Mike I was the oldest of seven and we grew up very poor in material things but very rich in the things that counted most. We had a mom and dad who loved us and sacrificed much to raise us to adulthood. We always had enough to eat, a roof over our heads and a warm house in the winter because my dad cut the firewood for the heater.

I can remember when we first got electricity and I was in high school before we ever had an inside bathroom and running water. We carried all our water from a big spring that the water came out in such force it bubbled up. We had to move when Interstate 75 came through and if you're ever traveling down I/75 and you come to the Lenoir City exit you will pass over where we lived.

My dad worked construction during the day and farmed after he got home so we always had a big garden in the summer, that my mom would can food for winter from and a cow for milk and butter and chickens for eggs and fried chicken for Sunday dinner and hogs to kill in the fall for sausage and country cured hams. I can remember breaking green beans into a wash tub and my mom would can them in half gallon jars and I can remember getting up at the crack of dawn to go to the berry field to pick blackberries and dewberries for jam, jelly and canning for pies in the winter. It was a hard life but it was all we knew.

My dad had his own recipe for curing the hams. I don't know what happended to the wooden box he made to use for curing the hams. It was in the smoke house when my mom died and we had to clean everything out so we could sell the house. I'm sure someone in the family has it though. Not sure exactly what he used but I do know he used brown sugar and salt and black pepper and he would put a layer of this mixture and then a couple of hams and then cover them with it and then two more hams and they were also covered with the salt/sugar mixture. The wooden box would only hold four hams. The hams were the best I've ever eaten and I've never eaten any that could compare. They were very moist and not overly salty like the ones you buy.

My dad also raised tobacco and I remember going to the barn and helping tie it into what they called "hands" and the process was actually called "handing off tobacco." I loved doing this and would sit at the grading table all day and tie it up as my dad took each stalk of cured tobacco and pulled each leaf off that he would then lay in the divided tray for each grade. Unless you've ever seen this done, you probably won't understand what I trying to tell you. He was eventually able to buy a small farm of his own after most of us kids were grown and on our own. We had a hard life in a lot of ways but it also taught us to be self reliant and work hard, since that was all we had ever known.

Anyway, I was fortunate to be able to work in a Yale lock plant for over 37 years until I had to take early retirement, after I developed chronic asthma, but those 37 years gave me a company retirement which with my Social Security, plus my share of the sale of my parents little farm, makes my financial situation better than a lot of peoples. I am blessed and I realize that. I have so much to be thankful for. Do I have everything in life I want? Not by a long shot but for now I have enough and for that I am thankful.

Know what I was thinkng Mike as I read your story? It would have been wonderful if you could have had your own restaurant since cooking was something you knew how to do and was probably good at, but then we can all look back and see things we should have done differently. I know there is much I would do differently but going back in time is not a choice we have.

I pray that somehow things will get better for you and Shirley, just keep the faith.

I hope you have a wonderful week. :)

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I retired at 63 because the job that I had at the time was in a fast food restaurant. As I was a cook by trade most of my jobs were in the restaurant business. Unfortunetely, restaurants would rather give more hours to Spanish speaking people who cannot speak English that well rather than American Born citizens. Why? If a person from outside the U.S. work in the U.S., they are tax exempt. When a citizen receives his or her paycheck, taxes are taken out and the remainder is what you get paid. Also, the same amount of taxes that are taken out of your paycheck is also taken out of your Employers paycheck. Therefore, if your employer hires more illegals than American born citizens he or she is saving the company money. Toward the end of my employment I was working an average of ten to twelve hours a week compared to those that were tax exempt and working between thirty to forty hours a week. I could not afford to put gas in my car to go back and forth to work. I did not want to retire early, but I was forced to. When my first retirement check came in, my last paycheck did as well. Twenty-four hours for two weeks. As Shirley was receiving a Disability check it was decided that I made too much (even though that was my last paycheck) Shirley's disability check went to zero. For the next four months we had to try to survive on $500.00 a month. I would love to get a part time job to suplement my income, but if I do, we will go through the same thing all over again. I do not begrudge those that are tax exempt because if I were able to have that opportunity I would take it in a second. I love Shirley and will take care of her any way I can, therefore, if we receive food that has bad spots on it, I will cut those spots out first and cook the rest. Going back to the hamburgher. I ate mine first and had Shirley wait at least an hour before she ate hers. It is a shame that anyone has to live this way, but as long as American employers think about money first and the health of their citizens second or perhaps tenth, this is the way we have to live. We are not the only ones. There are thousands of American citizens that have worked their entire lives and are in the same position as we are. Many senior citizens can't even afford their medications even with Medicaid and Medicare.

GOD BLESS YOU
~Mike~

LOL Myrna, I didn't mean to write a book either when I started writing my reply to Mike. Things, as you say, just rolled out. LOL

Myrna maybe the blackeye peas are a southern tradition, I don't know but when you mentioned pork and sauerkraut and mashed potatoes, I just drooled. I love sauerkraut with mashed potatoes and with cornbread and I love pork too.

