To Garner Wisdom

"Happiness is an attitude. We either make ourselves miserable, or happy. The amount of work is the same."~~~Francesca Reigler

Thursday, January 27

Coal Heater

When it is this cold I always think of how cold I always was when I was little. I have beat the story of the coal oil heater in the house on Morley to pieces. That heater was like a monster to me. I ran from the thing in the snow bearfooted to call the fire department on it. It caught Daddy's sock on fire before it caught the house on fire. Makes me wonder if drinking and fire really does go together. You know there is a song, that has a line did I dance on the bar or start any fires. Our great men started lots of fires. Well, maybe they didn't start them all, but we did have fires. The heater on Morley was oil burning or that is what my small mind thought. I was bright enough to know it had to be lighted somehow, and Daddy had to do it. Seems that drunk men want to do things that should have been done before they got drunk. Sober they just do nothing, then give 'em a bottle and they see something that needs to be done. That was how he burnt his sock, foot and part of the house on Morley. The fire department came, because I ran across the yard to our Kentucky neighbors house; barefooted in the snow. I ran into their house screaming that the heater was going to blow up. Berta and Dewy Napier were their names. They were alot like my grandmother that visited sometimes to scrub the floors. She came from Alabama to clean. Well she came mainly to see how bad things were getting. They finally got really bad.

The heater/sock thing was close to the final notice that the morgage was not being paid. The man that came in the long overcoat was from the bank. The house payment was eighty dollars, alot of money in 1968 and Daddy not working anymore. In his mind I guess he figured there was not a need to clean the white foam that the firemen sprayed all over the kitchen and livingroom, since the fat man in the coat was going to put everything out on the snow covered yard. Mama was always the blame for the foam staying till we were kicked out of the house on Morley. She was to blame for not finding out what happened to all the stuff that was put out of the house. Mr. Grass took it to his garage, but he died before Mama checked on her stuff. His stuff was possibly taken by kin or sold. There wasn't a way for them to know that the stuff in the old shed belonged to us if anyone really cared anyway.
***************Large Cast Iron Logwood StoveThere are a couple of heaters, well more than a couple, I remember as a kid. Worry is something I can never remember not doing. Heaters were always a worry to me, more than a worry, I was scared what the combination of fire and who was building the fire was going to cause. After the coal oil heater we had in the house on Morley was the coal burning heater in the old house. The old house being the one before the new house that was built after the old house burnt down. In the old house was a cast iron black one that sat out from the wall and had a pipe to the chimney made of rocks. This heater was also a monster to me. A monster made mad by the men that feed it too much coal. When this happened the top of it would turn red like a stove eye. I would go outside stand as far away from the house as I could to get away from the possibility of fire.

 One very tragic one that my Uncle Bill, his wife and son all died in. My daddy would not let us lock the doors while we were sleeping, because it was told that Uncle Bill actually did not die from smoke or fire. He bleed to death due to cuts he recieved breaking the window to escape the fire. There will be more to tell ya'll about the fires in my childhood, I am sure.

Thursday, January 6

I Wonder

http://shoalandaspeaks.blogspot.com/2011/01/shoals-prosecution-they-can-preach-it.html
I usually don't mention the affairs of today's news, but the story above made me wonder.
 It makes me wonder if I slip up and don't make it to Heaven. Now I think I am good to go, but maybe I have to tell some lies or steal some food. It is very possible that I could loose it and cuss someone out really bad; using the worst of words. I sometimes tend to be a bit jealous of what others have. Basically I am not perfect; not really bad, but a little rough around the edges sometimes. Not holier than thou, that's what I am; Run of the meal average try to good, but sometimes it is hard. The bad things I have done or may do before I die are nothing compared to the Shaun Shapley's of the world. If I mess up am I going to be in the same place as the likes of him. What I really want is there to be a special hell for evil men such as him.
Should this crime be forgiven? I know a have sinned, but gee whiz, my mind can't grasp this kind of cruelness. Everyday plain forgiveness is great, and greater than I can phathom, is a possibility that God could forgive such terrible sins.
Forgiveness is something that comes easy for me. Forgetting is harder. I remembered the quote, it is easier to forgive than forget. In searching for the quote I thought went, "it is easier to forgive than forget, I thought went, I discovered many others, but could not find it one quoted in those exact words. I can forgive and still love that person. Not being able to forget makes me cry when I think of being hurt by others. I will never ever mention it again to them. I let it go for their sake. I keep it in my heart to still creep up on me when I least expect the pain to come back.


*I can forgive, but I cannot forget, is only another way of saying, I will not forgive. Forgiveness ought to be like a cancelled note - torn in two, and burned up, so that it never can be shown against one. ~Henry Ward Beecher So if I still let it hurt me I really have not foregiven anyone

*Forgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it. ~Mark Twain Yes, that's what makes me feel better I have given to another person. It at the time makes me feel better to tell them, "its alright."
*Once a woman has forgiven her man; she must not reheat his sins for breakfast. ~Marlene Dietrich I never bring the wrong the person did me back up again. No matter how bad I want to.
*It’s easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission. ~Grace Hopper Done that! Said that!
*The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. ~Mahatma Gandhi Yeah, I am the bigger person. Oh, that's my ego, wanting me to be bigger/better than them. It is a payback, maybe.

*To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you. ~Lewis B. Smedes I am the one that feels the sadness and madness emotions by not forgetting it-----Get over it. Let it go there is the solution.*Forgiveness is a funny thing. It warms the heart and cools the sting. ~William Arthur Ward Feeling

Shade Tree Mechanics

Shade Tree Mechanics
Working on a car can be dangerous. The car can fall if it is jacked up and fall. With daddy working on anything seemed as if fire was the main danger. Grandmother's house had not been built back long after their fire. We were living in a new brick house, which I thought was a mansion. I drive by there now and am amazed at how small it seems. That night he had pulled the navy blue Dodge Dart he was driving at the time beside the carport. I always got really worried when he tried to do something drunk. He had to, just had to get the car fixed, to go visit Parker. Parker was the local bootlegger. One of the local bootleggers. Lauderdale County was dry. Traveling to Pulaski was really not an option, considering the not so reliable car Daddy had. I could see out the kitchen door as he stood under the hood messing with the breather on the top of the engine. He took it off and was pouring gas into the carburetor. The next thing I knew flames were coming from under the hood of the car. Forget there being an easy way to put the fire out. There was not a water hose hooked up. It was before fire extinguishers were standard in homes. Dirt was the answer at that moment. I saw the fire and him getting sand from the pile that was left in front of the house from the building back of Grandmothers house. The fire was finally put out, but the car was in need of more repairs than before he started.

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