1989~ My Hysterectomy Adventure!

In the summer of 1989, I took five weeks off from work to have a Hysterectomy.

My doctor had found a fibroid in my uterus, which was the size of a grapefruit.

He sent the fibroid off and said it was not cancer.

He also said that I could not do any heavy lifting or driving for 5 to 6 weeks after the surgery.

I remember checking in at the Hospital in Muscle Shoals, where I was prepped for surgery.

I hate knives and the thought of being cut is terrifying, so needless to say, I was very nervous about the upcoming surgery.

When my nurse came in, she said Are you nervous about the surgery? I said yes.

Then the nurse said, "I am going to give you a shot; it will relax you."

The surgery went well, and I was up walking the next day. 

During the surgery, my abdomen was filled with air.

My stomach looked & felt like a balloon ready to pop.

They gave me an enema to relieve the gas, but it did not work.

The nurse said that I needed to walk to relieve the gas.

I walked up and down the hospital's halls but found no relief.

Finally, I went to the restroom and found relief; it sounded like air from a hot-air balloon or a stack of whoopee Cushions.

I was released from the hospital, and my middle son came to the hospital to pick me up.

I had a prescription to fill, so we stopped at Kmart's Pharmacy in Muscle Shoals.

The prescription was for the pain; it was Tylenol with codeine.

The doctors wanted me to walk, so I walked inside K-mart with my son to get the prescription filled.

A week after I came home from the hospital, my daughter-in-law said We are going to the Birmingham Zoo. Do you want to go? We can rent a wheelchair to push you around.

I had been cooped up in the house for a week since my stay in the hospital, and I was ready to get out.

It takes about 2.5 hours to drive to the Birmingham Zoo. When we arrived, we purchased tickets and rented a wheelchair.

I was still very sore from the surgery, and as I was pushed into the wheelchair, I could feel every bump and pothole that we hit.

It made me appreciate people who have to ride in wheelchairs all the time, especially those who use rented ones with no extra padding.

Riding in a Wheelchair

At the Birmingham Zoo, we saw the African elephants throwing dirt onto their backs. We saw giraffes eating leaves from very tall trees. We visit the cages of the Siberian tiger, the roaring lions, the cheetah, the Black Panthers, the Snow leopard, and the Jaguar.

We visited Monkey Island, which housed hundreds of monkeys.

We saw a family of gorillas with the mother feeding her young.

We went into the reptile house and saw rattlesnakes, copperheads, coral snakes, Boas, anacondas, dragon monsters, chameleons, helmet lizards, Iguanas, and many different species of frogs.

Our next stop was to see the Roman God Vulcan atop Red Mountain, who overlooks Birmingham. The Vulcan is 56 feet tall, and there is an elevator that takes you to an overlook encircling the statue. 

I had a wonderful time at the Birmingham Zoo & The Vulcan, but was sore the next day, and I had to take several Tylenol with codeine for pain.

A few weeks later, I rode to the Space and Rocket Center with my son and his wife. 

This trip was also fun, but I had to take Tylenol with codeine because my stomach had not completely healed from the surgery. 

I spent my time sunbathing on my back porch during the day.

I spent time at the Birmingham Zoo, at the Vulcan, and at the Space and Rocket Center with family.

I went back to the doctor for my six-week check-up, and the doctor said I could go back to work.

I was ready to head back to work, and it was wonderful to be behind the wheel of my own car.

🎢1972-1997 Opryland Theme Park

Opryland Theme Park opened June 30,1972, and the park closed December 31,1997 

Our family would visit Opryland Theme Park at least once, and sometimes twice, each year, until the park closed in 1997.

When we first started going to Opryland, the boys were too small to ride the big roller coasters.

We would ride the Flume Zoom, a log ride that seats up to six people, in Hill Country. No one wanted to sit up front because they would get wet.

In Big Hill Country, we would hop aboard the Thunder Switch train and ride to El Paso Station in the American West. 

Sometimes we would take the New Orleans Sky ride, which travels from one side of the park to the other.

We spent most of our time at Opryland Theme Park watching Country Music Shows.

