Aw nuts

Due to an injury as a child my uncle Edwin Theodore Miner had the brain capacity of a third grade child. He was a bit quirky, but was industrious and did his best to make money. He mowed grass all summer with his bright green Lawn Boy mower. It was nothing to see him carrying the gas can and pushing his mower in front of him several miles from the home he shared with his mother Rebecca Rugg Miner. He was as good as his word. If he said he was going to do something, you could count on it being done. Ted liked to tinker with old radios. He would salvage the “good: tubes and replace ones that were bad. His tube inventory was stashed in five gallon buckets.

Ted ranged the hills and woods looking for patches of ginseng. The graceful green plants bore bright red berries to announce the treasures beneath the soil. He guarded these secret grow areas with tight lips. Once gathered and dried, those ginseng roots were another source for his money. He would sell the “sang” at Resh’s Red & White store in Indian Head, Pennsylvania.

In the fall Ted gathered black walnuts, butternuts, and hickory nuts. He would carry the nuts to the attic and spread them out to dry. The butternuts were Grandma Becky’s. She kept them for flavoring of her Christmas popcorn balls. When the nuts were dried, Ted would carry them back to the basement. He would crack them on a length of railroad rail with a hammer. Once he filled a smaller bucket with nuts, he would carry them upstairs to the TV room. Gram was usually there watching television and quilting. Ted would pick the nut meats from the shell as he watched the television too. Sometimes Gram would help. Ted stayed busy by removing nuts from the shells. He would supply his customers with nuts for their Thanksgiving and Christmas baking. When all the “goodies” were removed, the shells were empty he would toss them into the coal furnace to burn before cracking more nuts to carry upstairs. He’d fill sandwich size plastic bags with the nut meats to sell. Ted was the complete opposite of his brother Dale. Although Dale was very intelligent, having a creative mind, Dale preferred to do as little as possible. I’ve shared stories about Dale’s shenanigans before, so I won’t dwell on that in this story.

 

 

Tears on My Pillow

In 1958 the lyrics of “Tears on My Pillow” were written by Sylvester Bradford and Al Lewis. Anthony Gourdine. Little Anthony was the lead vocalist who first recorded it with his Do-whop group “The Imperials.” The lyrics are about a person with a broken heart and an unrequited love. When we look back in our lives, we can remember some tears that we’ve shed. There have been tears of joy; perhaps at the birth of a child or receiving a wedding proposal. Perhaps you’ve shed tears at your wedding or some other enormously happy event in your life. There were also episodes of sadness caused by the death of a loved one or a major catastrophe in your life. These are tears of sorrow.

Different types of tears have distinctly different compositions. Contrasting chemicals are released by our tear ducts compose tears that are specifically designed to fit the occasion. Many times when we cry the flow of tears will cleanse our bodies and souls of the emotions that caused us to cry in the first place. Empathetic friends will understand this. And that’s why true friends will generously offer a shoulder to cry on. They volunteer to share burdens that you are carrying. They will support you, pray with you, and hold you up when you’re weak or celebrate and share your joy. There are also tears of gratitude. The Bible shares the emotion by a woman who was a sinner. She was forgiven of her sins and in gratitude washed the feet of Jesus with her tears,

The Bible has a lot to say about tears and even more about crying. The word cry or varied tenses of the word appears 434 times. The words tear or tears appears 49 times and wept or weeping is mentioned 41 times. Jesus himself wept. The shortest verse in the Bible is “Jesus wept.” It occurred at the death of His friend Lazarus. Although Jesus knew he would raise Lazarus from the dead, He sorrowed at the sadness of Martha and Mary, sisters of Lazarus and shared their grief.

The Bible says God gathers our tears in a bottle (Psalm 56:8) and Psalm 126:5 says, “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.”  The bible also says that He will wipe away our tears (Revelation 7:17) and that there will be no crying in Heaven (Revelation 21:4.)

1 Corinthians 15:55-57 “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

 

Soups On

Growing season is coming to an end. Fields are becoming bare with only the stubble of places where corn, wheat, and barley grew. The leaves of the soybean plants are turning yellow. Harvest time has announced the beginning of autumn. Soon the frost will place a crystal carpet over the grass and the leaves of the trees will explode into bright colors before falling to the ground.

The final assault on the vegetables that still remain in the garden has begun. Tomato plants have become bedraggled with a few ripe red tomatoes and green unripe ones dangle like Christmas ornaments. Peppers still are ripening before frost kills the plant. Carrots and beets stay buried, and are waiting to be dug from their summer beds. Heads of cabbage are being gathered, shaved, and brined to cure in crocks for sauerkraut.

