FreeMiner
Legendary
- Joined
- Nov 27, 2021
- Messages
- 11,595
Yah no doubt, seemed we knew instinctively what would get our asses whooped. My Dad always shaved with his straight razor before Church on Sunday. Us younger boys would watch, he explained one time why we could never touch his razor. It was always there, but we knew better, his rifle was always handy and loaded, we knew better, his axe was sharp enough to shave hair on your arm, we knew better, by the time I was 4-5 I was splitting kindling for my Mothers cookstove, she showed me one time how to use the hatchet without cutting off my fingers, and it was my job to keep her supplied, not to be asked, but to know she needed this done. By the time I was 12 my Dad decided I was listening good enough to have my own .22 rifle, as I was in the bush or along the creeks all the time anyway, I may as well bring home something for the pot.Not all Yankees are created equal. Mostly the Yankees that wandered down south were the sort who weren't wanted round these parts anyway. Where I grew up I bet you'd have fit right in nice. No paved roads for miles and loads of timber country to hunt fish and trap. Horse trails and hiking. I spent my entire youth growing up barefoot in the woods doing all sorts of crazy things that would have kept my parents up nights worrying about if they had known how little sense I had.
Looking back the sooner your parents put it on you, without any fancy talk and BS, the sooner you grew up.
Dad also owned garages and service stations as well as farmed, I had farm chores, as well as pump gas after school or Saturdays, he trusted me at 12-13 to carry a roll of cash and make change out of my head right at the pump.
No Lying, No Cheating, No Stealing, and No Whining, Never saw my Mother or Father Drunk, Never saw them fighting or yelling or hollering or cussin. They were married 53 years.
The world has changed.