OVER MY SHOULDER

Steven called last evening---he wanted to know how to make gravy---he had fried some round steak out of the freezer for he and the girls, (Sandee was not yet home from school---basketball game and all that) and wanted to have mashed potatoes and gravy with it.

Michael and Steven were not much interested in learning how to cook when they were home----they would assist once in awhile, and did learn how to prepare some of the basic things---like peanut butter sandwiches, scrambled eggs, hot chocolate, toast, pancakes, and a few such things. They made a mean bowl of corn flakes----Christine said when they went to college that she had taught them enough about cooking that they should not starve.

I will always be grateful for the ‘household chore’ items that Mom taught me when I was a youngster. There were three of we boys and no girls---being the oldest, I had to start helping around the farm and the house before the other boys did. I was not very old when I wanted to help in the kitchen,---(Christine says that somewhere along the line I have lost that desire) and when Mom would sit down to ‘patch’ , knit or sew, I wanted to try that too.

There was a time when I was only 6 or 7 years old that Mom had some health problems, and we all pitched in and assisted where we could. I recall on one occasion when I was about 7, I lit the kerosene stove, and apparently threw the match in the waste paper can----it immediately caught fire, and I picked it up and carried it out side----sorta startled Mom when I went to the bedroom and told her about it.

When Mom ‘darned’ socks I wanted to assist---that is correct, we wore ‘darned’ socks---you did not throw a pair of socks away just because they had a hole in the heel or the toe---which they seemed to always have. Mom had several spade type wooden blocks with a handle on them that Grand dad Murrow had carved for her. They were of various sizes and were slid into the sock to hold the form of the sock while you patched the toe or heel.

I recall one fall, Mom started knitting---with the intent of knitting vest sweaters for all of the boys and probably for Dad. While she knitted sweaters for Jim and Frank, she taught me how to knit, and I knitted my own sweater. I am sure that she did much more of the work on the sweater than I thought that she did, but it was a together project, and something that I wore with pride.

Of course, we patched overalls and trousers too---just because the knee was worn out did not mean that they were to be thrown out. (holes in the overalls and jeans was not yet in style) Mom taught me how to sew the patch on the inside, to trim the hole to solid material, to nick the corners, and turn under a little of the solid material and whip it into place.

Then of course there were always the buttons that had to be sewed back in place, and Mom taught me to replace the buttons---I even threaded my needle and all. (Christine says again that this kind of repair is a talent that I apparently lost when I got married----marriage will do that to a guy). I recall that Mom had a varnished wooden box a little larger than a loaf of bread which was divided into three section. This box was full of buttons---one never threw away buttons---they were used on new hand made items, or to replace buttons that were lost.

I don’t mean to brag, but I became a pretty good cook---as Mom regained her health, she started working ‘in town’ part time, and I took on the task of preparing lunch for we boys----(Dad usually carried his lunch with him to what ever job that he was doing) and often would have supper well on the way when Mom got home. I got so that I could peel as thin of a potato peel as any to them----I should, as many times as I heard Mom say---”now Dee peel those potatoes, don’t ‘chunk’ them off like that”. I recall one time that Bobby Wiles who ran the Blue Mound grocery store called me ‘a _____ old maid when I would not take the ‘cut’ potatoes that he was trying to sell me.


I could catch a fryer, scald him, pick him, and have him cut up for the frying pan on short order---and often did. We mashed the potatoes with a potato masher---it was in later years that we got an electric mixer---used the chicken frying grease and flour to make gravy for the potatoes. I recall one noon when we boys were home alone,
we had gone to the North pond, caught a mess of perch (not very large), took them to the house, dressed them and fried them for dinner----we saved the bones wrapped in a paper sack just to prove to Mom that we had had fish for dinner.

Least you think that I did all of the cooking----I did not--------just when my assistance was needed. Mom was and is a good cook, and spent a lot of time cooking, mending, ‘washing’ clothes, canning etc. and with no girls to assist, it seemed appropriate that someone helped out---guess that I was ‘volunteered’. Jim and Frank also assisted on occasions----not always willingly. (Being the oldest and with the folks gone part of the time, it behooved me in their absence to see that the boys helped out.)

Of course that time that I threw a potato at Jim as he went out the kitchen door instead of doing what I had asked him to do was not a wise move---I hit the door glass and broke it. It was good that Mom worked in the hardware store--she could bring a new door glass home. It was good that I had a few part time jobs outside the home---- I could pay for the glass. It was good that Dad had taught me how to change out a glass ---I could change the broken glass. The rest of the story was not so good.

I do not remember being ‘bossy’, but several years ago when Jim, Frank, and I were doing a repair job on the folks house, we reached a slow point, and I asked ‘what next’---Jim informed me that I needed to decide---to which I informed him that I was not the boss----’why not, you always were’ was the reply---boy a memory like an elephant.
Marriage put all of that good information in ‘remission’---the only thing that I continued to ‘cook’ after I got married was the home made Chili, and the home made Ice Cream---I did not for years want anyone to ‘mess’ that up---I have, as I have gotten older mellowed some, and now allow Christine to prepare these two items---when she does not badger me into doing so.

I am so very thankful that Mom taught me all of those living skills----it gives one a better prospective on what has to be done around a house, and makes one appreciative of all that the ‘house keeper’ does. Once I retired, I do a little more (as little as possible) around the house. There are a lot of ‘living skills’ that Mom taught me in addition to cooking, sewing, house keeping, etc,----things like understanding of others, the joy of work, always do your best at what ever you undertake, empathy, living by the Golden Rule, respecting ones elders, and to keep a good outlook on life---even when it appeared that things may not be going too well at the time. LDC