DINOSAURS - Ladyfisher - January 25, 2010

[WarrenP]

Deanna,

I wish to "thank you" for the walk down memory lane! I will be 62 in March and I can remember when "62" sounded very old! A lot of my fly fishing "buddies" call me an "old ****" and that is fine with me because of the way I was raised, I know I will and can make it when they will be totally lost as to how to survive when all the "buttons" they now push quit working and they will. Your article brought back many great memories and some that were not so great. For instance:

The first farm house I remember had an outhouse and no indoor plumbing except for a hand pump located in the middle of the kitchen floor right next to the milk separator that always reminded me of the "tin man" in the Wizard Of Oz! I know a lot of FAOL members do not know what a milk separator is, but, I do and I know my Mom spent many hours with it to be able to sell the butter and cream she produced using it. She also sold eggs to others from our chickens. I was raised mostly by my Mom because my Father spent many hours away from home driving his own truck hauling whatever people wanted hauled so that he could provide for us. I, thankfully, do not remember when, at the age of 4, my Mom said I came up missing. She always took me to the barn each morning when she would do the milking and other chores and when she finished one morning, I was no where to be found. She told me that she looked everywhere and even walked to the neighbors which the closest one at that time was 1 mile away and her and several of the neighbors searched the hills and woods looking for me. When they found me I was walking back through the woods to the barn following our tom cat. They figured I had traveled with the tom cat on his daily route for the entire day! I am thankful that I do not remember that because Mom said I got one swat with a switch with every step from the barn to the house!

Our second farm had indoor plumbing and a wall mounted telephone in the kitchen. Our phone number was 2 long rings and 1 short ring. If you needed to call someone, you gave the phone crank one long ring and Lena, the operator would pick up and ring the person you wanted to call. I still remember meeting Lena and watching her use the switchboard with all the holes and cords she used to connect and disconnect people. My Mom always painted the woodwork in the kitchen white every year and that walnut wall mounted telephone got a coat of white paint each year! When they retired and sold the farm I asked them for the phone and still have it today in its original working condition, plus all the layers of white paint, and keep telling myself that one day I will strip the paint off and restore the walnut finish which I have yet to do. We raised all our own food from the 3 gardens and raised our own beef. The only thing we purchased from the store would be flour, coffee and sugar. My Mom worked very hard to provide the food for us and she seemed to enjoy every minute of it. It was just the way things were for us even though some of my school friends were used to living from the grocery store and having things I never had. My Dad had his beliefs on how things should be and some I thought were wrong back then and was sure they would scar me for life, but, they ended up being good lessons on how to make it through life when things got bad. We never had a Christmas tree because Dad said it was a waste of electicity that we could not afford. He did not understand why people thought they needed to wait until Christmas to give someone something they needed. He said they should receive those "gifts" when they needed them and not have to wait. He always told me to never buy anything on credit and always pay with cash. If you needed something and did not have the cash to buy it, you waited until you had the cash. He never got over my wife and I buying on credit a refrigerator, washer and dryer after we got married! He also never allowed me to go "trick or treating" because he said it was unfair on the elderly on limited incomes to have to purchase candy to give to children who did not need it and now that "makes sense" to me although I did allow my son to go. Before school would start my parents would buy my "school" clothes. No, I did not get to pick what I wanted to wear or what the latest fade was, my parents would purchase 5 shirts, 5 pair of pants and new shoes and socks and that gave me a school "outfit" to wear each day of school. As soon as I got off the bus at the farm from school I had to take my "school" clothes off and put on my farm clothes which were last year's school clothes. We did have a TV, but, it was not allowed to be turned on until all school homework was done, all farm chores done and supper over and dishes washed and put away plus you never watched TV if it was still daylight outside. It was a black and white but we had one of those special plastic screens taped over the screen that has the blue strip at the top, red in the center and green at the bottom to give you the impression the picture was in color.

My Father was born in Winston County in Mississippi as southern baptist and my Mother was raised Greek Orthodox which made going to church on Sundays a very interesting experience! My Father left Mississippi when he graduated high school and moved to Ohio. He always told everyone he moved to Ohio for 2 things. One was to get a job and the other was to meet a girl he was not kin to. In Ohio is where he met my Mom and with her being raised Greek Orthodox, she definately was not kin to him! My Mom dragged me to every church of every denomination she could think of if she thought Dad would attend with us, but, that never happened. She was a strong christian women and her determination to get me to church every Sunday engraved in me that I needed to follow the straight and narrow path. I am proud to say that I am now a born again christian and know my creator even though I may not act it at times.

I could go on and on, but, I do not want to make this thread any longer than what it is. I thank my Mom and Dad for the way they raised me because I know I can make it when the bottom falls out and I can provide for my family. Being raised the way I was is why I like tying my own flies and making a lot of my own tools instead of buying them. Create your own and you learn to appreciate them more. I love being in the outdoors and hiking many miles when fly fishing because I was raised to appreciate the great outdoors and I want to continue exploring it since it keeps getting smaller and smaller with each new housing development created.

My Father passed away 5 years ago and since my Mom has never had a driver's lic., I take care of her wants and needs. She is 87 and still lives by herself and takes very good care of herself because she knows how to from the way she was raised. She is a little spoiled now and that is my fault but she deserves all of it for what she done for me.

Thanks, Deanna, for the great "ride" down memory lane....