Wash Day
I remember wash day well when I was a kid. I don't remember it being on a certain day, just whenever my mother decided to tackle the job.
And it was a job. She would get out the old iron wash pot and fill it with water and build a fire under it to heat the water. Then she would get out her wash tub and wash board and bring out hot water she had heated on the wood stove in the kitchen and fill the tubs with it. Then she would pile all of the clothes along beside the wash tub. She would get her big blocks of lye soap, home made, and would scrub the white and light colored clothing first then the dark and dirtiest clothes later. They all got a turn on the wash board and then into rinse water and finally into the cast iron wash pot with the hot boiling water. They were boiled for a few minutes and then dipped out into cold rinse water and finally hung on the clothes line to dry. I think the idea was that the boiling water would kill germs and make the white things whiter. I never boil my clothes when I wash them! Maybe they are loaded with germs!
It was an almost all day job back in those days. We would have to take down some things as soon as they dried in order to hang up more clothes. By the time everything got washed and dried it was late in the day. We hung some things on a fence (equal to our dryer) to have more room. My job was mostly hanging wash rags and other small pieces on the fence. It all seemed like fun then. I'm sure it wasn't fun for the adults!
Of course this was the routine on summer days. Winter was a different story. The job was all done inside when it was cold instead of outside in warm weather.
Now when I load my washer with my dirty clothes I thank God it isn't like it used to be back then!
I'm Losing them all!
This is a picture of our family reunion that was held back in about 1932 or 33. Out of the approximately 45 people in the picture there are only six that are still living. I am the one sitting on the banister in the front row. I look at that picture and I can't believe that almost all of them are gone!
It is just a flashing memory of all the good times and fun represented in that picture. It is scary to realize that soon I will be one of the missing ones in the picture. However, I have had a long and good life and everyone must die sometime so I will take my turn when it comes--which I hope is a few years away!
I tried to circle the heads of the ones in the picture who are still living but the circles don't show very well. Anyway, The ones still living are the youngest ones in the picture.
Enjoy all of your loved ones while they are still here because one day they will be missing also. The one good thing about it is that many of us will be meeting again in the hereafter, sadly a few may not!
Wasps
I am surprised that I was not stung many more times than I ever was. I used to get into bushes and vines all the time hunting for berries. I never checked for wasps or hornets when I dug into bushes, I just looked for those big red berries or black ones to stick into my mouth and enjoy that sweet fresh flavor. I loved any kind of berries. Sometimes I wanted to pick them and take them home for my mother to make pies or shortcakes with, other times I just ate them right on the spot--yum yum!
Once I remember finding a big bunch of berry vines along a fence row and the berries were inviting me right in to eat them. I climbed the fence and got right in there. I had not had a berry to eat yet before a big wasp got me right on my upper lip. Wow! Did that ever hurt? I got my butt out of there in a hurry and ran home screaming. My mother put something on it to lessen the pain. I stayed out of berry bushes for some time after that.
I have not had any kind of a sting for many years but I sure remember how much that wasp sting hurt! I still love berries but now I hunt for them in the racks at the grocery store. The prices hurt almost as much as the wasp sting did. But once in a while I get stung anyway and buy a basket of strawberries or whatever kind is in season. I am in heaven eating them--with whipped cream!
Bees
Actually, there was another downside to going barefoot in the summer. Many times my kids stepped on bees when they were outside playing in the grass.
I never remember stepping on bees but I know they did. Maybe it was because we used to have a lot of clover in our grass. Bees like clover.
I would be inside when my kids were outside playing and I would hear a yell--then I knew someone had stepped on a bee. I guess you couldn't blame the bee, someone had invaded its territory!
I have often heard that if a bee stings someone it dies. I don't know if this is true but it does seem possible. It--their life--is what they pay for their moment of power over you!
So with all of the downsides to going barefoot I still would do it in a minute if I was a kid!
Barefoot Time
When I was a kid the most fun day of the year was the day in the spring that my mother let me go barefoot for the first time. It was usually in March or April, actually when ever the weather was warm enough. I never had shoes on again until fall when school started-- only for church or special occasions
I can still remember how good it felt to run my feet over the green grass or dig them into the warm sand. It was the best feeling ever.
Ford, my husband, felt differently about that. He said he never liked to go barefoot and never did. Oh, what he missed!
There was a downside to going barefoot. It was hard to miss all of the little shards of glass, sharp pieces of sticks and other things on the ground that could cut your feet. I had many cuts and bruises on my feet during the summer from just such things. However, I never let that interfere with my fun of going barefoot. I used monkey blood--what we called Mercurochrome-- band aids or what ever and still left my feet bare! There was also another downside to the practice--we had to wash our feet every night before we went to bed!
I remember how irritating it was when I was so tired and just wanted to hit the sack and my mother would say get in that bathroom and wash your dirty feet! But really all of the positives outweighed the negatives.
Actually, I still love going barefoot in the house. I do not go barefoot outside anymore. But you'd better believe me, I go barefoot most of the time in my house! So hold your nose when you come into my home!
Yellow Jackets
My Mother was a sweeper. She used to sweep her yard almost every day --and I mean sweep, not rake. She had a broom in her hand much of the time. She would sweep up little twigs, scraps of paper, what ever was there that was not supposed to be.
Once she swept into something that was not supposed to be there but it was, a yellow jacket's nest. I say yellow jacket because I am not sure that it was a yellow jacket. But because of research I found that most yellow jackets build their nests underground. Wasps, bees and hornets mostly build their nests in trees or higher off the ground. So I assume it was a yellow jacket's nest that she swept into.
Anyway, she was attacked by hundreds of the insects. She was stung many times. She screamed and yelled until a neighbor heard her and came to her defense. He also got stung but he did manage to get her up to the front door and into the house. She was wearing a medical alert button and she used it. They took her to the emergency room and she was treated for the stings. Luckily, she was not seriously injured. It was a very painful experience but she was spared any long lasting problem.
They later found the nest of the insects and did what they could to destroy it. It was near a fence and at the base of a tree. I think my Mother avoided that area after that!
