty good I'd say. YEP

SCHOOL WAS A DRAG

10-19-10...SCHOOL WAS A DRAG

When I started first grade Brenda was in the second grade. She was seven month's older and her birthday fell so she could start before me. We both hated it. The morning I started to school Brenda and I were so sure that we could again be together all the time the way we had been all our lives. How wrong we were. We of course were in different rooms and only saw one another at recess. Well I dont know how Brenda made it through the first grade without me I just knew it was a hard time for me. Brenda was still shy and wouldn't ever speak up and I wasn't there to do it for her so she almost failed the first grade. Auntie thought it would be better the year I started, but it was not to be. Brenda wouldn't ask to go to the bathroom and she would wet her pants in class. At recess I would go running to Brenda's room and we would go out together to the playground. I don't think I even got aquainted with my class that year very well. And the reason was I cried till recess when I could see Brenda. We tried everything to stay together. One day we climbed a pear tree on the grounds and tried to hide when the bell signaled recess was over. Another we got in the toilet and stayed in there. Our teachers caught on to our little schemes and watched us very close. They even decided to separate us and not let us play together at all. Well Let me tell you when that happened we were not havin' any of that. Nosiree guys that aint'a gonna' work. We pulled sit downs and running from them, nothing was working. Well we had'ta do something so we hatched up a good scheme. We Thought. We sneaked down to the far end of the play ground and sat down. We sat there and when the bell rung the end of recess we both laid down. “Brenda now when the teacher gets here start crying and tell them we are both sick”. Well I guess Brenda was learning not to do everything I said anymore so she said “NO I aint'a gonna' do it Clydene I ain't, You do it”. “Oh Well My goodness Brenda you little stubborn thing just watch and do what I do”. It was Miss Sally and Miss Sullivan our teachers who came after us. I started crying and said “we are sick Miss Sally we've a'gotta go home. We wanna go home”. “Yeaw we are sick” Brenda said in a perfectly normal voice. “I hollered Brenda you are'a sposed' to cry, you aint cryin'”. Well that did it. If they hadn't already figured it out they sure did then. I had already been crying every day in class anyway so wasn't a very good idea for me to cry, and Brenda wouldn't do it so the jig was up. But I wasn't quiet ready to give up yet. I just set there and stubbed up like an old opossum and of course Brenda was good at that anyway so she did it too.. BUT------ It werent' a workin'. There weren't any Peach trees near by but the teachers didn't use them anyway. They had paddles and just happened to have them with them. They took us to the toilet. ( which was not far away. they were outside toilets don't ya know) and used those paddles. Then took us back to the classrooms and told everyone what we had done. To add insult to injury they sent notes home to our parents and they did have a peach tree. Yep I guess we learned another lesson though I really don't know what that one was cause we still wanted to be together. Had to tough that year out though and the next one. It was a small school and 3rd and 4th were in one room and 5th and sixth were in one room. So we were finally together again. Yep together till' she married and moved to Kansas, then we really had something to cry about. Was never the same again. But Hey we still had a lot of growing up to do and we were and still are close. Sisters in all but name. GOOD NUFF'

I CAME IN KICKING AND SCREAMING

10-18-10...I CAME IN KICKING AND SCREAMING

I was born on a hot August day in 1944. My Mama had kidney poisoning and almost died. I asked her one day, “Mama did I almost die as too”? “Heck no Clydene, she said, you came in to this world kickin' and screamim' and you haven't stopped since”!! When I think back on all the honery things I've done I know she was tellin' the truth when she said that. I must have been a mess all my life and with the help of my side-kick Brenda there was no stopping me. What a relief it must have been to our Mama's when we started to school. Out of their hair for a while. I figured they both sighed with relief every morning when we got on the school bus. Now I cried for a long time in school. Miss Sallie gave me lots of paddlins', shamed me to the others, ignored me and everything she could think of. Just didn't work. Mama would get me ready every morning and send me up the road to catch the bus. I tried and tried to sneak back to the house and 'miss' the bus. I knew there was no way for Mama to get me there if I missed the bus. That Woman always caught me and sent me right back up that road . Heck fire, I never got away with that even one time.
One night when Brenda stayed at my house I devised one of my brilliant plans. “Brenda we'll get sick and they wont make us go”. “How Clydene”? Well I had to think on that for a spell but I came up with a brilliant plan. YEP A Stupendous plan (as in stupid). Mama kept ex-lax for the obvious reasons. I knew that if she ate too many of them she had PROBLEMS!! I saw her do just that a few times and I knew she was , shall I say disabled? indisposed? for a while. “Heck Fire Brenda that'll do it. And they are chocolate and I bet they are good!!” EX-LAX came in a cute little blue box all wrapped up like a candy bar. Shoot I'd always wanted to taste them and I knew where she kept them too by golly. I got me a chair and climbed up to reach them on a shelf in the old pie safe. “Brenda it's a whole box”. “Recon how much we should eat” Brenda said. Well I heard Mama say she took too much so it must be a lot. Heck we just divided them and ate the whole durn box. That outta work. “Well shoot fire Brenda it aint working” I said sometime in the night. “Guess that aint'a'gonna keep us outta school after all. SHOOT!! Well I don't know how long it took but Yep it did work. It worked big time!! I woke up with the most awful ache in my stomach I ever had. “Oh Brenda, go get Mama, I'm sick!” “Clydene I'm sick too, You go get her”. “OOOHHH Brenda I'm dyin' I'm dyin' Get Mama Quick”. “I'm dyin' too Clydene. Whadda we a'gonna do”? Well we knew right away what we were gonna do. Yep no doubt about it. We knew. It lasted the rest of the night out in that ol' toilet. I was never so sick and by golly I didn't have to go to school either.
I'm quiet sure Mamma got a few more gray hairs that night. Oh I came in kicking and screaming all right and I'm still good at kicking an screaming by golly.

MY ANGEL STORY

10-6-10...MY ANGEL STORY

I haven't shared this with very many people but I'd like to. I think everyone should know that things like this happen daily.
It was a Sunday morning just like any other. I was up getting ready to leave for Church when I started hurting in my chest. I checked my B/P and it scared the tar out of me when I saw it was 292/187. HIGH!!! I hollered at my Husband and told him I had to go to the hospital. He said he had to shave first. Yep! Sure did. So I waited.
At the Er they grabbed hold and I was surrounded in seconds. Hooked up to everything it seemed. They planned to stabilize me and air lift me to the cardiac wing in a larger hospital 50 miles away. Plans don't always come to completion because They could not get my B/P down. It wouldn't budge. Around noon they put me in ICU. I had a Private nurse who hovered. Oh, Did I mention I remained calm? Yep sure did!
I had drowsed and woke to the Nurse standing over me around 2AM I'm told. I said it is higher isn't It? She said Yes the Doctor is on his way. My Brother who lived only a few blocks away was already there. That room, which had seemed dark and tomb like, suddenly lit up bright. I looked up and I saw my Son , Who is in Heaven, as plain as I had seen him many times, looking at me. I wanted to hug him and I was trying to get to him but the vision vanished and another presence seemed to be standing at my side. It was very clear in my mind that I wasn't going to get to go to my Son, I was staying here. The Presence beside me was strong and it was peaceful. I don't remember anymore until the next day when they took me down to a private room. I was fine, my B/P was down. I was there three more days to get the B/P regulated and stable. What Happened? Nothing mysterious or spooky, but reality. I had a near death experience. I got a glimpse of my Son in Heaven but God wanted me to stay here. That's it, Simple. I'm Thankful!!