The cool weather brings out the same desire in humans that the squirrels, mice, and chipmunks feel to store food for the winter months ahead. The feeling that it is necessary to stockpile food seems especially large this year. Aesop describes this need to plan ahead in the fable that parallels the ant and the grasshopper.

I have been helping a friend and her sister with the canning. We continue to process the bounty of summer’s produce from several gardens. Picking, washing, cutting, and canning the fruits from the several gardens are reaching an end. As we near the tail end of the summer and the garden’s supply becomes less, it’s now time to gather the odds and ends and make large pots of vegetable soup. Some was made to eat now and some to can for later use. That is what we made yesterday. Browning some soup bones and beef roast made a rich broth. The chopped cabbage simmered in the broth and slowly other vegetables are added. Dry beans, green beans, carrots, celery, onions, corn, and finally tomato canned earlier this year were stirred into the pot. It slowly simmered all day. Today the soup will be ladled into jars and pressure sealed. It is a long arduous process, but the homemade flavor on a cold, blustery winter’s day will chase away the chills when paired with a grilled cheese sandwich.

 

Rooftop Celebrities

When I was a kid, probably about 13 years old, I climbed on top of my parents’ house roof. I knew they were sitting in front of a large picture window in the living room. My warped adolescent mind hatched a plan. I stuffed the end of a pillow case with several towels then tied a length of rope to it making a “head.” I positioned myself just above the window and swung the pillow case to swoop down with the hem fluttering to “fly” by their view. It worked for several times before my parents caught on that it wasn’t a real ghost. I can’t remember being punished, but can recall Mom saying “I knew there wasn’t anything real about ghosts, but…?”

I’ve been known to climb onto the roof of my own house to clean the chimney. My kids get upset when I tell them that a jolly old fat man in an orange hunting jacket visited managing not to fall off the roof or jump down the chimney. My kids have been doubly concerned after my slip and fall on ice in my driveway 2015. Since then I have had some intermittent problems with balance. I’ve not had a rooftop experience of the dizziness, but I’ve had a ladder fall, trapping me on the porch roof for about half an hour until I managed to use another short ladder and a piece of an antennae to rescue myself. I’ve not completely given up on the occasional need to reopen the chimney from the accumulating soot and creosote, but I’ve hired a chimney sweep to do a thorough cleaning once s year. Now, this is where the rooftop celebrity enters the picture. The name of the gentleman I use to sweep my chimney has the same name as Marion Morrison, John Wayne. He told me this year that he is about to retire from cleaning chimneys, so I won’t share his last name. I’m sure he doesn’t want any new customers. I will give a hearty “Thank you John Wayne” from me and my grateful kids.

 

Day of Rest Not Hardly

The past week was a normally busy week with canning, workday at the Chestnut Ridge Historical Society, mowing, and grocery shopping. I know most guys don’t like to go grocery shopping, but if I don’t go, the cupboards get bare and I’ve always like to have food in my pantry and freezer. Willow the cat won’t shop, clean, do laundry, or wash dishes, so I’m the volunteer.

I knew the time schedule for Sunday was going to be tight. I went to church, but I skipped Sunday school, because my right knee was painful. It’s worse when I sit and I decided that even on the padded pews, I couldn’t sit for another hour. Last Wednesday I was roped into manning the display booth at the Stahlstown Flax Scutching Festival for the Chestnut Ridge Historical Society. Each year we take over several photographs and artifacts to set up a display of local information of people and events from the past. We attempt to share a cross-section sample of the items we have on display in our showroom or squirreled away in storage. I thought I was to be there at one o’clock P.M. when I arrived, I found out I was half an hour early, so I watched a demonstration of flax plants being separated into fibers, then carded, and spun into linen thread. A weaver then used the thread to make linen cloth.

There was a fair amount of visitors and I shared information about our veteran’s photographs and patches and uniform insignias. We also had scrapbooks for local schools that displayed class photos. Because we are a small Historical Society, we try very hard to make people be aware of our organization and our desire to preserve local history. We also like to lure people into visiting our showroom to see our exhibits. I did enjoy meeting people and sharing information about our display and our group. While I was there, we were entertained by blue grass fiddlers, guitar players, and two gals who sometimes sang off key. They were hired by the Flax Scutching. There were also men and women wearing period clothing well as Red Coat militia. These soldiers would occasionally shoot their black powder rifles making loud bangs and billows of smoke. Near the end of the Scutching event, there was a display of an attack on a homestead.

There was just enough time for a quick teardown, returning the display items back to the Historical showroom, before I hurried home, grabbed my Bible, and drove to church for the evening service. Finally I made it home, took my medications and curled up beneath my cotton sheets and quilt.