Once Upon a Time I Fed a Deer a Hotdog...Make that Two Hotdogs

I fed a deer a hotdog. Actually I fed her 2 hotdogs - one with chili and one with chili and slaw. Of course I hesitated before I did it because:

1. I was afraid that it would hurt her

2. deer don't eat meat (WRONG !)

3. they were my last 2 hotdogs from Mecca and I wouldn't be going back to Logan for awhile.

I went to the park because it was my last tank of free gas and I have a lifetime of happy memories at that park. I was driving around when I saw the deer and I went by because I didn't want to disturb her. As I was driving past her again I decided to pull over because I know the deer in Chief Logan State Park are quite tame. It was obvious that me pulling over did not bother her in the least, so I rolled down my window.

She started sniffing the air immediately and made her way to my car. I looked around for something to feed her but the only thing I had were my last 2 Mecca hotdogs. It was obvious that she wanted something to eat so I pinched off the end of one of the buns and reached out to her. She took it right out of my hand. I unwrapped the rest of the hotdog and held it out. She grabbed it and wolfed it down. I figured the damage was done so I gave her the last slaw dog. It was quite comical to see her scarf it down like some man inhaling his food after the big game. She wanted more but that's all I had, so I sat and watched her graze for awhile and I left for home.

My Black Stallion

When I was a girl to say I was a bookworm would be an understatement. I made it my mission in life to read a book a day. A goal that I accomplished frequently. Of all the books I read (some of them over and over) my absolute favorites were the Black Stallion Series by Walter Farley. Later in the series there was even a book called The Black Stallion and the Girl. Her name was Pam and she had long blonde hair. She actually rode the Black and I just knew that the book was written for me.

I spent many days reading in the formosa tree in the churchyard next door. It was my own private fairyland. Even better was the apple tree - but the neighbors cut it down.

I saved all my books into adulthood, but when we decided to move to Florida I had a yardsale and I sold many of them. ( I regret selling those books to this day) I had all my Black Stallion books in the same box and I heard a little girl excitedly calling her mom over when she saw them. She was in tears (of happiness) as she poured over each book in the box. It was obvious that she loved the Black Stallion as much as I did. She looked like a child on Christmas morning.

I knew her mom and I knew she couldn't afford those books even at yardsale prices. I was drawn to the little girl and we sat down and talked - ignoring everybody at the yardsale. She loved that horse as much as I did and when I showed her the Black Stallion and the Girl she thought it was the ultimate that the girls name was Pam too. When we finished talking I handed her the whole box of books. The gift took her breath and she told me her mommy couldn't afford those books.

I told her that I didn't want money that she had given me a gift that nobody else could give me. My books were going to be loved by someone as much as I had loved them. I told her that the only thing I wanted from her was that if she ever decided she didn't want the books anymore to pass them on to some other little girl. She assurred me that would never happen and I knew she was telling me the truth. I have never regreted what happenned to those books.

The Old People Come into the Pharmacy...

and they tell me, "honey, don't get old."

I always tell them, "it sure beats the alternative."

I called 911 - AGAIN

I was returning to my apartment and I heard a noise behind me just as I was going through the door. I turned to see a man with his head sticking around the corner at the other end of the hall. I did not recognize him so I went on in and locked my door and looked out my peephole. It looked like he was bent over but he was still around the corner and I couldn't see him that well.

There are drunks living in both apartments at the other end of the hall and I thought it was just another drunk trying to visit one of them. I could hear moaning through my door and I didn't know what in the world was going on - I thought it sounded like the man was in extreme pain but I didn't know so I called the police because I wanted to leave my apartment to go downstairs and I was afraid to leave.

They responded within 10 minutes.

I saw a policeman go down the hall and look back toward my door. He went around the corner and I didn't see or hear anything else for awhile so I thought maybe they had left. I went downstairs to watch tv and there were 2 police cars there. Soon after I settled in the tv room an ambulance arrived.

Shortly thereafter the police came down. I introduced myself and told them I was the one who called and asked if they needed to see me. They said no. Then the police and paramedics brought JT out. He is a resident of the building and he is a nice man. He has been very sick lately.

