The Blackwell property included most of the intersection of mile 5 leading from downtown Weslaco, north to Elsa, and mile 10 which ran east and west. Mile 5 was a major 2 lane road, which was widened sometime in the late 1950s. While the widening was going on we took the opportunity to play in the big dirt piles and in the big concrete pipes that were lying along the roadside for weeks. It was a sad day when the construction was complete and our temporary playground was no longer there. Mile 10 was just slightly wider than a single lane road. When two cars came towards each other, each would have to pull over to the side of the road as they passed each other. That's just the way it was.
Tompa and Granny's house was set back from the intersection quite a bit. It was on the southwest corner.There was a small pasture at the exact corner of the two roads and a corral behind that. Their house was to one side of the corral. Their front yard had a circular drive that led up to the front porch and then back out to the road.
Also beside the corral were some outbuildings, including an old outhouse which stood beside a tall tree. Someone had tied a rope to a high branch in the tree so that if you climbed up onto the outhouse (there was a fence alongside to help) you could grab the rope and swing off the roof out into space. Then you'd come crashing back onto the outhouse roof and could sometimes managed to regain your position on top of the roof without falling to the ground.
Also on the property was a long U-shaped concrete canal that occasionally had water in it, but mostly only a little sludge in the bottom. The lip of the concrete U stuck up 2" or 3" above ground and was maybe 2" or 3" wide. It was fun to try to balance while walking on that lip without either falling into the canal or off the other side onto the dirt bank. In either case you'd end up with some abrasions or at least some stickers. We also enjoyed running inside the canal, which was probably 3' deep. But in order not to step in the sludge it was necessary to run from side to side, jumping over the sludge as you went. Took a certain amount of skill to do that without ending up with stinky mud on your feet. And since we didn't always wear shoes, mud wasn't a good thing.
Another attraction on our homeplace playground was what we called the Tall Texan. It was a giant cottonwood tree, at least 40' high or more. We all climbed it from time to time, although it wasn't my favorite thing to do because there were sometimes ants also climbing it. Once you got up there you could sit on a branch and see for miles and miles, or so it felt like. Why none of us fell and broke a neck is beyond me.
Royce and Margueritte's house was on the southeast corner, but there was also a pasture between the house and the actual corner. A big pasture surrounded the back of their house and led to the barn, which was maybe 1/2 mile away.
And on the northwest corner sat Weldon and Dorothy's house. Their house wasn't separated from the corner by much, just the yard. There was a playhouse in the yard not to far from the roads. It had been built by Dorothy's dad, Tom Anderson, who owned a lumber yard a mile or so away. In back of their house was a field that at first held a citrus grove. After a hard freeze, the trees were removed and various things were grown, cotton, corn, maize, etc. There were always citrus trees in the back yard though, and a lemon tree right by the back door. So anytime we wanted lemonade or lemon in our tea, all we had to do was reach out the backdoor and pluck one.
The property on the northeast corner was not owned by the Blackwells, although I always thought it should have been. Then the whole thing could have been called Blackwell Corners, which I thought had a certain nice ring to it.
Less than 1/4 mile down the road from Tompa and Granny's was Grandma Lacy's house, also surrounded by a field. And another 1/4 mile away was the home of Tom and E.W. Anderson, Dorothy's parents. One story is about Mike, who at the age of about 2 decided to go visit Grandma Lacy. Trouble is he didn't tell anyone what was on his mind. He just walked out of Granny's house one day when no one was looking, walked that 1/4 mile down the busy road without getting hit by a truck, walked in her back door, through the house, and out the front door, and right on back home again. Grandma Lacy said he walked right through the house without saying a word. She went out to the road to watch and see that he got home ok. The grownups probably didn't even miss him and nothing bad happened, but the story could have had a much different ending.
All this area was our growing up place. We never knocked on doors growing up. Just came on in. Your house was my house, and my house was your house, and shoes were optional. It was a fine way for us kids to live.
Nancy, thanks for posting this one about the home place. I was thinking a description of the 3 homes and surrounding area was a good idea and you know it and remember it so much better than I.
ReplyDeleteI would like to add to your description.
A horse named Bill was in that same pasture that the Tall Texan grew in. Was that Michael’s horse?
And there was the boy’s clubhouse. A structure between TomPa and Granny’s and your home. This was Michael’s and Bobby’s clubhouse, if I remember correctly.
The driveway at TomPa and Ganny’s was a large “U” so that a car could drive in, stop ta the front door and then continue driving out, without having to turn around. In that “U” was a garden of sorts. I recall many bougainvillea plants and small handmade fountain. The front porch of their house was covered, with chairs and a porch swing.
Two doors on that side of the house. The one on the left opened into the bedroom that Granny would spend her remaining years. And the one on the right opened into a formal livingroom. Always dark and cool in that room , with a large dining table. I recall some meals at that table, but now know the size of our family’s out grew it and I recall Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners at several tables on the back porch.
The kitchen was small by today’s standards. But TomPa and Granny made it work. TomPa enjoyed cooking breakfast, pancakes mostly and I still can remember him yelling for us kids to get out of bed and come eat breakfast or he would throw out to the cats.
The back porch was tiled with large ceramic tiles that felt cool even on hot summer days. It had windows on three sides and any breeze would make the room very cool. Our families spent a lot of time in that room. TomPa had chair, it probably was a recliner that he watched television in. I remember that he had arthritis in his hands and can recall us sitting out there watching television in the evenings and TomPa applying some foul smelling elixir called Heat with a applicator type brush that used the screw top of the bottle as a handle, then had a long stuff wire to a poof ball of cotton on the end of the wire. He carefully applied this to each of his fingers. Later , when tending to a bard wire cut on our horse, I noticed the bottle and applicator for the horse medicine called Blue Coat was exactly the same as the bottle and applicator for his arthritis medicine. I didn’t think the medicines were the same just with different labels, but today I wonder about it.
Tommy
Your.memory is good, Tommy. I had forgotten about the boys' clubhouse probably because I was never allowed in it. Another thing about his later years was that he kept an empty peanut can by his chair on the back porch, probably next to the bottle of Heat. The can was where he kept his dentures until someone came in for a visit. Then he'd reach for the can so he could put his teeth in before greeting us.
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