WHAT READERS SAY ON: "THOUGHTS ABOUT WRITING.....AND LIFE"

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TWO SCHOOL TEACHERS COMMENT
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My first thought after reading this tonight may be different than what you are discussing here, but I will share what I am thinking.

I have been blessed to be a permanent resident of Ruidoso, N.M. for the past 13 years. I am surrounded by God's beautiful creations here in this place----the slopes and peaks of Sierra Blanca viewed from my back deck, deer in my front yard, back yard, and sometimes in my driveway when I am coming or going. There are hummingbirds that visit my feeder all day long on my back deck, and elk and wild horses that roam the nearby areas.

All around are many different types of trees that bear needles and stay green all year around.  I must mention the gorgeous sunrises and sunsets above the mountain chain and the rivers, lakes, and small streams in all directions. I could go on and on listing the beautiful sights that we are afforded in this place!

BUT, so many times I take these things for granted and I don't "SEE" them as I should on an every day basis. I "edit them out," as you are saying. I should be thanking our Creator each and every day for these marvelous creations as I look at them through "new" eyes and ponder and wonder at their beauty.

I ask forgiveness for not taking time EVERY day to feast my eyes on the beautiful sights around me, and letting them soak into my memory as if it were the first time I had ever seen them.

Thank you for allowing me to express my thoughts. This topic has been on my mind for some time.  (By Judy Hughes)

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I agree with your thoughts on writing, as details are what ignite those pictures in our minds. That is why, to me, a movie based on a book is often a let-down. It was better in my mind's eye---reading the details and then weaving a tapestry created from those well-chosen words.  I believe that is why reading is sometimes more important than life. The stories and the words are so right. Day by day living is rarely like that.

What particularly amazes me are the writers who are very spare: for example Cormac McCarthy's "THE ROAD." It is written using the most brief of descriptions and yet that is the perfect language to carry the plot.

Of course the best example is Hemingway's style and especially "THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA." How can these writers still pack such a punch? It is proof of the elegance of simplicity but even more, it is finding those jewel-like lines, phrases, and exacting descriptions.

I really enjoyed all the guest writers and your 100th post too---"HEADING BACK HOME... TO POP'S PLACE!"  (By L.J.)

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BY MIL AND GUESTS
8/30/12

Sent from my iPad

"UGH---THOSE ICKY MANDUCA QUINQUEMACULATAS!"

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"HONEY, I FOUND ANOTHER ONE!"
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Life is too short for a person never to taste a good home-grown vine-ripened tomato! There is nothing like them---anyone will tell you!

Just admit it: how many times have you looked inside your $7.95 hamburger and just tossed aside the greenish tomato slice?

You have no doubt read my two tomato posts (still on Mil's Place) from last year. The story is that I ordered five (splendid) "Earth Boxes" circa 2004, filled them with soil, and planted two tomato vines per box. Watered daily in the little reservoir at the bottom, these vines will grow to seven feet tall and provide all the tomatoes you can eat---plus plenty of them for "good will" purposes.

The amazing thing is that we are still using the same soil as the first year. We just order the kits annually; these contain a little bag of dolomite and a bag of special tomato fertilizer.

Alas, however, as you know. life has its good news and bad news. Roses have their thorns. Life on this planet is loaded with its contrasts, otherwise how would we know when things were good? Our tomato plants get "those old MANDUCA QUINQUEMACULATAS!" (Or is it: "MANDUCAS QUINQUEMACULATA?") Yes, I know---a big mouthful---as big as a bite out of a juicy red garden tomato!

Actually that long scientific term above is the final product of the "ICKY" tomato worm at its maturity...a butterfly-looking moth!

The term, "icky" was coined by my lovely and sharp-eyed wife who can see these worms  (and they are HARD to see) like no one else! "Honey, there's another one!" Then she will point down into the maze of greenery in the middle of the tomato vine (reluctantly, as if something is about to reach out and nip off her index finger) and say---"there, there, THERE HE IS!!" Then she will quickly withdraw her finger and step back as if she has spotted a jumping tomato worm, which has zeroed in on her! What can I say? Women are just not fond of them!

That is my signal to grab him--- hard to do---he clings tenaciously to the vine---and I feel him wiggling inside my Kleenex. Okay, yes, I require a Kleenex...I don't like 'em either!

