They say..."YOU CAN TAKE THE GIRL OUT OF THE COUNTRY, BUT YOU CAN'T TAKE THE COUNTRY OUT OF THE GIRL." Yep, that's true for me!
I have memories of growing up in the country that have made me who I am today, that traumitized me, that changed me, things that taught me and things that gave me fear, gave me morals, gave me standards, gave me endurance, gave me courage, gave me knowledge, gave me faith, gave me leadership qualities, gave me ability to love and to know the difference between right and wrong. Some of these things might sound silly, and i am not even sure where this blog (my feelings and thoughts are gonna take me)... Yet, I do know, i am extremely blessed to of grown up in the country and was able to take it all in... you see, some of the things I took with me, some I left there, and some, well, Im not sure i will talk about (as extremly passionate as I am, and I want to share with you, there are only few that truly know me and will understand me!)
Not in any particular order, (hang on, I'm watching a home- town visit on the bachlor, and I cant see thru the tears:( ) ok, ok, like i was saying, no particular order and pretty sure i will jump around from here to there back to here!
First of all, the house i lived in is still standing....granted, there are no other houses around it, and it used to be out in the sticks! Now, Raley's is on one corner, and CVS on the other, the goat dairy is no longer there, and Starbucks and McDonalds are simply a stone throw away! And i could of swore I had walked miles and miles to and from school, rain or shine!
Funny, i cant remember the address numbers, now the phone number is a different story! The house had a detached garage that was full of home-canned goods, from pears, peaches, pickles, and tomatoes, and so much more. There was also a detached house that my brother got to have as his own... I know right.. how fair is that?
This house came with acres and acres of pasture, of pig pens, of chicken coops, of rows and rows of garden. of irrigation ditches, of a burning barrel that we used on burn days and, piles and piles of wood we cut for the fire place, hide n seek, swimming in irrigation ditches and fetching gallons of milk from nieghbors, 4-H projects, and everything else that comes with "living in the country".
Ok, lets see where I should begin... ok, I did have the experience of riding the school bus to and from school, this was elementry school and Jr. High...I remember certain people, things we talked about and things we had done and things we wanted to do. On those cold foggy mornings, or getting soaked by rain, i can remember looking down Union Road hoping the bus was within sight. It was interesting, while living out here in the country, i went to Shasta school for 6th grade (where i met many people, had Mr. Pinto as the principal, Mrs. Adams as one teacher that stands out, oh yes then there was Mr. Cook who tried and was successful to be physical and throw people against the wall, he didnt last long, i can remember parents got involoved and the guy was fired) Jr. High , I rode the bus to Golden West, another memorable 2 years of friends and starting to find our place and the paths we were beginning to take. Most went to Manteca High school and few went to East Union, so it was back to meeting new people, since 90% of my life friends were going to Manteca High. What was different for me, i had to walk to school, no more bus rides, i had to use my 2 feet to walk to school. Yes, it seemed like miles, and i had to pass by corn fields, past the Nunes hay business, and it seemed like walked 2 miles!
The need to work (or the want to work) so i could save up some money for my first car, i found a job that was literally right across the street from me. His name was Robin, and her name was Mrytle, they owned and worked the goat farm. Omgoodness, the goat farm, they needed to be milked 2 times a day, including in the middle of the night. So, i was hired, and i had to milk goats. You're kidding me right? you want me to do what? I had to cut my fingernails, and learn to sit on a bucket and one goat after another fill another bucket with their milk. Damn, i hated it when the goat would kick and dump over my bucket of milk. Did i mention that goats really stink? and the best or the worst part was I got paid 5 cents per goat! I had to write down how many i had milked each day. It doesnt take much intellignece to figure out that i didnt make enough money to buy my first car! I guess it was important, because it was the beginning of being responsible, the beginning to learn how to save money and the beginning to know i wasnt interested in being a goat milker!
Talk about goats.... this was one time of being traumistized.... my dad had 2 glasses of cold milk and made me and Renee Levesey (my parents used to babysit her) try both glasses of milk and let him know which one was cow milk and goat milk! Sorry to say, i couldnt tell, but Renee on the other had, hasnt drank either milk since!
My dad was big on making us country folk. He wanted us to experience each and every day something new! I learned to not get attached to our animals often, because before I knew it, we were eating them:( One night for dinner was chicken when we started dinner, but once again he tricked us and it was actually our pet rabbit!
No wonder i dont like rabbits... and i dont dare tease and tell my granddaughter Viana that we ate our pet rabbit... her rabbit "Tiney" is one of her BFF's. I am tempted to tease her, but she doenst need to be traumtized like i was! She did tell her mom and dad that the boy rabbit and Tiney like to dance alot, so we let her believe thats what they are doing!
