Monday, March 31, 2014
Life in a Coal Camp - damnpamn's Blog - Blogster
Life in a Coal Camp - damnpamn's Blog - Blogster
House My Great Grandmother Brennan Bought.
This is a condensed version of a family history written by my great uncle, Gerald Brennan.
We
arrived in Logan County, West Virginia in the fall of 1934. After
moving in with relatives we got our own coal company house in a coal
camp called Hatfield Bottom. It only had 2 bedrooms but mom and dad
turned the living room into a 3rd. bedroom. Mom, Dad and I (as a small
child) slept together in the bed in the living room: Marg and Kat (my
sisters) had bedroom number 1. Frank and Bill (or which ever brother
who may have been home) had bedroom 2. Nobody ever talked about the
chamber pot which sat between the bedrooms in the hall at the top of the
stairs, but it was a character-building reality.
In the late
1930's and 40's Dad had steady work in the No. 15 mine at Stirrat and
the Littles Creek Mine (No. 19). Never good enough to afford a family
car though. We had an outdoor toilet, no running water initially nor
electric refrigeration. We depended on the "ice man". Carrying water
from the community pump was a chore, but there was lots of socializing
and courting as adults and children met at the well to do water duties.
Later we did get running water in the early 1940's and bought a second
hand refrigerator from a black man who lived in the camp. They brought
the refrigerator from his house to ours on a big wooden sled pulled by a
mule.
Our Hatfield Bottom neighbors, both black and white, were
like family. By the late 1940's 2 of my brothers and Marg had 3 of the
houses around us. Elaine's sister, Avanelle, had a house also (Elaine
is my grandma, she married Gerald's Brother, Bill). It was truely the
Brennan Coal Camp. There were 20 duplexes (40 families) in the camp.
The
late 40's were heady times for me in the old coal camp. Family affairs
were big entertainment. The big milk cow that J.P. kept meant
awkwardness and hilarity as he and Opal tried to care for it and milk
it. They wanted me to drink the fresh cow milk, but it was sickening.
Bill raised hogs for a season in a pen across the creek from his house
at the upper end of the coal camp. I'll never forget the fiasco when he
tried to herd them across the creek for butchering - shouting men and
screaming pigs, trying to hold the pigs still so they could shoot them
between the eyes. It was a ridiculous scene, but it was great fun for
the kids watching and even participating by building the big fires,
scalding and scraping and butchering the hogs.
There were plenty
of kids my age to play with and we played from dawn to dark everyday of
the year. The older kids and sometimes even the adults joined us in
ball games, hide and seek, 50-more, and foot racing. We had our tram
road around 900 hill for sleigh riding in the winter, our powder house
holler for building swimming holes, a field at the upper end of the camp
for cowboys and Indians and army battles, a flat at the lower end of
the camp for baseball and football and hills all around for building
forts, playing Robin Hood and hunting and exploring adventures. Berry
picking, killing snakes and holing groundhogs were big activities.
We
did things we were ashamed of too. Drowning cats in the creek, putting
them down in the toilet hole alive and conducting funerals over the
poor animals we dispatched. Some things we did, it is a wonder we
survived ourselves like swimming in the 40-foot water tower, bursting
.22 rifle shells between rocks and jumping on moving railroad cars.
Although
dad had steady work in the mines, mom kept boarders to help make ends
meet. Dad was a pumper at the mines (a highly skilled job) and if the
mines were open he was needed. Mom sold dresses and candy and delivered
the Grit newspaper to help with the budget. She made quilts and sewed
feedsack dresses for herself and Marg and Kat. Mom squirreled money
away for rainy days and her frugal ways resulted in her being able to
purchase a house for the princely sum of 300 dollars when dad's health
failed and he could no longer work. (Black Lung). That little house was
in Switzer, where she lived until her death in 1982 and is still in the
family today.
BL, Wallace, Vina, Frank, Marg, FL, Joe L and Kathleen
Crystal Block Coal and Coke Company
Omar, WV
Picture: Rossmore tipple mine supply house, bath house and engine going to load 1930's
Logan County, West Virginia
All
the pictures are places within 5 miles of where my uncle is talking
about in his narrative. They are from the 1930's as well.
House My Great Grandmother Brennan Bought.This is a condensed version of a family history written by my great uncle, Gerald Brennan.
We
arrived in Logan County, West Virginia in the fall of 1934. After
moving in with relatives we got our own coal company house in a coal
camp called Hatfield Bottom. It only had 2 bedrooms but mom and dad
turned the living room into a 3rd. bedroom. Mom, Dad and I (as a small
child) slept together in the bed in the living room: Marg and Kat (my
sisters) had bedroom number 1. Frank and Bill (or which ever brother
who may have been home) had bedroom 2. Nobody ever talked about the
chamber pot which sat between the bedrooms in the hall at the top of the
stairs, but it was a character-building reality.
