Wednesday, January 25, 2012

When Johnny Comes To The Farm


“Do you remember how much fun we had when Johnny spent several days over the summer with us?” I ask my family as we reminisced around the kitchen table after a meal one day.  As harmless as working, reading books, playing with cousins, and eating pickles seem, Johnny managed to fall into trouble.      

My brother and I spent many hours playing with various cousins.  Johnny, six years my elder, was the fun loving son of my mother’s sister.  During the summers of the early to middle 60’s Johnny spent days with us.  He would help my Dad on the farm.  My brother and I would beg my Dad to allow Johnny to spend the day with us just reading books and playing.

One particular morning my brother and I gathered around the kitchen table listening to Johnny read a book aloud to us while my Mother cooked dinner.  At the time I grew up on the farm lunch was actually called dinner.  “And the big brown bear came lolloping over the mountain.  ‘No, no!’ the princess cried.”  Grandpa Potts read in the book, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang , by Ian Fleming.  Johnny was reading with much facial expressions and voice inflections.  We laughed and laughed.  Johnny stopped reading and looked at us intently.  He said with a serious look on his face, “Are you to going to listen to this book or are you going to goof off?”  Being unsure if our cousin was serious or joking, we decided to seriously say, “We are listening.  Please read more.”  Johnny continued reading and acting silly and we continued laughing not only due to our cousin’s comical behavior, but due to the book being funny.

After awhile we decided to play under the kitchen table and chairs with toys.  The chairs had upholstered backs and cushions.  There was a horizontal space between the back and seat upon which my brother and I could stick our heads through easily.  Someone sat in the chair while I tried to pick it up and discovered that the padded back of the chair lifted a bit causing a larger space to put your head through.  A crazy idea entered my mind.  I thought, “Wouldn’t it be funny if Johnny stuck his head through the space and I pushed down on the chair back, closing the gap?  And, just what would Johnny do when he couldn’t get his head out?”     

The next moment I said, “Hey Johnny, it is your turn to put your head through here.”  What do you know; he did, and I nonchalantly pushed on the chair back, closing the space.  Shortly thereafter Johnny tried to pull his head out.  He tried a couple of times and my brother and I tried to help him.  “Oh Johnny, you are stuck!” my brother exclaimed.  “Aunt Lois, come here.” Johnny called.  “Yes?” asked my mother.  “I am stuck.  Can you help me?”  My mother bent over trying to pull Johnny’s head out.  His head really was stuck.  My mother sat down on the floor and began laughing hysterically.  She said, “How did you manage this?”  “Oh Lois, I don’t know; just stop laughing and help me.  It is not funny!” 

My mother tried controlling herself.  She began pulling harder on Johnny’s shoulders while my brother and I held the chair in place.  “Oh, Lois my ear is caught!  Stop!!” begged Johnny. More laughing from all of us as my mother folded Johnny’s ear over thinking that would provide more space.  “What are we going to do?” my brother asked.  My mother suggested we wait for Uncle Bill to arrive home for lunch, which could be an hour.  My mother began laughing again and Johnny moaned, “I can’t do that!” 

At that moment, I decided that my practical joke had gone far enough.  I innocently asked, “Does this chair back rise up if we pull up on it?”  My mother tried, and raised the chair back.  Johnny was so relieved.  My mother began laughing again.  We all did.      

This little secret of mine is just now coming out of the woodwork after 48 years.  In fact, I do not think my cousin Johnny knows, er, at least until now! 

Another great memory is watching Johnny at the dinner table visiting with my parents. They were all excited!  One of his favorite foods my mother prepared was homegrown home canned pickles.  He just sat there eating right from the jar one pickle after another pickle.  My Dad said, “You are going to make yourself sick.  You better call it quits for now.”  Johnny said, “I don’t get these pickles everyday and I just love them.  I will be okay.”  A couple hours later his stomach was hurting, and the laughter began all over again!!!!

I have read “Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.” by Robert Brault.  As I reflect on this cherished memory, I realize these little activities and little memories we made together, as a family, that summer fills a huge place in my heart.   






                                                           This is Johnny and myself.





Sunday, January 22, 2012

One of the Best Days of My Life!!


By Hannah Stewart

I never thought a civic duty would lead to one of the best days of my life.  It all started when my sister’s boyfriend said, “Let’s go to the Humane Society!”  My sister, her boyfriend, my dad, and I went to the Humane Society and looked around at the dogs and cats.  I love cats, so I ran ahead to look at them.  As I looked around the room at all the cats, I saw a cute, little, orange kitten.  I took him out of his cage to hold him.  I noticed he was the only kitten in the room.  I started to fall in love with him and wanted to take him home with me.  I asked my dad, “Can we take him home?”  My dad said, “Let’s go home and talk to your mother first.”

When we arrived home, I used my art of persuasion to convince my mom to say yes.  I informed my mom, “He was the only kitten there, I will pay for the adoption and vet fees, plus it is my civic responsibility!”  Mom was smiling and thinking about it.  I said, “He is your favorite color for a cat, orange.”  Mom finally said, “Yes.”  I was so excited!  I could hardly wait.

The next day we arrived at the Humane Society early to make sure no one else adopted him.  When they opened, we walked inside.  I could hear the little orange kitten neowing as if he knew I was there.  The caretaker opened the door to the room filled with the cats and then I saw two new kittens.  They must have been brought in after we left yesterday.  They were both a beautiful, creamy orange and white with green eyes.  Now, my decision was difficult.  I had to decide between them.  I was petting the two new kittens when I felt something hitting me on my head.  I looked up and the little orange kitten was vying for my attention.  He started meowing, rubbing his head against the cage as if to say, “Here I am!  Remember me?”  I decided that since I saw him first, I could not resist his sweet, little face.  I told the man, “This is the one.”  “Oh, you want the meower!”

