"Memories of days gone by"

     I have always been fascinated with old barns.  Lately I have been taking pictures of the ones I can find for I knew they were disappearing fast.  To my shock and surprise there are even fewer than I realized. 

     Two years I worked for Bill “Red” Grogan hauling hay and while a hot and dirty job I loved the barns even then.  They were all different and had personalities to me.  I remember where a lot were and nearly all of those are gone as well.

     Whenever we went to my grandmothers in Carlisle County Tommie and I would head straight to the barn.  They had a few cattle so there was a hay loft and grain bin.  I have no idea where they got it but they had a big corn snake that stayed in the grain bin and took care of mice.  It was very gentle.  It was almost impossible to see it against the corn.  We would head up the ladder to the hay loft and move the bales around to build hideaways and forts.  Usually it was family gatherings and we would have cousins there as well.  Corn cob fights were standard.

     A conversation with Nicole Kowalczyk about, how much we both love coffee brought her grandparents Henry Jr. and Hilda Brazzell to mind.  The Brazzells were good friends and I spent many hours as a kid and as an adult sitting at their table drinking coffee.  Hilda made sure her pot was always full fresh and strong, very strong. 

     Now there was coffee and then again there was Hilda`s coffee.  I have heard of coffee you could stand a spoon in but you could float a rock on top of hers, but it was never under or over heated and never bitter.

     We all loved literature and the discussion was often what we had read.  Hilda was with the library service for years and Henry would read a pocket novel every day while walking the sidewalk delivering the mail.

     When I worked at Evans grocery we would all gather when it was time for him to cross, what is now James Phillips drive, at 51 hwy and he never looked up or missed the curb.  Understand there was much less traffic but he had hearing that was amazing and knew if a car was coming.  

    As I had rather hunt squirrels than anything else that was what we discussed a lot. That was something Henry and I shared.  He was the best squirrel hunter I knew.  I think his excellent hearing helped with that accomplishment.

     I always heard that Hilda would send him to kill a limit of six squirrels and let him have six shotgun shells.  It was said that if he came home with five squirrels and no shells she would want to know what happened to the other shell.  Hilda was frugal but I am not too sure about her doing that.  He did rarely miss though.

     Hilda loved working at the library and I loved having her there.  I would request a book and she would have it in three days.  I asked for information once on the theology of the Trinitarian churches and she got me at least seven books on theology of different churches.   The one thing I decided, if you accept Christ as your savior and believe in the three persons, there is not much difference that is not manmade differences.

     Saw a Doberman in Paducah and it reminded me of all the dogs on the mail route that I carried.  I got along with most and usually had one following.

     One day I was on Charlotte and about to turn onto Bailey St. when ahead of me I saw a Doberman coming toward me.  I had never been around one and had heard tales.  I looked around and no trees to climb.  There was nothing to do but hope I could keep the leather mail bag between me and him.  There were three or four small neighborhood dogs with him and though they were all friendly they barked.  I just knew the barking would excite him but instead he knocked down the biggest and friendliest one and stood over it threatening it not to move.  This went on for days and he would come close but at the last minute he would quiver and back away.

    After a few days, Charles Hardison, who lived on the street, met me on the porch.  He sat on a step and I squatted down to rest a minute while we chatted.  That Doberman walked over to me and sat down with his shoulder against my hip.  I think If Charles had moved toward me he would have been in trouble.

     The people who owned him were dog people and rescued him to raise him in a warm friendly atmosphere to prove that they are not naturally vicious.  The only thing was, where the dog came from, he had been intentionally mistreated and kids had run him down with bikes so he hated bicycles and tricycles.   Their point was proven as far as I was concerned for I never saw a problem with him.