John Denver's song, Thank God i'm a Country Boy is one of my favorites. I have that 45 on one of my juke boxes. It reminds me of how laid back you can be on the farm. As i mentioned earlier there was nothing to do for entertainment so you had to find ways of having fun.
There was a family living across the field from our house and they were afraid of everything. They had heard the world was coming to an end and lived in constant fear that it would happen at any time. If it thundered they would come across the field to our house and stay until it was over. Leo and Johnny occasionally would take the large mirror off our dresser and take it on top of the barn. With the sun at a certain position, they would reflect the light into our neighbors house. This would cause them to abandon the house and start our way. Mom finally put a stop to that prank so other means of entertainment had to be found.
Some farms in the area raised what we called sugar cane. It was used to make syrup which was very popular in all farm households. I recall, the two of them getting in one farmers cane and cutting some and storing it in a tree. You could peel the cane and chew it for the sweet cane juice. On this occasion the wind blew the cane out of the tree and the cows enjoyed it. Of course i tagged along on all these episodes.
Where we lived in the Auburn area there were no churches close by. I don't recall any conversations about church going. However, later on my mom explained that she was a member of the Freewill Baptist Church.
I started to school at Auburn. The first year i went to what they called the Primer. After this year then you started in the 1st grade. It was at school when i first ate ice cream. My brother Johnny was in the 6th grade and once they had ice cream at school and he bought a bar as i recall and gave me half of it. We had no means of making ice cream at home. In fact, we never had ice. Food after it was cooked was kept in a safe with screen wire on front. The legs of the safe always sit in pans of water to keep ants out. We had no screened windows. In the summer months we sleptwith mosquito netting over the beds. We used coal oil lamps for lighting and wood for cooking and a fireplace for the winter. Our water was from the well and had to be carried to the house. Normally we had no shoes during the summer but in the winter we had rubber boots. I remember wrapping my feet in paper to help keep my feet warm in the boots.