WHOSE IDEA WAS IT? (Part one)

Hello neighbor. Glad you stopped by.

 Al's folks had moved to Dade City, Florida due to some health issues with his father. The doctor had told him that he should be in a warmer climate and Maine winters could be very cold..Al's company transferred him to the plant in Buffalo, N.Y. After we were settled in a suburban town outside of Buffalo, Al and I flew to Florida to visit them. I thought that it was a nice place to visit, but didn't think it was a place I would want to live. Dade City was in the Central part of Florida and was more countrified than what I expected. My picture of Florida was like the Miami Beach area.  This is what I saw on TV, Jackie Gleason and other celebs who lived or hung around that area. Also the pictures showed rows and rows of tall condos on the beaches. Not an inviting place for me to want to live. Well, the visit with Al's folks was a good one and we went back again taking the kids with us so they could visit there Grandparents. It was good that we did it when we did, because it wasn't long after that Al's father passed away.

"Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you." Matthew 6;33 This was really put to a  test when we decided to see if we could find a place in the country with land for Karen, who by this time was old enough to begin wanting a horse. So Al and I would go driving around evenings checking areas outside of the town to see if we could find a place suitable for a pasture for a horse.  After looking and looking and nothing seemed right or available, I told Al on the last looking that perhaps God just wanted us to stay where we were. I was having a women's Bible study at our house and even one lady came to know Jesus there. We were attending a church where we were being fed spiritually and had made good friends. So we just let go of the hunt for a farm and figured God wanted us right where we were.

It wasn't long after making that decision that the company decided that they needed Al back in the Maine plant. So back to Maine we went. Back to our little town of Monmouth. God did not forget about Karen's desire for a farm for a horse.  There it was, an old place that needed some fixing up, It even had a pasture with a small barn out in the middle of the field. So by letting God take control of our lives, He went one better. He gave us a farm, back in our home town. Now Karen has a place for a horse, the kids are back in the same school and we found a very small congregation just down the road who really needed some new faces. Sometimes when we give something we want back to God he comes through with something better.

So we settled in again making a home in a different part of the town with new challenges. Kids were getting older, the boys were into ball games, Karen got her horse and we were involved in this little country church with a hand-full of people (rather old ones), So God had me involved with trying to get some Sunday School going and getting kids to come. Things were moving along pretty smoothly.

One extra cold winter, Al and I flew to Florida to visit his Mother. I think it was on this trip that we began thinking about maybe making a move there. There it is, the "idea" was planted. I had thought differently about Florida after being there where is was so much warmer than what we had just left in Maine. I especially liked it out where Al's mother lived, so country like. In a couple of years Karen would be finished with high school. This would  seem like a good time to work on our "idea".
Karen could go to college in Florida.I even sent for some college info to see what was available.
The boys were both doing their things, Scot, the oldest, was in the army and when he left that he stayed out in Washington state. Albert was going to college in Maine. So it seemed like the time  might be getting closer to take a serious look at this "idea".

We never know what tomorrow will bring and this time it brought us another move, back to Buffalo. Again the company wanted Al back there for some special reason.  Because Karen was still in high school now would not be a good time to follow up on this "idea".  So we packed again and went back to Buffalo.  This time settled in an area a little closer to Buffalo.  Our plan was put on the back burner figuring we'd wait longer for Karen to finish high school and go to college, then we could pick up our plans and continue on with them.

We hadn't been there very long before Al sensed that something was going on at the Buffalo plant. Rumors were going around that the plant may be sold. Well, that would change things for us again. More than likely we'd be heading back to Maine. Not my favorite choice. Well, if this is what God wanted, than I would accept it and mentally began to house hunt in the area of North Monmouth where the company was located. Having lived in two other areas would try a different one. Al also was beginning to think that this might be a good time for him to retire since he had put in 25 years.
Karen would be graduating from high school soon and was set on a college there in Buffalo. Since Al's brother and family lived nearby, she could stay with them or on campus. So once again we began to  figure out what to do.

We could see that God was beginning to give us some guidance, too. One day while At was at work he had a conversation a friend at the plant. Al shared with him what was going on. So this friend, Mike, told him that he had a Tool Rental business in Hallandale.Fl and he needed a manager. So he suggested Al and I go down and look the area and business over to see if it was anything we might  be interested in..  Well, Hallandale is just north of Miami and so it certainly wasn't what I had planned for us in Florida, but if this was what God was opening up, guess it would OK.

So to make a long story short things did work out with Karen at her Uncle's, met a great fellow and eventually married him, and went to college. So with all three kids doing their thing, Al and I loaded up a UHaul truck and set off for sunny Florida.

