Monday, July 27, 2009

Chicken Yard


Chicken Mines

Talking about barefeet, there were more hazardous and deadly things to worry about than splinters. There were stone bruises, broken glass, and assorted barnyard droppings. Cows were in pastures and we all know that you can see it, hogs were in pens and you knew that if you were in the pen you were also up to your ankles in this mixed with mud. So if you got those two on you it was really your fault.. However chickens were always a surprise My grandparents did not have grass in their yard. If a blade of grass showed it's head, it was promptly hoed up. We all know that if chickens are allowed to roam free, it is dangerous. It is perfectly camouflaged to blend in with dirt. You can tell when it is too late, and to wash it off you have to go to the hand pump and pump water, which is hard to do when you are a little kid, wipe it off with sand, or track through the house to find your deaf grandmother and that is a more serious situation. So deal with it.
One day Wayne, Benny and I were playing with our rock cars and trucks in the sand when we saw Grannie chasing a chicken. This looked like more fun than we were having so we gave chase also. After Wayne caught the chicken he gave it to Grannie, She kneelled down on the dirt by a stump and had a stick with shiny metal on the end. Whummp, she turned the chicken loose and he ran around like the proverbial chicken with his head cut off. Benny pointed to the ground and what the hell? There was a chicken head laying there. No wonder I started to drink at an early age. Pretty soon they had put up a chicken pen . Not too long after that they started to buy their chickens at the store.

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Life

Fiddle de de fiddle de dum, look out pain, look out suffering, look out heartache, here I come. I started out as a sharp jagged cumbersome rock, moving slow and cutting deep in the stream of life. As I moved further down the mountain, the current became faster; ok, that's cool, so far so good. Shhh. what's that? Whitewater rapids; helllllp!!! Bouncing off a boulder I lost anger and strife, crashing into another I lost pride and arrogance, hitting another alcohol tore loose(that hurt). Water is slowing down and I can breathe again. Back pain get out of the way, arthrithic hands move, dim eyes brighten, because I am going to glide right by you to that clear still water by the path of righteousness.
Father and Son stroll by in the cool of the evening. Son, pick up that smooth shining Charles stone. Father, Charles did not crumble when I squeezed him. Let Us put him in the gem bag and take him home. Well done. Still plenty of work left to do.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Red brick siding


Dirt Clods

When I awoke from my nap Benny and Wayne were already outside throwing dirt clods, trying to ring the opening at the top of the chimney. Wayne was seven and had a pretty good throwing arm but he was not having much luck. Heck the chimney was 25' in the air and the sun was glaring down on him. Benny was 5 and he was not having much luck either. So calm and collected 3 year old Charles walked barefoot across the old wood planks of the porch, shrugged off the splinter that went into his hardened feet and grabbed a dirt clod turned and threw it through the opening and ran like crazy to keep Wayne from beating him. It was funny later but he never laughed as hard as I did.
The house had asphalt siding that simulated red brick and was torn in places, but it was a good home for us. Later it was turned into a cow barn. Don't know what happened to the fireplace and chimney. I'm sure it was torn down and the bricks removed, else there would have been several broken plow points.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Crip, Benny, and me


Because I was so young when Crip stayed with us I did not know much about him other than he was a kind and gentle man. Except for the day we were sitting on the front porch and I called him an ugly word. When he tapped me pretty hard on the head with one of his walking sticks, I began to learn respect for people older and different than I. I feel bad about that incident to this day. My brother Wayne aka Paul told me the other day that Crip's father was a slave. When he was a young lad he was in the barn loft and saw a white man raping his young sister. He was so upset about that and trying to get down to stop it he fell and broke both legs. Being a poor black kid he had to heal the best that he could and that was why he was a cripple. He stayed with us for a season and then he was gone to help someone else. I saw him for a brief time when I was 6 or 7 and I remember him picking me up and holding me for a while. I don't know what ever happened to him, but I know that it was good.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Picking Cotton


My grandmother was the ultimate multitasker. Up before dawn, milk the cow, fix breakfast on a wood burning stove, make the biscuits from scratch, clean up the mess, go to the fields, leave there at 10:30 am, walk home and fix a substantial meal, clean up the mess, go back to the field, back at dusk dark, fix supper, clean up the mess, wash clothes, and still have time to relax. I'm tired just from typing what all she did. This is her when she was 45 and me at 45. I never did pick much cotton.
This is the Ozark, Alabama railroad depot. I guess the gentleman knows when the train is coming, or that the mules are too tired from working all week and pulling the family to town on Saturday to bolt and run when the train rolls in with the whistle blasting and the brakes a squealing like an old sow looking for her crying pigs.

Ozark Depot


Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Check out my website http://charlessims.webs.com/

Black eyed peas


I told yall that I would tell you about the black eyed peas that Crip could cook. We had a wood burning stove and it got really hot in the summer time when he cooked. He would open the windows, but the breeze did little to cool the house. No electricity, no fan, no air conditioning, but we were ignorant of all that. All we had ever known was the gentle breeze to cool us in the summer and a wood fire to warm us at night. My parents may have known that they were hot or cold, but us three boys thought that everything was good. Talk to yall later