The Night of the Living Ducks

This being Fathers Day, I can't help but to share this story of the time my Mother and Father almost got divorced...Now you might say, "What does that have to do with Fathers Day?" This leads me to the contents of my blog!.. While the MacAnnys were our friends with all their animals..they must have shared a few of their ducklings with us. We built a large circle of wooden fence held together with wire. Placed a large turkey roaster in a pre dug hole. This substitiuted as their lake for swimming. We now had three ducks, the first was a male we named him Sassy..he was my older sisters duck that had survived a prior Easter. My Quack Quack had seen the light and buried up at Mae and Franks Cottage. Sassy thought he was the boss of the other two ducks who later joined the little group. They were Mac and Annie... We knew Sassy was a male because male ducks have one feather on their tail that curls up away from the others and the females don't..Mac and Annie were probably both females because they eventually laid eggs!! And they didn't have the odd feather..Sassy was much smaller then the other two..We enjoyed watching them make the mud in the circle that was their home. They slopped water through their beaks until all the grass had turned so sloppy mud. The rain that continued to fall helped as well..The water pump was up a small grade away from the trailer. It had been raining and all the ground was soggy. So we would not to be walking in the mud, my Mother devised this walk way from the trailer to the pump out of boards. Old boards that had aged and cracked from the weight of those that trailed up to the pump. We filled buckets and hauled them down to the trailer for use. This day the boards were soaked with the rain. The ducks continually escaped their fence and would parade through the yard for grass...Now if you have never had a duck you can't realize just how much waste they make...The drop the biggest globs of slimey goo you have ever seen..and they are no respecters of where they do it..So walking, eating, and dropping all over the yard and the boards, we were victium of poop abuse!!..This day, my father traveled to the pump to gather two buckets of water...filled to the brim, he turns and continues down the soft, wet, slippery boards. Unaware of his footing..and where he was walking, he stepped and slid off the boards into the mud. The buckets flew in the air and came down on my father. Now my father you could say, had no sense of anykind of humor!! And didn't consider this anything but death to the ducks...Leaving the now empty buckets and soaked to the skin and covered with mud...He runs for as many ducks as he can catch screaming...."I am going to wring your necks"...and he meant every word..While he chased the ducks around the yard..grabbing and sliding in mud, duck crap and anything else that was on the ground. Words coming from his mouth could only be considered X rated!!..My mother wondering what was taking my father so long at the pump, looked out to see him running around grabbing to kill the ducks...I guess you could say he had reached that point of impatience where there was no reason!!!...My mother screaming at a level of shrill that a mother can do. "If you kill those ducks, I am leaving you!!..If you kill those ducks that's it. I am done" she screamed over and over..."I am leaving" and she meant it!!..My father, as mad as a hornet..dropped the duck he held in his hands. Seconds away from putting him into ducky heaven. Came into the house and didn't speak to anyone for a few days..Mother finished the water hauling job and for a few days we had a small amount of peace and quiet..with no fighting!!..As hard as it was, we never mentioned the fate of those ducks for many years passed...Eventually it become one of those stories everyone lived on at any family get together...Now I can look back and see the desperation of life my poor Dad had to spend everyday in...and I can only say, The past is over and forgotten..and now that you are gone...we are all still left with the memory of the night of the Living Ducks..Thanks for the memories!!!

When your a child and you are poor, you don't know it!!

I now as an adult can look back at the wonderful childhood I had. Realizing at this point and time how terribly poor we were. How even a small bottle of cola and small bag of potato chips were like the best thing in the world. Somehow my parents made friends in our new surroundings. Usually by being in need and asking for help I would imagine. God knew just the people to bring into our lives to bless us..when we didn't even know his name!!..There was the little grocery store call Luethharts. It was owned by a women and her husband and brother. They allowed my mother to buy food and not pay. We had a charge on a paper bill we paid from time to time. I am sure what we owed always out weighed what was paid. But we survived..sometimes on canned gravy and noodles. Sometimes on canned creamed corn and bread. The only meat we got was usually from a couple of wonderful people at the bottom of our hill. I don't know how my parents befriended them...maybe our car broke down and the gentlemen came out to help us. Eventually they became family friends. They were wonderful. They had no children. Probably in their 60's and had animals everywhere. Geese, little banty chickens and regular ones, ducks, cats everywhere, goats and lambs to eat the grass. They had a few cows...They were what we would call a gentleman farmer!...I can still see her face and the way she talked. Her name was Annie. Her teeth kind of pointie and broken in the front. When she spoke she had a lisp that allowed sprays of saliva to push out between the broken part of her front teeth. She always wore red lipstick and her hair was always tied up with a scarf..When she spoke her voice always had a kind smile in it..you knew you were always welcome. Her husband Mac was heavy in the stomach, I think he smoked and drank alot. He usually sat in a living room over stuffed rocker watching television, not much for conversation especially childrens. Looking back now, I am sure these animals were Annie's doing!!..We would spend alot of time there and she taught us all so much about so many things...Farming, gardening, animals and things that we would need to know later on to survive..After all we were city people and never had any idea how to grow an ear of corn...Perhaps it was the eggs my parents went to Pittsburgh to sell that led them to the MacAnnys. This turned out to be their last name, but everyone called them Mac and Anny..We all learned about raising chickens of our own..all about animals and farming..so for whatever reason they were our friends...Friends we had alot to learn from and ones we would never forget. They were kind, helpful, and loving. They gave us food, most of which was out of their freezer and old. I remember my mother crying sadly saying people think we will eat their freezer burnt meat because we don't have any...but the fact of the matter was...we didn't eat it...my mother would throw it away!!!... We would eat spagetti with butter on it for dinner!!..This was a time when I began to learn when you share or give anything to someone..don't give them the stuff you don't want...Give them your best..the biggest..and you take the least...this is the "Christ like" way..and with this concept, we all had alot to learn!!

