Posted by JD Seller on January 12, 2013 at 22:09:26 from (208.126.196.144):
I can remember visiting my Grand parents every Sunday. We went to Mom's parents after church and eat a late "lunch" and "visited" with them. Then we went home and did the necessary chores and then went to My Dad's parents for supper and "visited" with them.
My Grand Fathers on both sides where skilled story tellers. That was how the history of the family and neighbors was passed along. The fact that people rarely have time to just "visit" anymore coupled with how technology is isolating us from intimate daily contact. These things have just about made the art of story telling be a lost art.
So here is a good one about my Maternal Grand Father. To make you have a full picture you need to have a little history of my Grand Father. He was the most honest man I ever meet. Even to Uncle Sam on taxes. After he semi-retired he would work on small engines and lawn mowers for people. He kept track of every single dime he made and paid income tax and Social Security on the little amount of income he made doing the repairs. He might charge $2 to sharpen a lawn mower blade and get two one dollar bills. He would enter them in his ledger every night.
This story is about when he would have been about 9 or 10 years old. He had an second cousin that was just two years older than him. They where life long friends. It was in the fall of the year when pumpkins where ripe but the corn had not been shocked yet. The two cousins decided to sneak into a neighbor's field and swipe a couple of pumpkins. They waited until it was just dark and went to go get themselves some pumpkins. Like all little boys of that age they where talking a mile a minute to each other. Their chatter alerted the field owners (two older bachelors) that they where going to swipe some pumpkins. The old guys figured out who they where from their voices. The two old guys had a sense of humor too. So one of them went out into the gravel road and picked up two big hand fulls of rocks. The other went and got his shot gun. The old guys waited until the cousins got out into the corn field. Then the one fired the shot gun into the air. The other threw the rocks out into the corn field. To my Grand father and his cousin it sounded like they where being shot at. So they took off running as hard as they could back toward home. That was all and good until they hit the five strand barb wire fence at the end of the corn field. They had forgotten about that in their rush to get away. The older cousin did not get scratched up too bad. My Grand Father did not fair as well. He got through the fence but left most of his "new" overalls on the fence with a lot of skin from his legs. When he got back home all he had left of his pants was the straps and the waist band. LOL He had ran clear out of the rest of them.
So here he was with his "new" overalls all torn up and his legs all scratched up. He sure could not tell his Mother he had done all of this while trying to steal a pumpkin. So he had to treat his own cuts and hide the fact he had ruined a new pair of overalls.
Then to make it even better the old bachelors came into the Black Smith shop the very next day. (My Maternal family had a black smith/repair business) The old guys set down in the gossip corner and called my grand father over to set with them. He could not refuse. When he got there they told him a story of how they had ran some thieves out of their corn field the night before. Plus the one brother would slap Grand Dad's leg while telling him the story. Remember his legs where cut up pretty bad. So they had to be real sore. Grand Dad was in a real pickle because he knew that they knew what he had done. If they told his parents he would be in "real" trouble. So can you see this young boy sweating this out. It would have been pretty funny to watch.
So the old guys tormented my Grand Dad for a while. Then when they left they told him to come out to the pickup truck with them. He figure he was dead meat. LOL The older of the two brothers gave him two pumpkins an told him if he ever wanted any pumpkins all he had to do was ask for them and to not ever try to steal them again. Then the younger of the two brothers told him he had left something behind when he ran home. The younger of the two bachelors gave him a new pair of overalls to replace the ones he had ruined.
When Grand Dad grew up and started working in the black smith/repair shop, anything those two old men needed worked on was done for FREE. Also the two old guys brought him a few pumpkins each fall every year. They would all set down and have a good laugh about his "education" on becoming a better man.
Now how this ties into "ME". I remember that story every time I drive past that corn field/farm where this happened. My Grand Dad was born in 1898. So this happened a HUNDRED years ago. I know about it because of hearing my Grand Dad tell this story. So that snap shot of their everyday lives became a memorable thing to me because of his story telling skill.
I wonder if my kids will remember this story? I have told them about it and shown them the field and farm where it took place. If they do it will live on for another generation. If not it will just fade with the passing of time.
I am not sure my Grand Kids will remember it. I would bet they will not. We never have the "visiting" time like we used to have. Everyones lives are busier today than they where then. Are we really better off???
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Today's Featured Article - Listening to Your Tractor - by Curtis Von Fange. Years ago there was a TV show about a talking car. Unless you are from another planet, physically or otherwise, I don’t think our internal combustion buddies will talk and tell us their problems. But, on the other hand, there is a secret language that our mechanical companions readily do speak. It is an interesting form of communication that involves all the senses of the listener. In this series we are going to investigate and learn the basic rudimentary skills of understanding this lingo.
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