In the late
1930's and 40's Dad had steady work in the No. 15 mine at Stirrat and
the Littles Creek Mine (No. 19). Never good enough to afford a family
car though. We had an outdoor toilet, no running water initially nor
electric refrigeration. We depended on the "ice man". Carrying water
from the community pump was a chore, but there was lots of socializing
and courting as adults and children met at the well to do water duties.
Later we did get running water in the early 1940's and bought a second
hand refrigerator from a black man who lived in the camp. They brought
the refrigerator from his house to ours on a big wooden sled pulled by a
mule.
Our Hatfield Bottom neighbors, both black and white, were
like family. By the late 1940's 2 of my brothers and Marg had 3 of the
houses around us. Elaine's sister, Avanelle, had a house also (Elaine
is my grandma, she married Gerald's Brother, Bill). It was truely the
Brennan Coal Camp. There were 20 duplexes (40 families) in the camp.
The
late 40's were heady times for me in the old coal camp. Family affairs
were big entertainment. The big milk cow that J.P. kept meant
awkwardness and hilarity as he and Opal tried to care for it and milk
it. They wanted me to drink the fresh cow milk, but it was sickening.
Bill raised hogs for a season in a pen across the creek from his house
at the upper end of the coal camp. I'll never forget the fiasco when he
tried to herd them across the creek for butchering - shouting men and
screaming pigs, trying to hold the pigs still so they could shoot them
between the eyes. It was a ridiculous scene, but it was great fun for
the kids watching and even participating by building the big fires,
scalding and scraping and butchering the hogs.
There were plenty
of kids my age to play with and we played from dawn to dark everyday of
the year. The older kids and sometimes even the adults joined us in
ball games, hide and seek, 50-more, and foot racing. We had our tram
road around 900 hill for sleigh riding in the winter, our powder house
holler for building swimming holes, a field at the upper end of the camp
for cowboys and Indians and army battles, a flat at the lower end of
the camp for baseball and football and hills all around for building
forts, playing Robin Hood and hunting and exploring adventures. Berry
picking, killing snakes and holing groundhogs were big activities.
We
did things we were ashamed of too. Drowning cats in the creek, putting
them down in the toilet hole alive and conducting funerals over the
poor animals we dispatched. Some things we did, it is a wonder we
survived ourselves like swimming in the 40-foot water tower, bursting
.22 rifle shells between rocks and jumping on moving railroad cars.
Although
dad had steady work in the mines, mom kept boarders to help make ends
meet. Dad was a pumper at the mines (a highly skilled job) and if the
mines were open he was needed. Mom sold dresses and candy and delivered
the Grit newspaper to help with the budget. She made quilts and sewed
feedsack dresses for herself and Marg and Kat. Mom squirreled money
away for rainy days and her frugal ways resulted in her being able to
purchase a house for the princely sum of 300 dollars when dad's health
failed and he could no longer work. (Black Lung). That little house was
in Switzer, where she lived until her death in 1982 and is still in the
family today.
BL, Wallace, Vina, Frank, Marg, FL, Joe L and Kathleen
Crystal Block Coal and Coke Company
Omar, WV
Picture: Rossmore tipple mine supply house, bath house and engine going to load 1930's
Logan County, West Virginia
All
the pictures are places within 5 miles of where my uncle is talking
about in his narrative. They are from the 1930's as well.
Have you ever cracked a bad egg? - damnpamn's Blog - Blogster
Have you ever cracked a bad egg? - damnpamn's Blog - Blogster
Any good cook will tell you
to crack your eggs into a bowl before you put them in your food in case
you crack open a bad egg. Have you ever cracked open a bad egg? I have
cracked thousands of eggs and I have cracked exactly 2 bad ones. One,
the yolk was completely black and I had thrown it in a pan of fried
potatoes. I spooned out about a quarter pan of the food and kept on
cooking. The other one was truly disgusting. It had part of a well
formed chicken embryo in there. I got so sick I threw the whole pan of
food away. Anyway that is 2 out of thousands so I really don't see a
need to crack them into a bowl before using them.
to crack your eggs into a bowl before you put them in your food in case
you crack open a bad egg. Have you ever cracked open a bad egg? I have
cracked thousands of eggs and I have cracked exactly 2 bad ones. One,
the yolk was completely black and I had thrown it in a pan of fried
potatoes. I spooned out about a quarter pan of the food and kept on
cooking. The other one was truly disgusting. It had part of a well
formed chicken embryo in there. I got so sick I threw the whole pan of
food away. Anyway that is 2 out of thousands so I really don't see a
need to crack them into a bowl before using them.
