Chickens By Aunt Wilda

We use to sell chickens. One day we had an order for several chickens. Aunt Edith and Uncle Furman came to visit while the chickens were being prepared. Furman stepped right in to get them ready. We always cut the heads off on a tree stump with two nails hammered in the top to stick the neck through. Up goes the ax , down it comes, and off goes the head. Edith said," I want to try it." Furman gave her the ax and said "Now don't cut your leg off." she had him to put the head on the stump and then she put the ax up a little and down it came.The neck got cut, but not off. The chicken jumped up and ran off. Edith started yelling,"Get him, get him." Furman ran and got the chicken,Grand pop stood there laughing and the poor chicken was hurting. Furman cut the chicken's head off, and off it ran again,tripping and running some more. Edith yelled,"See Furman, you can't do any better than me." She didn't know that they do that sometime because of the nerves. She went into the house and the rest of the chickens got their turn.

The Late 40's

Everyone had a job in the late 40's, there was no TV or electronics and hardly anyone had a telephone, but life was good. An occasional movie downtown, the beach, the boardwalk, and our friends was all we needed. It was a simpler way of living and I miss it.

If I was starting over again, I would buy myself a small farm and just sell vegetables at a roadside stand. I did many things in my lifetime, but none were as satisfying as watching animals and vegetables grow.

Roof Slide

After Grand mom and Grand pop,Lois and I moved from the lock house,we moved to Hanes road in Edgley, which later became a part of Levittown,Pa.. My job at that house was to clean the Chicken coop every Saturday. One Saturday after I finished my job I thought it would be a good idea to get up on the slanted roof and slide down. Well, when I did that, I got my pants caught on a nail and put a large L shaped tear in them. The first thing I thought was,( Mother will be so mad about this) I waited until she wasn't in sight, and I went to my room and sewed them.The L was very large and I sewed it with about four stitches. Later I heard Mother laughing out loud and said to Daddy,"Look at this." and when I walked into the room, there she was holding my pants up and laughing. I was then told that (I should never do anything like that again.)( That was the same as telling a lie.)(You should never Sneak.) Etc, etc.She at least didn't tell me never to slide on the roof again, So Guess What? The next week I took the hammer with me and got rid of that nail. I didn't only slide once, I went down again.

Boy From NY City

A family from NY City rented a house on our street for the Summer. They had a boy about 5 years old that talked so strange, I barely understood him. He always tried to sound tough, I guess he was from a tough neighborhood or something. He would say something like "I don't want to hurt you, but don't came on my porch." He wasn't big enough to hurt anyone, that's what made it so strange sounding. Even though we didn't really like him, we would go over to his yard, because he had the neatest toy trucks, tractors, and other dirt moving toys.

Selling Fruit Trees

Dad started selling fruit trees from the stark catalog for extra money. He would take the orders and send them in for the people. This was before we moved to Erma and he actually sold some to Mrs. Sirrus who would later be our neighbor. When I got out of the army, she gave me two of the fig trees she bought from him and I moved them to the yard in Erma. I put one by the cabin door, so that fig tree stayed in the family for a long time.

Sand Dunes

The sand dunes in North Wildwood were like the dunes that are in Avalon now. They pushed them down to make a clear view of the ocean for the motels they were building. So, then they decided it was better to have the dunes to protect against hurricanes. They planted dune grass and let the sand make new dunes, but they are nowhere near as big as the old ones were.

The Rat Trap

I was watching our neighbor lady and her grandson clean their yard one day and she told him to reach in the hole under their house and get the rat trap so she could put new bait on it. Well he did and I bet it really hurt from the sound of his scream. That's when I found out I could laugh at other people's trouble's.

I felt guilty about laughing, but I still laugh when I think about it. She started blaming her husband for putting the trap in the hole, that is the most comical part of the whole thing.