Whose turn is it to bring in a load of coal from the coal shed? Got to keep the fire going so the stove can keep us warm, cook the dinner, bake the bread, and heat water for washday and Saturday night baths. This coal bucket stood sentinal beside the stove, ready to feed the fire's hungry mouth.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Keep the Home Fire Burning
Whose turn is it to bring in a load of coal from the coal shed? Got to keep the fire going so the stove can keep us warm, cook the dinner, bake the bread, and heat water for washday and Saturday night baths. This coal bucket stood sentinal beside the stove, ready to feed the fire's hungry mouth.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
15 comments:
That was my job for way too long - and then I got to scoop out the ashes and take them out to the big pile. Oh, well, it kept us warm, and wood and coal heated the oven to make Mother's wonderful bed.
What an ooooold friend. Isn't it fun to see all of these "treasures" and remember the good things. It is like Steve said on the phone, the blog has been so much fun because we all remember things our own way. For some, the coal bucket may be a fun memory, for others it is a reminder of chores to be done.
This is similar to a recent discussion with some siblings about an Easter Sunday when we were on our way to church and we came around the curve on the highway just past Johnston's, on a snowy Easter morning, and there was a car upside down to the south of the road and off in the "barrow" pit. The wheels were still spinning, no one was hurt, just very scared. We took them over to Johnston's to wait for the Highway Patrol, and we went on to church. I was so excited because I got to tell this story over and over again at church. I felt like we were heroes.
Now, if you ask Steve, he remembers this somewhat differently, if you ask Judy, it depends on who is asking, because she will agree with whoever is on the other end of the phone.
I remember good things about the coal bucket - I got to get all dirty bringing in the coal, and taking out the ashes was a fun thing - boy could those ashes fly in the wind. Maybe that is why Mother would call me a "messhanser" (whatever that means). Sorry about the long post.
MESSHANSER, now that is a word for you! Let's not let that one go into oblivion. Great word. But I can't imagine Ann ever being one!
I think we all had our turn of filling the coal bucket, but one of my memories of the coal bucket has nothing to do with coal. Steve may have been too young to remember but when he was toddling around he stumbled and fell and hit his head on the coal bucket and raised an enourmous goose egg on his forehead. Mostly my memories of the coal bucket sitting beside the warm stove conjures up a cozy, homey feeling.
("Messhanser" must have been a Mother word.)
Louise's comment reminds me of the scar that was once very prominent on my chin. That was from a collision with the coal bucket.
I think there are several "Mother words". How about dedikin (who knows how that would be spelled)and wizzled? Others?
Let's just make sure that these wonderful words are heard and hopefully used by our children and grandchildren. If enough people use a word, doesn't it get accepted by Webster?
I'm sure that it's spelled "ditikin". Couldn't be anything else??? I think that Louise, Dwight, and I invented the word skillibutti - or one of us did, right?
How would you use skillibutti? And who invented the spelling on that one. I guess if we are inventing words we can spell them just about any way that looks good to the speller - maybe?
Never heard of it
Oh, my gosh, I had forgotten all about these words. what fun. It does seem like skillibutti was a word we three older ones came up with, but how did we use it? It seems like it came in handy every once in a while.
Skillibut(t)i was used whenever we tried to talk Spanish, or in case we couldn't think of a word that fit. - I think. How could Dwight forget such a treasure? Thanks, Louise, for verifying that the word "exists".
I have to add another belated comment on skillibutti. I remember now how we would jabber away with nonsense words acting like we were speaking Spanish as Elizabeth said and then throw in that word. But how did we come up with it?
However, some of us did truly learn real Spanish words like ondelay(sp) muchachos. I haven't a clue how they are spelled, but Steve and I became very proficient with those words. Riding by the beet fields on our two wonderful bikes, thanks to Dwight, we would yell words of encouragement to the laborers in the field in their own language. Mother would have probably put a very firm stop to that if she had known.
Do you remember the day one of the laborers came to the house during the noon "dinner"? (the night meal was supper) He declared he was sick in the foots.
Post a Comment