We had about 82 acres until the big Corps of Engineers lake (Lake Hartwell) covered much of it up. What we had left was mostly woods, brushy rocks, and some upland pasture. The stark realization of not having bottom land caused my dad, POP, to look for other options. We moved to Barnesville, GA, where I attended the only accredited school in the whole county -- Gordon Military Academy. Not a lot of fun, but not too bad. We then moved to Anderson, SC where Pop ran a marina and was part owner. I worked the gas docks evenings after school and weekends.
Not a bad job for a high schooler. I even spent some time teaching the young ladies to water ski. Really, not a bad job. More later.............
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Not a cat in the hat
As a 12-year old boy with a younger brother (6 years younger), I ofter was burdened by being forced to have him tag along with me on my chores. besides being a pain in the patootie, he sometimes actually did provide some entertaining adventures. One evening at about dusk, we were on the way down to the lower pasture (see previous post) to get the cattle back up to the barn. This route took us from the little dirt road, an extremely generous complement to call it a road, to the upper pasture, then through some woods and across a creek to the lower pasture. The rutted path, previously described as a road, was barely wide enough to accommodate a tractor or narrow pick-up if you didn't mind getting the sides of both the vehicle and predominately yourself scratched by the bushes and tree limbs encroaching from the sides.
As we entered the wooded area between the two pastures, we thought we heard the low moaning sound of a big cat. In our minds, it was either a cougar, or a cave lion, or some other dangerous large carnivore. Hearing it again, closer than before, we became convinced that it was a Bobcat, probably rabid and entirely possibly agitated also. We didn't really want to deal with an agitated, rabid, large, drooling, mean, dangerous Bobcat, so thinking of a way to get us out of danger, I decided that I would push my baby brother up a tree and follow with the intent to get us safely 15-20 feet off the ground and out of danger.
After waiting for a few hours, or maybe 20-30 minutes and hearing no more cat sounds, we continued on our way to bring the cows up. After sharing our hair-raising story with Pop (my dad) and our uncles, we were not prepared for the ensuing laughter and teasing we were subjected to. Apparently, I didn't think about the fact that cats, in general, and Bobcats specifically are adept at tree-climbing.
Later, Dudes and Dudettes
As we entered the wooded area between the two pastures, we thought we heard the low moaning sound of a big cat. In our minds, it was either a cougar, or a cave lion, or some other dangerous large carnivore. Hearing it again, closer than before, we became convinced that it was a Bobcat, probably rabid and entirely possibly agitated also. We didn't really want to deal with an agitated, rabid, large, drooling, mean, dangerous Bobcat, so thinking of a way to get us out of danger, I decided that I would push my baby brother up a tree and follow with the intent to get us safely 15-20 feet off the ground and out of danger.
After waiting for a few hours, or maybe 20-30 minutes and hearing no more cat sounds, we continued on our way to bring the cows up. After sharing our hair-raising story with Pop (my dad) and our uncles, we were not prepared for the ensuing laughter and teasing we were subjected to. Apparently, I didn't think about the fact that cats, in general, and Bobcats specifically are adept at tree-climbing.
Later, Dudes and Dudettes
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
I Lied
I was just fooling about not posting another Blog!! I once had a dog named, "Bohunkus" and a Hereford Steer named "Kookie" after an actor on a TV show whose last name was "Burns." Actually that was my sister's steer's name, but don't tell her. We had sheep, cows, chickens, dogs, cats, doves, quail, rabbits, and other farm animals and related pests.
One of my jobs on the farm was to go down to the lower pasture and bring the animals back up to the barn for feeding time. That is for those times that they wouldn't come to the call of "Whooo, Cow, whoooo cow." Maybe the cows would come but the sheep never did -- not only because they were stubborn, but mostly because they knew they were not cows. Bohunkus (or Bo) would go with me most of the time and most of the time he would stay with me. Other times, he decided that he had more important things to do than help me out. Things like stop to lick parts of himself that we humans can't possibly reach. (Thar's why I never liked to have him lick my face, but laugh inwardly when he licked other people.)
Enough for now. More later -- maybe in a few years, months, days, hours, or minutes.
Me
One of my jobs on the farm was to go down to the lower pasture and bring the animals back up to the barn for feeding time. That is for those times that they wouldn't come to the call of "Whooo, Cow, whoooo cow." Maybe the cows would come but the sheep never did -- not only because they were stubborn, but mostly because they knew they were not cows. Bohunkus (or Bo) would go with me most of the time and most of the time he would stay with me. Other times, he decided that he had more important things to do than help me out. Things like stop to lick parts of himself that we humans can't possibly reach. (Thar's why I never liked to have him lick my face, but laugh inwardly when he licked other people.)
Enough for now. More later -- maybe in a few years, months, days, hours, or minutes.
Me
I Love Dirt
I am an ameteur blogger, so bear with me. Dirt, as in soil, especially garden soil, is one of my spare time pursuits. I have 6 raised bed gardens and a huge homemade compost pile. Two weeks ago I planted my first cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, spinach and lettuce.
Most years, I try to push the season too early and lose a few plants due to cold weather that is so umpredictable in March here in Oklahoma. Hopefully, none of the plants I put out already will be affected by this cold weather.
I have a huge compost pile that has been cooking each year for the past 3-4 years. It is predominately grass clippings and shredded oak leaves from the property. I have also put coffee grounds from Starbucks in it on some occassions. I turn it frequently and use the oldest first to incorporate into my raised beds.
Now, about me -- the name GaSavage comes from the fact that I was raised on a small farm in Georgia (GA) and loved to run naked through the woods and fields as a kid (savage.) I will not update my blog often since I have much work to do in the garden unless I get hundreds of posts in a very short time.
I am a retired school superintendent, father, grandfather, husband, son-in-law, brother-in-law, and several other names which can't be repeated here.
Later,
GaSavage
Most years, I try to push the season too early and lose a few plants due to cold weather that is so umpredictable in March here in Oklahoma. Hopefully, none of the plants I put out already will be affected by this cold weather.
I have a huge compost pile that has been cooking each year for the past 3-4 years. It is predominately grass clippings and shredded oak leaves from the property. I have also put coffee grounds from Starbucks in it on some occassions. I turn it frequently and use the oldest first to incorporate into my raised beds.
Now, about me -- the name GaSavage comes from the fact that I was raised on a small farm in Georgia (GA) and loved to run naked through the woods and fields as a kid (savage.) I will not update my blog often since I have much work to do in the garden unless I get hundreds of posts in a very short time.
I am a retired school superintendent, father, grandfather, husband, son-in-law, brother-in-law, and several other names which can't be repeated here.
Later,
GaSavage
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