WEBVTT - Ep. 328: This Country Life - Porridge, Eggs, and Papaws 0:00:05.200 --> 0:00:08.640 Welcome to this country Life. I'm your host, Brent Reeves 0:00:09.119 --> 0:00:12.680 from coon hunting to trot lining and just general country living. 0:00:12.920 --> 0:00:13.880 I want you to stay a. 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:17.799 While as I share my experiences in life lessons. This 0:00:17.920 --> 0:00:21.240 Country Life is presented by Case Knives on Meat Eaters 0:00:21.360 --> 0:00:25.480 Podcast Network, bringing you the best outdoor podcast. 0:00:25.000 --> 0:00:26.320 The airwaves have to offer. 0:00:27.360 --> 0:00:30.880 All right, friends, grab a chair or drop that tailgate. 0:00:31.280 --> 0:00:41.320 I've got some stories to share. Porridge, eggs and papaws. 0:00:43.240 --> 0:00:47.080 Grandfather's really only one requirement to be one, and that's 0:00:47.080 --> 0:00:49.600 to have a young and you like that, likes you, 0:00:50.280 --> 0:00:53.520 willing to call you that now, whether it's a blood 0:00:53.560 --> 0:00:56.960 relative or not, it's a moniker. I have myself, and 0:00:57.040 --> 0:01:01.560 I'm pretty proud to be one. Unfortunately I only knew 0:01:01.600 --> 0:01:04.200 one of mine, but to me, he was the best. 0:01:04.840 --> 0:01:05.200 He said. 0:01:05.240 --> 0:01:07.200 The bar is a grandparent for the rest of us 0:01:07.200 --> 0:01:09.800 in my family who called him that, And I've got 0:01:09.800 --> 0:01:12.880 a story about him, the father of my mother, a 0:01:12.959 --> 0:01:16.039 grandparent in the traditional sense who loved the duty but 0:01:16.200 --> 0:01:21.000 received it by default. But first I'm going to tell. 0:01:20.840 --> 0:01:23.319 You this story. 0:01:28.959 --> 0:01:32.160 This opening story is about a non traditional grandfather, the 0:01:32.200 --> 0:01:36.120 one who got the title through other circumstances. Just like 0:01:36.200 --> 0:01:40.080 the traditional grandfather doesn't matter how he got it, it's 0:01:40.160 --> 0:01:44.120 what he did with it once he received it. Brentley Smith, 0:01:44.319 --> 0:01:46.360 a native of the Sooner State and living in what 0:01:46.560 --> 0:01:50.440 she calls the heart of the Homeland. She's sent in 0:01:50.480 --> 0:01:54.360 a story about Tim, her grandfather. And since we're slipping 0:01:54.440 --> 0:01:57.120 up towards Father's Day in a few weeks, I thought 0:01:57.200 --> 0:02:00.160 i'd talk about Grandpa's today. So, in Brentley's word to 0:02:00.280 --> 0:02:05.400 my voice, here we go. Fresh pellets radded to the 0:02:05.440 --> 0:02:09.760 stove before the fireplace inserted door was closed. He calmly 0:02:09.800 --> 0:02:12.600 took a seat in the worn leather chair. With the 0:02:12.680 --> 0:02:16.280 light low and the flames dancing that old oak tree 0:02:16.320 --> 0:02:19.840 casting shadows on the wall, he knew the conditions were 0:02:19.880 --> 0:02:20.320 just right. 0:02:21.480 --> 0:02:22.160 He put an. 0:02:22.000 --> 0:02:24.720 Oversized orange cowboy hat on top of his head and 0:02:24.760 --> 0:02:27.119 begin to tell a story tonight. 0:02:27.600 --> 0:02:30.040 It's Goldilocks three Bears. 0:02:30.919 --> 0:02:33.679 Now, conveniently, he doesn't have to seek out volunteers to 0:02:33.720 --> 0:02:37.160 act out this tale, because there are already several little 0:02:37.160 --> 0:02:39.440 people in the room who are more than willing and 0:02:39.600 --> 0:02:43.680 eager for him to get started. We squeal and laugh 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:46.200 as we run from porridge bowl to porridge bowl, and 0:02:46.240 --> 0:02:47.320 from Papa's. 0:02:46.919 --> 0:02:48.640 Bed to Baby Bear's bed. 0:02:49.440 --> 0:02:52.000 When the Bear family returns to their cabin, we all 0:02:52.080 --> 0:02:55.320 jump up and run to the woods outside. And that's 0:02:55.360 --> 0:02:57.960 when our storyteller calls after us. 0:02:58.280 --> 0:03:03.720 Remember there's bears. There's in them woods now. 0:03:04.360 --> 0:03:06.400 Still to this day, when I wake up in the 0:03:06.440 --> 0:03:09.640 early morning hours to climb a tree stand, my heart 0:03:09.680 --> 0:03:12.600 pounds in my chest as I'm still waiting for those 0:03:12.639 --> 0:03:14.960 bears to pop out of the woods that my grandparents 0:03:15.080 --> 0:03:17.639 land in northeast Oklahoma. 