******

 ******

******

******

We were so young that I don't remember things exactly, but I remember Mother
saying one time that Aunt J was the best cook but that SHE was the "Chicken
Killer." Mother always wished that she could bake bread like Aunt J.
Mother baked a masterful chocolate cake, but she gave up on bread.

Donna
(posted 04.20.05)

******

Aunt Eddie’s favorite piece of fried chicken was the gizzard. One time, when she lived at Ramon, NM and was attending a Rancherette party, she was given the task of frying chicken for the group.

 As she was frying the chicken she ate all of the gizzards. A lady who was attending the party, and liked gizzards too, came by where Aunt Eddie was working and ask if she could have some gizzards. Aunt Eddie, knowing full well that they were all gone, proceeded to help her look through the pile of chicken on the platter for a gizzard.

 Someone (who knew that Eddie had already eaten the gizzards) came by and ask them what they were doing. When Eddie said that they were looking for gizzards, the person said, “But Eddie you have already eaten them all.”

 Nailed – Red handed!

 Terry
(posted 04.20.05)

******

I'd forgotten that story!  I remember Mother's telling it and declaring that moment
to be one of her most embarrassing moments of all time.

Donna
(posted 04.20.05)

******

Terry, I meant to write back to you after I looked at the pictures you sent--
I'm so proud of them!  The pictures of Sheila and me by the old trailer, the
scraggly Christmas tree, and the burros were taken in the midst of the
Navajo Desert between Gallup and Farmington--when Daddy worked for
The Bookout Construction Co.  That company laid Highway 666 from from
Gallup to Farmington, and families followed the crew.  No running water,
no indoor toilets, no electricity....All drinking water and bath water was hauled in
by a large truck and we had to carry water for all necessities.  I have a couple
of "desert" stories I'll tell you later, but just got in from mygrandson's baseball
game and Grandma is pooped!

Donna
(posted 04.22.05)

******

I remember visiting Aunt Eddie and Uncle Rufus and thought they lived somewhere near Gallup.  I couldn't remember what job Uncle Rufus had then.  Just remember I always had fun visiting our cousins.  I do remember sliding down dirt inclines there and wearing out our clothes...AND, requiring a lot of Jergens Lotion later on!!!    (Jergens Lotion was powerful stuff those days and stung like crazy).  Mother's Indian bracelet, that I have now, is the one that Daddy bought her on one of the Gallup trips.

 Adrienne
(posted 04.22.05)

******

Memories of the Old Black Kettle

 In the future our Old Black Kettle, the one we are all remembering, may be called back into duty.  The attachment below shows that it is now in retirement and sitting out on our screened in porch growing geraniums.  Our Ancestors found much better uses for this kettle which did made me feel a little guilty filling it up with potting soil.  However, I assuaged my guilt by reminding myself I didn't know how to make lye soap or hominy.  Also, scalding chickens or hogs, to aid in removing feathers and/or hair, will have to be left up to Tyson and Pilgrims Pride for now.  

 Our Dad used this Old Black Kettle right up to the end of his life.  Mother refused to let him cook hominy for his farm cats in the house.  He resorted to building a fire back by the barn which was behind the house.  I can still invision him standing there, with great pride, stirring and cooking his hominy in the kittle.   It actually smelled and looked good but we weren't sure of the ingredients so none of us indulged, as one of the ingredients that are necessary in making hominy is lye.  The cats loved it and lived.

 In remembering the little rock house, (the Wash House), the Maytag wringer washer, and the kettle to boil the clothes I'll mention the Watkins Bluing that our parents added to the final rinse, to make the "whites" whiter.  You will recall it was also used for insect bites...mostly red ants.  What was a fun pastime was running through the fresh, wet, clean clothes hanging on the line.  Nothing felt or smelled better especially on a hot summer day.  This pastime was not to popular with our parents who prided themselves with "Rinso White" clothes.    Also, did you remember that there was a cellar under the Wash House where we kept canned goods, potatoes and brown beans?  I think it was 1940 or 1941 when we had the big rain which caused the cellar to flood.  I remember being assigned a bucket to scoop up the water and made a lot of trips up and down the steps until we got everything back in shape. 

