Memoir Monday, Nov 14, 1964

The final--for awhile--goodbye with Dusty had come on November 10.  It was hard but did cement the relationship, at least to my perception. I actually got the first promised letter in two weeks but went through impatient agony before that.  Of course I wanted it at once, which was surely not reasonable! We did not see each other again until nearly the miiddle of January, and then not again until Memorial Day. Work kept him at distant places.

Nov 14, 1964, Sat

I got up at 7:00 and went out wearily into the chilly morning to do my chores. It was clearing. I led Chief out on a rather frisky Annie mule. Johnny went into the corral, cuss him, so we had to work on the bastard. Ugh. That took awhile too. Finally we did the regular chores and I headed  home. I was just after noon getting here. Cuss. I rode up for mail and tore through the box. Another letter from Norm. It was a nice one but made me worry. But he sent me ten stamps, the doll. I watered all, led Buzzie and fed. We came in to lunch at 2:45. I managed to write a letter before we went off for grain and groceries.  So I mailed three. We did the evening chores as hastily as possible because it was cold. This evening we had Charlie Mike’s birthday supper and it was yum. Afterwards I got three letters done including one to Dusty. So tomorrow evening I get my articles going maybe and maybe write to Norm again--I don’t know now. See how I feel. I got a heap of chores planned for tomorrow. So it goes. I’ve just got to live until mail time Monday now.

The weather turned ugly before mid-November that year. We had a cold, wet spell of the sort that always made the "chores" close to agony. Charlie Mike reminded me the other day of the leaky old rubber boots we wore often to feed and clean pens etc. in bad weather and how cold our feet got. The boots themselves were uninsulated and when water seeped in, it was really unpleasant. Complaints were futile so we endured. So much of our life was that way for several years.

Johnny was a new mule. A few weeks prior, Dad had traded Little Red, who was a small and not good looking mule but very gentle and well behaved for a couple of half wild critters. The big red jack or john mule was named John Harvard and the molly we called Peachy. He was sorrel and she was a kind of rusty dun color. He was one bad piece of work and at times pretty scary to handle or work with. He was flat mean. I have no memory of how he finally ended up. She was caught in a bad situation almost two years later along with some other animals. That may be covered later. 

As I mentioned before,  I was becoming torn about Norm and Baird, two pen pals who I had gotten rather attached to before all at once Dusty was on the scene.  Now assured that he did want to keep in touch and truly did care for me, I was in a quandry. Norm had already hinted  maybe he would be proposing before long and I considered Baird a kind of big brother or good uncle, a friend and somewhat a confidant. I think I mentioned he was seriously epileptic and thus disabled but he always seemed really sweet and level headed. I tend to form very deep and fierce loyalties, even to this present day, and the situation at this point was stressing me because of that. The articles were a series of pieces on training colts with different disposition types that I hoped to sell to Western Horseman  magazine. In time I got a "nice" rejection letter; that result became very familiar as I started to write seriously years later. It is a long, hard road to being published, believe me!

Charlie Mike was thirteen that day, and we did celebrate but no photos, which had stopped some years previous. I have no idea what the meal was or even the cake. He always like blueberry flavored things but that is not an easy cake ingredient so it may have been applesauce, a family favorite, or maybe just a yellow or white cake with caramel or vanilla frosting. As for the main course, probably roast beef or perhaps fried chicken. Mom was a good cook and she worked hard to make festive dinners for us even if the larder was not very full. I thank her for that in retrospect. I often did not give her enough credit. I felt she did not stand up for us enough when Dad got mean but she did dozens of things to try to make life better for us. She was not always treated well either.

Photos? A few kind of fit. The first is a snowy day but probably a year or two earlier, Charlie Mike ready to go to school. Next is Charlie Mike with the Ford pickup, probably the summerof 1964.  Next is his school picture from 1963-64 . By this point he had gotten a hard angry attitude for a number of reasons and his eyes show the defiance he felt. He would not smile. Last, the corrals at Clarkdale in a snowy time, likely that fall or winter.