0:03:17.360 --> 0:03:20.040 Where there are, in fact no bears. 0:03:21.360 --> 0:03:25.000 My grandpa Tim is still acting out those stories with 0:03:25.080 --> 0:03:28.440 that oversized orange hat on his head, but this time 0:03:28.880 --> 0:03:32.000 it's with my own three little boys, and I'm no 0:03:32.080 --> 0:03:34.480 longer the little one running from porridge. 0:03:34.040 --> 0:03:35.760 Bowl to porridge bowl. 0:03:37.080 --> 0:03:39.320 And what a better place to start In the beginning, 0:03:40.680 --> 0:03:45.120 Tim married my grandma Kathy a month before I was born. 0:03:46.120 --> 0:03:50.960 Biologically he's not my grandpa, but by love he is. 0:03:52.120 --> 0:03:54.480 He chose to love the family he stepped into, and 0:03:54.520 --> 0:03:57.640 that is a most precious thing to me. It also 0:03:57.720 --> 0:04:01.280 speaks to the man I'm writing about today. When you 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:03.200 take the time to get to know people, you will 0:04:03.240 --> 0:04:06.200 find that every now and then you come across someone 0:04:06.280 --> 0:04:11.280 that seems refreshingly, rare, genuine to who God made them 0:04:11.280 --> 0:04:14.480 to be, and you're attracted to their company like bees 0:04:14.480 --> 0:04:19.719 to honey. Tim is one of those people. Husband, father, 0:04:20.400 --> 0:04:25.400 business owner, gardener, paper boy, fisherman, auctioneer, cook, reader, teacher, veteran, 0:04:26.240 --> 0:04:30.560 grandpa and great grandpa are just some of the titles 0:04:30.560 --> 0:04:33.880 that fit this man. But there is one that he wears, 0:04:33.920 --> 0:04:40.520 the best storyteller. The mind of this man is extraordinary, 0:04:41.080 --> 0:04:43.480 and the best way I have found to describe it 0:04:43.560 --> 0:04:47.680 is as his own personal filing cabinet, packed full of 0:04:47.720 --> 0:04:52.039 details and pages from every person and interactions he's probably 0:04:52.040 --> 0:04:55.800 ever had. I still have not figured out his secret 0:04:55.800 --> 0:04:57.720 to keep it his memory so sharp, but I am 0:04:57.800 --> 0:05:03.559 prone to believe it's founded in his love of learning creativity. 0:05:04.600 --> 0:05:07.520 In the twenty nine years I've known to him, he's 0:05:07.520 --> 0:05:13.000 on the more shop, created beautiful gardens, cooked many good meals, 0:05:13.800 --> 0:05:16.880 rigged up his own fishing jugs, flies and lures, and 0:05:16.960 --> 0:05:21.719 has devoured one book after another. Once he masters one skill, 0:05:21.800 --> 0:05:24.760 he tackles another just to add to his list. And 0:05:24.800 --> 0:05:30.080 that alone has been one of my biggest inspirations lately. 0:05:30.120 --> 0:05:37.000 We've all benefited from his latest skill of leatherwork, dog collars, belts, guitars, traps, bracelets, 0:05:37.000 --> 0:05:42.000 and knife sheaths, all made by his willing hands. He 0:05:42.080 --> 0:05:45.160 grows tomato plants taller than anyone who walks by him, 0:05:45.160 --> 0:05:48.440 and smokes the best Thanksgiving ham you'll ever want to eat. 0:05:49.240 --> 0:05:52.440 He's a master of talents, and the creativity he weaves 0:05:52.480 --> 0:05:57.960 in his stories just adds to his list. Bloody Bones 0:05:58.000 --> 0:05:59.880 and corn Bread may sound like the title of an 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:05.400 old