 Terry Thanks for letting us share our old memories...You are a computer genius and have a great web site...

Love You,

AJ

******

Terry...sorry for the delay...I have so many memories of the ranch, of our wonderful childhood and of course, New Mexico itself.  Not long ago, I responded to someone who was complaining about rain with my memory of its effect on New Mexico...

"There's nothing wrong with rain. Truth is -- where I come from, rain is quite an event. It's almost an annual thing, like Christmas. When it does show up -- usually at night -- it comes in blinding sheets, riding the violent wind like a banshee, sometimes ripping roofs from houses with golfball-sized hail. Floods are sudden; widespread and, the next morning when the sun angrily stomps back into place, there are acres upon cracked acres of wonderfully delicious mud pies to play with -- all that remains after the thirsty earth gulps down every drop of moisture.

"A brilliant kaleidoscope of wildflowers miraculously pops up out of nowhere and cacti explode in cream and ivory roses. Most will be gone by sunset. No matter. Their loss is a small price to pay for the achingly beautiful panorama that unfolds at the end of each searing, windswept day in spectacular slow-mo across the horizon. All that is important in life -- "truth" beyond the perverted reach of man -- is contained in the sheer enchantment of a single New Mexico sunset."

In fact, Terry, I am currently in aggressive negotiations with God.  In exchange for my efforts not to injure even one of His little ones, and for my attempts -- no matter how vain -- to keep others from doing the same -- if Heaven is full, I am asking him to just drop-kick me into the New Mexico sunset for eternity...
 
Love you THIS much,
Sheila
 
p.s....and then there's always the memory of Adrienne Joyce yelling ''Mama!  Make Terralynn get offa my laigs....!!"

(posted 04.28.05)

******

Well...I remember once, in Fort Sumner, a boy asked Adrienne Joyce to go to the movies with him on a Saturday afternoon.  For some reason I can't remember, I went with them (!?)  I guess Aunt Johnie knew if they held hands or anything, I would race home and tattle (which, of course, I would have).  So we were sitting there, AJ and her friend both glaring at my smirking self.  I was having the time of my life -- Whoop!  Me and AJ, on our very first date!  I don't know about her, but I felt important...
 
Then, something funny happened in the movie and, for some reason, when I laughed -- I broke wind!  Being Eddie May's daughter, I was mortified.  But, when I looked at AJ and saw the sheer horror on her face, being Rufus Edgar's daughter, I got tickled all over again.  And broke wind again.  The more I laughed -- well, you know the rest of the story...
 
We walked home from the movie in a thick silence.  I don't think the boy ever spoke to AJ again.  Come to think of it, she hasn't spoken to me since that day either...LOL  (Just kidding -- I think she spoke to me a couple of times back in the 60's...)
 
I love you AJ.  After all these years, even you have to admit it was pretty funny -- Ooops!  There I go again...
 
Sheila
(posted 04.29.05)

******

Hello,

We've been remodeling Granny's House. Just finished refinishing the wood floors. Had forgotten how beautiful old wood floors can be. And, remember these rose bushes that are out by the garage??? They are as old or older than the wood floors and really pretty this year. Thought we'd share them with you by way of e-mail.

More later.......

Love,

AJ
(posted 05.14.05)

******

Hi,  I knew I was taking these photos for some special reason. Now I know they were for Sheila. I took these across the pasture toward our neighbor's house a few days ago.  I can't ever remember being afraid, or running to the cellar, during any storms at Ramon. (Only Old Tip was afraid. Mother would never allow animals in the house; but, during a thunderstorm Old Tip was allowed in or else we would not have any screens left on our doors. It was panic time for poor Old Tip......When let in he would always run and hide under Mother's dresser until the storm subsided.) The rest of us prayed for rain and when it poured down we'd sometimes run out and do our "rain dance" in the mist of the lightening, thunder, or whatever was going on at the time. I do remember, though, when lightening started a prairie fire on the ranch. You could see the glow from the fire from our house and bellows of smoke. It got so serious at one point that a call when out for the Roswell Military Institute boys to come help fight the fire. But, as they were on the way, a tremendous rainstorm hit and put out the fire. Later, that was the most beautiful spot on the ranch. The grass turned a gorgeous green....and all the lakes filled up.  One of our Dad's and your Uncle Adron's favorite NM jokes: A rancher decided to sell his ranch so he told his hired hand that a man was coming to look at the ranch and he wanted him to show the man around. "Now when he comes I want you to brag on our weather", said the rancher. The man arrived and sure enough ask, "How is the weather around here?"....The hired hand said, "O, good, good.....No snow and one rain!!!"......  Sheila, I can hear you laughing from here. "Tee Hee".....(Aunt Billie Jean's "word" for "Ha Ha".... Love You Both, AJ (posted 05.14.05)

