Pages

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Home Alone


Weetie and I just got home from a ride in to town.  I couldn't help my self!!  The sky was getting darker and lonelier looking by the minute.  The thunder was getting louder and closer.  I try to tell myself that it's just a thunderstorm...that it will pass, but myself refuses to listen.  My flip-flops and the car keys were near the door so I was out of here in a flash, leaving the storm behind.  There's a cold front coming through this evening so the storms were expected.  It just happens to be Poppy's night to work late.  Never fails, does it??

When my Mother died, she was living in an assisted living facility about five miles from Poppy and me.  I would go sit with mama during a storm because she was very afraid of storms too.  We were like two peas in a pod.  For a while after mama died, when it was storming, I would drive over and park in front of the apartment where she had lived, until the storm passed.  I missed her so much.  I still miss her.

The storm left a steamy haze in the trees...

 
When I was sixteen or seventeen, after we had moved to the country, a terrible storm blew up one afternoon.  No one was home but mama and me.  Jackie and our younger brother Randall were out somewhere on the property, or down the road a piece.  But this terrible storm blew up.  The sky was dark, the wind blowing, there was lightening and thunder...when suddenly the pounding rain turned to hail...large hail, bouncing off everything!  Mama was standing in the guest room barely peeping out the door and I was as close behind her as I could get!!   She said, "Lord, Melba, do you think it's the end of the world"?   She was scared for the two of us and scared for Jackie and Randall.  When everything got quiet and the storm had moved past, Jackie and Randall came running in the house.  The two of them had jumped into a car that was parked in the driveway and had crouched down on the floorboard.  The mailman also had pulled into our driveway and stopped.  The windshield of his car was broken out by the hail stones!   Daddy must have pulled up immediately after the storm, and shortly thereafter, a news reporter from Robbins came out to take pictures and ask questions.  A field of tobacco, belonging to our closest neighbor, was completely destroyed by the hail.  The following day the front page of "The Robbins Record", featured a large picture of daddy, our neighbor, and little Randall in the middle of the beaten down tobacco field.  Every window in our neighbor's small, older home was broken out.  Quite a storm that was!!!

I don't have a picture of the day of the storm, but this was was along about the same time.  Jackie was telling our cousin John how to handle the pony.  Little Randall seemed very interested...I'm sure he thought his big brother Jackie knew how to do everything!!!


Have I told you what a very special little boy Randall was?  Jackie was the youngest, at eleven, when Randall was born.  We all loved Randall so much...he was just the cutest, sweetest, most loveable little boy ever...



Thank you for stopping by.  I started this post yesterday.  That cold front did come through last night!   We woke up this morning to a sunny, cool 65 degrees.  I'm giving myself one hour to straighten up this house.  Hopefully, then I am going outside and find something to do!

Love,
Henny Penny

9 comments:

  1. Dear Henny Penny, ur, I mean Mama, I remember how scared Grandma was of a storm. I think everyone within a 100 mile radius of grandma knew how scared she was. Poor Grandma. I remember how scare of storms you were when we were little. You have gotten much better! Those pictures of Randall are so sweet. I miss him. And look how handsome Jackie was. Already! I miss him too.

    Love you!!
    Lynn

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey Lynn, I did take off with you and Andee, a time or two, and head to Grandma's when there was a storm coming!! I miss Jackie and Randall too!
      Love you too!
      Mama

      Delete
  2. Henny Penn - I love your stories! They are always so special. You get me to thinking of happier times and easier times, at least in my mind! I miss my grandmother who has been gone from this earth since 1984 and I miss her more every day. I am so glad that the days are cooling off and drying out, let's see what the next month brings ...thanks again for the stories, keep them coming... Terry

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dear Henny,
    It must be awful to be so afraid of storms, especially when you seem to live where they can really be dramatic, and full of thunder and lightening, and such big hail! I'm not very anxious, but if it goes on for a long time, and we get too much water, I don't like to think of being flooded. Hasn't happened to us, there are lots of concrete ditches and drainage canals that take the natural runoff and channel it to the Pacific right near us. This year the Los Angeles river was cleaned up for several miles, and people can now kayak down it! Something we should do one of these days. Lucy, our dog, is terrified of thunder, and fireworks. If we know there is a big storm coming we have a "Thundershirt" to put on her. It helps a bit, but she shakes and pants and sometimes has to have a "doggie downer", tranquilizer. Since we will be gone this September, it is one more thing I will have to tell our new dog-sitter.
    Hope you enjoy a nice cool day today, with no more storm.
    Love,
    Pam

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Pam,
      Yes, it is miserable to be so afraid!! Poor Lucy, I know how she feels. We had a Lab, Susie, who was afraid and would take off running during a storm. We got home from work once, after there had been a storm and Susie was missing. We later got a call from a family about 5 miles away that Susie was with them. We kept a tag on her collar with our phone number. Always glad to hear from you. I am enjoying the painting of 'big boy'.
      Love,
      Henny

      Delete
  4. Dear Henny Once Again - Yes, it is me Terry - I am with a previous comment that it would be fun for you to tell us about your trips to the farmer's market, sewing tricks, how you met Poppy, and of course, your canning and cooking and garden "know how." I would love to know more about the chickens and getting them in and how to keep them healthy. Well, there's my 2 cents worth! Your stories are priceless! I know miss my grandmother Annie telling me about her 'haint' stories from her girlhood in Ninety-Six, SC, like the 'painter chasing her on a bicycle' and the 'wampus' with big red eyes waiting for me on her porch if I chose to try to sneak out at night. I did indeed see the wampus and never went outside. In fact, I stay clear of the wampus today. Any way, I love your blog...take good care, it is 56 here this morning! Terry

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Terry,
      I appreciate the ideas. I feel like I'm not smart enough to give advice on how to do anything! :) Of course I could just tell how "I" do it. I would love to hear your grandmother's 'haint' stories and about the 'wampus'. Couldn't old people (even older than me) tell some scary things!!?? I remember hearing them talk about weird stuff and I would be scared to death. What is a 'wampus' anyway? :) I think I've heard of Ninety-Six, SC! It is 57 here!
      Love,
      Henny

      Delete
  5. Henny Penny, I remember Grandma being scared of a storm I was scared of them to until I had children and Frank worked 3rd shift. I had to teach myself to be brave. I did not sleep much during the storm but I would lay in the bed with the boys and comfort them. Is that the storm that knocked the Guineas out of the trees that daddy use to tell me about? I love you, Vicki

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hey Vicki,
    I remember something about the guineas in a storm, but it seems like that was a big snow and ice storm we had one winter. I'm not sure. After that hail storm there were some dead birds on the ground. It's good that you made yourself not be afraid of storms because of the boys. You have always been strong!! I may be getting a little better!? I love you, Aunt Melba

    ReplyDelete

I love hearing from you. Thank you for your comment.