Our First Five Years on Ashcreek

I introduced you to our arrival in Leakey. Now the actual ranch life began. Was a shock to me when Bill set the alarm for four o’clock. I didn’t know what in the world we could do before daylight, but that was the way he was raised. Burned more kerosene before daylight than after dark. Nothing to do at night but go to bed. Anyway that’s the way all the ranchers did; so in order to conform I went along.

Our stove was a small wood stove that could burn more wood than you could ever imagine. Wood box was always empty so I was wood boy a big part of the time. Bill never got in to eat until 12 so I did a lot of the wood carrying. I didn’t mind that nearly as much as drawing the water out of the dug well. That was something I had not done as we had a pump at home. The bucket stayed empty all the time, so you can see why we didn’t bathe as often as we do these days. We drug the wash tub in on Saturday night put it as close to the fireplace as possible. Heated water in tea kettles and took our weekly bath. We spit bathed during the week. Now in the summer it was better as we went to the creek. Didn’t heat the water! It was always cold as ice. James can testify to that can’t you?

Another chore that I didn’t relish was cleaning the lamp chimneys. I was used to that at home but I never did like it. I tried to help Bill with the stock but we never did get along in the pens. All I was used to was a horse. I walked off many a time in tears after I pulled a boner.

One boner I pulled I’ll never live down. We started to Sunday School and Church one Sunday shortly after we married and a bunch of ewes and lambs ran across in front of us and I made the mistake of asking Bill how old the lambs had to be before they shed their tails. He could hardly wait until church was over before he told the whole congregation. I was serious as some of the lambs had long tails and some didn’t. I learned the next spring when it came time to mark and brand.

Spring time came and we wanted to have a garden so we fenced a place under the hill where we could irrigate by gravity flow. We had things up and growing great so we decided to plow it one evening. Bill hitched the horse to the plow and we really gave everything a good working out. Only trouble we didn’t know you didn’t pick up the cucumber vines and then turn them around. Next morning Bill came to the house and said for me to come with him. Your can imagine how we both felt. Anyway we had a garden there for a long time or until the creek dried up.

I’ll tell you a little secret. Don’t ever count your chickens before they hatch. Nearly every night Bill would get a pencil and paper and figure out how much we would make off the stock, including wool and mohair. To me it sounded like we would soon be millionaires. I wrote glowing accounts to my folks about how rich we would soon be. You might not have heard about the crash of 1929. Well, we did! We were caught without a penny. Mamma sent us some change for stamps. That’s how bad it was. Couldn’t sell wool or mohair. So we began to figure out what we could do to make a living. Bill got a job with the highway department helping build bridges on 83. We had a team of Percheron horses named Shorty and Nig. His job was to haul gravel up on a ramp where it was crushed for bridgework. Since I had been a teacher, we decided I would go to San Marcos and renew my certificate. So off I went. Nearly killed me to away from Bill, but I toughed it out and got my lifetime elementary certificate. I began teaching the fall term of 1931. Taught second and third grades. Mr. Brice cashed our checks at a discount, which was beneficial for interest. Brice’s store is one of the oldest landmarks in Leakey. It has changed hands now but is owed by some of the cousins.

Would like to tell a few things that made for a little excitement. We had a pony that we called "Boy". Bill usually rode him bareback to round in the goats and sheep late in the afternoon. This one evening he took the dogs as always and rode up on sycamore where the stock most always watered. When he got near the springs the dogs jumped a deer that was drinking at the spring. The buck bounded up the hill with the dogs right on his rear. Bill saw that he was trapped so he started back down the hill. Bill stepped behind a tree and picked up a honeycombed rock and as the deer came by him he let go of the rock which landed in the bucks ribcage. The blow knocked him to his knees and that’s when the dogs grabbed him and held him down until Bill got there with his knife and slit his throat. So, there he was way up there without anybody. But knowing Bill he loaded that deer and came in with a big fat buck. I was in town after the mail so he called Brice’s store and told them to tell me to come home in a hurry. Of course I expected the worst but was as excited as Bill when I found he wasn’t half-dead. We dressed that deer, quartered it and hung it in the well where it would keep cool. That was money in the bank for several weeks. You won’t believe it, I’m sure when I say we didn’t have an icebox, but we didn’t for several more years.

December 10, 1982.

So dark I can’t see too well. Rain, rain.

Another food we had was turkey. You talk about good, young fried turkey is hard to beat. At that time there was no law that said you couldn’t eat deer or turkey anytime. At least we didn’t know of one. Ha! One thing about a turkey you’d best not eat them when they were eating cedar berries. Couldn’t stay in the house for the smell. Fish were more plentiful then than now. Bill could catch enough for a big meal. In our prime we used to build a fire on the creek bank and fry our fish right there and eat them right out of the skillet. Those days are about over now as nearly all the old, old ranches have been sold to big operators who use them for tax right-offs. So much of the beautiful river scenery has been fenced in so no one can ride in the riverbed like we used to do.

There’s much history attached to the old river bed road. So many wagons used to travel up and down the river that the rocks gradually gave way to ruts, which are plainly visible today. Sometime if you get a chance to drive through the Butt Foundation you will see what I say is true, for the ruts are there to see with your own eyes.

Well, another Christmas rolled around and we came to Angleton. This time turned out better than the first one. We picked up Mildred in San Antonio. She was in nurses training at the old P. & S. Hospital. She wasn’t supposed to leave as she was still on probation. But I think she would have thrown in the towel if he hadn’t gotten to come with us. I knew how se felt for the first time I went off to college I would have quit if I couldn’t have come home for Christmas. She almost got her walking papers when she got back. But she didn’t for the simple reason that Bill’s Aunt was the manager of the hospital.

James and Wilmoth came for a little while, so I’ll stop for a while.

Later. Wednesday 2 P.M.

Well, I invested in a new portable typewriter today look out for vast improvements. Ha!

I ate lunch at Wyatt’s so I’m ready to start work on the couch for a little siesta.

Friday, Jan. 7, 1983

Well, I’ll see what I can find out what I can do with this little deal. Not enough space between the lines for one thing. So here we go again. Be patience and see what happens next. I’ll try again after I’ve had a little nap.

Reckon I’ll ever get back to where I left off? Oh, yes we were home for Christmas, weren’t we? Had a good time of course but time came to get back to the ranch. James had been laid off from Freeport Sulfur Company, so Bill told James to go back with us and help tend the stock as we were both working. So he packed his one pair of khakis and his one and only suit and away we started back home. We were a sad and sorry looking carload of people, I know. Mildred hated to go back, and Mamma and Dad hated for James to leave but anyway, we left real early so we’d get there before dark. Cold! I don’t believe it’s been that cold since. We had the glass curtains up. But of course if you’ve never had the pleasure or the option of having no curtains you can’t appreciate what I’m talking about. Well, we got into San Antonio about the middle of the afternoon. We were going to leave Mildred at the hospital but being from out of town and not being familiar with one way streets, we got off one, a one way street. We didn’t even know it until a cop came along and asked up what we meant by driving on a one way street. Bill told him we were from the country and didn’t know any better. The cop said "that’s what they all say". Bill told the cop to look in the back seat if he didn’t believe him. Well! I must admit we did look the part as we were covered up head and ears trying to keep from freezing to death. He took pity on us and told us know to get to the hospital. We finally got to where we could find the place to let Mildred off. Of course she was squalling so that it set me off, so when we finally got started out of town it was getting pretty late. So Bill really stepped on the gas. I know we must have been driving at least thirty miles an hour. I just knew we’d get stopped again, but luck was with us and we headed on out of San Antonio. James had never been out that way so he was all eyes when we got to where we could see the hills. Dark almost caught us before we got to Leakey, but we managed to get to Bills folks just before dark. It just happened that our little dog that we had left with Mr. Orrell had run a deer down the mountain. In fact the little old thing had caught the deer in the throat and hung on until the men could get to them with a gun. You talk about excitement, but that was something to talk about. And besides that, it was groceries. We covered it up with sacks and clothes and took out for home. Mr. Orrell said he didn’t want the game warden after him for saying the little dog killed the deer. But that was the truth if ever there was the truth for several saw it with their own eyes. That wasn’t the last feat that little dog did. He was some dog! Bob was his name and we got him from Mamma and Dad. In fact his mama was so smart that Dad had her locked up in the loft to keep her away from her many boy friends that were hanging around. But she managed to somehow get one up there, so before they knew it she had the cutest bunch of puppies you nearly ever saw so we picked Bob. Mamma and Dad kept Pup a long, long time and loved her like a child. We got on up to Ash Creek and had to build a fire in the fireplace to keep from freezing to death and then Bill and James set to work skinning the deer and hanging it up in a tree until morning. I know James must have been scared nearly out of his mind but he sure didn’t let it show. Of course no lights or anything so he had no idea in the world where he was or anything until the next morning and I imagine he wished he was back in the flat country. Ha, Ha!