Western nobby or maybe even a cordy horror movie. However, 0:06:05.720 --> 0:06:09.160 this is still one of Tim's most famous campfire stories 0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:13.039 from my childhood. Autumn nights in Oklahoma are perfect for 0:06:13.080 --> 0:06:17.000 sitting around the campfire late past our bedtimes, watching the 0:06:17.040 --> 0:06:20.360 flames the fire, the large brush piles ears attuned to 0:06:20.440 --> 0:06:23.120 the owl hooting nearby. We would sit on the edge 0:06:23.120 --> 0:06:26.440 of our seats stair wide eyed as we heard about 0:06:26.640 --> 0:06:29.320 the little boy who was sent to the store by 0:06:29.320 --> 0:06:33.200 his mother after school. He dawdled too long and had 0:06:33.200 --> 0:06:35.560 to make his way home in the dark, resulting in 0:06:35.640 --> 0:06:39.279 an ending that left us just scared enough to want 0:06:39.320 --> 0:06:42.640 to hear it again. It left an impression mark on 0:06:42.720 --> 0:06:44.919 all of us kids at that time, especially on my 0:06:45.040 --> 0:06:48.200 little brother, whose elementary teacher had a lot of questions 0:06:48.240 --> 0:06:50.640 from our mom after he copied it down for a 0:06:50.680 --> 0:06:51.600 writing assignment. 0:06:52.279 --> 0:06:54.839 Bringing that up still makes us bust into laughter. 0:06:55.839 --> 0:06:58.760 He may have mastered telling stories around the campfire, even 0:06:58.800 --> 0:07:02.400 acting out classics like Goldilocks and the Three Bears, but 0:07:02.920 --> 0:07:06.400 I realize there is more to storytelling than just fiction. 0:07:08.160 --> 0:07:11.480 Every single conversation I have with him is weaved with 0:07:11.920 --> 0:07:16.960 thought provoking questions, a funny punchline, a lesson learned, wisdom shared, 0:07:17.680 --> 0:07:21.720 and all said in love. For the last few years, 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:24.440 I've taken the liberty to record some of the everyday 0:07:24.480 --> 0:07:27.080 conversations I have with him, or even some he is 0:07:27.160 --> 0:07:28.320 having with others. 0:07:29.440 --> 0:07:31.360 I love randomly pulling. 0:07:31.080 --> 0:07:33.200 Them out on my phone and listening to some of 0:07:33.200 --> 0:07:36.840 my favorite voices and stories from those speakers. 0:07:38.480 --> 0:07:39.520 Stories told from his. 0:07:39.520 --> 0:07:42.800 Time in Vietnam, a phone conversation he had with his brother, 0:07:43.360 --> 0:07:46.440 laughter as he jokes about my uncle's fear of snakes. 0:07:47.720 --> 0:07:50.800 Each recording is filled with stories of specific people in 0:07:50.920 --> 0:07:55.480 exact locations and times throughout his life. He turns simple 0:07:55.600 --> 0:08:02.800 everyday conversations into stories worth remembering. There is something special 0:08:02.840 --> 0:08:05.880 and rare about him, and it's to regard people as 0:08:05.960 --> 0:08:09.640 worth knowing and remember. It can skim through those files 0:08:09.640 --> 0:08:12.160 in his memory until he lands on the exact one 0:08:12.520 --> 0:08:15.960 he was searching for. Doesn't matter if it took place 0:08:16.040 --> 0:08:18.480 just months ago or even decades back. He knows the 0:08:18.560 --> 0:08:21.240 details of the people he grew up around and worked with, 0:08:21.560 --> 0:08:26.080 he served with, where he did business with. He's a 0:08:26.120 --> 0:08:29.640 master of storytelling because he understands that people and their. 0:08:29.480 --> 0:08:32.000 Stories are the story. 0:08:32.960 --> 0:08:35.200 This has helped shape how I tell my own stories 0:08:35.200 --> 0:08:37.160 in life and how I get the privilege of telling 0:08:37.200 --> 0:08:42.360 them as the granddaughter of the true storyteller, one who 0:08:42.440 --> 0:08:44.640 chose to love a gaggle of little kids who just 0:08:44.840 --> 0:08:49.839 begged to hear Goldilocks in the Three Bears one more time, 0:08:50.640 --> 0:08:54.040 and who always remember that there's bears in them woods. 