At five years old in the Salma’s Place, I can remember our house having linoleum floors and the house needed some renovation. A man came in who was an electrician. He would ask me for help because I was small enough to crawl into small holes. Later we moved to a different house, but the same electrician came back to do more work and I can remember following him around and helping out as needed. This work intrigued me, which led to my interest as an electrician in and out of the service.
One day I was crying and a white, female German Shepard came over and I thought it was stray dog from Jefferson City. So, I went and gathered some food for the dog. The dog stayed around for the next two to three years and I eventually named her Birdie. Birdie was always chasing squirrels, rabbits, and opossums. I often went hunting and was only allocated one bullet per animal and if I ever killed something, I was expected to eat it. I would catch animals in a box trap, bring it home for mother to fix it, and keep the skin. If the animal caught was not optimal for eating such as a opossum (which was very greasy), you would release it. All hamburger ate was a real treat because we had to grind it. One time I had brought home a opossum because I shot it, so in order to make it taste worthwhile mother ground the meat up and I loved it even though it was opossum. I liked to hunt because it put meat on the table.
Naomi Vetter says
I wonder if we had two dogs named “Bertie”? The one I remember on the 7th Place was black/brownish. I wish I had Mahlon here to shoot some of our 2 thousand squirrels.
Lloyd Jr. says
Grandma used to cook crawdads for us after we caught them in the creek. I think I probably ate more than I caught. Those pincers were scary.
Cleopha says
I was happy to read that you enjoyed some of the same things on that farm with grandma that we enjoyed as children. Did you and your cousins ever sneak a jar of sweet pickles and climb into the hay loft to eat them on rainy days.
Lloyd Jr. says
I was always scared to go down in the cellar. Maybe Pete or Danny?
Aunt Lolly says
Maybe we had three Birdies!! The one I remember was black and white!! ha ha
Mahlon says
On my story the dog was black and white and was Shepard. We only had one Bertie. And the dog appeared in the field to the north of Justin and Elizabeth’s house. I was plowing and she followed me all morning every round I made. At lunch I snuck out some food for the dog. She followed me all afternoon. Female dog and in heat and Dad didn’t want her around. But she stayed and was still there when I went into the service. Sometimes my stories overlap from different times. Five years old at Selma’s I don’t really remember now but when I was plowing I remember.