A pic of my grandma. She was the hardest working woman I've ever known. I've talked about her before and some of the people who might read this might have read some of my words about her. She was a farm and ranch woman. She rose at about 4:00 am every morning. She started bread as soon as she got the stove going (wood). Then she started breakfast. She cooked for ranch hands, so she cooked in large amounts. Breakfast commonly consisted of eggs, bacon, ham, steak, pancakes, biscuits, jam, coffee or tea. Then she cleaned up from breakfast. Took bread out of the oven, and it was time to head outside to milk. She milked, brought the milk in, put it in whatever container it was headed for. Some for their use, some for selling, some for butter, etc. Some cream for the fridge.
When that was done, she would go check on eggs. Gathering eggs was one of my favorite things to do growing up. I remember her telling us, make sure you look before you reach. Although we never found a snake in the henhouse, they were there occasionally. After eggs, she started lunch. Lunch was usually steak (or fried chicken), potatoes, green beans, whatever was out of the garden in season, bread, homemade butter, pitcher of milk, coffee, jam, pie or coffee (either left over from day before, or some she had managed to get baked in the morning between eggs and milking). Then she cleaned up from lunch after every one ate. Then it was out to the garden. She would work as long as she could, or had time for, then inside to do household chores, and while doing household chores, it was time to start supper. Supper could be pork chops, steak, fried chicken, chicken and noodles, beans, rice, potatoes, green beans, corn, okra, pickled beets, pickles of any sort, bread, and always desert of some kind, coffee or iced tea, depending on the season. She then cleaned up from supper. During whatever was left of the evening, she either took care of household chores, or she did sewing, mending, canning, making butter, shucking corn, milked again. Then it was time to shut down for the night. Stoke the stove, and prepare it for night. She usually got to bed at about 12 every night. Up again at 4:00 again the next morning. If there was time, she would try to take a small nap, even if it was just 30 minutes in the afternoon. Sometimes there was no time for it. It depended alot on what time of year it was, and what was being harvested.
She could cook anything. She never had a recipe. She canned everything they ate out of the garden, and canned fruit, of any kind she could get, or had on hand. She raised her own chickens, her milk cow.
These are pics of my "Pa" (grandpa). He was a big man. The ax in his hands looks like a stick doesn't it?
Pa took care of the cattle, the planting, the haying, the feeding, the watering, the horses, the pigs, cutting wood, and whatever else Grandma found for him to do. He was a wonderful guy. He worked in his younger years for the "101 Ranch" in Oklahoma, traveling with their Wild West Show, as a roper. He would rope us kids as we ran, it was alot of fun. Nowdays someone would probably complain that it was dangerous. He never hurt us, not once. He could do some pretty amazing things with that rope, he could make the lasso go up or down, make it really big, or really small, make it go side to side with him jumping through it like a jump rope. He had a large horse "Red". Red was the cutting horse. And probably one of the best in this part of the country at that time. Nobody rode Red but Pa. He could put us kids up on Red and walk us around the barnyard, but we never got close to that horse unless Pa was around. I remember one day, Red bit Pa on the shoulder. Pa reached up and grabbed the horse by both ears and bit him on the nose until it bled. I don't think Red ever bit Pa again.
The reason I posted about my grandparents today (these are my mom's folks), is because Sharon posted about wood stoves on her site and it made me think of Grandma and how hard she worked her whole life. They were wonderful, loving people. I miss them both.
Until next time