As the kids got older, they would ride the timber topper coaster. In 1979, the coaster was renamed the Rock' n' Roller Coaster. This coaster shot out of the station into a single loop, climbing into a double loop and back to the station with a quick stop. There were always long lines for this ride.

The boys always enjoyed driving the antique cars called the tin Lizzies. The vehicle would hold up to four people, and the boys always wanted to be the driver, so sometimes we would ride in separate cars or ride over and over so each could get a chance to be the driver. The tin Lizzie was on a track, so no matter what kind of driver you were, you were always coming back to the station safely. 

The kids also enjoyed the little deuce, a closed float ride. The lakeside area was home to the kiddy rides and the old millstream, where we would get into a boat that took us around the lake on a track. 

The barnstormer was a biplane sky ride, and it was next to the old millstream. 

At the state fair was the petting zoo, where the kids could pet and feed the animals. 

We also enjoyed the Tennessee Waltz swing, which was my favorite. 

The kids love the bumper cars, where they can run into each other. 

There were endless carnival games for the kids to play, and I always tried to steer them away from this area because it cost more money. 

The Wall-Bash cannonball was one of the kids' favorite coasters. 

It flipped over twice. 

We would always get soaking wet on the Grizzly River Country.

This ride was a large raft that could seat up to 20 people. It went down the raging river, passing several waterfalls, twisting and turning.

Water was coming at you from all sides as you were carried down the raging river. 

In 1984, the Scream'n'Delta' Delta Demon Coaster was added in the New Orleans area. It was an intamin wheeled bobsled coaster. 

In 1989, the Chaos was added in the Grizzly River area, and it was a Vekoma Steel coaster. 

In 1995, the hangman was added in the American West. 

We rode every roller coaster repeatedly, screaming, holding up our hands, in delight with every ride.

There was a building called the Angle Inn that was built on a slant, and as we walked through it, we felt like we were going to tip over.

Throughout the park, people were performing country music.

Along the lake, we would visit Country Music USA, where various country singers would perform for 1 hour. 

Rocking around the clock was the 50's era where songs were performed from the 50's.  

We would visit Roy Acuff's museum, which housed many of his musical instruments. There was a museum for Minnie Pearl, Roy Acuff's theater, the Nashville Network Studio, the WSM Radio Broadcasting booth, and the Grand Ole Opry house.

There was a large boat ride called the General Jackson. There were kennels for your pets, restrooms, and telephones throughout the park.

There were gift shops: Jewels and Gems, The Music Box, Ragin' Cajun Shirt Shop. 

There was Professor Bloodgood's photography, Emporiums, and Hill Country Arts and Crafts Shop. 

There were many food places throughout the park: Chubby's drive-in, Julio Pizza, Zack's frozen yogurt, Mrs. Winery Chicken and biscuits, Grizzly kitchen, Chos Concessions, Seafood Wharf, Café Mardi Gras, La Fudgeries, Country Kettles, Ruby's Country Kitchen, Funnel Cakes, and old-fashioned ice cream. 

Opryland USA 

2802 Opryland Drive

Nashville, Tennessee 37214

615-889-6611

In 1989, the cost to enter Opryland theme park was $18.95; children under 3 were admitted free.

One trip to Opryland was with two of my sisters and my sister's friend, in my sister's Mustang.

It was a wild and crazy ride; I was slung from one side of the car to the other side.

It felt like we were in a racecar or riding a roller coaster. 

We went to Opryland Theme Park with our church group many times.

We took my dad's blue van several times because it could hold several people. 

One year, we went with Nina, Billy, Michelle, Shana, OL, Ann, Chris, and Craig Wallace.

We were all going to Opryland Theme Park and the Nashville Speedway. 

We all stayed at a Nashville motel with an outdoor swimming pool.

Before the Nashville Speedway race, we all enjoyed riding the large roller coaster that was in the park near the speedway.

Before Opryland closed, it had a Christmas theme with ice skating, and it was beautifully decorated for the Holidays.

1974 ~ Summer Savannah, Georgia

One of our family trips was a trip to Savannah, Georgia. My sister's husband was stationed at Fort Stewart.

The trip took about 9 hours. We only stopped to eat and to use the restroom.

