[ponyakr]

here in the south, back before "pore folks" had air conditioning, all the houses had back porches, so that we could sit out of the sun but still have a little air circulating. now there were all sorts of activities that took place on these porches. there were things like quilting, churning buttermilk, shelling peas & processing all sorts of produce, eatin watermelon & on real hot days even eating full meals out there & watching the young'uns play. they'd sip ice tea & catch up on the latest gossip. there was no t.v. to entertain folks back then. now i want to focus in on 1 particular activity carried on by many grandmas(both black & white) on the back porch. it was snuff dippin. now i don't know any ladies who still practice this vise in public today, but it was quite common in the south even on up into the '60's. the favorite brand was garrett. they'd load up & as they began to talk, the brown liquid would begin to ooze down the corners of their mouth. in my mind i seem to picture most of these ladies without a tooth in their head. then they'd stop talkin, pick up their spitoon, which was always close by, make a deposit, then wipe their mouth with their apron & go rite on talkin. fast forward now to the 21st century. we don't carry on all these same activities on our back porch as in the days of old. we still talk, but everything else has changed. !st, we're all screened in to protect us from the giant blood suckin skeeters. a family of these La monsters could carry away a young child. when we look out, we see T.J.'s barn & horse(which i call spot for obvious reasons). as we look further south we see our huge yard which, during my hi school days was a cornfield. hey, if we still had corn, we'd be just like cornfield county on "hee haw" & i'd be junior samples. "SA-LUTE!" the yard is completely surrounded by woods & our driveway reminds me of the yellow brick road in the "wizard of oz", where it went thru the deep dark woods. i didn't know this, but T.J. had picked this spot for her dream house long before we got married or even started racing. sometimes we can sit & watch deer grazing just out from the edge of the woods. 1 day we counted 7 yearlings jumpin & frolickin & havin a big time. & at times, just like at our old trailer, we had several goats in the yard. they were a little different tho. these were a neighbors goats that got out & came over to visit spot.(see pics) at nite we can just sit & watch as the stars & planets pass slowly by. i know now why the old folks use to set on the porch & rock & enjoy life.