Oklahoma Vignettes (moving, places)

[Goodpasture]

Chug-a-lug, chug-a-lug
Make you want to holler hi-de-ho
Burns your tummy, don'tcha know
Chug-a-lug, chug-a-lug

Grape wine in a Mason jar
Homemade and brought to school
By a friend of mine 'n' after class
Me and him and this other fool decide that we'll drink up what's left
Chug-a-lug, so we helped ourself
First time for everything
Mm, my ears still ring

CHORUS

4-H and FFA on a field trip to the farm
Me 'n' a friend sneak off behind
This big old barn where we uncovered a covered-up moonshine still
And we thought we'd drink our fill
And I swallered it with a smile
*Bllll-bbbb*, I run ten mile

CHORUS

Jukebox 'n' sawdust floor
Sumpin' like I ain't never seen
And I'm just going on fifteen
But with the help of my finaglin' uncle I get snuck in
For my first taste of sin.
I said "Lemme have a big old sip"
*Bllll-bbbb*, I done a double back flip

CHORUS

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: *Bllll-bbbb* is impossible to spell. It's a ululation of the lips and tongue similar to a "raspberry."

[Goodpasture]

Originally Posted by TheComputerGuy

Maybe they'd taste even better if they were fed a trough of beer first...
Could be interesting.

If we were having a "special" chicken dinner, grandma would go to extra lengths for a tender chicken. Assuming we were having chicken for Sunday, she would put the proposed dinner into isolation, early Saturday, leaving them water, but no food. For about three hours they would stay in those crates with nothing to eat. In the meantime she would soak corn chops in a sweet white wine. When the wine had soaked the corn soft, she would put a bowl of it in the crates with the chicken. Needless to say, a few bites of that alcoholic corn and the chickens would pass out. As soon as they laid down, she would remove the heads and being plucking and processing. That made the sweetest, tenderest, fried chicken ever. She dredged the pieces in flour, salt, and pepper, dipped in buttermilk (this is milk that has been churned.....not milk that has had rennet or vinegar put in it), and re-dredged in flour. It is then put in a cast iron chicken fryer (a large skillet with really high sides) on a hot fire, with fresh lard about an inch deep. It would fry quickly and turn a magnificent golden brown, then she would turn it, and cook the other side. After it was cooked, she would put pieces on bread on platters (so the bread would soak up the excess grease) and put in the oven. She would pour off a lot of the fat, and make gravy out of the rest. She would roast several cloves of garlic while the biscuits were baking, and mix the roasted garlic with mashed potatoes. I think one of my favorite meals as a child was grandmas fried chicken, mashed potatoes, biscuits (with hand churned butter), gravy and corn on the cob.

I didn't know whether to put this in the chat forum, the recipe forum or here........if it's in the wrong place, maybe a mod can move it.

[TheComputerGuy]

Originally Posted by Goodpasture

If we were having a "special" chicken dinner, grandma would go to extra lengths for a tender chicken. Assuming we were having chicken for Sunday, she would put the proposed dinner into isolation, early Saturday, leaving them water, but no food. For about three hours they would stay in those crates with nothing to eat. In the meantime she would soak corn chops in a sweet white wine. When the wine had soaked the corn soft, she would put a bowl of it in the crates with the chicken. Needless to say, a few bites of that alcoholic corn and the chickens would pass out. As soon as they laid down, she would remove the heads and being plucking and processing. That made the sweetest, tenderest, fried chicken ever. She dredged the pieces in flour, salt, and pepper, dipped in buttermilk (this is milk that has been churned.....not milk that has had rennet or vinegar put in it), and re-dredged in flour. It is then put in a cast iron chicken fryer (a large skillet with really high sides) on a hot fire, with fresh lard about an inch deep. It would fry quickly and turn a magnificent golden brown, then she would turn it, and cook the other side. After it was cooked, she would put pieces on bread on platters (so the bread would soak up the excess grease) and put in the oven. She would pour off a lot of the fat, and make gravy out of the rest. She would roast several cloves of garlic while the biscuits were baking, and mix the roasted garlic with mashed potatoes. I think one of my favorite meals as a child was grandmas fried chicken, mashed potatoes, biscuits (with hand churned butter), gravy and corn on the cob.

I didn't know whether to put this in the chat forum, the recipe forum or here........if it's in the wrong place, maybe a mod can move it.

