OT Anniversary of the End of the Great War
vee_new
5 years ago
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yoyobon_gw
5 years agovee_new
5 years agoRelated Discussions
Wed.: 75th Anniversary of 'Black Sunday'
Comments (14)Carol, My dad was born in Montague County, Texas, in 1919 (just across the border from western Love County and Jefferson County) and he was old enough when the Dust Bowl years hit to remember them somewhat, but he wouldn't talk about them much. Both his parents died in the early to mid-1930s and the kids stayed together (an uncle on the farm next door had legal guardianship and bought them each a new pair of shoes every year) and virtually raised themselves. There were 13 of them. I remember they said the sand filled up their storm cellar and they couldn't use it until they'd cleaned it out. It also ruint their crops and they had very little to eat during those years, mostly pinto beans and corn. For my dad's family, poverty was a constant until World War II came along and, one by one, they left the farm to enter the military or to work in defense plants like Consolidated Vultee (later General Dynamics and now Lockheed-Martin). None of them ever went back to the country really, except the oldest aunt had a few acres in Haltom City in the 1950s-1970s and raised a huge garden every year. They wouldn't talk about those Dust Bowl years much except to talk about how the people suffered, and you had to ask them to get them to talk about those days at all. I think they just put the 'bad times' behind them and kept on going. All of them were fruit and vegetable gardeners and all of them loved rural north central Texas and southern OK along the Red River despite their difficult lives there when they were younger. My dad felt like the Dust Bowl 'ruined' their chances to be farmers because it made them feel like they'd never get ahead and stay there. Imp, I felt the same way about 'The Worst Bad Time"---it was so sad and so depressing and just so hard to read and hard to 'digest' both intellectually and emotionally because of the depth of the suffering and damage. Until then, I really didn't understand the people's suffering. I understood the financial ruin it brought to so many families, and I understood the great migration of the "Okies" to California and elsewhere looking for a better life (two of my uncles went to Cali and never came back) but I didn't understand the death and the illnesses and, as you mentioned, chronic lung conditions that folks had for many years which probably did originate with their inhalation of all that dust back then. I thought it was irresponsible farming techniques too, and in a way it was, but the farmers themselves were encouraged by the government to use those methods. Listening to the old timers talk about it decades later, I got the impression many of them felt betrayed by the goverment. After all, they did what the government wanted them to do and they did it the way the government told them to do it, and look what happened! Hindsight is always 20-20, isn't it? One of the oldtimers here, who was 87 years old, I think, when we moved here in 1999, stood on our property with its towering trees and told me that when his family came to Oklahoma by covered wagon in the earliest 1900s, there were no trees except along the Red River. I asked him where the trees had gone, and he said everyone cut them for building material, fence posts, and firewood until none were left. He remembers traveling to the Red River in a farm wagon to spend a day cutting young trees (there weren't any old ones left) for firewood. He also talked about how the land eroded later because, of course, there were no tree roots left to hold the soil and because everything was plowed and bare. He remembered erosion beting a huge problem until at least the 1950s. Jay, My dad never lost his great affection for wild foods you could forage, and always loved finding 'poke sallet', dandelion greens, purslane, and stuff like that in the spring. His favorite was lambs quarters. He said without them, they would have starved. When I was a teenager and he would tell me that, I'd think to myself that I'd rather starve than eat purslane and lambs quarters! Now, when our lambsquarters pop up in the spring, I always think how thrilled my dad would be to see them. They also made lots of prickly pear jelly if they could barter to get the sugar (usually they used sorghum syrup or molasses) to sweet the jelly. Apparently the prickley pear did just fine in those years. Your story about the bathtubs reminded me of my dad telling me those stories too. Apparently in his family, rank had its privilege and age gave you rank. He was the third youngest and the second youngest to survive to adult hood, and he was at the end of the line when it came to baths. He said he was in the Navy and in his late teens before he knew what it was like to bathe with 'new' water that hadn't already been used by everyone else. We always got an orange in our Christmas stockings because that orange reminded my dad of his childhood Christmases when the orange in their stocking was their one and only present and they loved those oranges and ate them slowly because they were a once-a-year treat. The town where my dad grew up is pretty much a ghost town now, but we go back to the cemetary once every few years. If the ghosts could talk, what stories they could tell us now. Dawn...See MoreA little OT on a day it shouldn't be so gloomy!
Comments (3)Wonderful post, Jim. My wife and I were married on October 14th, it was also a beautiful day-mid 70's and spectacular color. We married at Beaver lake (outside) and the geese were so loud, we had to yell our vows. We like to go to Lake Placid and walk around Mirror Lake to enjoy the foilage. One year we took the horsebuggy ride but I think the walk is more gratifying. You and Dale should try it. Happy Anniversary! Paul F B...See MoreMilestone anniversary celebrations: What did you do?
Comments (25)We're pretty much like roses, nothing special for anniversaries. Some years we go out to eat, others we don't bother. i do have a doozie of a 25th story though. A few weeks before that anniversary while on a road trip (sans husband) I had car trouble. A few days later I realized the very small diamond in my engagement ring was gone; I suspect it was or maybe still is in the grass next to I-95 between Cocoa Beach and Miami which is where I was crawling around trying to deal with the car. So, I was sitting on the couch when I noticed the missing stone--no I'm not the most observant woman. Although it wasn't a large or expensive diamond it was what he gave me when were were young and starting out so, upset, I went into the bathroom where my husband was showering to tell him I'd lost ti. Whereupon the poor man uttered the most foolish words a husband could come up with: "Well, maybe you want to get something bigger to replace it." Took me about one nanosecond to agree to that plan and in the end I traded up to a stone 400% bigger than my original and just for good measure to a platinum engagement setting and band. Yowza, I figure that 25th anniversary gift will stand in for all the years before and after :). Ann...See MoreSinger 160th Anniversary Machine
Comments (34)Faye - it was released in Australia (and maybe other places?) last year, but just released in the US in January. Apparently the Joann stores have only had it for a couple months. I think many of us are seeing it for the first time and it's having the emotional reaction Singer was hoping for! Vac - I've looked at the Juki and for a while seriously considered it. You can do a frame set up for such a reasonable price! But now that I've shopped around and played with several machines, I KNOW I want either a George or a HandiQuilter on a table. No frames for me. I just want a great FM machine on a table. Perfect size, perfect for the type of quilting I like to do. But those are definitely not in my budget right now. Metal or plastic? That's an interesting issue but not one that concerns me much. I have a couple vintage machines and I'm happy to have them, but they don't have the features that help make sewing fun for me. I don't use many different stitches, but being able to change the needle position is a requirement. Thank you all for the great response to my question and for all the information and opinions. I LOVE THIS FORUM!!! Kate...See Moreyoyobon_gw
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