The Double Dexter Washer

Can it ever be said, that looking back so many things that happened to you when you were just the smallest of a human being has prepared the way for where you are now!! I know it is true for me..My entire life has been like a puzzle laid out on a big table and one piece at a time was placed just in the perfect spot...Many pieces had to be spun around and tried several different ways but in the end..the perfect spot was found and the piece fit correctly...things I now see were just the right time for such a person as me!! My mother always trying to apease everyone and make things right. My father the quiet, but all knowing person that knew about so many things finally got a job being a cyclotron supervisor..He supervised one of the first atom smashers owned by the U.S Government and run by Carnegie Tech...now Carnegie Mellon University in Saxonburg, Pa. It was in the very early 60's . Finally after all the terrible times of the sherrif banging on our door. People suing us for debts owed, wolves literally at the door. I remember when a strange car would come up the driveway my mother would tell us run inside and she would close the door!!!..They came and would knock and knock sometimes leave but most times not until my mother would go out. She would always say, "Don't let them look inside or they will take all of our stuff away"...I can't imagine now anyone wanting any of our stuff!!! But, I suppose the repo man would show up and carry the chair out with you in it..That never did happen thanks to my mothers protection. But, one time our dog bit one of the collectors..and he was going to shoot the dog. We grabbed our dog and he ran off.. It was horrible, we lived like common criminals. Our only crime was that our government was not willing to compromise on my fathers bankruptcy of his businesses. I remember one specific time....When we where outside, it was summer. We had a very old Double Dexter Washing Machine with a wringer. An extention cord led to the plug inside and the washing machine was outside under the tree. Both tubs filled with water one for washing and one for rinsing. The water heated from the stove inside and carried out, dumped then dumped into the tubs. First whites, then colors then darks. The ringer spun around from one tub to the other, it was great and kept us from having to wash our clothes out by hand. Then we would hang the clothes out on the line to dry. One day a man showed up..a collector. We could not run, he caught us in the middle of washing and this particular day the motor caught on fire and flames were shooting out from the machine. Not being an mechanical my mother just put out the fire...and unplugged the machine..while all this was happening, the collector stood and watched the preceedings..He couldn't believe his eyes..He stood speechless watching...and finally came over and introduced himself. He explained he was there to collect a debt...but then he turned and said. "My wife complains about her dish washer when it isn't working ..I should bring her out here and see how lucky she is." We never saw that guy again. He left shaking his head in unbelief...I guess the debt was considered PAID!!

God is in control of all things!

Can it ever be said, that looking back so many things that happened to you when you were just the smallest of human beings has prepared the way for where you are now!! I know that my life was meant to be just who I am...I trust that I am following the right path to what my maker had in mind...Although the choices I make may and I am almost sure are not the choices God would have picked for me..I have made so many really bad choices for myself!! But, somehow, those choices have brought me to where I am today.. Right or wrong, I am here, now and at the place in life where I need to be!!...I know that all things work together for good, to those who love the Lord and I must say I do love the Lord!!...Actually, He is the only one I can truly trust. He is the one I know will never abandon me when I am in need. He is the one I can go to and tell anything to and He understands...I am sure the love he put inside of me for Him is from Him and He is always there to comfort me. My life has been so many times emotionally abandon by so many people and so many things!...If I had no Heavenly Father to comfort me and help me through those trying times of abandonment, I know without a doubt, I would have been destroyed. His love and comfort got me through some very trying times. I am comforted in knowing that my life is His and in Him I live. I can prusue anything that God brings before me, I can do anything God gives me to carry. In Him is my strength. There is no good thing in me, but the only good in me is because of Him and what He has allowed me to be. If I am good, it is because of God, and if I am bad, it is because of me...My choices many times have been bad, but with His patience and kindness of heart. He waits for me patiently until I can agree that He wants only the best for me and I continue foiling His plan. Now getting closer to the end of my life than the beginning I am finally getting to understand He wants only the best for me. It is I who mix the message. It is I who decide to do things uncomely onto Him. But because He send His son for me..He understands that I am living my life as a human, I sin and He forgives...I finally come to the point of understanding that what He has for me is His best for me..I finally understand that my decisions must be made in his light and not my own. So I wait and let him lead, I follow, it is just like that...I am happy, He is pleased..He never condems, He instructs...many of those times are hard. Many of those times are sad, but I know that with Jesus, my God is in control there isn't anything I can't do. There isn't anything I can't conquer. He makes me strong, He gives me joy, and he pours His love into me!! Don't ask me how He does it, I am not God! I just do what is laid on my heart! He alone is worthy..and desires to have all the Glory for all the great things He has done..and I so love him for that. I trust him and know he has nothing but good for me!..I keep my eyes off of other people and upon Him, he is my refuge and strength in time of need. I know He is able and willing to keep me until that day I meet him face to face and He peers my way and say.."WELL DONE"!!

