AHHH!  My first Thanksgiving moment on bearsbutt.com! There are a lot of cool reasons for my having this website, but the one that is most dear to me is the fact that I can write whatever I want, say whatever I believe, make up things and the bottom line is….nobody can dispute it.  You can write comments and rebute etc., but who has the last say on whether it gets posted or not?  ME!  HA! HA!

I do try to accept the comments that are applicable and you know who you are that have sent ugly things my way that nobody else has gotten to see.  I love it!  Thanks Weasel for setting this up that way!

Back to the message.  I am indeed dearly blessed.  A regular on the Utah Wildlife Network forum wrote a really good thread about his past and it brought back many good memories from my own past.  I reckon when you grow up in a small town of just over 1,000 people, at the foot of the Rocky Mountains and in a time when money truly was scarce, you grow to appreciate the little things more.

We had a car, which was a luxury back in the 50’s.  We had a black and white TV and a radio too.  Both were considered high class stuff.  We also heated the house with wood and coal and with that came the chores of stocking up the wood and coal bins and taking out the clinkers and ashes…EVERYDAY!

Mother cooked on a Monarch stove, top of the line back then.  She knew exactly how much heat she needed to cook the food on the top and still be able to bake in the oven and not under or over bake whatever it was she was preparing.  Again, wood and coal was used for that and again a bucket of ashes and clinkers needed to be taken outside and tossed…EVERYDAY!

Chickens needed to be fed.  Pigs too.  Horses and cows?  Yes, them too.  I was fortunate enough to be too young to milk the cows and my Uncle did that.  I was just old enough to get to sit on the barn wall with the cats and when it was my turn, Uncle Lou would squirt a blast of warm milk right from the teet at my face.  Most of which went on my face and not in my mouth.  I must say the cats knew a lot about getting the milk in their mouths…more practice I guess.  Besides, if the milk hit their face they would still get the benefit of it, because it stayed in their fur until they could lick it out.  I, on the other hand, ended up with a wet shirt.  It was a very good thing…what a memory.

I didn’t get to play football on the school team, nor wrestle or any of the other sports, even though my mind said I should and I would be the very best at whatever it was (except basketball…too short).  We did not have an activity bus to bring us home late.  But, looking back, that was probably a good thing.  It did not seem like it at the time.  Ride the bus back to town, walk home, drop the books and homework on the table.  Change clothes and head out to do the chores.  When the chores were done, come in, wash up and get after the homework.

Usually, about half way through the homework, Bones and mother would have the dinner ready.  When dad got home we would eat and then it was back to the homework and then get ready for bed and another day awaited when we woke up.

Blessed is all I can say, truly blessed!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

Bears Butt

Nov. 2011