Just read the last post I made before I wandered off to do my craft shows. We were on the Ailmore place and had just had our cyclone. I have a few more memories I need to share there and then I will move on.
I mentioned Bull Creek being right by our house. I am going to try to figure out my directions here. Sorry, I got confused, but if you want to look just click here and you can figure it out. Just know that the Arkansas river runs on one side of Nickerson, Cow Creek figures in there some where on the other side and Bull Creek is a little furrow you can step across most of the time and has no water in it at all. But it is, or was at the time, a whole different story in the Spring. I think it is still the same because I used to make several trips down there every year and some times I like to take 96 Highway just for a change of scenery. Starting about in Rice County the sheriffs and volunteers would be out to make sure that when cars crossed the flooded parts of the road there were no casualties. Just one of the hazards of the area.
I recall once leaving our house and walking to check on the Shultz family, which was about 3 blocks away, and wading water all the way. As quickly as the floods came, they receded and we were left with puddles of water in all the low places. So we built little boats and sailed them in the puddles. As I recall, our house was set up off the ground so the water did not get inside. Most of the houses there were that way. I do not recall having a pet at the time, but I sure there was an old mangy dog around some where.
Back somewhere in the far recesses of my mind I can recall my father "pulling a prank" on friend of his or at least on his wife. Her name was Salina. I think she was married to John Britan, the guy my dad share cropped with for many years. All I remember is waking up and hearing them laughing and John saying "Just look at the egg my chicken laid! I am going to take it to the newspaper." Then they laughed some more. "Damn, Rueben, where did you get that turkey egg?" I do not know if anyone ever told Salina Britan that her chicken did not lay that egg, but it was a source of amusement at gatherings for a very long time as it quickly circulated through the town, and I am remembering it over 60 years later.
There are a lot of things I remember on the Ailmore place. Some one up the road had a car and took the children to school. They would stop at the end of our drive and let us ride with them if we were out, but if not, then we walked to school. There was a young man about Jake's age that sometimes hung out at the house, but he preferred to hang with us girls. Mother, Dad and Josephine would run him off the place. I did not understand then, but now I think I do. I thought they were just being mean because he was my "friend", but looking back, that was pretty strange.
The man right across Bull Creek on the way to town raised pigs. Right now his name escapes me ( Roy Keating) but some times dad would go do chores when the man left for a few days. We always went and gathered the eggs. That was really nice because he had a special little shed built for the eggs to be taken into, cleaned and put in crates. Our hen house had blown away and our chickens just laid where ever they felt like laying. Oh, but there is nothing more terrifying than reaching under one of those hens to get the egg. I lived in mortal terror that I would be pecked. Still afraid to do it now, so I just don't have chickens.
Jake always wanted to be a mechanic. I recall once he wanted me to blow in the gas tank while he looked under the hood. Then he had the bright idea to syphon the gas out of the tank and coerced Donna into sucking on the hose to get it started. She had no idea what she was doing so she got a big mouth full of gas. Lordy, mother liked to beat that Jake to death! And we had to make Donna throw up and maybe there was another trip to the medical place in Hutch.
Lots of gaps in my memory back then, but remember I was very young. Life back in those days was straight out of a John Stienbeck novel; poverty in it's purest form. But everyone was in the same boat, the war was just over, and better days lay ahead. I know cause we heard the adults say so and adults knew every thing! But we were about to move again. I had been born on one place, moved to another and was on my way to a third. I was 7 years old and the world lay before me like an open oyster, and sorry to say, smelled about the same...a little fishy!
I mentioned Bull Creek being right by our house. I am going to try to figure out my directions here. Sorry, I got confused, but if you want to look just click here and you can figure it out. Just know that the Arkansas river runs on one side of Nickerson, Cow Creek figures in there some where on the other side and Bull Creek is a little furrow you can step across most of the time and has no water in it at all. But it is, or was at the time, a whole different story in the Spring. I think it is still the same because I used to make several trips down there every year and some times I like to take 96 Highway just for a change of scenery. Starting about in Rice County the sheriffs and volunteers would be out to make sure that when cars crossed the flooded parts of the road there were no casualties. Just one of the hazards of the area.
I recall once leaving our house and walking to check on the Shultz family, which was about 3 blocks away, and wading water all the way. As quickly as the floods came, they receded and we were left with puddles of water in all the low places. So we built little boats and sailed them in the puddles. As I recall, our house was set up off the ground so the water did not get inside. Most of the houses there were that way. I do not recall having a pet at the time, but I sure there was an old mangy dog around some where.
Back somewhere in the far recesses of my mind I can recall my father "pulling a prank" on friend of his or at least on his wife. Her name was Salina. I think she was married to John Britan, the guy my dad share cropped with for many years. All I remember is waking up and hearing them laughing and John saying "Just look at the egg my chicken laid! I am going to take it to the newspaper." Then they laughed some more. "Damn, Rueben, where did you get that turkey egg?" I do not know if anyone ever told Salina Britan that her chicken did not lay that egg, but it was a source of amusement at gatherings for a very long time as it quickly circulated through the town, and I am remembering it over 60 years later.
There are a lot of things I remember on the Ailmore place. Some one up the road had a car and took the children to school. They would stop at the end of our drive and let us ride with them if we were out, but if not, then we walked to school. There was a young man about Jake's age that sometimes hung out at the house, but he preferred to hang with us girls. Mother, Dad and Josephine would run him off the place. I did not understand then, but now I think I do. I thought they were just being mean because he was my "friend", but looking back, that was pretty strange.
The man right across Bull Creek on the way to town raised pigs. Right now his name escapes me ( Roy Keating) but some times dad would go do chores when the man left for a few days. We always went and gathered the eggs. That was really nice because he had a special little shed built for the eggs to be taken into, cleaned and put in crates. Our hen house had blown away and our chickens just laid where ever they felt like laying. Oh, but there is nothing more terrifying than reaching under one of those hens to get the egg. I lived in mortal terror that I would be pecked. Still afraid to do it now, so I just don't have chickens.
Jake always wanted to be a mechanic. I recall once he wanted me to blow in the gas tank while he looked under the hood. Then he had the bright idea to syphon the gas out of the tank and coerced Donna into sucking on the hose to get it started. She had no idea what she was doing so she got a big mouth full of gas. Lordy, mother liked to beat that Jake to death! And we had to make Donna throw up and maybe there was another trip to the medical place in Hutch.
Lots of gaps in my memory back then, but remember I was very young. Life back in those days was straight out of a John Stienbeck novel; poverty in it's purest form. But everyone was in the same boat, the war was just over, and better days lay ahead. I know cause we heard the adults say so and adults knew every thing! But we were about to move again. I had been born on one place, moved to another and was on my way to a third. I was 7 years old and the world lay before me like an open oyster, and sorry to say, smelled about the same...a little fishy!
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