We walked everywhere we went and if we couldn't walk there then we just didn't go. There was one car to a family and usually the man would drive it to work. But there were stores which we could walk to near our home, Parks, and Keys. The one we kids went to most often was Key's. It was high off the ground with several steps going up to the porch which had a bench all the way across. Old and young alike sat there and talked or giggled as the teens were prone to do. If we had a dime we could get a 6 ounce coke and a bag of peanuts which we poured in the coke. We got one penny change and maybe bought some penny candy. A lone penny bought a little sack of candy. The inside of the store was long and always seemed cool. Wooden floors shined and were dark in color I suppose from years of use. The smell was all the many things blended together and they had everything. Sort of like the five and dime in Ozark that we loved so much. Then there was Seamans store if we got all the way to Altus. Now that was another wonderland for us. You could get anything from shoes to dresses, from dresses to food to trinkets of all kinds. We got to walk to Altus on Sunday evenings as teenagers but nothing was open then. Every one and everywhere observed Sunday as a time to go to Church and serve the Lord. The ones who didn't sure didn't get to shop.

The post office was on the other side of the road from Keys so that was killing two birds with one stone. As I got to my teens I took lots of pictures with my Grandpa Bynum's old box camera and if you don't know what that is I probably can't really explain except to say no flash, no color film, and no seeing them for several weeks. I had to send them off in the mail and wait for them to be developed and mailed back. I would be at the post office daily in the summer waiting anxiously for those pictures.

We didn't need to go anywhere much anyway cause like I said we were self reliant. There was no running to the store for every little whim because, again, we didn't need to. Most of what we ate was home grown. Daddy grew the veggies and Mama & Grandma canned them with a pressure cooker. Oh my goodness how that did heat up the house. I can almost hear that pop as the jars cooled and sealed. I would listen and count the pops then make sure everyone knew they all had sealed, or not. 

We had Chickens that produced eggs and we later ate the chicken. Meat consisted mostly of chicken and pork which we grew ourselves with occasional beef bought at the store. It tasted so much better than now. No chemicals in the chickens and hogs or their feed. There's no way I can prove to you how much better it all tasted unless you grew up in that era. The field corn Daddy raised was allowed to dry and we took the kernels off and stored it in a big vat of some kind. That corn fed to the chickens and hogs was what made that wonderful taste.

Looking out at the parched ground right now and hearing all this talk about how everything will be higher in price got me to thinking about Daddies large garden. It could have, but I can't remember it ever burned up with no produce. The reason for that was the way My Daddy tended the garden. No big tractors, plows, or tillers but just our horse and a turning plow. Daddy hitched Ol' Dixie to the plow and broke the ground good and deep before planting. He could lay off the rows good and straight a trick I never achieved. Then if it didn't rain he hitched up again and plowed the middles bringing up moisture from down deep. I'll never forget the smell of that ground and seeing my Daddy controlling the horse and the plow at the same time. Daddy said that keeping the middles stirred up kept the moisture going and also helped kill the pesky weeds. Another thing I can't forget is the crunch in my mouth after I pulled a carrot and ate it dirt and all right there in the garden. Norman and I ate tomatoes, carrots, and radishes standing there bare foot among the rows.

You just betcha that was the good old days.