Winter School Days

Winter brought lots of snow in Somerset County. It made the walk to school harder, but we didn't mind too much.

The part I didn't like about school was recess. I loved my books and learning new things and if I would have had my choice I would not have ventured outside of the schoolhouse all day. Ever since L.V. had started calling me an elf he and his friends carried on with it when ever they had a chance.

In a way I was very happy to have snow covering everything outside, because there were no grasshoppers and snakes available any longer to be chased by. They could move so much faster in the hand of one of the boys and the only safe place was the girls outhouse.

In another way the snow presented a new problem for me. Behind the schoolhouse there was a very long steep hill with a creek in the bottoms. Almost every recess everyone would run outside and get a feedbag that neighboring farmers had supplied for this purpose and slide down the hill on them. I used to stand at the top of the hill and watch the others go flying down, but the sheer size of the hill terrified me and there was no way I wanted to slide down.

Teacher Hannah was sure I would enjoy it too if I would only try it. I didn't want to disappoint her and she assured me if I didn't like it I wouldn't have to again. She helped me sit on the bag and told me to hold it firmly so it won't get away from me. I sat down and she let go of the bag. The sliding path was worn shiny and slick from the many bags and children that had already been sliding on it for days. The hill was steep enough that as soon as I started off I was flying and my speed only increased the further I went. Halfway down I somehow managed to get my hand between the bag and the snow but the ride was so dizzying fast I had no control of anything. Once I got to the bottom I saw that my mitten was worn through and the back of my hand was bleeding.

It took a long time to climb back up the hill. Once I got to the top Teacher Hannah looked at my hand and took me inside to bandage it. She never asked me to go sliding again and I never did. That was the first and only ride I ever took during all my school years.

There is a very generous giveaway over at The Mennobrarion. You may want to go check it out and then stay awhile to enjoy her interesting blog.
This is only one of the four groups of things that you could win by commenting on her post.

Random Bits

Why do children enjoy noise? It isn't enough to just pop the bubbles on big bubble wrap. Today I caught them holding it beside their ears to pop them to get the full benefit of the noise.

I could understand it if they would be trying to hold it beside each others ears but to voluntarily hold it beside your own ear?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Does anyone have a recipe how to fix hominy that it actually tastes good?

The past three years Sailor has not talked about much except ships, and being a captain once he is big enough. But recently he has dropped it in favor of building a pioneer village. And now he is excited about all things pioneer.

I bought some hominy and fixed a little bit tonight and since trying to eat it he is rethinking the whole pioneer thing. After tasting it his description was. "It's like trying to eat wet paper towels Mom."

So if anyone could share a recipe to make them more tasty I would greatly appreciate that.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I really, really detest mending. And when an almost new pair of Wranglers come home with a big cut (by a chainsaw) all the way across the leg and getting part of the pocket too it does not create the happiest moments in ones life.

After trying to care for the ugly wound, you focus on the pair of Wranglers and wonder if it wouldn't be easier to just buy a new pair every week or so.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There are all sorts of jobs out there, and when your husband's choice of occupation involves one with a higher than average risk of injury, you just have to stay occupied with nice quiet things and not dwell on the maybe's and what ifs too much.

But every once in a while something happens that reminds you anew of the danger he is in everyday. You try to bandage him up with the best of your ability, take a picture of the injured area and threaten to post it on your blog.

But instead of sharing the gruesome picture you just take an old song and change some of the words.
"Mamas don't let your babies grow up to be loggers!
They work too hard and get lots of scars.

The remaining lyrics to the revised version shall remain a secret.

The Tractor

John, David, and I loved playing on Daddy's new Leyland tractor. We used to sit on the seat and turn the steering wheel and pretend we were working in fields. The farms we owned and worked on in our imaginations were beautiful.

Daddy didn't mind if we played on the tractor, but we had been warned not to touch the levers or anything except the steering wheel. One day we were once again playing on it. Daddy had it parked in the potato patch on top of the hill. As I was driving through an imaginary field I pressed my foot on the clutch and the tractor rolled forward slowly. I quickly took my foot off and John and I looked at each other. That had been fun. We had not touched any levers and certainly had not started the tractor so we really weren't doing anything wrong we reasoned.

John wanted to know how I did it. So I showed him as I pressed my foot on the clutch again. The tractor rolled forward again. It was exciting to be on a tractor that is actually moving. John wanted a turn too, so I switched places with him and he pressed the clutch in and clung to the steering wheel as we rolled further down the hill. I wanted another turn so we switched again and we rode the tractor down the hill almost to the road.

Once we were there we were presented with a problem. The tractor that had so willingly rolled down the hill for us now sat stubbornly and would not climb back up before Daddy came home and saw what we had done. We were glad for the row of pine trees that had blocked our adventure from Mom's eyes but there was no way we could hide that tractor from Daddy. It would be the first thing he saw as he was coming home from work. Since we couldn't hide the tractor we did the next best thing and hid ourselves. We climbed into the attic of the old house next to ours, but today all the fun antiques didn't even look interesting as we sat in a corner waiting for Daddy to come home.

After what seemed like a long time we heard him drive into the driveway. We peeked out of the window and watched him go into the house. Before long he came out again with the milk pail and called us.

We knew we had to go so we climbed down and went to see what he had to say. He just said it is chore time and we followed him out to the barn. I stood and held the cow's tail as Daddy milked her. I usually enjoyed chore time as John, David, and I would tell Daddy everything that had happened that day, but tonight we couldn't think of anything except that tractor and wondering what our punishment would be for driving it down to the road.

Once the cow was milked and Daddy poured a bowlful of fresh milk for the cats. He set the pail down and looked at us. He asked "Is something bothering you? You have been very quiet tonight." John said. "We drove your tractor today." I quickly added that we didn't start it up though.

Daddy asked how it happened, and we told him all about it. He didn't say much but then warned us to never try something like that again because we could have easily rolled on out onto the road and been hurt.

Thursday Introduction

Recently I was at a grocery store doing my weekly shopping. My cart was filling up fast when I remembered I still need eggs. When I got to the egg section I noticed a lady checking for cracked eggs but I didn't pay much attention to her as I started getting the eggs I needed.

I put several dozen in the cart when she said "Hi, how are you today?" I glanced at her thinking she is probably talking on a cell phone, but I didn't see anything and she was looking at me so I answered. "I'm doing great. How about you?" But that only made her glare at me, as she said "I'm here at the store. Is there anything else you need for tonight?"

It was then that I noticed she was wearing a Bluetooth. I hurriedly finished my shopping and went my way more resolved than ever not to use a Bluetooth. It's not that have anything against anyone who does use one, which includes my husband. But I personally find them to be a nuisance. Which brings to mind a well written hilarious post, "Toothache and Technology" by one of my favorite bloggers, Robynn's Ravings. You can go read it for yourself, I am sure you will enjoy it as much as I did.