Page 19 - TalesoftheParadiseRidge-Fall2020_Neat

of tough in the city and meat was not available. It just One of these mines was up the hill and a few yards to
so happened that Dad had been out hunting the day the west of the garden, and water flowed from the mine
before and had a strange thing happen to him. He was freely. Mom decided that she needed a ditch from the
hunting up one hillside when a bunch of deer jumped up, mine to the garden, and then she could water the garden
and he took a shot at a small buck. The buck dropped, anytime she wanted. But digging a ditch by hand would
but got up and ran again. Dad pursued the deer and have been quite a project. While Dead was at work, Mom
climbed a hill and looked over the rise. He saw the deer had the boys hook Trixie to a plow and take her up to the
running again and took another shot. The deer dropped. mine. Everything went fine until Mom got behind the
As he approached the deer, he thought to himself, “You plow. The moment Mom said to Trixie, “Get up,” Trixie
had horns before.” He backtracked and found the buck got up and went, running down the hill, pulling the plow
lying under a bush about 50 yards away. There he was, and Mom behind her. Mom was running at full bore
one buck and a doe, a half a mile from home. Dad gave taking 10-foot strides trying to keep up. Keep in mind,
a “YOO HOO” yell, which was a signal to the family. Mom was only five feet tall. Well she got the ditch dug
The boys hooked Trixie up to the sled that we usually much faster than she expected. She gave Trixie and the
loaded with kindling and went out to retrieve the two plow back over to the boys. She went into the house to
deer for the springhouse. So when Uncle Bryce entered rest. The ditch worked. Mom didn’t have to worry about
the springhouse, he turned to Dad and said, “My God, water for the garden anymore.
Dresser, what do you have here, a butcher shop?” He was
very happy to take home half a deer. One other small incident Mom had with Trixie was down
at the barn. Mom and Dad were doing chores when Mom
The fact we were living on the farm and Dad worked at walked into the corral where Trixie was. For unknown
the mill meant times weren’t quite so hard for us as far as reasons, Trixie decided to corner Mom and was rearing
food was concerned. We had the kitchen garden, plus we and stomping on both sides of her. Dad had to come to
grew potatoes and corn. We had a couple of cows for milk Mom’s rescue. Mom always claimed it was her red hair
and butter. One white cow wasn’t much good for milking, that Trixie didn’t like.
but Dad kept her around, I think because I claimed that
she was my pet. This was the cow I spoke about in the By now, you can tell deer meat, or venison, was a big
snake story. part of our daily life. We were always on the lookout
for an opportunity to put meat in the springhouse. One
During a visit from Uncle Bryce and Aunt Lee, I was afternoon, the boys were walking home from school
down at the barn when milking was being done. I down the long dirt driveway that led to the farmhouse.
remember laying my head up against the old cow while They spotted a small group of deer. James grabbed a large
Dad was milking. She was warm and gentle, and I rock and threw at them. He hit one right between the eyes
remember really liking her. That night for dinner, Mom and the deer went staggering down the hill. The boys all
had made several trays of hot biscuits. I remember how started yelling at Mom to get the gun. Mom heard all the
beautifully golden brown they were as she pulled them yelling and went out to see what was going on. She saw
out of the wood-burning oven. She had made a large the deer stumbling down the hill. By the time she ran
bowl of venison gravy and a large pile of venison steaks. back into the house and grabbed the rifle, the deer had
They all lay on the table ready to eat. Mom fixed my plate run into the garden fence, stumbled back, and continued
and I reached for my spoon, but I had to lay it down down the hill toward Perry Creek. Dad searched the
to scratch my head. I started to eat but had to scratch area that evening but found no signs of the deer with a
my head again. After several minutes of my scratching, headache.
Aunt Lee asked, “Why is this boy scratching his head so
much?” Mom took a look at my head and said, “Oh, my In 1944, late in the Second World War, I can remember
God, he is full of fleas.” Mom and Aunt Lee took me to a P-38 fighter planes flying over the farm. That was a
basin and washed my hair with vinegar. The water turned thrilling sight even to a four-year-old. We had a visitor,
black with fleas. After a thorough cleaning, I was able to a Marine, I believe. He came and stayed with us a few
go back in the delicious dinner. days. I don’t remember whether he was known to us
or someone that we took a liking to. He looked big and
Trixie didn’t really care for Mom too much, and that came handsome in his uniform and really impressed all of us
into play several times when we lived on the farm. Mom boys. A few days after he left, a group of military police
and Dad had planted a garden behind the house and came. They said the young man had been AWOL and
it was doing well, but as summer came on, water was they were looking for him. I don’t know if they ever
hard to come by. Mom had to do a lot of hand watering. found him.
I spoke of Uncle Shorty digging mines on the hillside.
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