Getting back to happenings on the farm in my early childhood, the things that i mention are not in any order but those things i remember the most. I mentioned my mom always there for us but i don't ever recall getting a spanking from her. The only spanking i ever recall was from my brother Bennie but that will be in another episode. I barely remember my mom coming toward me to give me a spanking once. I got in the window and tried to jump to a side poarch but missed it and broke my left arm. There was another time while my grandmother was staying with us. We did not have indoor plumbing and the outhouse was quiet away from the house. My grandma had a bucket she used during the night. These were referred to as slop jars or thunder mugs. Anyway, the bucket or whatever was emptied eash morning, washed out and turned upside down on the back porch. This one day there were some nails and a hammer on the porch so i took a nail and the hammer and put some holes in the bottom of this bucket, apparently, just to have something to do. Anyway, the holes were not discovered until the next day which was too late. I didn't put those holes there but the truth finally prevailed and its a wonder i'm still living. My brothers Leo and Johnnie were always doing things to aggravate granny. She always told them that someday, they would go to the gallows.
Another incident they never let me forget about. On summer nights they would get dried cow manure and put in buckets and set fire to. This would smoke and keep the mosquitoes away. This one night my sister Audrey had her boy friend visiting. Everyone was on the front porch visiting and i hollered out, "its time to get the cow manure." Except i didn't say manure.
Things were often dull on the farm. Somedays i would go cross the road where an old sawmill once stood. I would sit there waiting to see if any gypsys came by. I had been told gypsys often went up and down that road. Me and our dog Hoot would wonder around the farm always looking for something to get into. Hoot was a smart dog and would eat anything you ate. Once my brother Benny was planting peanuts and looked back and Hoot had ate all the peanuts he had dropped in the rows.