What Do You Remember?

[SQUEAKS]

Today was a beautiful day here at our place. I went out on the deck and watched deer grazing in the pasture, saw a flock of wild turkeys out near our gate and as I sat there enjoying the view I got to thinking about my past life. Now I do not want to make this a religious thread but the first thing I thought of was what I did as a child in church.

I remember the hyms we sang that I liked, "How Great Thou Art", "Jesus Loves The Little Children", and "The Old Rugged Cross" were the first that came to mind then I drifted on to my childhood on the farm. Coming home from school and riding my first horse a 400 pound hog named Munch. I rode that pig everywhere. Down to the ole swimmin hole and fishing. Then one day I came home and my mom told me they had to make her into sausage and pork chops. I just ran to the barn and finally cried my eyes out.

Well I got over that with time and finally started eating pork chops when I was about 16 years old. Then I remembered an old cat we had that was blind named Tommy and my mom fixed up a washline and made him a halter so he could run all along the house and hooked him up to the washline with a d-ring. Tommy was really funny. he could still hear and one day I came home from school and found Tommy with a black snake in his mouth which he had obviously sent to snake heaven. He might have been blind but like they say even a blind hog can find an acorn once in awhile.

I remember the day I can still see my mom in our driveway with the local newspaper in her hands with a big black headline saying "THE WAR IS OVER" as a dirgible flew over our farm. I remember the fun we had as kids in winter and being bundled up like the Pillsbury Doy Boy and riding our sleds we got for Christmas down our steep driveway.

I would give anything I own today to go back to those days. I guess like the song says, "I was country when country wasn't cool".

I remember, Hawkshaw Hawkins, WWVA Wheeling West Virginia Jamboree we used to listen to on Saturday nights. I remember Grandpa Jones and Little Jimmie Dickins as well as many others like Tammy Wynette and the original Hank Williams and Kitty Wells. Yes those were the good old days but life goes on but I sure miss that time and the fun we had

Just rambling but hope all your childhoods were as good as mine. I had great parents and I sure miss them.

Gotta Go Grace just yelled they got Pasos on RFDTV Seeya later

Bob :D

[DebbieS]

Bob, what great memories! Mine aren't quite as exciting, but I did have a good childhood. I guess you don't appreciate how wonderful your parents are until you grow up and realize there are kids who have pretty miserable lives.

I remember feeding baby goats with bottles. Raising geese, ducks, calves. And that crazy pony that would run into the barn and wipe us kids off her back. I was a kid living in Washingon when Mt Saint Helens errupted. We had a new batch of kittens that we tried to save - brought them in from the barn but they all died. We had to wear masks whenever we went outside. We had 4 inches of ash to clean off the roof and out of our yards - it didn't melt like snow!

I remember going into the army and how my mom and sister cried when I got on the Greyhound. I remember how I thought I'd die in Basic Training but was so proud when I graduated when so many girls dropped out.

Then I got married and had kids. I live in an awesome place and have horses and dogs and a wonderful family. I guess I have a lot to be thankful for.

Thanks Bob!!

[Jasfino]

Bob what an awesome post. It does a heart good to think back from time to time.

I remember living next door to my grandparents who farmed for a living. My granddad gave me my first horse.. a tobacco stick... and he tied a hay string around its neck and off I went.

I remember watching the old westerns on tv and thinking I could ride with the wind along with them. Flicka and The Lone Ranger were two of my favorite shows. I was awestruck by Secretariat. I started bugging my parents for a horse.

Those days on the farm couldnt be matched. It was hard work but it kept us out of trouble. :D On weekends my family would gather together with friends and we would bring out the guitars and instruments and play all those old songs by Hank.. like...Your Cheating Heart.. and my dad sounded just like him. He taught me all those old songs. Pasty Cline was my favorite.. especially Crazy.

My first horse was an Appy. That horse woke up everyday trying to figure out a new way to kill me. She would take me through ponds, rub me off on trees, and when that didnt work.. she would sit down on her hind end... and off I would go. One day after a particulary harrowing experience.. I put her in her stall... found my dad and told him... Sell her. I dont want her anymore. So he did.

My next horse became my closest friend. She was beautiful sorrel QH named Candy O. She came from Sikeston Missouri, a rodeo town and she could cut and run barrels. I still get sad when I think about her. Some horses stay with us forever.

