More country living.. When we lived in the big white house close to Fleeta, we had a big grove of pecan trees. Every year when the pecans began to fall and were ready to harvest, we would help pick them up and put them in buckets for Daddy to sell.  There were so many trees we would have to have neighbors help and I remember Daddy would take a big "log" (maybe an 2 x 4 or something)  and wrap it all around with an old sheet or spread and the men would take the "log" and hit the limbs of the pecan trees to make all the nuts fall so they could be gathered. I think I remember that they would spread old sheets or something all under the trees to make it easier to see the nuts.  It was a back breaking job, even for us "little" people, but every one had to help.

We also had a huge (at least to this small child, it was huge!) scuppernong arbor.  It was spread out on poles like a tent and the ground was kept clean underneath so that when the scuppernongs were ripe we could just walk underneath and eat all we wanted and not worry about stepping on a snake or something.. I still love to eat scuppernongs, they are so good. They are of the grape family of fruits. I don't know if we ever sold any or not.A lot of people made wine and jelly and such from them. I think Momma  used to make pies with them Nothing was wasted if it was at all possible to use.

We used to have a "Rolling Store" come by the house periodically. This was a big truck with a closed body all the way around it and they had most anything in it for sale that you could find in a grocery and mercantile store. It always smelled wonderful when he opened it up !! There was apples, oranges, candy and all sorts of things to entice the taste buds of the little children. It was always exciting when we would see or hear the Rolling Store coming up the road!!!!! We would go running to tell Momma, "the Rolling Store" is here.  Momma and all the other households would trade eggs, milk, butter, produce and anything they could barter with to buy flour, sugar, oil, kerosene canned goods, material for clothes and it saved a trip to town. It was so much fun, and the smells were absolutely wonderful!!! I can almost smell it as I remember it.

We always had to try to make some extra money by working for neighbors, etc. I remember one summer, Momma hired herself, Wayne and myself to pick cotton for one of our Uncles (I think).  I think Juanita was too young. (I was too, but I went and tried) I never managed to pick 100 pounds in one day but once.  I would get so disgusted!!! I would take a row to pick right beside Momma, or Wayne or anybody, keep up with them til the end of the row and my cotton NEVER weighed as much as theirs!!!  I tried so hard!!!  'Talk about a back ache!!!! That old cotton sack dragging behind you and getting heavier and heavier every minute, by the end of the day you would think, "Boy, I must have at least a 100 pounds or more!"  But only the one time that I remember.

 I had a problem with the heat, for some reason when I was that young, I would not sweat, so I would get hot then get sick to my stomach. Maybe that is why I couldn't get heavy cotton. I still don't understand why my cotton would not weigh a much as Wayne's or Momma's!!! (Reckon they put a few rocks in their bag?) (Just kidding)  Just know that I would have to be starving to pick cotton again!!!!

More later.