"Snips and snails and puppy dog tails.........that's what little boys are made of."


Speaking of puppy dog tails.........back when I was a little girl, living at the end of Third Street, we had what seemed like a big house, with the tall steps out in front.  At my age it seemed like a pretty cool house.  We also had dogs when we lived there.  I can not tell you what kind of dogs they were, they were just dogs.  They were a type of dog that when they were small you cut their tails off.  That always seemed a little drastic to me, but I was only 4 or 5 years old.  My Dad always went to the front steps to cut their tails off, right where the Elephant Ears were growing.    I remember one time that he had just cut the puppies tails off, and later that day I was trying to get in the door.  As usual, I grabbed the door handle, swung backwards, and fell right down into the Elephant Ears, right where the puppy dog tails were.  I was screaming, "I'm on the puppy dog tails, I'm on the puppy dog tails......"
That may be part of what scarred me for life.........

My Daddy liked lemon in his tea.  Every night he wanted lemon in his tea.  I guess that is where I get my love for tea.  I like a nice slice of lemon too. My Mom would buy those little plastic squeeze lemons for my Dad to use. Sometimes the holes weren't punched very well in them.  My Dad had a little bit of a temper.  I remember one night after a long day at work that we sat down for dinner.  (Just think, that was a time that families actually sat down and ate together.)  My Dad reached for the lemon, and the hole had not been punched.  He squeezed and squeezed and squeezed, and nothing came out.  Then he ran to the back door, said a few "choice words," and hurled that lemon across the back yard, by the bumper shop and across the railroad tracks.  A hush fell over the dinner table.......................................................


No lemon tonight.