******

What a wonderful gift!  I just sat and cried when I got these photos...they were the last thing I looked at before I went to sleep last night and the first thing I clicked on this morning.  I am sending them out across the Internet to everyone I know -- even to some Frights (friends on the right) LOL....   One has only to stop for a minute and contemplate a New Mexico sunset to realize that -- in the grand scheme of things -- little self-important creatures of whatever political stripe scurrying around killing each other in the name of whatever Being they worship in a vain effort to gather up all the world's power and resources, is kinda ludricrous, isn't it?  New Mexico sunsets stopped me in my tracks when I was young and continue to give me perspective as I grow older...and older...and older...  

Thanks for the Uncle Adron joke.  I cannot remember ever seeing him angry.  When Mother or Aunt Johnnie disciplined us, he would chide us good-naturedly -- not sympathetically because we deserved to be disciplined -- but he made us feel better anyway.  I never knew if what he told us was in jest or if it was true.  He convinced me that Old Blue would go all by himself and cut the milk cows out of the herd and bring them back to the ranch in the evening.  Is that true? 

And, speaking of that discipline -- Aunt Johnnie had no problem with one of us tattling on the others, but the deal was the tattler also got punished, just in case the guilty party was the one who got away.  AJ and Donna made out like bandits over Terry and me because of this rule, but we managed to aggravate them and get away with it too, so I guess it all evened out. 

 Thanks again for the sunsets.

Sheila
(posted 05.15.05)

******

Terry, This is such a wonderful "memory bank." Thank you for taking the time to share and to create beautiful memories. One memory that struck when I read Sheila's and Adrienne's remarks about the patience of Uncle Adron was that when we'd come running in from outside and leave the door open, he never got upset, never put down his paper, or got up from his rocker, just said, "Dora, dora, dora...," (in the same sing-song monotone) until we shut the door.

Donna
(posted 05.16.05)

******

The joke...

Church Gossip

Mildred, the church gossip and self-appointed arbiter of the church's morals, kept sticking her nose into other people's business.

Several residents were unappreciative of her activities, but feared her tongue enough to maintain their silence.

She made a mistake, however, when she accused George, a new member, of being an alcoholic after she saw his pickup truck parked in front of the town's only bar one afternoon. She commented to George and others that everyone seeing it there would know what he was doing.

George, a man of few words, stared at her for a moment and just walked away. He didn't explain, defend, or deny, he said nothing.

Later that evening, George quietly parked his pickup in front of Mildred's house ...................


and left it there all night.

*****

The Rest of the srory...

Sounds like my  Pete.  One of my neighbors was a "peeker" and a "talker."  She  couldn't believe that after I'd loved someone like Bill for 30 years that I  could love someone else.  One evening when Pete had come for supper and  was about to leave, he said that he wished he had the nerve to walk home and  leave his pickup in my driveway all night  Said he'd like to go to the  coffee shop the next morning and hear the latest gossip about the Widow  Walker.

We "dated"  three weeks before we married, but we'd known each other for as long as Bill  and I had lived in Tipton.  His wife and I were good friends and their  son, now my son, Dale, and Bill David were together even before they started  to school and lived together all the way through college...were best man at  each other's  weddings. Jayne died about a year after Bill  did.

I miss him so  much.  Seems only yesterday he went away and yet it's almost six  years.

 
Love you.
ME (Donna)

(posted 03.26.06)

*****

Donna, on a trip some time back, to see a sick friend in Colorado, I stopped in Aztec, NM to visit my 2^nd cousin, Janice. He had lost her husband and had been a widow for some time. We were sitting in a café drinking coffee, when she said; “See those two old men over there at the next table? I know what they are talking about.” They are saying, “Well, she has finally got her a man.” When she told me that I just leaned over and gave her a little hug and whispered in her ear – I’ll give them something to really talk about.

