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Post by Toby Benoit on Mar 27, 2006 11:40:00 GMT 12.75
;D ;D ;DYou little sweetie! ;D ;D ;D
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Post by Brikatw on Mar 27, 2006 14:04:01 GMT 12.75
My Dad had a system for short folks to sit at the table. He'd go out and pick out a log that was big enough for the little butt to fit then cut it to length. Of course after dinner the log was also handy for the fire. The "kids" table was usually a piece of plywood on a couple of saw horses. For some reason, the kids usually out numbered the adults around Mom and Dad's house. ;D
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Post by OLKoot on Mar 27, 2006 15:27:16 GMT 12.75
Well being born and raised in the big city, did not give me the opportunity to enjoy some of the simpler things in life that you folks have enjoyed.....Of course when I went to my grandmothers house, there were always things to get into, like the kick my grandfather used to make and hide under my grandmothers old foot driven sewing machine....The table, one half always had a bowl of fruit, while Anthe other half My grandmother spent the day cooking and baking and there was always the ever present smell of vanilla......... during the summer however, my grandfather used to take the whole family up to the farms in the Catskill mountains and we'd summer there....My father would come up on the weekends after work, but during the week, I was a little hell raiser....One year I was on this farm, and the farmer had this old mean watch dog....By the time I got thru with the dog, he was a real pussycat....by the way, I got into the chicken coup a couple of times, and the funniest thing happened....them old chickens stopped laying for awhile....The best was when I was in my crib, the crib had iron bars well the older folks couldn't figure out how I was able to pry the weld clean and got a bar out and I stood there swinging that thing for about an hour before anyone would come close to snatch it away.... After diner the old men that were on the farm would take me walking hoping to tire me out, or maybe to lose me in the woods? , but I always found some rut to crawl into usually made by the cars on the old muddy roads after a good rain and I would find a whole slew of salamanders which I would put in my pocket to bring back to the bungalow and scare the pants off everybody...In those years, once you got off the main road, that little rib in the middle of the old dirt road would just about tickle your behind while you rode.....I do remember going out into the woods with my grandmother in the farmers old station wagon looking for berries and rhubarb to pick.....that was fun because they always gave me my own little basket to pig out in , on the way home.....so while my grandmother would bake some rhubarb and other fruit pies, I would be in the pottay!!! because all the berries I ate were coming out the wrong way!!!!......Brian, good luck with the stretching......If it dont work , I got this old shoe horn that may help yah!!!.....
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Post by Two Tales on Mar 27, 2006 15:32:30 GMT 12.75
Brian,
ya wana talk about numbers..I have 11 (yup that's eleven-teen {OMG that's a real word}) brothers and sisters..one aunt has 10 kids another has 7 or 8 and we is all about the same ages..BTW Dad had 4 sisters and 5 brothers so when the really big feeds were to happen plywood, planks, saw horses, card tables and just about anything flat was turned into a place for the kids to eat..Grandma had a big table it would seat 19 adults with room..and there were usually that many or more to feed ;D ;D ;D I've eat in that kitchen, the parlor, front room, back room, pantry, bed room, closed in front porch, back stoop, standing up sitting down and out side...Thanksgiving dinner at Grandma Jackson's house was to say the least an experience...
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Post by Toby Benoit on Mar 28, 2006 7:43:10 GMT 12.75
I remember sometimes we'd have such a crowd around Granny's kitchen that she'd feed us in shifts.
Working men ate first, then the visiting men and ladies, and us kids would clean up whatever was left, and there was always plenty.
Desert was served to everyone together, and was usually eaten while standing up.
Mosly, though, like all of ya'll, we used sawhorses and lywood, card tables, and on more than one occasion, Daddy and grandaddy'd back the trucks up together and us kids'd set at the tailgates for tables.
Her table was as clean as any table ever could have been, but it was covered with a lifetime of scratches, dents, burns, and such. The old finish had long before been nothing but a memory and the wood had taken on different shades of coloring all around.
I asked her about it the other day and ger table was a Duncan Fife (sp?) that had been a wedding gift for her and my grandaddy back in 1947 from my grandaddy'd mom and dad. It's in storage along with most of her furniture that had to be put away when she could no longer live alone and had to move in with my folks.
She asked me if I wanted the old thing and after participating in this thread and having given thought to what those old family tables represented, I almost cried. I hugged her and thanked her, but no...I think I'll talk to my sister to see if she wants it. She has a family and that old hunk of oak is already broken in for family raising. It deserves to have a little more milk spilled on it, cobblers prepared on it, laughter shared around it, and tears shed over it. It would surely be a waste in my dining room.