The boys played with their toy soldiers and Hot Wheels cars on the ride.

After the long ride, the kids were ready to get out and visit their cousins.

When we arrived, my sister had dinner ready. We ate and sat back to watch some TV while the kids played outside.

We spent the next day on a public beach that faced the Daufuskie Island Resort in South Carolina. 

It was a beautiful day, a bit windy, overcast, and hot.

The kids enjoyed building sand castles and darting in and out of the Atlantic Ocean.

The kids stopped long enough to grab a bite of the picnic lunch that we had brought.

The sun was hiding its face behind the clouds but sending out those hot rays.

We forgot to use sunscreen, and we all got blistered.

That night, we rubbed everyone down with white vinegar. The white vinegar was soothing to the sunburn, and at least we could get a good night's sleep.

The next day, we rode to the Military Base and to Historic Downtown Savannah. 

We saw hundreds of old houses nestled under giant oaks hanging with live Spanish moss. The Spanish moss is known as "The Hostess City of the South."  

We went to the one-level Oglethorpe Mall, built in 1969 and covering 1,000,000 square feet. 

It housed Belk, JCPenney, Sears, and Macy's (formerly Maas Brothers). In 1974, this was a huge mall.

Regency Square Mall, back home, opened in 1978, so seeing a mall was a new adventure for us.

Savannah was a beautiful historic city, and the weather while we were there was very accommodating. 

We spent the next few days inside playing Rook, Hearts, & Spades.

The kids played inside and watched TV.

We had a great visit, connecting with relatives. We enjoyed the beach and visiting historic Savannah.

We said goodbye to our relatives and began our trip home. 

🍀🍀🍀We were lucky growing up!!!

We were fortunate growing up when it came to visiting grandparents because both our grandparents' maternal and paternal grandparents lived within blocks of each other. 

Neither were rich in material things, but both were loaded in love. 

Our maternal grandmother was a great cook, and one of my favorite sweets was her Sweet Potato Kisses.

Years later, when I had a home of my own, I asked her for the Sweet Potato recipe.

You take a small potato, boil it with the jacket on, and cook it until done.

Peel the potato, mash it up, and roll it out. 

Add powder sugar and peanut butter to the center. 

Take all the ingredients, roll them into a ball, and slice them.

Our maternal grandmother was also handy with a needle and thread.

Money was always tight at my maternal grandparents ', so she made do with what she had.

She made everything she gave us for Christmas and birthdays. I remember one Christmas she made us sock monkeys and rag dolls.  

My memories of the tree she decorated at Christmas still bring a smile to my face. 

Her Christmas tree would light up any room with its bubbling lights, angel hair, icicles, stringed popcorn, and tiny trinkets.

Our maternal grandfather loved to smoke Prince Albert Tobacco.

We would watch as he took out those white papers, poured Prince Albert Tobacco into them, then rolled them tightly, licking to seal the tobacco inside.

We would gladly walk to the store to buy him a can of  Prince Albert Tobacco because he always gave us a nickel for candy. 

On a hot day, we might use that nickel to buy a Coke, a Popsicle, or even a candy bar. 

Our maternal grandparents' yard was covered with white clover, weeds, and buttercups(in the spring).

We very seldom wore shoes when we were out of school. 

I remember one summer stomping around in the grass and having a good time when I stomped right onto a bee. 

I started to cry, holding my foot, when my grandfather came outside to see what was wrong.

He went back inside, grabbed his tobacco and a glass of water, and came back outside.

He placed me in his lap and began to make a cake with his Prince Albert tobacco, which he put on my foot. 

One of our maternal grandfather's pet peeves was the grandkids climbing up in his trees. 

He kept the limbs trimmed so we could not reach them. 

Our maternal grandfather loves to tell scary stories about Bloody Bones. 

He would have you set on the edge of your seat, and all of a sudden, he would say, "GOT YOU"!!

Our maternal grandfather grew a variety of fruit trees, which we enjoyed eating. 

He would say, if you swallow any seeds, you would grow into a tree. 

We spit out every seed. 

Our maternal grandparents never had any indoor plumbing. There was an outhouse, and the water came from an outside faucet. 
They never owned an automobile, so they never learned to drive. 

