PORK 'N BEAN MUSINGS....IN THE ATTIC

A cold norther has blown into town on this,

the second day after Christmas, and things 

being much quieter by far since the kids have

all gone home, I'm sitting up here in my cozy

attic, a little log in the woodstove, the wind 

whistling around the house, the old mulberry

branch slapping under the window, and I'm

studying my larder shelf of canned goodies!

I was cozied here, having coffee from an heirloom 

chrome percolator, vintage 1960's, and just

relaxing---taking a break from reading "The

Poetry of William Carlos Williams," my eyes 

settled on (why I do not know)--- a can of Van

Camp's Pork 'n Beans.

(Those of you who have kept up with my. attic

stories know that I have a  "knocked -together"

rustic raw wood pine shelf filled with Wolf's

chili, Hormel tamales, canned tuna, canned

salmon ((small cans---which I eat "raw")),

Vienna sausage, Dinty Moore Beef Stew, and

sardines in tomato sauce!) Plus SPAM.

The age-old question was nagging at my 

mind: "Where is the PORK...in those pork-

and beans?" You'd think Van Camps, with 

their excellent, amazing product would---of 

all companies---show the world---SOME 

PORK!

I know, I know---what you're going to say---

"Hey, haven't you seen that little tiny square 

white thing, amongst the beans? You dummy,

THAT is the pork!" "Doncha know?!"

All possible joking and levity aside, let's 

be serious.  "From time immemorial,"  as they 

love to say at weddings, pork 'n  beans seem

to have been with us.

Even before some West Texas highways were

paved, and when gas pumps were uprights;

and there were no McDonald's, and people 

didn't have the money anyway---filling stations 

all sold cheese, crackers, and pork 'n beans.

A self-respecting hunter of half a century ago

and earlier would not have been found in the

wild without his can(s) of beans, Vienna sausages,

an onion, and maybe some crumbled crackers

in his old kit bag.

Sometime later, a miracle occurred in the halls

of Van Camp Company. Some innovative young

outdoorsman invented (TA DUM, TA DUM !!!

DRUM ROLL) ---"BEANEE WEENEES!"

I hope they gave him a big fine office, a bonus,

and erected a statute to him, wherever Van

Camps is located.

For you see and know, (if you read much at all),

that most hikers, bird-watchers, hunters, and

outdoor people (check Creek Stewart)--- have

what they call "Bug-Out-Bags," These bags are

ready to go at all times, in case of emergencies.

Which we all hope will never come.

These bags are filled with a versatile Swiss Army

knife, a heavier survival sheath knife, a small

aluminum-looking space blanket, .22 ammo and

piece, Advil, a spoon, socks, Fruit-of-the-Looms,

parachute cord, waterproof matches, compass,

Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying," and canned foods.

Yes---pork 'n beans, Beanee Weenees, small

cans of fruit cocktail, peaches, and pears...

oh, oh, almost forgot the biggie---SPAM.

I am loving this quiet time often Christmas,

quiet---except for this marvelous storm 

blowing just outside my attic window, and

whistling through the vent crack...

I think I'll just open me a can of those Beanee

Weenees, up there in the shelf, and get a chunk

of cheese out of my Avanti former-office-fridge

and wash it all down with a big NEHI-GRAPE!

HAPPY NEW YEAR.

**************

By MIL

12/27/16

l

TRUFFLES

"TRUFFLES"

((I'd heard of "truffles" somewhere along the

way...and I guess, paying little attention to 

their mention, I thought "Well, I've never hunted

them...mostly it's been bob whites and blues and

once't some Gambel's and prairie chickens....

and of course---pheasants!"

"Guess they are like grouse, ptarmigans, and other

Alaska birds..."truffles..." Hmm, I'll look into it!))

                       TRUFFLES

I'm a simple boy from the cotton country

of that Great Place! West Texas!

They can cook down there and know how

to cure unbelievably-good bacon and sausage.

Their "main sauce," you French, is BUTTER---

except some old-timers like sage on their corn

bread dressing at Thanksgiving.

We left there when I was four and moved to NM,

just ten miles from Texas. Clovis---a fine town!