We put the little orange kitten in the cat carrier and drove home.  On the way there, I took him out, and he sat on my shoulder just like a parrot.  When we got him home, we let him out, and he started to run from one end of the house to the other.  I was witting there trying to think of a name for him.  “Dewey?” mom said.  I said, “No.  That does not fit him” Then I remembered a book I bought titled, 2001 Names for a Cat.  I looked in the book for a while.  He ran fast like a jet, but jet did not seem to fit him either.  I saw the name Torpedo and knew that was the one because he was as fast as a torpedo.

Choosing a cat to adopt, caring for the cat, and naming him were all a part of my civid duty.  It made not only one wonderful day, but many.



Hannah and Torpedo relaxing!!!  Silly little kitty cat!!!

Friday, January 20, 2012

Car Bouncing


When my brother and I were seven and nine years old we lived in a two story white house along a gravel road approximately 3 miles from our grandparents’ (my Dad’s parents) farm.  In our young minds, it might as well have been 500 miles, because we could never spend enough time with them.

“When are we leaving?”  “How much longer will it take to finish the dishes?” my brother and I chimed in together.  “I am scrubbing the last pan now.  Go get your jackets on.” My Mother told us.  Finally, it was time to go.  My brother and I raced to the car and jumped into the back seat, while my Mom slid into the front passenger seat and my Dad positioned himself into the driver’s seat.    

As my Dad only traveled at a speed of 25 miles per hour on the curvy gravel road in the very dark night, I listened to my parents’ conversation.  On this particular evening, they were talking about the car we were riding in.  “This has sure been a good car for us.  I expect to get a few more good years from this car, a 57 Chevy.” My Dad told my mother who shook her head yes.  I was restless and bored.  Suddenly, a crazy and outrageous thought popped into my mind.  “Hmmm.  What if my brother and I bounce up and down in the back seat every time my Dad slowed the car down to turn a corner and after the corner was completed stop bouncing?”  I leaned over and whispered in my brother’s ear.  Yes, he thought it would be fun.

We bounced on the very next corner.  Because it was so dark, our parents did not notice my brother and I were bouncing.  Our parents said nothing.  As we approached the next corner, we bounced again.  My Dad looked at my Mom and asked, “Do you feel that?”  My Mom replied, “Yes.”  We traveled around another corner with more bouncing!  My Dad was really puzzled.  My brother and I managed not to laugh, but remain quiet.  At last we arrived at our grandparents’ farm.

My brother and I ran into the house.  My grandparents presented us with a bottle of soda pop.  We chose from all sorts of flavors, grape, orange, strawberry, 7up, Coke, and root beer.  “Pop, on the way over here the car seemed to jump up and down.  It was the strangest thing.”  My Grandpa and my Dad took a huge flashlight to go look at the motor in our car.  I just looked at my brother and pressed my lips together saying silently not to reveal our little joke.  After a great visit it was time to go home.

Riding home, my brother and I started the same bouncing again.  This time my Dad began studying the situation more intently.  My brother and I laughed a bit.  My Dad asked us, “Do you know what that is?  Are you doing anything?”  We just shrugged our shoulders.  The next corner we stopped the bouncing until the last corner before home and we bounced on that one.  My Dad said, “Well, I will have to check it out further tomorrow in the light.”

The next day my Mom asked my Dad if the bouncing was still occurring.  Dad said, “Nothing.”  My brother and I laughed and laughed about our little joke in private later.  We kept it as our little secret.
 




This is a picture of my paternal grandparents taken on their farm near Goodson, Missouri.  On the back row is my grandmother, my grandfather, and my Dad.  On the front row is myself and my brother.  As one can tell the sun was very bright that day.  That is the reason for our funny faces!
 

   

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Great Geysers


As I gather plastics, tin cans, and newspapers to recycle my eyes stop and stare at a Gatorade bottle.  Flash!  A memory of a homeschool science experiment pops into my mind.  I laugh out loud!  Scattered pictures of flowing bubbles, diving children, a shooting bottle cap, and a geyser appear in my mind.

Stephanie, our oldest daughter, conducted a science experiment in which she was to mix baking soda with vinegar in a plastic Gatorade bottle.  She learned that the following chemical reaction occurred.

Na+HCO3- + CH3COOH CH3COO-Na++ CO2 + H2O

When she mixed baking soda and vinegar together it yields aqueous sodium acetate and carbon dioxide gas.  The gas fills the bottle causing the sides of the bottle to bulge when the cap is tightened.  Chris and Hannah wanted to observe what was to happen in the experiment.  Stephanie’s curiosity got the best of her.  She asked, “What happens if I shake the bottle?” And immediately she shook the bottle rapidly.  This mixing causes the chemical reaction to speed up.  “No, wait!”  I said, but it was too late.  The mixture bubbled profusely and rapidly to the top of the bottle.  At that point, Chris and Hannah dove behind the couch to take cover.  Who knows where the bottle cap would land once it was released from the bottle.  Fortunately the bottle was pointed upward and the cap shot off like a bullet to the ceiling.  The mixture was all over the table, the walls, Stephanie, and a big brown spot on the ceiling that remains to this day.

Chris and Hannah came out from behind the couch, when it was safe.  “Look at the ceiling!  There is a brown spot!”  A frown appears on my face!  Stephanie, Chris, and Hannah said, “We will clean the mess up, Mom.”  We all stood there looking at each other for a moment, and then we all burst out laughing. 

I remember reading a quote about laughter from Bob Newhart.  He says, “Laughter gives us distance.  It allows us to step back from an event, deal with it and then move on.”  I am certainly glad I could look at this bottle cap shooting event with humor.  I am glad our frowns turned into smiles.