I asked if he was OK and they told me they thought he was having a diabetic episode or something and they were taking him to the hospital. He looked like death warmed over. I hope he is OK. They said he was really confused which made sense because he lives in an apartment a few floors down exactly underneath where I had seen him. Apparently he was on the wrong floor and didn't realize what was wrong.

I wish I would have recognized him because I would have helped him without involving the police. I hope he understands. I hope he is well.

"Don't Shit On My Time!"

I was working for my dad as an office manager. I went to him and told him I needed to go buy a case of toilet paper. "A Case!" he yelled, "they shouldn't be shitting on my time anyway!" Then he chomped his cigar and gave me the money to go buy the toilet paper.

I used to give the guys haircuts on my lunchbreak. They would line up and I would do $5 haircuts. I had a friend who would come over and do my haircuts. One day the guys bought a bag of my hair in. They told me they had taken it out of Curtis' van. Curtis was a street person who we paid to clean up in the evenings and he slept in his van on the parking lot. Apparently he had fallen in love with my hair and pulled it out of the trash. I don't even want to think about what he was doing with it. I threatened his job if I EVER caught him with my hair again!

I Found a Horse

When I lived on my hundred acres I was on the phone to my partner one day and I looked out the window to see a horse. Not only was a stunned to see a free horse standing outside my window I was absolutely astounded to see that it was a male horse in full bloom shall we say. I started to laugh and Fisher wanted to know what in the world was so funny. He almost died when I told him that I now understood what the phrase "hung like a horse" meant. He laughed because he had more experience with horses than I did and he knew exactly what I was referring to.

I got off the phone and found some carrots in my fridge and when out to investigate this godsend. I cautiously walked up to the horse because I have heard some nasty stories about stallions but he was quite happy to see me. As he started to munch the carrots I looked him over from head to toe. He was a nice looking horse and his coloring was very pretty. It looked like he had dipped about 3/4 of his face in a paint bucket the way he was colored.

I saw some nasty, infected looking scars on his legs which looked like barb wire scars to me so I got worried about him because I had seen what those cuts can do to an animal. I hurriedly built a make due pen on the front of my house (I was a whiz at fence building in those days). I then led the horse to the pen and put him in it.

Satisfied that he was safe and that he wouldn't be going out toward my greyhound field and driving them nuts I set out to find the proper owner. There was a horse supply place about a mile down the road so I went there. I went in and asked the old man if somebody had mentioned losing a horse. He hadn't but he told me about a man who lived close to me that it might belong to. He cauioned me to make the man describe the horse to me if he said it was his because somebody would just claim the horse and take it.

I told him about the cuts and he sold me the proper medicine to put on them. I stopped by the farm he told me to go to but no one was home so I went home and doctored the horse. About the time I finished a car drove up and a man got out. He said, "I hear you found a horse that might be mine.

oops...gotta go

I Wanna Horse

When I was a girl my dream was to have a horse. That is how I got into greyhounds, it was a matter of access. I had the chance to do the dogs and I knew I would probably never be around horses.

I actually did have a horse the summer of my sixth grade. He was a red Morgan Horse. He was stunning. My dad bought him for me and we boarded him at a friend's stable. He sold him at the end of the summer though. My parents said that he wasn't being properly cared for which at the time I didn't understand, but looking back on some of the things that I saw at the stable I realize now that they were right. It still broke my heart when they sold him. (I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT I CAN'T REMEMBER THAT HORSES NAME!)

They would take us up to ride mostly on weekends. Cy had some extra horses, so my brother and sister got to ride too. But I always got to ride my horse. I didn't have to share. We used to take him sugar cubes and carrots and I thought it was a big deal to feed my red horse "Red Horse" tobacco. (although I wonder about the wisdom of that last one now) One time we went up to the stable and Cy said he had been trying to catch my horse all day. (His pen was practically the whole side of the mountain) I walked out and my horse came right to me. That is the day I learned I have a special gift with horses (and most animals). They will come to me when they will go to no one else - even animals that don't know me.

