Front Porch Stories

When I left Alabama ten years ago, the finance company and I owned a home and six acres of land.  The old house wasn't much but it was mine and it was home.  My Mom and I raised my kids there with out any help from their fathers or anyone else. It was my choice to leave to be with the man of my dreams, and it wasn't his fault that he didn't turn out to be the man who had lived in my heart and dreams for almost twenty years.  My choice cost me my home, both my trucks and all the things I had worked so hard for all my adult life.  It has been really hard starting over at my age.  Knowing that I will never have my OWN home again hurts my heart, but there is just no way for me to ever get another one paid for. I went out by the old place yesterday and walked around the yard.  The old house has been dozed down and the flowers scattered by the dozier.  I stood and cried for a long time regretting ever leaving the place.  The folks who bought the place have been kind enough to

Growing up on a farm we had a ready supply of milk, eggs and veggies.  I can remember going with Mama to milk since I was little and learning to milk is not as easy as you think.  My mom could milk twice as fast as my dad.  Yes folks before big dairy farms people fed and milked their own cows.  We moved off the farm after my dad hurt his back and drinking store bought milk was one of the hardest things to get used to.  Anytime I had the chance to come back to my sisters the first thing I did was run, not walk, to her neighbors house to get fresh milk.  Her name was Mrs. Mays and my sister would call her and tell her I was coming and she would make me cookies.  We would sit for hours and eating cookies, drinking milk, and talking about the differences between city life and living on the farm. I haven't drank real milk in a long time!  It would be as hard to get used to drinking the real thing again as it was to drink store bought.  Times were harder and simpler then.  We have go

The Author of this post is Kory Dotson After our move, we went to glendale direct tv to look for the best deal for satellite TV. A few weeks ago, we were shopping in a small strip center that had a dog boutique located there. My girls and I walked through just because we are animal lovers, and we love to look at all the new and quirky products for pets. I could not believe some of the prices though in this store!  Clearly this store ran outside normal big-box pet supply stores. This store carried far more original and specialty items including organic homemade dog treats, handmade sweaters, and even “bedazzled” leashes and collars. I laughed thinking about my own pound-puppy wearing some of these outrageous sweaters and collars, but I have to admit they were pretty cute. That is, until you took a glance at the price-tag! I could not imagine paying nearly three times the normal price for a leash with rhinestones on it. My own dogs would end up using the sweater

I thought I would give you an update on my grandson's truck.  The truck was running when my son traded for it, but it was leaking oil from the rear main really bad, so they were going to replace it.  My youngest son bought the rear seal and came to help my grandson put it in.  Well when they got it apart they discovered that the bearings were worn really bad.  So the boys decided it would be best to pull the motor out and go ahead and rebuild it. I am really proud of D' because he has done most of the work so far on his own.  It is giving him a chance to learn about things that will help him all through life.  Thing like leverage, if you run across something way to tight for a ratchet, grab your pull bar or a pipe.  Little things that apply to fixing up an old truck and life.  Learning how to walk away for a few minutes when you can't get something to work right, instead of tearing it up. I'll keep you posted and maybe I'll figure out how to get the pic's fr