Dad cleared a couple of acres to plant corn and vegetables, but all around every where was forest. We loved to wander through the trees, keeping an eye our for a bear or enjoying picking wild blueberries. The berries were most plentiful up around the powder house, a log cabin where explosives were stored. We never saw any bears but a big grizzly was killed up in the woods. We were allowed to see it at the house down near the lake.

Jesse and I liked to walk in the woods and pretend to be pioneers or something. One time she decided to run away, so we took some gunny sacks across the creek and strung them between four trees to make a "cabin". We were going to stay all night but Daddy found us and marched us home.

The creek where we got our water was a little ways behind the barn. The big kids, Elmer and Elfie, and Mabel carried it in buckets up to the house. We had no bathroom, of course, just an outhouse and a wash tub for baths.

Our house was about a half mile from town. "Town" was the road along the lake. There was a general store and a building that was a church on Sundays, a school weekdays, and a meeting house or entertainment center evenings or Saturdays.

The school was just one room with desks and a platform for the teacher. Mr. Job taught all grades. They were called readers instead of grades. With two years for each reader. I wanted to go to school too, though I wasn't quite six. They let me go anyway. Mr. Job was quite strict and didn't stand for any fooling around. To recite our lessons, we came up and stood on the platform, usually several students at a time. I remember I was up there once and he was a little slow getting us to recite. I had to go and held up one finger again and again, but he said to wait 'til the lesson was over. I couldn't wait and made a puddle. He looked very put out and told Elmer to take me home and leave me there. After that Mr. Job always let me go right away when I held up a finger.

Bees

Jessie, and Mabel were walking in the woods and I was tagging along behind. As we neared the creek near home we had to walk on top along a big log that blocked the path. Mabel and Jessie jumped down and went ahead. When I reached the point to jump, I slipped and fell on the wrong side, right in a bee hive. I shrieked and Mabel came running back, lifted me out and carried me away, brushing the bees off. She put me down and we all ran as fast as we could, then stopped to brush more bees off. I must have had a hundred stings but the bees ignored both Mabel and Jessie. They weren't even stung once.

I don't remember how many animals we had. There were two horses, Bird and Bonny, to pull the wagon when we went visiting or to pull the plow when Daddy dug the fields to plant corn and vegetables. Of course, there was a cow and some pigs and chickens. I don't remember ever having a dog or cat.

Allergies

I didn't know I had any allergies, but discovered I was allergic to dyes of all kinds. The first time I encountered it, Dad had bought me a nice fur coat. It was a beautiful soft brown rabbit fur dyed to look like mink and I loved it. However the first time I wore it, I broke out in terrible rash all around my face. Realizing finally it was the coat, I gave it to my sister in law, Virginia. She wore it for many years.

The second time I encountered my dye/chemical allergy was when I was going to beauty school and started breaking out whenever I handled the chemicals used on the hair. I also broke out when I got a perm. So I became a manicurist instead for 20 years.

Then one morning I woke up with a rash on my face which got progressively worse. I knew I hadn't been around any chemicals or dyes and then Dad finally confessed. He had secretly been using Grecian Formula on his hair!

The last really bad outbreak was when we went to Hawaii. I wanted really comfortable shoes, but I also wanted nice looking ones. So I dyed a pair of old ones. Well, guess what! After wearing them only a day, my feet were broken out with huge blisters and I spent the rest of that trip in a wheelchair.