 ; - )

 Terry

(posted: 03.26.06)

 

Subject: Re: Yuvonne
  
Donna, I apologize for misspelling your middle  name!  I even double checked  my E-Mail Address Book thinking  there couldn't have been a mistake but  there it was "Evonne" just as I  had typed it years ago.  Now why couldn't Aunt Eddie have  thought of an easy middle name for you..... something  simple  like, "Joyce" instead of the beautiful name  "Yuvonne"???   
 
We just got home from Ben's 55th (Wow!!) Roswell High  School class reunion and spending some time in Ruidoso at Alan's cabin  afterward.     Really a beautiful Fall Season this year in  NM due to the large amount of rain we've  had.   

Since getting home haven't had a chance to check all my  email but did spot the new November Victory Herald.  Looks very  interesting and will be reading all the articles as soon as I have a  chance.  Thanks for sending it.   
 
Give me a "word" now and then when you have a  chance.  

Love You,  
 
AJ ........    (I think I  mentioned this to you before but did you remember that Uncle  Rufus gave me the nickname...."AJ"????

Sent: Saturday, November 04, 2006 11:56 AM
Subject: Re: Yuvonne

Ah, yes!  Daddy gave you that name.  Does anyone call you that today?  And don't worry about my middle name.  Because Mother was so afraid that people wouldn't pronounce the "Y" right, she spelled it with "Yu."   I've done a lot of explaining over the years about the pronunciation.  

And I did name my oldest daughter after my "other" sister,  "Joyce."    When her daughter was married, she wanted to name her Deidra Joyce, but her daddy wanted to name her after his mother, Jean.  And as Jean died the day Deidra was born, there was no argument.

I think of you often....and of the "old" days on the ranch when we were growing up...and Mother and Aunt Johnnie. One of my sons, Bill David, is a writer, a preacher, and a school teacher.  He will retire in May and wants to write full time.  He's been working on children's books and has done a couple of western scripts...one of which has been accepted by an agent and is being marketed.  I think I'll relate some old memories and copy off what you and Terry have sent in the past and see what he can do.

Linda is very sick.  She has been for several years, degenerative spine.  Has had back surgery once, but not anything else they can do.  She also has had fibromyalgia for several years and is in constant pain.  Most days she's bed-fast, and when she is able to get up, she has to use a walker.  Thank God, she has a wonderful husband who takes good care of her.
 
Love you so much!

--ME

JoAnn Pennington:

Terry, the man on the left side of Hardy (the one on the front row, in the white shirt) is my father, Burton Thomas Downer. He was the oldest child and only son of Arasmos Bruce Downer.
I have a copy of the Downers of the South, put together by Charles Pat Downer, youngest son of Thomas Burton Downer, son of Wm Alexander and Eliza Brown Guthrie Downer.
I worked with Pat and helped him put this together.
Pat died this last January and LaNell Downer Price, daughter of Bruce and Mary Callaway Downer died just a week ago. They were the last of that generation of cousins.
If you would like to have a copy of Downers of the South, I would be happy to make a copy of it and send it to you.
Your cousin (how many times removed?),

JoAnn Downer Pennington

Posted: 04.11.07

 

Subject: Re: Am I a Fireman Yet

This reminds me of Daddy's death.  Mother had been with him night and day at his bedside in the hospital.  Daddy was in a coma, but Mother refused to leave him.  When they pronounced him dead, Mother said, "Yes, I know!  I saw him singing in the Heavenly Choir and he was in his blue pajamas."  Until the day she died, she never retracted that story. I think of that so many times because Daddy was such a "performer."  I can remember the years that as Mother was cooking dinner, Daddy would tap-dance across the kitchen, singing, and would tickle her as he passed by.  That kept her laughing and screaming, "Rummy, stop that or I'm going to dump this gravy all over you!" But did he stop?  Never.  We kids stood around laughing and yelling, "Go! Go, Daddy!  Go!"

Love you.
ME

Back To Previous Page | Back To Ancestors Home Page

Turner ~ Downer