The first really big joys in life that I remember, were 

the five cent candy bars, mostly made of 

chocolate:

Hersheys, Snickers, Baby Ruths,  O Henrys,

Milky Ways, Black Cow suckers, Bit O' Honeys,

Best Pals, Mounds, Almond Joys, and 

Walnettos!

Somewhere, much later on, there came the

chocolate candies which came in boxes like 

Whitman's and collections too numerous and

expensive to name...

Chocolate covered cherries were unusual

and one always wondered how they put those

things together so nicely....but they were messy

when bitten-into!

Now one day, a dear friend of me and BE, sent

us each a fancy little box with a two-word

French name...and it had "truffles" written on

it. There were two big ones in the box.

Ah, truffles are candy!

They were almost as big as golf balls, I thought.

You bit into one and ate and ate the creamy

chocolate filling (and it didn't "run") which was

"decadent," as they love to say it! I mean---these

were  big---compared to some I ate later---which

were much smaller.

BE and I finally found out where to buy these big

ones, but the gift-lady did not remember the

name of the truffles!

We will head out to Model Pharmacy, almost to

downtown, and see about a BIG BOX FULL...and

they may run $2.00 each, per truffle---who knows?

No prob---we are not going to Branson and 

spending the big bucks.

Also, Model is known far and wide to the-lunch-

crowd for its great sandwiches!

***************

BY MIL

9/17/16

AND THE REST OF THE STORY.....12/26/16

Sit down, my dear reader for this one!  Christmas gift 

opening occurred at our house two days ago.  But 

before that...

My son was here and had to make a long run downtown,

was passing the Model Pharmacy, and had heard of my

desire for some REAL, GENUINE truffles!

He stopped, went in, and bought me a DOZEN!  They are

made by Le Grand.  The lady at the counter will load you

a box of two, four, or six.  A very attractive real chocolatier

box!

Yes, two boxes he gave me!  Hand packed.  Choice of 

truffles from counter:  $3.50 each.

Mil

PLAYING "GOOBER TOWN" IN THE SNOW

By Richard Drake, guest writer

It did not snow often in Clovis when we were growing

up.

The annual football game with The Portales Rams 

was always played on Thanksgiving Day....it was an

old tradition.

One Thanksgiving we had to play the Rams after a

big snow. The Clovis school system did its best to

remove the snow from Wildcat Field. They "cleared"

the field pretty good and a freeze followed...just 

enough to make a messy field.

There were ridges everywhere. I loved it! I had good

cleats and knew which direction I was going. Jerry 

Lott and Dwayne Perry were good with their passes.

It was a wonderful game, especially since we beat

"Goober Town" High School. The exact score is lost

somewhere in the mists of time!

They had found that their manager had a good passing

arm, and they put him in and threw a spread formation

at us. Their problem was that their guards and tackles

did not have enough speed to block our crashing ends!

It was not fair but we did not let up. The poor passer

barely survived.

Bob Snipes, CHS, had a good game as our fullback.

WHAT HAPPY MEMORIES!

*****************

FOR MIL'S PLACE

By Richard Drake, 

   "The Bard" of CHS '53

THE SCARY BASEBALL PITCHER FROM CHS '50

IN MEMORIUM, Cameron Mactavish 

                  1932-2016

   The Clovis "Boys of Summer"

*******************************

That spring afternoon in 1947, at the chicken

wire backstop at the corner of Reid and Tenth 

Streets, we were "old enough" and trying to 

play real hardball!

Art and Bob Snipes and I and one or two others

had gone to the old lake bed for wire and

2X4's; also houses galore were being built

all around the neighborhood at that time; they

in turn had lumber scrap piles, that somehow

got filled with long two-bys! Fair game for us 

kids...needing a ball diamond backstop!

Rule One: You couldn't be forever chasing 

missed balls and our "hind-catchers" were 

generally either "chicken" or inexperienced 

when it came to catching HOT pitchers---some 

of whom could throw mean curve balls and 

more terrible (to kids)---faster fastballs!

That is why I, at the tender age of thirteen found

myself flat on the ground by home plate...dirt in

my mouth...I had barely ducked, I thought, a

curve ball headed straight for my head...I mean

right at me..and for a curve it was moving!

This was my first real experience with real 

hard-ball, with real pitchers...for you see, there

were some guys in our class (and the Class of

'50) who were richly endowed athletically...and

THEY COULD "THOW!"