Well, Monday morning rolled around and it was time for us to go back to work. I to the schoolroom and Bill to work on the road, building bridges for 83. There James was left without a car or I feel sure he would have been gone when we got home that afternoon. Anyway, Bill told James he could skin the deer, quarter it and hang it down in the well in order to keep it cool and to hide it too. Bill told James to be sure not to let anybody get a drink out of the well. Just keep a bucket full where wouldn’t have to draw any up. You can be sure James had me plenty of water drawn up when I got in from school that evening and as long as that venison lasted. Funny now, but it sure wasn’t’ funny to James.

As I’ve said before we didn’t have a bathtub, only wash tubs. But Bill told James that he took his bath winter and summer in the creek. Poor James swallowed the story and mind you there was ice in the creek so off they went. Bill dared me to say a word so all I could do was to await results. Wasn’t long before I heard James squall like a panther. Of course Bill stayed under when he hit the water, but poor James came up like you wouldn’t believe. That just about fixed him up for it wasn’t but a short while before he got desperately sick one night after supper. I didn’t know if it was my cooking or what. Bill had never been sick from my cooking so we didn’t know what in the world to do. James told Bill maybe if he gave him an enema that would help. Since we didn’t have a bathroom they went outside to give him the first enema he’d ever had and I imagine the last one. Ha! That was some night. James got worse and worse. We called Bill’s folks and they came up but they couldn’t help. We finally called the P.and S. Hospital where Mildred was in training and the doctor said to bring him on in as quick as we could for it sounded like a bad case of appendicitis. We took out about daylight and you can imagine what James was going through on that rough ride the 100 miles to San Antonio. As soon as Dr. Smith looked at him he told the nurses to get him ready for surgery. He was in the operating room in short order and not a minute too soon as the appendix was about ready to burst. Anyway he was in good hands, so Bill and I went on back home. The next weekend we went back after our patient. He really wasn’t anxious to leave as there were so many nurses there that congregated in his room at night. It’s a wonder he wasn’t thrown out before he was dismissed. Anyway, we took him back and he was soon able to take care of himself and to help with the stock.

January 8, 1983

Better not get outside or you’ll float down to the gulf. It is warm though. Well, it looks like it might quit for a while. Let’s hope.

Now, back to my tale of woe. No, I’m joking. We were having a hard time but we never went hungry, plenty of jackrabbits around. We bought or somebody gave us a turkey hen and a gobbler or two so James built a pen just about where Severne’s backyard is now. So fixed up to raise a few turkeys. Then he and Bill plowed up a garden spot across the creek. We had a little hydraulic ram for irrigating. Now, if you’ve seen one work and it is work but it sure was a cheap way to water. As I’ve said before, Bill was a hunter from way back. So he and his cousin Carlton Godbold had to take James hunting. Well, they went one Saturday night. They had told James to watch out for wild hogs, that they would sure eat you alive. They went off in the pasture and spent half the night of course. After they got in and went to bed Bill would laugh out loud. Of course, I just knew they had gotten into some home brew or worse. So when time came to get up came around I went in to wake James and he looked like something had clawed him to bits. Besides his clothes were almost in shreds. I nearly flipped as that was about all the clothes he had. The story went out by bits and pieces. Bill’s old uncle had an old white donkey that had a habit of braying at most anything. The boys were walking along in heavy cedar brush when out of the blue that donkey brayed real loud. Bill or Carlton yelled and told James to run for his life. You can be sure he didn’t have to be told a second time. He skinned up that cedar tree and that’s what happened to his clothes. He was gun shy a long time after and learned a little about ranch life and all the hoop-la that boys can make up. I could tell a lot more, but it would take a catalogue to hold it all.

Just a word of warning to anybody who thinks they can out maneuver those hillbillies in the hill country. Just better think again. Just read in the Leakey paper where one thief was roped and hauled back to the jailhouse. That happened over the holidays in 1982. So beware when you think you can get by just because you in the country.

Now where did I quit. Oh, yes... Spring came and it was time to plant our garden. I usually got home from school fairly early so James and I started the planting. Just had a turning plow and a middle buster and a horse that wouldn’t pull without being led. So I led the horse while James plowed. Looked funny but we got the job done. Did look a little niggerly, but it looked all right to us.

James and Carlton got a job up on Ash Creek building a little dam across the creek for watering a garden. To be sure James had never tried digging postholes in solid rock before. So the first day he came in with all the skin rubbed off his hands. They finally finished the job and I know they hardly made a thing off that hard work but at least it helped out. That little old dam is still visible.

Em came to see us after school was out. I really don’t know how she got out there but she and Bill were at the point of battle almost every minute. Bill would talk Spanish and she just knew he was talking about her. She’d cry and try to make Bill quit. But you know how much I could do about that. It got so bad at times that I’d get up and leave it to them to battle it out. She was literally scared to death of water. So if she could find Bill gone she’d go to the creek with a big inner tube wrapped around her twice. She had a big straw hat that she wore. She would have the best time until Bill showed up. That was when the race started. I can just see her now flying down the road with that tube and that big hat flopping, squalling like a panther. No way could I make him stop teasing her.

Now I’m so full I can’t lie down for a while, so I’ll go rambling again for a minute. I thought of something that wasn’t funny at the time but looking back it is now. On one of our trips to Angleton, James took his car back out there. We didn’t’ know about the floods until we started from Sabinal. They told us we couldn’t get down the canyon. At that time there was no crossings except low water crossings. But the highway department furnished a team of mules or horses to pull you through. I was literally scared to death and Em was worse than scared. We finally made it to the last and worst one of all and that was the one just below Alto Frio Encampment. James had a wristwatch, which was something he thought a lot of then. He sure didn’t want it to get wet so he told Em to sit up on the seat and hold his watch up out of the water. Well, you can imagine how she felt! Didn’t matter about her or me even. We managed to get across without drowning. Water came way up in the car and it took a while to get it running real good again. Some experience everyone ought to have to go through. Sure would appreciate the highways of today. I guess those were the good olds you hear about.

