Poppy's Days On The Old Farm

The rooster crowed and I heard Poppy's footsteps accross the old screeky floor as I barely awakened. The house was silent and cold.Poppy punched up the fire in the old pot-bellied stove and soon the heat radiated accross the room where me and my sisters slept. The smell of coal burning and the smoke would bellow out the little hatch-door every now and then would delight me and I snuggled back under the heavy patchwork quilt. The windows had a glaze of ice on them and I visioned designs from the icicles that hung down the outside. Sometimes they looked scary, but I had my Poppy and all was safe and secure. Poppy ate a hearty breakfast of fresh-ham from the smoke house, home-made biscuits,gravy,eggs, and home-made strawberry jelly.I helped with the dishes, having to boil the water and be sparing, as we drew water from a well. I wasn't eager to go outside for water. I could see my breath and the warm wooly socks I was wearing were so cozy. Poppy had put on his heavy coat and headed to the barn. There stood the hungry farm animals.Poppy fed the cow, the hog, and the chickens and gathered the eggs. Some chickens were sitting on eggs to hatch baby chicks...come spring.Poppy was strong and could carry two fifty pound bags of feed on his shoulder. Poppy let me feed the cow and she would stand there and chew and chew..Poppy said she was 'chewing her cud'. Then Poppy would fork the bales of hay for the horses and they would prance back and forth. I could see their breath..I helped Poppy gather eggs. Some chickens were nesting high up in little cubbies and a hen would flutter out right in my face and scare me a bit, but ...WOW what a surprise to gather all the eggs.Poppy would hold me high upon his strong shoulders . The sun would be peeping through the barn and the rays of sunshine looked like they went straight up to heaven and I tried climbing up them.Outside the snow scrounched under Poppy's feet and his big ole boots left a big footprintthat I would walk in to keep my feet dry. We stopped by the smoke house and the smell of salted bacon burned my nose, hanging on all sides of the house...and later we would uncover potatoes and apples under the straw to take inside for dinner.Poppy knew I was his "shadow', always so close behind him I was in his blind spot.Poppy's hands were big and strong and also calloused from long hard winters but he had a gentle touch as he would wipe away my tears after I would slip and fall on the ice in the creek, as we crossed to retreive our gallon of milk that he dropped down in a big hole of water to keep it fresh. Poppy had gotten me a big collie dog that I named "charlie', and Charlie always followed Poppy and me from the barn to the back-door. I would ask Poppy if Charlie could come inside and he would stand quietly and nod his head, and with my fingers crossed I would sigh a big sigh of relief as "Charlie' got to come inside beside the warm fireplace in the bedroom. Charlie would watch the fire flicker till he fell asleep.Poppy removed his ole boots, took off his coveralls and turboggin and sit near the fire with his pipe lit and I would watch the smoke encircle his face..Oue chores were finished for this morning. I was proud to have taken an active part in the chores with Poppy. Afterall I knew I was his favorite girl. oon Poppy would sit back in his rocking chair and nod off to sleep. I was busy getting into the big barrel of material as I made doll-dresses for my favorite baby-doll whom I named..Diane".........later in life I would name a real baby-doll 'Diane" and tell her this story.......As the sun shone through the ice-glazed window I was content to sew and talk to my "Diane" as Poppy began to snore, his feet propped up and Charlie flattened out, dreaming of chasing rabbits...what a good life