Then there was the pony that my dad traded for two goats. I trained her myself by getting a book on horse training from my library. She was solid white, with a long mane. She was a good little pony.

Being raised on the farm, horses, and music pretty much are the memories that always brings a smile to my face. And religion did play a big role in my childhood. I went to a little country church, and my brother played the organ/piano.. and I was the song leader. Those same songs you mentioned Bob were my very favorites along with ... Hank Williams.. I Saw The Light. :D

[PattiB]

Unfortunately I didn't grow up on a farm. My dad was in the Army and we moved just about every year. My fondest memories are of when I was five we would visit the Kerrs ranch in San Antonio. They had animals every where. The inside of their house was like a taxidermists. The funniest was the front end of a fox coming out of the wall, in the other room was the back end. Of course they had live ones too. A huge goat herd that we fed bread to, Santa Gertrudis cattle, chickens, and DOGS! Our first puppy came from their ranch, Gypsy was a cocker/chihuahua mix(cocker size, chihuahua hair). I trained her from a book. She moved with us even to Alaska. She wore a fleece coat but hated the booties. The Kerrs had three horses, Candy, Sandy and Ace. I picked Ace as mine although we never got to ride them, I petted him. The Kerrs told my parents Ace was mean but he sure did like me. That was where my horse crazies started but with all the moving I didn't get my first horse until I graduated from High School. Of course my first horse was Aviso de Borrascoso a yearling Paso Fino colt. He was my buddy for thirty years, I still miss him.

[Terry Wallace]

Bob...that song...."Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world" was a song I used to sing walking home from school as a child.

Now I will probably "play it over & over again in my head" all day long today! I wonder if I can figure out how to "rap it" tee hee!!!

Something like: I say, I say... Jesus loves, ...loves the little children, loves the little children of the world"...

Now see what you went and caused Bob?

I will file that next to my rendition of "Rock me Amadeus"...

It goes something like this...."You DON'T rock me Amadeus, you're so SMOOTH, you DON'T rock me Amadeus".....

[baileyholc]

I didn't grow up on a farm eather but I have always wanted to. I grew up in a trailer park. I would go visit with my granny and play with the Holcombe Kids next door. Yes the same Holcombe I am married too today. Jims sister that is my age and I would take my cousins and Jims match box cars and drop them down in the holes of the brick wall that my grandpa and dad built to hold dirt back. It was mad of cinterblocks and it was three feet tall. My grandpa had this dog that we called Butch. He was english bull dog mixed with bull terrior. He would get loose and someone will holler BUTCH IS LOOSE and everyone would run for cover. LOL He really was not so big but everyone thought he was mean couse onetime when he was loose he went after a kid that would alway tease him by throwing sticks and rocks at him. Well need I say that kid didn't do it anymore after that day. I remember going to my other grandpas and singing to Hank Williams and dancing the twist with him and siting on the front porch in the late afternoon watching the blue birds and making wishes on the red birds with my granny. When I was growing up I had both sets of my grandparents. Their is a lot more that I remember and wish my girls can expeirance the same. But the tears are bulding in my eyes and I have to stop now.

[Linda Y]

My father was in the Air Force, so we moved every 3 or four years. I had my first real horse experience when I was 3. My mother put me on a QH at a rodeo held in Gulfport. She said I screamed my head off when they tried to take me off.
We lived in a subdivision in Illinois. I played horse all the time, running everywhere and jumping fences. I would go to the dirt pit and catch tadpoles in a jar. At night it would be fireflys. There were no worries about the bad people then.
I remember Thunder, a mean little pony no one else could touch. He belonged to neighbors in Alabama. I hid in the bushes and sneaked him treats until the owner caught me. She asked if I would like to mess with him. WOW! Before they sold him I had him doing tricks and jumping.
I remember spending some summers with my grandparents in Long Beach, MS. We would walk to the beach, carefully crossing the 4 lane and watching for sandspurs. We would play in her yard under the oaks and mimosa. The house is gone. A Katrina casualty.
My first horse, Missy, a gorgeous (to me) champagne palomino qh cross. She bucked every time I rode her. I loved her dearly and she taught me to ride. She was a birthday present when we lived in Wyoming. Cost a whole $150.
My next horse, Cuca, my first Paso Fino. Purchased when we lived in Massachusetts and she lived in North Dakota, picked up when we moved to Missouri and she moved to Texas. She was the love of my live.
Life was so innocent then. What happened? :(