The Customer is NOT always right - damnpamn's Blog - Blogster
The Customer is NOT always right - damnpamn's Blog - Blogster
was working the TA Fuel desk on the midnight shift. I actually
preferred the shift. I was my own boss pretty much. For the most part
the truckers were great guys to work with. In fact most of the problems
came from local people. Without a doubt though, one of my worst
customers was a female trucker that came through at about 4 in the
morning one night.
The truckers would get free showers with fill
ups or something along those lines (I can't remember the details
anymore). You would give them a coupon and they had 30 days to use the
coupon at any TA across the country. It is a very popular program with
truckers.
Anyway she came in. She was not buying diesel but she
did have a coupon. I put the coupon in the machine and it was denied.
Apparently it had expired at midnight. It was all computerized. There
was nothing I could do. Even the locks on the bathroom doors were
unlocked by those computers. So I could not have sneaked her in even if
I had wanted to...and she was so hateful I wouldn't have wanted to
anyway.
She threw one hell of a fit.
Finally I had enough of it and I told her off. (one of the perks of my job is that my boss did not expect me to take any crap!)
She
stood there flabbergasted for a minute that a petty clerk would speak
to her that way and then she went off again. She told me she was going
to report me to the company. She added that it would not be the first
time that she had cost someone their job.
That's when I really
went off on her. I said, "So you are telling me that you act like this
at truckstops all over the country and then you cost people their jobs
after you throw your tantrums!" He mouth flopped open again. I told
her to go ahead and report me. I said, "I have 3 jobs. This one pays
the least of any of them. I could care less if you report me." I also
let her know how pitiful she was to cost people their jobs by making
unreasonable demands on them that they could do nothing about.
Then
I kicked her out of the store. I told her if she wanted anything she
would have to wait for the next shift to come in about 3 hours. If she
ever reported me I never heard anything about it. I like to think that I
embarrassed her so bad that she slinked off to the next truckstop and
acted a little better.
was working the TA Fuel desk on the midnight shift. I actually
preferred the shift. I was my own boss pretty much. For the most part
the truckers were great guys to work with. In fact most of the problems
came from local people. Without a doubt though, one of my worst
customers was a female trucker that came through at about 4 in the
morning one night.
The truckers would get free showers with fill
ups or something along those lines (I can't remember the details
anymore). You would give them a coupon and they had 30 days to use the
coupon at any TA across the country. It is a very popular program with
truckers.
Anyway she came in. She was not buying diesel but she
did have a coupon. I put the coupon in the machine and it was denied.
Apparently it had expired at midnight. It was all computerized. There
was nothing I could do. Even the locks on the bathroom doors were
unlocked by those computers. So I could not have sneaked her in even if
I had wanted to...and she was so hateful I wouldn't have wanted to
anyway.
She threw one hell of a fit.
Finally I had enough of it and I told her off. (one of the perks of my job is that my boss did not expect me to take any crap!)
She
stood there flabbergasted for a minute that a petty clerk would speak
to her that way and then she went off again. She told me she was going
to report me to the company. She added that it would not be the first
time that she had cost someone their job.
That's when I really
went off on her. I said, "So you are telling me that you act like this
at truckstops all over the country and then you cost people their jobs
after you throw your tantrums!" He mouth flopped open again. I told
her to go ahead and report me. I said, "I have 3 jobs. This one pays
the least of any of them. I could care less if you report me." I also
let her know how pitiful she was to cost people their jobs by making
unreasonable demands on them that they could do nothing about.
Then
I kicked her out of the store. I told her if she wanted anything she
would have to wait for the next shift to come in about 3 hours. If she
ever reported me I never heard anything about it. I like to think that I
embarrassed her so bad that she slinked off to the next truckstop and
acted a little better.
Friday, March 28, 2014
I CAIN'T GET NO SATISFACTION! - damnpamn's Blog - Blogster
I CAIN'T GET NO SATISFACTION! - damnpamn's Blog - Blogster
I was so furious. I took the chair out to the dumpster and I picked it
up and slammed it on the ground so it would splatter into smithereens
just like a rock star destroying a guitar and what happens....
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!
Apparently
I'm not strong enough to throw a good, old fashioned temper tantrum
anymore. I slammed that chair on the ground a couple of more times and
still it held up under the pressure. I was so tired I had to sit in the
stupid thing a couple of minutes to rest.
