Cowboy Passings

Going to a visitation tonight at the funeral home. Been to quite a few of those recently. All the old guard are passing away. I know they are of that age, but it does not make it any easier.  Jack Parks, one of the horse folks from the '60s horse show era, passed away......I recall so many no longer with us that were real-deal, old-time horse people ......To name a few:   Jack Johnson.....he was Margaret's husband, Billy Jack's father, and famous for his Appaloosa horses and the Tuesday Night Horse Sale at his JMB Appaloosa Ranch in Robinson.....Stanley Holmes, way too young, and a childhood friend.....Gene Tanksley, husband of Ann, father of Corey----Gene is with them now.....Raymond Parks, father of Ronnie, grandfather of Todd, and a champion horseshoe player....Glenn Wingo, one of the best old-time ropers and one sweet man.....the unkindest cut of all is with the passing of John Crawshaw, husband of Betty, father of Jane, Susie, Bill, and George, and so dear a friend that my daughter, Jon Marie, is named for Big John, and so close for many years that my children called her "Aunt Betty" and him "Uncle John". He lived away from here the last twenty-five years,  but the one consolation is that he is now home where he belongs, laid to final rest beside his beloved Betty. I remember these great cowboys with sorrow at their passing and joy and honor in having known them.

A Simpler Time

  My paternal grandmother, Sally Lee Allen Head, known as Mama Head, was born in 1886 and died in 1955. My paternal grandfather, John William Head, known as "Billy" or Daddy Head or Papa Head, was born in 1886 and died in 1976. They were born into and grew up in a pioneer era and lived to see a rapidly changing world. By mid-century, theirs was a way of life that would soon be gone forever. They and their children had made it through the hard times of the Great Depression and the sacrifice of World War II. The battle-scarred sons and son-in-laws had all come home. They were old-time country folk, thankful and humble, living a simple way of life, independent and self-sufficient. Most of their food was raised or grown on the lots behind their old house. Mama Head raised chickens for the dinner table, as well as a calf to butcher now and then. She milked the cows for butter, cream, and milk to go with the biscuits made from scratch, spread with homemade plum or wild grape jelly or peach preserves. The Head family raised and killed their own hogs for bacon, ham, and pork chops, saving the rendered lard for cooking, baking, and homemade lye soap. Whatever was not eaten right away from the bounty of the big garden and the fruit trees was canned. They bought only what was absolutely necessary at the store....coffee, tea, sugar, salt, pepper, seeds for planting.... those things they could not grow or make themselves. A loaf of Jones Fine Bread or a bottle of Dr. Pepper were considered a real treat. They made most of their own clothes and beautiful patchwork quilts. They were a close-knit family, gathering around the radio to listen to "The Shadow", "Fibber McGee and Molly", "The Lone Ranger", and "The Hit Parade". No matter how much work she had to do, Mama Head never missed an episode of the soap opera, "Ma Perkins", on the radio.  Papa Head was a Master Gardener.  Their families had grown roses and watermelons as their farm crops in Tyler, Texas. The Heads came to Waco in 1914. Papa Head worked 42 years for the City of Waco, helping run Cameron Park. He retired in 1957. He was sent to the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago to see the famous Rose Garden, then designed one like it for Cameron Park.  The old house where the Heads lived was at 2224 N. 4th Street, just down  the street from the Park entrance on Herring Avenue.  Their children and grandchildren grew up in the Park, playing, fishing, and swimming in the Brazos River and Cold Springs.  It was a simpler time than today. Life was lived at a slower pace. By the 1950's, that simple way of life was fading away. Modern times, a new faster-paced era of conveniences and new technology, had begun. The story of Mama Head and Papa Head is the story of that simpler time in American history.    

School is out!

School was over for me on the 23rd of May...the very last day was May 26th...got to work quite a bit, most of it at the primary school...the Kindergarten, First and Second grades.....love those great little kiddos, even the ones that have "problems".... Some of it is actual behavior disorders..other is from poor or no parenting at home. Looking forward to school starting again on August 15th. The year after next it can start no earlier than the last Monday in August...a new law effective in 2007.  When I was in school in the '50's and my kids, too, in the '70s and '80's, school started the first Monday after Labor Day, in September..usually about the 8th....in the '50's there was no air conditioning......it was not as humid as now and did not feel as hot as the same temperature feels now. I am sticking close to home for the next few weeks as Esmeralda (Esmo), my palomino mare by Mighty and out of Peanut, my old long-dead barrel mare, is due to foal in that time frame. Have been cleaning at the barn....last week, was bitten on the left hand between thumb and wrist by a brown recluse spider....will have to tell you about it in the next post....doing well, thanks to, I believe, my quick thinking to soak it in Tide Detergent..the washing powder...to pull out the spider venom that can cause the tissue to rot from the bite. Whatever caused the great improvment, it is doing very, very well. Forty years ago, a renowned doctor told me to soak all punctures wounds in Tide....kids stepping on a nail, horses stepping on something and causing a puncture wound to the hoof, a hoof abcess, etc. have all been treated successfully with the Tide treatment. When I saw the two punctures and realized they were fang marks and then read on the web about how venomous the bite could be, I thought about the Tide treatment. I will write more about the spider bite incident later. Going to the barn to let out the old mare, and then to bed. Good mid-summer night to all! Oh, wait, it is not mid-summer with all the attendant heat yet, Thank Goodness, though it is still plenty hot!