Sandy Powers's Blog - Posts Tagged "sandy-powers"
Did You See My Chicken?
Did You See My Chicken?
These were desperate times. 1938. The Great Depression. Many people were out of work and hungry. Dad considered himself one of the lucky ones. He was able to get a job with the PWA, the Public Works Administration, created by President Roosevelt in 1935. Earning $40 a month, Mom and Dad rented a house in LaGrange, Ohio. It was an old house with a pot belly stove but no water. A block away was the village square which had a communal water pump. Every day Mom and Dad would take turns filling buckets of water at the pump to carry back to empty into a large tub resting on the floor in the kitchen. Even with such an inconvenience, Mom and Dad thought they were fortunate. At least, more fortunate than many of the folks they knew, like Orville and Dee.
Orville and Dee wanted to get married but they couldn’t afford to live together and there was no room for the two of them at either parent’s house. Taking pity on the unhappy couple, my mom and dad offered our home to them.
“Get married and you can live with us until you can find work,” Mom said.
Orville and Dee married and moved in with us: seven people crowded into a small two bedroom house with a pot belly stove and no water. Orville was indeed thankful. Maybe a little too thankful because one afternoon Orville came home with a dead chicken.
“Grace, I found this chicken dead at the side of the road,” Orville explained with a wide smile spread across his face.
“What?” my mother exclaimed. “How in the world could you find a dead chicken along side of the road?”
“There it was, just laying there. And it still warm,” Orville answered with a wide smile spread across his face.
“Indeed, it is,” agreed Mom, as she felt the dead chicken with her hand. “Our luck must be changing! Chicken soup for dinner!”
And what a fine dinner it was. For the first time in many a day, we had our fill.
Two mornings later there was a knock on our door. It was Mr. Horvath, our neighbor two houses down.
“Mrs. Balogh, did you see my chicken?” he asked. “I noticed on occasion one of my chickens walking towards your shed.”
“My shed?”
Mr. Horvath nodded.
“No, Mr. Horvath, I did not see your chicken, but I will ask around,” Mom replied.
Later that evening, Mom casually asked Orville, “Orville, where again did you say you found that dead chicken?”
Red-faced, Orville stammered, “I…I was so thankful to you for giving us a home and we were hungry and I wanted to contribute so I scattered bread crumbs along the path towards the shed and this chicken followed the crumbs….. Mr. Horvath had so many…..”
“Oh, Orville!” my mother wailed.
The following day, Mr. Horvath was $1.00 richer.
Sandy Powers is the author of “Passage.”
http://www.sandypowers.org
These were desperate times. 1938. The Great Depression. Many people were out of work and hungry. Dad considered himself one of the lucky ones. He was able to get a job with the PWA, the Public Works Administration, created by President Roosevelt in 1935. Earning $40 a month, Mom and Dad rented a house in LaGrange, Ohio. It was an old house with a pot belly stove but no water. A block away was the village square which had a communal water pump. Every day Mom and Dad would take turns filling buckets of water at the pump to carry back to empty into a large tub resting on the floor in the kitchen. Even with such an inconvenience, Mom and Dad thought they were fortunate. At least, more fortunate than many of the folks they knew, like Orville and Dee.
Orville and Dee wanted to get married but they couldn’t afford to live together and there was no room for the two of them at either parent’s house. Taking pity on the unhappy couple, my mom and dad offered our home to them.
“Get married and you can live with us until you can find work,” Mom said.
Orville and Dee married and moved in with us: seven people crowded into a small two bedroom house with a pot belly stove and no water. Orville was indeed thankful. Maybe a little too thankful because one afternoon Orville came home with a dead chicken.
“Grace, I found this chicken dead at the side of the road,” Orville explained with a wide smile spread across his face.
“What?” my mother exclaimed. “How in the world could you find a dead chicken along side of the road?”
“There it was, just laying there. And it still warm,” Orville answered with a wide smile spread across his face.
“Indeed, it is,” agreed Mom, as she felt the dead chicken with her hand. “Our luck must be changing! Chicken soup for dinner!”
And what a fine dinner it was. For the first time in many a day, we had our fill.
Two mornings later there was a knock on our door. It was Mr. Horvath, our neighbor two houses down.
“Mrs. Balogh, did you see my chicken?” he asked. “I noticed on occasion one of my chickens walking towards your shed.”
“My shed?”
Mr. Horvath nodded.
“No, Mr. Horvath, I did not see your chicken, but I will ask around,” Mom replied.
Later that evening, Mom casually asked Orville, “Orville, where again did you say you found that dead chicken?”
