1944 #2

Saturday night.  Moma and Daddy going to town tonight.  I will go to Dad and Ma M. house for the evening.  After we eat the three of us will gather round the battery powered radio.  Amos and Andy, the Grand Ole Opery.  The kersone lamps are on.  Siting in the rocking chair on the back porch.  Another fine evening.

As I said my Dad is a share croper.  He grows crops for cash.  Some cows, one for milk for the house.  Some pigs, and of course horses to do the farming with.  A garden for the house.  In the fall he would butcher a hog.  From this Moma and Daddy would make pork(seasoned) sausage form the meat into patties.  Fry the patties in pork fat then put the patties into Mason jars pour pork fat over the patties until it filled the jar.  Then seal the jar, place the jar into boiling water until the top of the lid sucked in a little.  The jars were then placed into storage.  We had pork sausage for most of the year.  Moma canned a lot of vegetables also, minus the pork fat.  Bacon and hams were salted and cured in the smoke house.  Cuts of fat were taken to Dad and Ma M. who had also butchered a hog, these cuts of fat were combined and it was time to make soap.  The fat was placed in a large kettle in the yard.  A fire was built under the kettle, when the fat reached the right temperture lye as added and mixed in.  This mixture was allowed to cool.  Then cut into bars, this was our laundry soap, bathing soap,    cleaning soap.  There was another kettle used to make our shorting.  Pure pork fat was rendered, allowed to cool then put into cans to use in cooking.  These were done on different days because it was a rather under taking.  Also the other farm work had to be done, milk the cow, feed the horses, and pigs, chickens. 

All of these things were normal for me.
Pappy

1944

Ma and Dad lived in house on the hill.  My dad was a sharecropper.  We lived in a house down the hill by the creek.  Between the houses was a field oh maybe 4o acres.  Dad farmed this field.  Sometimes he would have cotton, corn, or watermelons.  This was my play yard.  I would meet dad out in the field and follow him around.  I especially liked when he planted watermelons.  Dad and Ma were my mothers parents.  This was in OK.  My moms  brothers were in the army in Germany.  Walt was home but he worked for some one else.  My Dad and Dad M. would get the field ready, using a team of horses and a plow.  Then other horse drawn implements to prepare the the ground.  I would go along with Dad M. and he would make little hills and plant the watermelon seed.  Some snuff was placed in each hill then the seed.  He then carefully covered the seed not to deep just deep enough. (the snuff was to keep bugs from eating the seed)  Now we waited for rain to give enough moisture to sprout he seed.  During this time any weeds were hoe'ed out.  Many hours were spent in this manner.  I loved every hour I spent with my Grandpa M.  When the watermelons got ripe they sure was tasty.

When he had cotton in the field and it was cotton picking time the family all helped.  Each had a cotton sack(a long bag open on one end, closed on the other.  On the open end was a strap sowed to the bag off center.  You put his strap on your shoulder and drug the bag behind and beside you while you picked the cotton from the stalk and put it in the cotton sack.  I was unfair to my mother because I would get on the cotton sack and ride while mother picked cotton.  When the sack was full we had a team of horse's pulling a wagon with high chicken wire sides.  When this wagon was full of cotton we would drive the team and wagon to town to the cotton gin.  I remember riding with my Dad and Dad M. to town and the cotton gin.  Lots of work to being a farmer back then.  More later.  Have a good day.
Pappy