I used to love summer because we were out of school but I missed my school pals too. There were a few other kids around and we all had a good time.  We walked all over with no fear of being abducted or bothered in any way.  We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or chat rooms, I was in the 9th grade before we got a TV,...WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

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Every year in February it was time to start preparing the ground for planting potatoes. Red Pontiac's I think was the name of the one Daddy always planted. That was it, no other kind even got any consideration. My Papa planted those and Daddy planted those. Now my Papa was adamant that potatoes should be planted on Feb. 14. Not a day before, not a day after. Sometimes the weather permitted this sometimes it didn't but Papa would plant them in snow if he had to. Lots of other veggies were planted later at just the right time. Green peas were next.

Everyone planted by the moon signs then. A copy of The Old Farmers Almanac was purchased and that was the rule. Don't laugh, In later years I planted peas in the bloom season and that was what I got . Lots of blooms, no peas. REALLY!

I grew up listening and watching the garden grow. I knew how to plant and take care of a garden and I always loved it.

Daddy would hitch up Ol' Dixie and off he'd go up and down in the two acre plot plowing it deep and bringing up all the good moist rich dirt. Then he laid off the rows all neat and straight. It was quiet a production and I was there all the way. Took every step my Daddy and Ol' Dixie took. Ol' Dixie was a gentle horse and I loved her. Daddy would sometimes lift me up to sit on her even though I was too young to learn to ride I thought I was really in high cotton up on that horse.

One day I was with Daddy in the garden. I just loved to rake my bare feet through the fresh plowed dirt. Loved the smell of it and the feel of it. This day I was ahead of Daddy and Ol' Dixie just enjoying the dirt. I sat down in the middle of a row and was heaping dirt over one of my feet and stamping it down. Then I would very carefully pull my foot out and there was a mound of dirt. I'd stick something in the place where my foot had been and pretend it was anything I wanted it to be. All of us kids did this and it was fun we thought. Anyway this day Daddy didn't see me from behind Ol' Dixie. I was sitting right in front of Dixie when she stopped. Daddy flipped the reins and geed or hawed or whatever it was he said but Dixie would not move. Daddy was irritated. Dixie had never done this before. He flicked the reins a bit harder to let Dixie know he meant business. Well Dixie just politely stepped out of the row and started around me. Daddy was flabbergasted but relieved when he saw me. Dixie was not going to step on me. She loved me also.

Daddy had carrots in the garden always. Mama canned them with little potatoes for making soup later. One day Brenda and I decided to pull a carrot and take it to the barn for Ol' Dixie. The carrots were not ready to pull. About the size of my little finger. I pulled one and said, "Shoot fire Brenda, this aint big enough we are gonna need more". Well we pulled a "bunch" more before we thought it was enough and took off to the barn. Boy howdy now, Ol' Dixie loved her treat. Didn't take her long to eat the carrots so we decided to get her more. We ran back and forth till we had pulled almost two rows of carrots. Finally we noticed that we had almost destroyed Daddies crop of carrots and knew we were in trouble. We didn't say a word. We went down the rows and tried to fix things so no one would notice. How stupid was that?!

We just went on about our day and kinda forgot the carrot mutilation. Daddy always headed to his garden after he got home from work and had his supper. Of course he spotted the carrot destruction. There were our tracks all over the place and didn't take Daddy long to figure out who the culprits were. UH OO!! Stupid me I was with him as usual. "Clydene what in the world did you do this for" he asked. "Brenda helped me feed Ol Dixie a carrot" I said. Daddy was not happy with us at all and for good reason. He took me by the hand and we walked out the lane to Brenda's house with my Daddy talking to me all the way telling me why this was wrong. "I'll have to plant carrots again, You know better than to pull them before the grow big enough, etc. By the time we got there and Brenda got her lecture I was so ashamed. I felt horrible for what I had done, and I was sorry. I didn't get a spanking but I never did it again. Of course I knew better! 

 The next evening when Daddy got home Brenda and I took him out and showed him how we had filled in the rows with new seeds. He was so happy with us there were tears on his lashes which he wiped away hurriedly. We learned and grew from our mistakes whether they be big or small. We learned from wonderful loving Parents who punished us when we needed it and loved us all the time. I'm so greatful for my up-bringing way down there on that dead in road next to the RR tracks.