Now, i do like chicken, but I do not like to do what needs to be done before you can eat them. Once again, I had to experience the full process. First you had a 2x4 board with 2 nails hammered into it, you had to catch the unlucky chicken and place its head ( ok this is gross and mean, sorry everyone) between the nails and chop its head off with the hachett in your hand. Yikes, now i know what the phrase "like a chicken with its head cut off!" Never seen and dont care to ever see what a chicken with its head cut off does! Wait, wait, wait, i"m not done! we had a huge barrel over a fire outside and it was now time to dunk the chicken in boiling water and pluck every feather off of it. I am truly surprized that i like chicken to this day!
ok, while on the chicken topic.. i know this is a rooster, but daily i had to walk thru the chicken coop and collect eggs, had to move hens and see if they had eggs under them. It was almost like an everyday easter egg hunt, minus the color dye and hard boiled. This chore wasn't too bad, just had to watch where you stepped! Now its coming back, in this chicken coop were geese! Now geese on the other hand are some mean things. They would lower their neck and charge you! So, they make good watch dogs ( if thats possible) but their was no befriending a goose! To this day, i have a fear of geese!
The childhood nursery rhymne "Mary had a little lamb".... well one of my favorite memories is when i was given a baby lamb because momma lamb wasnt feeding her. So, i got to be her momma. I got to feed her by a bottle, whatch her grow, and yes she followed me everywhere i went. Thank goodness we didnt have to eat her!
Brings me to 4-H days..... Circle M was the club i was in. Anything from poster day, to speech day, to cooking classes (witch i still use some of those recipes today) sewing classes by Mrs. VanTill. She was a great instructor, but hate to admit it... i dont even know how to sew a button on. Barrel racing out at the Lewellin's was so much fun. Yes, i loved horses, went on trail rides with my dad and Deena Olsen, was the Lancer on the big white horse that ran around the football track on home games. Then I was at a point of keeping my horse or selling Rico in order to get my first car. Yes, i made that choice, but Rico was welcomed into family friends country home. Thank you Howard Miller for taking care of Rico ! Oh yes, while talking about 4-H, how could i miss the San Joaquin County fair. Talk about a blast! The people, the life of a pig owner. I know, how could anyone love a pig? Easy... Hard to believe i would bath and powder a pig, and walk around a cage with a cane in my hand, showing this pig for a showmanship ribbon, adn then of coarse the auction, now the tears would flow, yet the money was nice! My daddy always took his vacation time to be at the fair with us, and he used to look forward to the day that i would have to take my vacation time and spend it at the fair with my kids... yet they had no desire to be in 4-H or FFA. They both threw the idea around and it was a quick no thanks!
Irrigation.... You would never know what day and what time you would get the phone call from your neighbor telling you it was now your turn for the water. Once again, something eles my daddy thought was very important to learn. So be it, we would throw on old clothes i think over-alls actually and rubber boots. We would take our flashlights and hike out to the irrigation gate and let the water start flowing into our pasture and garden. I can remember cow and horse poop piles floating and at times get into a cow patty fight. So gross, and yet so fun!
I realize now, that a garden didnt just get planted and grow vegtables by themselves. Omgoodness, this was so much work. From rotatilling rows, planting seeds, keeping the weeds from taking over and then reaping what we had planted. During this time, i never appreciated our garden. I don't like green beans, tomatoes, okra, peas, cucumbers, squash anyways.... so why do i have to pick these things?? They have stickers and make me itch. Well little did i know how much i would give to have that same garden today. i love my moms spagetti sauce, tomatoe juice, fresh cucumbers, black eye peas and okra. I love Zuchni, and fesh green beans. One thing i really want to do in life, is learn how to can this and that, make jams, freeze stuff to use all winter, so mom, please teach me soon!
ok, irrigation fun.... kick and splash water at each other, throw floating cow patties and having some in depth conversation over important things in life, more do's and don't's, swimming in the ditches. One time, i am sure I will never forget this... i don't think Artie and Danny Nunes will ever forget it either! we decided to hike down the road to this huge irrigation ditch on someone eles property and just forget how hot it was and forget our responsibilites for the day and forget that we were told to never do this. I'm pretty sure it wasnt my idea, so, i will blame artie and danny! It was great fun, no worries in the world! Unitl we saw a dust trail and heard a work truck driving like a bat out of hell. We tried to hide, cause pretty sure we were somewhere where we were not supposed to be! I have never heard a father be so livid and yell so loud, than Mr. Nunes, not just at his 2 sons, but i me! Talk about the fear that he put into us! This was probably the last time i swam in an irrigation ditch! Well, later in life i wanted to share my irrigation ditch experiences with my own kids, so yes, we have swam in canals!
Right next door to us on the corner of Union and Lathrop Road was a hay business. I didnt really think of it as a business, but just a huge a barn filled with millions of bales of hay. We didnt get to hang out in the barn often, but i would hang out by the fence between us and talk about life things with few people, not names mentioned. Again, no names mentioned, but many many times, he would walk my way and I would walk his way, and we would meet in the middle, somewhere in the McDonalds pasture. Oh, the memories of tag, of hide and seek....can still hear the ollie, ollie, auction free!