My Maternal Grandmother rode to Church with Mr. Ulman, and I attended Church with her many times. 

At Church, we sang old hymns while someone played the piano and another played the accordion.

In our Sunday School Class, we learned about Daniel being put in the lions' den for praying, Noah's Ark, Jonah and the whale, and Jonah's disobedience to God. 

One Sunday night, after services, as we were riding home, the passenger door flew open, and out onto the pavement flew my cousin. 

We both had fallen asleep on the ride home and were leaning on the door. 

Our Aunt Willie lived on Penny Lane in Huntsville. 

She worked at Red Stone Arsenal.

Our dad would take the entire family to spend the day at Willie's. 

Our maternal great-grandparents lived in Town Creek. 

Our maternal grandparents would take the train from Sheffield to Town Creek to visit her family.

Our dad took them several times.

Our great-grandparents lived in an Old Military Dining Car.

At one end of the trailer was a large round table, surrounded by bench seating. Many soldiers had dined at this table. 

A sofa, a fold-out bed, a chair, and a coal heater stood in the middle of the trailer. 

Food was cooked in the kitchen area, which was located at the opposite end of the trailer. 
They get their water from a well and use an outhouse.

Since their home was so small we were sent outside to play, sometime grand-paw would come outside to play with us.

He said I can show you how to catch a worm that he called a Chicken Choker. 

He said, "Get a straw, poke it into a small hole, and wiggle it into a worm." The worm will catch hold, and you can pull him out of the ground.

It Worked!!!

I looked up the meaning of Chicken Choker. 

It is a long, yellowish worm with humps on its back, 6 legs, a hard head, and brown, two-inch pinchers that would catch hold of the straw.

Chicken Chokers are the larvae of tiger beetles that ambush predators of other insects, lying in wait in their burrows with their heads flush with the soil surface.  

It is said that chickens do more harm to the larvae (Chicken Chokers) than to the grubs.

Living in the Big Woods

My parents were still building the house we lived in when we moved in 1961.

The house had three bedrooms, each with a large bed, a cotton mattress, and metal springs. 

The large living room had a sofa, a television with rabbit ears, and, in the winter, a wood heater. 

In the kitchen were a large sink, a refrigerator, a stove, and a large bar for storage.

In the dining room was a large table that seated ten people. 

All the floors were wooden, no flooring of any kind; most of the walls had unfinished sheet rock. 

We had a set of steps leading to the basement, located between the kitchen and the hallway.

We had a very high wooden back porch with a railing and wooden steps. 

Our front porch was level with the ground, and we had a wooden swing that hung from the rafters.

Dad's car was always parked in the gravel drive.

Our house sat on the side of a hill; the front side was level with the ground, and the back side was several feet above it. 

The house had a flat roof, and the outside was covered with black tar paper.

The house had no inside bathroom.

We had water pumped from our outside well to our kitchen sink. 

I remember watching the large machine dig deep into the ground until it found water, and then a well was placed above it.

My parents would put a large, tube-shaped bucket into the hole in the ground, which was attached with a long rope, to get water from the well. 

The tube of water would then be pulled back to the top of the well, where the water was emptied into a pail that could be carried inside. 

Bath time consisted of a large washtub, shared by all the children. 

I remember one time when I was taking a bath, I put my bride doll in the tub with me.

All my doll's hair fell out, and I was sad.

My bride doll was beautiful; she wore a long white wedding dress with a white veil.

We could make a lot of noise at nig, ht even though our bedroom was on the opposite side of the house from our parents... 

I love to make up stories to make my siblings laugh.

Sometimes we would get into trouble, because we made so much noise laughing.

We had two huge beds in our room where all the children slept, and every night it was a struggle to get the bed covers.

There was no need to put curtains on our windows because no one lived behind us, and our bedroom was very high off the ground.

On a clear night, the moonlight would shine into our bedroom. 

At night, it was hard for us kids to be quiet because we could hear the owls hooting outside. 

Oh my gosh! At the frogs & crickets, there were many, many frogs that we heard croaking and thousands of crickets rubbing their legs.