Not only does it sound smart, it sounds TASTY!
I miss Grandma, and I never even met her.

M.

[peggydavis]

FFA is Future Farmers of America. It's for girls too.

When I was in high school my male friends would work on the wheat harvest, and come home with enough to buy a car.

I wouldn't say cleaning out a house was hazardous.

[LadyRobyn]

Originally Posted by Goodpasture

Nah, she was there, along with a couple of friends (one is part of our investment group), but..........

A nearby town has a pretty good FFA. I know, underage boys aren't supposed to work. But I like farm boys. So when I need labor, instead of going to Lowe's or Home Depot for illegal immigrants, I call the FFA barn and tell the instructor we need four boys on Saturday. He knows which boys perform and which don't, cause he knows how they handle their livestock. So early Saturday morning I have four boys....from 14 to 17 years old......show up. They are like the energizer battery, they just keep on going. A few hours later they have an extra $50/$60 in their pocket and the house is swept out.

In a few weeks (after the first of the year, when the ice is gone) I am going to have 50 or so fence posts to put in. FFA will get another call.

I try to go to their calf fry fund raiser every year ($3.00 for a fresh calf fry dinner.....or hamburger for the squeamish) and I buy Blue and Gold Sausage every year and am always contribute an extra $50 to their trip fund when they are getting ready to go to nationals.

But for the work, the good will, and the good kids......FFA is the best casual labor resource in the region.

What a great idea! Both of our kids were FFA in High School... Besides the normal livestock they also raised Ostriches. Part of the class involved learning the different stages of gestation in the eggs, how to 'properly' kill an Ostrich and how to cook an omelet with the eggs.

Listening to our 5'2" Daughter brag that she could kill an Ostrich with three fingers was a rip!

They also had to go out in the Wintertime and harvest fruit in the Orchards.
Do they have to go through the standard FFA 'initiation' out here too?

[TheComputerGuy]

Originally Posted by peggydavis

FFA is Future Farmers of America. It's for girls too.

My daughter is more like Eli-May than most Computer Guys' daughters...

Originally Posted by peggydavis

When I was in high school my male friends would work on the wheat harvest, and come home with enough to buy a car.

THAT sounds better than being a "Computer Guy"!

Originally Posted by peggydavis

I wouldn't say cleaning out a house was hazardous.

I'm sure GP has seen some places that are worse than you'd imagine...
(BTW... My wife said she'd clean out those places for $50+ a day... Does THAT give you an idea of the economy we're leaving for OK?)

Thanks for the info....

M.

[jessaka]

You can make $250 a day cleaning a house in CA. that is about 6 to 8 hours.

[TheComputerGuy]

Originally Posted by jessaka

You can make $250 a day cleaning a house in CA. that is about 6 to 8 hours.

Nevermind cleaning....
You'd have to pay me more than $250 a day just to live in CA.

M.

[redbird4848]

Here is a story from Hay Springs, NE, circa 1936. From Uncle Don.

I was about 3 years old at the time. My parents got me a baby goat as a pet for christmas and tied it to the christmas tree. Then my mom came and woke me up and carried me downstairs. She said Santa Claus has come. I remember rubbing my eyes and my eyes got real big, then I pointed at the goat with a shaking hand and said, is... is... is that Santa Claus?

[Goodpasture]

One of my fathers mothers brothers was a farmer outside Enid during the dust bowl. Like a lot of us, he had a pretty good temper. For about the third year in a row, his crop blew away before it could be harvested. The fourth year, he went back to his high school buddy who ran the bank to borrow seed money. The bank itself was in trouble, so the loan application was declined. All my great uncle could think was that they were simply out to get him, and that made him MAD! So mad, in fact that about an hour after the loan was turned down, he reappeared at the bank, stuck a gun in the tellers face and TOOK the money he needed. Unfortunately that did not make him less mad. So, just before lunch he went back to the bank a third time for that day, stuck the gun in another tellers face, and took some more money. Still not satisfied, by late afternoon he went back to the bank for the fourth time that day, stuck the gun in the tellers face, and, for the third time that day, took some more money.

He never wore a mask or hid his identity. Dad told me about seeing his uncle come by their house and telling dad's mom good bye. He figured he would be going away soon, and he did.......served over 50 years from what I understand.