They had radar too, and if anything like a 

baseball field with backstop showed up in the 

NW quadrant of Clovis---they'd be there---

with real Clovis Pioneer baseballs---no friction-

tape-covered-balls for them..which were all we

had! (They were likely Bell Park shaggers.)

Cecil and Bruce Davis were two ('50 and '51)

CHS friends of ours who were very talented

pitchers.

Cameron Mactavish, CHS '50, was another. He

lived, I think, up in the WWII "Santa Fe Heights"

subdivision, north of us four or five blocks, at

Thornton and Fourteenth Streets.

Cameron, as he appeared to us younger guys,

was hard as nails..he was a tough wiry kid. He

wasn't the type to sit in the shade on a summer's

day, and shoot marbles, or tell ghost stories, or

play mumblety-peg---I mean that boy was all

business...and could he pitch!

In fact, it was his curve ball that had me flat on

the ground that day, in front of the backstop...

not fifteen feet from the intersection. 

Have you ever tried to hit a real pitcher throwing

those hard balls right at you? They say being a

"good batter" in baseball is the hardest single

feat in all sports. You must have no fear of the

ball and you need instant reflexes...quickness.

It was the day I realized that baseball was not my

sport, though I was a mean shortstop with good

hands. Batting was incredibly tough.

I don't remember much about Cameron in High

School---he was a year ahead and the boys of '51

had their own fish to fry. But I always admired him

as one of the toughest kids I knew...and he has

crossed my mind now and then, through the years.

Cameron Mactavish...Clovis High School 1950...

passed away last week. I just heard from Vernoy

Willis (CHS '50). He was one of us boys  that 

grew up in the finest of American towns...along

with us on the journey...and he is gone..

I remember him fondly, tho' we were not close

buddies. I don't know how his life turned out

but he was okay to us young "boys of summer."

"Therefore, never send to know for whom the 

bell tolls...it tolls for thee." ...John Donne, 1620

**************

MIL

10/04/16

"WE MOVED TO CLOVIS ON PEARL HARBOR SUNDAY"

WE MOVED TO CLOVIS ON PEARL HARBOR SUNDAY"

    By  Dr. Albin Covington

    CHS '51

"I reminder that fateful day well."

Our president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, on  December 8,

asked  a joint session of congress for a declaration of

war, speaking these famous words: "A day that shall live

in INFAMY..."

The horror of that day, in the surprise attack that killed over

2400 Americans, is indeed a day that we will never forget.

I was eight years old at that time. I had no idea what Japan 

was, nor where Pearl Harbor was. But I do remember that day!

We learned of Pearl Harbor over our car radio as we

drove from Sudan, Texas to live in our next home in Clovis,

New Mexico. We were residents of Sudan for only a short 

time as we made the change from Mertzon,Texas  to Clovis.

Dad has transferred to Clovis to work on the "bridge gang,

in that area for AT&SF.  He had finally found a house for us

to live in at our new town.

All eight of us had been living for a short time in a three-room

house, and now we moved into a nice house on Thornton 

Street. I had never seen indoor plumbing before. In fact, Mom

got all over me for standing in the bathroom flushing the 

commode over and over just to watch the water, as it swirled!

Our "new" abode had a basement and we five boys slept

down there and life was so much better!

But there was another--special thing--that I remember. I had

never remembered having a friend except for my three older

brothers and one younger one. (I didn't really think so at that

time, for Ross was always chasing me and hitting me.) Now

I think the world of my brothers.

But there is another person who befriended me. He lived 

down Thornton a ways toward school at La Casita.

It was Arthur Snipes. He befriended me. We used to walk

to school together. He was the first real friend I ever had

outside of my family.

****************

FOR MIL'S PLACE

by Dr, Albin Covington

CHS '51

THE SIX-HUNDRED-NINTH POST....LOOKING BACK

THE SIX HUNDREDTH POST... WAS PSALM 90...and 

   "O GOD, OUR HELP IN AGES PAST"

                          "My Writing Place"

That glorious day, December 26, 2010,  the day after I'd seen

that new -fangled "i-Pad" my daughter-in-law had received

for Christmas, and I had blurted out "I want one of those,"---

BE and my son, Alan, had braved the lines down at the Apple 

store, and came walking into the house and up to my chair

and handed me a sack with a nice white BOX in it!