WHY WAS I SO MAD?
I
made a trade with a woman in the building. I gave her a pretty little
breakfast set that I adored. In return she gave me a broken down table
(different from the one she showed me in her apartment), 2 dining room
chairs that she had upholstered herself and matched my couch, and an
ottoman that matched the dining room chairs.
The guys came and
took my breakfast set to her apartment and came back with my stuff and I
couldn't believe what I saw. She had stripped off the unholstery on the
2 chairs and to add insult to injury she had left the material on the
ottoman. So now I had a cute, little ottoman and 2 god awful looking
chairs that had no backing or seat on them - just a dried up gluey mess!
When
I had looked at the chairs she had asked me if I wanted her to take the
material off the chairs and I told her no. The material was the reason
I wanted the chairs. She told me how easy it was to upholster
something and I told her I had no interest in doing the upholstery
work. I had never done any and I didn't want to learn. She said okay
but she still ripped the stuff off the chairs anyway.
IF I HAD STILL HAD THE BREAKFAST SET IN MY APARTMENT I WOULD HAVE MADE THE GUYS TAKE HER STUFF BACK TO HER.
As
it was I was just stuck. So I decided to throw the chairs away.
Normally when we have furniture to give away we stick it on the loading
dock and whomever wants it takes it. I was so mad I wanted the
satisfaction of tearing the chairs all to hell so that is why I took the
chair out to the dumpster and started bashing it on the ground! It
took me about 20 tries for the leg of the chair to finally splinter off
before I have up my dream of smashing it to smithereens and threw it in
the dumpster.
I was so tired I had to rest at least 3 times while I
was doing it and that PISSED ME OFF EVEN MORE. Sometimes I hate my
failing body. I must have been one hell of a sight because the crazy
guy that talks to himself all the time and lives in his own little world
got a heck of a good laugh watching me!
I was so furious. I took the chair out to the dumpster and I picked it
up and slammed it on the ground so it would splatter into smithereens
just like a rock star destroying a guitar and what happens....
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!
Apparently
I'm not strong enough to throw a good, old fashioned temper tantrum
anymore. I slammed that chair on the ground a couple of more times and
still it held up under the pressure. I was so tired I had to sit in the
stupid thing a couple of minutes to rest.
WHY WAS I SO MAD?
I
made a trade with a woman in the building. I gave her a pretty little
breakfast set that I adored. In return she gave me a broken down table
(different from the one she showed me in her apartment), 2 dining room
chairs that she had upholstered herself and matched my couch, and an
ottoman that matched the dining room chairs.
The guys came and
took my breakfast set to her apartment and came back with my stuff and I
couldn't believe what I saw. She had stripped off the unholstery on the
2 chairs and to add insult to injury she had left the material on the
ottoman. So now I had a cute, little ottoman and 2 god awful looking
chairs that had no backing or seat on them - just a dried up gluey mess!
When
I had looked at the chairs she had asked me if I wanted her to take the
material off the chairs and I told her no. The material was the reason
I wanted the chairs. She told me how easy it was to upholster
something and I told her I had no interest in doing the upholstery
work. I had never done any and I didn't want to learn. She said okay
but she still ripped the stuff off the chairs anyway.
IF I HAD STILL HAD THE BREAKFAST SET IN MY APARTMENT I WOULD HAVE MADE THE GUYS TAKE HER STUFF BACK TO HER.
As
it was I was just stuck. So I decided to throw the chairs away.
Normally when we have furniture to give away we stick it on the loading
dock and whomever wants it takes it. I was so mad I wanted the
satisfaction of tearing the chairs all to hell so that is why I took the
chair out to the dumpster and started bashing it on the ground! It
took me about 20 tries for the leg of the chair to finally splinter off
before I have up my dream of smashing it to smithereens and threw it in
the dumpster.
I was so tired I had to rest at least 3 times while I
was doing it and that PISSED ME OFF EVEN MORE. Sometimes I hate my
failing body. I must have been one hell of a sight because the crazy
guy that talks to himself all the time and lives in his own little world
got a heck of a good laugh watching me!
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Riding the Dragon - damnpamn's Blog - Blogster
Riding the Dragon - damnpamn's Blog - Blogster
Once
upon a time there was a town in a valley. It was a sleepy, little town
and all the townspeople were happy. Life was good. It was good
because they knew how to appease the dragon. As long as the dragon was
happy then the townspeople were happy.
So, life was simple. Feed the dragon and it will leave you alone and you can go about your daily lives.