Time passes by as well as you know. James had good luck with the turkeys. We fed about as many wild ones as our tame one. They were just as good eating though. We also helped keep the deer population balanced. I can’t begin to tell all of the things we did for diversion. Wouldn’t interest the young people today. We explored a cave one Sunday afternoon. That was the most foolish and dangerous thing we ever did. None of us ever tried that again. Ethel dropped off in a hole way back in that cave and as far as we knew it could have been bottomless. Bill grabbed her just as she went under. Boy we got out of there in short order. All of us were covered with clay so we jumped in the river to get clean enough to make it home. Crazy, crazy!

May I go back and add a few incidents that I think are interesting? Did I hear you say, "go ahead"?

I think it was about the second summer after we were married that Wilma, the three boys and Landys, our cousin from Louisiana made a trip to see us. They left Bay City early one morning with Wilma at the wheel, Landys with a map in hand and the boys in the back being told that if they started cutting up too much they would be put out on the side of the road. Well they got through San Antonio. How, nobody will ever know, but made it to our place before sundown. I don’t know whether we knew they were coming or not. Didn’t make any difference, as we were so glad to see them. First thing Son did was to get on a little horse Bill had tied to the tree our front. The pony promptly dumped the load and left him with a cracked collarbone. Didn’t stop us though. It was healed by the time to go home. Fact is, he stayed with us when they went home. I don’t know how we got him home. One thing he wanted to learn was how to swim. He would wade around the edge of the creek but wouldn’t go more than knee deep. One day he said, "Uncle Bill, just pick me up and throw me in". Well, Bill did just that and do you know that’s all it took. He was swimming like duck before he left.

Picnicking was a pastime we enjoyed so one day a whole bunch of us packed up a lunch. Aunt Annie, who was Bill’s aunt; Carlton’s mother, Bill’s mother and all of us. We fished in the Frio until pretty late but no luck at all. Had a good time and a lot of laughing and talking. We got home before sundown, so Wilma, Landys and the boys, I reckon, went off to the creek, which was right in front of our house. They were standing there holding their poles not dreaming of a sole being anywhere near. All of the sudden Wilma found herself over her head in the creek. She thought a fish had pulled her in. Ha! Next thing Landys knew she was right there beside Wilma. Bill had eased down the bank and lowered the boom. I was just sick because I had managed to buy a new pair of oxford shoes that pinched a little so I told Wilma to wear them a while to break them in. Me, oh my. They never did fit, but I had to wear them just the same.

We did about everything we could think of to do. Climbed mountains went in little caves, you name it and we did it. Time came for them to start home but we had to do some washing first. So we built a fire around the wash-pot and drew up enough to fill it. Before the day’s end we had he whole yard fence strung with boy’s overalls and everything else you can think of. I know now it must have looked like the Okies.

Lord! I hated to see them leave. But Son’s staying helped. Landys didn’t know Bill when she came but she sure got a good initiation.

The year before Bill and I married there was a devastating tornado in Rock Springs, a small ranching town to the northwest of Leakey. Several people were killed. It was terrible and Bill was literally scared to death of a big purple cloud that would come up especially in the spring. So he set out to dig a storm cellar. It was right where our septic tank is now. He really got it fixed up, all covered and everything. But I wouldn’t ever go into it. I’d rather take my chances on top of the earth. One night a bad looking cloud came up. It waked Bill and he jumped and said, "Pete, lets get go in the cellar. He didn’t wait to see if I was coming or not. Well, I didn’t, so he just disappeared and didn’t show up for a long time. He crept back to bed, mad at me of course. After a good long while he admitted he’d been half-asleep. And when he fully woke up he was in the cellar. Kind of a bit off, so I kept pretty quiet.

After James came to stay with us awhile, we had another bad looking cloud come up. It got pretty bad and again Bill wanted to go to the cellar. I wouldn’t budge so he went in to wake James up which wasn’t easy at any time, but!!! Just as Bill got him awake the wind hit and shattered a window right by his bed. Didn’t take another word from Bill and away they went to the cellar. It really tore up a good many things that time, including our chimney to our cook stove. That meant we had to cook outside or use the fireplace until we could get it fixed. Then we just took it in stride, but now I don’t know what I’d do. Throw up my hands and call it quits? No, I wouldn’t. I’d just whistle in the dark. Ha!

Sunday Night

January 9, 1983

Good night for now. I’ll think of another episode later. Will you permit me to inject a little current news right here while it is fresh on my mind? Yes!

I went to Pledger today to see a friend of long standing who just lost her husband to a heart attack since Christmas. Was so glad to see her doing as well as she is. Her son and grandson are still with her until they get kind of squared away with things that have to be done right now. Cows calving and all the things that must be done on a ranch.

Did you ever walk out of your porch and find a live fox tied to the table leg? Well, I did. The boys had gone hunting earlier so we caught this poor little fox and Bill brought it home with him. He knew I always went through the back porch to get to the kitchen. I can just hear him telling Carlton how funny it would be to see what I would do to walk out there and see that animal tied to the table leg. Well, his wishes were fulfilled for sure. I really scared the fox more than he did me. Bill wasn’t satisfied to scare me but he got my poor little cat and put the two of them in what is now the bathroom. You can imagine what took place. Poor things were literally cared to death, but nothing I could say or threaten to do did any good. I finally went back to bed and covered up my head. That’s one morning Bill had to get his own breakfast.

You can never know what all Bill thought up to pull on me. One thing for sure though, I could scare the daylights out of him by laying a dead snake in his path. He was piling oat straw in the field in front of the little barn one day. When all of the sudden he went into orbit. He had turned a rattlesnake over. He actually plowed the field up all around him. Wasn’t a bit funny to him when I laughed about it.

Bill’s Uncle Will was a cripple (arthritis) and his wife was a timid soul if ever there was one. They lived in about as near pioneer cabin as you’d find in the country these days but they didn’t complain. They lived the simple life. One night Bill and Carlton went down to Mr. Orelle’s to get the scraper that they used to scrape the road after a big rain. As they came back in front of Uncle Will’s they thought how funny it would be to start yelling at the horse to Whoa, Whoa! Well, as they went through the gate they let out a war whoop. Uncle Will just knew something awful was happening to those boys so he lit the lamp and went waddling down the hill asking what the trouble was. No answer, so he figured they were sure hurt. Aunt Issie was trying to get to them barefooted. By that time the boys decided they’d better speak up. They began laughing of course. Man, man the fat was in the fire! He told Bill’s parents and Mrs. Orrell called Aunt Annie. Those grown men nearly got a whipping, besides having to apologize to the old folks. That was a closed chapter as far as conversation was concerned.

Back to the basics of living in Ash Creek. Did I hear you say you wanted to go to the bathroom? Well, go through the gate in the back yard and you will see a little house siting right on the edge of the ravine. Go in and you will find a two-holer with a Sears catalog between the holes. It’s to look at and use for other purposes too. (the cedar posts are there now) I’ll show you sometime if you don’t believe me. Dark never caught me out there. Really don’t know how I managed but we did. Probably in the yard. Ha!

Want to take a look at hog-killing time during the coldest day of the winter? Now, my folks had nearly always killed one hog, but never as many as four or five at a time. They weren’t always for one family but maybe two or three. Daylight found the men folk out building a fire around the washpot and the woman getting knives, dishpans and any other utensils ready for the long day’s work. I tell you right now I dreaded the days work. I tried to do all the little things that needed doing around the fire. My, My! What a pile of meat! All had to be attended to while it was cold since we had no freezers or even iceboxes. The lard had to be rendered (you know what that means?) Well, that means cooked out in the big washpot, poured up in gallon buckets or crocks. Then there were the cracklings. I do like good crackling cornbread. Think I’ll buy some store bought ones and make me some. How about a bite? The men folk would cut the meat, pack it in barrels and salt it down with salt brine then add a bit of sugar, pepper and I don’t know what all. But doing that we had good meat the year round. The meat had to stay in that mixture for six weeks and then hung in the smokehouse to dry and ready for the skillet. Gee! That was good eating, but what a job. I kind of think I’d just as soon get mine already packaged how about you?