The first day of childhood misery

It was one of those cold days of fall, when the leaves were off the trees and the air was filled with the cold blowing wind of winter. My sister, Carole and I arrived home from school...the days were short and darkness arrived early. On this day, the sky was filled with torrents of cold, damp rain. The kind that beats down creating mud puddles and all the dirt has turn to muck. The walk home from the bus was cold and wet. Knowing Mom and Dad were in Pittsburgh selling eggs and wouldn't be back until late. My sister and I were on our own. Looking forward to a warm room and a place to curl up and feel safe. Instead, we walked up the drive way and discovered...all the chickens were out and running around loose. How did they escape? One thing we did know...if my Dad got home and those chickens were out, we were in the biggest trouble of our life...quickly we opened the door threw down our school books and headed out to corral these renigade chickens. Now, I don't know if you have ever tried to corner a chicken...but it is one of the hardest things you will ever do...actually these were still babies and a bit slow on their feet, but still it was going to be a challenge. Something neither of us wanted to face, but knowing the consequences, we must capture the escapees. With the cold rain, pouring down on us and the stormy clouds getting darker and darker every minute. We crawled under the old truck body, slid in the mud, ran through the mud puddles corraling and grabbing at random these chicks as they ran past us...It seemed forever, we slid, rolled and ran cornering these bandits. After what seemed like hours, the light now gone, the rain still dropping and the chill of cold, dark night was on the horizon. Finally we captured them all..wet, tired and freezing we dropped into the safety of our house. Only to find out we had no heat. The cold air wrapped around our wet bodies. Feeling completely abandoned and in such misery now the cold seeped into my skin making wet wrinkles on my body. We had been wrapped in wet clothes for hours...chasing these chickens...My sister and I decided to take off our wet clothes and wrap in anything we could find that would suffice for a blanket. So hungry, tired, chivering my teeth chattering from cold...The darkness consumed us and we finally fell off to sleep...I will never forget that miserable night, I will not ever take for granted the warm, peaceful, feeling of wellness. I pray I never ever have to be miserable like that ever again. I can't imagine and have such compassion for people that encounter that kind of uncomfortableness often...all because they are poor, unable, and forced into a lifestyle not of their choosing...Life deals so many stumbling blocks..in front of us. It is up to us to learn to crawl over them..Oh, yea and by the way, it turned out, we were out of kerosene..my father was proud of us when they got home, we saved the chickens...after going to buy 5 gallon of fuel for our stove from the profits of the day..... finally it got warm. So on now to a new day!! This one is over and we are still alive!!

Looking back

I can say now.. I understand the pain, suffering and constant turmoil in my parents life when they didn't have means to supply for their family. When your a child you can only see the surface of the problems. You only see how they affect you. But now having raised 6 kids alone, and know what I went through for so many years...the desperation of an everyday chance that things will get better tomorrow...and just get through this day..Without a word, the everyday fight was what I now know my parents suffered. While my father was wiring houses for free to pay for the land we live on...he needed to find a way to feed, his family and pay the bills. I must have been in fourth grade and my sister Carole was in ninth. I'm not sure, but what I do remember so vividly is the day of desperation for us. My parents plan for survival was to go to Butler and buy cases of eggs. We would candle them in the living room and put them in boxes for resale. Incase you don't know about candleing eggs, you take one egg at a time and set it on a box with a light inside. You can see if the egg has been fertilized by the rooster or if it is good to eat..the light makes the egg see through. Anyway, we candled one by one, placed them in egg boxes. My Mother and Dad would leave early in the morning after we got on the bus for school. They would not return until 8 or 9 at night. They would go to the city of Pittsburgh, sell eggs door to door...for 50 cents a dozen. With the profit my parents tried to pay our bills, that is what we lived on...the small amount of money each dozen of eggs would bring. Mom and Dad would take my little sister Georgetta with them because she was just small and not in school yet..My parents bought a few dozen peeps. They lived in the house with us. We covered with a small light bulb to keep them warm. All night they peeped..I grew to love that sound, it was so calming. I think my parents plans included starting a chicken farm and sell eggs for a living..if we could make our own eggs then our profit would be higher..but being kids, we didn't care anything about any of that...we just loved the peeps..and enjoyed holding those little fuzzy things that were vulnerable and needed us. The days went by and all went well...things were beginning to look up...I can now relate to what my parents went through day after day...trying to keep us fed, clothed and for survival for another day!!!