Childhood Game, Kentucky Head Knocker

Kentucky Head Knocker

   Growing up in Southern Kentucky in the 50's and 60's was a fun time.  Things were simpler then, no electronic gadgets, or cellphones to occupy our time.

   After chores were finished we invented our own ways to have fun.  We made pop guns, birch whistles, played 'Rolley Hole' a marble game, 'Mumbly Peg' a game using a pocket knife, Tag, Spring Board, See Saw, Kick the Can, Hide and Seek, and many other fun games, but, one that stands out in my mind was played with a dried weed that had a seed pod at the end of it.

   When we visited our cousins in late Fall we ran through the fields of tall grass, whooping and hollering and chasing one another with what I call a 'Kentucky Head Knocker' and, yes, just as the name implies, when we got close enough, we knocked one another in the head with it.  Let me tell you it really smarted.  Back then we never thought about anyone getting hurt.

   Guess God was looking out for us back then, because we sure weren't looking out for ourselves.

   My husband remembered me telling him about it, and found this one in the field behind our house today and brought it in to me.  Who would have thought a weed and seed pod would create a lifetime of memories?
  Have a Blessed day wherever you are, Trisha 

We Call'em Shuck Beans



Shuck Beans

   Folks around here have many names for Dried Green Beans.  Some old timers call them 'Leather Britches', some call them 'Shuck Beans', and younger people simply call them 'Dried Beans'.  But, around our house we call'em 'Shuck Beans'.  No matter what Kentucky Folk might call them, the one thing for sure is, they call them 'Good'!
   Some still cook them with a big piece of Fatback, or a big spoonful of Lard.  Mmmm.  Some good eating.  We still dry our beans the old fashioned way.  We string them up and hang them to dry in the outbuilding.  Works just as well as it did, when we were growing up.  I bought a new dehydrator and used it to dry apples, but it dried them as hard as a rock, so I only dried one batch of apples, and put that thing out in a yard sale. 
   We like to wash our 'Shuck Beans', and soak them overnite, then cook them in a crockpot.  We use a little corn oil, or olive oil, and salt for seasoning.  When we fix 'Shuck Beans', all we need with them is a pan of cornbread, a big onion, and a cold glass of milk. 
                                                                              How good, God is to us, to give us such things!

Don't Go Snipe Huntin'

   Taking someone Snipe Huntin' is one of the oldest tricks, from these Kentucky hills.  Snipes are shore birds and do not live in Kentucky.  When we were growing up, my brothers were always wanting to take someone Snipe Huntin', they'd give them a bag, and take them out into the woods or field, and tell them to hold the bag while they ran the Snipes into it.  Then my brothers would sneak back to the house, and leave the one holding the bag.  Sometimes they would hold the bag for an hour or more, before coming back to the house, mad. 
   Of course my brothers had a big laugh.  My brothers weren't the only ones that pulled the Snipe Huntin' trick, most of the neighborhood boys got in on it too.  Years ago there wasn't much to do for intertainment, so often mountain folk came up with their own forms of amusement.
   Recently I heard a couple of young country boys, trying to convince a young city boy to go Snipe Huntin', I let it go, until they started making plans on what time to meet.  I told the city boy about the joke, he thanked me and told me not to worry, that he would probably go with them, but he would leave them, before they had a chance to leave him.  I don't know how it turned out, but he was warned. 
   Snipe Huntin' is meant to be all in fun, but It's probably not much fun for the one left holding the bag.

Remembering Carbide Lights

Carbide Lights

Just a way of life in Southeastern Kentucky.
   Not for nostalgia, but for necessity, did we use carbide lights growing up.  We lived in rural areas without running water and modern bathroom facilities.  We either had a well, or carried our water from a spring. 
   We did have a flashlight, but batteries were hard to come by, and carbide on the other hand was affordable, so that is what we used.   Our outhouse was usally a good distance away so we had to have a light to follow the path at night.  Though we were only children about five or so, we were not the least bit intimidated firing up the carbide lights and heading down the path, by ourselves.  I remember well, how the light would dim, and we had to move the lever on top a few notches to spue up the flame.  I can remember knocking out the old carbide and filling it with new, and pouring water into the top. 
   Carbide has a distinctive smell, kind of like
sulphur, and is not easily forgotten.  
When I look back on our lives growing up, it's 
easy to see how God protected us.

Fox and Geese



Fox and Geese Board Game

   We played this game a lot when we were kids.  It is called Fox and Geese.  It is an old English board game, that has been adapted in Appalachia.  We played the game with 2 Fox and 23 Geese, and our board was not the traditional cross shaped used in the English version.
   The game is for two players, one person plays the two Fox, the other, plays the 23 Geese.  The Fox can move forward, across, diagonal, or backward, and can jump the Geese, taking the jumped Geese off the board.  If the Fox jumps all the Geese or hems them in where they cannot move, the Fox wins.  The Geese can move forward, across, and diagonal, but, not backward.  The Geese can jump a Fox and take him off the board, or hem the Fox in, so that he does not have a move. If the Geese jump both Fox, or hems them in, so they do not have a move; the Geese win.  (When someone jumps, there has to be an empty space to land in.)  We drew our board on cardboard, and used buttons for the Fox and Geese.  My husband said his family always used corn instead of buttons.  I told him, we saved our corn for parchin'.
   How God Blesses us, with treasured memories! 

Ironing the Old Time Way

When we were kids we had to help with the chores, and ironing was one of them.  I can remember heating an old iron on the heating stove and ironing pillow cases when I was only around 5 or  6 years old.  I didn't know how hot the iron needed to be, sometimes I scorched things and caught a scolding from mom.  We drew water from a well, washed clothes in a wringer washing machine and scrubbed work clothes on a washboard using lye soap.  We didn't care a lot for those chores, we'd much rather been guarding the chicken coop from hawks or sweeping the yard.  We did have a little grass in the yard and mowed it with a rotary blade push mower and cut the taller grass with a reef hook. We hoed the garden and had a hard time telling the young corn from grass and young beans from morning glories.  There were lots of good times, though,  like picking black berries, wild greens, and long walks in the woods.  Playing was a big part of our day.  I remember playing outside in the summertime until it got so dark we couldn't see and had to go inside.  We went to sleep on summer nights watching lightning bugs and listening to whippoorwills and katydids.  What simple times they were back then.