The next day after the kill, now that the men were about through with their part of the work it was time to start the sausage making. That was mostly left up to the women folks. If you’ve never turned a sausage grinder, get ready to use some elbow grease, because it takes a lot of turning to grind a tub full of meat. Some liked it hot, some liked it mild and some liked it with nothing but salt and pepper. Some of the people liked to cook the pan sausage down and put it down in lard to keep during the summer. To me I didn’t like it that way, so we stuffed ours and smoked it in the smokehouse with hickory smoke. Um, Um, I can taste those sausages now.

The first think you always ate was liver hash made of the liver, heart and whatever else you put in hash. Boy! That was good eating.

Bill’s Aunt Annie and Uncle Hubbard (Carlton’s parents) lived on farther up the creek from us. Now Aunt Annie was born with one arm dwarfed up past her elbow, but she could do more with that arm than most people could do with both of theirs. She taught me so many ways to fix things that I cannot remember half of them. She planted an orchard all by herself, you might say. Never have I seen such beautiful fruit as she raised and canned. She used a pressure cooker for all her canning. So we got one too and I started putting fruit and vegetables up by the dozens of jars. That made such an impression on Bill’s Uncle Claude Grandbury that he began hounding us to move back to Matagorda County and buy in on the ranch they had lived on previously. Well time went by and times didn’t get any better so Bill really got serious about going back to Caney Creek. The summer of 1933 Bill made a trip to Houston to see Uncle Claude about a deal they could work out where we wouldn’t have to put any cash for we sure didn’t have any money to put down on land. While there they went to the ranch to look things over and try to decide on a trade. Bill came on home in a state of indecision. He wanted to be independent of his folks who would have turned the ranch over to us in a minute but we were not about to do that.

School started and I went back to teaching and Bill trying to decide what was best for us. Uncle Claude finally made us such a good deal that we decided to make the move. Was a hard decision as Bill’s parents were heart broke to think of us leaving them. After much weeping and gnashing of teeth we got ready to move. Sure was a job, believe me. We had a big bunch of the nicest turkeys, so with the help of all the kinfolks we dressed and canned those turkeys. Besides all the canned stuff I had put up, we had our work cut out for us. I can see Mrs. Orrell crying and packing right now.

Bill made one more trip to Houston to close the trade and sign a contract. He came home via Uvalde where he bought a big truck with high sideboards. So I resigned my place in the school system and we started packing, as we wanted to get settled before winter set in.

If I’m not mistaken we sold our old car and I rode with Bill in the truck. We left with mixed feelings as I made a lot of good friends and all of Bill’s kin were there but we felt it was best to make a break and try to make it on our own. It turned out to be the right one but it took a lot of hard work and patience on all concerned to finally decide it was the wise move.

So ended one era of our life and onto the next seventeen years on Caney Creek.

Yours truly,

Lucille Berryhill Orrell

Seventeen Years on Caney Creek

Let me start off by saying a few things about the ranch we bought into. Was a full two sections, some timbered and some farming land, the best in the world nearly. The fields had been cleared by slaves, so we were told by the old Negroes who had lived there all their lives.

There was much to be done to get ready for planting crops, corn, grains, and huge garden. We hired the colored man who lived on the place when we traded. He had a wife and a few kiddos so they helped with the chores. Bill started buying a few cattle as he could find bargains. We did buy a good Brahman bull though. Of course there was plowing to be done so Bill bought a pair of the cutest mules you nearly ever saw. Then I got some chickens somewhere and set some eggs. We were a busy couple and everybody around us was too.

I don’t know who was the happiest to have us back on the ranch, the boys, Son, Don and Maurice. They kept their paper bags packed so they would be ready when Friday came. We would pick them up as soon as school was out and away we’d go. They never stopped in the house, only to throw their things in the house. They took off to the woods or the creek. Had tree houses all up and down the creek bank. (Some were still in evidence when we moved away in 1950.)

Wouldn’t you know the winter rains set in before we were hardly settled. Boy! If you’ve never lived on a dirt road you’ve missed a lot out of your life. We didn’t live but a mile from a half-sided paved road. But that was the longest mile you ever tried to travel, ask Millie. Our only means of transportation at that time was that big truck. So you can be sure we spent a good bit of time stoking the fire and looking at each other. Sometimes I’m afraid our looks were pretty sour looking. Bill’s Uncle O’neil gave us our first earset radio. I’d listen awhile and turn it over to Bill. Grand ‘Ol Opera. One thing we had plenty of and that was wood. Was soaking wet a lot of the time but we’d dry it out and make out like we were in New York Square. Ha!

One way that I kept slim was the run to the "john". I think the men walked off half a mile and set the stake there for the toilet. I’ve never walked as fast and then sometimes time ran out before you made it. Another walk was the woodpile. I don’t know why it had to be so far from the house. Most of the time I was lucky enough to have somebody carry the wood in. I was caught though lots of times when the men were working cattle when I had to be chore girl. Winter doesn’t last forever you know. So here came spring and planting time. Bill always tried to plant corn on Valentine and the garden too. Sometime the wasn’t favorable but most of the years we were on Caney Creek we had about the biggest planting day you ever heard about. He told the Negroes on the run that if they wanted vegetables and watermelons they’d better be on hand to help plant. You can be sure they were there in force. Those Negroes knew Bill from having lived there previously and they would have "swum" a river for him. It was always "Mr. Bill". I actually caught myself calling him that.

Uncle Claude came quite often especially in the summertime and he usually got there in a foul mood. We always knew when he and Bill’s Aunt had a run-in. He’d spend the night and by the time he got ready to leave he was in a better mod. You know why? He liked fried chicken, cornbread, gravy and buttermilk better than most anybody I ever knew. He got in such a good mood on one of his trips that he gave us his Rio Coupe. Bill drove him home and brought the car back. Now, if you don’t think we were in high cotton, then you’ve missed the boat. After driving that big old truck we thought we were in high cotton. The old thing was so low on the ground though that we didn’t dare drive it over anything higher than a big bump. Uncle Claude was a good man, but a hard man to please.

1983. Looks just like it used to on Caney this time of the year. Cold, wet and dark.

work to do. For several years on April 21^st Houston always had a holiday. So the whole bunch would come out with hooks, lines and a picnic lunch. We would all take out to the creek perch fishing. Back then you always caught worlds of the biggest old perch. The boys built a fire and we had the biggest fish fry you can imagine. Then we would pick dewberries and "laze" around until time for the Bickham’s to go home. The boys never did want to go of course. They could have cared less about next day being school day.

I remember one New Year’s Day all the folks came for the day. Mamma and Dad came too. It was cold, cold. The grown folks hugged the fire but you might know the kids didn’t. They went down on the creek and were swinging on grapevines. Wouldn’t have been so bad but they were swinging out over the water. Louise had on Katheryn’s new coat when all of the sudden down she went in the creek. They didn’t know what in the world to do but since it was downright freezing they had to come to the house. Of course Kay was just sick about her coat, Louise was sicker. But the main thing we had to do was dry them off. Quite a commotion.