Usually we have only one or two worms but this year we have had four or five, all clever at hiding.

The wife, excited and unnerved by these "worm safaris," gets philosophical: “If they weren’t so ugly there would be a sort of fearsome beauty about them.” "Why did God create tomato worms?"  "The “ICK FACTOR” on a scale of one to ten---IS TWELVE!" "Do they have a right to life?"

Not if they fool around with my tomatoes!!

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BY MIL
8/27/12
Sent from my iPad

"FOR THE BEAUTY OF THE EARTH, FOR THE GLORY OF THE SKIES...."

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"Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, the whole earth is full of His glory."

 Isaiah 6:3

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The writer of this expressive hymn about the earth's beauty was Folliot S. Pierpoint, (1835-1917). This English-born professor wrote the hymn when he was twenty-nine years old; he was said to have been mesmerized by the beautiful surroundings of his English countryside. Though he published seven volumes of poetry, "For the Beauty of the Earth" is his most-remembered hymn.

Pierpoint was a graduate of Queens College, Cambridge University, and taught at various places much of his life until he left teaching and became a writer. Much of his writing was about nature, which he loved.

The hymn is most often used in church services with the tune "Dix," though another beautiful tune by John Rutter is very special and it’s  the one we have selected here for your listening. This hymn is used often at Thanksgiving services; it was sung in the 1994 Columbia Pictures movie, "Little Women."

Pierpoint's simple and heartfelt words are given here:

"For the beauty of the earth,

For the glory of the skies.

For the love which from our birth

Over and around us lies;

Christ our God to Thee we raise

This our hymn of grateful praise.

For the wonder of each hour

Of the day and of the night,

Hill and vale, and tree and flower,

Sun and moon, and stars of light;

Christ our God to Thee we raise

This our hymn of grateful praise.

For the joy of human love,

Brother, sister, parent, child,

Friends on earth, and friends above,

For all gentle thoughts and mild;

Christ our God to Thee we raise

This our hymn of grateful praise

For Thy church that evermore

Lifteth holy hands above,

Offering up on every shore

Her pure sacrifice of love;

Christ our God to Thee we raise

This our hymn of grateful praise.

Amen.

Two very fine choirs are presented below (see Access), both singing the Rutter tune. I encourage you to take time to listen to both---due to the pictures. Each selection has beautiful photos. Selection one has one of the most impressive children’s choirs you'll ever hear anywhere.

1. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHIfRLNYUGw&feature=youtube_gdata_player

2.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaMkj4_H8WM&feature=youtube_gdata_player

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BY MIL

8/25/12

Sent from my iPad

THOUGHTS ABOUT WRITING...AND LIFE

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WE "EDIT OUT" 90 % OF OUR SURROUNDINGS!
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A writer once said: "The reason I write is to CREATE something that never would have been otherwise...and to record things that would have been forever lost."

In a writing course I took, the teacher said a startling thing: "It is possible that most adults 'edit out' 90% of their surroundings as they go through life." This intrigued me. Does this mean that we are preoccupied? Does this bear out what we've always  heard---that we only use X percent of our mental facilities? He further made the  point: "This lost 90% is the writer's fodder!"

Maybe it is everybody's fodder. Is it: the sky, the clouds, the cool breeze, the swaying trees? Is it the birds, the flowers, the snails, the inviting grass, the drop of rain; or maybe a mother pushing a stroller, a baby's smile, a contrail high in the sky, the ice cream truck and its perennial "Turkey in the Straw?" It could be sunsets and lying on the lawn and losing oneself in the night sky!

Only each one of us can ponder and figure out if-and-what we are missing. Writing teachers suggest carrying a notebook around with you for a week or two and writing down every little thing you see, no matter how small; even note in the cafe when the waitress drops a napkin...anything you see that's a bit unusual...find out what you/we are missing.

Regular folks, as well as writers, should not miss the 90%.

John Donne's famous poem which begins: "No man is an island...," also says: "For I am involved in mankind."