0:08:55.720 --> 0:09:03.520 And according to Brentley, it's just how that happened. Now, 0:09:03.559 --> 0:09:07.240 do yourself a favor and follow Brentley on Instagram. She's 0:09:07.280 --> 0:09:10.200 blogging away over at the Heart of the Homeland blog 0:09:10.880 --> 0:09:14.920 and my favorite island Reva the Diva. Hanson is going 0:09:14.960 --> 0:09:16.760 to post a LinkedIn where you can keep up with 0:09:16.800 --> 0:09:21.840 Tim's granddaughter. In the show description, it is well worth 0:09:21.840 --> 0:09:35.000 the look and the listen. Thank you Brentley, Thank you Tim. 0:09:35.280 --> 0:09:39.440 My grandfather, fine Us Weaverslye was born in Malvern, a 0:09:39.520 --> 0:09:42.439 city on the edge of the Washington Mountains in west 0:09:42.600 --> 0:09:48.040 central Arkansas, on August eighteenth, nineteen thirteen. When he hit 0:09:48.080 --> 0:09:50.760 the ground, he rounded the population number up to somewhere 0:09:50.760 --> 0:09:55.320 around two thousand, six hundred and ninety. At the time 0:09:55.360 --> 0:09:57.439 of his birth, Malvern had been the county seat of 0:09:57.480 --> 0:10:01.440 government for thirty years. A new business concern was started 0:10:01.440 --> 0:10:04.280 there that would later become Arkansas Power in Light, bringing 0:10:04.320 --> 0:10:08.800 electricity to much of the state. The brickmaking industry would 0:10:08.840 --> 0:10:11.440 also be a major influence in the area, with the 0:10:11.440 --> 0:10:14.640 city claiming to be the brick capital of the world. 0:10:15.720 --> 0:10:18.760 He grew up working hard and playing hard. He told 0:10:18.760 --> 0:10:21.520 me stories about being bullied by bigger boys and getting 0:10:21.520 --> 0:10:24.400 in fights for standing his ground and standing up for others. 0:10:25.120 --> 0:10:26.640 He said, if you needed to chunk. 0:10:26.400 --> 0:10:29.400 A rocket anyone that needed it, you didn't have to 0:10:29.440 --> 0:10:31.760 take your eyes off the boy that was going to 0:10:31.880 --> 0:10:34.679 get it to look for one. All you had to 0:10:34.679 --> 0:10:37.520 do was reach down around your feet. There was always 0:10:37.600 --> 0:10:42.040 one there. His family moved to southeast Tarkansas later on, 0:10:42.200 --> 0:10:44.880 and there he worked in the local lumber. 0:10:44.640 --> 0:10:47.240 Mill at night and farm during the day. 0:10:47.760 --> 0:10:50.080 These were hard times leading up to and during the 0:10:50.120 --> 0:10:53.800 Great Depression. A ten year period from nineteen twenty nine 0:10:53.840 --> 0:10:57.120 to nineteen thirty nine were over two hundred banks failed 0:10:57.200 --> 0:11:01.600 in the state, wiping out the savings of men. He 0:11:01.679 --> 0:11:05.240 married my grandmother, Beulah Player in nineteen thirty and by 0:11:05.320 --> 0:11:09.000 nineteen thirty three my uncle Charles was born. A few 0:11:09.080 --> 0:11:11.880 years later my mama, Betty lu would see the light 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:15.240 of day, and then at my aunt Patricia in nineteen 0:11:15.400 --> 0:11:22.480 forty eight, who surprised everyone, most notably my grandmother. He 0:11:22.559 --> 0:11:24.679 worked two jobs to support his family. A lot of 0:11:24.760 --> 0:11:26.920 time he didn't have a car, so he walked to 0:11:27.000 --> 0:11:30.840 the saw mill and warned from our farm seven miles 0:11:30.880 --> 0:11:33.640 to town. After working all day in the fields, then 0:11:33.679 --> 0:11:36.720 after eight hours at the meal he made that same 0:11:36.880 --> 0:11:40.960 seven mile trek back home. That averages out to about 0:11:41.000 --> 0:11:44.240 five and a half hours a day of just walking, 0:11:45.400 --> 0:11:47.880 eight long hours at the saw mill, getting back home 0:11:47.920 --> 0:11:50.240 for breakfast around ten am, just to go. 0:11:50.160 --> 0:11:53.319 To work in the fields until time to eat supper. 