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Post by brittonfaith on Mar 28, 2006 14:52:04 GMT 12.75
I suppose fine, well-built furniture is suppose to be actually used. You sure can't beat around this crappy modular stuff they sell now. But man! When you said it was a Duncan Phyfe my heart skipped a beat. Kinda the same way it did when I got an appraisal on the old wooden German alphabet/nursery rhyme blocks my brother and I, and countless other generations of my family, cut their teeth on! Just remind your sister if she ever has your grandmother's table restored, it's most likely mahogany. They didn't do a lot of oak work. You all are making me kind of sad though. When I was little the extended family still lived within a mile of each other. We gathered several times a week for meals. There were lots of meals with 30 or more folks eating in stair wells, garages, porches, or where ever we might find a spot to balance a plate while eating. Lots of porch/yard parties too. Nearly everyone sang or played some instrument, so we'd have a shindig at the drop of a hat. But over the years, everyone kind of went their own ways. Some left looking for a better job, while others left because of family quarrels. And of course many have gone on to their eternal home. By the early 80s we were down to just mom, dad, 2 brothers and myself at Thanksgiving & Christmas dinner. A few years later, it was just mom, dad, and 1 brother. As the older brother was in England, and I had married and moved off. In the quest for the almighty dollar, we just couldn't seem to find the time to come back home. Thank goodness we have a very pushy mom. And thank goodness we are all so intimidated by her that we will do anything she tells us to do. I guess she decided that it was time to bring the family unit together again and saw to it that she found jobs for us closer to her. Of course her ultimate goal was to be closer to the grand-babies! But it's worked. She's even accepted Mike's family into the fold. We've gone from 25+, down to 3, and back to 17. The closeness and comraderie isn't the same as before. It seems to more of a "forced" union of people, and we only get together for holidays and funerals. But, at least we're getting together again.
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Post by Brikatw on Mar 29, 2006 15:34:09 GMT 12.75
Sounds like one of those tables that has already been refinished Toby. It's got the best finish anything ever could get too. It's finished in love. Hopefully no-one ever covers that finish up. The throat stretching went pretty good today. I'm a little sore but nothing to cry about. The Doc says he wants me back in a couple of weeks for more stretching yet. I was closed up to the size of a pencil point, about 1/2 way between the pointy end and where the paint starts on the tapered end. He has me opened up to the size of someones middle finger now. That's about all I can remember, I think. Stilll got Happy drugs working. Miss Kathy can fill y'all in better than me. ;D
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Post by Toby Benoit on Mar 29, 2006 16:40:31 GMT 12.75
Hoorah for happy pills!!! ;D I hope you're not too terribly uncomfortable from the stretching. Hopefully you won't have to swallow any middle fingers, but it's nice to know you can if you have to. I this going to be a regular thing? Will it keep constricting? Eat more oysters. They go down nice and smooth and there's always some pretty decent benefits on the side too.
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Post by Paws on Mar 29, 2006 21:49:20 GMT 12.75
I suggest that we cut off a ten inch piece of of two inch PVC, schedule forty of course, and shove it down his throat to line his esophagus. That should give him a direct shot to the gullet without worrying about chewing or swallowing! Man, could he chug some suds! ;D
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Post by Two Tales on Mar 30, 2006 2:00:14 GMT 12.75
OK ya'll is it just me or does Brian seem to make more sense while taking them "happy pills" than when not ;D ;D ;D ;D Just kidding Bri Guy ;D glad that you are in good spirits and hopefully feeling better...
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Post by Two Tales on Mar 30, 2006 2:22:00 GMT 12.75
My sister has my mom's big table..pulled out the whole family could set down to eat as folks did back then...On it are some very neat and important milestone markings...the spot were the finish is nearly gone were my older sister learned how to paint her nails and spilled the nail polish remover..another were she cut up beets for her infamious "creamed beets" a spot at one end that has numerious dents were my younger brother's built thier first Pinewood Derby Cars..a small burned spot were I learned how to solder..a pluged hole were Dad accidently drilled through it...variuos scars that were caused by any number of thing set down in haste, like books, back packs, an occassional firearm, tools, pots pans and knives...As Brian said it's already refinished...with fifty some odd years of life..and that was just my family's touch..it was and old table when we got it...table was made by a local company back in the late 1700s...I know at one time it was owned by a Family whose Father was a Military Man and that it travled with the family when they moved from one base to another..just thinking how many prayers were said around it..how many kids learned to read and write sitting up against it's massive sides..how much home work was done...I'm sort of in awe of it right now...over 2 centuries of use...if it could tell stories...