The thing is, I wondered was the idea to go to Florida ours and God okayed it, or was it His idea in the first place and He had to work things out so that we would be receptive to such a move. I really wanted to be in the country part, but here we were in Hallandale and Hollywood right on the beach and all the rush and congestion of Florida living.  Well, we stayed there 12 years, so I guess it all worked out all right. To God be the Glory.

Stop again some time and we'll have another chat.

I'M DOWN HERE!

“I’M DOWN HERE”!

Hello Neighbor. Glad you stopped by.

When I was still quite a small simple farm girl, I often would go with my Dad to the barn to help with the night time chores.  To the right of the main barn floor, where we would back the hay wagon in to unload the hay, was the stables for the cows.

Their stalls were built up a few inches, leaving an area for the manure to fall into.  In that area there were planks that we could lift up so that we could shovel or rake the manure down into the hole and it would go on the manure pile under the barn. While Dad was doing the milking, I would take the rake or shovel and do my job of cleaning out behind the cows and put down some straw so the cows would have a clean place to lay down for the night.

Well, this particular night, Dad was a milking, and I was a cleaning and shoveling.  Well, I slipped and down I went, right through that hole in the floor and onto the manure pile down under the barn. It was dark down there and a few other things, too.

I began to holler and Dad hollered, “Where are you?”  “I,m  down here”, I yelled back.  Dad just reached down and pulled me up out of there. What a mess, but I wasn’t hurt, Well, maybe just my pride. But it is something that I have never, never forgotten.

Stop by again some time and we'll have another chat.

SCHOOL DAYS, SCHOOL DAYS,

Hi Neighbor, Glad you stopped by.

Spending nine years going to school in a one-room schoolhouse was a great experience. Sometimes when I look back to my school days and see the difference in the school world of today, I am glad that I attended a one-room schoolhouse with just one teacher. If you were lucky to have a teacher like I had.  I don't know how many years Mrs. Edna Wallingford had been teaching there before I started, but I sure am glad that I had her for my nine years. I will share some of the things that happened during my years there.

There was one thing  we did that was  very unusual for a school to do.   I remember Mrs. Wallingford taking all of us, (all 20-30?) on a walk up the road. We were looking for milk-weed pods to collect. It seems that they were used somehow in the war. I think it might have had something to do with making parachutes. I expect that a good teacher would use that experience as a science lesson for us kids to think that such a thing as a milk weed pod could be use for something besides blowing the fluff away after it went so seed.

During noon recess time, the kids that lived close enough to walk, would go home for lunch time period.  Those of us who were bus kids hung around and ate our lunch and then could write on the boards, play board games or go out and swing on the huge metal swing that had four swings on long chains.  One of the games we played in the yard was "Rover,  Red Rover, Send somebody over". Across the small road that ran by the front of the school house and the yard, there was space enough for us to play Scrub Baseball. I particularly liked the noon time  recess because Mrs. Wallingford's husband, Joe, ran the post office a couple of houses away.  He also had a few goodies that he kept to sell.  Mrs. Wallingford would send someone up to get the daily newspaper for her to read.  I loved it when she chose me because Joe was sure to give me one of those delicious creme rolls he always had on hand.

Oh there is another story that I hate to tell because it could have been much worse than it was. It was winter time and we kids would go out behind the schoolhouse and cross a short field and over the wire and up the hill.  The crust was hard enough so we could slide down. It was great fun, but after awhile the crust would be all broken up with all of us tromping around.  I looked across a barbed wire fence and over there the crust was slick and shiny and did not have a crack in it. I thought that would be a good place with no holes, etc.  So a friend and I went over there.  There was that fence that ran down the hill and further across was another fence that ran down the hill. So my friend and I sat down on a piece of cardboard or whatever we were using to slide on and off we went down that bright shiny crust of snow. Just after starting I happened to look down to the bottom of the hill and there was another fence!!! It was going right across the bottom of the field. I started scrambling, grasping a piece of yellow grass sticking through the crust. I was trying to work my way across to that other fence going down the hill so I could grab a hold of one of the posts.  But my poor friend.  She just kept going down and down to the bottom of the hill. What could she do? Nothing. She just plowed into that barbed wire.   We were so grateful that she just ended up with a couple of stitches above one eye. Thank God for watching over two crazy kids and I must own up that I believe that it was my idea to go over there, so I am especially thankful that she was not hurt any worse.