[Dianne]

Fantastic post Bob! its a pity the kids of today wont ever experience stuff like that..... :(
I remember going to the house across the street and listen to the same music played by the dad on his guitar and then we got our first TV! some nights it was so hot we turned the tv around and sat on the porch watching it through the open window LOLOL we didnt have AC then either!
Every Sunday we would all get a shilling and go the store to get candy to eat after dinner while we watched the wonderful world of disney.
I remember being able to ride my bike all over the countryside..never having to worry about strangers , I would ride 3 miles to see my friend who lived on a chicken farm and would help her with her chores.
I remember the little Corgie I had and crocheting her a bridle and making her little jumps to go over :lol: So when I saw an add in the paper for someone to exercise a pony I jumped at it..seems he had bought this ponyfor his kids but they didnt care for it and it was getting fat. Boy did I have fun riding that guy all over the place! every weekend i would meet up with other horseriders and we would ride all day in the woods, jumping logs bareback was hard on a fat pony :lol:
His name was Yunki which is aboriginal for "friend" I used to love the end of the day because come dusk all the horses in his feild used to suddenly decide to "stampede" that was awesome. Ahhhhh! Thanks for the memories Bob!

[DSDECKERT]

Geez Linda - are we separated at birth twins???

I played horse all the time, running everywhere and jumping fences. I would go to the dirt pit and catch tadpoles in a jar. At night it would be fireflys. There were no worries about the bad people then.


We used to have stick ponies, cowboy hats, anything else we could ride! We'd go tadpoling and try to get them to grow into frogs (never happened). I grew up in Sault Ste Marie, Michigan - where there is still 0 crime.

My Dad's father had a farm in Stalwart (45 mins away) and he bought me my first pony when I was 4 or 5 - a mean little booger named Dusty. I'd beg and beg to go up every weekend and ride him. Eventually we moved, my cousins took Dusty. Dusty made the rounds through the family until he died of old age.

I'd live for summer vacation, when we'd pack the family up in the station wagon and head down to Wisconsin to my cousin's house - they had QH's, Cobs, Welch Ponies and even Shetlands (many many Mutt horses too!). We'd visit for 2 weeks every summer, and I'd ride from sunup to sundown! I'd cry when we went home too!

Still talk to my cousin, she's the one I'm trying to get on a Paso Fino in Richland Center, WI! Looks like she'll have to visit to do it though.

[Jasfino]

I love this thread.... only it makes me a little sad too to think back on the innocence of those days...when all the world seemed perfect.

[SQUEAKS]

I want to say Thank You to everyone who responded. I didn't expect to see so many respond to my rambling on about my childhood, but many of you who posted things brought back many special memories.

Like when we lived in Cheyenne, Wyoming and then moved to Texas and then back to Pennsylvania. Know just what you mean Patti about moving around but I always made new friends and learned a lot about horses.

I really enjoyed reading all the replies to my post for you have all added more memories for me to think about in the future. We all know we can't change the past but isn't it fun remembering the good parts?

Now it is my horses that are providing the things I will remember when they are gone. Like Teevo playing in the water troughs and Mego stealing my tools and dropping them in the water tanks and I will never forgrt the day Apache pushed me head first into one of the water tanks I was cleaning and then just stood there looking at me as if asking "Did I do something wrong?" I chased that horse all over the place.

Then the cats and Moose have provided me with many good memories I will never forget either. Like the day I was sitting in my recliner watching a horse show on TV with Tiger laying on my lap. I was just in my underware since I had just taken a shower and something spooked Tiger and he took off like a rocket leaving 4 claw marks on each of my legs and blood running down my legs. I still have those scars from that incident.

There are days when I like most ask God, "Why Me Lord?" when things go wrong. I said that once to one of my school teachers and she replied, "Why Not You?" "You aren't that special that everything in your life has to go right for you." "Just learn from things that go wrong and don't make the same mistakes over."

I think she was right and I could write 10 books on my mistakes and what I have learned from them. I wouldn't have wanted to miss a minute of it all even the bad times for it makes you be Thankful for the Good Times.

Once more Thank You All!

Bob :D