The recipe for cooking blackeyed peas is the same as you would cook pinto or great northern beans, you just boil until done, and the hog jowl was used as seasoning meat to cook them with. A lot of people slice and fry the hog jowl like bacon. Anyway I guess this is not going to be a good year for me since I didn't have the blackeyed peas and hog jowl on New Year's. :(

Looking back wasn't life on the farm great? I know it was a lot of hard work but I have fond memories too of all the good times. This was a time when family and friends had time to get together and visit and when everyone knew their neighbor and knew when they were in need and everyone pitched in to help. Not with money, because no one had very much money, but with time and sweat labor. This was also a much kinder, gentler time or so it seemed. Everybody looked after each other and now that we have all these time saving conveniences wonder why we have less time than ever before?

PS:Myrna one of the fondest memories I have of living on the farm was when the postman delivered the box of live baby chicks in the springtime that my mom had ordered. It's a wonder any of them lived because I can remember so well taking them out of the box and playing with them. After they were about half grown the roosters ended up as Sunday dinner and the females were used for laying eggs after they were fully grown.

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HI Evelyn,

OMG! I never heard of black eyed peas for New Years Day. Being from Pa I guess it is the Amish or maybe German background, but here it is Pork and Sauerkraut with mashed potatoes.

I don't remember ever eating black eyed peas. So what is the recipe.

Your way of life sounds a lot like mine. There were only 2 of us kids. My sister liked to work in the fields and I was the house kid. WE lived with my daddy's parents, they farmed together, and I was with my grandmother a lot of the time, I learned a lot from her. She was one that never measured, you know a dash of this, a handful of flour or 2, and sugar. My mother on the other hand measured almost everything. Well I am a mixture of both of them, sometimes an dash, sometime a cup, and sometimes I add a little more, to make a little more and I am amazed at times that things taste good. lol

I remember going to the outhouse, (dirty word) when I was small, until we moved to another farm after papa retired. We had a bathroom there, what a blessing that was.

We had beef, we were dairy farmer. I remember daddy killing one heifer for the years meat. The dog loved to play the heifer, they were so much fun to watch, it was like a show every night in the summer time, when I would sit on the front porch with grandmother and papa and watch them play. Let me tell you every time we had beef I could see that heifer eyes looking at me and I would just cry and cry, it was a few months but I finally did break down and eat the beef. It still makes me sad to think of that, but then you didn't just raise an animal for a pet it was you eat it or it worked for you.. I keep telling myself I am going to stop eating meat, but I am not satisfied without meat.

I never expected to tell all this when I started, it just popped out. lol

Blessings,

Myrna

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Hi friends, hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend. My brother sent me this video and when you watch it you will see there is still a lot of goodness in the world. This is beautiful. :)

Audience Helps Autistic Man Sing National Anthem

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"When this autistic man started having trouble singing the national anthem, something happened that could bring you to tears. What an amazing display of humanity. Thank God there is still goodness in the world."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYiDrpWslv8

Hi Mary Evelyn,
I thought that I would be prepared for it, but I wasn't. When the audience came in in strength I could feel the tears begin to roll down. I had to get away from the computer for awhile because I don't know if it is waterproof. This was Compassion one hundred fold. This shows that no matter how much may be wrong with our country, the People show why we are the greatest country on Earth. WE THE PEOPLE
GOD BLESS YOU
~Mike~

I agree Amanda, I have no idea why they always insist on a solo and then a lot of times whoever is singing will forget some of the words or butcher the song in some way.

Amanda you may remember I've posted this video before of Rhema Marvanne, but it is such a beautiful video I'm going to post it again. This little lady does a wonderful job of singing. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrCvMTGs2u8

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I enjoyed this video and it occurred to me, why the audience don't sing the anthem together with the leader like this where ever it is sung, this audience participation made more impression than some of the celebrity solo singers who feel it necessary to change the tempo etc of a wonderful anthem, IMHO.

This solo singer really relaxed and enjoyed himself with his backup choir.

Amanda

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Hi friends, hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend. My brother sent me this video and when you watch it you will see there is still a lot of goodness in the world. This is beautiful. :)

Audience Helps Autistic Man Sing National Anthem

Quote:
"When this autistic man started having trouble singing the national anthem, something happened that could bring you to tears. What an amazing display of humanity. Thank God there is still goodness in the world."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYiDrpWslv8

Hi Mary Evelyn,
I thought that I would be prepared for it, but I wasn't. When the audience came in in strength I could feel the tears begin to roll down. I had to get away from the computer for awhile because I don't know if it is waterproof. This was Compassion one hundred fold. This shows that no matter how much may be wrong with our country, the People show why we are the greatest country on Earth. WE THE PEOPLE
GOD BLESS YOU
~Mike~