Everything
was going well and it had been so long since the people had seen the
dragon that they forgot he was there. So, one day they quit feeding
him. The dragon noticed the change but he had gotten fat and lazy
because he had been satisfied for so many years.
When the dragon
didn't get mad the first day then the people thought, "oh wow, we've
been working hard all these years and now we have stopped and nothing
bad has happened. We will just not worry about the dragon any longer."
Well
of course this didn't sit well with the mighty dragon and after a few
weeks when his shelves became bare he had to leave home. He was so
hungry he ate the first food he saw. He ate 2 people who were on their
way home from the park.
So the second day he came out and he saw a
zoo and he ate a giraffe and a hippopotamous and a monkey. Many people
saw them and they ran away afraid.
They were so scared they
didn't want to take any food to the dragon. So then the dragon had to
come out again and he was really hungry so he went to the mall. The
mall was full of food and he swooped down to get a big mouthful of
terrified shoppers but as he flew through the mall Kendall saw him and
took a flying leap and landed on his back!
Well this really made
him mad and he started to flutter and flap and bobble and blap but
Kendall held on for dear life. This gave all the shoppers a chance to
get away.
Since all the food disappeared and there was a strange
woman on the dragon's back he decided that he had to go home and try to
get the woman off his back. But Kendall held on. By the time the
dragon got home he was so tired from not having food and from having a
woman on his back that he went to sleep.
Kendall knew this was her
chance. So she went and got all his favorite foods so he wouldn't have
to find any people to eat. The dragon had bananas and limes and
pudding and cheeseburgers. There were piles and piles of cheeseburgers.
The
dragon was so happy when he woke up that he gave Kendall a free ride on
his back. Kendall had so much fun that she promised to give the dragon
cheeseburgers and bananas everyday. The people were happy that the
dragon was happy so they made sure to send the food everyday.
Then they lived happily ever after in their sleepy, little town because Kendall was a hero.
(written for my 8 year old niece, Kendall)
Once
upon a time there was a town in a valley. It was a sleepy, little town
and all the townspeople were happy. Life was good. It was good
because they knew how to appease the dragon. As long as the dragon was
happy then the townspeople were happy.
So, life was simple. Feed the dragon and it will leave you alone and you can go about your daily lives.
Everything
was going well and it had been so long since the people had seen the
dragon that they forgot he was there. So, one day they quit feeding
him. The dragon noticed the change but he had gotten fat and lazy
because he had been satisfied for so many years.
When the dragon
didn't get mad the first day then the people thought, "oh wow, we've
been working hard all these years and now we have stopped and nothing
bad has happened. We will just not worry about the dragon any longer."
Well
of course this didn't sit well with the mighty dragon and after a few
weeks when his shelves became bare he had to leave home. He was so
hungry he ate the first food he saw. He ate 2 people who were on their
way home from the park.
So the second day he came out and he saw a
zoo and he ate a giraffe and a hippopotamous and a monkey. Many people
saw them and they ran away afraid.
They were so scared they
didn't want to take any food to the dragon. So then the dragon had to
come out again and he was really hungry so he went to the mall. The
mall was full of food and he swooped down to get a big mouthful of
terrified shoppers but as he flew through the mall Kendall saw him and
took a flying leap and landed on his back!
Well this really made
him mad and he started to flutter and flap and bobble and blap but
Kendall held on for dear life. This gave all the shoppers a chance to
get away.
Since all the food disappeared and there was a strange
woman on the dragon's back he decided that he had to go home and try to
get the woman off his back. But Kendall held on. By the time the
dragon got home he was so tired from not having food and from having a
woman on his back that he went to sleep.
Kendall knew this was her
chance. So she went and got all his favorite foods so he wouldn't have
to find any people to eat. The dragon had bananas and limes and
pudding and cheeseburgers. There were piles and piles of cheeseburgers.
The
dragon was so happy when he woke up that he gave Kendall a free ride on
his back. Kendall had so much fun that she promised to give the dragon
cheeseburgers and bananas everyday. The people were happy that the
dragon was happy so they made sure to send the food everyday.
Then they lived happily ever after in their sleepy, little town because Kendall was a hero.
(written for my 8 year old niece, Kendall)
I come from good stock - damnpamn's Blog - Blogster
I come from good stock - damnpamn's Blog - Blogster
This is my great aunt Sally Farley Williamson. She has a gun slung over her shoulder.
This is her brother, my
pepaw, Deputy Floyd Farley. He is wearing his badge and his gun is
slung across his lap. He is going into the hills to hunt moonshiners.
pepaw, Deputy Floyd Farley. He is wearing his badge and his gun is
slung across his lap. He is going into the hills to hunt moonshiners.
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