Ever now and then, we would hear a mountain lion; it sounded like a woman screaming.

Actually, the noise relaxed us, and we would drift off into a deep slumber.

Our neighbors owned a sawmill with mounds of sawdust we loved to climb into. 

Almost everyone grew a garden, and we would buy fruit and vegetables from them. 

I remember one time my sister and I went to our neighbors' to buy a watermelon, and we paid twenty-five cents.

We could choose any watermelon we wanted. We chose a big one, but we had to carry it all the way home. 

We had to stop several times before we reached home. 

The sweet watermelon was worth the trouble, seeing the look on our siblings' faces as they ate every slice.

Another time, my sister and I had to walk to the store, which was about a two-mile round trip.

Our family was like the old woman in the shoe, she had so many children she did not know what to do. 

Our cabinets were bare, and Mom could not make the trip because she had too many children. She would look like a mother duck with all her ducklings following her. 

So my sister, who was a couple of years younger than I, and I made the trip. 

We took the gravel road, with its curves and up-and-down hills, to the country store for bologna and bread, which we charged to my dad's account. 

My grandfather had started building a house next to our house. The outside of the house was complete. The roof on his home was arched, not flat like our house. 

The inside was framed, and the rooms were divided by walls.

It had wood floors and a basement full of lumber.

My grandfather never finished the house, but we made it our playhouse and spent many hours there. 

Most kids have a small playhouse, but our playhouse was a real unfinished house.

I remember once my dad brought home a trunk from Helen Keller's home, filled with books.

I picked out two of the books: one was a blue book of Grimm's Fairy Tales, and the other was a book about a boy and his hoop.

The fairy tale book contained many different short stories, such as Rapunzel, The Frog Prince, Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Rumplestiltskin, Snow White, and Rose Red.

Lynn and Glenn Kimbrough were our playmates. 

One year, Lynn got a bicycle for Christmas; we never owned a bike. So when Lynn offered to let us ride her bicycle, we said yes. 

Both my sister and I climbed on the bicycle with Lynn. My sister was on the handlebars, Lynn was on the seat paddling, and I was on the back fender.

Away we went, speeding down the gravel road. Lynn lost control of the bicycle, wrecked, and sent us sprawling onto the gravel road. 

Luckily, no one was severely hurt, only a few scraps on the knees and elbows.

In the spring, we would pick Polk Salad, take it into town, and sell it. 

Growing up in the big woods

School Days

When I was two and a half years old, we moved to Hawk Pride Mountain,

When I was old enough to attend school, I went to New Bethel Elementary School.

I went to New Bethel for six years. 

My second sister, next to me, attended New Bethel from first to fourth grade.

My third sister attended New Bethel from the first to the second grade.

We would ride the school bus eleven miles to school.

On the school bus, we would sing songs to pass the time.

Some of the songs we sang on the big yellow school bus were Sugar Shack, Hang Down Your Head Tom Doodle, Found a Peanut, and Honeycomb.

Bertha Hester taught me in the first and second grades. 

She would start the day by reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag, and we would say a prayer. 

We learned how to read from the Dick and Jane books.

Mrs Hester had a large cardboard wheel that began to read words, and we would practice every day from it.

Recess lasted thirty minutes and most of the time we were outside.

Some of the games we played outside were ring around the roses, drop the handkerchief, and hopscotch.

We also like to swing, turn flips, jump on a jump board, play baseball, and kickball.

I remember one hot day when our class ran into the school building from recess, lined up at the water fountain, and then dispersed to the restrooms.

On this peculiar day, my best friend Kathy and I were lagging behind.

So to catch up with the other students, we started running down the hall.

I was running down the hall pretty fast when someone opened the lunchroom door.

 Wham! I ran smack into it. 

I did not have time to stop, and the door lock hit my forehead.

I was knocked to the floor, blood pouring down my face.

I was taken to the first aid room, where a bandage was placed on my forehead.

I spent the rest of the day lying on a day cot that was in our classroom.

Each classroom had its own cot for when students were sick or hurt.

Some of our school activities included cakewalks, donkey basketball games, and special assembly programs in the gym. 

I played the witness against the Litterbug in The Litterbug Play.