0:11:53.679 --> 0:11:56.719 Take a nap, and start the long walk back to 0:11:56.720 --> 0:12:03.880 town at eight that night. The Following World War Two, 0:12:03.920 --> 0:12:06.720 times got better. He bought a store in town and 0:12:07.000 --> 0:12:09.840 built a house across from it on North Martin Street. 0:12:10.760 --> 0:12:13.439 He kept a farm, increased the cattle production, and built 0:12:13.480 --> 0:12:17.680 two modern for the time chicken houses to accommodate seventy 0:12:17.840 --> 0:12:22.160 thousand laying hens. He sold that store and built a 0:12:22.280 --> 0:12:26.320 second one on South Martin Street. I remember this one 0:12:26.360 --> 0:12:29.800 being built in the mid seventies. This store was supported 0:12:29.800 --> 0:12:31.920 by the egg farm and set across from the saw 0:12:32.000 --> 0:12:35.760 mill he walked to and from all those years ago, 0:12:35.880 --> 0:12:38.600 an every day reminder of how far he'd come by 0:12:38.640 --> 0:12:43.840 the literal sweat of his brow. And in the back 0:12:43.840 --> 0:12:46.280 of that new store was a process and planned for 0:12:46.320 --> 0:12:49.840 the eggs brought to town from the chicken houses. The 0:12:49.880 --> 0:12:53.360 collected eggs were washed, grated, separated, and boxed in big 0:12:53.440 --> 0:12:57.720 cardboard cases for wholesale distribution on a refrigerated bob truck 0:12:57.800 --> 0:13:01.559 driven by my Papa, another man who worked the route, 0:13:01.559 --> 0:13:04.480 and even my high school aged brother Tim when he 0:13:04.520 --> 0:13:08.080 wasn't driving the school bus. Of course, the egg machine 0:13:08.120 --> 0:13:10.680 was a big conveyor belt that threw an assembly line 0:13:10.720 --> 0:13:14.600 type operation, washed and sanitized first, then ran the eggs 0:13:14.640 --> 0:13:17.080 through a dark room with lights that lit them up 0:13:17.080 --> 0:13:19.920 from the bottom, allowing cracks to be easily seen by 0:13:19.960 --> 0:13:24.520 the person grading them. Once pasted there, they were separated 0:13:24.520 --> 0:13:27.840 by size and eventually rolled into stations where ladies packaged 0:13:27.880 --> 0:13:32.000 them in styrofoam cartings and blazoned with Sly Egg Company 0:13:32.040 --> 0:13:35.880 across the top. It was at that first door where 0:13:35.920 --> 0:13:39.720 a stranger challenged Papa's patience with rude behavior and an 0:13:39.760 --> 0:13:43.439 inappropriate language in front of my teenage mother and grandmother. 0:13:44.520 --> 0:13:46.960 It didn't bowld well for the stranger, who, along with 0:13:47.000 --> 0:13:49.120 sporting knots on his head and a bloody nose, has 0:13:49.160 --> 0:13:52.080 the idea that an old man had done it to him, 0:13:52.640 --> 0:13:55.360 my grandfather's premature white hair and giving him the look 0:13:55.400 --> 0:13:59.320 of someone twenty years older than he was. I talked 0:13:59.320 --> 0:14:02.240 about this that in great detail on episode three or 0:14:02.360 --> 0:14:05.760 one of This Country Life entitled The Country Store. You 0:14:05.880 --> 0:14:07.880 or to listen to that one if you hadn't already. 0:14:09.080 --> 0:14:11.839 But my grandfather's temperament was that of a man of faith, 0:14:11.880 --> 0:14:15.480 whose family, above all else, came first. His patience with 0:14:15.559 --> 0:14:19.520 his grandkids was legendary. His quiet and lovable sense of 0:14:19.600 --> 0:14:21.920 humor endeared him to all who knew him privately, and 0:14:21.960 --> 0:14:25.560 his honesty and integrity and dedication to doing what was right, 0:14:25.880 --> 0:14:29.560 common sense, and putting his family above all else except 0:14:29.560 --> 0:14:33.160 the Good Lord was the standard by which we were 0:14:33.200 --> 0:14:38.160 all measured. His tolerance for anything outside of that was nonexistent. 