It has been a while, maybe two weeks since the last installment of my Redneck story.. So here goes Chapter 21... ..........I had enrolled for second semester and taken all my tests and now it was time to go to my new home in Westville for a couple weeks in mid January 1965. I had not done laundry that week to save money for gasoline, so I left Durant with a full tank of gas and $2 in my wallet. I was rich on that trip. I did not realize that the folks did not have a washer and dryer at home and had to take their own clothes up to Luther Simmons Laundromat on Williams street . I think dad made me pay for my laundry, as he said, they had sent money that week for that. There went my wealth.. The shortest route from Durant to Westville was U.S. 69 to Muskogee and then U.S. 62 to Westville. Highway 69 to Muskogee was an old 2 lane concrete road back then, so it was ka blump...ka blump all the way, as the tires hit those seams. My tires had adequate tread on them but they were recaps and I was afraid that the ka blumps might make the cap come off the tire, but it never did on mine . But there were West Texas Alligators laying by the side of the road most of the way.. What are they you ask ? That is what truckers used to call those caps that came off. They would warn each other on the CB radio to watch out for them...HI way 62 from Muskogee to Tahlequah was not much better, as it was concrete also. The hi way from Tahlequah to Westville was much smoother but is as crooked as a dogs hind leg as they say.. It was a pretty drive in Spring and Fall , but very dull and boring in mid January. I got to the ranch in late afternoon and Mom and Dad came out to greet me and inquire of my long journey. We chatted a while and then Mom had an early supper...You know their evening routine by now, so I wont bore you with that again.. Early to bed and early to rise. ............I guess you also know the morning routine at the Rose ranch by now also. I woke to the smell of breakfast and mom saying get up it was about ready. I never wanted to miss one of those, EVER.. Dad had already done the morning chores and was coming back in by the time I got out of the bathroom. After breakfast dad informed me, we needed to go to Tahlequah and get a slightly used Deep Freeze they had purchased at Berrys Furniture for $125. Seems they had bought a half of beef from a neighbor in Green Forest ,after I left for college, and had no freezer after the move to the ranch.. I forgot what they said happened to the one they had before the move. Any way, they had rented a locker from Kenneth Morris who owned a small grocery store, meat market and locker plant next door to the Laundromat in Westville. Dad said it was too much of a hassle to go to town and get meat each time he wanted a steak, so he had invested in freezer and we needed to go get... After all, they wanted $10 to deliver it to the ranch. Gas was cheap, he had a pick up and slave labor, as he always referred to kids and Grandkids who worked at his request. So we started for Tahlequah in his old gray 55 Chevy P.U. which wasnt much of a vehicle, but we made it there. Berrys used a dolly to load it and it seemed to be really heavy. I was already dreading unloading it back at the ranch without a dolly...But Dad backed right up to the back door ,which Mom held open and thank goodness they just wanted it in the little mud room right by the door. It was very heavy, but I was strong back then and I carried the compressor end and dad got the other and we put it right in place. I later bought it from them, when they moved to Stratford in 79 and I used it til about 2000 and it was still doing a great job. I traded it to Jim Bennet at Ace on a new one as I was afraid that ones age would catch up with it... It was a great purchase. ...........The next day, after the freezer had time to get cold again, we went up to Westville to get the meat and dad introduced me to Mr. Kenneth Morris , who not only owned the Locker plant, but was also our neighboring land owner to the north. He was also the producer-promoter of the rodeos in the area. He had a large string of bucking bulls and horses that he kept on the neighboring ranch. Dad and he would become life long friends, both being REAL cowboys.. Dad would help him wrangle the animals each time he took them off the ranch for a rodeo and he kept his large stock trailer parked in our field so it would always be handy to load. Kenneth was a WW II vet and a survivor of the Battle of The Bulge. He has long since retired and moved to town , but he is still with us and his mind is still sharp as a tack. He is one of the last true cowboys in our area, a nice man to boot.. We brought the meat home in laundry baskets wrapped in quilts, I dont think the folks ever owned an ice chest. Mom was really happy about having the meat be so handy again, she thought meals would be much easier to plan.. Then she proceeded to ask Dad when she could get an automatic washer and dryer, since she had sold her old Maytag wringer washer when we moved into the travel trailer in 1959. He told her he would have to get a new well drilled before she could have her automatic washer and that took money... He said the dryer would have to wait until he could get 220 volt electricity ran into the house and Ozarks Elec. had told him it would be summer before that happened, as they would need to put up a new pole and transformer.. .......The most lasting memory I have of this visit, is what came in the mail in the next couple of days. I did NOT know that SSC was going to mail my final grades to my parents before I saw them even. But they did..:-(...........I had passed all my finals, but in one class, that made no difference........Here are the grades that my Mom got out of the mailbox and read:...Hist. 223B ----C , Phy. Sci.---D , Orientation ---P , Hlth 102---B, Eng. 103---C, Math 133---F, P.E. 101---B.......Mr. Harkey had stuck with his Bell Curve and what should have been a D in any other class was an F in his... I had never made an F in my life...But I had now..... Tune in next week to see how I talk my way out of this with my dad and got to keep my car....
Posted on: Mon, 26 Jan 2015 03:53:23 +0000
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