- One afternoon I was at Grandma & Grandpa Osgood's house. I remember being inside the dining room with my mom, my aunt, grandma, and maybe even my little sister. If she was
there, she was pretty young. The men were outside doing....I don't know. Man stuff. Anyway, my brother came walking in with a dead mouse in his hands. The women freaked out! Apparently, Grandpa Osgood told my brother to bring it in and show it to us, knowing the kind of reaction it would get. Grandpa was a real jokester, I'm told.
- Grandpa and Grandma Osgood both wore dentures. Grandpa had this ability to "pop" his teeth out while still in his mouth. I remember him joking around with my brother, chasing him around with his teeth popped out. It was real funny to me. Of course, I wasn't being chased! I probably would have been scared to death if it had been me!
- Grandma & Grandpa Graham had a 3 wheeler that they would let us kids ride. I didn't do it a whole lot, but my brother did. Characteristically, he would drive fast and nutty. I remember Grandma telling afterwards (well, maybe hollering at him), that he was driving like a "bat out of hell!" He just laughed it off.
- I also had a cousin who lived up in Idaho. She was a year older than me. Her sister was a couple years younger than me. When I got older, I would go and spend a couple days up at their place. That was a lot of fun. My cousin lived on a big farm that her dad, my uncle, ran. One summer it was thick with grasshoppers. I was not used to big bugs like that, much less in biblical proportions! My brother was up there as well that time. Typical boy, the bugs didn't bother him. My cousins were unaffected as well. I was the only one who had an issue with the beasts. Well, they saw the chink in the armor and decided to taunt me with the bugs. We were in the house, and they brought one in and put it out towards me. I ran into the bathroom, thinking...aha! I'm safe! Not so. My brother put the bug underneath the door (there was an unusually large space) and that dang bug literally came flying right at me. Well...maybe not as bad as that. But it sure seemed like it then.
- Listening to Bill Cosby's "Chicken Heart" album with my cousin and getting freaked OUT. I can still hear the rhythm of the chicken heart...
- Taking a walk outside in the evening with Grandma Graham one time. She started singing, "I'm in love with the man on the moon...." It was nice. But I thought it was strange that there would be a man on the moon...didn't they come back home?
- "Washing" my hair with fresh chickens' eggs. I thought that it made my hair really nice and shiny. How nice of Grandma Osgood to let me use 4-5 eggs to do this.
For my Graham and Osgood relatives---what funny memories do YOU have? I've invited you all before to comment and few have taken me up on it. But seriously--please leave your comments here. It's a great way to get all the memories documented in one place. I'm starting to feel like the tree that fell in the forest but didn't make a sound because no one was around to hear it. Or maybe they heard it, but didn't mention it to anyone.....
I remember riding on the three-wheeler with my brother Nathan at Milton's (my uncle's) house when Aunt Janis came running out waving her arms like mad at us to come inside. We waved and kept on going. There was a plane flying so close to the ground that we were absolutely thrilled. The plane kept flying low right over the field we were riding around. Awesome. Janis finally got her message across and we came back to the farmhouse. The plane was a crop duster and was trying to spray pesticides on the field! Duh. I felt really embarrassed that we were so stupid...city kids! -Tara
ReplyDeleteI have so many memories - it is hard to narrow it down.
ReplyDeleteWe did ride the 3 wheeler - but not nearly as much as the boys. Coming from my mom I expected that we (girls) could do anything boys could do (sometimes better). I found out in Fruitland that boys were allowed to ride motor vehicles without asking - We always asked. Girls were expected to help clean up and do dishes (boys were not).
The first time I took my husband (he wasn't at the time) up to meet my grandparents. He was shocked that my grandmother would call my grandfather "fat" as his nickname. He was anything but fat.
We would stay at Grandma and Grandpa Grahams for a while during the summer. Sometimes without my parents. They always told us we sounded like a bunch of elephants upstairs. I swear we weren't jumping around, etc.
I will think about things and reflect on some other items. I will post comments about Grandpa Shelton - there are many. As well as Great Grandma Graham and Eugine. Also Tenny and Minty - funny names - funny times.
I forgot about grandpa's nickname. That struck me as odd, but early on I didn't think about it. I'd love to hear more of your memories. I didn't really know Great Grandma, only met her a couple of times when I was real little.
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