When I was a six year old boy, in the 1st grade in Pleasant Valley, AZ it was always a great treat when we would hear that Aunt Callie Cravens, Aunt Meda Poage, Uncle Frank Lindley and perhaps others were coming from Texas to visit us. Those three people were Grandpa Lindleys sisters and brother. So naturally they would be put up for the nights at Grandpa and Grandma Lindleys' house. But all of us wanted to get to spend as much time with them as we possibly could. Aunt Callie would always bring us cousins, me, Gene, Eddie and Carol a gift of some sort. One time we boys all received a Buck Rogers gun that shot sparks. I don't remember what Carol got. Anyway the family would all spend even the nights at Grandma and Grandpa's house so we would not miss one minute of the whingding and all the larrupin' good food and hear all the stories they told about the "long ago in Texas." But when bedtime come there was always a feeling of dread because we kids knew we were headed for the foot of the bed.

SLEEPIN' AT THE FOOT OF THE BED

Did ye ever sleep at the foot o' the bed
When the weather wuz whizzin' cold,
When the wind wuz a-whistlin aroun' the house
An' the moon wuz yeller ez gold,
An give yore good warm feathers up
To Aunt Lizzie and Uncle Fred--
Too many kinfolks on a bad, raw night
And you went to the foot o' the bed--
Fer some dern reason the coldest night o' the season
An' you went to the foot o' the bed.

I could allus wait till the old folks et
An' then eat the leavin's with grace,
The teacher could keep me after school,
An' I'd still hold a smile on my face,
I could wear the big boys' wore-out clothes
Er let sister have my sled,
But it allus did git my nanny goat
To have to sleep at the foot o' the bed;
They's not a location topside o' creation
That I hate like the foot o' the bed.

'Twuz fine enough when the kinfolks come--
The kids brought brand -new games,
You could see how fat all the old folks wuz,
An' learn all the babies' names,
Had biscuits an' custard and chicken pie,
An' allus got Sunday fed,
But you knowed dern well when night come on
You wuz headed fer the foot o' the bed;
You couldn't git by it, they wuz no use to try it,
You wuz headed fer the foot o' the bed.

They tell me that some folks don't know whut it is
To have company all over the place,
To rassel fer cover thru a long winter night
With a big foot settin' in your face,
Er with cold toenails a-scratchin' yore back
An' a footboard a-scrubbin' yore head;
I'll tell the wide world you ain't lost a thing
Never sleepin' at the foot o' the bed;
You can live jest as gladly an' die jest as sadly
'N' never sleep at the foot o' the bed.

I've done it, an' I've done it many uv a time
In this land o' brave an' the free,
An' in this all-fired battle uv life
It's done left its mark upon me,
Fer I'm allus a-strugglin' around at the foot
Instead of forgin'ahead,
An' I don't think it's caused by a doggone thing
But sleepin' at the foot o' the bed;
I've lost all my claim on forturne an' fame,
A-sleepin' at the foot o' the bed.


~LUTHER PATRICK

                                                     click on photo to make it larger

"I think that Clay's daddy should post the above invitation in an enlarged format on the wall in his dental office.What better advertisement could a dentist have than this photo: a mouth full of pearly white teeth and a smile that could make any disgruntled and nervous patient relax. Once a patient sees this photo he/she would be looking forward to their next appointment!"

Clay's loving Great Grandpa
(and I don't have an ounce of prejudice!)

Wyatt, pictured here, is my great grandson and this picture makes me proudly feel that he is a "chip off the old block." The reason?? Well, when I was a little boy I lived in a rather rural area and we had a huge back lot which was all dirt. Being as it was at the height of the Depression toys were few and far between. But I remember that my favorite toy was a "horny toad" as we called them. I would get up in the morning and search that back lot; under the wood pile and in every nook and cranny and I was almost never disappointed in finding a horny toad. Once we had caught a few we would make a city with balsam strawberry boxes turned upside down and put the toad under the balsam "shack" and then drive by in our toy dump or pick-up trucks and put them in the bed of the truck and haul them around in our make believe town. We would never be 100% at ease with this little critter because we had heard the old "wives tale" that when angered they would shoot blood out of their eyes". Well, in all those years of playing with them we never saw that happen. We would see them shoot their tongue out of their mouth to flick a red ant back down their throats. The tiny babies were the cutest little critters you would ever want to see and watching them scamper away from their captors was a joy to behold.

Wyatt found this particular little critter up at Wood's Canyon Lake on the Mogollon Rim when on a family outing. When it came time to leave for home, Wyatt's big cousin, Asher Rundio, being a protector of all things wild and alive, persuaded Wyatt to leave it there and let it return to it's natural habitat. Wyatt, with his soft heart, did so but not before a photo was captured for posterity and used in the invitation to his 4th birthday party.

I was at his party and Jungle Jill arrived toting sacks and boxes of reptiles both poisonous and non-poisonous. The non poisonous ones were passed around for the children to feel and pet and the kids were made aware of a wealth of information about each reptile. Those that were poisonous were shown by Jungle Jill in a HANDS OFF method. Some that were touched or just looked at were: Twizzler, the milk snake; Toro the bull snake; Goliath, the huge monitor lizard; Slither, the corn snake; Whirlpool, the plated lizard; Squeezer, the boa constrictor; Miss Red, the bearded dragon; Keeper, the king snake; and Rosy, the tarantula.

It was a party like I have never attended in my 83 years on this earth and I will never forget it and I am so glad for this experience so late in my life!