Front Porch Stories

If you live in Alabama the biggest day of the year is when Alabama plays Auburn!!  Families feud, friends make wild and crazy bets, tail gate parties and the smell of cookouts fill the air. I would imagine that it works the same no matter what the state you live in!  We had a big yard and it seemed that my place was where Sunday afternoon games were played and ball games were watched. This one year we were getting ready for the game, my mom had made some of her great football snacks and the kids were starting to arrive, when my mom said, there is something wrong with the television.  Oh No!!!!  It's Saturday evening and being a working woman who doesn't have extra money laying around for buying a new television, what was I going to do?  I thought I have good credit at the local Western Auto if I get there before they close maybe I can get one here before the game.  I rush to the store, the owner laughed at me when I told him what happened and I need a telev...

Today my son and I were talking about my grandson learning to drive.  When we hung up I started thinking about my sister.  Back when she was learning to drive most of the roads were dirt and just barely wide enough for two cars to meet each other, and sometimes you had to almost get in the ditch to get by.  There was this one time that my brother was home on a week end pass and he wanted daddy to go get his girlfriend while he but on his civilian clothes.  Well my dad decides to let my sister drive!!  Her best friend and I were in the back seat and of course we were razing her just a little, when all of a sudden we saw a car coming toward us and what do you think she did!!  She covered up her eye and screamed, "I can't do this"!  We almost went in the ditch, thank goodness for daddy's quick reactions to get the wheel from his side long enough for her to stop the car.  Mercy, I still have a problem riding with her!  Isn't it amazing what your ...

Our neighbor brought over a wonderful banana pudding that his wife made.  While he was here we got to talking about old time remedies that our folks used to use.  I can remember some of the things mama used to use when we got chest colds. Depending on how sick we were it might be a spoon full of sugar with just enough kerosene to melt the sugar, or sometimes she would fry onions in lard and soak a flour sack in it and lay it on our chest. I can remember the warmth and the aroma of the onions and it calming the cough and being able to sleep. If you got stung by a bee it was a paste made of snuff.  A stomach ache usually got castor oil!! I even use some of those remedies today.  I have a hip that is giving me problems so I've started taking honey and cinnamon.  May God Bless and watch over you.

when the power is out?  As I lay here this evening with the power out and the rain falling on the roof, I watched as the candle flame flickered across the ceiling.  I watched as the shadows of the deer and bear mounts changed in  the motions of the flames.  My mind drifted back to kerosene lamps and two little girls making shadows on the wall. My sister and I used to make shadow bunny rabbits and faces with our hands. We would make our hands talk and fight and could entertain ourselves for the longest of time.  I thought about all the quilts and hand sewn clothes that were made by only one small dim light. How many Bible verses have been read by the light of a candle?  Could you go back in time?  A time without television, x-boxes, computers, cell phones and electric lights.  Did you know that there are places right here in the United States that does not have electricity? Did you know that there are people right here that go to bed hungry because...

My mom would always tell us not to pet or feed stray animals that came up to the house.  One afternoon the kids and I came home from taking my daughter to dance practice, and there was this cute little kitten on the back porch.  My mom said don't feed it or pet it and it will go away.  So we didn't, but she did!  She said it just wouldn't leave and she couldn't stand to see it hungry.  She was really cute, her legs were colored up in a way to make her look like she had on boots, so that's what we named her.  She grew up there and had one litter of kittens.  One of them was the blue gray color of smoldering smoke, thus the name Smoky.  We gave away all of the kittens except Smoky.  A few months later Boots got run over, and we were down to one cat.  My mom said she didn't want any more kittens so as soon as Smoky was old enough we had her fixed.  She became part of the family.  She would catch rabbits, squirrels and any thing el...

First let me tell you that pop got a good report form the doctor.  The doctor was really happy about the progress that pop has made since surgery.  Now let me tell you what we talked about on the way to the doctor.  We were talking about what it was like when we were growing up.  Today's kids eat candy and happy meals almost every day.  We didn't know what a store bought hamburger was until we were teenagers.  Candy was a Christmas treat.  My sister and I would get excited to think that we were going to get a huge peppermint stick from Santa Clause!!!  Mama would bust us off pieces with the hammer. We tried to make it last as long as possible.  When we grew up kids went outside to play and work, they were not glued to an x-box or tv. Inner city kids don't have a chance to get out an play because the grown ups have made choices that rob children of their childhood.  Take your kid out to play and make some memories.

Today marked the 14th day after pop's surgery.  I think he is doing remarkably well.  He says that the nerve pain that he had in his legs is gone.  We both know that there is a possibility that it will come back in time.  We are not getting our hopes up on him being totally pain free.  He still has back pain but he says it's a different type of pain than he had before surgery.  I have to remind him that it has only been a short time since he had major surgery.  He is walking laps around our porch, he has worked up to 35 laps. He starts with 20 then 10 then 5.  I am really proud of him.  We go for his 2 week check up tomorrow, they will do x-rays to see if the fusion is starting to form.  Neither of us are looking forward to the hour and a half ride to the doctor and the same amount of time to get back home.  Thank you for your prayers and for stopping by my blog.