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I was reading 40 years ago in our local Newspaper a few weeks ago and saw something about the Sunnyslope and Sawitsky's drive in restaurants.  I have lots of memories there.  I was never allowed to car hop but Brenda worked at both places and I got to go with her. I still don't know what the difference was between working there and just hanging out there but that's the way it was. 
I thought car-hopping looked easy but I sure found out it wasn't when Margaret decided one night that I could help out for my supper. She always gave me supper anyway but  they were very busy that night.  The easy part was going out for the order, I didn't mind that at all, but carrying that tray out was a different thing all-together. The first one I carried out, did I say carried out, the door hit my backside and the tray went flying. I was so embarrassed I didn't want to go again. I laid low for a spell and decided to try again. This time I made it all the way to the car but when I tried to attach the tray on the car door I tipped the whole thing in to the car on the drivers  lap and ran off crying. Bless Brenda's heart she always tried to take care of me. She cleaned up my mess, hugged me, and sat me down.
Kids gathered at both drive-in's on week-ends. Some friends pulled their cars close enough so they could visit. Others went inside where the juke box was. You got three plays for a quarter. It was never quiet inside or out.
When the County fair and carnival was in town Brenda would take her supper break and we went down 64 highway to the fair grounds which were on the edge of town. Not a big place like the fair is now but just as enjoyable to my thinking. The brick building next to the grounds held the  things on display to win ribbons. Out back somewhere was the stock barn. I never went out there so don't know much about it. I never had much money but Brenda had some tips so we got a few rides before going back to the Margaret's
The parking lot was full to the brim when we got back. Margaret and Brenda convinced me to try car-hopping again until the orders thinned down. I did much better this time because my stubborn pride kicked in big time. I didn't plan on making a fool of myself again, at least not that night I wasn't. I worked a couple of hours and Margaret offered me a job. I told Daddy how well I had done and asked if I could work. No Way No How, not even for my supper. I guess I got my stubbornness straight from home. Sometimes I could sniffle and beg but it didn't work this time.
I got to go with Daddy and Mama to do things like, pick cotton, peas, cucumbers, strawberries, peaches, and  a berry called young berries. I didn't enjoy that as much as car hopping but I was with my family. I suspect being where they could watch me was the difference in car hopping and the field work, don't you? I made enough money to buy some school clothes, shoes, and other supplies I would need. We only had to have the basics then not the long lists they are given now. Calculators? We had never heard of them and we learned well without them. Our arithmetic books had the addition,subtraction, division, and multiplication  scales right there in the back pages.
I never did 'blow' my money after I got older and the pride kicked in. Then I wanted nice clothes and things like that so I spent my money on those things.  Before that I had spent my money as fast as made it on candy and trinkets.  The money was mine to spend as I wished but my parents tried to teach us the value of even a penny, which by the way would buy something then.

I'm proud of the lessons I learned from my parents even when it involved a burning backside.

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We came up with many ways to play in the late fourty's and fifties. We had to improvise big time because we didn't have many toys like kids do today.  
I  suspect I kicked a can hundred's of miles in my childhood. I was always barefoot in the summer but my feet were tough as leather and running up a dirt road kicking a rusty can was no problem.  Sometimes we'd hold a few pennies in our grubby hands and kick a can all the way to. Hall Parks store.
Another thing girls did was draw a hop-scotch pattern in the dirt and jump sometimes jumping on one foot and picking up a rock as we went. I have buried my nose in the dirt bunches of times when I'd fall before getting to the end. Good thing it was dirt and not sidewalks down in our neck of the woods. No sidewalks in Denning then. Boys jumped hop-scotch sometimes also, though I don't think they wanted their friends to find out about it.
Jacks was a favorite of mine. We needed a more stable surface for the ball to bounce but sometimes dirt was all we had so we'd hunt up a board or flat rock. I remember a spot in the road in front of our house that we stomped down flat enough for the ball to bounce. We were on the end of the road with no through traffic so the road was a play ground as well as the yard.
Boys played marbles. They drew a circle in the dirt with a stick to shoot marbles. Kind of the same as pool is played. Some of those marbles were so pretty. There was a goalie, I think that's what it was called, and the cat eyes were special somehow.  I'm not very learned on marbles.  On the grounds at school would  be boys at their marbles and girls playing jacks or hop-scotch.
I wasn't too fond of hide-and-seek. Mainly because I usually had to be it. Another reason was because I liked having all my friends together. I liked doing things together.
Walking was something we all did a lot. Money or not we liked to walk to the stores. Down one way was Parks store. A long  cracker box style made from tin for the sides and roof. It wasn't as inviting as  Snow's store which was a bit father on around the bend in the road. It was bright and cheerful and Charley and Elsie, as well as daughter Ruby were so nice to us. Sometimes when we were a few pennies shy of what we wanted it would miraculously become just the amount we had.  The Parks never did that for us.   Key's store was the closest to us, mainly because we were right next to the Rail-Road-Tracks. We could walk up the track and get off at the crossing. It wasn't very far to the store then. I just loved Wallace and Lela. Their store had lots more than the other two and I loved those Strawberry and Chocolate milk drinks. Mama bought Jergens lotion for herself and  I'll never forget that smell on her.  Daddy used Wilroot Cream Oil on his hair that was bought at Keys. If we were lucky enough to have a nickel I loved those big Power-house candy bars. I haven't seen one in years but I am drooling right now wishing I had one.
Something I loved to do was climb the big trees in our yard. The big Elm, we called it Ellem, tree was my favorite and I spent hours up there as long as Daddy didn't catch me. Boys could climb trees but he was afraid  his little girl would fall.  There were also the fragrant and beautiful China-berry trees, and walnut trees. 
Mud pies was another past time that Brenda and I enjoyed. We made them in all shapes and flavors. My favorite to eat was made with milk and mud. Good Grief, I can't begin to guess how many of those were consumed made with mud of un-known content.
Brenda and I both had the very simple kinds of dolls. Grandma made me a small rag doll once which I loved. She got a cigar box and painted it, used big wooden spools that thread came on for the bottom so it stood off the floor on legs, then made a tiny pillow and blanket to cover the doll.  I loved that home made doll and bed more than any I ever had. There was nothing fancy to be had then. If there was I never had them.