I didn't get away with much, well, I didn't try very often, my dad was the guy everyone feared! He was a "Deputy Sheriff". Did it keep people away? Yes, it did! All the boys were afraid of him, well actually, he just appeared mean! Lol... He did know where every orchard party was or any kind of party place at the end of Comcanex, or out by the river. He made plenty of people open and dump all beer out, with the agreement, he wouldn't take anyone in or tell anyone's parents! He never caught me, because I never tried! WEll, I guess I shoudn't say i never tried, because I did, but I wasnt very good at it, and it was enough to see my dad cry for the very first time, so, i never wanted to disappoint him again! Beginning and end of my weed days! He always kept his word and never told on any of my friends partying.... brings me to My kids partying days, and the many boys that tried to be in Renee's life... funny thing though, Steve Dunnigan, Nick Betti, Jeremy Brake, Jeremy Martinez, Steven Walton, Gilbert Martinez,.... it was a nuetral love, respect and love both ways. He talked a good talk, and walked the walk, but loved these boys. Now Mike on the other hand.... his grandpa got to witness some of his young, dumb partying days, Mike had NO fear of his grandpa though by now, and when his punishment one time was to get up with the sun, hangover and all to go chop wood...he chopped a piece or two, then layed down and slept on the cement on the side of the hosue! Today, their grandpa is one of their best friends and love to share all these memories.
I can still see the 5 gallon buckets of pickles soaking in brin and dill on the back porch, hear the toads chirping, the spiders hiding under anything cool, the gravel driveway, the smell of fresh cut grass, the tractor we used for I'm honestly not sure! ( I do love to hear stories of before tractors when horses would pull the plow and you... Mr. Pimentel and life on his farm since he was a kid)....I can remember walking an empty glass gallon jar across the pasture, and making the exchange with our neighbors for a full, warm jar of cow's milk. Letting it cool, and then removing the top layer of cream and learning or watchin my mom make butter. I can remember loving when my dad was on swing shift... you see he would leave for work just before i got home from school, and by the time he got home at night, i was asleep, and we would do it all over again..... this way, we could talk our mom into doing whatever we wanted! Can I go to the mall, can I go here or here, jeff and I were your typical brother/sister love hate relationship. We both knew how to push our mom's buttons! Yet, we never knew when he and his partner were gonna stop by for dinner or simply to check on us! I still wish, i could have the garden we had there...so many memories....i realize now, the the country life has taught me so many life lessons, and i have carreid those lessons through life and applied them to many parts of my life. I used to think the mall, crusising McHenry, and hanging out at Mcdonalds, playing video games ( Atarie, and pong, so i am really telling my age now)
Growing up, if anyone ever told me I would miss living in the country life, I would of given them a look of pure disbelief. I mean, i thought there was nothing to do in the country! We actually had to use our imagination, what's up with that? We had to play outside, no McDonalds to hang out after school or Starbucks... yes, there were after school sports, which I played year around, i think now i chose to do that, to try and get out of chores at home, but it didn't matter!
To me, country life now means, peace and quiet, and your neighbors were farther than 6 feet away...Privacy is your companion. You could look out your window and have wide open spaces looking back at you. Growing up in such surroundings, i could and did take for granted the freedom that I had. I mean we played outside for hours on end without the need of supervision. My imagination was free to run wild. Looking back, i realize how good I had it. My best memories are now are throwing cowpatties at each other or pretending they were frisbees, picking okra and hating every minute of it, collecting eggs, plucking chicken feathers, and eating fresh pig skins.,.. i absolutely love pork skins now! I am grateful i do not have to milk goats, chop chicken heads off, and stand out in the cold and wait for a bus to pick me up! sure, many of my memories may not seem very exciting to a teen, but as an adult, I realaize just how much fun I had. Just how this life lessons made me who I am today. The faith and love for God started even before the country life, but my faith and love for God was always there, but day by day it becomes more and more previlent.
There is a song that talks about "where corn don't grow" Travis Tritt sings it, and I will share some of the lyrics with you. I won't share everything about this song, or exactly how much this song means to me. i am trying to open up and share some truly meaningful things and let you into my life, that maybe some things i experienced or said will remind you of your life, or perhaps make you look at things alittle differently. This is for you... you know...
A young teenage son had a conversation with his dad:
" Daddy, there is alot I don't know, but don't you ever dream of a life where corn don't grow?"
He just sat there silent, staring at his favorite coffee cup. I saw a storm of mixed emotions in his eyes, when he looked up he said "son, i know at your age, seems like this ole world is turning slow, and you think you'll find the answer where corn don't grow." Hard times are real, theres dusty fields no matter where you go..You may change your mind, cuz the weeds grow high where the grow don't grow."
This song holds a special place in my heart and soul, and maybe someday, you will understand, exactly how it feels to be where corn don't grow... watching corn grow is just magical.... it grows right in front of your eyes, if you just take the time...and give God thanks.....
because of His AMAZING GRACE
So, would I take the country life over the city life?.... By all means YES, YES,YES....