Red-faced, Orville stammered, “I…I was so thankful to you for giving us a home and we were hungry and I wanted to contribute so I scattered bread crumbs along the path towards the shed and this chicken followed the crumbs….. Mr. Horvath had so many…..”
“Oh, Orville!” my mother wailed.
The following day, Mr. Horvath was $1.00 richer.
Sandy Powers is the author of “Passage.”
http://www.sandypowers.org
The Easter Ducks
The Easter Ducks
by Sandy Powers
Bill and Debbie had a half acre pond in the back of their house in Blaine, Minnesota. One year Debbie had a great idea for an Easter gift for the kids: baby ducklings. When the ducklings were big enough, she reasoned, they’d live in the pond and everyone would enjoy watching them. Why not? So, Bill and Debbie bought three baby ducklings for Easter. Because Minnesota is known for its cold Spring weather, the baby ducklings were kept in the kids’ filled swimming pool in the basement with a heat lamp shinning on the ducklings and water. By the time Summer arrived, the three ducklings were large enough for the pond. All summer long, they swam and walked in the yard, eating the kernels of corn Bill, Debbie and kids scattered on the grass. Before long, the ducklings became two hens and a drake.
Autumn came and off flew the ducks to warmer places. The kids cried. Bill tried to reassure them that the ducks may return in late Spring. Sure enough with the flowers blooming in Mid-May, the ducks returned to the pond. But this time they brought a few friends. Ten ducks swam in the pond and ate the kernels of corn sprinkled along the grass. Again in Autumn, the ducks flew off to warmer places only to return in Mid-May with a few more friends. By the third year, fifty ducks were swimming and eating kernels of corn dotting the banks of the pond.
Now, the sight of all those ducks swimming and eating made Bill hungry. Wouldn’t a duck dinner taste just grand? Bill decided to catch two of the drakes. He sprinkled corn on the lawn but also filled a bucket with kernels then poured a bottle of vodka evenly over the morsels. Marinate from the inside out. As is so common in most species, the drakes headed straight for the vodka while the hens pecked at the non-alcoholic kernels on the grass. With his mouth watering, Bill sat in a lawn chair and waited. Night was fast approaching, prompting the ducks to fly off for nesting in the trees nearby. Bill ran into the house for a sack to place the two drunken drakes in that he was sure he would find passed out on the bank. But as luck would have it, the drakes were not passed out on the bank of the pond. Instead, two lonely drakes were quietly floating in the middle of the pond weaving back and forth. Bill swore he saw a smile on their beaks.
“I think I’ll join them,” Bill laughed as went into the house for his vodka-on-the-rocks.
by Sandy Powers
Bill and Debbie had a half acre pond in the back of their house in Blaine, Minnesota. One year Debbie had a great idea for an Easter gift for the kids: baby ducklings. When the ducklings were big enough, she reasoned, they’d live in the pond and everyone would enjoy watching them. Why not? So, Bill and Debbie bought three baby ducklings for Easter. Because Minnesota is known for its cold Spring weather, the baby ducklings were kept in the kids’ filled swimming pool in the basement with a heat lamp shinning on the ducklings and water. By the time Summer arrived, the three ducklings were large enough for the pond. All summer long, they swam and walked in the yard, eating the kernels of corn Bill, Debbie and kids scattered on the grass. Before long, the ducklings became two hens and a drake.
Autumn came and off flew the ducks to warmer places. The kids cried. Bill tried to reassure them that the ducks may return in late Spring. Sure enough with the flowers blooming in Mid-May, the ducks returned to the pond. But this time they brought a few friends. Ten ducks swam in the pond and ate the kernels of corn sprinkled along the grass. Again in Autumn, the ducks flew off to warmer places only to return in Mid-May with a few more friends. By the third year, fifty ducks were swimming and eating kernels of corn dotting the banks of the pond.
Now, the sight of all those ducks swimming and eating made Bill hungry. Wouldn’t a duck dinner taste just grand? Bill decided to catch two of the drakes. He sprinkled corn on the lawn but also filled a bucket with kernels then poured a bottle of vodka evenly over the morsels. Marinate from the inside out. As is so common in most species, the drakes headed straight for the vodka while the hens pecked at the non-alcoholic kernels on the grass. With his mouth watering, Bill sat in a lawn chair and waited. Night was fast approaching, prompting the ducks to fly off for nesting in the trees nearby. Bill ran into the house for a sack to place the two drunken drakes in that he was sure he would find passed out on the bank. But as luck would have it, the drakes were not passed out on the bank of the pond. Instead, two lonely drakes were quietly floating in the middle of the pond weaving back and forth. Bill swore he saw a smile on their beaks.
“I think I’ll join them,” Bill laughed as went into the house for his vodka-on-the-rocks.