I remember vividly us building a playhouse, the boys called it a fort but we all built it together. We spent one whole day breaking down persimmon saplings until we had a comfy and secure place to play. I remember enjoying that so much.   Maybe today's youth need to learn of the ways that we played. They might enjoy it. We were sure never bored.

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There are so many things that are out of date now according to the younger generation and I must confess I like this "easier" era mostly. There are things that young people, including young adults would never consider doing, or even know how to do.  
What about writing letters and actually mailing them at the Postal Office?  Every small town in my youth had a post office. There was no other way to correspond  then, not even a telephone. The post office was a good meeting place with family and friends. I remember being the one that would walk  up to the pst office and be there when the mail run. That building would be packed with everyone talking at once.  The one I remember in my youth was a long cracker box style. Something, I can't remember what, happened to it and a small little box like one was built. The building was still there until the tornado ripped through there a few years ago.  Oh  how I loved to get letters.  I had two pen-pals that I got in school. I wrote to a friend from school in the summer months when school was out.  It wasn't like now with E-mail, texting, or getting in a car to go visiting. Even in my teen years I wrote lots of letters mostly To boy friends not in the state.
We were taught the art of letter writing and how to correctly address the envelope in school. I still do it exactly like I was taught in grade school. They call it Elementary school now but I just don't like that word. It sounds too simple or involving the fundamental or simplest aspects of a subject. I don't like to be simple.

  Another thing was listening to the radio before TV.  There were children's shows just like on TV now but let me tell you they were absolutely not like the children's shows now. Some of the things they have on for kids now are not even fit for adults.  I remember a radio show called Uncle Ray that I listened to. I felt like I was right there with him the way he described what was going on.   Later in my teen years we got a TV but we could only get two channels. Not a lot interested me on TV after the new wore off. I went back to the radio then and would  take it to my bedroom to listen to music.  My Grandpa Thomas said any one who would listen to the radio when they could see TV, He called it TB, just had to be a little bit stupid.

  Getting to go somewhere was a treat in the 50's and 60's.  In my very young years we all walked every where we went. If it was too far to walk we just didn't go it was as simple as that, no questions asked. Daddy had an old car that was very,very, old even then.  When he was home with the car after work and week ends it was not used for pleasure except maybe a show on Saturday night. I am told that when I was born my parents had no car. Daddy ran up the road to my Aunt Georgia's and got Uncle Frank to take her to the hospital. Same thing four years later when Norman was born. Does anyone not have a car now?  Not many I'd think.

Going to an outside toilet would be hard for  some to even comprehend now but all we knew in my youth. I know some might have had indoor plumbing but just not anyone I knew.  Taking a bath in a wash tub in the back room was normal. Now I can't help but wonder how in the world did older people do it. I'd hate to think I'd have to get myself folded in to a no. ten washtub now. Sitting in an outside toilet summer or winter was not a very comfortable thing to do either but that's the way it was and all we knew.  Running out to the toilet in the pre dawn light freezing cold in winter or burning hot in summer was never thought too much about, just the way it was.

  Drawing water from a well was another thing that came natural for us. I've had rope burns on my hands from it slipping through my hands. The bucket was let down into the well and bounced when it hit the water to sink it. When it was full you pulled it back up. In a dug well you could usually see the bucket but a drilled well was a different thing all together. We had one of each. The dug well was open with a kind of  box like curb built around it ,hard to describe unless you lived in that time, we drew water from it to fill the wringer washer. The drilled well was straight down with a cylinder like bucket. We used it for drinking and house use. I can't remember that I ever minded drawing water. Some chores I hated like carrying out the slop jars but I never mined drawing water.

There were so many differences between then and now that it would take a book to mention them all.  I've lived through so many changes that it's been hard for me to keep up with. We used to be busy with work and play. We got plenty of exercise and fresh air and  ate mostly home grown foods.  That's the way it was.  Sitting propped up in front of some machine with our minds in to some digital game for recreation would have been foreign to us. We were outside running and playing. We sure didn't need to go walking up a walking tail with our arms swinging and we sure didn't need some machine for walking without going anywhere.  GOOD GRIEF!

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