It was my new iPad...and I named him "Henry" on the spot!

(My attitude toward computers, up to that time was a whole

"nother story" which I will not go into right now. Suffice it to

say I had a bad experience with early ones in my second 

career.)

I was really an ignoramus that December day about what 

one could find out on a computer. My first two searches 

were (tentative to say the least)---Central Park, in NYC,

and Westminster Abbey. I was very proud of myself

when they came up.

Late March 2011 came, and beautiful talented Donna

(later to be know as "B.E."--- "Beloved Editor,") said

one day: "You ought to be writing." (In my first career

I wrote a weekly piece.) "You write 'em and I'll put 'em

on!" She had great skills as a computer person.

"You'll put 'em on what?" I asked.

"We'll start you a blog." she said excitedly.

Now this is the truth. Being unlettered in computer

lingo, I said: "WHUT'S a BLOG?" (I like the concept of

plain old people writing but really think "blog" is an

unfortunate term, and I recoil every time I hear it.)

The first one went on my new MIL'S PLACE on March

31, 2011.  It was titled "The Tree of Freedom" and was

based on ideas from Thomas Jefferson. 

My mailing list was not lengthy at the time and a couple

of folks didn't cotton to Jefferson's premise and told 

me so. I almost ceased to write---with only one under 

my belt.  Then I realized that you have to write as best

you can and if someone doesn't agree, not to worry

about it.

Over the five, almost six years we have been posting 

MIL'S, one of the things I'm proudest of is the number

of writers who have  contributed stories and poems.

Some have authored quite a number of pieces and

other have offered. shorter comments and paragraphs..

At the risk of leaving someone out, I have tried. to

recall these writers.

Most of them are "kids" who attended Clovis Schools 

and  graduated from CHS. I have compiled a list of

fifteen or so, and their CHS classes were 1950, 1951,

1953, and 1957, as best I remember. Ned, who was

to become a famous football coach, attended La

Casita circa 1947.

Listed alphabetically they are: Ned Biddix, Levi Brake,

Bobbie Burnett, Albin Covington, Richard Drake, 

Wylie Dougherty, Sue Hale, Don Phillips  Art Snipes, 

Bobby Joe Snipes, Robert Stebbins, John Sieren,

Elizabeth Sieren,  Gene Walker, and Vernoy Willis.

All good writers, helping remember things that would 

have otherwise been lost from the history of our

lives and times. My deepest appreciation to all of you!

(There are several classmates that I have invited  and

encouraged to write, as yet to no avail. B.E. herself,

is an excellent writer, but as yet she is contented to

edit and post.  She is, in fact,  a most important

person, and I thank her immensely. For you see, I 

don't have the moxy to put these stories on.)

My first career was spent in almost twenty years as

a Gospel singer, and there are some twenty hymn

stories which appear on MIL'S. These are among the 

most-read of all, according to tallies, which we can

trace.

I was seventy-seven years old when we started MIL'S

PLACE on March 31, 2011. Have you ever scraped a 

watermelon with a table spoon, out on the farm, until

you were down to the rind?

That's how my mind felt a few times..."scraped out,"

A good feeling really, because it seemed to fill up

with fresh ideas.

Then I was inspired by the unforgettable poets Mary

Oliver, Robert Hass, and William Carlos Williams

and started writing poems.

Writing poetry turned out to be incredibly interesting

and satisfying, as well as fun . And it smooths out the 

wrinkles ...levels out the mind.

There is a stack of pieces,  maybe four feet tall, resting

and jelling in the corner of my writing place, awaiting

fine-tuning and publication. Ninety percent will likely

never make it---unless I should become famous and

every scrap should be searched out by the literati.

I have tried at every turn, to always extol our great 

hometown of Clovis, its wonderful people,

our beloved parents, the finest teachers in the world,

friends of our youth, love for the USA and patriotism,

and above all---our Creator and our blessed  Lord

and Savior.

All of life is a story...or a poem...waiting to be told.

And thanks so much to the kind readers who have

encouraged all us "writers!"

****************

THE SIX-HUNDRED-NINTH POST

BY MIL & B.E.

11-16-16