Let me tell you a little about Caney Creek. It heads-up around in Wharton County and winds itself in snake-like fashion to the Gulf of Mexico. As the crow flies it is only about 50 miles but the creek route is somewhere around 150 miles. In some places one can barely get through in a car. Our fields were named accordingly; the Merrit field, the Reese field, etc. The soil as I mentioned previously was or is a rich alluvial soil. Some of the most productive in the world, I imagine. During slavery days there was a brink kiln on the creek bank. Some of the signs of it are still there. Many bricks are scattered about. One huge cistern was used to catch rainwater for family use. The creek was full of brush, logs and of all things, alligators. Some 14 or 15 feet long. Bill killed one 12 feet long. He skinned it and we had it tanned and I made a purse which I have now. Also made a bunch of keyrings and bond cases.

One of our milk calves disappeared in thin air. Was right back of the barn so Bill kept watching to see if by chance an alligator might be lurking around. So sure enough one day around noon a huge big alligator was up on the bank sunning. It took quite a few shots to make a dent on the thing, but Bill and some of the hands put a rope around the monster and drug him up in the lot with a tractor. I thought the poor thing would never die, but he finally gave up the ghost. Bill and the men skinned him out and sold the hide. From that day on you didn’t have to tell the Negro children or the boys to stay away from the creek bank.

Don was staying with us one weekend. So after he finished eating he headed for the creek to see about his fishing line that he’d left set out. All. of the sudden we heard him yellin’, "Uncle Bill". Bill made a mad dash to see what had him. When he got to where he saw he was all right, he asked him what in the world was the matter. Don said an alligator that long was right there by his pole. He measured as far apart as his arms could stretch. They went on to the creek to see. There was an alligator all right. But it must have been all of two feet long. Ha! Don still didn’t think it was funny though. I can see him now, running and yelling, "Uncle Bill!"

On another occasion the boys decided to camp out in the woods one night. It was cold as the mischief but they never did mind the cold. Bill had fixed up a little old cart, so off they went as happy as if they were Indians. Well, they got gloriously lost when they stared back. I’ll tell you we had a time of hunting. When they finally knew they were lost, they stopped and pulled off a lot of moss, made a bed and bedded. They told Bill they got to going round and round and coming back to the same tree. Some excitement, but do you know they were ready for another "night on the town". Stinkers!

Maurice liked to take his pocketknife and throw it at a target on a fence post. He got to where he hardly ever missed. Bill told him he could take the 22 and go squirrel hunting, but he said not to bring in one that wasn’t shot in the head. Maurice was always the quiet one; you never knew what he was thinking. Still that way.

In order to help with making ends meet we had some real good milk cows. And since we had hands to help, Bill put them to milking. We even bought a cream separator. Now I know you younger ones don’t know what that is. Better not try to find out either. That’s the most work for the least reward that I can think of. The thing consists of at least 50 separate parts which had to be washed and scalded every single morning. That was the "fly in my milk". All of that milk and about a quart of cream. I saved it until I had a churn full. Really and truly that was a time of reflection for me. About the only time I ever got to sit down that long. Well, now that the cream had turned into that precious gold, it had to be washed and salted just right then molded. I sure wish I had kept that butter mold. Do you have any idea what we got for a pound of that sweet cream butter? Forty cents.

Did you ever hear of a kerosene icebox? Well, since we were in the dairy business, Ha! , we bought a big Kelvinator box. It really was something to see. I never did learn to light the thing but it was something for us. Our very first type of refrigeration. We’ve come a long way since then, haven’t we? We didn’t get rich but with a few dozen eggs along with the butter we did all right. Bill always liked a good milk cow. In fact he was in the process of building a pen for a milk cow when he died in 1974. He had it all done but the gate.

We got out of the dairy business quite by chance. Bill went to the lot one morning and found one of the milk cows without a tail. He asked Henry what in the world happened, but he didn’t know either. He rounded up his kids and they told it all. The cow kept switching her tail so they just tied it to a post. Well, you know what happened when she moved. Bill was mad enough to bite. He was about ready to give Henry his walking papers anyway, so he told him to be gone in short order. And he went. So, you see what I mean when I said we got out of the dairy business. Sure did lighten my load.

Bill had two good cowmen. Never was any better, I know. I’ll bet they are singing to cattle in the sky right now. One was a Negro preacher, Arthur Jones, and the other was Henry Amos. Never was two better cowmen than those two. Arthur led the herd singing and Henry brought up the rear. Very seldom did they let the bunch break.

Poor Arthur was something else. He preached on Sunday and stole a little sack of corn everytime he left after work. He knew Bill would have given him all the corn he wanted, but he just had to steal a little. One time Bill had them setting out onion sets so he got to watching Arthur. Every once in a while he’d put a few in his pocket. Bill laughed and told him to take all he wanted. Got off with him. Just in their make-up to swipe something. Arthur got sick and was on his deathbed and they came for us. We went and stayed until he died and went to his funeral. They were true friends.

One morning Bill rode off in the pasture with the dogs, of course. He was gone longer than usual, but I never did worry about him as long as the dogs were with him. When he did come in he yelled at me to come out to the fence. You’ll never guess what he had tied in front of him! A huge timber wolf. The dogs had run him until he gave out so he ran into the slough (Sneads), so Bill got his rope and coiled it and roped that bugger. It really was a beautiful animal. He had to take it to Bay City to show off. You never knew what a day would bring living with Bill.

I must tell you this. We hadn’t been living on Caney but two or three years when James and Wilmoth married. James had gotten his old job with Freeport Sulfur Co. and was living in Port Sulfur, so he came to get Wilmoth. They had a nice little wedding at the church in Van Vleck. Was Easter Sunday so everybody had on their Easter finery, but do you know it turned so cold that we all had to wear our coats. I don’t know where they went on their short honeymoon, but not far. We asked them to come back by Ashwood and spend the night with us. I knew right off that Bill had something up his sleeve. I could always tell. Well, he worked all day that day they were to come by fixing up a deal. He dared me to make out like I knew a thing, under threat of a beating. I fixed a real good supper and we sat around and visited awhile. Bedtime came and James and Wilmoth went to their quarters. They hardly hit the bed when bells began to ring. You never heard such a commotion in your life. Wilmoth was a little skittish of Bill anyway and you can imagine what she thought. Wasn’t much sleeping that night. They left soon after breakfast the next morning and I don’t think they ever came to see us as long as we lived in Caney. Their son, James Bryan did though. He used to plan on spending a week with us as soon as school was out. We’d meet him at Merrit’s Corner. He loved to fish and ride in the pickup with Uncle Bill. Was a joy to have him as he was so sweet and agreeable. You’ll have to ask him what happened later on to him and Kathryn on a hunt. He might tell you.

January 21, 1983

Let’s stop for a little current news.

Not raining today, but dreary, dark and cloudy. Temperature around 40 degrees. Mildred came up to help Em and Travis east oysters. I ate too many shrimp yesterday, so I passed the oysters by. Me, oh my. How could you do that, you sack! Well, my tummy told me to. That’s why. Don is over at Wilma’s sewing up some curtains for his pickup windows.

Now back to living on Caney.

After Bill fired Henry’s bunch he hired a little Negro called Shorty. He sure had the right name, but he was a real cowhand. He was doing just fine until Bill found out that he was afraid of graveyards. Bill sent Don and Shorty across the creek in what was called the Rugley trap. We had it leased for grazing and they were to gather the cows and bring them to the house for branding and such. Bill and I were sitting at the table on the back porch when we way Don on a runaway house. He was riding Redbird, a thoroughbred. She was flying and we knew she would jump the gate, which she did. Don rolled off just as she made a jump for the gate. Were literally scared to death. But got up and came toward us all in one piece. Bill asked him what in the world happened. He said he and Shorty were riding in the thicket when they came upon this old graveyard. Shorty let out a whoop and headed for the house. He said old Mr. Rugley was after him. Said he could tell because his hair stared standing on end. From that day on it was awful. Bill and Don rigged up every contraption one could think of to scare poor Shorty. I couldn’t do one thing to make them quit. The fact is he was no longer good for anything. He left and so far as I know he is still living but working for rice farmers.