This is why my guest writers are so special to me. Didn't you enjoy, on Mil's Place, Sue's warm memories of friendships dating all the way back 73 years to grade school?! Bob's "love of marbles," and the story of his "59 cent fishing lure" were priceless! The latest one is from Wylie; the story of five barns on his Clovis-area ranch, when he was a kid! Did you know that much about barns? Wylie told me that his parents "raised"---(I never heard of "reared" on a ranch) nine kids out there toward Grady, on that ranch! They needed those five barns!

Life is sometimes about all the little things... out there in the hundred percent.


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BY MIL
8/24/12








Sent from my iPad

"SIXTY CATS KEPT OUR FIVE BARNS CLEAR OF RATS!"

Guest post

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BY WYLIE DOUGHERTY
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BARNS #2
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At our ranch north of Clovis, we had several barns, each with a different function. When we moved back from Yeso to that ranch after WWII, the barns were over-run with rats, so Daddy solved the problem with a handful (eight) of cats; they in turn multiplied to about sixty cats, so no more rats. This made the barns useful again.

                                THE MILK BARN and the SADDLE HOUSE

On the north side of the corrals we had a Milk Barn where we milked our cows and suckled our feeder calves. Attached to this was our Saddle House where we kept our saddles, harnesses, and other tack. Also in there we had a DeLaval cream separator to separate the cream from the milk. The cream was a money crop, sold to Campbell Lockers in Clovis, except for the cream that Momma kept for cooking, and of course churning our butter! The skim milk was fed to the pigs, since we drank only whole milk. Milking by hand took place morning and night, before breakfast and before supper.

                                   THE CAKE HOUSE and the FEED BARN

On the other side of the corrals was the Cake House, where we stored cubed cake from El Rancho Milling. This we fed to the cows, calves, and horses. This cake supply was used especially in the winter to feed the cattle in the pastures, as well as the animals which we fed in the corrals and barns.

Near to the Milk Barn was a long Feed Barn where we stored bundles of feed and bales of hay, which was used to feed the stock when the grasses weren't adequate. One of my chores on Saturday night after "tom-catting" around in Clovis was to go out to El Rancho and pick up a load of cake---20 sacks (2000 pounds) to bring home. It had to be unloaded and stacked before I went to bed.

                                                THE GRANARY

The other barn, located a hundred yards from the Cake House was the Granary. It had six bins for grain storage, with a drive-through so trucks could go in and unload/load grains. We stored wheat or sorghum grains as needed. Some were for feed and some were seed for planting.

Each of our barns was substantially different in architecture. The  Milk Barn and Saddle House had a roof that sloped to the rear, while the cake House and Feed Barn each had a peaked roof which drained off both sides; the Granary was also peaked and shingled. All the other barns had corrugated metal roofs, which played music when it hailed!

                                       FAVORITE COZY BARN!

My favorite barn was the Saddle House, where I could sleep if I needed to, and did many times, like when we had a big rain and I couldn't get to the main house, 200 yards away. Rain and hail storms were not so noisy there, due to the shingled roof. I also slept in the Cake House all night several times; bed was sacks of El Rancho cattle cubes.

  Momma and Daddy raised nine children, counting me, out there on that ranch, so they needed those five barns!

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(Mil's Note: We appreciate Wylie's well-written account of barns (and life) on a Clovis-area ranch in the 40's and 50's. He is a member of Clovis High School, Class of '53.

His older brother, Noel, was a member of my Class of '51. We don't often remember when we first met people, but I well remember meeting Noel in Ms. Evan's Junior High Geometry class, first day of school, 1946. He had his lunch in a bucket or pail, and I learned he was a "farm kid." We were desk-mates in that geometry class. He was a nice, friendly, congenial, non-pretentious, kid.  We were friends all the way through to graduation, and then our paths parted. I remember Noel fondly.

Thank you, Wylie for writing about your experiences.

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By MIL and WYLIE  DOUGHERTY
8/23/12





Sent from my iPad

MY OWN GRANARY ON LA CASITA PLAYGROUND!!

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"BARNS" # 1
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You will think this is the tallest tale that you've ever read yet on Mil's Place! Yet it is true- every word---as well as I can remember anything that happened sixty-seven years ago! I once had a granary right out there on the La Casita School playground, just through the gate and to the right---about where we did the Maypoles every year. The story sounds strange but it happened! Actually, I was only part owner; it was mostly my Dad's. Well, okay, it was really ALL  Dad's. Better story, though, if we play like it was mine---you know: MY  school, MY playground, MY friends....MY granary!

