Welcome to Wednesday!
You’ve made it to hump day.
The world is better for it.
I’m broke, she told me.
It’s not in the budget, he said.
And I can relate.
There are a lot of things I could do with a few extra shekels, and sometimes, when an opportunity comes up, I don’t have a plan for it.
This week it was land.
My aunt reached out to let me know there was some family land down in LA they were going to let go.
My great grandmother raised my Mamaw and her other 8 children on this farm, and my great-uncle is going into hospice.
Did I want it?
Want to buy it?
Which gives me food for thought for a few days as I consider.
Is there any value in the dirt, other than memories.
It was on this land that I learned the difference between a well and a whale.
If you have been around the Lower Arkansas accent long, you know it is difficult to determine some things just by speech.
Water Well sounds a lot like Whale, sounds just like Oh Well.
And for a four year old standing on the edge of the tiny pumphouse staring into the abyss it is easy to wonder.
Does the water come up from the blowhole?
I haven’t been on this property in decades.
It had been on a gravel county road, and I don’t know if it’s paved now, or if the barn from 1920 is still standing.
There were goats and chickens way back when, and a stove on the back porch for summertime cooking.
There was a barbed wire fence that drew a permanent line on my head, a forever reminder to duck when running.
I don’t remember a shot after that scrape either.
I do remember getting a splash or three of “monkey blood” which killed any and everything that could have possibly lived in the gash, up to and including my will to keep playing after that.
Until Mamaw blew on the burn and cooled it down.
Then I just had to worry about sweat in the Star City sunshine.
There was a pasture across the road with a gravel pit on one end, and a warning to watch out for the bull when we played there.
I slipped in my first pile of cow patties in that pasture, at least the first one I remembered.
Mamaw’s brothers and sisters owned land around the city, but that generation is gone now, and their kids don’t want this place.
Which makes me wonder even more if it’s worth it.
Probably worth enough to gas up and take the trip, at least for a look and a wonder.
Plus the time on the road would give me time to think about it even more.
I usually try to play the if/then game, and make a fast decision.
One never knows if it’s worth it until later, usually.
After the dust has settled and we’ve seen how it all plays out.
It wouldn’t make a good AIRBNB because who the heck wants to spend time in Star City?
Except I thought the same thing about Wilson AR and they built up an AIRBNB business around their Farm to Table Café.
I wonder if it would make a good spot for something like that?
Like I said, things to think about and consider this week.
Plus stirring up some memories, which always a fun thing.
What does your hump day look like?
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Try to make this:
APPLE BUTTER PIE
½ cup apple butter
2 eggs
½ cup sugar
1½ tblsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 cups milk
Pastry for 9 inch crust and strips for top
Combine apple butter, beaten eggs, sugar, cornstarch and cinnamon and mix well.
Add the milk gradually to the mixture and blend well. Pour into unbaked pie shell. Top with “lattice” made from ½ inch wide strips of crust. Bake at 350-f, 35 minutes.
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