The thing that really made Shorty decide it was time to leave for safer places was what happened one Sunday evening late. He had a girl friend by that time so he brought her out to the pens while he fed. You’ll never guess what Bill put the boys up to doing. Can’t guess? I didn’t think you could. He told the boys (Son, Don and Maurice) to get up in the loft. (Know what a loft is?) Well, it’s a place upstairs where hay was kept. And when Shorty got up there he started playing a little old jews-harp they had. But must have been knee deep, but that didn’t stop Shorty. When he heard that music he jumped as far as he could and told that little old girl to get in the car that old Mr. Rugley was after him. They left there so fast that his car nearly missed the bridge over Caney Creek. The next morning he bundled up his clothes and it the road. I didn’t blame him one bit and told him so.

January 22, 1983

The Washington Redskins soundly whipped the Dallas Cowboy’s

I’m sure if anybody is reading this they are wondering why I’m not in sequence. I’m just following my nose. Ha!

Soon after we moved to Ashwood, Bill started building another storm cellar. Had a good place to dig one this time. Right on the bank of Caney Creek. The ground was soft, so before you say jack-robinson, he had a nice cellar. I never did go in it, but I peeked inside. I don’t want to go underground until I’m put there. Anyway, I went to Louisiana and Mississippi with Mamma and Dad one summer. James Bryan came to stay with Bill and you can imagine what he went through! Do you know while we were away up visiting Aunt Amy and Uncle Burk Lampton we heard that a gulf storm was headed straight for Matagorda County and Brazoria County too. We decided to start home so we headed home and didn’t stop, except for gas, until we got to Ashwood about midnight. Nothing happened anywhere near as the storm veered and went someplace else. Thank goodness, but Lordy we were a tired bunch. James Bryan and Bill were sound asleep when we got there. But they did have enough wind that bill made J.B. get in the cellar and not stick his head out all day. Bill stayed pretty close by too. James Bryan told us a few things that happened while we were gone. Bill didn’t think one of the things was a bit funny. He went in the chicken house late one evening to get the eggs. He reached up to get the eggs out of the next. Do you know what was in that nest? A big chicken snake! Bill tore all the roosts down and almost broke his neck getting out the door.

We took Mamma and Dad home the next morning and there was no damage in Angleton either. Mamma said she wasn’t going to leave home anymore and she didn’t for a long time.

We had friends in Bay City that liked to come out and squirrel hunt. One Sunday we planned to have a picnic and fry the squirrels outside. Of course, it started raining so we had to move in doors. You talk about a mess, but we had it. Guess Bill Clark and I fried twenty-five squirrels. I didn’t want squirrels for a long time. Bill and Mutt Clark were some of our best friends, along with Gussie and Keetre Slone. There was Jimmie and Harold Hall, how lived in Pledger. (Harold died the last of 1982.)

Along about 1940 or 1942 Mildred and Tom moved to the flats as Tom always called this part of the country. Dow Chemical had started a plant at Freeport so Tom came down and got a job. Mildred and the children came down and lived in the old Reese house until they could find something in Angleton. I just must tell a little about what happened while they lived there. Funny now, but it wasn’t very funny then. Have to have a good sense of humor to see the funny side. I think it rained everyday they lived there. The mud didn’t keep them from going to the creek to fish. Wilma was staying with Mildred as Tom was staying in Angleton with Mamma and Dad, working shift work. Se he didn’t get to come to Ashwood except on his days off. We heard via radio that a gulf storm was brewing out in the gulf pretty close to Matagorda and sure enough it came in with torrential rains. Bill told Tom we’d better try to get out before the road got so bad that we couldn’t, so we all got in our car. Got just past the bridge and down we went. Bill and Tom pushed the car back on the bridge and how Bill ever turned around on that narrow bridge I’ll never know. We got back to the house and Bill, Tom and Hollis got in the pick-up, Mildred, Natalie and I got in the car. Bill drove the car out back of the house and rocked it back and forth until it was set, then did the pickup the same way. You never saw such swaying as those big pecan trees did. Almost touched the ground but never broke off. Natalie was just a baby, so every few minutes she would say, "Mamma, I got to wee-wee", so Mildred would hold her out the door. That went on most of the night. About daylight the wind began to die down and we went to the house, a sad looking bunch, tired, hungry and sleepy. The only damage to the house was the screens were torn off the back porch. The boys made a fire, Mildred and I fixed a bite to eat and we all piled in bed. I think Wilma had gone to Bay City, so rode out the storm there. Bill was between and rock and a hard place; tornadoes in the hills and gulf storms on the coast.

I must tell about the visit we had from Bill’s wealthy aunt and uncle from San Antonio. We tried to have everything just right, and really. Aunt Tennie brought me two of the cutest Persian kittens you nearly ever saw; both snow white, I think. More about the cats later. One thing Bill forgot to do was shut the dogs up. Their barking didn’t bother us, but when I started to make a fire in the stove the next morning, not a stick of wood could I find. It was all outside. Uncle O’neil had thrown it at the dogs. We sure didn’t hear any commotion. Ha! That’s how sound we used to sleep.

To prove what I said about sleeping sound, we had gone to bed and were sound asleep. Must have been all of ten o’clock when somebody was leaning over our bed. Bill hollered "Run Pete, there’s a bunch of them!" Did we ever scramble to safety. It was Mr. and Mrs. Orrell, Cynthia and Ethel. They got stock across the bridge, so that’s why we didn’t hear their car. They all got the biggest kick out of scaring the daylights out of us.

Now back to the poor little cats. Bill went hunting one night and when he came in late, of course I was sound asleep. All of the sudden the kittens raised up and started trying to get out. Bill had closed the doors so they couldn’t get out. He had brought a dead wildcat and had put it right up by where the cats were sleeping on my cedar chest. You talk about going wild, but they did! Poor little things were scared to death and Bill wouldn’t let them out. I finally got the door open and out they went, up a tree and on top of the house. One of them finally made a mad dash and headed for the woods. I never saw that one gain. The other one I finally coaxed down, but from then on he had a disturbed mind and never was my pet any more. Bill was always death on cats.

Did you ever get into the winemaking business? Well, we did or I should say Bill did. The creek was lined with huge live oak trees that had mustang grapevines all over them. They were almost continuous from one tree to the next. Bill decided to try his hand at winemaking. He bought two big kegs (10 gals.) He and some of the help gathered the grapes by the tubs-full. The whole deal was almost a disaster before it got off the ground. Bill rolled his sleeves up to his elbow to mash them before adding the sugar and yeast. He nearly lost his fingernails and his hands were so sore from he acid. Took a few days to get into the mood again. He finally got the stuff in the kegs and upstairs over the garage. He could hardly wait to test the stuff and when he did I thought a bomb had exploded. Lost most of the one keg. He decided to let the other keg just set there and see what happened. Later on he tried it and if you ever wanted to get high take a sip of that mustang wine. The juice did make good jelly if you used about five to one. I mean five cups of water to one of grape juice.

Can you image us having an indoor toilet! Well, it was almost a necessity. I had to have surgery and Bill know I couldn’t make it to the "john" so before I got home from the hospital he had put one in. I really think that was one of the greatest inventions ever made for us humans. Don’t you?

