This post may not be chronological, but will be some things that I remember while living on the farm near Fleeta, a community a few miles from Opp, Alabama.

I remember a lot of different things but I fail to remember the order in which they occurred, so here goes:

I remember seeing my Momma washing in the big old wash pot in the yard to boil the clothes in. She would have 2 or 3 wash tubs of cold water to rinse them in. She had a battling stick, a paddle shaped stick of wood that she would use to pull the clothes, one piece at a time from the boiling water and put it on a battling block. I don't remember if the block was a tree stump tall enough for her to use or if Daddy built one out of wood. She would beat the clothes with the battling stick to remove any enbedded dirt, stains,etc, then put the  piece of clothing in one of the tubs, get the scrub board (this was usually a piece of tin, ridged and encased in a frame of wood) then she would rub the clothes with some lye soap which she had made and she would scrub the clothes up and down the scrub board 'til she had it as clean as possible. (makes me tired to think of it!) Then she had to wring them by hand and put them into the next tub of water, work them around, wring them out by hand and onto the next tub until they were rinsed really good. If you have ever had to wring out a heavy towel or a sheet when mopping up a spill, then you know how much strength it took!! Then (oh the fun of this!)  She had take them to the clothesline ( a wire stretched between two poles) and hang them up to dry.  If the sun was shining it didn't take long for them to dry, but if a sudden rain storm came up, everyone that was big enough had to hurry and try to get the clothes down before they got wet.  But oh!! how sweet the clothes smelt from hanging in the fresh air and sunshine.

They also would take the mattresses off the beds and the quilts and then lay the mattresses on bushes or something to "air out". The quilts would be hung on the clothes lines to air out. Nothing felt or smelt so good as fresh washed sheets, pillow cases and quilts.  The pillows would also be "aired out". They would seem to be twice as big and oh, oh so soft!!! Life was good! But Momma had a lot to do in those days to keep things clean and fresh. Thank God, today we have washers and dryers to do that for us.

I remember one day Momma got a new wringer type washer!!! That was so good for her to have. But you really had to be careful with the wringer as your hand or arm could be pulled into the rollers and that could hurt!!!

Well, this time took more than I thought it would, will continue with more stories later. If any or you reading this remember things differently, okay, but this is what I remember!!!

More next time.......