0:14:39.680 --> 0:14:42.680 And I believe that the combination of working so hard, 0:14:42.800 --> 0:14:45.280 literally around the clock, to take care of his family 0:14:45.400 --> 0:14:48.080 was what prompted the story I'm fixing to. 0:14:48.080 --> 0:14:48.720 Tell you now. 0:14:50.640 --> 0:14:53.520 Papa would give anyone the shirt off his back. He 0:14:53.600 --> 0:14:56.160 forgave debts owed him by folks who were trying but 0:14:56.840 --> 0:15:00.200 unable to pay. He'd lived that life as a young 0:15:00.240 --> 0:15:03.320 man raising a family in hard times, and he recognized 0:15:03.360 --> 0:15:06.120 what true effort was of a man doing all he could. 0:15:07.040 --> 0:15:09.760 Those folks might wake to find groceries sitting on their 0:15:09.800 --> 0:15:12.560 front porch that had been delivered during the hours of darkness, 0:15:13.120 --> 0:15:19.080 no bill, no note, just necessities for those that needed them. 0:15:19.520 --> 0:15:22.520 My grandparents' home sat across from the old store on 0:15:22.640 --> 0:15:24.720 North Martin Street, and every day he made his way 0:15:24.760 --> 0:15:29.080 to the farm to do what had to be done. Cows, hey, chickens, eggs. 0:15:29.200 --> 0:15:32.680 There was always something to do. He never had time 0:15:32.800 --> 0:15:36.200 to do anything else. He didn't hunt and I only 0:15:36.200 --> 0:15:38.600 saw him fish half a dozen times. The majority of 0:15:38.600 --> 0:15:40.440 those times when he came across from me and my 0:15:40.520 --> 0:15:44.000 friends fishing behind the chicken house. Is he was going 0:15:44.040 --> 0:15:48.640 about his chores. He didn't take time away from providing 0:15:48.680 --> 0:15:51.000 for all of us. He was forced to go to 0:15:51.080 --> 0:15:54.360 the doctor once, and after some tests, the doctor concluded 0:15:54.360 --> 0:15:56.480 that he had had a heart attack sometime in the 0:15:56.520 --> 0:16:01.600 recent passed and wondered why he hadn't told anyone. I 0:16:01.640 --> 0:16:06.640 didn't have time, that was his response. He had a 0:16:06.720 --> 0:16:09.720 high tolerance for pain and zero tolerance for a thief. 0:16:10.200 --> 0:16:13.800 And a thief had found his way onto our farm. 0:16:15.080 --> 0:16:16.080 They were stealing. 0:16:15.800 --> 0:16:19.240 Chickens and eggs, the two main ingredients of an egg farm. 0:16:20.520 --> 0:16:22.880 We lived on that farm, but over half a mile 0:16:22.920 --> 0:16:25.080 away from the chicken houses by the road, and over 0:16:25.120 --> 0:16:28.040 a quarter of a mile straight through the woods. Someone 0:16:28.200 --> 0:16:30.280 was slipping on their property during the middle of the 0:16:30.400 --> 0:16:33.160 night and stealing the eggs. From what we learned later, 0:16:33.400 --> 0:16:37.960 chickens too. I'm sure you're thinking stealing eggs. Those folks 0:16:38.000 --> 0:16:40.720 were probably just hungry. Well, it wasn't just a few eggs. 0:16:40.760 --> 0:16:45.160 It was cases of eggs. In each case held thirty 0:16:45.360 --> 0:16:49.360 six dozen some of y'all, who was tempting fate by 0:16:49.360 --> 0:16:53.760 stealing eggs from a man who took overwhelmingly personal everything 0:16:54.360 --> 0:16:57.920 that involved his family. They weren't just stealing from him. 0:16:58.520 --> 0:17:01.680 He would have just likely ignored that now they were 0:17:01.760 --> 0:17:05.080 stealing from his family. It was how we all survived, 0:17:05.119 --> 0:17:08.840 being invested partners and heirs to this whole operation. A 0:17:08.920 --> 0:17:13.159 significant portion of our income came from that farm, the 0:17:13.240 --> 0:17:15.800 farm that had been in my maternal family for five 0:17:15.880 --> 0:17:19.640 generations by the time I witnessed birth. Now, the