I’ll just have to tell what happened to poor Maurice. Bill had the boys helping pull corn. It was hot, hot so Bill came to the house to get some water. I didn’t pay any attention to what he was doing. In fact I think I went to the post office and when I came back Maurice was nearly dead, or I thought so. He was as pale as a ghost and moaning and groaning. I was ready to take him to the hospital. Bill said, "No, he’ll be all right after awhile." What I didn’t know was that Bill had found an old cigar on the mantel and had given it to the boys. Son urped, so he got over his spell. But poor Maurice was a long time coming around. He smokes now, but I doubt if he has ever smoked another cigar. I could have hung Bill, but he’d have done the same thing he very next day.

My, oh my, can’t things change overnight? Here came Pearl Harbor. Threw everything and everybody out of kilter. The draft board in Bay City told Bill that none would e exempt not even the farmers and ranchers. So we got ready to do whatever was necessary to be ready. You just can’t walk off and leave a bunch of cows and all he other things. Bill leased the ranch to a neighbor and we moved to Bay City. Stayed with Wilma awhile until we could find a place to buy or rent. Bill kept going to the draft board to see about when they would call him. They told him they would keep in touch. In the meantime, Don and Maurice went to San Antonio and went to work as airplane mechanics at Lackland. Bill and Fisher Smith tried to get on there too but were turned down. Finally Fisher was called up and if I remember he nearly died and so did Doris Lee, his wife. Bill kept waiting and waiting, so bored and impatient \that he was miserable. I got a teaching job at Wadsworth to finish out the term. A new sheriff had been elected and he was looking for a deputy. He knew Bill casually but that was all. He came to ask Bill about being his chief deputy. Bill told him he was just waiting to be called to he service. He said that if you just take it until I can find somebody else that he’d sure like to have him. We talked it over and decided that since he didn’t have any idea when he might be called he’d just take he job, so he would go slap-dab crazy. It turned out that the age limit was lowered and that let Bill out for the time being.

Anyway, Bill and Mr. Sailor became fast friends.

January 25, 1983

Just heard the State of the Union speech by President Reagan and the comments which followed. Now I’m going to bed and try to solve all the problems. I think I can do about as well as some of the so-called experts. Ha! Good night. Morning after speech. You never heard so much conversation. Don’t think anything will be any different. Can’t with all this wrangling.

Now back to my topic. I had fish for lunch today and that got me to thinking about turtle! Don’t you like turtle soup, tried and stewed turtle? One evening Mr. Sailor and Bill went out to the ranch and on the way back they saw a big freshwater turtle. He asked Bill if they could stop and get it. Bill wanted to know what for and he said to eat. Well they stopped and got the thing, killed it and dressed it right there. That was a new experience for Bill. He’d done about everything but that. We were invited to eat turtle with the Sailor’s one night. Believe me we were pretty skeptical about eating turtle, but do you know it was good. A turtle has several different kinds of meat. Some tastes like chicken, some like fish and some like turtle, Ha!

January 26, 1983

"Bear" Bryant died today of a massive heart attack while on an X-ray table.

Such a beautiful day. Makes me want to start a garden like I used to on Caney. Now back to Bay City and things that happened while we were there. We had some real close friends, in more ways than one. The Willis’, Savages’, and the Briscos’. Ila and C.C. had two children that we almost claimed for our own. Dorothy Jane and C.C. Jr. Poor C.C. had a stroke later on and didn’t move a muscle for two or three years. The saddest sight you nearly ever saw. Holly Lee Brisco died of a heart attack, but so far as I know Garlen and Margie are still living.

Mr. Chapman was the jailer and he and Bill were very close friends until the day he died. They sure made those prisoners toe the mark. They sure didn’t have all that the prisoners have today and had to work a lot more than they do today. One day just before Bill left for lunch a Negro woman came in dragging a big old Negro boy. She wanted Mr. Chapman to whip him. Said she worked like a dog sending him to school and there he was playing hooky. Mr. Chapman told her he wouldn’t whip him but she could. They put him and his Mamma in a little holding room and gave her a prison-bat. They had taken that thing from a prisoner. Boy! When she got through with him he promised everything good and bad about going to school. When they turned him out he lit a shuck for the schoolhouse. Bill came home laughing and laughing. So many incidents happened among the Negroes in Negro town.

If you know anything about Negroes, there’s something about Saturday night that can’t keep them away from shooting dice. They will invariably find a new place each Saturday night to have their fun. They knew very good and well they would get caught but that didn’t stop them. The jail would be full Monday morning and here would come their bosses paying their fines to get them out and on the job whatever it might be. Bill and Vic Anderson and a few other lawmen would have a barrel of fun listening to the excuses of why they were talked into playing. Vic was an army sergeant stationed in Bay City to handle the soldiers who wandered the street, especially on Saturday night. He and Bill were real close friends. He was from Kenosha, Wisconsin, so he spent a lot of time at our house. His wife, Ruth came to see him so Wilma let them use of her room while she was here for a month. She was a lovely person and we all enjoyed her so much. Liked to have killed both of them when it came time for her to leave. Do you know it wasn’t very long after Vic got out of the service before he died, just a young man.

So many things happened while we were in Bay City but all the time Bill was just "itching" to get back on the ranch. That’s all he could think about.

January 31, 1983

At noon tornadoes all around. Rain squalls, lighting and thunder. Mildred is on the road between Cleburne and Lake Jackson somewhere. Hope she and Lucy make it safe and sound.

Now back to my theme. (I like to ramble around a bit) I’ve said previously that Bill always like to have a nice milk cow. We had one that we shared with the Willis’. We all had all we could use. Those children got the biggest kick out of watching Bill and their Daddy milk. The calf is what they liked to play around with. I have the cutest picture of C.C. yanking on the calf.

Before we moved to town, Sun Oil and Humble got permission to do some testing on our property. It turned out that we got a good lease on our land. Enough to kind of put us on easy street. While we were in Bay City we got a chance to sell some of our royalty. Uncle Claude thought it was a good deal, so we sold enough to clear our land. That was a wonderful feeling as we had been in debt nearly all of our married life.

While Bill way "lawing" I was teaching. The last year we lived in Bay city I taught in Markham, a little community seven miles west of Bay City. I taught social studies in high school. I’m sure I learned more than the student. Sure ha some nice children.

World War ended in the spring before school was out. So Bill told Mr. Sailor he was going back to the ranch and he’d have to get him another deputy. Course they all hated to see him go but they all knew Bill was a born rancher. The men all got together and gave him a big stag party. The boys, Maurice, Don and Son were all home from the service before we went back to the ranch and you know they were glad. Son had been half way across the Pacific when the war ended. So the ship made an about face and headed back to the states. Don was in the Marines and on Okinawa, so he was sent to Japan to guard prisoner for several months before he was to get home. Maurice was in the Air Corps and was sent to Trinidad for a while.

There was some rejoicing when they all got back safe and sound. When Don left to go across he made Kathryn promise to quit sucking her thumb before he came back, Ha! And she finally did, after flattening both thumbs and her index finger. Ask her about it!

Now back to the move back home in Ashwood, or on Caney Creek. We were both so happy to get back that we didn’t mind all the work we had to do. You never saw such a mess as everything was. Wilma came and helped me and Bill got some of our same Negroes to help him. We had some work done in the house and painted on the outside. Of course Bill bought more cattle, a tractor and tools. Some how things didn’t go do well with the cattle. We began to lose some from different diseases. Lost some of the most beautiful calves. Just discouraging and we were about ready to make a change. I was having so much trouble with sinusitis. One thing that we got to see was an oil well brought in on our land. Now that was a real thrill. Bill and I were sitting on the edge of the slush pit one morning about daylight (we’d been tipped off that they were going to bring it in that morning). So sure enough you never heard such rumbling and roaring as we heard. In a few minutes here she come belching water, mud, oil and gas. Only thing though, the oil was sucked by the gas so in a few days the made a gas well out of it. Some sight, but not much money. Still get a little check every month. Every little bit helps, doesn’t it?