Well, let's see. Oh yes.I had my first crush while I was in K, 1st or 2nd. Doesn't matter which grade I still was pretty young. I don't think I ever told anybody about that.  It wasn't  til few years ago while we were visiting North Wayne and went to visit "him" and his wife that I finally told him about my crush I had on him way back then.  He was quite surprised because he had no idea.  We still keep in touch from time to time.  Another thing that might fit in this paragraph was "my first kiss" happened during those  school years.  But he got caught because Mrs. Wallingford saw him and he got in trouble. That's all I remember of that incident.

Well I'm sure there are plenty more memories if I could remember them, but the years continued to pass by and so did I as I passed the grades and now I have reached the back of the room. It is now my last year as an eighth grader along with four other classmates. It will soon be time for our graduation ceremony. I remember that pretty well as we excitedly waited for our final time on the stage. I was Valedictorian and so will end the years with my speech:

Friends, Schoolmates and Classmates

It has been said that the last word is best, but today I do not enjoy saying it.

To give you a pleasant surprise, I shall be brief.

I wish to tell you how grateful we are to all who have made this day possible and have brightened our pathway of learning.

We are feeling a little sad because today we cease as a class and because we are leaving the scene of many happy times. Yet we are proud because we are standing here to day as graduates. We have learned the joy of study and have learned that life means service, calling for trained minds as well as active hands.

Whatever the future has in store for us, we hope to do our work well and faithfully that we may be a credit to you and to the North Wayne School. Today's realities brighten the dream of tomorrow.

Classmates, we say good by to these ties of yesterday, to our school and schoolmates, but let us still march on as the valiant class of 1950, til we face the western sun, our tasks well done.

So long to my days at a one-room school house.

Stop by again soon and we'll have another chat.

THE BLIND TOO SHALL SEE

Hello neighbor. Glad you stopped by.

When Al and I lived in Hollywood, Florida in the late 80's and early 90's, I joined a short writing class. I had just begun to do a little writing off and on and thought this class might help.  The leader wanted us to write something.  Just make something up??? I couldn't figure out how one could do that. I could write about something I knew or experienced, but just to make something up. That would be a hard deal.

Well I began to wrack my brain to come up with something.  I thought about this blind man who Al and I would pick up once in awhile to take to church.  He hung around the Hollywood Beach area a lot.He played an instrument, an  accordion  or something. I think. Something that he would do while hanging out at the beach. So I began with that and here's what I came up with.

THE BLIND TOO SHALL SEE

"What is life all about? What does it all mean?" wondered Cheryl as she sat on the bench on the Boardwalk with her head buried in her hands. Just last week her best friend's body had been found--brutally mutilated. Angie would have been 21 in a few months and was so full of life and promise---and now this terrible,cruel and vicious thing has happened.  "How can there be a God? How can there be beauty in the world when so much evil abounds?" The questions kept tumbling over and over in her mind.

Hearing a noise she looked up. Through her tears she could see the throngs of sun-lovers as they paraded past. She did not notice the blue ocean water across the sand which beckoned the hordes of people as the day's sun climbed higher in the sky.  Then she remembered the sound that had  caused her to raise her head. There at the end of the bench sat a stranger. He was a rather short, stout man. He appeared to be staring off across the beach. Then Cheryl noted that leaning against him was a cane- a white one.  "He must be blind," she thought. "Just another 'sad thing' in this world and another reason to ask, "Why?"

Cheryl usually could strike up a conversation easily, but today she did not feel like talking--especially to a blind man. He, too, must have asked that same question, "Why?" She turned back to her own misery. The silence which continued on for a moment or two was broken as this blind man softly asked, "Is something wrong?  Cheryl wondered how a blind man could know. She hadn't said anything, or made much noise. But before she could answer he continued on, "I heard your soft sighs and could sense your troubled mind. Sometimes telling a stranger can help. Would you care to tell me  what is troubling you so?" he asked.

Cheryl looked at the man more closely.Tho his eyes were lifeless, she could tell from his face that there was a serenity there that she had never quite seemed to achieve, even before this thing with Angie had happened ."I suppose it might help to tell someone," she thought to herself. "Besides he can't see me. He won't know who I am." Hesitatingly she began to tell abut her friend, Angie, and the terrible thing that had happened to her. And how she seemed to have lost faith in everything. He just let her talk on and on until all the anger and frustration had been let out. At last the pent up emotions had run their course and Cheryl stopped abruptly as she realized she had poured out her heart to this stranger.

