About mid afternoon, another ruckus could be heard out in the yard. This one, however, was not nearly as exciting as the one sent up by the eagles. Dozens of crows were circling above the house and each one felt the need to caw incessantly. As I sat watching, more and more crows gathered. The birds flew about the place making their noise for a good hour before finally drifting off toward the east. While I normally am ok with a crow or two hanging about the place, I was not too thrilled to see this many. Thoughts of "Good riddance!" fluttered through the mind as the crows left the area but. at the same time. a silly memory bounced in there, too.
Back on the farm, Pop grew a lot of corn. He always had his fields planted long before others thought the weather was warm enough. The corn was necessary as food, a saleable crop and as food for the livestock. Acre after acre was planted and cared for during late February and early March. Then another crop was put in during midsummer. This was one of the most important crops that the small farm produced since it fed so many. The first harvesting was sold and also supplied our needs at the present time. From this harvesting, we also prepared for the winter months. Hundreds of ears were husked and frozen for later. After the freezers were full, the remainder of the corn was allowed to dry on the stalk. Once dried, we would harvest truckloads of the ears and store them for feed for the livestock. Out of these dried ears, Pop would always save the largest, fullest ears to be used as seed for the next year. It was one of my jobs to hand shell the kernels (from the cobs), inspect the seeds for varmints such as weevils and then store them in tight containers. Corn, indeed, was an important crop.
With this early planting, came the threat of crows pulling up the tiny plants to get to the seed underground. When a flock the size of the one today would enter the fields, they could ruin the entire crop in a matter of a few hours. The birds would methodically bob up and down the straight rows pulling the tiny plants. The seed was plucked from the end and the plant laid to the wayside. Pop was always listening for the crows and often had to dash to the field with his shotgun to scare them away. Only occasionally would he actually kill a bird with those shots. It was not his intention to shoot them but to scare them from the fields. He was a firm believer that you did not kill anything that was not to be used as food.
I remember when I was a youngster in grade school, my teacher had put up decorations for fall/Halloween. One of those decorations was a nice sized scarecrow. This started my brain to thinking about why Pop had to shoot at the crows if he could just build a scarecrow. I was determined to help Pop with his duties on the farm! I would build a scarecrow so he did not have to race to the fields when he heard the crows cawing! What a dutiful daughter I was! I worked hard on my scarecrow and even convinced my brother to help me. He and I were cohorts in so many escapades as kids but this one was at least helpful...so we thought. With clothes from the clothesline, a few sticks from the woods and hay from the barn, we made quite the structure! When we proudly brought our scarecrow out to show everyone, it received a round of giggles from our older siblings, a scolding from Mom for using her clean laundry and a thoughtful "Well, we better not put that in the field since I may need those pants." Pop suggested that a better use would be as a decoration for the Halloween Carnival." Pop was always the head of the local school's PTA (Parent-Teacher Association) which hosted the best carnivals for all of the local kids! My brother and I were proud to drag that poor scarecrow to the school that weekend for the carnival, Pop was probably appreciative for the help (at least, I hope) and the crows were saved from dying by choking back giggles at the "terrifying scarecrow" in the fields. Yes, it was that pathetic.
Isn't it funny how a simple thing like a flock of birds can trigger a memory so lost in time? This was one of those occasions that laid hidden behind cobwebs in the dark recesses of my brain for some fifty years or so before being brought to light again. Maybe I should thank the crows for jogging thoughts of happy times!
It always happens just about this time of year. My brain starts telling me that I should be pulling out all of the Fall and Halloween decorations. I long to drape the stair rails with garlands of orange and red leaves and place pumpkins in every nook and cranny. My son always tells me that it is too early and squashes any hopes of the place being festive any time soon. His view is that one week of the decorations is enough. If I had my way, the Little Bayou House would be bedecked year round! Secretly, as soon as I finish refurbishing the craft room, I plan on pulling the decorations from the upstairs closet. At least I can get a "feel" for the upcoming holiday season! I mean, my goodness, why wait? There are too many pretties hiding in the closet! They should be showcased not hidden away in the dark depths of some creepy closet!
To further push my yearning for Fall decorations, Mother Nature splashed the edge of the woods with daisies! The bright yellow blooms brought back a flood of memories! When I was just a youngster, Pop always seemed to be in charge of the Halloween Carnival at the local elementary school. Since everything back in the day was a lot simpler, decorations for the event were made not bought. His budget for staging the huge, fun-filled carnival was about $50! Hundreds of kids made their way through the carnival playing games and getting prizes. The tickets were twenty for a $1 which made it highly affordable for most everyone. The PTA was the sponsor and always made a hefty profit off of the event. That money was immediately spent for the betterment of the school.
But back to those decorations! Months before the carnival, Pop would start getting prizes, food and equipment donated. Decorations were handmade. I can remember creating a lot of the decorations even as young as I was. Painting cardboard Jack-O-lanterns, folding orange and black crepe paper streamers and hand-stamping brown paper goody bags all needed the attention of the younger kids in the family. The older siblings were put to work sorting prizes and filling goody bags. The day before the actual carnival saw the whole family in action! Pop's booth was always the Balloon Burst! The object was to throw a dart at a board filled with balloons. (Yep, he used real darts with metal points.) If you popped one, you got a prize...with Pop, if you didn't hit one you got a prize! He thought every kid should be happy! We blew up all of those balloons! (Thank goodness for an air compressor!) Those several hundred, inflated balloons were awfully fun to tote to the school! Also on the day of the carnival, we headed out in the old Studebaker station wagon to pick any and all daisies we could find on the sides of the road. (Hence the name "Ditch Daisies"!) It never dawned on me back in the day but I am certain that more than a few folks thought we were crazy as the kids scrambled about in the ditches to pick armloads of the weeds! Back home, Mom would place these in paper covered buckets and they, too, were hauled to the school. Every classroom had daisies! The hallways had daisies! The cafeteria had daisies! It was gorgeous!
I am quite certain that none of this could ever be done today. If a carnival at all was to be held nowadays, it most likely would have to be a "Fall Carnival" to be "politically correct". The PTA (is there even any such organization today?) would have to set forth a huge budget to pay for the attractions, not to mention have to charge a huge admission to cover that budget. Those attractions would not consist of things like "Beanbag Toss", "Cake Walk", "Balloon Burst", "White Elephant Booth", "Fish Pond", "Fortune Teller's Booth" or most likely not even the "Basketball Throw". Nope, now they would be some strange inflatable or electronic games. Prizes would not be donated (sometimes broken) costume jewelry, old toys, pencils with company logos and baggies filled with homemade candy. The food would not be homemade treats such as popcorn balls, brownies or pies. Everything would have to be prepackaged, store-bought, sugary treats. Something is very wrong with this picture....very wrong.
I miss the old time Halloween Carnivals. I miss the homemade decorations. I miss the popcorn balls, brownies and pies. I miss the simplicity of the times, the innocence of Halloween, the family oriented events and months-long preparations that involved whole families not just the adults. Believe it or not, it was fun for the kids to be included and not just have everything handed to them. Yep, I sure had a blast of nostalgia today. These wonderful memories fed a yearning to take a step back in time...or maybe one into the future.