My oldest son loved my dad!  Those two were glued at the hip from the day he was born.  My parents didn't have a favorite grandchild.  It was because we were there more than any of the rest of the family. My mom and dad took care of him while I worked, so he was there a lot. Daddy had been cleaning up around a new place that they had bought and there were a couple of brush piles that we had to mow around.  Well when he and my son would mow my dad would let him guide the mower and he would tell him not to run into the brush pile.  Well they always went in the brush pile.  The two of them would just laugh. Mama and daddy always had a big garden and my dad would lay the row off, my mom would drop the seeds in and my son would take his dump truck and roll it over the seeds to pack them down, then my dad would cover them up.  It didn't matter what they were doing my son was in the middle of it.  My son is a better man for all the love and discipline th...

As I was on my way to town today I noticed the cotton fields all shiny and white. It brought back childhood memories of my mama and how hard she worked. Before all the combines and fancy mechanical pickers it was all done by hand.  Cotton was picked one handful at a time and put in what they called a pick sack. They came in different lengths, 4,6, and 9'.  Imagine dragging a 9' sack behind you full of cotton. Then you carry that sack across the field to a wagon or truck for it to be weighed.  You got paid by the pound not the hour.  I was so little I got to ride on mama pick sack.  I can remember laying there and listening to her and some of the other ladies talking and they were just a picking.  Mama was only 5'2" and she pulled a 9' sack.  She could out work most men in the field.  When I got big enough mama put a strap on a flour sack and she would help me fill mine up then we would dump it in hers.  Then it got to be a thing to help mama ...

Sitting in the corn field on a cool fall morning with my dad, watching him call in crows and shooting them.  As we sat there he explained that if we didn't shoot them they would eat the corn before we could it all gathered in.  I was about five and he would sometimes let me call them in for him.  I can remember sitting so close to him that I could feel him breath. It was so warm sitting next to him. I felt protected from the world. We would stay out and shoot til about mid morning then we would go back to the house.  Sometimes daddy would then go and work with some of the other men gathering their corn and mama would work on our field.  We worked on the half with the man who owned the land.  What that meant in those days was he got half of everything that we grew.  I remember watching mama pull the corn off the stalk and throw it in piles on the ground. I can close my eyes and see the piles across the field and they looked like they all had the same am...

We are now seven days after major back surgery.  Pop is doing pretty good for the extent of his surgery.  He is walking laps around the porch several times a day.  He says that the pain is really bad but this is a different pain than he had before surgery.  We were told that the first two weeks would be really bad and then it would start to get better daily.  Yesterday they brought him a bone stimulator, that he is suppose to use for 30 minutes every day.  It doesn't hurt while you are wearing it, but pop said his back hurt more after he used it.   Thank you for your prayers and for stopping by my blog.

wasn't able to have back surgery.  My dad had a bad back long before all the technology to repair it had been developed.  I remember when he hurt his back.  He was plowing a field and he was tugging on the plow when he said he felt something happen to his back.  He came home on the tractor but it took mama and both me and my sister to get him in the house.  My dad sent me to get our neighbor, no phones back then. I ran all the way, and told them that my dad need them to come quick.  Mr. Watson came and took my dad to a chiropractor.  When they left our house my dad couldn't stand up straight, when he came home he was much better and standing straight.  I know that some chiropractors are quacks but this one really helped my dad.  He always had problems after that.  He wore my brothers motorcycle belt.  When he wore it out he would go to the saddle shop where they worked with leather and get another one made. I really miss my dad!...

My husband had back surgery on Wednesday.  They did a T-Lift at the L4- and decompressed nerves on both sides. They also replaced his ANS bone stimulator.  So not only does he have about a 5 inch incision down the lower part of his back, he also has a 3 inch incision on his right hip, not to mention a small hole just left of the back incision from the drain tube.  He is incredibly sore!!!  He, however is such a trooper, you can't keep a good man down. He was up on Thursday walking a lot.  His theory was if he got up and moved around he would get to go home sooner.   He was right they let him come home on Friday.  The trip home was really rough.  He hasn't felt well today, a little nauseated, stiff, and lots of pain.  I'm gonna let him rest today then we have to get moving again.  He went through this surgery to try to improve his quality of life, so I have to pull our my instructor personality and help him through the recovery perio...

porch is one of my favorite things to do.  My husband and I spend a lot of time on our front porch.  He has been trying to quit smoking so he no longer smokes inside the house.  Even when it's very cold or very hot he still smokes outside.  He is going to have back surgery on Wednesday and he will not be able to smoke for several days.  He thinks that it may help him to get over the habit.  Probably not! He has smoked since he was a kid, it will be very hard for him to stop.  I'm just grateful that he no longer smokes in the house.  If I could get him not to smoke in the truck, I would be very happy.  I hope that his back surgery is a success because he is in a lot of pain and the more pain he is in the more he smokes.  Please keep us both in your prayers.  Thank you for stopping by my blog.