Before he could respond and to cover up her nervousness, she asked him how could he seem so concerned for a stranger when he had his own problem of living with blindness. He told her his blindness was a result of a job-related accident. That before the accident he had been so busy that he never had time to "see" the beauty around him. He was always so involved with "things" that he never had an interest in people. Now that his sight had been taken, he had discovered that the world is full of beauty and that there are many good things in the world. There are people who need to find that beauty and goodness. Because he had been plunged into a world of darkness, he had learned to see and appreciate the beauty around him, and to live each day to the fullest. He could have gone on and on about his experiences, but he seemed to know that she needed time to consider what had been said already. So he got up to leave and turning to her he said, "Do not let the harshness of the world blind you to the beauty and goodness that is also there. Live each day to the fullest. It may be the only one you have."

After the blind man had left, Cheryl stared out across the sand to the waters beyond, Her eyes began to focus on the blueness of the water, the blue sky and white clouds. The people sunning themselves on the sand and the laughter of the children playing. "Yes", she said to herself, "there is still beauty and goodness around and it is there for me, if I will only "see  "it." Tho her heart was  still heavy with the loss of her friend, her spirits had been lifted and she could now face the day with a new determination to "see" the beauty and the goodness that was there for her.

HAYING TIME ON THE FARM

Hello neighbor. Glad you stopped by.

When summer rolls around on the farm, it was haying time.  The days are hot and muggy and the flies plentiful, but still the haying has to get done.  Since there are just the two of us girls and my sister is two years younger, guess who has to be the tomboy of the family.  The haying has to get done and someone has to help so I get elected to help Dad. The fields on our farm are that, just fields. No special work has been done to improve them such as watering them, done by God when He sends some rain. No planting of seeds or such. We take them as they are. Just hoping we can get enough to feed the cows through the winter.

The first step after looking at the sky to see if it is a good drying day, is to hitch up the ole struggle buggy (that's my term for the ole home made tractor) to the mowing machine.  This machine has two steel wheels and a springy metal seat.  I sit on the seat and control the mowing blade.  This blade has some sharp metal teeth that goes back and forth to cut the hay.  My job is important and I have to keep my eyes open for any rocks that the blade might hit.  If I see a rock I quickly life the blade so it will pass over the rock and then let go so it will drop down again on the other side. Gotta keep it going. Better not hit a rock or I might hear a few words from my Dad.  These old fields are thin on grass and hay and has some weeds, etc. But whatever comes along gets mowed down.  That's the morning job. Now it's drying time until late afternoon. Keeping an eye on the sky hoping no rain clouds show up when things might have to move in a hurry to beat the rain.

The next job is to change the mowing machine for the big rake.  This rake has tall thin wheels and big prongs on the back.  This time I sit in front of the machine but have to keep an eye behind me so I will know when to pull the cord that will raise up the prongs and drop the hay. Drop the cord - rake a little more - raise the prongs - drop the cord until we have the field all raked into long rows of hay.

Usually this will be done by supper time.  We always eat supper at 5:00 p.m.  The next chore is to grab the pitchforks and head out to the field and start putting the hay into piles. After the rows are all put into small piles Dad would hitch up the hay wagon and bring it  to the field . He would  pitch the hay piles up onto the hay wagon. This is where my sister gets to help with the haying.  We would both get up into the hay wagon and tramp down the hay as Dad pitched it on.  Sometimes Mom would come and help with pitching the hay onto the wagon. Now comes the fun part when we ride on the hay wagon up to the barn.

 Still not down with the haying job. Gotta get the hay off the wagon and up onto the hay loft.We had a big fork that ran on a track way up at the top of the barn. There was a notch at the top so that we could lower the fork to the hay on the wagon.  Dad would jamb the fork into the hay, pull up on the levers to hold the hay. Then he would hop on the struggle buggy and start to pull the rope as he drove slowly away. It was my job to make sure the fork went up and caught at the top to catch the track and move across the top of the barn. I would wave my hand to Dad and he'd stop and back up and pull the rope to drop the hay.  When I got big enough to drive the struggle buggy Dad took care of the other stuff. When he waved, I would stop and back up for the next load.

Well that load of hay was done. But there was always another field to do. Even after the hay was all in that was not the end of the haying job.  We would have to get upon the very top part of the loft and pitch the hay over and down into the big bay.  Another part of the hay job was one I did not like to do. We would have to go into the big bay and spread out the hay and  stir it around.  If  there was any dampish hay it had to be spread to dry.  A damp spot of hay can heat up and could cause a fire. So that was an important job but no fun in that hot, sweaty and itchy hay. But we had to have feed to get the cows through the winter. And that's how we did it on our farm.  I guess that is part of what made me a Simple Farm Girl.

Stop by again sometime and we'll have another little chat.