way 0:17:19.680 --> 0:17:23.520 my grandfather saw it, the thief, by taking the chief 0:17:23.560 --> 0:17:27.359 commodity from that farm, was snatching food out of his 0:17:27.560 --> 0:17:40.880 grandkid's mouths and closed off their backs. He never said 0:17:40.920 --> 0:17:43.040 a word about it to me. Even years later, when 0:17:43.040 --> 0:17:45.600 I was a policeman, my mama told me that he 0:17:45.680 --> 0:17:48.800 figured he knew who was doing it and sent word 0:17:48.880 --> 0:17:51.240 through the grapevine that it needed to stop. 0:17:52.320 --> 0:17:53.000 But it didn't. 0:17:54.280 --> 0:17:56.480 Now what happened next is still up for debate. But 0:17:56.560 --> 0:17:59.320 the person that was suspected of doing it was well 0:17:59.359 --> 0:18:03.119 known in our rural areas being a thief. He was 0:18:03.200 --> 0:18:07.600 also a regular customer at our farm. Some folks a 0:18:07.640 --> 0:18:10.880 lot actually would stop by the farming buy eggs unwashed 0:18:10.920 --> 0:18:14.359 fresh out of the chicken. My grandfather more or less 0:18:14.960 --> 0:18:16.960 just covered the costs of the feet it took to 0:18:17.040 --> 0:18:19.199 keep the chicken alive enough to lay the eggs, and 0:18:19.680 --> 0:18:23.840 more or less was settling them for nothing. But this 0:18:23.920 --> 0:18:28.040 guy hadn't been by in a long time. A local 0:18:28.080 --> 0:18:32.560 restaurant started cutting back on their weekly egg order. These 0:18:32.600 --> 0:18:36.760 folks were all acquainted. Didn't take charlote holmes to figure 0:18:36.760 --> 0:18:39.520 out where the majority of the eggs were going and 0:18:39.560 --> 0:18:44.200 how they were getting there. So in drew Papa overreaction, 0:18:44.400 --> 0:18:48.399 he grabbed a rifle and waited for several nights on 0:18:48.480 --> 0:18:53.159 the egg thief to return. My grandmother feared and he 0:18:53.240 --> 0:18:55.800 was going to wind up in prison over someone stealing 0:18:55.880 --> 0:19:01.840 a bunch of eggs and a few chickens. Now, before 0:19:01.880 --> 0:19:05.000 someone starts balling about why he didn't call the shriff, 0:19:05.080 --> 0:19:08.159 allow me to clear that up for you. These were 0:19:08.200 --> 0:19:10.840 different times, right or wrong, and the sheriff had two 0:19:11.240 --> 0:19:14.680 deputies for the whole county. There were no game cameras 0:19:14.680 --> 0:19:17.760 to hang, there was no burglar alarm to install, and 0:19:17.800 --> 0:19:19.959 outside of driving by the farm when they were in 0:19:20.000 --> 0:19:21.720 the area or dragging off. 0:19:21.560 --> 0:19:23.280 A bullet ridden egg thief. 0:19:23.880 --> 0:19:28.040 There really wasn't a whole lot that they could have done. Besides, 0:19:28.680 --> 0:19:32.040 grandfather didn't have time to wait on whatever they would 0:19:32.520 --> 0:19:33.040 or wouldn't do. 0:19:33.119 --> 0:19:36.240 Anyway, he decided to handle it himself. 0:19:38.480 --> 0:19:40.960 There are two persons my brother Tim and I believe 0:19:41.040 --> 0:19:43.720 could have warned the thief. One of them would have 0:19:43.840 --> 0:19:46.560 done so inadvertently since they worked on the farm and 0:19:46.640 --> 0:19:49.720 lived nearby. It could have been overheard on the party 0:19:49.760 --> 0:19:53.280 line phone system, a singular line that all the families 0:19:53.320 --> 0:19:56.800 shared that lived near there during that time, including the suspect. 0:19:58.240 --> 0:20:00.760 They may have been talking about what was on and 0:20:01.200 --> 0:20:04.200 knowing my grandfather made a general statement that got back 0:20:04.240 --> 0:20:07.800 to the suspect, mister Finance will shoot him if he 0:20:07.920 --> 0:20:08.439 catches him. 0:20:10.160 --> 0:20:11.560 That's a very plausible theory. 