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Post by brittonfaith on Mar 30, 2006 3:58:52 GMT 12.75
I suggest that we cut off a ten inch piece of of two inch PVC, schedule forty of course, and shove it down his throat to line his esophagus. That should give him a direct shot to the gullet without worrying about chewing or swallowing! Man, could he chug some suds! ;D Yep! That would work. Ya know, Lana and I were out shopping the other day and we found a pile of beer bongs marked down to $1 each. Maybe I should have picked one up for him. ;D I just stood there trying not to break out in tears and hilarious laughter as she asked "Mom, are these horse drenchers?" I kind of turned my back to her so she wouldn't see my big cheshire grin, "Uh...yeah dear" and proceeded to explained how to drench a horse. All the while thinking back to my riotous youth and parties which required one (if not more) bongs. I hope I didn't lead you on to think that my table hasn't been refinished with years of memories too. It certainly has. I think maybe the antique hound in me was coming out before. There are plenty of gouges and other love marks in our table as well. The old table is bowed real bad in the center from seeing numerous of hogs and deer thrown over her during butcherings. A big hunk is broken out of one side because I drug it outside for a yardsale table and as I tried to bring it back in the house, I pulled it apart at the center and she hit the porch. There's tons of knife marks from cutting noodles, cinnamon rolls, and meat over the years. One leg was clawed to death by grandma's big orange tomcat. And there are marks all over where different younguns took permanent marker to it. There's even a couple place where Rob was using it as a saw horse when he was learning to use the circular saw and wasn't checking what was under his boards and a nice yellow and blue overspray outline from where I decided to spray paint an old tack box two years ago. The nice shiny finish is long gone, but the memories remain of how much work went into getting it to look the way it does now.
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Post by Brikatw on Apr 3, 2006 8:23:58 GMT 12.75
Y'al missed a good sunday Dinner today. I wish y'all were here. Miss Kathy baked up some nice boneless/skinless chicken breasteses, sweet corn and rice pilaf. They were so nice and tender I got them done with nare any choking, and TALK about tasty....MY baby can cook and old skunk and make it come out good. ;D ;D ;D
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Post by Toby Benoit on Apr 3, 2006 9:55:26 GMT 12.75
So, just how does that skunk recipe go? Does Mis Kathy prefer to bake them whole or are they best in a gumbo? ;D
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Post by brittonfaith on Apr 3, 2006 10:16:28 GMT 12.75
Y'all uns will eat anything!! That sounds like a Southern Chinese dinner to me. But don't be a bringing me no pole kitty to fix up!! ;D
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Post by Paws on Apr 6, 2006 5:17:40 GMT 12.75
Well Miss Kathy, I finally found out why I have not heard from my seamstress shop. I went over to The Plains this morning to take out some Civil War uniform work and check on my little apron/bib for Addison's bear. The seamstress shop is now "All American Trophies and Sports" . They done went entirely out of business! The ladies there thought it was real funny One lady did give me a card of another lady who she says can do what I need done so I'm back to square one.
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Post by Brikatw on Apr 14, 2006 15:37:36 GMT 12.75
Miss Kathy may be getting her table back soon. The change in the weather is so good I have moved outdoors on the patio to paint and finish lures......
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Post by brittonfaith on Apr 16, 2006 5:37:49 GMT 12.75
Glad to hear you could take it outside and enjoy the nice weather! ;D
Spring is definitely here! Too muddy to do anything outside. The rains last night had water flowing over the porch (and I live on a hill top). Grass is tall enough to bale for hay. I think I'll have the men fence the yard in for the heifers. Can't hardly afford to mow this year. Mom's cheese house has had a booming business the past few weeks, both at the farm and at the Marietta farmer's market, since it's warmed up. She's got me baking bread, pies and cookies three days a week for the farm store. So my kitchen table is once again full of rising dough and cooling goodies. I wasn't too sure when she said she was going to add on a "sitting room" so visitors could grab a cup of coffee, play some cards, and get a slice of pie, but it has definitely worked in her favor. Now if I can keep this pace going through the summer and add on the baking and harvesting for two more farmer's markets, I'll have it made! Just hope the ol' legs don't give out like they did last year and the year before.
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Post by Toby Benoit on Apr 16, 2006 7:59:38 GMT 12.75
A table full of cookies, pies, and goodies eh Faith? Oooooh, what I'd give to sneak in the back door of your kitchen!
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Post by Two Tales on Apr 16, 2006 20:43:03 GMT 12.75
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