It all went down like this. Dad had managed and operated the Magic Steam Laundry, down on W. Grand from 1938 through WWII. He had done it with not one single day off, sick or well. Nobody else could safely operate the steam boiler. He was it. Wanting a change, he bought a piece of land near Ranchvale and planned to take up wheat farming. This required equipment and seed to plant. He needed  a place to store seed, so he ordered a granary built by someone. I didn't know who.

About that time some carpenters came onto the school grounds to do some building project on the school itself. I never knew what they were doing.There was lumber lying around for that work, and then one day a big batch of lumber was  trucked in and stacked out there on the east end of the playground, near the school but across the dividing fence, close to the Maypole place. Why out there, away from anything? Maybe they needed a surface harder than concrete---the playground! (LOL)

Their purpose soon became evident. A shed of about 22X15 began to take shape. Built of pine, it had a slanted tin roof. It had a regular door and a little door up toward the roof, kind of like a window. It looked to me sort of  like what a granary might look like.

I mentioned it to Dad and he said: "That IS OUR granary! They apparently decided for some reason to have their crew build it there." I proudly told a lot of kids that it was MY GRANARY, though a little of that goes a long way with kids! (I think they were jealous!)

One day the finished granary was there, and the next it was gone...through what big fence opening I never figured out. The next time I saw my granary, it was painted BARN RED and sitting proudly at our farm. It held seed for many wheat crops over many years, and many people were fed. If it is still there, it is sixty-seven years old, and likely needs a paint job.

At any rate, if it means anything, I can say I'm probably the only little kid attending La Casita
School that ever had his very own private granary out there on that HARD playground! For a little while anyway! There are probably not many folks living in this world today that remember that incident.

(For a teen-ager, it was not what you would call a "happy" granary, for to fill it with wheat, you had to drive a big wheat truck right next to it,  then under that high door/window and in the hot summer, shovel 10,000 lbs. of wheat in big heavy scoop shovels---over your shoulder and through the window!)

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BY MIL
8/23/12

Sent from my iPad

O-O-OH! BOB SOLD HIS FISHING LURE!

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THAT FIFTY-NINE CENT LURE FROM MONTGOMERY WARD
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(Mil's Note: Here's a new tale from "Country Boy Bob," presented with pleasure.)

As a young boy I was crazy about fishing. I really don't know why---my Dad did not fish and I didn't have the opportunity to go fishing and I didn't have any equipment. I remember the first rod that I bought---it was one of those solid steel rods---stiff as a board but it did have those nice little red glass guides.

I remember poking around at Montgomery Ward, down on Main street, when I was about eleven or twelve years old, looking at their fishing lures. They had a variety of lures but there was one that caught my eye. It was a bass lure, top-water plug and it was designed to imitate a bird which had fallen into the water. After much thought, I purchased that lure. I am not sure but I think the price was fifty-nine cents! It was a big decision because my family did not have a lot of money and I earned my money mowing lawns with a push mower for 50 and 75 cents a yard.

Now here I was with a bass lure and not a chance to go fishing. Of course I placed it in a box and later a tackle box and for about 57 years I toted that lure around and never used it---not one single time. When I was about seventy years old and doing a little buying and selling online, I decided to list that lure at auction on EBay

I wrote it up and it was listed as: "never used, purchased about 1947, very unusual top-water plug, no name on it but it was rare, in that it had real bird feathers tied and glued to the brown painted all-wood body." As I remember, I put an opening bid price of $4.95 on it.

It was a seven-day auction and by the fifth or sixth day the bid had gone up to $20-$25.  I knew that fishing lures were doing pretty good on EBay but most of the high price ones were old wood Heddons or South Bends. I waited with anticipation; toward the end the bidding became a FRENZY! I was floored! That fifty-nine cent lure sold for-------$92.00!!! I was astonished. I was pleased.

I enjoyed it but there again---- I had just sold a piece of my legacy for $92.00!
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About "Country Boy" Bob, he is a  successful businessman, retired, who then dabbled just for fun in buying and selling "Junque" as a hobby. (I think he enjoyed it!) Thanks Bob, for your stories!
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BY BOB SNIPES and MIL
8/21/12
Sent from my iPad