I played an Indian girl in the Indian War Dance program.

Everybody's dresses were made from feed sacks. 

Having fun with friends and family 

My favorite television show was Bonanza, which ran from 1959 to 1973.

The show was about a rancher named Ben Cartwright and his three sons, Dan, Adam, and Little Joe. 

We were pre-teens, so we still liked to ride stick horses, and we were married to the Cartwright men.  

My neighbor friend Juanita and I liked to play dress-up.

Juanita's aunt had given her many of her old, discarded dresses, and we loved to dress up in them.

She had a rainbow of dresses in varying lengths; some were pleated, while others had straight skirts.

Some of the dresses were covered in pearls, beads, and buttons. 

Some of the dresses zipped up the back, while others buttoned up the front or laced up both the front and the back.

There were red high heels, black flats, brown loafers, and beaded ballerina slippers to put on our feet that matched the dresses.

There were hats of all shapes and sizes, some with feathers, some with nets, and always one that matched the dress we were wearing. 

Some hats and handbags matched the dresses. 

Most of the dresses we wore were way too long; we didn't mind because we were dressed up to paint the town.

One of my favorite shows that aired on television was Adventures in Paradise.

The star of the show was Garner McKay, who was the captain of a large schooner that sailed in the Pacific Ocean. 

Juanita and I would pretend that we were riding on Gardner McKay's large schooner.

We would place large boards over logs and rock them back and forth. 

Once, I wrote a letter to Garner McKay's fan club asking for a picture and they sent me one.

I placed his picture in my scrapbook, and I still have it. 

Dad made us a swing using a long cable he threw over a huge limb of the oak tree next to our house. 

Next, they took an old wooden plank, notched on either side, and slid it between the ropes for us to sit on.

We lived on the side of a hill, and when we swung, we thought our feet could reach the big blue sky.

My handyman dad built us a go-cart. He used an old wagon frame and built a wooden platform on top of it.

He attached a lawn mower motor to the back side of the wagon.

The go-cart had to be cranked like cranking a push lawnmower.

Our steering wheel was made of rope.

There was no stop button; we either had to pull out a spark plug or run out of gas. 

It was a lot of fun. 

Sitting in our front yard under the hickory nut tree was an old car without a motor; it was just a shell. 

But to us kids, it was a toy. 

We discovered that when we put our legs inside the steering wheel, it would rock back and forth. When we would get out of the car, our bodies could still feel the swaying of the steering wheel. 

In the fall of the year, we would go looking for hickory nuts. 

We would get the most enormous paper sack we could find and head to the woods. 

We would fill the paper sack full of a variety of hickory nuts. 

When we had had enough, we would head back home. 

We would then look for something to crack the nuts open, with most of the time it was two fairly large rocks. 

We would have to be careful cracking those nuts between two rocks because sometimes we would mash our fingers. Boy, did that hurt!

We would fill a plastic bowl with the cracked nuts, but we still couldn't get the goodies out without a pick, and our pick was a bobby pin.

This was an all-day process. 

Where we lived were just a few houses and woods all around us.

We had to walk quite a ways, but behind our home was a creek that wound down the mountain. There were all sorts of rock formations. There was this one rock that we climbed upon that was as large as most people's living rooms, and once on top of it, we could see for miles.

Above the creek was this cascading waterfall, about twenty feet tall.

There was a creek above the fall that was filled with moss, and it could be very slippery when you got close to the edge. 

The water flowed constantly; it never dried up, even during the dry seasons.

Below the fall was a pool deep enough for us to swim in and we did on many a hot day.

We even went into the woods when the woods were freezing cold, just to get an icicle from the frozen falls. 

Behind my neighbor Juanita's house was a bluff about fifty feet high called Horseshoe Bluff. (Cherokee Indians once lived in this area)

Juanita's grandmother was a full blooded Cherokee Indian; she lived next door to Juanita.

We were told not to go near the bluff. 

There were many rock formations around the bluff top.

We had to walk several miles to reach the bottom. 

We found that by climbing down from the top of a firm tree, we could reach the bottom.

People have fallen off that bluff; they were not familiar with the area.