The weather did not cooperate again today. What started off as rain soon developed into thick fog. This made for another day that had to be spent indoors. Well...determined to accomplish something, I started cleaning the kitchen. The shelf that held the electric coffee grinder was first on my list! I scooped up the grinder with intentions of moving it to the kitchen table...not so smart. I had no idea that the whole top would lift off! Not that this should be a problem except..well, it was a problem! Never having used this particular grinder before, I did not know that there was a huge hole in the bottom of that top piece and that Mark had left about two cups of unground beans inside! Needless to say, the floor was the next thing to be cleaned! Coffee beans were everywhere! Michael was just outside the kitchen window trying to outsmart a squirrel that was intent on chewing its way inside. He heard the clatter and poked his head in the door.."What was that? Ummmm...nothing...nothing at all! He stared at the polka-dot floor and snickered..."Making coffee?" Hmmph! I like that! As he helped me clean up the mess, I griped about the grinder. Why in the world do we need an electric grinder anyway? It makes far too much noise, uses electricity and spills beans! I think that is a waste! I pointed to the cast iron contraption hanging on the wall and said.."Now, THERE is a coffee grinder! That is my favorite coffee grinder!" He looked where I was pointing and then down at the jar where he was poking all of the stray coffee beans. Shrugging his shoulders, he simply said "Might as well." Into the iron receptacle he poured the all of the dirty beans. Placing a bowl beneath the slot on the bottom, he started turning the old hand crank. CRUNK..CRUNK..CRUNK! The old coffee grinder jumped into action! The beans were pulled down between the gears and were ground beautifully! Ha! That thing had not been used for some thirty years but still produced perfectly ground coffee! Wow! The kitchen smelled wonderful...something else that the electric grinder can not do! While he was grinding the beans, Michael noticed something about the old grinder. "Well, you were right..that is your "Favorite" coffee grinder." He pointed to the embossed name of the grinder..sure enough it was "Favorite No. 7"! Oh, so right! Whoever named this years ago had the right idea! This old thing beats all the new-fangled contraptions of today!
As Michael turned the old hand crank, I started telling him about his Papa grinding the morning's coffee. Each morning about five, he would pour the beans in the little cup and started turning that crank. He would hold a tin cup under the slot and catch the grounds as they spilled out. That cranking would echo through the house waking any and all who were still abed. It was as if the old coffee grinder was saying, "Wake up, Sleepyheads! None of had better complain either! If we were not up when he started that grinding, we sure had better not whine when it woke us! Later, the smell of that freshly ground coffee being brewed on the stove made the early rising all worthwhile! There was nothing better! Those who did get up were treated to a small cup of the piping hot brew and a bowl of cornmeal mush! Not that I was particularly fond of the mush but if it meant I had coffee...I ate mush! Most of the time, it was just Pop and me sitting at the table at that early in the morning. The others gladly forewent the mush and coffee for an extra hour of sleep. Me? I enjoyed time with Pop! After breakfast, he and I would stroll the fields or if I was lucky, we would head out fishing! Yep..memories...coffee grinder alarm clocks...cornmeal mush..fishing with Pop..amazing what a bunch of spilled coffee beans will evoke! CRUNK...CRUNK...CRUNK! Turn that crank, smell that coffee.....umm-ummm! Taste that coffee! (No, Michael and I did not brew those ground up but dirty coffee beans! I think I will feed one of my plants with them.)
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