Me and Billy and Rhonda would ride in the riding pen only. We weren't experienced enough to go outside of it. I remember Billy fell off one day and Buck (his favorite horse) almost trampled his head in the process. They always put my sister on the pony. He was a stubborn sucker that wouldn't hardly move. I really don't think she had much fun. Anyway that was the summer of my horse.

The Egg Riots were Worse than the Milk Riots

When food goes out of date at Fruth they give it to me to give away in the building. About a month ago I had 15 gallons of milk to give away. I pulled up to the building and hollered at the old, geezers smoking in the swing and asked if anybody wanted some milk. They swarmed my truck. The arguements started because some people wanted whole milk instead of skim milk. A couple of stingy piggy ones wanted more than one gallon. The fact that it was free never entered their minds. I had to rein them in. So went the milk riot.!

A couple of weeks ago they called me from Fruth and told me they had 75 dozen eggs to give away. I told a couple of friends to let people know and I went over to Fruth to get the eggs. When I came back there was a crowd of people waiting. Once again I had to firmly let 4 different people know they could only have one dozen eggs. I was giving them to everybody...not just a select few. I even had to take a dozen out of one lady's hands.

If some of these people would show that much enthusiasm about getting a job then they wouldn't need free milk and eggs. I do it though because there are many people in the building who are helpless and I like to help them. When it comes to refrigerated stuff though I just have to give it to whomever is around because I don't have a place to store it.

I'm Celebrating

I am officially allowed to get in the fountain. My official excuse is maintenance. Everybody is going to be chewing nails, jealous of me! hehe

I tried to join the Navy once

When I was 19 I went into the recruiters office and I took the necessary admission tests. After the tests were over the recruiter called me over to his desk and told me that I had the highest admission scores that he had ever seen. I thought this was unusual because even though I always had scored very high in academic tests. I had also always scored low in the nonverbal tests which is what mostly comprised these tests.

He talked to me for awhile about the benefits of joining the Navy and all of a sudden out of nowhere this old coot came at me with his lips puckered and his arms outstretched. All I could see was grey hair and wrinkles coming at me! I was completely surprised by this and dove out the door like a scared rabbit! I could not believe that such a thing had happened. (I was a very innocent 19)

I went home and told my mom and she promptly called the recruiter's office and reported him. The next day his commanding officer called me and told me that the recruiter had been removed from his duties. He said he had been demoted one full rank with a corresponding reduction in pay and that he had been required to tell his wife what happened. (I don't know how they could enforce that last one.) He hoped that the officers behaviour would not deter me from joining the Navy.

I did not join, but the reason that I did not join is that back in those days they wouldn't let a woman fly jets. So sexism was still the reason that I did not join!

I have heard of various scandals involving the military and sexual harrassment. I have to say that in my case it was handled swiftly and severely.

I almost drowned once ...

I was 5 years old and I went out with my dad to catch crawdads. We were at Bluestone Lake in WV. The last thing my mom told me before we left was not to get my pajamas wet which wasn't a problem since we were wading. I followed my dad holding a plastic bowl and he had a net that he was catching crawdads in. When he would catch them he would put them in my bowl. We were going to use them to go fishing.

We were on our way back to the camp and we were almost at the bank and the next thing I know I was under water. I was not scared. I remember watching the crawdads float around me as they left the bowl I was carrying. I had no idea that I was in any danger. I was just floating in the water. I did not know how to swim and I didn't even realized that I needed to swim!

The next thing I know my dad is carrying me to the bank and my mom is screaming and going crazy and she grabs me and starts hugging me and checking me over. I thought I was in trouble because I got my pajamas wet! I had no idea what had just happenned to me.

It turns out that she was the one who saw me go under. My dad had been leading the way because he was taking me around the deeper pools of water. I just took one wrong step and went under my mom said. My dad turned to me when my mom started screaming and he had to reach down in the water and he pulled me out by my foot. I was very lucky!

We never went back to Bluestone Lake again. I have heard that alot of people have drowned in that area. After that we were never allowed near water without a life jacket - except for supervised swimming pools of course.