0:20:11.640 --> 0:20:14.960 Listening on other folks conversations was a big pastime for 0:20:15.160 --> 0:20:19.600 several nosy roses out in the country, but I think 0:20:19.640 --> 0:20:22.159 it was a valued family friend. Tim still on the 0:20:22.160 --> 0:20:24.760 fence between the two, but I think my grandfather mentioned 0:20:24.800 --> 0:20:27.120 the situation to him when he was sending word through 0:20:27.119 --> 0:20:30.879 the grapevind that he needed to stop. Later on, during 0:20:30.880 --> 0:20:33.720 a visit to the farm to get eggs, that man 0:20:33.840 --> 0:20:37.080 found out that it hadn't stopped, and seeing the level 0:20:37.119 --> 0:20:40.080 of disgust my grandfather had with the whole situation, he 0:20:40.160 --> 0:20:43.160 took it upon himself to point blank tell the fellow 0:20:43.560 --> 0:20:46.000 what fate awaited him. 0:20:46.600 --> 0:20:48.439 I doubt my grandfather told him what he was going 0:20:48.520 --> 0:20:48.720 to do. 0:20:48.760 --> 0:20:50.560 He wouldn't have wanted to put him in a position 0:20:50.600 --> 0:20:53.119 to have to testify against him in court, or why 0:20:53.400 --> 0:20:57.199 he didn't report it to the authorities. It's my belief that, 0:20:57.280 --> 0:20:59.960 knowing my grandfather and how folks handled their own business 0:21:00.080 --> 0:21:04.280 back then, I believe that man paid him a visit. Regardless, 0:21:04.400 --> 0:21:07.240 my grandfather spent several nights at that farm, lying in 0:21:07.320 --> 0:21:11.200 wait to catch whoever it was, and thankfully no one 0:21:11.280 --> 0:21:15.080 ever showed up. Had the thief suddenly repented and changed 0:21:15.080 --> 0:21:19.480 his ways doubtful. Had the offender been warned of what 0:21:19.600 --> 0:21:23.920 might befall him if he continued his recklessness, more than likely, 0:21:24.760 --> 0:21:29.280 and that warning saved two families a lot of potential grief. 0:21:30.800 --> 0:21:32.480 As a follow up, in the time they would have 0:21:32.480 --> 0:21:34.800 taken for the restaurant in town to run out of eggs, 0:21:34.840 --> 0:21:39.080 the amount coincidentally and eerily similar to what had been stolen, 0:21:40.000 --> 0:21:43.200 they up their orders back to normal, and the suspected 0:21:43.280 --> 0:21:47.040 egg thief he returned to the farm in broad daylight 0:21:47.760 --> 0:21:51.320 with most of his family and farm workers there as 0:21:51.359 --> 0:21:58.919 a witness buying eggs, this time from my grandfather. And 0:21:59.040 --> 0:22:02.879 that's just how that happened. It took a lot of 0:22:02.880 --> 0:22:04.879 gumption for him to return. It took a lot of 0:22:04.920 --> 0:22:08.679 self control from my grandfather not to say anything. But 0:22:08.720 --> 0:22:12.720 it only took one person getting involved with concerned and 0:22:13.160 --> 0:22:17.560 keeping the peace that made the difference. In a time 0:22:17.640 --> 0:22:19.720 now where we stare at our screens and block out 0:22:19.720 --> 0:22:23.280 the world around us with headphones and earbuds, take a break, 0:22:24.320 --> 0:22:26.560 look around and listen. 0:22:28.000 --> 0:22:30.160 You might be surprised what you can hear. 0:22:30.880 --> 0:22:40.240 And who you might say. Thank y'all so much for 0:22:40.320 --> 0:22:42.919 listening to this country life, bear grease and the render 0:22:43.480 --> 0:22:46.199 all up your ears for my brother from across the 0:22:46.240 --> 0:22:51.560 big Muddy Robert Lake Pickle, whose Backwoods University podcast will 0:22:51.600 --> 0:22:55.280 be dropping right here on the same feed next month. 0:22:56.119 --> 0:22:59.439 And as I promised, I've got something coming out just 0:22:59.520 --> 0:23:02.160 in time for Father's Day on June the first that's 0:23:02.320 --> 0:23:08.000 really sharp, like literally sharp, Come on, you know what 0:23:08.080 --> 0:23:12.280 it is? Until next week. This is Brent Reeves signing off. 0:23:13.200 --> 0:23:14.040 Y'all be careful.