Renew the Contract Time 1999

The year was 1988 when we had guests visit here from Zeist, Holland.  Coolidge Isbell owned a little paper in Geraldine at the time called Tri City Times and he asked me to write an article for the paper about the foreign visitors.  It was as a result of this article that he invited me to write a weekly column for his paper.  At first we called it Country Life, but then soon it became Country Living.  Mr. Isbell sold his paper to The Weekly Post and I continued to write for them.  At one time I did write for The DeKalb Press and then they sold out to The Weekly Post, too.  I’ve been here ever since and I’ve covered every subject I could think of.  I’ve had requests to write a column on a couple of subjects I know little about and haven’t done that – namely soap making and the making of hominy.  My mother made soap, but I was not directly involved, so I haven’t been able to construct a column, even though I’ve talked to a number of people about these two subjects.

I’ve had letters, e-mails and calls about the column.  Some people ask questions about how and where and others ask about recipes or such.  In one column I wrote about John taking a steer to have it slaughtered and I had a call from Marshall County man asking where a steer could be taken for slaughter.  Just last week a lady called from Pisgah (my daddy pronounced it “Pisgie”) and she was most complimentary about the Country Living column. She, too, had cut paper dolls from the Sears Roebuck Catalog and crawled around on a cold floor playing with them.  Then she reminded me that after the paper dolls were taken from the book, it was then put in the toilet to be further used.  Talk about recycling!!  Toilets sometimes also had cobs in them, too.  We didn’t have cobs in our facility, but I’m told there would be two red cobs and one white one.  A red cob was used first and then the white cob was used to determine whether it was necessary to use the second red cob or not.

This past year I had a hate letter – a first for me and I was devastated for a time.  Then my girls comforted me by saying that only meant I had arrived!!  “Even biggies such as Bill O’Reilly and Larry King get hate mail,” they kept reminding me.  Not that I can begin to compare to these men, but I have a pretty good idea where the letter came from, so I just consider the source and go on.  I won’t have to worry about this party writing again because the letter was signed “A Former Reader.”  I hope I never have an inclination to write something I can’t sign my name to.  (Yes, I know about dangling participles).  This poor grammar reminds me of when I was composing the first book.  My proof readers (both retired college professors) wanted me to change the way I had written certain phrases.  I refused, as that’s not the way I talk and I wanted the book to sound like me.  One instance was when a dead possum was “laying” out here in the yard.  Of course, these girls wanted me to say the “possum was lying in the yard” and I said, “No way, I saw the possum and he was just laying there.”

Well, to make a long story short, it’s now time to decide to sign or not to sign a new contract.  If I do renew the contract, many of the columns will be repeats – not verbatim maybe, but the subject probably will have been covered before.  I keep telling myself that’s one of the good things about having an older-reader following.  In older folks the memory is not what it used to be and perhaps part of the readers can’t remember what they’ve read before anyway. How do I know that?  It takes one to know one!  Ha!!

I try to write the Country Living article on Monday morning and I have my telephone friends programmed not to call early on Monday.  Monday mornings get hectic around here sometimes – the subject just will not come and it’s difficult to sit and stare at a blank screen.  John finds an excuse to go to the barn or somewhere to avoid hearing my lamentations.  Sometimes something has happened during the week that just prompts a certain subject, but that’s not often the case. Anyway, remember me as I agonize over this.  Sincere thanks go out to my readers for your support over the years.  It has been fun and I’ve met lots of new people as a result of this column, but this is how it is with the writer of Country Living.

NOTE:  It’s Monday morning, November 4, 2013, and I want to thank the readers of this article.  My heart is thrilled when I read the numbers.  Yesterday was my biggest day 1548 hits – wow!  I’m awe of your response and sincerely thank you.  I wish I could meet and shake hands with each one of you — I’m not much of a hugger, but I might find myself doing some of that, too.  Should you want an ad — it’s $25 for three months – or $10 per month.  Again, thanks!

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