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!

Clarabell the Clown

Clarabell the Clown died yesterday. Actually, the person, Les Anderson, 85, who was the last and best to play Clarabell on the Howdy Doody Show, died. The first person to play Clarabell was Bob Keeshan, who became Captain Kangaroo. The Howdy Doody Show, airing in 1947, was the first network children's show. It was important because it showcased the novelty of the new technology of television and also sold tv sets bought by parents so all we little kiddies could see it. The show was in black-and-white until 1955. Buffalo Bob, Howdy Doody, and Clarabell the Clown were characters in a circus town, Doodyville, which had a mix of puppets and human beings as well as a Peanut Gallery of Kids. Clarabell was a mute, lovable, and mischevious clown who communicated by toots on bicycle horns and with a bottle of seltzer. It was a big surprise when Clarabell the Clown, who never said anything, spoke the very last words, "Goodbye, kids," when the show went off the air in 1960. My family did not get a television set until 1952, when I was six years old. I remember the Howdy Doody Show as one of my favorites and the very first television show I remember. Clarabell's death heralds the passing of an era.

Writing

Have not written in a while....too much other stuff going on....I do plan to write more about the Head family...the newspaper may do a layout of old photos of them and a short article....they were very interesting folk...turn-of-the-century,self-sufficient, and independent folk ...very close-knit family that cared about each other a lot. I also want to write about Gloria Dickson and our wonderful adventures with her and her family.....will have just one foal this year...from Esmo, my beautiful golden palomino, the only daughter I have left that is by Mighty Prince Deck, the Quarter Horse stallion that started me in the breeding business in 1979. My stallion now, Pay Mighty Deck (Mighty), is also by Prince, who died in 1997, at the age of twenty-two. I had owned him since he was a three-year-old colt.  He was an extremely beautiful shiny black horse that stopped people in their tracks, he was that good-looking.....the best confirmation and a wonderful gentle disposition....all the horses I have now, except for Jet, the twenty-six year-old mare by Jet's Payday, carry his blood. Prince was by Mighty Deck, an own son of Top Deck, both legends in their time...on the racetrack as well as the breeding barn. Top Deck came off the King Ranch and was a foundation sire for the modern-day racing Quarter Horse. Prince was well-named..he was quite regal. I hope this foal is a filly..more breeding stock for the future....I have been very fortunate to be able to live my dream as a child of having some really good horses, right in the back yard.

Easter Memories

Easter is next weekend! Late this year..not in March, but in April.  One of my favorite childhood memories of Easter was wearing the beautiful dressy- dresses made especially for me and my sister, Sue, by our wonderful mother, Marie Ellison Head, an excellent seamstress.  Mama made most of our clothes until about junior high, when we decided we wanted clothes "bought off the rack" as our friends had. They were not nearly as good as what Mama made, with all her love for us put into them. Another fond memory was making our own Easter eggs.  After growing up, I realized the importance of the ritual of making  Easter eggs was not the eggs themselves, but making them together, as a family. It was real fun to first boil the egg, then color it with a crayon, making all those different decorations on it, then dipping it in the colorful Paas dyes, to produce an "original' design that no one else had, so when it was "found", you knew it was the one you made. Mama would collect all the Easter eggs we had first hidden, then found in our Easter egg hunt, and make Deviled Eggs, a real treat, for the next few days.  No candy eggs for us! Beside, Mama would not have let us eat all that sugar.  The things we did as kids were simpler than today and were usually done in a family setting. I like to think that is one of the reasons we turned out to be such great folks...we had wonderful guidance.

Spring Has Sprung

Spring is here! Finally! Hope we get rain and the drought does not continue..we have had some rain, but still need more on a regular basis. The burn ban for McLennan county was lifted not long ago. I have a lot of stuff to burn down at the barn....old wood and paper feed sacks..a lot of feed sacks! Everything is green from the recent rains....just hope it stays that way. The warmer temperatures are very nice. It is good not to have to run the air conditioner day and night, just yet.  Jayla, my 4-year-old beautiful black mare, got in the wire and cut her hind leg in the hock pretty badly a few weeks ago. All you can do is give antibiotics to combat infection, wash the wound as often as possible with a water hose, apply a topical antibiotic, and hope for the best.  It is looking pretty good..still has a way to go to be well.  It will leave a scar, but I can live with that.  The good news is that she will not be crippled from it. She is in the front trap by herself, eating all that green grass that is coming up. Wow, the world looks so much brighter when it is Spring. My stallion, Mighty, is looking at his mares in a different way, as love is in the air! Hopefully, there will be two foals this year. Not sure if the old 26-year-old mare, named Jet for her sire, Jet's Payday, is in foal or not. Hope so, as she has been the money mare all thru the years, producing the barrel horse prospects that bring the most money due to her bloodlines. I have been so busy ...and just not felt like writing  much lately. I was ill a lot in the winter months..I catch everything the kids at school get! I plan to write soon about my paternal grandmother, Sally Lee Allen Head, and her life in the '40's and '50's, before the time of TV,  computers, and modern technology.