We had our good times and bad for three years, but Bill finally decided to try to sell out and move to a dryer place. The Farm Bureau was having a big barbecue at Le Tulle Park so we went and while there Bill lit it be known that we were going to sell our place. Do you know we sold that place to a couple who never owned a place of their own. Had plenty of money but had never found a place they wanted until they saw ours. Harry and Lorena Daughty, ranchers and rice farmers, however Lorena was Dr. Shoultz’s nurse. Such a nice couple, no children same as Bill and me. Shame, shame.

Will you let me back track and throw in a few everyday occurrences that I forgot along the way. (I’ve got to rest a minute so I can collect my thoughts.)

February 1, 1983

A perfectly beautiful day after the storms of yesterday.

If you know anything about the weather in the wintertime in south Texas you know it get pretty bad. Especially for the men who have to get out and tend the stock. Bill very seldom left the house without his rubber boots. Usually he would leave them hanging upside down on the back steps so they would be dry the next morning. He swore he would never own another pair if he ever got in the hills again, but you know what he had to eat his words. For when we did move back to the hill country again, he had to irrigate so you see what he had to buy the first thing. So never say never, Ha! Now back to the boots. And the next thing I saw was him rolling around on the walk with one boot on and the other half on and half off. I didn’t know what on earth so I started to "you know what"! That’s when I got in trouble. I couldn’t help him get that boot off and he just knew when he did get out of it there’d be a big snake roll out. You know what it was? A little green frog who was as scared as Bill was. (Don’t I make a mess?) One thing for sure, the boots were put on the inside from then on.

February 2, 1983

Wednesday, a beautiful Ground Hog Day

I know you think I’m picking on Bill, but as you already know he was always the one who did the trick on the other fellow. Now it’s his turn. Pretty soon after Maurice got home from the service he got himself a motorcycle. A whole bunch of the folks were out to the place to spend the day. Among them were Tom, Mildred and the kiddos and maybe others. Well, Maurice came out on his new vehicle. Of course everybody was looking it over, so Bill asked Maurice if he could take a spin. It was as hot as blazes around about noon. The cows had come in to drink and were all standing around the water trough when Bill took off on that monster. Well, the cows took off too, with their tails over their backs. They headed straight for the bottom pasture. We waited for Bill to come back but an hour went by and no Bill. I thought maybe he tore out to Bay City to show off, but Maurice and Tom finally decided to go up or down the road, which ever. They went about a mile and found Bill down in the bar ditch trying to get the motorcycle back on the road. No hat and dripping wet. That baldhead was as hot as fire and just as red. He said he thought he would turn around and before he could say "jack-robinson" he was in the ditch and couldn’t get the thing started going. He had a pretty meek expression on his face when they finally got in. Everybody wanted to laugh but turned their heads when they did. Don’t guess he ever got on another motorcycle. The poor cows were pretty skittish of vehicles from then on. That same strip of road is now paved and as good as you’ll find.

Oh yes, I can’t leave Hollis out. He has always been a homebody and would never stay away from home. But he wanted to learn to swim badly. And since Lake Jackson had no swimming pool at that time and Bay City did he said he would stay at Wilma’s ago with the boys to the pool. Mildred and Tom took him over to Wilma’s and turned right around and came out to see us. They did stay long enough to eat dinner before they took out home. They just knew Hollis would call them before they left. But he did stay and learn to swim. And has been an excellent swimmer ever since. One thing he can’t do tough is to get in a boat. Makes him sick as a dog.

Can’t let Kathryn and James Bryan off the hook, or maybe ask them what happened when Bill took them coon hunting one night. If they don’t tell it like it was, I’ll haunt them, Ha!

Before I forget, let me tell you what happened to a keg of wine that Bill made. It was the best stuff you nearly ever drank. Two sips and you were gone with the wind! Bill was sorry he hadn’t gotten a fifty-barrel drum.

The last couple of years we lived on Caney, Bill decided to plant some cotton. He planted the Jack in the Bean Stalk Kind (on and on). Never did see such beautiful stalks and it filled up from top to bottom or I should say from bottom to top. When it came time to pick it there was no way except to have it defoliated. Looked like a snow when all the leaves fell off. The kids, I don’t remember how many or who all were out there so Bill made a trade with them at so much a hundred (ha!) to pick that day. They started like a house a fire, but you never heard as many excuses to go to the house for this or that and in a short time it was all over. I guess that was their one and only experience at picking cotton. Bill didn’t go broke and the kids didn’t make their million.

I’ll just have to tell this on Kay-did. She stayed with us a good bit when she was about three or four years old. She loved fresh mil right from the cow (now listen to her gag). And as soon as somebody brought the mild to the house she was standing right there with her cup. She couldn’t wait for me to train it up. Ask her.

Another "almost miracle" that happened to us before we left Caney was electricity and workable telephone. Bill hit his head on our old wall telephone, so he jerked it off the wall and threw it out in the yard. Wish I’d kept it, would be worth a lot of money now. Any way we had light hanging from the ceiling with a long string attached. I never did see Bill turn off a light from then on for the rest of his life. We still cooked on a wood stove. Bill bought me a beautiful wood range when we moved back to the ranch. It had a reservoir on the side that held about five gallons of water. You can’t image what a "boon" that was. That meant I wouldn’t have to heat water in all the pots and pans to take a bath. Oh! You youngsters don’t know what you missed.

Now that we had our ranch sold we had to start looking for a place to move. Of course the first place we went was Leakey. Bill’s folks were beside themselves. They thought it was time to leave for we had written them about eating bullfrogs. They just knew we were on the verge of starvation when they heard about that, Ha! They don’t realize how good they are, if you can keep them from jumping out of the skillet.

Anyway we took out looking. We looked at every place that might be for sale. No deal. Bill’s dad was about to die for fear we would leave and look elsewhere. And we nearly did until Bill decided to look at the Childress place again. I wasn’t the least bit impressed but was over powered by all the family. Do you know we traded on Friday, January 13, 1950. A day I won’t forget the rest of my life. The place was small, about a hundred acres, I reckon and it had a big irrigation pump and the river to irrigate from. You remember what I said about the rubber boots?

When our colored friends found out that we were gong to move the whole bunch went into mourning. You would have thought we both had died. They just thought they couldn't’ do without Mr. Bill. Made us feel bad. When I started packing a whole bunch of good old Negro women walked from the "run", as called the road to the Negro settlement.

By the way, I found out who the cotton pickers were, Kay, Louise, Hollis and Natalie. I don’t know whether you know it or not, but Kay and Louise are a lot older than Hollis, Hee Hee!

Now to the move. We packed up and got somebody with a truck to move us. We had come up in the world as we had a car and pick up. For some reason Bill went on ahead and I was to follow the truck the next day. Bill told me to follow close enough so the dogs could see me, Ha! Well, I packed up what I could in the car and went over to Bay City and spent the night with Wilma and Kay. I was ready when the truck came by the next morning. I did as instructed and kept in sight of the dogs. We stopped in Yoakum for lunch and headed on to the hills. Arrived there about sundown. Thus ends another chapter in our life.

I ended this epistle the fourth day of January 1983.

Lucille Berryhill Orrell.